Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Sixty-Two- A Curse Breaker and Two Mirrors

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Things were tense.

There, Sirius admitted it. Sure everything was fine when it was the four of them. But whenever he caught himself alone with Remus, it was like neither he nor Remus knew how to speak anymore, especially to one another.

Sirius really thought things would eventually be fine, even downright peachy between him and Remus. His friend had even made a joke to Sirius after the explanation of the coma incident, that if Sirius didn't want to go flying out a window without a broom he should stay put and not seek revenge. Of course, Remus had been maddeningly adamant with Sirius about not going after the Slytherins.

Sirius still didn't believe his cousins had nothing to do with it. Like always, it was clear Remus wasn't telling them the whole story. Still, with Remus' angry comments at the forefront of his mind, he had agreed, at least until after exams, not to do anything.

He also was sure something was still going on with Professor Blavatnik. How could there not be something up when the DADA professor kept shooting angry looks at Remus when he thought no one else was watching. But now that they all knew it was the Slytherins that caused Remus to wind up in a coma, none of his friends believed his suspicions. Sirius insisted, reminding them about his weird interaction with their professor threatening him after he had been caught snooping through the man's classroom, but James pointed out that Professor Blavatnik could have just been irritated and suspected Sirius.

"Imagine that! A professor not liking you, Sirius, nor liking the potential ickle prefect hanging out with the lot of us. Remus explained it all to us. You're just being mental, mate. Though that's nothing new, yeah?" James had joked. In response, Sirius had replied with several choice phrases to throw at him. He knew that he was right, was sure of it, much more sure than he was about anything else, especially about believing Remus would be completely honest.

For a while, things went back to normal. Sort of, at least when it was the four of them together. Remus made witty comments and avoided questions and so forth. They all went to see the last Quidditch game of the year together. James dragged Remus along, saying he best get used to it since he'd have to go to all of them next year.

They all recovered together after yet another Gryffindor loss, by gorging themselves on Honeydukes sweets. They went to Hogsmeade multiple times and sat by the lake several times and they all even studied together. But as the twentieth of June drew nearer, Remus became more avoidant.

Sirius had left the fight with Remus weeks before, maybe just a tad bit upset. James had calmed him down in their dorm room. Sirius had reluctantly confessed the cause of the argument to James. However, even if his best mate wasn't on the same page as him about Professor Blavatnik, at least he was about Remus.

"Then you quit asking questions," James had commented after Sirius had calmed down enough to listen to reason. He had been about to argue with James that ignoring it wasn't a solution, not when Remus seemed so sick, hurt, and upset afterward. But then James had said that he would stay on top of it. They would follow Remus in the invisibility cloak, and Sirius had knocked James down as he had hugged him so abruptly.

So they had spent the time Remus spent ignoring them forming a plan. They had decided they would trail Remus all day on the twentieth in the invisibility cloak. It would be an awfully boring prospect since he'd probably be studying the whole time, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

Peter, however, was not part of the plan. Sirius was still cross at him for being spooked enough to pull him away from the secret passage within a passage. It wouldn't have been a big deal if they had been able to find the bloody thing again. But because Peter had been so scared and upset, Sirius hadn't made a proper mental note of where they had been. And after the four of them had spent hours upon hours looking for the passageway, they finally had to give up.