Year 1: chapter 4 - Grounded
Previously:
"Padfoot?" James frowned, looking at the front of the Hall, where they lay, unconscious. "Moony?"
"Enjoy our gift Marauders...we hope you like it..."
"Hey!" James shouted when the white orb disappeared. "Wait! Come back! What did you do to Remus and Sirius!" He quickly hopped out of his seat and ran to the front of the Hall where Remus and Sirius lay unconscious. He halted when he saw them. "Woah..."
"James?" Lily stood up and walked over next to James, only to stop when she saw the other two Marauders. "Huh...woah is right..."
Remus Lupin and Sirius Black both looked to be 21 at the moment, almost as if they were de-aged. Sirius was bigger and more muscularly, just like when he was 21. His black hair was darker then before as well as being thicker and curlier. His hair stopped a bit before his shoulders and his face had more color and life to it then before, but it looked a bit strained from the war. As for Remus, his hair was much thicker with less gray and more amber color to it. His face had more life to it and was missing some scars, though there was a Band-Aid on his cheek. Below his eyes there were dark circles, indicating that he hadn't gotten much sleep.
"We should wake them?" James asked.
"You do the honors." Lily said, a smile appearing on her lips.
"My pleasure."
James held up his wand muttered, "Aguamenti." causing a stream of water to flow out of his wand, hitting both Sirius and Remus in the face, making them both gasp and sit up, now awake.
"Well that was fun!" James said cheerfully, pocketing his wand and offering a hand for Sirius and Remus. They both grumbled and grabbed his hands at the same time, pulling themselves up.
"What happened?" Sirius questioned, running a hand through his now wet hair. "What did the orb thing call us up for?"
James frowned. "You seriously don't know?"
Remus crossed his arms, glancing up at James and Sirius. "Alright, what's the big idea? Why am I shorter than you and Sirius now? I'm the same height as Lily again!"
"There is nothing wrong with my height, Remus John!" Lily retorted.
Sirius looked down at Remus, surprised, then at himself. "Alright...that's weird..."
"You can say that again." Remus muttered.
"Alright...that's weird..."
"That was a rhetorical sentence, idiot!"
Sirius's eyes lit up. "Rhetorical, you say?"
"Don't you dare start this again!" Remus exclaimed, pushing the sleeves of his shirt up, revealing some scars. He frowned and pushed the sleeves back down again, ignoring James's and Sirius's stares. "Can we, like, re-size our clothes or something? They're a little big on us."
"On you," Sirius muttered. "They look fine on me."
"So did you like our gift, Marauders?" The second girl said as the white orb popped above the Head Table again, making some students jump in surprise.
"What did you do to us?" Remus exclaimed, frowning.
"Aw, c'mon. You're telling me you don't like it?"Everyone could hear the pout in the girl's voice. "I thought you like being young again! You're the same age as James and Lily now!"
Sirius and Remus both slowly began to realize how this was a gift, and not a curse or anything.
"A bunch of ungrateful jerks…"The girl could be heard grumbling as her voice got quieter and quieter like she was moving away from the orb.
Many of the students sweat dropped at the girl's words, though a few were grinning.
"Right, let's just ignore the crazy one there…Can't believe she is supposed to be older then me." The first girl mumbled to herself, but she was still heard.
"If she's crazy, what does that make you?" Sirius grumbled.
"We know you like it, guys!" There was a smile in the first girl's voice as she took over. "You're young again! There was a slight defect though...I had to pick an exact date for you to be de-aged to. Um, sorry about that Remus. But it looks like you didn't get that much sleep that day. I forgot to check if it was full moon or not...guess it was the day after the full moon or something."
Remus shrugged at this, ignoring James and Sirius's concerned looks. "Not your fault, I guess." He said.
"Thanks, Remus. Here...um...one moment..." The white orb flickered for a moment and they could here flashes of the girl's conversation with someone else. "Where's...wand...table? Why...tell me? Just give it! Don't...care!" many students snickered at this, and the white orb finally became full again. "Alright, sorry about that. Okay, Remus, Sirius, just stay still a moment..."
Sirius and Remus glanced at each other, before staying still. The light surrounded them again, this time not as bright, and when it died, the two young men were wearing different clothes. Clothes that fit them perfectly.
Remus had on a loose long-sleeve red shirt, which had the words 'Sarcasm: the body's natural defense against stupidity' in black bold letters. He had on loose fitting blue jeans and Muggle trainers. Around his neck there was a pendant, though it was tucked under his shirt so it couldn't be seen what it was. Sirius was a different story. He had on a black T-shirt with a black leather jacket over it. He was wearing dark blue jeans, with black Muggle trainers on his feet. His brown biker goggles were placed on top of his head along with black leather fingerless gloves on his hands, making him look like some sort of biker outlaw.
They both looked down at themselves, blinking. These clothes were really nice...
"Love the shirt, Moony." James grinned.
"Huh?" Remus looked down at his shirt, trying to read what it said. When he figured out what it said, his lips twitched upwards.
Sirius took one look at Remus's shirt and broke out into a grin. "'Sarcasm: the body's natural defense against stupidity.'" He read. "Really fits you."
"You can say that again." James grinned.
"Really fits you."
James shot Sirius a deadpanned look. "You're really stupid." He informed. "Perhaps the glowing white orb de-aged your mind along with your body."
"Oi!"
Remus snickered. "James, he's always like that." He grinned.
"Like what?" James questioned, lips twitching in amusement.
"Oh, you know, the usual." Remus said offhandedly. "Stupid."
Sirius grumbled something, crossing his arms. "Seems like the shirt is working..."
A lot of the students were looking at the three Marauders in amusement. They were definitely something...
Lily sighed, shaking her head at the three of them, then noticed the cord around Remus's neck. "Remus? What's that around your neck?"
"Huh?" Remus blinked, feeling his neck. "It's a..." He looked down, then seeing what it was, he dropped his hand. "...it's the pendant you and James gave me."
James looked over, interested. "You're wearing it right now?" He asked. "How long have you been wearing it?"
"...this is the first time in years." Remus admitted. "I kind of stopped wearing it after you and Lily..." he paused at that. "...died."
"Oh." Lily said softly, before reaching her hand over to Remus. She put her hands under his shirt from the top for a moment, causing him to tense up a little. Lily grabbed the pendant from under Remus's shirt and pulled it out, placing it on top of his shirt. "I remember giving this to you..."
The pendant was a stainless steel knife with 2 golden phoenix wings spread from it. In the center, there was a bright red orb.
James smiled too, lifting the pendant a little to see it. "...you still have it, right?"
Remus gave a hesitant nod. "Yeah..."
James clapped a hand on Remus's shoulder. "Then you should wear it more often."
"Too painful..." The smaller man said quietly.
"Well...fight the pain, Remus." James smiled, softly punching Remus's chest. "I know you've got it in ya."
Remus shot him a glare. "It's you, not ya."
"Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya!" James grinned as Remus covered his ears.
"Why don't we just sit down so whoever is reading next can read?" Sirius said, seeing Remus's irritation grow. And that was never a good thing.
"Yes, sir." James grinned, mock-saluting.
Remus shook his head, grabbing James and Sirius by their ears and pulling them back to their seats.
"Ow, ow, ow, bloody hell, Remus, let go!" They hissed together, trying to push Remus away from their ears.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Taisez-vous, vous êtes de idiots." He said in French.
Sirius and James both stared at him. "English, please?" They asked at the same time.
"Shut up, you idiots."
"Oi!" James exclaimed, finally breaking free from the grip. "No need to call us idiots!"
Remus raised an eyebrow, letting Sirius go. "Seriously? No need?"
Lily sighed. "Just sit down!" She exclaimed, sitting back down next to Harry. James grumbled something incoherent and sat next to Lily. Sirius was about to sit back down next to James but James quickly pulled Remus next to him, much to their confusion.
"James?" Remus questioned. "What..."
"I don't want to reach around Sirius to smack you when you're being an idiot again." James explained, ignoring Remus's affronted look. "Sirius, sit next to Remus and your cousin."
"Its Tonks." Tonks informed, crossing her arms, before breaking out into a grin as Sirius sat down next to her. She ruffled his hair. "I'm finally older than you, Siri!" She teased.
"Oi!" Sirius said, batting her hand away. "Not the hair, Dora! And not technical!"
"Yes, but mentally, I'm older." Tonks grinned. "And it's Tonks, Sirius."
"Who wants to read next?" Hermione quickly said, interrupting their friendly feud.
Everyone blinked, not responding.
"...I guess I'll read then." Harry shrugged after the moment of silence, taking the book from Hermione and opening it to the right page. "Year 1, chapter 4: Grounded."
"Who's grounded who?" Fred and George questioned.
"Spoilers~" James sang, causing Remus to clutch his ears again.
"I will silence you again." He said threateningly.
James grinned at that, ruffling the smaller man's hair, much to Remus's chagrin.
The next few weeks went by fast. The four boys spent them in class, hexing Snape (James and Sirius), doing homework, hexing Snape (James and Sirius), planning pranks that they have yet to do, exploring the castle, and hexing Snape (James and Sirius).
Several people snorted at that as Severus sneered and glared at James and Sirius.
In their second week at school, the four boys were relaxing in their dorm when Remus remember something. He put his book that he was reading down and turned to James. "Hey James, when we were King's Cross I saw your father hand you a parcel. He acted like he didn't want your mom to see it. What was it?"
"How rude!" Fred said.
"First you spy on James getting that." George said.
"Then you have the nerve to demand the contents of it?" Fred asked, shaking his head.
"Children."
"So nosy."
James grinned at that. "Ah, the good ol' cloak." He sighed, ignoring Remus's look, then turned to Harry. "Do you have the cloak?"
Harry blinked, before smiling, giving a small nod. "I got it for Christmas in first year." He said, smiling.
James, who was relaxing on his bed and talking about Quidditch with Sirius and Peter, looked at Remus confused. "How did you know my dad gave me a parcel? I didn't see you anywhere around us when he gave me that."
"I was watching from the train.
"Stalker." James muttered, ruffling Remus's hair again, causing Remus to growl slightly.
"Alright, Sirius, you want to switch seats?" Remus said, whacking James's hand away from his hair. "I have a feeling that I will not be happy with this seating arrangement."
Sirius gave him a cheeky grin. "Nah, this'll be fun for me." He said.
"I hate you."
"Aw, love you too."
"Say it all you want, it won't change how much I hate you right now."
"James, Remus is being mean again." Sirius whined.
James chuckled. "Sirius, I thought you would have been used to that by now."
"What? Professor Lupin mean?" A fourth year Gryffindor asked amused. "Unthinkable."
"You have them all fooled!" James shouted in shock. "It's just like when we were in school! You fooled everyone with that quiet, sweet bookworm self."
"Fooled?" Remus asked.
"Yes, fooled! It was just a cover for that evil prankster side of you!" James said.
"…Alright then, James. Whatever you say."
He even winked at you when he gave it to you. It makes me think that it might be something to use for mischief. But then again, I don't know. I'm not really a mischief maker." Remus replied.
James and Sirius snorted at that, causing Remus to glare at them.
"You know, I blame you two for influencing me." He grumbled.
Sirius exchanged a surprised look with James. "Us? Influencing you?" He questioned. "More like the other way around!"
"You're the one who brought the prankster side out of me again!"
"It was already there!"
Harry cleared his throat, trying to fight the grin off his face. "Yeah, I'm just gonna continue now..."
"It's going to, not gonna." Remus snapped at him before turning a glare back to James.
Now that Remus was looking away, Harry grinned down at the book.
The young miscreant wizard jumped off his bed and moved to his trunk. "Actually, I don't know what it is. I forgot my dad gave it to me. He told me to cause a lot of mischief while I was here and that it would help with not getting caught. By the time we got to Hogwarts, I was too excited and I forgot about it."
"Good thing you mentioned it." James commented. "Imagine how long it would've been before I remembered."
Remus sighed. "Perhaps it would've been better if I didn't tell you..."
Sirius and Peter watched James from their beds, curious about what was going on.
James pulled the packet out and opened it. A silky cloak fell out of the package and onto his bed.
"Is that...what I think it is?" Lee said excitedly.
"What's that?" Peter asked.
James picked it up and examined it, then smirked. "It's supposed to help cause mischief. My dad must have used this in school and decided to pass it down to the next mischief maker to meet this school."
"Oh!" James interrupted, peeking around Lily to look at Harry. "Are you a mischief maker?"
"Um..." Harry blinked, looking up from the book. "Well, no, not really. I don't really go looking for that kind of stuff."
"Yeah, it comes looking for you." Hermione scoffed.
"Huh?" Lily and James both frowned.
"What do you mean?" Lily questioned.
"Um...long story..."
"Several long stories."
"That doesn't tell us what it is." Sirius said. He was starting to get excited by the way James was talking.
"I'll show you." James replied. He threw the cloak over himself and instantly disappeared.
"An invisibility cloak!" Sirius said.
"I was right!" Lee exclaimed, grinning.
Many students had looks of awe written on their face, while Draco Malfoy scowled. Figures Harry bleeding Potter would get an invisibility cloak...
"Harry!" Fred and George turned to Harry, pleading looks on their faces. "You have it, right? Please let us borrow it!"
The teachers looked fearful at this. If the Weasley twins got a hold of the cloak, who knew what would happen?
"Sorry, guys, but I don't want the school demolished." Harry shrugged, much to the teachers' relief.
"Oi! We wouldn't destroy the school!" George protested.
"At least..." Fred paused, before shrugging. "Not intentionally."
He jumped off his bed. "This is going to help us. We can sneak around the school after curfew now and we don't have to worry about getting caught. You should have told us about this sooner."
James pulled the cloak off. "I told you I forgot. And you're right. This is fantastic. Getting to sneak around after curfew. We can learn so much about this castle. Maybe they are secret passages here. Who knows how much we can learn."
McGonagall turned to Dumbledore. "Should we make a note of this?" She questioned. "So that way if they do find any secret passages, we can block them up."
The Marauders' eyes widened. "NOO!" They screamed. "DON'T BLOCK THEM UP!"
Several people jumped at the sudden scream, and McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "You too, Remus?" She questioned.
Remus shrugged. "Once a Marauder, always a Marauder."
"HE'S BACK!" James and Sirius shouted, hugging Remus from both sides.
"H-hey!" Remus exclaimed. "Get off me, you idiots!"
"We thought we lost you!" Sirius fake cried.
"Get off!" Remus yelled, pushing the two idiots off of him. When they were off, he straightened his shirt with a huff. "I befriended idiots."
"That's something you always knew, Remus." Lily said.
Remus shook his head and went back to reading his book.
"We should try it out tonight. What do you guys say?" Sirius asked. The excitement of an adventure was shining in his eyes.
"More like the light of a madman." Remus muttered, fingering his pendant.
"Oi!" Sirius pouted, crossing his arms. "I'm not a madman!"
Remus raised his eyebrow, looking at Sirius with a deadpanned look, along with several other people.
"…You all offend me." Sirius muttered.
James nodded his head with the same excitement in his eyes.
"It does sound fun. As long as we don't caught. I don't fancy getting my first detention for being out after curfew." Peter replied.
"Yeah. Our first detention is going to be for pranking." James replied seriously.
"At least...our first detention." James grinned. "Not you, Remus."
Remus rolled his eyes at this, earning a ruffle to the hair from James, which just made him scowl. Why did he always have to do that?
"Anyway, want to go out now? It's past curfew."
"Yes, lets. Time for the fun to begin." Sirius declared.
Peter jumped off his bed and smiled. He didn't want to be left out so he figures he would tag along. He never imagined he would have friends like these two.
Remus stayed where he was on his bed and continued to read.
"Boring little git you were in the beginning." Sirius muttered.
Remus rolled his eyes again, whacking the back of Sirius's head. "Stuff it."
"Come on, Remus. We're going exploring." James said when he saw Remus didn't move.
"I don't fancy the idea of sneaking out and risk getting caught." Remus replied.
"Who said anything about getting caught?" James said, looking morally offended. "We're the masters of stealth!"
Remus snorted at that. "More like anything but the masters of stealth."
Sirius pouted, whacking the back of Remus's head.
"Ow! Jeez, Padfoot!" Remus complained, rubbing his head. "You just hate my head, don't you?"
"You hit me first!" Sirius protested.
"Marauders, you are twenty-one! Act like it!" McGonagall scolded.
"Wow, it's been a while since I've heard anyone yell that." Sirius said.
"Technically, Professor Lupin and Sirius are thirty-six, Professor." Hermione corrected.
McGonagall frowned. "Still, boys, act like the adults you are."
Sirius shared a look with James, then turned back to McGonagall. "Naw, that's boring."
Sirius bounced over to Remus's bed. "Come on. Your dad even said to get in some trouble. It'll be fun. Come on."
"No, Sirius. Now leave me alone." Remus replied.
Sirius turned away from Remus and walked over to James. "We're not letting him stay here, right?" He whispered.
James smirked. "Of course not. We'd be horrible friends if we let Remus spend his evening reading."
"There's nothing wrong with reading," Hermione frowned.
"For you, maybe." Ron scoffed. "Reading is horrible. Right, Harry?"
"Oh, um..." Harry blinked. "I guess it depends on the book, right? I like Quidditch Through the Ages..."
Ron gave him a blank stare before sighing. "I guess I'll let it slide this time because it's a Quidditch book..."
The two delinquents turned back to Remus.
"Oi!" Sirius frowned. "I'm not a delinquent!"
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen your clothes?" He questioned.
Sirius pouted. "But I didn't pick these out..."
"Aw, do you still need someone to pick out your clothes, Paddy?" James teased in a baby voice.
Sirius shot him an irritated glare. "Shut it, Prongs." He grumbled.
James put his cloak on his bed and walked over to Remus. "Oh Remy!" He said cheerfully.
Remus glanced at him over his book. "No James. Just leave already."
"Now that just won't do. Such negative spirits. You need to be more positive, Remy." Sirius said.
"Will you two stop calling me Remy?" Remus asked.
"Never!" James and Sirius exclaimed. "Remy is your nickname, and it shall stay!"
Remus groaned, putting his head in his hands. "I like Moony better..." He grumbled.
"Exactly why we use Remy." James grinned.
"Because it annoys you more!" Sirius exclaimed.
"They just love to annoy you, don't they?" Charlie smiled.
"Correction: we live to annoy him." Sirius and James said at the same time, grin never leaving.
"And I live to hit the two when they are being idiots! Like now!" Remus snapped and whacked each of his friends in the back of their heads.
"OI!" James and Sirius cried.
Sirius shook his head. "Not a chance, mate. You just have to get use to it. Now, you can get out of bed and come with us willingly or we can force you."
Remus laughed. "Force me? What are you going to do?"
Looking at each other, Sirius and James nodded at each other. The long haired wizard grabbed Remus's book and threw it onto the floor.
"That poor book." Fred sighed dramatically.
"Will it ever find its way home?" George gasped.
"If by 'home', you mean my trunk, then yes." Remus grinned.
Before Remus could even think about his book being missing, James grabbed his wrists and pulled him off the bed. He pinned Remus's arms to his side.
"James, let go of me. I don't want to go." Remus growled.
"You're going. Now be quiet." James replied. His eyes were shining with mischief.
"More like with stupidity..." Remus muttered.
"Oi!" James pouted. "My eyes don't shine with stupidity!"
"Hm, I guess you're right." Remus admitted, much to James's shock.
"You..." James gaped at Remus. "Did you just..."
"Your whole face shines with stupidity."
James paused, before realization hit, making him glare at Remus, pouting. "You're so mean to me!" He grumbled.
"Pay back for all those years you gave me hell." Remus grinned.
"Hell?" A sixth year Hufflepuff asked amused. "I thought they were your best friends."
"Best friends from hell." Remus deadpanned. "Who liked to drive me crazy."
"Hey, you drove us crazy at times as well." Sirius retorted.
"Yeah, remember third year." James said with a grimace. "Remus was being really reckless that year."
"You guys have always been more reckless then me!" Remus argued.
"You drove Sirius into being the responsible one because you were being so reckless!" James retorted.
"That's possible?" Lee asked amused.
"Yes, and I hated every minute of it." Sirius grumbled.
"Sirius, throw the cloak over us."
The four boys huddled together and Sirius threw cloak over them. "Okay, let's go." Sirius whispered and the boys shuffled their way out of their dorm to the common room. After making it to the hallway, the boys stopped walking.
"James….." Remus whined. "Please let go of me."
"Did you just whine?" Harry grinned.
Remus shrugged. "Hey, you would whine too if you were with those three idiots."
"Oi!" James and Sirius exclaimed.
"Are you going to come willingly?" James asked, raising a brow.
Remus didn't answer.
James nodded his head. "I thought so. So I'm not letting you go. Now be quiet or we'll get caught."
Remus huffed, but stopped talking.
"I just didn't want to get caught." Remus muttered. "Otherwise, I would've kept talking."
"You already talk too much." Sirius grinned.
"Where are we going?" Peter asked.
"Let's just walk around until we find something interesting." Sirius replied.
"Let's see if we can find the kitchens." James said. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry." Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's like you have a black hole in your stomach!"
James pouted at that. "Great, now my wife is teasing me." He mock-grumbled.
Severus inwardly winced. Wife...wife...wife... the word mocked him...
"No surprise there." Remus grumbled.
James stomped up Remus's foot, making the young werewolf have to bite his lip to keep from screaming.
"Jeez, was it really that hard?" James said sheepishly.
Sirius quickly cut Remus's response off. "Nah, I bet he was just being over-dramatic." He said offhandedly. "You both were scrawny back then. James, you couldn't have hurt anyone if you wanted to. And Remus, you thought everything hurt."
Remus and James both glared at Sirius, frowning.
"I will hurt you." Remus said threateningly.
"I'm so scared." Sirius mocked.
Remus raised a brow.
"And now I'm shutting up." Sirius said, leaning a bit away from Remus, who could be very dangerous and scary when he wanted to be.
Sirius chuckled and shook his head. "That's going to be near impossible. It might take us a while to find it. We probably won't find it tonight."
"But I'm hungry." James replied.
"More like complained." Remus corrected.
James pouted that.
After wondering around for a while, finding nothing exciting, the four made it to the third floor. All of them stopped walking to see Lady Bona walking towards them.
"Who's Lady Bona?" Several students asked.
"She's Filch's old cat." Remus said helpfully.
Several people looked at Filch in surprise, causing him to glare at them, hugging Mrs. Norris to his chest.
She stopped in front of them and stared directly at them.
"Can cats see under the cloak?" Harry asked.
The Marauders shrugged.
"We're not exactly sure ourselves." James admitted. "But we think so."
Remus turned his head to look at James, who was still pinning his arms to his sides. "Can cats see us even if we are the wearing cloak?"
"I don't know." James replied.
Lady Bona opened her mouth to meow to alert Filch.
"Oh no. Quick, James let go of me. I need my wand." Remus spoke urgently.
Filch's eyes widened and he held Mrs. Norris closer to him. He dared to hurt his precious?
James let go of him and Remus immediately pulled his wand out. He pointed it out Mrs. Norris. "Confundo."
Filch glared at Remus. How dare he do that to his cat?
"You knew that spell already?" Hermione asked shocked.
Remus shrugged. "I read a lot of books before I began at Hogwarts and took my dad's wand when he wasn't looking to see if I could do them."
"Remus," James mockingly scolded. "You shouldn't be taking someone else's wand without permission."
The cat closed her mouth and just sat on the floor confused.
"You probably saved our butts." James grinned.
Remus snorted. "I know I did.
"Well someone's humble." Sirius said sarcastically.
"More humble then you two." Remus retorted.
Remus sighed in relief and put his wand away. "Now let's get back to our dorm before anything else happens."
"We haven't found anything interesting though." Sirius said.
"Maybe there isn't anything interesting in this school. Now let's go." Remus snapped.
James raised a brow and pinned Remus's arms to his side again.
"You do that too much." Remus muttered, pouting.
"Cause you try to back out too much." James said, rolling his eyes.
"We're not going back yet." He murmured and the four boys walked away from the confused cat. Remus groaned and let himself be forced to walk forward. They walked up to the fourth floor and continued down the hallway for a few minutes before they saw Slughorn walking in hallway.
"If only I had been paying more attention." Remus cursed.
Sirius grinned. "C'mon, Remy!" He said happily. "If you had been paying attention, we wouldn't have found the secret passageway!"
"Shh!" James hissed, reaching over Remus and smacking a hand over his Sirius's mouth. "Spoilers!"
"We're dead." Remus muttered, only to have Sirius slap a hand over his mouth.
"You guys seem to do that a lot." A fourth year Slytherin said amused.
The Marauders looked at each other…they didn't shut each other up that much.
They scooted over to the wall and walked along the wall quietly. When they reached Slughorn, they stopped and waited for him to pass.
"You were under an invisibility cloak," Seamus said confused. "Why go against the wall, he wouldn't see you."
"Well, Mr. Finnigin-" Remus said, before getting cut off by Sirius's hand over his mouth.
"No." Sirius said, looking dangerous. Remus looked at him, confused. What was he doing this time? "You will not go in Professor Lupin mode right now."
Remus rolled his eyes, pushing Sirius's hand away long enough to blurt out, "If we weren't careful, Slughorn might've bumped into us."
"I wonder why there's a mirror in the hallway." James said when Slughorn was gone.
"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.
James nodded towards a mirror a little bit down the hallway, since he couldn't let go of Remus.
"You could've." Remus muttered, fingering his pendant again.
James opened his mouth to retort, but sighed, shaking his head instead. Remus didn't even notice as he fingered his pendant, lost in memories.
Remus had used the pendant, even though it doesn't really have a purpose, he's used it before...but not as a necklace...
Sirius looked at the mirror and smiled. "Let's check it out then."
The boys stopped in the front of the mirror. They looked around before pulling the cloak off. "It's just a mirror." Remus muttered.
"I don't believe that." James replied, as he ran a hand over the mirror. "There's got to be something special about it."
Sirius started to inspect the mirror when they heard chuckling.
"Aw, man." Fred and George whined. "Why Peeves?! Why?!"
The Marauders only grinned in response.
Peter looked down the hallway and paled. "It's Peeves."
"Oh no. We're so dead now." Remus said.
"Ooooh. Look at this. Ickle little first years out of bed." Peeves sang. "What shall Peeves do?" Peeves grinned evilly. "FIRST YEARS OUT OF BED! FIRST YEARS OUT OF BED!"
"Half the time he yells that and it's not even true." McGonagall huffed.
"Really?" Remus asked amused. "Do you always have to run around to check if it's true or not?"
"Yes," McGonagall mumbled.
"Must get annoying real fast." Sirius said, grinning.
Remus groaned and Peter started to sweat nervously. James looked around nervously, while Sirius stared out the mirror. "We're going to get detention." Remus muttered.
"Nothing wrong with detention!" Sirius said brightly, earning a deadpanned look from Remus.
"Detention challenge." Remus said.
Sirius groaned. "Detention sucks."
"No, we aren't." Sirius said.
The three boys looked at Sirius. He smirked at them and pointed at the mirror. "We go through the mirror and escape."
"Oh, wonderful idea. Care to explain how we get thro…" Before Remus could finish his sentence, Sirius used a spell on the mirror so the mirror would swing forward, revealing a hidden passage.
"And, exactly how did you know what spell to use to get that mirror to open up?" McGonagall demanded.
"Because I am just that amazing." Sirius said, smirking at his former professor.
Remus snorted. "And here I thought you lost all that arrogance when you turned twenty." He said as he fingered his pendant between his index and middle finger. How long had it been since he last looked at this pendant that James and Lily gave him?
"Twenty?"
"Come now, Sirius. You have to admit you and James were still a bit arrogant even after Hogwarts." Remus replied.
"Oi! Don't drag me into this." James said indignantly.
"Shush, James, you know it's true." Lily told him, patting his arm as he pouted.
"Everyone in, now." Sirius demanded, as he heard footsteps coming near them.
Remus looked at the passage uneasily, as Peter and Sirius climbed into it. "Come on, Remus. Either we go in it or we get detention and lost points." James growled. He grabbed Remus's arm and pulled him into the passage, pulling the mirror closed behind them, enclosing the boys into darkness.
"Sounds like you two got in a dark closet together after hours." Fred and George said, waggling their eyebrows in James and Remus's direction.
James and Remus stared at the twins with wide eyes, then at each other, before slowly scooting away from each other.
"I have a wife, you know." James said slowly, starting to question the twins' mental health.
"And Remus?" George asked.
Remus blinked. "Um...well..." He began slowly, taking all his willpower not to glance at Tonks, who was also looking interested at his answer. "I don't have a wife, as you know, nor a...er...love interest..."
Sirius snorted, swinging an arm around Remus. "It's been a while since I've seen you so flustered." He teased.
"Shut up, bastard." Remus grumbled.
Sirius pouted. "That's no way to talk to your friend!" He exclaimed, putting Remus in a headlock and ruffling his hair.
"Ugh, lemme go, you big git!" Remus exclaimed, before finally getting out of the headlock by elbowing Sirius in the side.
"Ow!" Sirius hissed, rubbing his side.
"Must you two do this again?" McGonagall asked. "We got enough of your muggle fighting when you were students!"
"Muggle fighting?" Astoria asked confused.
"Yes, these three were constantly fighting like muggles against each other." McGonagall explained.
"Hey, some of those times were just play fights!" James protested.
"And yet, you still got hurt in them." Madam Pomfrey scolded.
"…Accidents happen."
"Remus fractured his wrist in one of those play fights and you got a concussion! Tell me, how was that an accident?" Madam Pomfrey demanded.
James and Remus shared a look. "I'm more surprised you still remember that. It was a long time ago." The latter said.
"I remember because I saw all four of you too much." Madam Pomfrey said stiffly.
"That was close." James said to the darkness.
"I wonder where this passage leads." Sirius said.
Remus groaned. "Please don't say what I think you thinking."
"What did you think we were going to say?" James asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing important." Remus said offhandedly. "Just what you always say, 'Let's go explore this dark, dangerous place and hope we don't die!'"
"Oi!" James pouted. "I don't always say that!"
"Right," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "Let me rephrase: You usually say that."
"You know us well, Remy." James replied, grinning. "We're going to explore it, but before we do that. We need light."
"But you haven't learned Lumos yet." Hermione said frowning.
James and Sirius sent a subtle smirk to Remus, who rolled his eyes in response, fiddling with his pendant again.
"We have our ways." Sirius grinned.
"We're going through the passage with or without light, aren't we?" Remus said.
"Yep." James said.
Remus huffed. "Fine. Lumos."
"If I recall, boys, you are taught that spell later in the school, so why do you know it now?" Flitwick asked.
"Oh...you know...Sirius?" James said, then turned to Sirius with wide eyes.
"Oh...um...IT'S REMUS'S FAULT!" Sirius yelled, pointing a finger at Remus.
"What?" Remus asked startled, looking up and dropping his pendant out of his fingers. "What happened to the rule of never telling a professor something another Marauder did?"
"Mr. Lupin?" McGonagall asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, remember, I'm not your student anymore, Minnie." Remus said, weakly. "And I read ahead in defense, learned the spell, and taught it to these idiots." When McGonagall continued to stare at him, he added, "I will forever regret it?"
McGonagall nodded. "Good."
"Teacher's pet." Sirius grumbled.
"Hey, this 'teacher's pet' got away with a lot more then you and James ever did." Remus retorted.
Fred and George exchanged grins at that. They always liked Remus, but he seemed to be cooler then they first thought.
The three other boys lit their wands up and looked around the area they were in. "This is a big room. You could hold a club meeting in here."
James nodded his head in agreement. "So let's move forward."
After walking for about twenty minutes the boys made it to a ladder. "We're going up?" Remus said.
"I can't believe you had to ask." Sirius pouted. "And we thought you knew us..."
Remus rolled his eyes, pushing Sirius away slightly. "Shut it."
"You bet we are." Sirius said happily.
Climbing up the ladder, Sirius pushed the door at the tap of it open and looked around. "It looks like a cellar. Come on up." He whispered to his friends.
When they were all up, James and Sirius started searching through the boxes in the cellar. They grinned evilly when they saw what was in the box.
"We're in Zonko's Joke Shop." James said excitedly. "Which means we're in Hogsmeade."
Many students gasped at this, quickly talking to their friends about trying to find the secret passageway to Zonko's.
"Albus," McGonagall hissed to the Headmaster. "We need to block these passageways. Otherwise students in 1st and 2nd years will be trying to get to Hogsmeade, and other students will be trying to get there on a non-Hogsmeade day!"
"I shall think about it, Minerva." Dumbledore said, slowly nodding his head.
"Ugh, I can't believe it." James groaned. "I didn't want any passages known by professors or other students."
"Yeah, now they'll get blocked up." Sirius said disheartened.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right." Remus said slowly. "Those passageways were secret for a reason. What's the point of having them if everyone know where they are and where they go to? Half the fun is finding them..."
"No way. We aren't suppose to be able to come here until our 3rd year." Peter said, just as happy.
Sirius looked up at James. "We can get all our joke supplies now and our moms can't stop us."
"You're right." James replied, an evil glint in his eyes.
"Ugh, that glint." Remus groaned, rubbing his temples like an oncoming headache was appearing.
"You were just going to steal their supplies?" Lily demanded, cutting off James's response.
James blinked, taken aback. "W-well...no." He said. "Sirius, Peter, and I...we were just going to..."
"Leave a note with some money." Sirius added in helpfully, ignoring the grateful look sent his way.
"Uh-huh."
Remus crossed his arms and glared at them. "You're not going to steal them, are you?"
"Do you really think that lowly of us, Rems?" Sirius asked.
"Don't call me that and sadly, yes." Remus replied, keeping his eyes on Sirius and James to make sure they didn't take anything.
"You know, sometimes I feel like you don't trust us at all, and it is quite offensive." James teased.
Remus shrugged. "Well, there were times when none of you deserved me to trust you!" He defended.
"Really," Sirius grumbled, though looking slightly uncomfortable. "You need to let that stuff go."
Remus shot him a glare, frowning. "You're lucky I forgave you a long time ago."
"Forgave him for what?" Tonks asked curiously.
The three shared a look before shaking their heads. "It's nothing." They said.
James sighed. "Relax Remus, we won't steal them. We'll leave a note and some money."
"See!" James exclaimed. "We wouldn't steal! Especially since its Zonko's!"
"Yeah!" Sirius agreed. "Imagine if the owners found out? They might've banned us from the shop!"
Lily frowned, before sighing. "Alright, fine, I'll let it drop..."
The young werewolf nodded his head and let his arms drop to his sides. "Fine. Just hurry up. It's getting late and we have classes tomorrow."
Dear Owners of Zonko's,
We are leaving money here for you for the joke supplies we have taken. If you could, would you leave a list of your products and though prices, so next time we know exactly how much to pay you. Thanks. And don't worry, we'll always pay you the right amount. Our friend won't let us leave without paying you the exact amount.
School Pranksters
"You left a note?" Hermione said shocked.
"We didn't want them to wonder why there was randomly money there and products missing." James shrugged.
"That doesn't make it any less annoying to the shop owner." Lily said, rolling her eyes.
Sirius laughed. "Lily, he was perfectly fine and amused by it." When Lily look shocked, Sirius winked at her. "We've talked to him about it."
Sirius looked at the note and shook his head. "We really need to come up with a name for us. Something cool and we also need nicknames, ones that no one will be able to lead back to us. That way we can sign our pranks with them and no one will know it was us. We'll be able to get away with all our pranks that way."
"How about the Wolf Pack?" Charlie said sneakily, grinning.
Remus shot him a deadpanned look as James and Sirius burst out laughing.
"Sure," Remus said rolling his eyes. "And instead of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, we can be called Dark Moon, Eclipse, Death, and Shadow."
Charlie looked taken aback at the nicknames that Remus had suddenly 'made up on the spot' while Sirius and James laughed even harder, causing Remus to smirk and Lily to scowl as she remembered the names.
"We can think of something later. Let's just go back already." Remus growled.
Remus groaned as the sun shined through the window and hit his eyes. 'Stupid sun. Let me sleep.' He thought angrily. He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow and fell back to asleep.
"You mean you were awake?!" Sirius shouted, causing Remus to wince at the volume.
"Erm...apparently?" He said weakly, causing the other two Marauders to glare at him, crossing their arms.
"Why? Is there something wrong?" Ginny asked confused.
"Yes." James and Sirius deadpanned, still glaring at Remus.
A little while later, he woke up and looked at the clock. "AAAAHHHH!"
Nearly everyone in the Hall jumped at the volume that Harry yelled. Ron and Hermione both glared at their bespectacled friend.
"It's in all caps." Harry said, innocently smiling.
The other three sleeping boys in the room jumped and fell out of their beds. "What's going on?" James asked.
"We slept in. We an hour late for Transfiguration." Remus explained, jumping out of bed.
Many of the students stared at the three Marauders in shock, causing them to shrug sheepishly.
"You slept in late...to McGonagall's?" Bill said, shocked. "How are you still alive?!"
Remus shrugged. "Luck, I guess."
"Ah, I can see why Sirius and James were mad at you now." Ginny said amused.
"I'm glad you're amused. It was not amusing at the time." Sirius grumbled.
"McGonagall is going to kill us." James muttered as he hurried to get dressed.
Ten minutes later, the four boys were running out of their dorm to their class.
"It takes you 10 minutes to get ready?" Ron said, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"I blame these two." Remus said, before James and Sirius could respond.
"Oi!" James exclaimed. "You're the one who always took so long, only getting dressed with the curtains closed or in the bathroom!"
"Well, that was for obvious reasons!" Remus scoffed, looking slightly uncomfortable. "You, however, just took your time for the heck of it!"
James and Sirius were about to heatedly respond, but Harry quickly cut them off by reading very loudly.
They slammed the classroom door opened and came in out of breath. The class turned to look at them surprised, while McGonagall frowned and looked at the four boys angrily. "And where have you four been? Class started over an hour ago."
"Well, my dear Minnie, we were sleeping." Sirius replied, smiling at McGonagall.
"First you're an hour late, then you call her Minnie?" Arthur said, sounding slightly amused. "It's like you want an early death."
"These boys were always challenging their teachers and fellow students." Molly scoffed, smiling a bit sadly as she remembered the stories she heard from her younger brothers about the Marauders.
McGonagall glared at them. "Twenty points and detention, each of you."
Remus glared at Sirius and James as they went to their seats.
Never again.- RL
McGonagall raised an eyebrow at this. So Remus started passing notes this time? Huh...she never would've expected that...Then again, she hardly ever expected anything when it was Remus. He did have a knack for fooling her.
What are you talking about?- SB
I am never sneaking out with you guys again.- RL
James and Sirius snorted at that, ignoring Remus's glare.
Come on, Remy. It's not that bad.- JP
Says you.- RL
You know, Remus, they aren't going to not let you not come.- PP
He's right, Remy.- JP
Just get use to it.- SB
I hate you all.- RL
What did I do?- PP
I guess I don't really hate you, Pete.- RL
"Well I do." Sirius said under this breath, ignoring Remus's look.
James shot his friend a confused look. Why would he hate Peter? He was a Marauder! One of their best friends!
"Black! Lupin! Pettigrew! Potter! You were already late to my class. Don't make me give you more detentions for passing notes." McGonagall snapped, coming to stand in front of them and reached for the note.
Remus grabbed the note before McGonagall could get it. He knew she would read it and they would get in more trouble for sneaking out.
McGonagall's eyes narrowed. So that's why he took the note from her. "You would have been in severe trouble if you were my students right now." She said threateningly.
"How severe is severe?" James asked, cautiously.
"Don't ask. We don't want to know." Sirius said.
McGonagall turned her icy glare towards Remus. "Mr. Lupin, give me that note."
"NOOO!" Fred and George yelled.
"Don't do it, Professor Lupin!" A Sixth year Ravenclaw yelled amused. "It's a trap!"
Remus shook his head. They do realize this was all in the past, right?
"Um….." Remus looked over at his friends, who looked at him expectantly. Sighing, Remus started to rip the note into little pieces and threw them into the air.
Fred and George burst out laughing along with several other students. "Are you insane, Professor?" The twins laughed.
"What? I couldn't give her the note." Remus pointed out defensively. "The options were limited."
"You could have eaten the note." Lee suggested.
"No thanks. I have peculiar tastes." Remus replied.
James snorted at that. "Don't we know it!"
Then he smiled at McGonagall innocently, while the class watched in silence, some of them with wide eyes.
"And who can blame them for that?" Hermione asked. "Professor Lupin was just asking for trouble by doing that."
The Transfiguration teacher huffed and breathed out through her nose angrily. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Lupin. And I want you to stay after class."
"Ooooooh~" Fred and George sang. "Lupin's in trouble! Lupin's in trouble! Lupin's in trou-"
"Boys!" Molly shouted, effectively shutting the twins up. "That's no way to talk to your professor!"
Remus smiled at Molly. "It's alright, Molly." He said. "All in good fun, and besides, I'm no longer their professor."
Molly was about to continue, but she cut herself off, her expression softening. Remus...gosh, it's been a while since she's seen that young face, happy and full of life...
Remus nodded his head and McGonagall went back to the front of the class to continue the lesson. He looked at his friends to see them looking at him worriedly, so he smiled reassuringly and started taking notes. Truth was, he was nervous about talking with McGonagall after class. Taking notes helped distract him from his nervousness.
"Notes help you?" The twins asked, blinking.
Remus shrugged. "Well, yeah, what else?"
"Um, I dunno, how about something normal?" James questioned sarcastically.
Remus rolled his eyes. "You know, I thought that by now you would know that I'm not normal..."
When class was over, Remus watched his friends leave the class before going up to McGonagall's desk and standing in front of it.
McGonagall waited for all the students to leave before turning to Remus. "Lupin, clean all the paper you ripped up, please."
"That's it?" Sirius questioned. "That's it? That's your punishment?"
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Its like you want me to get punished..."
"Of course we do!" James exclaimed. "How else would you break your goody-two-shoes image?"
Remus shot them both a dry look. "I hate you both."
"Aw, we love you too."
"Not as much as McGonagall seems to love me." Remus retorted.
"Alright...she always fell for your charm and gave you easy punishments when you got in trouble alone." Sirius muttered.
"Favoritism!" Fred and George yelled accusingly as they pointed fingers at McGonagall.
James gasped. "Favoritism? Minnie isn't supposed to favorite anyone!"
"Don't talk nonsense, Potter." McGonagall said sharply. "I never favored anyone."
Severus raises his eyebrows, looking pointedly at the Golden Trio.
McGonagall only frowned in response, looking pointedly at Draco.
"You shouldn't lie, Minnie. We saw how much you cared for Remus during our time at school." James said, grinning.
"It was not favoritism, Mr. Potter! Mr. Lupin just had a lot more going on then the rest of you." McGonagall defended.
Sirius opened his mouth to retort again, but closed it before he could as he remembered the few times that McGonagall counseled and consoled him in private. It was the same thing she did for Remus at times and why she was sometimes lax in Remus's punishments.
Remus looked at Sirius with raised eyebrows. "Well? Any response, o-serious one?"
Sirius shot Remus a glare, grumbling to himself, but didn't respond.
Remus blinked confused, but did as McGonagall asked. As he was cleaning the paper up, he saw McGonagall watching him.
"Lupin, I wanted to remind you that the full moon is in five days.
"Oh joy." Remus said sarcastically.
"Was it a bad moon?" Harry asked worriedly.
"No, it was a pretty normal one." Remus replied.
"Though he did have a lot of horrible ones during our time at Hogwarts." James said, shuddering as he remembered some of the close calls Remus had.
"That bad?" Astoria asked.
Sirius nodded. "Far, far from enjoyable."
Do you remember the plan of what to do on the day of the full moon?" McGonagall asked.
"I would never forget the plan." Remus said bitterly.
"Still remember even to this day?" Tonks asked.
"I went through this routine for seven years. Couldn't forget it if I tried."
Remus sighed and stopped picking up the paper. He sat on the floor and stared at the teacher with a frown. "Yes."
"What's wrong with sitting in a chair?" Hermione asked, amused.
"Hey, floors can be quite comfy, you know!" Remus said.
Sirius and James snorted.
"You would know." James said teasingly.
"Yeah, you spent that entire night on the floor that one time." Sirius grinned. "You fell off the bed."
Remus grumbled something under his breath in response, crossing his arms as a light blush covered his face.
"I'm reminding you because it seems like you forgotten about the full moon since you are so busy hanging with your friends." McGonagall explained.
"I did forget. For once I felt like a normal kid." Remus replied, looking at the ground sadly.
"But..." Parvati frowned. "You were a normal kid, professor."
Remus didn't respond, only shooting slightly fearful looks at the other two Marauders. He remembered what he said next, and he wasn't really sure if he wanted everyone to hear it, especially James and Sirius...
His hands clenched into fists. "I forgot all about my lycanthropy. I thought I was a normal wizard, living the normal life of a wizard student. Sometimes,"
Harry paused in horror as he unconsciously read further. He glanced at his former professor before back at the book to continue.
"I wish that I died the night I was bitten then I wouldn't have to live through this hell every month."
James and Sirius's faces hardened and they glared at Remus, causing the younger man to fidget slightly under their looks.
"You don't mean that." Sirius hissed, frowning.
"I..." Remus looked like he was going to say something, but he couldn't get it out. "I just..."
"We're talking about this later, Remus." James said darkly.
Remus looked like he wanted to protest, but after another glare from James and Sirius, he gave a hesitant nod.
"I'm serious, Remus." James said warningly. "We will talk about this; there's no getting out of it."
"I know James..." Remus muttered. 'But it was in first year!' He wanted to say.
"It's amazing how much he makes them sound like father and son." Harry muttered to Lily, causing her to giggle slightly, though she was looking at Remus worriedly.
McGonagall frowned. "Do you make that wish now?"
Remus stared at the floor for a few minutes before looking at his teacher. "I don't know.
"You don't know? You don't know?!" Sirius hissed. "How can you not know whether or not you want to die?!"
"I..." Remus desperately tried to find an answer, but James cut him off before he could find one.
"Sirius." James said firmly, making Sirius glare at him for a moment. Something passed between the two in an unspoken agreement, and Sirius gave a stiff nod.
Remus looked between the two nervously. They were really serious about talking after this...
I'm happy for once since I have friends. But I don't know if that takes the wish away. The wish can never come true since the bite was years ago, but I sometimes dream of it. If my friends ever find out about my condition, they'll leave me and I'm afraid of what I'll do if that happens, especially if it's around a full moon. I'm more scared then I let on. I never wanted to make friends because of all these fears, but James and Sirius were really stubborn about being my friends."
"So that's why you didn't want to be friends with us?" James asked softly. "Because you were afraid?"
Remus averted his eyes from James's and Sirius's, but that was enough of an answer for them.
Sirius sighed. "Oh, Remy..."
"If they leave you because of your condition, then they weren't true friends. True friends wouldn't leave you because of your condition." McGonagall replied.
Sirius and James nodded at this, shooting a grateful look at McGonagall, who gave a small nod in response.
"Maybe. I just hope no one ever finds out. I couldn't deal with being shunned." Remus said. He bit his lip to keep from crying about the idea of being shunned. "Professor, may I leave? I'm late to my class."
McGonagall sighed at this, shaking her head. Of course students never found it comfortable enough to cry in front of their professors.
McGonagall nodded her head. "Go ahead, Mr. Lupin."
Remus smiled and ran out of the classroom.
When he entered History of Magic,
"Ugh, I hate that class." Dean groaned.
"Binns is absolutely horrible." Seamus agreed.
"No one can even pay attention without falling asleep!" Neville exclaimed, before shooting Hermione a glance. "Well...except a select few..."
Remus saw his friends glance at him uneasily, so he smiled and sat in front of them. "Don't worry. She just had to tell me something. I'm not in trouble. I think that she was so busy talking with me that she forgot about the note."
"What?" McGonagall asked shocked.
"Wait…you actually forgot his punishment?" Fred asked slyly.
"Quiet, Mr. Weasley."
Fred and George shared an evil look.
"Wouldn't be the first time you forgot." Remus said, smirking.
"You too, Mr. Lupin. Quiet!" McGonagall said.
"I feel like I'm her student again." Remus grumbled.
"That's good. We need to come up with a way to pass notes without getting caught." James whispered.
"Did you ever find out a way?" Fred and George questioned, eagerly.
The three Marauders smirked, though Remus's was kind of weak.
"Marauder's secret." James said offhandedly.
"That will probably be revealed." Remus added, grinning.
"Sadly." Sirius pouted. "All our secrets will be revealed."
"Some secrets that we don't want revealed." James grumbled, before getting a glint in his eyes. "For example..." He quickly reached his hand out and poked Remus in the stomach, making Remus reel back in shock, letting out a surprised laugh.
"W-what the hell, James?" Remus exclaimed, hugging his stomach as he shot his friend a confused look.
James smirked. "Still ticklish, I see." He said teasingly.
"Sh-shut it..."
"Ticklish?" George asked, grinning with his brother, making Remus shoot them a glare.
"Woah, he can really glare." Fred whispered to his twin.
"Probably got a lot of practice when he was young, considering who his friends were." Bill whispered to them, grinning as he did.
Remus nodded his head and turned around to start taking notes for the class when he saw he was sitting next to Lily. "Hi Lily."
"Hi Remus." She replied.
"Can I borrow your notes for Transfiguration that I missed?" Remus asked.
Lily smiled. "Sure. I'll give them to you tonight and maybe we can work on our homework together?"
Remus smiled. "Sure. Meet in the library after dinner?"
"Okay."
Harry gaped at Remus, his eyes wide. "Did you just..." He trailed off hesitantly.
"Just what?" Remus questioned, confused, ignoring the snickers from the other two Marauders.
"Ya know..." Harry paused. "Ask my mom out?"
Remus paled, not even bothering to correct Harry for saying 'ya' instead of 'you'. "Oh, hell no." He said before he could stop himself.
Lily huffed, crossing her arms. "Nice to know you like me, Remus." She said teasingly.
Remus's eyes widened and he held his hands up in defense. "I didn't mean it like that!" He exclaimed. "I just...you and I...we...I..."
Lily cut off his stutters with a giggle. "I'm just teasing, Remus." She smiled.
"...I knew that."
Remus started to take notes when he felt something hit his head. He looked at the ground to see a paper airplane.
YOU'RE ABANDONDING US FOR EVANS!- SB
What are you talking about?- RL
You're leaving us to go on a study date with Evans.- SB
"Seeeeee?" Harry said, stretching out the word. "Even Sirius thought it!"
Remus rolled his eyes. "It wasn't a date." He replied. "Just friends doing homework together."
Remus rolled his eyes. It's not a date. Just friends doing homework together.- RL
"Jeez, Remus, don't repeat yourself." Sirius said teasingly, earning a glare from the werewolf.
It better be.- JP
Oooooh. Does Little Jamesie love Lily?- RL
"Wow, James, even in 1st year?" Lily said, grinning.
James blushed. "W-what?" he said. "N-no!" He paused, before realizing what he just said. "I-I mean...yes?"
"Knew it." Remus muttered, earning a glare from James.
"WHAT?" James yelled, making Remus snicker. Sirius looked at the note and snickered to.
"I didn't know you had it in you, Remus." Sirius said.
"Be quiet." Lily snapped.
Remus smiled. "Sorry, Lils."
"I still don't see why I can't call you Lils too." James grumbled.
Lily smirked. "Sorry, James, but that's Remus's nickname for me so only he gets to call me it."
James glared at her then at Remus, who smirked, sticking his tongue out at James. "Favoritism." James grumbled.
"That's your wife!" Harry said.
"I know! And yet, she still shows Remus favoritism! Can you believe it?" James asked, making Harry, Remus, and Lily snicker.
"It's alright, Remus. I was talking more towards Black and Potter." Lily replied, before continuing to take notes.
"I like how she only calls Remus by his first name." Bill snorted.
"Well Remus was the only mature one, therefore, he deserved to be called by his first name." Lily said.
Remus snorted, mock-bowing. "It was such an...honor to be called by my first name by the amazing Lily Evans." He said sarcastically, grinning all the while.
"You are very welcome, my dear knight." Lily replied, as she and Remus shared a grin as they remembered third year.
"Knight?" Ron asked, but was ignored by the two.
"It's just something the two joked about once or twice." Sirius told Ron.
After dinner that night, Remus went back to the dorm to get his bag with his friends. Before he could get out of their dorm, James blocked the door so Remus couldn't leave. He had his arms crossed and was frowning. He had a very serious expression on his face.
"Now Remus, I expect you back here by eight thirty and don't do anything to Miss Evans.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin, don't do anything to Mrs. Potter." Charlie reprimanded, his lips twitching upwards.
"What would I do?" Remus exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in disbelief.
"Fifth year." Sirius whispered to Remus, causing him to shoot Sirius a glare at that reminder.
We don't need a traumatized witch on our hands. I expect you to treat her with respect and do not do anything that will make her uncomfortable. You are just there to study and that's all you better be doing." James said in a commanding voice.
"...why can't you always act this responsible?" Lily demanded, though her lips were slowly forming a smile.
"Oi, I can be responsible!" James exclaimed.
Remus snorted. "Yeah, but it seems like you're only responsible when it comes to me." He muttered.
James shot him a smirk. "That's because you looked sooo pathetic sometimes."
Remus shot him a mock-glare.
Remus looked at James shocked. He heard Sirius snickering from his bed. He smirked when an idea came to him. "Of course, mother. I would never upset, Lily. Now move or she's going to think I ditched her. That would upset her and we don't want that, do we, mother?"
The Hall laughed at Remus's response, shaking their heads.
Remus smiled, nudging James in the ribs. "He's still a mother hen."
"Oi, no I'm not." James pouted.
Lily put a hand to her husband's cheek. "Yes, you are, dear."
"Oi! Why is everyone against me?"
It was James turn to look shock. He glared over at the snickering Sirius. "Do you have anything to say before we allow Remus to leave?" James asked, regaining his calm composure, hiding his shock of Remus turning this into a game.
Sirius smirked and got off his bed. "Now Remy, don't be late in coming back or you'll grounded.
Fred and George's faces lit up as they remembered the title of the chapter. So Professor Lupin was grounded? Oh, that's just priceless...
Now go out and enjoy yourself, but not too much."
Remus chuckled to himself and pushed James away from the day. "Thanks father. I'll see you later."
"Sirius is the dad?!" Fred and George shouted, grinning like madman. "James and Sirius? Who would have thought?"
"WHAT?" James and Sirius screeched before glaring at Remus.
"Why are you glaring at me? The twins said it." Remus said.
"But it's your fault for starting it!" James and Sirius shouted.
"It was first year!"
Sirius snorted. "Except you never got over mockingly calling James 'mother.'"
"Oi, why does he get to be father?" James yelled out after him, but Remus ignored him.
"Cause you're more feminine, obviously." Sirius teased, and took his leather jacket off, showing off his muscles. "And I'm more masculine."
"Oi!" James said, offended. "There's no way I'm feminine."
"I don't know, James." Remus mused. "You do look pretty feminine..."
"I do not!" James exclaimed, crossing his arms, glaring at Remus.
"Are too~"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!" James then paused, frowning at what he said. "Wait a minute..."
Remus smirked, ruffling James's hair. "Well, it's nice to know we're on the same page, girlie."
James smacked his hand away and glared at his friend.
Remus found Lily sitting at a table in the library waiting for him by the time he arrived. "Hi Lily. Sorry about making you wait. James and Sirius held me up."
Lily looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at Remus. "That's alright, Remus. I was kind of expecting that to happen and when you weren't here when I arrived, I realized it must have happened."
"Actually, my first thought was that you ditched me." Lily said sheepishly.
Remus looked mock-scandalized. "Ditch a girl?" He said. "I would never!"
Lily smiled at that. "Of course not." She giggled. "You never once ditched a girl at all during Hogwarts. You were always the perfect gentleman to them."
She laughed lightly and pulled out her homework, putting away the book she was reading.
The two worked together on their essays and answering questions for their classes quietly. Lily realized that she actually really enjoyed Remus's company. He was so nice to her and wasn't arrogant like James.
"Oi, I'm not arrogant!" James protested, frowning.
Remus, Lily, and Sirius all stared at him with blank expressions, before bursting out into laughter.
"HAHAHA! Don't play dumb, James!" Remus laughed.
James pouted at that, glaring at the three of them as several other people giggled.
"Remus, why do you hang out with Potter and Black? They are so arrogant and rude. They are always hexing Severus in the halls for no reason.
Severus glared at Potter Sr. and Black for that. He would never forgive them...
They act like they own the school and we've only been here for two weeks. We still have seven years here." The young Gryffindor looked vehement as she spoke about them. "You're nothing like them. You are so kind and smart. And I saw you on the train sitting with them. I saw the way you disapproved of their attitudes through your reflection in the window. So I just want to know why you hang with them."
"Sorry, Remus." Lily said, realizing how bad that must've been for him. "I'm not apologizing to James and Sirius though, cause all I said about them is true. I'm sorry for actually saying that to your face."
Remus nodded in understanding. "It's alright Lils, I understand."
Lily asked in a kinder tone then she was using when talking about Sirius and James.
Putting down his quill, Remus put a hand to his chin and acted like he was thinking hard. "I actually didn't want to be their friends. They sat with me on the train and I tried to ignore them, but they were very persistent about becoming my friends.
"Because a certain someone was a stubborn git!" Sirius shouted, glaring at Remus.
"Always trying to run away from being our friend!" James added with a scowl. "That was really annoying."
Remus gave a small smirk as he twirled his pendant between his fingers. "Oh, did it bother you?" He asked mockingly.
Sirius and James shared an annoyed look. "Were you doing it on purpose sometimes?"
"Perhaps." Remus replied.
"You...you...YOU!" Sirius screamed, lunging at Remus, only to be pulled back by Tonks.
"So I see nothing has changed between you two." James muttered, a smile appearing on his face.
They got annoyed with me ignoring them that they made a deal with me. If we were in the same house, I would become their friend. I agreed because I was thinking I would end up in Ravenclaw
"Ravenclaw?" Sirius said blankly.
"Never!" James exclaimed. "You're a Gryffindor through and through, Remus!"
"And that is how I got stuck in this situation." Remus grumbled to himself.
"The best kind of situation!" Sirius grinned, swinging an arm around Remus's neck and ruffling his hair.
"A situation with you three idiots?" Remus grunted, pushing Sirius away.
"Exactly!" Sirius said, before pausing. "Wait...not exactly."
Remus snorted, punching Sirius in the arm. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
and they would end up somewhere else because they didn't seem the Ravenclaw type. But the hat said that I belonged in Gryffindor and after arguing with that hat for a while, he put me in Gryffindor. I guess the hat doesn't like taking demands from students."
"I think the hat was messing with you, Professor." Harry said amused as he recalled his own sorting with the Sorting Hat.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Call me Remus, for the hundredth time. And I figured that, Harry." He said. "Plus, I had hoped that the Sorting Hat would protect me from the three idiots and put me in Ravenclaw."
"Oi!" James and Sirius protested, pouting.
"Obviously, he was feeling cruel that day." Remus added.
Lily laughed lightly. "That would explain why you were up there for long. The teachers were beginning to look worried because you were up there for so long. So you got stuck being Potter's friend because of a deal?"
Remus smiled. "Yeah. And now they I'm theirs
Fred and George grinned at that, waggling their eyebrows at the three Marauders.
Remus, James, and Sirius all blinked, before turning green in disgust.
"You two have got to get your minds out of the gutter if you want to get anywhere in life." Percy muttered, earning two identical glares.
"Well, for your information, dear brother." George said snarkily.
"Where we're going in life, it won't matter where our minds are." Fred said.
"As long as our minds are full of pranks." They said together, earning a blank stare from their older brother.
and must help them with pranks and learning hexes and such. They don't take no for an answer."
"If you ever need help getting out of doing something with them, come to me. We'll make another study date and
"So it is a date!" Harry exclaimed.
"It wasn't a date!" Remus defended. "It was only friends doing homework together! I've already said that!"
James glared at Remus, a suspicious look on his face. "It better have been." He said dangerously.
Remus balked in response, smiling back nervously. Damn it! He was already married to her! What more did he want?
I'll get them to allow you to come with me. That way you won't have to help them." Lily said.
"Thank Lils. You don't mind that I call you that do you? I called you it in class and you didn't seem to mind." Remus asked.
Lily shook her head. "It's alright. I like it. It means we're friends if you're calling me something other than my name."
"Ha!" Sirius said triumphantly. "Another reason why we should call you Remy and Rems!"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Isn't Moony enough?"
James raised an eyebrow. "Of course not, Remy." He replied, earning a glare from Remus.
"Right, but you have to call me Remus. Don't use those horrid names that James and Sirius call me." Remus replied, a huge smile on his face.
"What Rems and Remy?" Lily asked. Remus nodded his head and Lily laughed. "Don't worry. I won't call you that."
"At least someone listens to me." Remus said, glaring at James and Sirius, who both whistled innocently.
"Thanks." Remus replied.
The two friends went back to working on their homework, helping each here and there. Remus found out that Lily's best subject was Charms and worst was Defense against the Dark Arts. She was so happy when she found out that Defense was Remus's best subject.
"Well that explains why you became the DADA professor." Harry said, grinning at his ex-professor.
"I wish he still was our professor." Dean said sourly. "Umbridge is horrible."
"C'mon, a professor can't be that bad."
Remus raised an eyebrow at that. "Really." He deadpanned. "How about 3rd year?"
Lily paused, before nodding. "Alright, Nazik was horrible..."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"A bastard." Sirius spat.
"Sirius!" Lily snapped, glaring at him. "Don't swear."
"You didn't say anything earlier when Remus called me it." Sirius grumbled, making Lily just shrug. "WHAT is with this favoritism of Remus?"
They were so engrossed in their work that they didn't notice the time slip by. So when three boys, two leading the way and the other one just following, came up to their table and slammed a hand on the table, they were quite surprised.
"Remy nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise." Sirius said teasingly
"Oi, I did not." Remus frowned, glaring at the younger man.
Lily smiled. "Sorry, Remus, but it's true." She said, causing Remus to pout.
Lily glared at the three of them. "What do you want, Potter?"
James smiled at Lily and ran a hand through his hair to make it messier. "Hello Evans."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Lover boy, we aren't here for you to flirt."
James glared at Sirius. "Don't call me Lover boy."
"Loooooover boy~" Remus said teasingly.
James glared at him, frowning. "Shut up, Remmie-poo." He retorted, smirking.
Everyone within hearing distance burst out laughing at the nickname, while Remus blushed heavily.
"I told you not to call me that." Remus muttered.
"And I told you not to call me lover boy."
"Well...actually, you told Sirius."
"...shut up, Remmie-poo."
"…Prat."
"Why are you guys here?" Remus asked, interrupting Sirius and James before they could start arguing.
"Why are we here?" James asked. "To get you, of course. I said be back by eight thirty. It is now eight forty. You are late."
Lily blinked and turned to Remus. "Late for what?"
"His bedtime!" George grinned.
"Yeah, little Remmie needs his sleepy time, or else he'll be all grumpy in the morning!" Fred said, grinning widely.
Remus rolled his eyes while James and Sirius snorted.
"Please, he'll always be grumpy in the morning." Sirius said, earning a glare from Remus.
"Yeah, no matter how much sleep we try to force on him, he's always ready to bite our heads off." James added.
"I would be too if I shared a dorm with you guys." Lily mumbled.
Remus rolled his eyes. "James and Sirius think they need to be my parents and ordered me back to my dorms by eight thirty, isn't that right, mother?" Remus turned to James as he said this.
"Wait, does this mean that Remus is my stepbrother?" Harry questioned, blinking.
The three Marauders and Lily all blinked, staring at the young Potter.
"Um..." Remus paused.
"Sure does!" Sirius grinned. "Remus, meet your younger brother Harry! Harry, meet your big brother Remus!"
Remus gave him a dry look. "Shut up."
"Is that any way to talk to your father?" Sirius scolded. "James, have you anything to say to our son?"
"Ugh, I'm not doing this again!" Remus exclaimed while James paled and waved his hands frantically in protest. "Harry, continue now!"
The young witch burst out laughing when she saw Remus turn to James and call him mother. "How sweet."
"Sweet? You're crazy." Remus declared.
"C'mon, it was sweet." Lily smiled, earning raised eyebrows from Remus.
"You've got to be kidding me." Remus said, flabbergasted.
"But I'm not." She said. "Your friends actually care about you enough to pretend to be your parents. To set a curfew and make sure you don't stay out too late. It's sweet."
"...I still think you're crazy." Remus turned to James. "And you married a crazy one."
"Oi! She's not crazy!" James said.
"She married you! That makes her crazy." Remus retorted.
"…I'm offended."
"Good."
Sirius shook his head. "Remy, put your stuff away and get back to our dorm."
"We will escort you back too, Evans." James said dreamily.
Lily glowered at him
"So much for being sweet." James muttered, earning a half-hearted glare from his wife.
and saw her friends entered the library. "No thanks. My friends just came in. I'll go back with them." She turned to Remus and smiled. "Thanks for studying with me, Remus. We'll do it again."
"Yeah, sure." Remus replied.
When Lily was gone, James and Sirius crossed their arms and stared at Remus. "Remus, hurry up. We want to get back to our dorm."
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Not planning a prank, were you boys?" She questioned.
"Oi, we're not boys anymore." Sirius pouted. "We're men."
Remus snorted. "I dunno about you and James." He said teasingly. "You still act like little boys to me."
"Shut it, you."
"And to answer your question, Minnie." James clarified. "No, we weren't."
"That's a surprise." McGonagall said.
"We weren't that bad all the time!" James said.
"Why?" Remus asked. "Curfew isn't for another fifteen minutes and you guys like being out after curfew."
"Because you are grounded." Sirius replied.
"We were right!" Fred and George exclaimed, grinning as they high-fived.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, since the chapter title is called Grounded-" Fred started.
"And Sirius and James mentioned something about grounding you if you were late-" George continued.
"We figured that Professor Lupin was grounded." They ended together, earning several stares.
"Great, first Fabian and Gideon do that, now you two." Remus grumbled, referring to the finishing each other's sentences.
Remus looked at Sirius with a raised brow. "What are you talking about?"
"I said if you were late, you would be grounded." Sirius explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Remus laughed and left the library. "You can't ground me, Siri."
Sirius raised a brow. "Oh, can't I?"
"No, you can't." Remus replied.
"I bet we could still ground him for that, James." Sirius said thoughtfully.
James broke out into a grin. "You know...I bet we could." He grinned.
Remus frowned, glancing between the two ebonies. "...yeah, good luck with that." He snorted after a moment. "And how, exactly, would you plan on that?"
Sirius and James both smirked. "Oh, we have our ways." They said together.
Sirius turned to James. "What do you say, Jamesie? Is it possible for us to ground Remy?"
James smirked. "Of course, Siri."
"And how are you guys going to do that?" Peter asked, confused.
"We just have to make sure he's never out of our sight. And pretty much control everything he does until his sentence is up." James explained, earning a laugh from Remus. "Is something funny, Remus?"
"Oh nothing important..." Remus said offhandedly. "Just your face."
James paused, taking a moment to realize what Remus said before glaring. "OI!" He shouted, whacking the back of Remus's head, making his head slam on the table.
"OW!" Remus shouted, sitting back up and rubbing his forehead, frowning. "Damn it, James, that hurt."
"That was the point." James grumbled.
Remus smiled. "You guys can't control what I do."
"He doesn't believe us, Jamesie. And here I was thinking about letting him off with a warning. Now we have to ground him just to prove we can." Sirius replied, a smirk forming on his lips.
Peter
Sirius grin slid off his face and he glared at the book. That little rat...
smiled and looked at Remus. "I don't envy you, Remus. They seem completely serious."
Remus looked at James and Sirius evil, smirking faces then back at Peter. He looked at the smirking wizards, who looked like they could be brothers right, before he took off running back to Gryffindor Tower.
"And I thought you were a Gryffindor." Tonks mock-scoffed.
Remus shrugged. "Hey, you would run too if you saw those two faces."
"OI!" James and Sirius shouted.
"Yeah, but I'm not a Gryffindor." Tonks said, ignoring the other two.
"...either way."
James and Sirius watched shocked as Remus ran. They gained their wits back and ran after him with Peter trailing behind them.
"Like always." Sirius muttered, earning a disapproving look from Remus.
Remus burst into the common room, startling the students in there. They looked at Remus shocked. He just smiled at them and ran up to his dorm. When he got to his room, he pulled out his wand and muttered Colloportus, locking the door. Smiling, Remus threw his stuff on the ground and threw himself onto his bed.
"We still got to you." James smirked.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, after nearly blowi-MMPF!" James quickly cut Remus off by covering his mouth with his hand.
"Shh!" He hissed. "Spoilers!"
Annoyed, Remus bit down hard on James's hand, making him yelp and pull away. "Watch it, Remus!" He shouted, rubbing the palm of his hand. "Damn, just like school for sure."
As he was doing this, his three friends burst into the common room just like Remus did a few minutes before. The Gryffindors in the common room jumped again and glared at the three boys.
"Hey, did you guys see where Remus went?" Sirius asked.
All of them pointed towards the boy dorms.
"Wonderful Gryffindors." Remus grumbled. "They totally ratted me out."
"We would've found you eventually." Sirius pouted.
"Yeah," Remus scoffed. "But before that, you would tear apart the common room looking for me, then realize how stupid you are, and race upstairs."
"….You are really mean."
"I specialize in it."
Tonks smirked. "I thought sarcasm was your specialty?"
"That too." Remus replied.
James thanked them and ran up to their dorm with Sirius and Peter following close behind him. He grabbed the door knob and ran into the door as he tried to open. "Ow." James muttered as he rubbed his head.
"That really hurt." James whined.
Remus snorted. "And yet, you never learned your lesson and continued to run into doors."
"It's not my fault those walls were pretending to be doors!" James said.
"I think Remus locked the door."
"Great deduction, Sherlock." Lily said sarcastically.
"...Sherlock?" James asked blankly.
Lily sighed, shaking her head. "Never mind, James." She muttered.
"You think?" Sirius grumbled sarcastically.
"REMUS, OPEN THIS DOOR!" James yelled, as he started pounding on the door. "REMUS!"
Quite a few people winced at how loud Harry was yelling.
There was no reply from inside their room.
"REMUS, OPEN THE DOOR NOW!" Sirius yelled, pounding on the door too.
"WILL YOU TWO STOP YELLING?" An annoyed prefect yelled at them.
"NEVER!" Sirius shouted, making several people jump. "YELLING IS IN MY BLOOD THANKS TO MY BLASTED MOTHER!"
"SIRIUS, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Remus screamed, covering his ears with his hands and slamming his head on the table, earning a concerned look from Madam Pomfrey.
"NEVER!"
"SIRIUS, I WILL CURSE YOU!"
"HOW ABOUT YOU BOTH SHUT UP?!" James yelled.
"BUTT OUT, JAMES!" Sirius and Remus both screamed at him. Just as they were about to continue yelling at each other, they found that they couldn't. They both felt at their throats, realizing that they silenced.
Lily frowned, putting her wand away. "I'm disappointed in you both." She sighed, making Sirius and Remus blink. "I thought you two had grown up...guess I was wrong."
Remus looked like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
"If I unsilence you, will you both apologize and actually act your age?" Lily questioned, picking her wand up again.
Sirius and Remus both frowned, but nodded.
"Good," Lily nodded. "Now apologize." She unsilenced the two young men, making them able to speak.
"Sorry, Remy." Sirius mumbled, crossing his arms.
Remus rolled his eyes and punched Sirius's arm. "Don't call me that, and I'm sorry too."
"Much better." Lily smiled.
"Mom, you're such a parent to them." Harry muttered, earning a smile from Lily.
"I know..." Lily said with a sigh. "But Harry, you should have seen them at school. They were always yelling and arguing with each other like that."
"Yeah, but it was usually James breaking it up." Sirius said.
"Because all that yelling got annoying." James mumbled.
"And Professor Lupin is the good and mature one?" Harry asked his mother.
"Well…he had his moments as well…" Lily said.
Sirius and James ignored him and continued pounding on the door. "OPEN THE DOOR NOW OR I'M BLASTING IT DOWN!" James screamed.
"YOU HAVE TO THE COUNT OF THREE, REMY!" Sirius added.
"There's no way you two are that stupid." Tonks scoffed, earning a raised eyebrow from Remus.
"Oi, we're not stupid!" James and Sirius pouted.
Remus snorted at that. "Sure you aren't..."
Remus laughed and continued staring at the ceiling. He didn't believe the two would actually blow the door down.
"ONE!" Sirius screamed.
"TWO!" James screamed.
"THREE!" Sirius screamed.
There was a moment of silence, before the door was blown off its hinges,
Tonks and many other students gaped at Sirius and James, shocked. "You actually did it?"
"Of course!" James exclaimed. "We were never the ones to pass up a challenge!"
Remus snorted at that. "Cause you're idiots."
Moody shook his head. He really shouldn't be surprised about these three behaving like this. They had always been crazy kids when he met them.
making Remus jumped in surprise. "There was a simple unlocking charm, you know."
Sirius and James blinked in confusion. Then James smiled. "Explosions are more fun."
"Oh, dear god." McGonagall said. "You boys and your explosions."
"Hey, Remus did explosions too!" Sirius said.
When McGonagall stared at him, Remus shrugged. "What can I say? I liked them too."
"You didn't know that, Professor?" Hermione asked.
"I always thought all the explosions were Sirius and James's doing." McGonagall admitted. "And Remus never corrected me."
"Why would I?" Remus scoffed.
"Wait…so we got in trouble for things Remus did?" Sirius asked, slowly turning to Remus with a frown.
"Hey! We made a rule to never rat each other out or turn ourselves in." Remus said with a shrug.
"Damn you for actually obeying the rules." Sirius grumbled.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU FOUR DOING?" A sixth year prefect yelled, storming into the room.
"Breaking into our room." Sirius replied, thinking it was obvious. "And stop yelling. You're disrupting the peace."
Everyone snorted at that, while Percy looked slightly scandalized. How dare they talk to a Prefect like that!
Sirius sighed happily. "Ah, I remember that." He grinned.
"You annoyed that Prefect so much." Remus said, shaking his head.
"It was fun." Sirius said, grinning like a madman.
The prefect's face was livid. "I'M DISRUPTING THE PEACE? YOU FOUR ARE THE ONES RUNNING AROUND THE TOWER, YELLING, AND POUNDING ON DOORS!"
"Shh. Lower your voice." Sirius said, nicely.
"Nicely?" Remus laughed. "More like rudely!"
"Oi, I'm not rude!" Sirius protested, then paused. "Well...I'm not rude to the people I like."
"I dunno, Sirius, you could be pretty rude to me, Remus, and Peter." James frowned.
Sirius opened his mouth to protest, then frowned, realizing that he was right...
The prefect's eye started twitching. "DETENTION, BLACK!" The prefect repaired the door with a flick of his wand and stormed out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him.
Sirius laughed and jumped onto his bed. "Now what were we doing before Mr. Prefect interrupted us?"
James cupped his chin in his hand and thought.
"Don't hurt yourself, Dad." Harry said teasingly.
"Argh, even my own son is against me!" James said dramatically, though on the inside he suddenly felt all warm at being called 'Dad'.
"I believe we were grounding Remus."
"Ah, yes, we were." Sirius replied, sitting up on his bed and looking at Remus.
Remus groaned and buried his head in his pillow. "Will you two stop acting like idiots?" His muffled voice asked.
Remus snorted. "That will never happen." He grinned.
"OI!" James and Sirius exclaimed, both whacking the back of Remus's head, making him slam into the table.
"OW, DAMN IT!" He shouted, holding his nose. "I'M SURPRISED I HAVEN'T BROKEN MY NOSE WITH YOU TWO IDIOTS HITTING ME ALL THE TIME!"
Madam Pomfrey sighed and stood up, walking over to the young man. "Remus, let me see your nose." She said.
Remus blinked, before moving his hand away from his nose, which was dripping blood. Madam Pomfrey sighed again and muttered a spell under her breath, tapping Remus's nose with her wand, healing it.
"There you go, Remus." She said, putting her wand away, then she glared threateningly at James and Sirius, who were staring at her and Remus in bemusement. "Now, no more hitting him, you two, or you're see to me."
"Yes ma'am." They mumbled.
Remus broke out into a grin, feeling his nose. "Thanks a lot, Madam P." He said gratefully.
Madam Pomfrey smiled and patted his cheek, before going back to her seat at the Head Table.
"Why the hell did all our female teachers favor him?" Sirius grumbled.
"It wasn't all of them!" Remus protested.
James snorted. "Was too."
James and Sirius looked at each other and nodded. "Fine. I guess we can let you off with a warning this time. But you have to go to bed now."
The young werewolf lifted his head and looked at the two like they were crazy. "You can't tell me when to go to bed."
Sirius grumbled. "Fine. Be that way. Don't listen to us."
"I knew it was too good to be true." Remus sighed dramatically.
Remus rolled his eyes and climbed off his bed to grab his bag to get a book. While his back was turned to Sirius, the young heir smirked and threw a pillow at Remus's head.
The young werewolf turned and glared at Sirius. "Is that how it's going to be?"
Before Sirius could reply, Remus grabbed the pillow off the ground and lunged at Sirius, whacking him in the face with the pillow.
"That actually hurt." Sirius complained.
Remus stared at him, bemused. "A pillow?"
"Yes," Sirius grumbled. "A pillow."
"...wimp."
"Oh, it's on now." Sirius growled. He grabbed Peter's pillow and swung it towards Remus, who ducked, so the pillow hit James instead.
"Hey!" James complained and grabbed Remus's pillow. "You're going to pay for that, Black."
Peter grabbed James's pillow and the four started to pummel each other with the pillows.
"You seriously had a pillow fight?" Lily questioned, raising an eyebrow.
The three Marauders shrugged.
"Well, why not?" James grinned.
Lily just continued staring.
"We were eleven!" James protested.
Lily just stared.
"What do you want from me?" James shouted.
Remus and Sirius snickered behind him.
The pillow fight lasted for about half an hour before a prefect came in and yelled at them to stop and be quiet. After that the four friends decided to go to bed, so they wouldn't wake up late and miss classes again.
"That was such a corny ending." James snorted.
Remus raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that you just basically called our life corny?"
"...shut up Remus."
"Make me, Jamesie."
James smirked. "Do you really want me to?" He asked slyly.
Remus pause, mentally debating on whether or not he should push his luck. "...I changed my mind..."
James grinned, ruffling Remus's hair. "That's what I thought." He said teasingly.
Harry cleared his throat. "That's the end of the chapter." He announced. "Who wants to read next?"
Before anyone could volunteer, Dumbledore stood up, earning everyone's attention. "Before anyone continues," he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I believe that we should have a short break to eat and talk, and have a break from reading for a while." he clapped his hands, making a bunch of food appear on the table. "Enjoy!"
The Hall cheered and immediately started digging in to the food and chatting amongst themselves. Remus was just about to fill up his plate, but James placed a hand on Remus's shoulder, stopping him.
"Don't think I've forgotten, Remus." James said, frowning.
"...forgotten what?" Remus asked weakly, trying to act like he didn't know what James was talking about.
"Don't play dumb with me, Remus." James glared. "C'mon, you too Sirius."
"Huh?" Sirius looked up from his plate, his mouth full of mashed potatoes. James face-palmed, grumbling that Sirius hasn't changed. Sirius swallowed the food his mouth. "Oops, sorry. Yeah, let's go, Remy. I wanna get this over with quickly."
Remus looked at James and Sirius, slightly nervous. "...then how about we don't even do this?"
James frowned at him. "You know why, now either walk or I will stun and drag you in another room myself."
"..."
"Well?"
Remus sighed. "Fine, fine..." He stood up, rubbing his arm. "Like Sirius said, let's just get this over with..."
Author: Oh. My. God. These chapters lag so much for me! Alright, just in case you didn't read the author's note in the last chapter, I will update once a week now, because I've just started high school. It will usually be a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Thanks again, and review!