Prompt: Whomping Willow

It was last year - their very first at Hogwarts - when Sirius Black and James Potter served their first detention.  In the months that followed they accrued many more as the result of their pranks and rule breaking.  There had been the one night when they'd dared little Peter Pettigrew to enter the lake naked.  "Nobody will see you," Sirius had said.  "Everyone's in bed."  And indeed, he was right, but they still got caught the next day when Peter ended up in the hospital wing with a dreadful cold.  (They had, after all, refused to give him his robes back for a full hour.)  And of course, there was the night they'd snuck into the broom shed.  "First years are not allowed broomsticks for a reason, Mr Potter!" McGonagall had barked sharply as she led them back to the castle in the middle of the night.  But James's face had been flushed with joy from their broomstick romp, and he hadn't minded the detention so much.  Then there were the dares, of course, in which they goaded each other to enter the Forbidden Forest.  They never went in very far, but they did get in trouble one time, when a centaur had seen them and told Hagrid.

The detentions never bothered the two boys.  In fact, as they usually served them together, they were perfectly enjoyable.  The punishments never deterred them from continuing with their rule breaking, and it still does not.

Sirius, now in second year, sighs and leans against the glass window in the dormitory, and he stares out at the grounds - it is littered with fall leaves.  James is sitting on his bed writing a letter to his parents, and Sirius glances at him, willing him to hurry up.  He is anxious to sneak out tonight - their first expedition for the term.  They had seen Professor Slughorn sipping a butterbeer at dinner that evening, launching a massive discussion on whether or not Hogwarts housed its own butterbeer in the kitchens, or whether Slughorn's bottle had come from Hogsmeade.  James is convinced Hogwarts has it (for Hogwarts has everything), and Sirius is certain Slughorn had visited the village earlier in the day.  Either way, one of them will be paying the other a galleon tonight when the truth is proven.

James, who hears the sigh, who understands Sirius without even trying, does not look up from his letter.  "I'm almost done, Sirius," he reassures his friend, head bowed over the parchment.

Satisfied, Sirius turns his eyes back to the window when he is suddenly quite aware that somebody is watching him.  He looks sharply across the four-poster beds and spies Peter Pettigrew staring at him.  "Got a staring problem, Pettigrew?" he demands, and Peter flushes and looks away. 

There is an awkward silence in which Sirius feels smug, and then finally Peter asks, "Are you sneaking out?" He toys with a silk thread on his blanket and is unable to make eye contact again, his face still red.  He knows they sneak out, after all - sometimes they even include him, but only to be the butt of their jokes.  Sirius knows that Peter is hoping to join them tonight rather than spend the night completely and utterly alone in the dormitory.  Their fourth roommate and the one Peter usually gravitates towards is ill - once again - and in the hospital wing.

"Hoping we'll take you to visit Lupin?" asks Sirius.  "Maybe Pomfrey will let you spend the night," he grins, teasing, and Peter's blush deepens.

"Shut up, Black," Peter mutters, yanking the hangings closed around his bed.

It is twilight now, and Sirius turns back to the window.  The pompous grin slides from his face, however, when a block of light suddenly illuminates the grass so far below him.  He presses his forehead to the window and stares downwards, trying to see.  Nobody has reason to leave the school at this hour.  Not unless they are up to no good, as he knows very well.  So he is rather surprised when he recognizes Madame Pomfrey leading a boy out onto the lawn.  And he is very curious when he realizes that the boy is his very own roommate, Remus Lupin.  Then the large front door closes, and the light is gone, so that he has to strain to see them.

"Oi," he snaps at James, who looks up.  Sirius jerks his head towards the window.  "Lupin's leaving the castle," he says, and James immediately tosses his letter aside and hurries over to see.  Likewise, Peter's curtains suddenly rip open and he flies across the room, almost tripping, to stare outside.

"Is she blind?" James is dismayed after a moment.  "They're heading right towards the Whomping Willow!"

The pair are so immersed now in darkness, even deeper in the shade of the massive tree, that Sirius has to squint to see them.  And then suddenly he can't see them at all.  He pulls away from the window and looks at James, who does the same to him in return.  Then there is chaos as they both suddenly scramble for the invisibility cloak in James's trunk, intending to follow and spy. 

Peter turns to look at them and rolls his eyes.  "She's coming back," he suddenly warns, and James and Sirius hurry back to the window and press themselves against the cold glass.

"But where's Lupin?" James notices.  Sirius narrows his eyes and scans the grounds, searching for any sign of the boy.  Remus is nowhere to be seen, and at last, Sirius straightens and sighs regrettably.

"She's killed him and hidden the body!" yelps Peter. 

Sirius glances at James, and James looks at Sirius, and a thought is shared between them.  There is something going on with Remus Lupin.  He has a secret, and Pomfrey is in on it, and they're going to find out what it is.