Capítulo 14: Chapter 14-
Ricky had never been so excited for a class. He hadn't really seen Hagrid much, mostly because he could figure out a way to pretend not to know him. Out of anyone in the past, he knew Hagrid best thanks to his memories, and lying to him felt… wrong.
But when Hagrid brought his hippogryphs out of the woods, Ricky was the first to step forward.
Like it was back in both Harry and Voldemort's Hogwarts years, care of magical creatures was one big class. They crammed two years together, and like DADA it was both sixth and seventh years in one class.
No one really liked Hagrid. It wasn't that he was a bad person, far from it, but he was a bit of bubbling idiot who liked dangerous things.
James might have liked dangerous things too, but he wasn't an idiot.
At least he wasn't idiot enough to make friends with an Acromantula.
Ricky apparently hadn't gotten the memo, because he approached the half giant and his flock of flying killing machines like he was about to pet a baby unicorn. Surprisingly even Terry followed him.
Hagrid was smiling until Ricky approached one of the smaller grey ones, who looked young and green, and what should have been no one's first choice.
"Er, that one's Buckbeak, he's a bit unt-" Hagrid cut himself off as Ricky bowed gracefully and deeply to the winged bird faced horse. James had no desire to show the back of his neck to such a creature.
The entire class held their breath, and hippogryph turned its head to look at Ricky with an eye that dilated, bringing its prey into sharp focus.
"Er, 'Ricky, maybe you should back away from Beaky slow-"
But then the bird-horse bowed as deeply as Ricky had.
Hagrid laughed, and Kettleburn smiled as if he had just won a pot of gold.
"You can ride him if you like, Ricky."
James' stupid, death-defying cousin nodded, and the half-giant picked him up like a doll and placed him on 'Beaky's' back.
The class watched horrified as the bird took off at a run and almost tumbled to the Earth on the lift-off. It turned and looked as if it was struggling to stay aloft, it nearly crashed into the treeline before shooting up high into the sky.
"Is he going to be alright?" Lily asked Hagrid.
The big man nodded, "Course, that's just the first time Buckbeak's taken a rider. Adjusting to the extra weight is all."
"He's going die," one of the Slytherins whispered, "he's not going to make it until Christmas."
"Christmas," another sniggered, "Potterclaw isn't going to make it to Halloween."
James gave Sirius a worried look.
Sirius didn't look like he had anything comforting to say.
Remus chimed in, "At the rate he's going, it would be rather remarkable if he made it to Halloween."
"Moony," Sirius protested and gave James a nervous look.
But James didn't know what to think. The four of them did stupid stuff all the time. Bloody hell, they spent every full moon with a werewolf.
But none of them had ever gotten hurt, not like Ricky, he who had spent two months in St. Mungo's after a freak kelpie attack.
Maybe no one had found him to accept him at Hogwarts because even the magical world knew he was too much trouble. James couldn't help worrying about how this would all make his parents.
Ricky couldn't for the love God understand why Harry had ever disliked this. This was amazing, they trailed over the lake and the feeling connection he felt with the hippogryph was exhilarating.
His broom was an extension of him, but with Buckbeak it was all about trust. As if they were dance partners and the wind was their music.
Granted, Buckbeak wasn't as smooth as when Harry flew him, but given he was twenty years younger that wasn't all that surprising.
He leaned forward and asked, "Is this your first time flying with a person?"
Buckbeak turned his head slightly and screeched what sounded like an affirmative to Ricky, and what felt like an affirmative when he dipped toward the surface of the lake.
He laughed and told the hippogryph, "Have fun! I don't mind being your test rider and it isn't a big deal if I fall in the lake."
He was shouting into the wind, and he couldn't have been sure how much of what he said that hippogryph understood. It was at this moment he kicked himself for not activating the spell 'speak with animals'
However, the next thing he knew they soaring upwards then plummeting into dives, and spirals and sharp turns.
It. Was. Thrilling.
At one point Ricky opened his arms to embrace the wind, at the same moment, Buckbeak tried a roll.
Ricky ended up in the lake, more than once.
But it was worth it, and he wouldn't have missed Buckbeak's concerned squawks nor watching him trying to fish him out of the lake for the world.
On the ground Sirius kept watching the skies, waiting for Ricky to return. James might not have been overly concerned, but he -unlike James, actually liked the new Potter.
Which, all things considered, was kind of sad, but James didn't know people the way he did. Yes, the boy had secrets, but so did everyone.
Secrets didn't necessarily mean untrustworthy, in fact, sometimes it meant the very opposite. But Ricky Potter was a good person.
And he did not deserve to die from falling off an untried hippogryph.
A black-feathered hippogryph nudged his shoulder, he looked back at the noble creature he had foolishly been ignoring. Thankfully, she didn't look offended, just began using his chest as a rubbing post for her head.
He rubbed her neck as she did this, her feathers were soft and warm.
And because of this distraction, he missed Ricky's crash landing.
Both he and the hippogryph were soaked as if they had taken a dunk or two into the lake. Ricky's lips were blue from the cold but he was smiling. Terry was the one to use a drying and warming spell on both of them.
He bubbled with questions and Ricky enthused right back as if he had just had one of the best experience of his life.
Sirius turned to James, "See, he's stronger than you think."
Hazel eyes narrowed on him, "Sure."
Sirius suppressed a sigh, he needed to find a way to get the two Potter boys on equal footing.
Little did he know that Wormtail was plotting the exact opposite.
After that little adventure in Care of Magical Creatures class, nothing of note really happened during the week.
Well he hung out with Terry and Andromeda for a bit, he also had the displeasure of officially meeting Ted Tonks.
Turns out he was that unknown Hufflepuff in his DADA class, apparently he and Andromeda went to Hogsmead together last year but things did not end well.
He only asked her in order to make his ex girlfriend jealous and let's just say that once Andromeda found out, it didn't end well for him.
He had tried to apologize to her a few times, but she did want to hear none of it. One day when she was hanging out with the two of them, he showed up and tried to pull her aside in private.
What greeted him was an overpowered stinging hex that landed him in the infirmary for the remainder of the week.
And now things were relatively calm, and it was only a matter of time before things changed. After walking into his room Ricky immediately noticed something wrong.
Sometimes even Ricky wasn't certain if he was looking for trouble or if trouble found him
He received a letter from an 'anonymous' source that told him to meet James at the Whomping Willow that night after curfew.
It was the night of the full moon, and the Mr. 'Anonymous' Rat, hadn't even bothered to disguise his handwriting.
Sometimes even Ricky wasn't certain if he was looking for trouble or if trouble found him.
On one hand, Ricky was pleased that he had such solid evidence to show James, Sirius, and Remus how awful Wormtail was, on the other, Ricky was disappointed in all is lives combined this had to be the worst attempt to kill him so far.
Harry Potter had lived through a lot of assassinations at the ripe age of sixteen, multiple attempts by Wormtail in fact, but this, this was just lazy.
Voldemort had survived multiple battles, and a handful of assassinations, in his opinion a six year old could do better.
So that begged the question of why was he out after curfew, on his own, headed to the Whomping Willow?
Because on his way back from a late night at the library he had caught a glimpse of dark robes and a sweep of greasy hair slipping around a corner in the opposite direction of the dungeons.
Ricky had no intentions of bullying his sour ex-potions professor, but Snape had been a Death Eater in this time, and suspicion of Severus Snape does not die easy.
He cursed when he saw the secret entrance to the Whomping Willow slide shut. Still cursing, he followed as quietly as he was able.
He made it to the entrance, and found he was correct in suspecting Severus Snape. Snape who had a camera and was peaking around the entrance to the cave.
Ricky was almost to him when the moron stepped out into striking distance of the tree.
"No!" Ricky hissed as he ran at him, tackling the Slytherin to the ground.
"Hey!" Snape exclaimed. "Get off m-!"
His words were cut off as branch swept over their heads.
Ricky shoved him over and rolled in the opposite direction as branch slammed into where they had been.
"Go! You idiot!" Ricky yelled as Snape looked up at the tree wide-eyed.
Growling, Ricky again tackled him as he got to his feet, again saving them both from decapitation by blunt foliage force.
A low howl filled the night, and he felt the blood in his veins turn to ice, "Go, go, go!"
Severus stumbled to his feet, and it was all Ricky could do to not just let Moony have him. Glancing over his shoulder he found that they might both be Moony-food soon. He ripped the camera Severus was clutching to himself and chucked the device at the werewolf.
"Hey, that's my camera!"
It hit Moony square on the nose, making him yelp and hold both paws to his nose. It was cute for all of five seconds, after which the werewolf looked up with murder in its gaze, the camera lay in shattered pieces where the Willow had taken offense to it. The werewolf stalked them as Ricky shoved and dragged Snape to safety.
The only thing that gave them time to escape was that Moony took a path that avoided the Whomping Willow's reach.
They had just made it back to the entrance when Moony launched at them both. A stag plowed into his side like a wrecking ball.
And Ricky transfigured a rock wall to block off the cave entrance. In six year they had finally begun to learn useful things in transfiguration that didn't involve turning tortoises into teapots.
Ricky rolled over on his back, still on the floor where he had thrown himself into safety. His breathing was heavy and all he could think was that 'Death by Moony' should never be laughed at. It didn't feel like such a lazy attempt now. Was that three times now?
"You owe me a camera, Potter."
Ricky turned to look at Snape who was on his knees, trying to use the wall to get up on his shaking legs.
"Fucking Prick," Ricky breathed, "You Bloody Wanker! I just saved your sorry ass!"
He got to his feet, his temper giving him strength. "What in Zordon's ball sack did you think you were doing?"
Snape stood, spine straight, limbs still trembling. "Remus Lupin," he said gravely, "is a werewolf."
Ricky snorted, "That doesn't answer my question. What did you think you were going to do? Take his picture? Did you think a werewolf would hold a pose for you? And would that be before or after he tried to rip your face off?"
"The school needs to know- he's dangerous, he's-"
"If that was Lupin, then you have to have realized that he has been a werewolf for years and that the teachers know about it. You can't keep something like that hidden from the Headmaster. I think that freaking homicidal willow was warning enough for most sane people to stay the bloody hell away!"
"You don't know me. You don't understand, he's-"
Ricky cut him off, years of listening to Snape lecturing him, but now? Now Snape had no authority.
"Oh, I know who you are, Severus Snape, and I think I understand more than you do. You're some poor kid, with a shite life, some shite family, and arsehole bullies who look down their noses at you. So you spend all your time trying to get back at them and make them feel as badly as you do. And every single time, you fail. Well, guess what Snape? That's life. People are shitty and nothing is fair. Get over it."
Snape bared his teeth at him, "You spoiled rich brat, what do you kn-"
Ricky punched him, hard.
It was a very satisfying moment. "I grew up with nothing, you arse. The Potters and Sirius are the first family I've ever had. Stay the hell away from them."
"They won't leave me alone," he said, holding a hand to his swelling face
"They will if they think Pettigrew set us up. "
"What?" Snape asked, confused.
"Wormtail, you know the rat that follows them around like a leech. If they think one of their friends set us up to get snacked on then they won't go near you for fear you might go to Dumbledore."
"I will go to Dumbledore. He needs to know-"
"He already knows, you dolt. It's Dumbledore. But what he won't know is that we were here tonight, which gives us blackmail material.
But if you start blabbing, I guarantee that Dumbledore will have more sympathies for the discriminated werewolf than the half-blood who's been flirting with the Dark Arts."
Snape gave him a suspicious look from his one onyx eye that wasn't changing colors.
"Why would you do that for me?"
He shook his head, "Because Snape, not everything is about you. Now, I'm going back to my dorm. I suggest you do the same."
Ricky left Snape behind with his black eye and his thoughts on how to repay his buddy for the camera he had lost.
The next day with the sunrise came pandemonium.
James and Sirius were panicking as the sun rose and Remus woke up from his post-shift nap.
"Hurry up," James urged, "get dressed, we need to get back, we need to get back now!"
Remus looked at him warily, and groaned as he pulled on his trousers, "What? Why? It's not even five yet. No one's ever up this early."
James winced. An image of Snivellus and Ricky looking up at Moony with fear ran through his mind.
"What?" Remus asked, shaking of the exhaustion in exchange for fear. He stood pulling on his robe, still barefoot. "Prongs, what happened?"
Sirius answered, the remorse clear in voice, "Someone saw you last night."
Remus paled, and he would have fallen James hadn't caught him around the shoulder.
"Who?" he asked numbly, though it didn't look like he really cared about the answer.
"Ricky," Wormtail answered.
Remus shut his eyes, as if he were overcoming some deep pain, he leaned into James for support, "They're going to expel me. They're going to expel me."
"We don't know anything yet," Sirius said "Ricky would have had no way to connect us to a werewolf."
"But Snape would have," James said softly.
Remus shook his head and murmured, "It's over, it's all over."
"Hurry, Remus," Sirius said, "We might still have time to fix this... somehow."
They made their way back to the dorm. The sixth year boys had two rooms because their year was such a large group, the Marauders had taken the smaller room so that they could stay together. It was designed for a student teacher so it was a bit tight for the four of them. But they had opted to stay together even if there was barely walking space between their beds.
When they arrived, a figure was sitting at the window seat to greet the morning sun with one of Sirius' books on Quidditch.
"How did you get in here?" James demanded.
"Ricky, what did you tell Snape?" Sirius asked with far less hostility.
Ricky closed the book and it was like watching a mirror image walk toward him, James' had no idea what was the right thing to say. What could solve this or make Ricky understand that Remus was, well he was dangerous but they had it covered. Snivellus definitely went to Dumbledore and…
"Breathe, Remus, nobody got hurt and nobody is out to expel you. Though you all might want to leave Snape alone from now on. I think he got the message."
"The message?" James asked, "Ricky this isn't some joke-"
Remus interrupted him, "Please, Ricky, I can tell you're angry. I never meant to put anyone in danger, and-"
Ricky held up his hand, "Remus, I don't care that you are a werewolf. I know it isn't your fault. But I am pissed that he-" pointed at Wormtail, "set Snape and I up to get eaten or changed."
"What are you talking about? Wormtail wouldn't do that," James defended, looking towards his small friend for confirmation. But what he saw was a red-faced boy sweating profusely and staring at Ricky as if he were his worst nightmare.
"I wouldn't hurt anyone," he squeaked, his voice high pitched with anxiety.
Remus straightened, "No, no. Peter wouldn't, Peter-"
"So this isn't his handwriting then?" Ricky asked, holding up a note that Sirius took from him.
The look he gave James and Remus was… heartbroken. He turned to Peter, "Why? Peter, why would you do this?"
"Snape isn't going to say anything, and if he does he will go to Dumbledore first which will likely result in Wormy being expelled, not you, Remus. Just try not to go out of your way to provoke Slytherins."
"Why would you do this to me?" Remus asked Peter. "Why would you do this to other students? You know the risks, how could you even think of it?"
"I didn't write a letter to Snape just Ricky," he sniffled angrily.
"Lair," Ricky said.
"You're evil!" Peter screamed at him. "Ever since you got here! Things have changed, everything is changing, and it is your fault!"
"You betrayed us!" James bellowed, stepping in front of his cousin. "You put us all in danger, and you could have gotten two people killed or infected! You're the evil one."
Peter raised his wand at James, and it was Ricky who pulled James back and disarmed the rat. It was Ricky who took Wormtail by the collar with both his hands and slammed him against the wall.
"Listen to me, you little shit. If you ever try to kill or harm the people I love or me, I will make you disappear. And I promise you, nobody will find your body, not ever, not even a finger."
Releasing him, Wormtail crumbled into a pathetic ball on the ground. Ricky patted Remus on the shoulder, "Your secret is still secret. Have a good day, Marauders." And he left them to sort out their own mess.
Sirius grabbed Peter by the back of his robes and shoved him out into the hall. "Stay out," he said. He slammed the door and locked it, knowing that there were no more words that needed to be said. He had betrayed them, tried to kill James' cousin, and it was over.
Had it just been Snape, Snape who had been trying to weasel out their secret for years, and had meant them harm, maybe they could have forgiven him, eventually. But Ricky?
Ricky who hadn't blinked at Remus being a werewolf, and had only raised a hand against Peter after he had pointed a wand at James?
Peter Pettigrew was done, and if he ever tried anything again, it would be Sirius, James, and Remus who destroyed him, not the Ravenclaw.
Remus collapsed back on his bed, holding his hands to his face. Sirius and James laid down on either side of him, and together they pretended that Remus wasn't sobbing, wasn't crying for them all.
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