Chapter 14: Concerns
Hands took him firmly by the shoulders and shook him violently. The black-haired Gryffindor groaned and tried to bat them away, tried to remain sleeping, but his attacker was having none of it. He gripped harder and shook him until sleep-encrusted grey eyes opened.
"Pads," James whispered. "Wake up. Marauders meeting."
Sirius groaned and rolled over. He had been having a very pleasant dream that involved no small amount of nudity and was in no mood for a pre-dawn meeting. James cursed and tried to roll him over or shake him back into consciousness, but Sirius refused to cooperate. The Chaser had to resort to his final option, and he threw himself on the sleeping boy. He didn't weigh much, but he knew just where to aim his weight for maximum impact.
"Son of a bitch!" Sirius swore and sat up in bed, clutching his groin protectively and massaging his thigh where James had elbowed him. "Every damn time! There are spells for that you know! I'm sure they are more effective and a lot less painful… Ow!"
"I know, but where's the fun in that?" James smirked and smacked his friend's head. "Meeting on Moony's bed."
"Arse," Sirius grumbled and shuffled across the floor to Remus's bed. "What's so bloody important you couldn't wait until after I finished dreaming of naked –"
"Ah!" James held up his hand. "I've said several times already, I do not need to know who you are fantasising about. Keep it in your head where it belongs, Pads."
"Spoilsport," Sirius smirked sexily. "You know how much I love making you blush."
"Gentlemen," Remus said seriously. "We have something very important to talk about."
Sirius looked up hopefully, "Is there nudity?"
Remus sighed at the boy's one track mind. "Well, I'll be naked, but I understand that has no effect on you anymore."
"Oh, Moony, I still love you," Sirius reached out and pulled the boy close in a mockery of a romantic gesture. As their lips drew so close they could kiss, they both started snickering with laughter. Peter's disgusted look only aided their amusement, as did James's disapproving scowl. "That's closer than we've ever made it yet. Who knows how far we'll make it before we start laughing next time," Sirius commented with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
"Boys!" James shouted in a tone more befitting a prefect. "This is serious business. The full moon is coming and we're not alone anymore."
Sirius dropped his smirk and glanced over his shoulder at the bed where Harry was sleeping. "Uh… should we be talking here?"
"It's fine," Remus gave a dismissive wave. "I heard him casting a silencing charm just after you went to bed. We could destroy the castle and he wouldn't hear a thing."
Sirius frowned. "Why would he do that?"
"I suspect for the same reason you cast them," the werewolf turned his lips up in a sexy smile and quirked an eyebrow meaningfully.
"How do you know about that?" the boy asked in an uncharacteristically small voice.
"The nose knows, my friend," Remus tapped a finger to the side of his nose. "But my nose also tells me that he didn't cast it to wank in private. He probably just talks in his sleep." The boy shrugged and tried to keep from laughing at the pink that had crept into Sirius's usually manicured mask of cool.
"Back to the topic at hand," James said, clearly getting annoyed at their lack of focus. "Harry seems a good bloke, but we can't tell him. He might react badly or run screaming to the Ministry."
"Why do we have to worry at all?" Remus asked. "I can dust off my old excuses. Fake a stomach cramp and pretend to spend the night in hospital like I did first year." He frowned at the idea. It had been years since he had to hide his condition from someone living in such close quarters. He did not like the idea of having to lie again.
"But what about the rest of us?" James asked, his face implying that the problem should have been obvious. "He'll notice that all four of us have left for the night. He's not blind."
"I can go it alone," Remus said.
"No!" All three protested.
"We are not leaving you alone with the wolf," James said.
"Right," Sirius agreed and wrapped his arm around Remus' shoulder. "The wolf loves it when we all play together. Besides, when you're alone he tears you up. I think Harry would notice if your stomach cramp left you covered in disturbingly large wounds."
Remus laughed humourlessly, "You three didn't."
Sirius' smile fell. "We were eleven," he reminded his friend. "Eleven year olds are hardly known for their observational skills. Thank you very much, Mr Lupin."
Remus rolled his eyes, but didn't argue the point. "Fine, what do you suggest?"
Peter's face lit up. "Food poisoning!"
"What?" They stared at him like he had gone mad.
His pudgy hands shook with excitement as he explained. "At dinner, we make a point of all eating the same thing and something Harry doesn't eat – that shouldn't be too hard considering how little he eats. Then, we all say we're not feeling well and head to 'hospital'." He drew quote marks in the air with his fingers.
"Devious as ever, Wormtail," James nodded approvingly. "So Wednesday night we have to actually watch what we're eating."
"I don't know about you, but I always watch what I eat," Sirius said with a dramatic toss of his long black hair. "I have to maintain my girlish figure."
Remus snorted. "And then he wonders why he can't find a steady partner…"
"That is odd…" Peter frowned. "Yesterday was Friday, but you didn't have a date. You always have a date, sometimes two." He studied his friend, the handsomest student, not just in their year or house, but in the whole school. Something was off or maybe it was just the irrationally early start to their first Saturday playing tricks on him. Sirius did not shrink under their gaze, nor did he make pathetic excuses. He simply shrugged as if he couldn't be bothered.
"Any other Marauders business?" James asked.
"About Harry," Peter said quietly. "I think he might like Evans. You saw what they were like in Herbology." He blinked nervously and watched as James's hazel eyes narrowed to slits, glaring past Sirius to Harry's bed.
He had his suspicions, but having someone else voice concern only added to them.
Knowing how jealous and possessive the spoiled Marauder could be, Remus felt compelled to intervene before the mischievous prankster started to use his creative mind to think up ways to hurt the new student. "She's not your girlfriend," Remus reminded him. "She's turned you down every time you ask, James."
"I know that!" he said defensively, bridling under the reminder that all his efforts had yielded no results.
"And did you tell him that you're interested in her?" he asked, knowing the answer would be negative. "Did you specifically say to Harry that you have been trying to win Evans since third year?"
"Well… no."
"So you just assumed," he paused and looked hard at his friend, "that a new student who doesn't know you and has never met you would know to stay away from a girl who never willingly speaks to you?" Remus raised an eyebrow.
How he hated that eyebrow. That eyebrow always made him feel stupid. "Fine, I see your point," James growled. "I'll tell him first thing."
"Why wait?" Sirius smirked. "We had to get up early, maybe he should, too." He hopped off Remus's bed and ran the short distance to Harry's, throwing the curtain wide. He looked down and saw the deep creases marring the boy's brow, and he stopped.
That was the same worryingly intense look he had seen in the hospital wing before he knew the boy's name; he had not seen it since that first evening, not even when he faced Snape in anger. Looking more closely, he saw Harry's face slick with sweat, his shirt was soaked through, his sheets were twisted tightly around his body and his mouth was moving with a steady stream of speech. The silencing spell was in place, and he couldn't hear the boy's dreaming words. However, Sirius was certain that whatever he was saying would break his heart.
"On second thought, the kid's probably had it rough… I'll leave him be for now," Sirius said and went back to his own bed, throwing himself down and closing the curtains before the others could see the worry on his face. Sirius Black was not supposed to worry, not about a new bloke he knew nothing about.
He wouldn't be able to sleep now. His mind was too busy trying to process the difference between waking Harry and sleeping Harry. The two Harrys were as different as, well, day and night.
As he lay behind the curtains of his bed, the Marauder considered his options. He had questions and wanted answers. Simply asking would be the route Remus would likely suggest, but that lacked a certain finesse that Sirius was famous for. No, some snooping would be far more interesting and much more fun. He had to find a way into the trunk; there would certainly be something worth finding in there. The locks had resisted his attempt at picking, so he needed to find the keys…
"If I were a key, where would I be?" Sirius muttered to himself. "Well, if it were me, I'd keep it around my neck." He frowned and brought the image of sleeping Harry James Granger to his mind. Had there been a necklace? Yes, a tooth. Very cool, but not in the least bit helpful in opening a trunk.
"What are you hiding?" he wondered.
"You know what they say about people who talk to themselves, don't you?" a voice that could have been either James or Harry spoke from the other side of the curtain.
"First sign of insanity?" Sirius replied with a smile.
"No, you've got an idiot for an audience." Sirius could hear the smirk in the voice and assumed it was James.
"Prongs, you're a git," he informed the speaker.
"I know he is, so what does that make me?"
"Oi! I heard that, Granger!" James called from behind his curtains. "I'll have none of your lip in my house, young man."
"Sorry, dad," Harry replied. Sirius couldn't see it, but he just knew there was a cheeky grin on the boy's face. What happened to the boy with the rabbit heartbeat and night terrors? He looked out from behind his curtain and saw Harry digging in his trunk, a clean, dry tee-shirt covering his torso. Beneath his wild hair, his face looked as normal as anyone's now that he was awake, though the shadows under his eyes hinted at a night that was in no way restful.
"Granger," James hopped out of bed and stood over the boy, arms crossed and face stern. "We need to have a talk."
"What did I do now?" Harry groaned and stood.
Sirius smirked at the reaction. The boy was definitely a troublemaker.
If James noticed Harry's reaction, he wasn't showing it. He kept his hazel eyes narrowed and demanded, "Evans… what are you playing at?"
Harry frowned and studied him a moment, worry clear on his face. "Uh… nothing?"
"Don't you lie to me, Granger," James jabbed the boy's bony chest with his finger. "Do you like her?"
Harry's face turned a disturbing shade of green and his eyes went round, as if James had suggested he fancied Snivellus instead of the comely Lily Evans. "No!"
"Really?" James stood back in shock. "Why not?"
Harry stuttered and flushed and turned green all at the same time. It was a look that did nothing for the handsome boy, Sirius decided. "I… I just… don't."
"Okay," James said. "Good. 'Cause she's mine." He glared at him, though there was no call for it. "I've been after her for years and I will not have some look-a-like taking advantage of all my hard work."
Harry shook his head, eager to move the topic to something less Oedipal.
"So why did you go all blushed and embarrassed when you worked with her in Herbology if you aren't interested?" Sirius asked. It was honest curiosity, but he managed to make it sound like an accusation, which only added fuel to James's dying fire.
"Yeah!" James practically shouted with renewed suspicion.
The boy squirmed under their scrutiny and groaned that they wouldn't just take his word for it and let it go. "She …she reminds me of my mum, alright? They have the same eyes and it… made me nervous." He shrugged and tried to sound casual about it. He failed.
"Oh," their eyes fell to the floor awkwardly as they remembered that he was adopted, which meant his mother was most likely dead.
Remus cleared his throat. "Well now that you've both made complete arses of yourself, I think some breakfast might be a good plan. Eh, Harry?"
"Uh, yeah…" Harry dashed between the two abashed Marauders and out to the washroom.
"Why do things always have to get so complicated so quickly?" he asked his reflection in the mirror. The haggard boy looking back at him provided no answers, just made him wonder how long it would be before they started questioning why he was barely sleeping. He thought he was doing pretty good keeping them from being suspicious. It was easy enough given how friendly they all were; he simply fell into place alongside. He was not pretending to be anyone other than himself – with a different name, past and parents – when he was with them.
Sighing, he washed his face and threw on the clothes Tonks had bought for him. The jeans and tee-shirt were loose on his thin frame, though he could tell they should have been embarrassingly tight. Tonks seemed to think he was a sexy devil and wanted him to dress as such. "Tonks… I miss you already."
He hurried back and threw his pyjamas on the bed, grabbed a jumper and followed Remus out to breakfast. James and Sirius avoided his eye, too humiliated to even apologise. He had to give their outrageous suggestion one thing – it drove all thoughts of his dream from his head. Although, he would have welcomed an outright fistfight with James over the disturbing thought that he was attracted to his sixteen-year-old mum.
"Sorry about them," Remus said after a considerable silence. "They're gits."
"Yeah," Harry agreed quietly and did not encourage the conversation any further. Unlike the others, Remus was perceptive enough to realise this and didn't press the issue, even though he was very curious about Harry and his mother and his reaction to Lily Evans. It was only the boy's third day in their company and such intimate information was more than they should have expected. It was easy to feel comfortable around Harry since he looked so much like their long-time friend, but he was not James Potter. To assume he was as similar in personality as he was in appearance was an insult to the boy.
"Are you going to eat today?" Remus asked, half-joking. He had noticed Harry making an effort to force food into his stomach when it clearly pained him to do so.
The boy smiled. "I'm trying. Give me time and I'll be eating as much as you."
"That is not a goal you should strive for…" Remus laughed and gripped the excess weight he carried around his torso. It would be gone after Wednesday's full moon. His Lunar Diet, James called it. "It's something I have to have for my condition."
Harry nodded understandingly before he remembered he wasn't supposed to know about the lycanthropy. "What condition is that?"
"I get stomach sickness easily," Remus lied flawlessly. "It comes on suddenly every few weeks. The healers can't do a thing for me, so I have to eat my fill while I can."
"Oh," Harry said, trying very hard not to snort at the lame excuse. Did that really fool anyone? He sat down beside the big fat liar at the Gryffindor table and ate. Harry managed two sliced of toast and an entire egg, though nothing else. Remus shovelled in eggs and beans and mushrooms and tomatoes and toast at a disturbing speed. Harry wasn't even sure if the boy was chewing or just dislocating his jaw like a snake and pushing it all in.
"The boy has a hard enough time keeping his food down as it is, Moony," Sirius chided and sat down opposite. "He really doesn't need to see that, too."
Remus, the brightest and most articulate Marauder and the best teacher Harry ever had, replied with a highly inappropriate hand gesture.