Tryouts
It was the best of times, it was the worse of times. It was quidditch tryouts.
Remus wasn't interested, even after the attempted conversion to the cult of quidditch James and Sirius tried orchestrating. If anything, they were driving him further away from it. And lately, they were far worse than they'd been, because the tryouts were just around the corner.
"You've lot got to come tryout! Picture it! The four of us carried up the the common room, victory cup in hand, I'm the one carrying it. A parade of Gryffindor's around us. The youngest quidditch champions Hogwarts has ever seen. Ever." James' fantasies always had him right and centre, even if they were all there. And so far, he'd manage to convince Peter. Sirius was on board since the beginning and Remus was so off board by now, he wished he was on a faraway island, stranded far away from the metaphorical boat.
The boy was relentless and motivated, Remus found, taking too long for his sanity, that it was easier to agree to go support them, but he would be damned before getting on a broom when he didn't need to. Threatened to break James' if he pushed him one more time--that got to him, but the boy in the glasses was content with the moral support from the stands. His baby blues glimmered behind the glasses and the crooked smile he so often had on him grew wider. Lovely prick.
Sirius had now gotten the bastardy habit of reading aloud as well when he was reviewing readings for class. Yes, Remus' grades started going up because he listened to him, there was no escaping Sirius' claws once he'd gotten something in his mind, but Remus would not give in without a fight. And he'd be damned if he was going to tell that posh boy he couldn't read very well. Remus hardly admit it to himself.
He'd taken more to his walks since Sirius and James found themselves in detention every other day, they'd taken a liking to dungbombs and stinkpellets and were far from discreet, whenever they were away he could fancy a walk, sometimes Lily joined him, she'd figured that the walks were silent and contemplative for Remus and respected it, sometimes he went alone, but wondering about the castle was one of Remus' favourite things to do. Especially since he'd started paying more mind to Snivellus' stench, a bit of that smelly potion stuck to him still, he was easier to avoid from a distance, avoiding any run-ins.
But finally, it was that dreaded day, the tryouts.
"Fancy meeting you here, Remus." Lily sat in the row in front of him.
"Those pricks made me come." He nodded to James, Sirius and Peter, who were already chasing eachother on their brooms while the captain of the Gryffindor team, a sixth-year called Hugo Willick he'd seen around the common room (by seeing Remus meant James was starstruck every time he passed them) "Didn't reckon you were a fan of sports."
"You've got your blackmailers, I got mine." She pointed at Marlene, her blonde friend, who unlike the three boys, was diligently standing on the filed with her broom to her side like a soldier waiting for orders.
Mary, the other one of Lily's friends, the one with the dark curly hair, joined them. Remus was just a little unsure of which one was which still, both names' staring with M was a pain for him, in his head they were still Blonde Friend of Lily and Not Blonde Friend of Lily. So he just acknowledged her with a nod.
Mary though, was every bit as chatty as Remus wasn't. She talked, and talked, and talked, and talked, and then talked a bit more. To Remus she seemed to have befriended every first year boy in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and every girl in Gryffindor. Remus didn't even know there was that many people at Hogwarts, he only got the name of that Charlotte girl because they shared a class together.
Finally, the tryouts started, Remus pulled out his book and spent the next few hours like that. The white noise of Mary talking to Lily was only interrupted when the Slytherin students started arriving, their tryouts next.
"Sev! I haven't seen you lately." Lily said it like it was a bad thing. Snape glared at Remus and Mary. Remus closed his book and started to leave, Mary glared and made a disgusting noicy back at the oily student. She seemed to have as much trouble with him as the rest of the Gryffindors, just bigger balls.
"I see you still hang around those people." It was truly a mystery how Lily was friends with him. Remus couldn't understand how you could get along with someone who was as much of a prick as him to her friends.
"Let's see how Marlene did, Remus." Mary looped her arm around his and brought him downstairs.
As soon as they touched the ground, Peter ran to them, hurrying forward, "Don't ask Sirius a thing."
And Remus knew, it was the worse possible outcome, third worse actually. The worse would've been James and Sirius didn't get in and Peter did. The second would've been James and Peter got in and Sirius didn't. The third was this, James got in, and Sirius did not.
Marlene was with them, which rubbed Sirius the wrong way, but she took off with Mary quickly. Fresh from the shower, Sirius, James and Peter started walking away from the field, you could see the Slytherin kids already on the field, getting ready, Serena among them, Remus knew she wanted to be a beater, and would probably get it.
At the end, Marlene beat Sirius for beater, which meant at least a year of Sirius complaining until he could try out next year. And James made chaser. Brilliant outcome thinking they were both first years, but years of dedication on James' back paid off, he wanted to play professionally since he was a little kid.
Marlene was better than Sirius. He would never admit to it to him, but she was. He was great, an ace on the broom, but Marlene was better, her brother Danny was a professional player for some team, and she was naturally talented, it was only to be expected, Sirius never so much as woke up early for a warm up with James.
"More time for reading then," Sirius found Remus' reaction to that a chuckle. He glitched for a second. Hadn't considered that would be part of the outcome.
Diner was great. The new quidditch teams had most of Hogwarts in high spirits, even the Slytherin table seemed giddy.
"You lot know Halloween is coming up." Sirius waited as if what was next was written behind him in neon letters, but to no avail, "we ought to play a proper prank. A great one. One of legend!"
"I don't suppose you know what it'll be then." Always the wise Remus.
"If I did I wouldn't need you lot, now would I?" He sat, pushing awfully close to Remus' liking. He was like a dog, and Remus never was fond of pets.
"It has to be related to the festivities." James stated. "We could fashion a haunted house."
"And people knowing what they're going into? Gosh Potter, quidditch has changed you."
"What about getting a boggart out in the dungeons." Peter squeaked.
"That's way too mean. Pranks are meant to be fun Pete." James said, Remus was oblivious as to what a "boggart" was. But he agreed, one thing was mischief, another one was mean.
"You're always brilliant Mr. Lupin," Sirius wrapped him with his eyes, an unescapable sight, "what's your take?"
"Muggles egg houses of people they dislike? Throw toilet paper as well? I'm not in a scheming mood Black." Remus escaped Sirius' eyes, looking deeply at a plate of oversweet porridge in front of him. It was not really true, he was just ashamed of his lack of ideas, he was dying for a prank to distract him from all the homework he wasn't turning in.
"You might be onto something," Sirius smiled, and danger flashed in his teeth, "I'll be in the library tomorrow. Will you join me Mr. Lupin?"