Queen of Disaster | 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑛

Chapter 48

With the arrival of March, the fifth year students could barely keep up with their homework and essays anymore without a strict schedule. They spent all their afternoons in the library and the evenings in their common room to study more.

      Although that day, being his birthday, Remus was forced to take a break from studying by the insistence of James, Sirius, and Peter.

     That morning at breakfast he had to go through the embarrassment of his three friends singing happy birthday to him at the top of their lungs. Remus thought he would be used to it after enduring this for five years, but he still turned red when their loud singing caused every single person in the Great Hall to look over at his direction.

     Ever since their fourth year, when they had discovered a secret passageway behind the statue of the One-Eyed Witch, it had become a tradition for the Marauders to sneak out of Hogwarts whenever it was one of their birthdays. They would go to Hogsmeade for the evening to have some Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks and just enjoy themselves to the fullest.

     Madam Rosmerta was so fond of Sirius and James that she never told on them to any of the professors. The two always knew how to charm everyone with their words — or perhaps their good looks as well.

"I'm starting to get a headache." Peter groaned as the four of them made their way back through the castle at the end of the night.

"Only a minute ago you said you had stomachache, Wormtail," said James, who had the Marauder's Map in his hand, making sure no one was around. Although he did have the Invisibility Cloak tucked in his bag, just in case.

"I have that too," said Peter miserably. "I had too much Butterbeer."

"You know the saying," Sirius started with a grin, "You only know you've had fun when you get a bad headache the next morning."

"There's no such saying, Padfoot," said Remus, smiling as he strolled through the corridor along with his friends.

"Then I'll make it a saying." Sirius shrugged handsomely. "The worse the headache is, the more fun the party was. It's a thing."

"It's not a thing," James replied in a flat tone, his eyes fixed on the Map.

Sirius began to argue, but just then all their attention was caught when they saw something flying into the corridor through one of the open windows nearby. It was an enchanted paper, made to look like a little bird, flying toward them.

"The hell is that?" Sirius questioned as the paper bird flew closer to them, landing in Remus's hands.

Before he could get the chance to open it, Sirius quickly leaped forward and snatched the small paper out of his hands.

"OI!" Remus yelled, making a move to take it back from him, but James and Peter were quick to hold him back as all four of them laughed.

"Ooh! And who's this letter from, Moony? Your secret lover?" Sirius said in a lofty voice, opening the small note to see what was written down on it. But he frowned in confusion the moment he looked down at it.

"Well?" said James impatiently. "What does it say?"

"Er... not sure..." Sirius said after a long pause.

"Oh, let go already!" Remus said with a chuckle, breaking free from James and Peter's grasps and finally snatching the little paper out of Sirius's hands.

Remus opened the short letter, and the other three boys gathered around him curiously, looking down at the paper.

The note only involved two lines, but the words weren't in English. They were written in ancient Egyptian runes.

Sirius and the others might not have understood its meaning, but Remus knew exactly what it meant and who had sent it.

"Do you get any of this?" Peter asked, frowning.

Remus shrugged, pocketing the note as he tried to suppress his smile. "No idea."

"It's the ancient Egyptian language, I only know that much," said James thoughtfully. "Moony, don't you study the Ancient Runes subject? You must know this."

"We're studying the Viking Runes," Remus replied. Technically, this wasn't a lie.

"Should we go and find out what it means?" James went on. "Could be a prank from Snivellus."

"Nah, I say we should let it go," said Sirius, catching everyone by surprise. This was probably the first time he had disagreed with James on a possible adventure. "It's Remus's birthday. I'm sure he doesn't want to go looking for trouble on his day. Right, Moony?"

"Right." Remus nodded.

If it were any other time, he wouldn't have minded trouble as long as he was with his friends, and he enjoyed sneaking around and causing mischief. But now, there was something else he rather do.

The four boys made their way up to the Gryffindor tower. On their way, in order to avoid Peeves who was lurking on the second floor, they took a secret passageway to get to their common room.

"Pity, we didn't have any cake this year," said Peter as they got into their dorm. "I could really use some cake right now."

"No, thank you." Remus scoffed. "After the prank you pulled on my thirteenth birthday, I'm forever done with birthday cakes."

"Oh c'mon, Moony," Sirius smirked, dropping himself down on his bed with his shoes still on, "it was classic."

"What part of exploding the cake in my face was classic, exactly?" Remus raised a brow at him.

James snorted with laughter. "All of if."

"I'm glad you found it amusing," said Remus, shaking his head at the three boys who were now sniggering. "Anyway, I should go up to Madam Pomfrey to take my potion. It helps with the healing of future wounds, if I drink it daily."

"But didn't you drink it today morning?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah... but I figured it would work better on the next full moon if I had more," Remus excused as casually as possible, before waving them goodbye and leaving the dorm, closing its door behind him.

A few moments had passed, until —

"Okay, remember when I said we shouldn't look too much into the note?" Sirius said in an excited whisper as he hopped off the bed, walking toward where James and Peter stood. "I don't think it was a prank by Snivelly. I think —"

"That the letter was actually sent by the girl Remus fancies? Yeah, I figured," said James, grinning smugly. "I only said that to make him believe that we weren't on to him."

"Then who's the girl?" Peter mused.

"She has to be in his Ancient Runes class," Sirius deducted. "That's the only class Remus has without us."

"Which is why he had managed to ask her out to Hogsmeade on Valentine's day without us noticing," James completed.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Peter said excitedly. "We should go after him now and catch him red-handed!"

"Nah, I've got a better idea to find out who she is." James's sly grin began to grow wider. "He's made it so much easier for us. Because this time, he forgot to take the Marauder's Map with himself."