Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Sixty-Two - Small, Sick, and Oblivious

Despite the victorious and happy feeling basking in the aftermath of the Great Bogey Prank, Remus still felt stupid for pushing himself as much as he had, for pushing himself to the point of passing out. He couldn't quite reach the same level of giddiness as his friends. He had low grade nightmares all night, and felt a bit grouchy when he got up in the morning due to lack of sleep. His friends were still on Cloud Nine, especially as it's all anyone could talk about at breakfast. The entire Great Hall was abuzz with the news, and there was a small article in the paper.

James borrowed a copy of the Daily Prophet from an older student so they could check it out. It was only a paragraph long, stating that an entire class at Hogwarts had been afflicted with the Bat Bogey hex--twenty-eight people in all, including the teacher--and that the Ministry was looking into the culprits though they promised it was merely a school prank.

"We need to get copies of that," James whispered after he pushed the paper back to the other student.

"We can probably just write to the Prophet and request some copies without starting up a subscription," Sirius said.

James decided to do just that later in the day after Defense, writing out the request and dropping what he hoped would be enough coins into the envelope. The four boys walked to the owlery together since none of them had anything better to do. When they went in, Remus hoped none of them noticed how upset most the owls got at him.

James's eagle owl flew down to him immediately, putting on an air of importance that he had to have learned from his owner. "Big delivery today, Godric!" James attached the envelope to the owl's leg. "Daily Prophet headquarters. As fast as you can!" They watched Godric fly off, then headed out of the owlery.

A lot of times when they were walking around Remus would read which always amused his friends. Usually his wolf senses were sharp enough to keep himself out of trouble however there were times he was so invested in the story he didn't pay attention and ran into things. After they left the owlery, Remus got out his latest novel and trailed after his friends, nose in the book. He followed them, their chatter going in one ear and out the other as he read. After about two floors of following them he ran smack dab into something.

Someone.

Sirius stood squarely in front of him, grinning from ear to ear. "You should pay more attention."

"I w-was," Remus complained. "Why'd you stop?"

"Wanted to see if you were paying attention." Sirius folded his arms, raising one eyebrow. "Which you weren't. I was watching you and you nearly ran into a statue a bit ago."

"Yes but I didn't..." Remus frowned, the same feeling going through him as it did the other day when Sirius had saved him from walking off the top step and said he had had his eye on him. It all went back to what Fawley showed him, and Remus decided to just confront him about it. "You were ahead of me. How were you watching me?"

"Oh! This fantastic new invention called... ready for this?" Sirius turned so his back was to Remus and then turned his head. "Looking over my shoulder. Neat, eh?" Down the hallway James and Peter burst into laughter.

Remus frowned even more, brow furrowing. "All right then, why were you watching me?"

Sirius twisted back round to face him. "Huh? Why was I watching my friend nearly run into things cause he's not paying attention? Er, sorry for being concerned...?"

Remus's stomach lurched. He couldn't really point out Sirius seemed to have a tendency for 'watching' him without it being odd. "You d-d-don't need to--to watch me. I'm not a child. W--well, technically, I--I guess I am? Is twelve a child still? Ei--either way, yes. You don't need to do that."