Last days (year 1)
The Marauders first year at Hogwarts was coming to an end and the professors were not showing mercy on any of their students.
“Have any of you lot memorized the date of when self stirring cauldrons were invented?” Peter asked biting his lips as the four of them made their way downstairs to the great hall where the end of year one exams would be taking place.
“Um yeah, 1733 I think.” Remus answered. He was actually completely sure of it, but he didn't want to make Peter any more nervous, by showing his own confidence.
“Honestly Pete, no one cares about year one exams anyway. They don’t matter at all.” James kicked a pebble with his toe.
“Besides,” Sirius said, kicking back the same pebble as they continued walking, “it won’t be difficult. Even for you.”
“Ouch. Thanks.” Peter mumbled.
The great hall was full of first years, the air buzzing with nervous energy, as the four of them found some seats that were close to each other. The usual four house tables had been replaced with hundreds of small one seat desks and chairs. Remus opened his bag and started unpacking his materials setting his Quill and ink on on the desk in front of him, pulling out multiple sheets of paper and neatly arranging everything in orderly positions. The other three watched him in silence.
“What are you doing?” James asked.
Remus looked up realizing they were all observing him. He blushed, “An organized desk space means an organized mind.”
James and Sirius exchanged a look and immediately started laughing.
Remus rolled his eyes, “whatever guys.”
Peter turned to his bag. “Is that true?” Frantically he piled materials on his desk trying to organize and arrange them the same way Remus had.
“It doesn’t matter Pete. Ignore Lupin, he's a little mental.” James dumped his parchment onto his desk.
“Hey!” Remus tossed a ball of scrap paper at him. James laughed.
“Mate,” Sirius tapped James’s arm. “Look who it is.”
Snape, black hair hanging like a sheet around his pale face had just entered the hall, following Mulciber and Avery like a lost puppy. The marauders watched as a small redhead ran up to Snape talking to him for a moment before giving him a hug and running off again trying to catch up to Marlene and Dorcas who had skidded right past the slytherins.
“Oi Snape!” James bellowed. “What did you have to do to get Evans to give you a hug?”
Snape turned and faced them, his face red, but he didn’t say anything. Sirius grinned, “Whatever it is,” He yelled, “I hope for your sake that its enough for her to let you copy her exam answers!”
Snape once again, didn't say anything.
"OI SNIVELLUS AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO US?"
Peter watched intensely, eyes wide and a small smile perched on his lips, as if he was excited to see what was going on. Remus watched too, but he felt a small knot in his stomach.
“Guys…” He said quietly. No one answered. Maybe they didn’t hear. Or maybe they just ignored him.
“Stop that!” Lily came stomping towards them. “Just leave him alone will you!”
“Now why would we do that?” Sirius asked, in a bored manner, turning back around, in his chair.
“He’s never done anything to you!”
“Look at him! He’s evil!” James pointed. “Have you met those friends of his?”
Lily paused huffing, "They...He....Since when do you call him Snivellus? That's rude. He has a birthname and you shou-"
Before she could continue, not that James and Sirius seemed to care about what she was saying anyway, Dorcas and Marlene strode over to them arm in arm.
“Heya.” Marlene nodded at the four marauders and Dorcas smiled at them. “Excited for the exams?”
James leaned back in his chair running his hand through his hair and setting his feet on his desk. “Can’t wait.” He said dryly. Remus rolled his eyes at the obvious attempt of showing off, but Marlene and Dorcas just laughed.
“Remus,” Dorcas said turning to him, “You won’t need all those quills; they’re giving us special ones.”
“Oh,” Remus frowned and started packing his away.
“Yeah,” Marlene's eyes glinted, “anti cheating apparently.”
“Oh no.” James deadpanned.
Remus zipped up his bag and stared at his desk sadly.
“What is it now, Rem?” Sirius asked, sighing.
Remus muttered, “Well, that was my lucky quill.”
Sirius burst out laughing, and then thrust a hand in front of his mouth trying to suppress the sound. Remus knit his eyebrows together and crossed his arms.
"Hey!"
“I’ve never heard anyone sound that sad about not being able to use their quill before!” Sirius spluttered. James laughed too, and Peter joined in just so that he could feel included.
Lily looked back in Snape's direction as if she was trying to decide something important but then sat down next to Remus.
“It’s ok. You’ll still do great.”
“Oh,” Remus blushed looking away, “thanks.”
“Ooooooooooh!” James and Sirius sang in chorus.
“Oh shut up.” Remus rolled his eyes again. “I’m not even allowed to have friends anymore.”
“Of course not.” Peter agreed.
At the front of the great hall Dumbledore slowly stood up, and a hush fell over the great hall.
Marlene linked her arms around Dorcas’s. “Alright guys we better find some seats. Good luck.”
Lily jumped up, turned and looked at Remus, and then spun around again watching the two girls leave. “Me too, I guess.”
Marlene and Dorcas walked off and Lily ran after them, somewhat desperately, though the girls didn’t seem to notice.
_ _ _ _
Four hours later the marauders burst through the door of the great hall.
“That was it lads!” James yelled, pumping his fist in the air. “We are free forever!”
“Until next year.” Remus reminded him in an undertone.
“We are free until next year!” James corrected himself pulling of his cloak and tossing it in the air. It landed somewhere behind them and they heard a small crash as someone tripped over it.
“Mr Potter!”
“Sorry McGonagall!” James grinned and jogged back picking up his cloak.
“I failed that exam,” Peter muttered.
“Forget about it.” Sirius clapped his bag. “It doesn’t matter--I told you!”
“I mean-” Remus started.
“Shut up!” James and Sirius cried in chorus.
“Good to know I’m appreciated.” Remus sighed sarcastically.
“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius replied.
James, peeled off his cloak once again, but instead of throwing it behind him he piled it onto Peter, who groaned and piled it onto Remus. James fanned himself with his hand, “Oi Black, I’ll race you outside.”
“If you dare.” Sirius shrugged rolling up his sleeves.
“Me too!” Peter jumped up.
“Lupin?” James asked.
“Oi, I'm not running with your cloak! That's an unfair disadvantage, besides-”
“Three two one!”
“Oi! I wasn't’ ready! Hey! I wasn't ready!”
Tripping over their robes and wiping the sweat off of their foreheads the four boys sprinted towards the door, snaking through the crowds of people and heading straight towards the lake. The sun stung their heads like a wave of heat as soon as they set foot outside but nevertheless, the four marauders continued to run. At the edge of the water they could see Marlene and Dorcas wading in the shallow end with their shoes and socks taken off.
If you would have asked the boys who won the race they never would’ve been able to tell you, except that they probably would've offered that Remus lost. As soon as they arrived at the water the four of them sprinted in, still wearing their clothes, and Remus threw James's cloak onto a nearby tree where it hung off of a branch. James immediately pushed his hands through the water trying to spray the others.
“Not my hair!” Sirius inched away. “Oi! Not my hair!”
James laughed and pushed Sirius into the water who grabbed Peter and pulled him down with him. Back at the school Remus could see Lily walking with Severus her dark red hair glinting dangerously in the sunlight, as the two of them slowly making their way in the general direction of the lake where all the students had collectively gathered, trying to cool down one last time, to celebrate the end of classes.
“I'm freezing.” James finally sighed, clutching his now skin tight robes closer to him.
“Me too. Let’s get out of here.” Sirius agreed.
Back outside of the water, they noticed that the sun was slowly beginning to set. Many of the students started making their way back inside the castle getting ready to start packing for the holidays or to get some dinner at the great hall, which by now would be back at it’s usual order. The marauders didn’t feel like going inside though. They lay down in the grass and breathed in the scent of magic that was floating around them. Remus sat down next to Dorcas and watched as her nimble fingers worked on setting down something beside her. Something electronic.
“Wait is that a camera?” Remus asked excitedly.
Dorcas looked up as though she had almost not noticed him.
“Yeah!” She replied equally excited. “My mum found out a way for me to use it on school grounds without it going haywire.”
Remus scooted closer having to squint now that the sun was growing more and more tired.
“Do you want to see some of the pictures I took?” She asked shyly.
“Yes!” Remus said, excited since his family could never afford a camera. “...Please.”
She laughed and flourished a pile of small cards that Remus now realised were photographs.
“My mum bewitched it.” She explained, “Its an Instant camera now. We got it as a gift and I wanted to bring it but...Anyway, every time I take a picture it prints it out of the front here…” She pointed to a small slit at the bottom of the camera, “Can you believe that?”
Remus grinned.
“I didn’t want it to move though.” She continued. “I like the way it feels so...muggle-ish. Even though it's filled with magic.”
Remus laughed at that. “Can I?” He asked pointing at the photographs.
“Sure.” She said and handed the stack to him.
He took the cards carefully and started flipping through them. They were about ten and they had all been taken from this particular day. Marlene smiling. Lily and Snape posing (Lily smiling, Snape grimacing awkwardly) Marlene looking at the lake, Marlene building a sand castle, Marlene laughing...
Dorcas blushed, “I didn’t have very many people to photograph.”
Remus paused at a particular photo. Instead of Marlene or Lily or anyone on land, Dorcas had this time pointed the camera at the lake, where the four boys were swimming. She had captured a moment in which James had jumped up in the air from underneath the waves pulling some water with him making little drops of water fly in the air like stars. Sirius was spraying water at the others in the picture adding more stars, and Peter was in the middle of tripping, his arms outreached. In the very middle of the card Remus stood laughing. His shoulders hunched in and his eyes closed.
“Oh!” Dorcas blushed again. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to spy on you guys or anything! I just thought it might be a cool picture-”
“Can I keep it?” Remus blurted.
Dorcas paused, surprised. “I mean..it's not that good...I’m not very good at photography yet…”
“No, it’s brilliant,” Remus said. Dorcas stared at him for a moment then smiled.
“Sure. Yes. Sure, go ahead.”
“Thanks.”
Remus looked back down at his friends and the small stars that were formed out of the little drops of water, and then he tilted his head to look up at the sky where even more hundreds of stars started twinkling in and out of existence. And in that moment Remus could almost feel his two worlds colliding.
_ _ _ _
On the last day of the school year Remus woke up early. But not early enough. Through the thin wall separating the bathroom and the bedroom, Remus could hear James whistling to himself while he showered. Remus smiled, sadly.
How could it be that his first year at Hogwarts was already ending so soon? Looking around him the dorm seemed oddly empty. All though occasionally some of their clothes were still spread out, Remus’s part of the room was completely empty and bare of anything except of his bed, and his trunk, and the photograph Dorcas had taken sitting on the bedside table. He turned and looked at the empty wall, (except for the Marauders sign) hesitated, and then picked up the photograph and some spellotape advancing towards the wall.
Remus took a deep breath, and right underneath the sign that said Marauders he stuck the photograph.
“What are you doing?”
Remus jumped back from the wall as if it was on fire. “Nothing! I wasn’t-It was stupid nevermind-”
James stood, at the entrance of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Is that from yesterday?” James advanced towards the wall, smiling. “That’s so cool!”
Remus blushed. “Yeah, I thought so too.”
“Wait, why isn’t it moving?”
“It’s a muggle photograph...kind of.”
“Wow!” James leaned in closer, his face an inch away from the wall.
“Oi Black!” He yelled. “I want to show this to Sirius.”
Remus smiled and shuffled his feet.
James continued, “BLACK! Oi, Black! Black. Black. Sirius. SIRIUS!”
The boy didn’t move.
“Merlin's beard.” James looked at Remus, held his finger to his lips and with one quick leap jumped on to Sirius’s bed.
“Wake up!”
“Gahhhh!” Sirius yelled. “What the fuck, Potter!”
“AH!” Peter yelled, sitting straight up in his bed. “Are we being attacked?”
“No.” Sirius yelled, “Shut up Peter!”
“OI!” James cried, “Leave him, Black!”
“Shut it Potter!”
“Calm down Sirius!”
“NO. DON’T WAKE ME UP-”
“SIRIUS.” Remus yelled. Immediately Sirius shut up, and the three boys looked over at Remus, who switched to a calmer tone. “Come here and see what I hung up.”
“Ok...” Sirius sighed and crawled out of bed.
“Hey! Why does he listen to you and not me?” James complained, getting out of Sirius’s bed and helping Peter up.
Peter looked at the wall. “That’s a cool picture! We should put more!”
Sirius stared at the photograph but didn’t say anything.
“Do you...” Remus asked slowly.
“Yeah.” Sirius said. He turned away, his voice unreadable. “I like it.”
_ _ _ _
Andromeda Black hurried down the hallway, her footsteps causing an echo to bounce along the empty walls of the school. It was 8:30 am and most students were still back in their dorm rooms except for a few that were hanging out in the cafeteria. Other than that, the Hogwarts hallways were empty.
"Sirius!"
The boy in front of her didn't turn around.
"Sirius! Sirius for fucks sake I know you can hear me!"
“Such vile language for such a sophisticated young lady, Andy.” Sirius strolled down the hall trying to look nonchalant. He didn’t slow down though. He didn't want to talk to his cousin at the moment. He didn’t really want to talk to her at all. Whenever he thought about it a sick twisting feeling opened up in his gut, making him feel sick. Sirius tried to speed up unnoticed but he heard his cousin's footsteps hasten too and before he knew it he was seized by his robes and pushed into the nearest classroom.
“Hey-” He threw up his hands.
“By Merlin’s Beard, what is wrong with you. I called your name like ten times.”
There was something unfamiliar in Andromeda’s voice. Was it hurt? No, that wouldn't make sense, what did she have to be hurt about?
Sirius didn’t want to look her in the eye. He couldn’t handle her searching gaze at the moment. It reminded him too much of his parents and the rest of his family.
Sirius raised his chin, but there was a hint of hesitation before he replied, “Have you ever considered that maybe I didn’t want to talk to you, cousin dearest?”
Andy stepped back and huffed. “Well, why not? I miss you and you have been avoiding me for the entire year and frankly I’m not having any more. ''
Sirius opened his mouth but he didn’t know what to say. Had it really been the whole year already since he had last talked to her?
“I mean...I thought maybe you just needed some time. And that was fine. I would've been fine with that. But I thought...I thought you would talk to me at some point!” Andy raised her voice, “I thought we were close!”
Sirius didn’t know what to say so he just shook his head.
“I thought we were friends too, Sirius.”
“Well, you thought wrong,” Sirius answered coldly. "We're not friends. We're family. You don't choose family..."
“I haven't done anything wrong!” Andy was practically screaming at this point.
“I don’t want anything to do with you!” Sirius yelled back. “You're one of them now Andy. Don’t you see? There's them and there is me. And I'm alone.” He lowered his voice, then looked into her eyes for the first time. “You don’t get me. You never got me and never will. You’re all the same. You always have been. I just thought...I thought you weren't but now I realize I was wrong.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Andromeda repeated quietly. She was whispering now.
“You don’t have to,” Sirius answered.
The older cousin let out a noise that could barely be heard but carried so much pain with it that Sirius flinched. After a few seconds of deafening silence Andy straightened up and said, “You’re no different from us Sirius. You have always acted so pretentious but you’re the same. You’re a Black through and through and sooner or later you’ll realize it. And no one’s going to be here anymore.”
Sirius could feel his hands start shaking. "I don't need-"
“You’re my baby cousin Sirius and I’m proud of you. I’m proud that you are living your own truth but you are still a Black. Remember that.”
No. No she couldn’t mean that. Sirius couldn't take it anymore and he snapped. “I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU. I WOULD NEVER TREAT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING THE WAY MY FAMILY TREATS ME. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH ANDY. AND YOU NEVER WILL.” He felt like crying. He wasn't going to cry. He couldn't cry. “You never will…’
The look on Andy’s face didn't soften, didn't waver, “How could I understand when all you do is shut me out, Sirius?”
Sirius staggered back, “I-”
“Tell me, Sirius. What should I do?”
But Sirius didn’t want her pity. He didn’t want her help. He didn’t need her. He had done well enough on his own so far, hadn’t he? How could she say these things and expect him to want her?
Andromeda tried to put an arm around him, but Sirius flinched away from her hand and coughed. “I don't need you, Andy. I don't need you... I am alone and you are not. You're one of them. I hate those people...the way that I have never hated anyone before...and now I see that you're one of them. What do you think that means?”
Andy opened and closed her mouth a few times, but she couldn't come up with anything to say. At first Sirius thought she looked sad, but even more prominent than that he could sense the anger.
Sirius pushed open the classroom door, "See you at home."
_ _ _ _
Sirius had never been less excited for; the summer. Summer used to be his favourite season, along with the Christmas holidays. During summer, Regulus and he would visit Uncle Alphard and spend their summer reading, running around and swimming in the nearby lake.
Somehow Sirius did not think that this summer would be anything like that.
He had received an owl a day before saying that his parents would not pick him up and that he was expected to go home with his cousins. Grimmauld Place 12 was an hour away from Kings Cross. An hour in a car with his darling cousins. What could be better than that? Not only that, but Sirius was dreading seeing his brother again. He had written a couple of letters to Regulus but he found it harder and harder to form words and most of the letters he wrote he ended up keeping in his leather notebook underneath the pillow on his bed.
His last breakfast at Hogwarts had been a nightmare. After overhearing one of Narcissa's ugly friends comment something about Remus's stutter, he had casually hit the third year with a stinging jinx and grinned while receiving a disapproving look from his cousin. She could have at least come up with something more creative. Her disapproving looks might still work on Regulus, but Sirius hadn’t been intimidated by anyone in his family other than his parents since he was five years old. No one compared to his parents.
When he got to the Gryffindor table that morning though he did receive another disapproving look not only from Evans like he expected but also from Remus.
“What? The git deserved it."
Remus raised his eyebrows.
"Oi, don't look at me like that, Remu.”
Remus sighed. “Sirius it’s our last day before summer, try not to get detention because of some random Slytherin girl.”
“Remus-!”
“What Sirius? What could he have done that could possibly be worth detention on the last day of school?”
Sirius thought long and hard about what to say and finally settled on.
“Fine. You're right Remu, I shouldn’t have done it.”
"And...?" Remus looked at him. He knew the drill.
"And, I'm sorry."
"That's right."
Everyone at the table looked at him in surprise. “Whoa did the Sirius Black just admit to doing something wrong?” James said in mock surprise, putting a hand over his heart. Sirius grabbed a bred roll and tossed it across the table at James. “Oh shut it.”
"Hey!"
Even Remus laughed at James’s expression. Sirius already felt better about his last day, than he had when he had woken up.
Later while they were leaving the great hall Remus gripped Sirius's shirt. When Sirius turned to look at him he could see determination in his eyes. "Sirius...I know...You're not too excited about going home. I'm not either."
Sirius bit his lip, wanting to look away, but not being able to.
"We can do it though, can't we?" Remus said with a small smile, "We have each other. And James and Peter. We just need to think of that. We're the marauders right?"
Sirius smiled, too, "Yeah. We are."
"Besides," Remus let go of Sirius's shirt, and his warm brown eyes glinted like home, "The summer doesn't last forever."
_ _ _ _
The train was a nightmare. Remus sat by his usual window seat staring outside longingly as if all he wanted to do was jump out of the train and run away. Peter was sitting silently in his seat, and James was watching his three friends intensely, trying to figure out what was going on with each of them. Sirius could feel his leg bouncing up and down but he didn’t have the willpower to stop it. He began to fidget with his hair twirling it against his fingers. It was pretty long now reaching the tips of his shoulders. He bit his lip at the thought of his mother seeing his hair like this. He tried not to think about it, or else he might be sick.
“You alright there mate?” James, who was sitting closest whispered.
There was no answer. A frown started to form on James’s face. “Sirius, mate talk to me.”
It seemed like something snapped in Sirius by the mention of his name.
“I um y-yeah I’m fine. I j-just need some fresh air.” Sirius stumbled out of the compartment trying not to act suspicious but knowing that he definitely was. James had already stood up to follow him when Peter put a hand out to stop him.
“Wait! Can I- let me handle it this time? Ok?” His voice was a little squeakier than usually but he seemed more confident than James had ever seen so he sat back down and watched as Peter followed Sirius outside.
Sirius didn’t know where he was going, all he knew was that he had to get away from James. He didn’t want James to see him like this again. This..vulnerable. He didn’t like the way James’s hand shot to his hair in a worrying manner, and how he would get this stern face whenever Sirius talked about his family. He didn’t talk about them a lot but it always felt like too much. Sirius realized after a moment, that he would obviously not be able to find fresh air on a train so he sat down in an empty compartment and cracked open the window resting his palms on his legs. He had barely been sitting for two minutes when he heard the compartment door open.
“Go away, Ja-” He said before the other person even had a chance to say anything.
“ ‘s’not James sorry to disappoint, mate.” To Sirius’s surprise, it was Peter who was standing in front of him. “I um…” He sat down opposite Sirius awkwardly. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m not too fond of going home either...But if you’d rather be alone that’s fine too. Obviously.” Peter got up and turned around to leave but Sirius grabbed his wrist and gestured for him to stay.
Peter sat down again this time next to Sirius and the two of them sat like that for a few minutes letting the cold air of the window blow their hair, and breathing in the fresh smells of the countryside.
“I’m guessing my crappy home life can’t hold a candle to how messed up it is at your house, but....well you know...my dad died a few years ago and since then it’s been...bad. My mum, she, um...I mean I don’t really want to tell anyone but...Ever since my dad's death, she’s been uh...real...real down. Uh...depressed.” Sirius didn’t reply, so Peter continued. “I mean, she doesn’t...she can’t really do very many things, by herself..and sometimes...I mean you know me, I'm not the brightest,” He let out a small sad laugh.
"Pete..." Sirius breathed.
“-But sometimes I feel like my sister and I are the ones taking care of her. And she gets these really good moods, and she tells us she’s going to get better but um...yeah....”
More silence.
"It doesn't happen.." Sirius finished.
Peter cleared his throat, “Ahem well anyways I thought it might help you to know that you’re not as alone as you think you are. I mean, not to invalidate anything obviously, but um...Yeah, I’ll leave you alone then.” He got up again.
“Wait, Pete.” Sirius' voice was quiet, so quiet, in fact, that Peter barely heard him. “Thank you...for checking up on me...and for telling me. It...really means a lot.”
Peter smiled, the gap in between his teeth showing prominently, Sirius smiled back.
“Look mate, I know this is the part where we hug or whatever but I’m not hugging you,” Peter said playfully.
This made Sirius laugh. “Don’t worry Pete I wouldn’t want you to.”
Peter was about to leave when Sirius grabbed his arm and pulled himself up with it.
"Hey!" Peter pushed him away and Sirius ruffled Peter’s hair fondly.
Summer wouldn’t last forever.
A few hours, and a few games of exploding snap later, the four marauders were back to sitting in silence. James pushed up his glasses anxious for the silence to end, “Oi, do you guys want to hear a horror story?”
The train was starting to slow down, and the boys could recognize some of the scenery starting to get closer to Kings Cross station. They would be there in about ten or fifteen minutes.
“Not really,” Remus said, leaning his head on the cold class of the window.
“Only if it’s good.” Sirius sat up straighter.
“It’s real.” James’s eyes glinted. “That’s better than good.”
“Not always…” Peter muttered.
“Oi!” James yelled.
“Just tell us then!” Sirius said.
“So,” James started, “do you guys know that house...the one at Hogsmeade. It’s really close to Hogwarts and it looks sort of like a haunted house...”
“That’s not how you’re supposed to tell horror stories…” Peter murmured.
“Yeah, what about it?” Sirius asked, ignoring Peter.
“Well, Marlene's brother, Theo, said - he’s already year four so they get to visit Hogsmeade- that at night you can hear howling from the house.”
Remus sat up and stopped leaning his head on the glass. “The...the house in Hogsmeade?” He asked, his face going pale.
“Yeah,” James said. “Apparently it’s really scary. Everybody thinks it's haunted.”
“Haunted?” Peter asked nervously.
“Haunted ?” Remus exclaimed, his face now turning green.
“Yeah!” James said. “Theo even once heard howling from it. Marlene reckons someone’s being tortured in there.”
“Does she?” Sirius grinned, “well Marlene is a little bit of a drama queen is she not?”
"Well Dorcas thinks there are ghosts-"
"Ghosts...? No..."
“I don’t know...it could be possible…-” James argued.
“-Are you alright mate?” Sirius interrupted suddenly.
Remus looked like he might throw up.
"Oi, earth to Remus."
Remus blinked, "I- I- I-"
"Hey, it's alright mate take your time." James said, "We don't need to tell horror stories if they scare you so much..."
“I don’t-! I mean-! I'm not- No ones being tortured in there...right? It's just rumors...no one...no one believes it right?” Remus said choppily.
“Sure mate, yeah,” James assured him.
“No! But....I mean...Theo should stay away...it might be dangerous.”
“Well, that’s the whole thrill of it, innit?” James said excitedly. “You never know where the danger might be hiding!”
“Please!” Remus shouted. “Please can we stop talking about this…”
“..Sure..” James said quietly.
“Why does this bother you so much? It’s obviously not really haunted.” Sirius said.
“I just don't want anyone to get...hurt.”
“I mean sure but-?”
“Let’s just stop talking about this,” Peter said.
“I just-” Sirius started.
“Drop it!” James hissed.
“But-”
“Oi! Black!”
Remus’s hands were shaking.
“We should go.” He said. The train was starting to slow down, and the chatter of the other students on board got louder as they opened their compartment doors.
“Yeah,” James said, opening up the compartment door.
“Wait Remus,” Sirius jumped forward before Remus could leave, “I’m sorry.”
Remus shook his head, “It’s fine.”
“No! Really...I just...Sometimes...almost always...I talk without thinking and I just….I’m sorry.”
Remus hesitated then smiled.
“I know.”
Sirius slowly started grinning, but Remus turned around to leave. “Oi! What do you know? That I talk without thinking or that I’m sorry?”
Remus smiled and shrugged. “Both?”
Sirius grinned, “Alright Lupin. You see right through me.”
“Always did, always will.”
Remus turned around and started to leave again.
“Wait!”
Remus waited.
“You told me you were nervous about going home, once. A while ago actually...I didn't want to ask but...Why?”
Remus looked away. "I thought you didn't want to ask."
“Remus.” Sirius took a deep breath before he could lose his courage. “The summer doesn’t last forever.”
Remus laughed. “That’s my line, Black.” And with that, he turned around and left once and for all.
And although Sirius felt sick at the prospect of having to go home, he felt a smile form on his lips.