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Fight in the Defense Hall (Moony)



Remus paced in the dormitory from one end to the other, certain Sirius would tell everybody about his condition. He was wringing his hands and working himself up quite badly when James and Peter came in. Peter went right to rooting about in his trunk, but James paused by the desks, looking uncertainly at Remus and his apparent agitation. Remus paused his fretting and their eyes met.

"Seems classes keep getting harder," Peter was saying, continuing the conversation they'd had on the way up from the Great Hall, as he dug through his things. "Where is my book? James, do you see my Herbology book?"

"No, I don't," James replied without turning his eyes from Remus. "Where is Sirius?" he asked.

"Dunno," replied Remus, "Do I look as though I keep track of where he's at all the time?"

Remus's face was pink and hot, though, from the anxiousness running through him. He could feel the question burning in James's eyes - was Sirius right, and where was he now? Remus felt his stomach churn with the fear of what James might be thinking about Sirius missing. It wasn't fair, Remus though, to worry that his friend had been eaten by a werewolf - or, rather, to need to worry about it. It wasn't fair he had to be one, that he had the secret at all, but there wasn't a damned thing to be done about it.

Spotting Peter's book on the desk Remus used the opportunity to turn away from James and said, "Here it is, Peter."

Peter jumped up, leaving his trunk's contents spilling out all over, shutting up mis sentence, though nobody had been listening to his rambling anyway, and snatched his book. "Thank goodness! You get your stuff James? Remus? Ready to go?"

James shook his head, "Gotta get my gloves and book, you go ahead Peter, And save us the good table by the window for class."

"Okay!" Feeling important for being the one to save the table, Peter scurried out of the dorm quickly, clutching his book.

Remus turned away and pretended to be quite occupied by picking up Peter's spilled things. He heard James open his own trunk and begin rummaging about. Remus wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. Perhaps he was quite sorry that Dumbledore had put them in this situation, that he didn't sign up to be a werewolf and he found himself quite as repulsive as they did, really. The air was thick with the unspoken.

Sirius rushed in then, quite breathless, and Remus half expected McGonagall to be right behind him with his expulsion papers, but she wasn't. Sirius looked around, "You won't believe it," he gasped, "There's been a fight, downstairs, in the Defense hall. Lucius Malfoy and Bilius Weasley!"

"What?!" James and Remus both asked at once.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Sirius, "Dunno what about but they're both in the hospital wing now! I saw Pomfrey levitating them up!"

"What did Tutman say?" asked Remus.

"Tutman wasn't there," replied Sirius. "Pomfrey only came because Frank Longbottom spotted it and ran to get her. It was a mess!"

"Tutman wasn't there? A fight in his wing and he wasn't there? That's odd," said Remus.

"I thought so, too," replied Sirius, "But he wasn't there!"

"Was it a quiet fight?" asked James, "I've heard some of the sixth and seventh years can do silent spells now... Perhaps...?"

"Oh, no! Definitely not. I could hear them half a corridor away, that's how I found out! I ran down to see what all the racket was about. A great lot of shouting going on and banging about. Looked as though they both got some excellent hexes in before it was broken up, too. They were both a right mess, but Lucius looked a bit worse. I reckon Bilius won."

Remus shook his head, "He's a prefect! He ought not to be fighting!"

"Well I'm betting Malfoy started it," said James, "He's always awful to Bilius. And Malfoy's Head Boy in Slytherin!"

"There's your answer mate - he'a a Slytherin!" barked Sirius.

"I'd like to know what they were fighting over," said Remus, "And what Tutman was doing ignoring a fight in his hall."

"I'd like to know what Malfoy was doing in the Defense hall at this hour!" Sirius said. "They ought to be in the dungeons for Potions - him and Bilius, too, actually."

James's brow stitched, "You're right! Weird!"

Sirius nodded.

"Speaking of, we ought to be in the green houses by now for Herbology," said James. "Let's go, we can talk on the way."

James rushed out, clutching his gloves and book and Sirius made to follow. James looked at Remus from the hall, "You coming?"

Remus had to go to the shrieking shack. It was getting late already. He shook his head, "I'll catch you up," he said.

Sirius nodded and went to the door, pausing in the frame to look back as James thundered down the stairs ahead of him. "Stay safe, alright?"

Remus nodded.

"Bye," Sirius said and clambered down the stairs.



It was a bit later, once Remus had gotten his things into a bag and neatened up the mess Peter had made, when he started out for the passageway to the Shrieking Shack. Remus was nearly down the stairs to the common room when Bilius Weasley and Derek Bell came 'round the bend, Derek supporting Bilius up on his shoulder. Sirius had been right about one thing - Bilius did look a right mess, and it was clear Pomfrey had cleaned him up as well as she could, but he still had seen better days of course. "What're you doing still up here?" asked Derek as he brought Bilius round the landing to the sixth years door. "Aren't your lot supposed to be in the greenhouses about now?"

"Yeah," Remus replied, "I -er-… I skipped off today.” Remus pointed at Bilius to divert the attention from himself, "Are you alright, then? Sirius said there was a fight."

"I'll survive, I reckon," muttered Bilius darkly.

Derek scowled, "Malfoy's a piece of work. Hey could you get the door for us?” Quickly, Remus pushed the door open and Derek helped Bilius on through.

The Sixth Years' dorm was much more lived in than the First Years', that was for sure. Remus looked about at all the posters and moving photographs they'd hung up 'round the place and the broken quills and Zonkos products sticking out of the various half-open drawers of the desks. They'd been making their home at Hogwarts for so long the room was easy to recognize as their own... except one of the beds, which stood empty and dark compared to the others, the posters and photographs still and quiet, somber. Remus felt a chill; there was no mistaking the corner of the room as a standing memorial, and he wondered who had once stayed there.

Derek followed Remus's gaze and frowned, without commenting on the empty bed, and turned away as Bilius crawled into his bed without changing into pyjamas. "Oiii my bloody back, it's killin' me!" Bilius groaned as he fell into the mattress.

"You should've gone to Dumbledore," Derek said in reply.

Bilius scowled, "I've tried that, haven't I?" he demanded, "Lucius Malfoy hasn't been expelled yet and you can't possibly believe he would be now. He'd have come up with some ruddy excuse for being up in the Defense corridor."

Derek sighed and grabbed a book - The Laws of Apparition, Official Learner's Guide of the Ministry of Magic.

"What was he doing in the Defense corridor?" asked Remus, "What were you doing there for that matter? Shouldn't you both have been in Potions?"

Derek and Bilius exchanged glances and, not wanting to be the one to field the question, Derek ducked behind his Apparition guide. Bilius plumped the pillow behind himself and sat up best he could. "I was trying to see Tutman," Bilius explained. "I had a question about the class we'd had this morning and I walked up after lunch to see him before Potions. But Lucius was already in the room and he -"

Derek cleared his throat sharply, looking over the top of his book with eyes that carried an expression of warning.

Bilius paused. Then, "Well when he came out, we exchanged some words and the fight happened. That's all."

"How did Tutman not hear it if you were fighting right outside his classroom?" Remus asked.

Bilius's lips pursed tightly, and looked at Derek, "See? That. That exactly."

"What?" Remus looked confused.

Derek put down the book, "Look, Bil," he said, "We've been through this. Nothing supports your theory, it's crazy! You only think Malfoy is up to no good because you detest him. He's knockers for sure but he isn't crazy enough to -- not a teacher --"

"But he's been acting so strange lately - " argued Bilius.

“Tutman?” Remus asked.

Derek and Bilius looked at Remus. “Yeah,” Bilius said. “Why… did you notice, too?”

“Yeah!” Remus exclaimed, “Sirius, James, and I thought so too.” Quickly, Remus told them both the story about the Potions corridor and the prefect's toilet in the dungeons. He didn't tell them about Sirius and James in Filch's office or any of what they'd seen there, only because he didn't want James and Sirius to get into trouble and he wasn't sure if Bilius would be angry they'd been sneaking out in the middle of the night. Plus, he didn't want to try to explain how they hadn't been seen. But even with the part of the story that Remus did tell them, he could tell they were quite intrigued and impressed. Derek's eyebrows climbed up his forehead as Remus spoke and he looked at Bilius with surprise. "And ever since then we've noticed Tutman's been acting very weirdly."

Bilius looked at Derek. "See?" he demanded.

Derek looked quite unnerved. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Still though… The Imperius Curse?”

“It makes sense, mate! I'm telling you!” Bilius persisted.

Remus looked between the two boys. “What's the Imperius Curse?” he asked.

Bilius turned to look at Remus. “It's forbidden magic, but one of the ones You-Know-Who is quite well known for. The Dark Lord uses the Imperius to make people do his bidding, see. It's like mind control or possession, sort of. He can control you with it and it's mighty hard to shake off, even powerful wizards have loads of trouble shaking it off. Especially off from someone who's really skilled at it, like the Dark Lord is.”

“But Lucius Malfoy wouldn't be that skilled at it, do you reckon?” Derek demanded, “And what good would imperiusing Tutman do for Malfoy anyway?” he added.

“Well Tutman was helping Dumbledore with securing the castle against the Dark Lord wasn't he?” Bilius said to Derek.

Remus nodded, “That's true! He was! James heard them talking about the Floo Network one night. They were afraid there was someone in the castle talking to the Dark Lord on the Network so they were going to shut it down.”

Bilius pointed at Remus as evidence.

“But the Network's still down, isn't it?” Derek pointed out. “You'd think if Malfoy had needed help from him getting the Floo Network back up that he would've made him fix it immediately once he'd had him imperiused.”

“Unless it was too risky and he was afraid of Dumbledore noticing,” Bilius said.

“So why not release Tutman from the curse, then?” demanded Derek.

“He'd tell, wouldn't he? Then Malfoy'd be caught at it,” Remus suggested.

Derek rubbed his chin. “I s'pose.”

“I'd love to catch Malfoy at it,” muttered Bilius, “Ruddy git. See him be expelled...”

The whole discussion with Derek and Bilius ran over and over through Remus's mind as he ran down the stairs not much later, through the Great Hall and onto the grounds of Hogwarts, headed for the Whomping Willow. He wondered what the other First Year Gryffindors would think of Bilius and Derek's theory, and what would happen if it proved to be true. But would Malfoy really have the guts to cast an unforgivable, forbidden spell on a teacher? And what good did Imperiusing him do if it hadn't fixed the Floo Network? Was there some other form of communication that Tutman could help them with providing? Remus was unsure...