Four To The End Book Two (Marauders Era)

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Eight - Remus Gets The Marauders

Author's Note: For anyone wondering, my mum came home on Friday and she's been doing well; she's recovering slowly, but she is recovering!

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The Marauders sat with Lily, Colgate, and Inkwood on Remus's first night back; mostly because Remus wanted to sit with Lily, and Sirius didn't seem to mind too much sitting very close to Inkwood. Remus and Lily chatted, Lily telling him about her holidays and saying how worried she had been especially since his mother had been ill too.

"Where's P-Professor Prewett?" Remus asked halfway through the meal, realizing his usual spot at the High Table was empty.

"Oh, he wasn't around last night or today," Colgate said.

Remus looked at the empty seat. "I—oh, I hope he's all r-right..."

"I'm sure if something happened Dumbledore would've said something," said James, and Remus figured he was right.

After they were done eating, all seven of them got up to head out of the Great Hall. The others were talking about playing a few rounds of Wild Adventures when Professor McGonagall appeared by their side.

"I didn't do it!" James protested immediately.

"Didn't do what, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall inquired, raising her eyebrows.

James squinted. "Whatever it is you're going to accuse us of doing."

"I wasn't going to accuse you of doing anything, though Merlin knows you probably have done something," McGonagall replied, looking down her nose at them. "No, I need to speak to Mr. Lupin for a moment. Privately."

Remus followed her into the room where they had the first years wait before the Sorting, wondering what he had done! Was it because he didn't come home on the train? Was McGonagall going to talk to him about that? Was he in trouble? Or was it the detention he had received for accidentally cheating?

As it turned out, it did have something to do with that.

"I wanted to speak to you about the incident regarding your Potions exam," McGonagall said, sitting down and patting the bench next to her. Remus obediently sat. "We still have not come to an agreement. I feel strongly that you should be allowed to use the spell, however Horace thinks the best course of action is to have you undergo a test."

"Another exam?"

McGonagall shook her head. "Not quite. We're going to have you make the same potion twice in a row. One where you cannot smell the ingredients, one where you can. If there is an obvious enough difference between the two we'll be speaking further about it."

"I see... um, th—thank you, Professor."

"Tomorrow night after supper?" she asked.

"Yes," he agreed, feeling a little sad he'd miss the first Study Group back. "That's fine, thank you."

"I also wanted to talk to you about what I mentioned before the holidays," she said quickly as he began to stand up. Slowly he sank back down. "Are you having trouble in any other class?"

"No, Professor," he replied honestly. "Honestly. I'm fine. I am. It's only Potions."

McGonagall gave him a long look. "If you need help with anything—"

"I'll c-come to you," he said, half lying. He didn't want to be a burden! "Thank you. Um, have—have a g-good evening."

Of course the others wanted to know what it had been about, and he didn't want to say in front of the girls; he simply said it was to do with his detention. They accepted this and went up to the common room where James got out his Wild Adventures so they could play; they ended up doing so until probably a lot later than they should have. None of them went to bed until well after eleven pm, and the Marauders stayed up a little bit after that to celebrate a belated 'Marauders Day', as James put it; the twenty-second of April having been the anniversary of when they became the Marauders.