don't think we'll say that word again
May 7th, 1975
“Would you two just keep quiet?” Remus hisses, hand fisting at the Invisibility Cloak, “You’re gonna get us caught!”
“It’s not me, it’s Sirius!” comes James’ reply, “He’s making me laugh, it's not my fault!”
“Well, shut him up, then, I don’t care!”
A warm hand clamps firmly over Sirius’ mouth. Finally, quiet settles over the scheming Marauder’s as they wait for the return of their fourth member. Quiet, until-
“EURGH, he just licked me!” James shrieks, pulling away so fast that the Cloak slips down to his shoulders.
Remus hurriedly readjusts it so it covers all three of them again, “Why were you even in licking distance, James?”
“You told me to shut him up-”
“Just because you couldn’t handle my charm and wit, Prongs-”
“And you shouldn’t have been cracking jokes, Sirius, this isn’t a fucking stand-up show-”
“Bloody hell, lads, you’re making a right racket!” Peter states, from where he’d appeared by their side.
Sirius can’t help the gasp that escapes his mouth, as the other two have similar spooked reactions. Among the nattering, none of them had heard the small pitter-pattering of Peter’s claws on the stone floor. He pulls the Cloak down from his face, “Holy mother of Merlin, Pete, warn a guy!”
Peter just shrugs, lips curled with mirth.
“Did you do it, Pete?” James asks, tossing the cloak from his body to surge forward towards their friend. He throws an arm around the shorter boy, "Did you plant the Glitter-bombs?"
The smile on Peter’s face widens as his eyes begin to shine with pride, “Yep, those Slytherin’s have no idea what's coming to them!”
James smacks a kiss on Peter’s head as Sirius slaps him on the back in congratulations, “See, Pete, I told you your rat form would come in handy! You can use it for all sorts of endless nefarious purposes.”
“Lads, we’re really gonna have to get a move on if we don’t want to get caught.” Remus interrupts, looking warily over his shoulder, “Cracking work, though, Pete.”
Peter gives a little bow, before following Remus’ lead down the hallway. The other two trail behind, reluctant to simply go back to their dorm after a successful prank. James grins, dimple appearing on his right cheek, “Another prank successfully completed by the Marauders-”
“Merlin, please don’t bring that awful Newscaster Voice back!”
“- the most notorious group of trouble-makers in all of Hogwarts! With their roguish good looks and-”
“I dunno, Moons, I quite missed it.”
“-outstanding intellect, the Marauders have, yet again, baffled the public with their astounding victory in what appears to be a very one-sided prank war against the hell-spawn house known as Slytherin. It makes you question, folks, just what will they do next? Back to you in the studio, Sirius.”
Sirius smirks down at the faux mic in James’ hand, “Thank you, James! Coming to you at 8 o’clock will be-”
“Oh, don’t you start.”
“- Marlene McKinnon with the weather. After that will be Peter Pettigrew with his bi-weekly segment of ‘Will It Fit A Rat?’. Phone in your suggestions now for things that you like to see a rat try to enter! The most creative requests will win-”
“What’s strange is that I don’t think either of them have ever even seen a TV before.” Peter quips, shaking his head at Remus.
“-a lifetime's supply of Chocolate Frogs! Exciting stuff! Find out more at-”
Their voices echo down the halls of Hogwarts as the four boys make their way back to the safety of their dorm. With the high of a successful prank set-up thrumming through their veins, the world appears to be at their feet.
-
29th November, 1979
“Your boyfriend isn’t particularly good at chess. Did you know that?”
Sirius isn’t sure what he expected to find when he exited his bedroom this morning, but it certainly wasn’t Regulus and Remus camped on the living room floor with a chess board in between them.
In response, he can only sigh tiredly, “In all honesty, Regulus, I didn’t even know we had a chess board.”
As he saunters past the duo on the floor, Sirius raises his arms above his head to stretch out his aching back. Remus snorts at the exaggerated groan that exits his mouth.
Moving around the kitchen to construct some sort of reasonable breakfast, Sirius notices a letter on the table, addressed with a swirling ‘ Remus + Sirius ’. He frowns and calls over his shoulder, “Do you know what this letter is, Moons?”
“Not sure,” Remus called back, “Was addressed to both of us so I just left it alone. Open it if you want!”
With hesitant hands, Sirius breaks the seal on the envelope and tugs out the folded letter.
-
Remus and Sirius,
Hello from India! Monty and I miss you boys dearly! As I’m sure you’ve heard from James, Monty is well on the mend and should be ready to travel to visit you very shortly!
After your lack of response to James’ letter, we were all rather worried about the two of you. He and Lily are on their way home to you as I’m writing so I expect to hear an explanation for the quiet on your end!
They have some very exciting news that they asked me to share with you before they arrive. Lily, poor thing, finds the conversation ever so awkward so I’ve been assigned messenger. The surprise is enclosed in the envelope - I’m sure you won’t need me to spell it out for you. So, so exciting!
James is bringing your birthday gift and that chocolate that Remus likes (if he hasn’t already helped himself) so there’s also that to look forward to!
We miss you ever so much, and hope that you’re taking care of yourselves in all the chaos. All the love in the world,
Effie x
-
A rush of relief goes through Sirius at the sight of Effie’s familiar handwriting. He can almost feel her warm arms around him, can smell her comforting scent.
Despite this, he cannot stop the trepidation that builds in his throat as he reaches for the envelope, for the envelope, for the ‘surprise’ that he missed the first time.
He fishes around inside, fingers brushing against a small rectangular piece of paper. It almost feels like a photograph…
In Sirius’ hands is a tiny photo showing an ultrasound. A little grey blur of something curls up in the centre, too small to really yet look like a baby. The date in the corner reads: ‘16/11/79’
Sirius suddenly feels a little bit floaty.
A baby. James and Lily are having a baby. There’s going to be a baby born right in time for a devastating Wizarding war. James and Lily are going to have to raise a soldier.
Merlin, Sirius might not even ever meet it.
“Pads?” Remus materialises in the doorway of the kitchen, “Are you okay, I’ve been calling for you- What? What is it?”
Sirius holds up the picture, “James and Lily are having a baby.”
Remus’ face does a few things at once. The scar over the bridge of his nose twitches, “A baby?”
“Yeah.”
He moves forward slightly, “That’s a good thing, yes? It's what they deserve.”
“Yeah. I don’t know.”
“Sirius, it’s good. Okay?” Remus smiles, reassuringly, “It’s good.”
“But-”
“I know. The world isn’t ideal, right now. But a baby is a good thing , I promise.”
Sirius sighs, shoulders slumping. It is good, and if a single element of his life were a little bit better right now, he’d be thrilled.
Instead, dread fills every fibre of his being. A baby of the Order means a born-and-raised soldier. All it will know is a life of violence, of war, of loss.
“A baby?” Regulus interrupts, voice quiet. He looks pale all of a sudden.
Remus replies, when he sees that Sirius cannot bring himself to answer, “Yep. A little baby ready to be born in July, if my maths is correct?”
Regulus turns on his heel and disappears into the living room, muttering, “No, no, not this one.”
Taking Sirius by the arm, Remus follows, “What? What do you mean ‘not this one’? What do you know?”
The younger Black brother sits down heavily on the sofa, head resting in his hands. After a moment, he turns to face the couple, face steely, “Riddle told us about a prophecy. I think… If we don’t destroy these Horcruxes in time, that baby is going to die.”