Blood Trail 14

Chapter 14
November 1, 1976

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We slipped inside the castle but froze instantly, for a very cross looking McGonagall was waiting for us.

She took us to her office where she began chastising us for being out so late in the Forbidden Forest. Peter was a nervous wreck and James and Sirius were on the verge of being so, but I tried to remain as calm as possible.

“It was stupid! You could have gotten yourselves killed! What were you thinking?!”

“It’s a long story, professor-” Sirius began.

“Oh not this again, Mr. Black!” she rolled her eyes.

“Let me explain, professor,” I explained the whole story to her. The dreams and the visits, the other times we snuck out of the castle. Lily. The Slytherins. Cecil. Everything. She never interrupted either, but patiently listened to everything we had done in the last two months.

When I was finished, she began speaking again. “Why didn’t you come to me or one of the other professors with this, Mr. Lupin?”

Why hadn’t I?! “You all have enough things to worry about without this,” I lied, shrugging.

She shook her head and was about to speak again, but never did. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I followed it up and saw a grand set of red robes. My eyes locked with the piercing blue of Dumbledore’s.

“Sir, I can explain,” I began, but he hushed me.

“May I speak with these students alone?” he asked. McGonagall obviously didn’t want to leave, but obeyed the old Headmaster, shutting her office door behind her.

“You are aware that tonight alone, you have broken four major school rules,” he walked before us and sat behind McGonagall’s desk. “And maybe ten more on other multiple occasions in the past month alone,” we all nodded, waiting for the hammer to fall.

To our great amazement, however, Dumbledore began chuckling. “I doubt there are very many students that would be able to accomplish what you have done tonight. You have solved an age-old mystery that can now be laid to rest. You should be proud.”

“Wait! You knew what we were doing the whole time?!” Sirius asked.

Dumbledore nodded.

“Well couldn’t you have helped?! We were nearly killed!” exclaimed Sirius.

Dumbledore shook his head. “No, I’m far too old for those adventures anymore. And besides, I figured you’d be more than capable to figure it out yourselves. You have to fight your own monsters.”

I nodded, remembering him telling me just that years before.

“And speaking of which!” Dumbledore became cheerful once more as he conjured another large book out of thin air. He set it out before him and invited us to stand behind him to see it.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked. We all shook our heads. “This is a record of every student who has ever attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

“Am I in there?!” Sirius asked, suddenly excited.

“Yes,” Dumbledore flicked his wand above the book and the pages turned and turned and then stopped on a page in the middle. With a long, thin finger, Dumbledore pointed to an entry, written in tall, thin letters. We read:

Name: Cecil Marie Reid
Date of Birth: 18 April 1465
Date of Death: 31 October 1476
House: Hufflepuff
Blood Status: Pureblood
Other Notes: Werewolf

“What about ours’, Sir?” Sirius asked. Dumbledore waved his wand again and the book turned to its last pages.

“It never runs out of room. There’s always room for anyone.” He pointed to Sirius’s record.

Name: Sirius Orion Black
Date of Birth: 5 September 1959
Date of Death: -
House: Gryffindor
Blood Status: Pureblood
Other Notes: -

“Here is Remus,” he pointed to mine.

Name: Remus John Lupin
Date of Birth: 10 March 1960
Date of Death: -
House: Gryffindor
Blood Status: Half-blood
Other Notes: Werewolf

“And Peter and James.”

Name: Peter Leonard Pettigrew
Date of Birth: 17 February 1960
Date of Death: -
House: Gryffindor
Blood Status: Pureblood
Other Notes: -

Name: James Atticus Potter
Date of Birth: 27 March 1960
Date of Death: -
House: Gryffindor
Blood Status: Pureblood
Other Notes: -

“Who were the Slytherins who killed her?” I asked. Dumbledore grinned.

“I’m glad you asked,” one more time, the pages flipped and stopped. Dumbledore pointed to the name.

Name: William Cyrus Tilbury
Date of Birth: 11 November 1459
Date of Death: 31 October 1976
House: Slytherin
Blood Status: Pureblood
Other Notes: Werewolf

“Wait! He was a werewolf, too!” Peter exclaimed.

“Why would he want to kill other werewolves then?” Sirius asked.

Dumbledore chuckled. “Everyone deals with their problems differently, some better than others…but then I’m not here to judge.”

He stood up to leave as we all still pored over the book in shock.

“Oh, and by the way,” he stopped in the doorway and turned around to face us. We looked at him. “I believe there is someone who would like to see you.”

We all looked curiously at each other while Dumbledore left, clearing the doorway to reveal a grinning, healthy Lily Evans standing in it as well.

James ran to her in a flash, wanting to sweep her off of her feet and tell her how worried he was. But he stooped abruptly and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“Hey….”

“Hello, James,” she grinned at him and then looked over his shoulder and greeted the rest of us. She then returned her attention to James. “Listen, they told me how you raced me to Madame Pomfrey and tried to save me.”

“Uh….” James mumbled unsurely.

Lily took in a deep breath. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’re not a complete ass and maybe we can start again.”

Sirius barked with laughter. “Oh my god, Evans just said ass! We’ve had more of an influence on you that we thought, huh?”

I rolled my eyes and Lily glared at him.

“Just get rid of him, okay?” she joked.

“No problem!” James laughed.

“Hey!” Sirius shouted indignantly, putting on a face of mock-offended.

“So,” Lily walked past James to me, “what did I miss?”

I grinned. “Sit down, it’s a long story.”

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