The Marauder's Tale [MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT, & PRONGS]

XXIII. Recovery

"Hey." Remus entered the common room, and sank down into the chair next to James. "Where are Peter and Sirius?"

James looked over at his friend. Remus looked a bit worse for the wear, as he always did upon returning from a transformation. "You should get some sleep," James said.

"Thanks, Mum," Remus said sarcastically. "And thanks for answering my question."

"Oh, sorry. Well, Peter stayed in the library to get his Potions work done."

"Is Sirius with him?"

"No, Sirius is upstairs. He says he's sleeping, but I don't believe him."

"Oh, no. What happened now?"

James heaved a sigh. "You're not going to like it."

"Out with it, James."

"The night of the full moon, Sirius challenged Snivellus to a duel."

"Oh, that's bright," Remus said, his voice again laced with sarcasm.

"I know, I know. Snivellus knows twice as many curses as we do. I told him that. But he was determined to hex him to death, all to defend his brother."

"What did Snape do to Regulus?"

James shrugged. "The usual. Talked to him. Anyway, I told Sirius that he wasn't going without me. So, we went to meet Snape, and he had Regulus there as his second."

Remus looked almost as though he had been slapped. "What?"

"Yeah," James said. "Needless to say, it was pretty ugly."

"Did Regulus curse Sirius?" Remus asked a bit fearfully.

"No," James replied, "but he cursed me."

"My God."

"I know. I'm okay, obviously, but Sirius has been freaking out ever since then."

"How did this whole thing end?"

"McGonagall and Dumbledore broke it up. And before you ask, we have a month's worth of detentions, and lost fifty points for Gryffindor."

Remus looked at him with mingled disapproval and sympathy. "Well -"

"Don't say we deserved it," James cut him off. "I know that. So does Sirius, I'm sure. Not that he can think past Regulus fighting against us just yet." He sighed. "But, hey, we'll get to use the mirrors, right?"

"I can't believe Regulus would do something like that," Remus muttered.

"None of us can."

"Does Peter know what happened?"

"Yeah, I told him. He had to know what was wrong with Sirius, of course." James sighed again. "He seems to feel that there's nothing we can do about it. Regulus has made his choice, and the rest of us have to live with it. If he wants to join forces with Voldemort, it's his business, not ours."

Remus nodded. "I suppose he has a point on some level."

"Yes, but shouldn't we all stand firm against Voldemort?" James ran his hands through his hair. When he continued, his voice was edged with steel. "Those people killed my family, Remus. There is no good in them. They are pure evil, and there's no way to redeem them. And if that's who Regulus wants to spend his time with, if that's the type of person he wants to be, then I have no place for him in my life." His hazel eyes were dark, hard, and uncompassionate. "I love Sirius like a brother, the same as I do you and Peter. But I'm not about to claim his brother as any friend of mine if that's the path he's chosen for his life. I'm not so desperate as to be friends with a Death Eater."