Eclipsed

It seemed as though the universe, who had rewarded them for their hard work the day before with the thunderstorm, had also thought it appropriate to punish them all with terrible summer colds after spending the entire afternoon and into the evening the day before outdoors during said thunderstorm. Sirius dramatically flopped onto the pillows beside James, who had been confined to his bed all day, battling a worsening sore throat that had blossomed into a full-blown cold.

"This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," Sirius groaned, his voice scratchy and nasal.

James, sniffling miserably, couldn't help but chuckle. "You've never had a cold before?"

"Not that I can remember," Sirius replied, snuggling closer to James, who halfheartedly attempted to push him away. Attempting to nudge Sirius off the bed felt cruel given their shared misery, leaving James resigned to their sweaty cuddles on the full-sized mattress.

"Well, with some rest, this should all be over soon… hopefully by Peter’s birthday, at least," James remarked optimistically, trying to inject some cheer into their gloomy situation.

"Ugh, imagine spending your birthday blowing your nose and feeling like a troll's toenail," Sirius chimed in, earning a chuckle from James.

Peter’s birthday was three days away, on August 31st, right before the first day of school. His mother had Floo-called to report that he’d woken up with a cold as well, and it would be a huge bummer to spend his fifteenth birthday sick. 

Effie and Fleamont, as well as Mrs. Pettigrew, agreed that a cold ruining the end of Summer Break was punishment enough for their reckless behavior, and instead of a traditional punishment the remainder of their break was spent relatively miserably, lying in bed or on the sofa, listening to the radio and letting the effects of an expertly-brewed Pepper-up potion work its magic. 

By September 1st, they were all relatively snot-free and excited to be returning to school. The morning began with the usual chaos of gathering belongings scattered around the house. Fleamont took charge of the kitchen, conjuring up a mountain of oatmeal to fuel their journey ahead. "Eat up, lads!" he announced, placing steaming bowls in front of them in the hopes of staving off a candy-binge halfway through their train ride. 

As they wolfed down their breakfast, the room was filled with a mix of chatter about their summer and anticipation for the year ahead. Sirius, ever the jokester, entertained them with impressions of various Hogwarts professors, leading James to snort oatmeal out of his nose with laughter and prompting yet another outfit change.

With their stomachs filled and their trunks packed, they met Peter and his mother on the street between their homes, ready to make the journey to King's Cross. Together, the two families and Sirius appeared at the apparition point at King's Cross around 10:30 am, other Wizarding families on the way to Hogwarts popping up every few minutes. 

"Whoa, Mrs. Potter! That was way better than traveling side-along with Kreacher!" Sirius exclaimed once they arrived at King's Cross, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Usually, I'd be puking at this point."

"Who is Kreacher?" Effie asked, raising an eyebrow as she resized Sirius' shrunken trunk and passed him the handle.

"Oh, just our nasty house elf," Sirius replied, his voice tinged with bitterness. "He's awful—never holds on to me tight enough, so once we've landed, I usually go flying across the platform."

"A house elf?" Effie said, looking over at him curiously. "I knew Hogwarts has some, but I didn't realize families still owned them... just seems so, archaic."

"Yeah," Sirius answered casually. "Most pureblood families I know do. I was surprised you all didn't have one the first time I came over."

"Don't worry, Mum," James interjected, strolling over from where he and Fleamont had landed. "I told him that we prefer to pay the people who work for us." Effie shook her head but couldn't hide the smile as James put an arm around her, his cheek resting on the top of her head. He had grown again over the summer, revealing just a hint of sock at the bottom of his new school trousers, and Effie felt shorter than ever.

"If Kreacher was paid, maybe he'd try cooking something with actual flavor... After a summer of your cooking, Mrs. P, I've been spoiled!" Sirius chimed in. He’d managed to fill out a bit more thanks to the delicious food prepared by Effie, filling out the hollows in his cheeks that always came from spending time at Grimmauld Place. "Mr. P, you're a lucky man!"

"I know, son, I know," Fleamont replied, taking his wife's hand gently between his own and kissing it. "Nobody does it like her!"

James made a gagging noise. "Eww, enough sappiness from you two. Let's go before the train leaves without us." With a laugh, the group filed through the station toward Platform 9¾, where they encountered a first-year Muggle-born student and her family. James and Sirius eagerly demonstrated how to run through the barrier, ensuring the girl and her family made it onto the platform in time to catch the Hogwarts Express.

Once on the other side, they were met with a crowded platform, alive with the hustle and bustle of departing students and their families. Cats meowed, toads croaked, and owls hooted amidst the cacophony of voices bidding farewells and exchanging last-minute instructions. The scarlet train stood proudly, its gleaming exterior inviting excitement as they navigated through the throngs of people toward their usual, secluded alcove.

"Well, Beta, be safe, okay?" Fleamont said, giving James a hearty pat on the shoulder. They were nearly the same height now, especially once you factored in the volume of James’ untamable hair. James pulled his father in for a hug.

“Thank you, Dad. See you for the winter hols, right?” James grinned, giving his father a quick squeeze before bending down slightly to embrace his mum.

“Of course you will, James,” Effie said, her eyes sparkling with maternal warmth. “Please remember to write, and let us know how the new class goes.”

“Of course, Mum,” James replied. The thought of starting an Orientation and Mobility class instead of Divination was bittersweet, but he knew it was for the best. He’d miss the occasional nap period, but it was a step forward in preparing for the inevitable future.

“You can always write to us too, Sirius,” Effie added, surprising the usually unflappable Sirius. He turned to look at her, then at James, who shrugged. “We’d love to hear how you’re doing, darling.”

Sirius was momentarily flustered but managed a nod. “I will. Thanks.”

Peter hurried over, rubbing at a light lipstick stain on his cheek. “Mum’s distracted by those chrysanthemums in the pot over there—we’ve got to go now!”

With another round of quick goodbyes, the three boys boarded the train and headed toward their usual compartment. They settled in, the excitement of the new term mingling with concern as the clock inched closer to eleven.

“Merlin’s beard, Remus is cutting it close this year,” James remarked, peering out the window in search of their friend, who had a habit of making dramatic last-minute arrivals.

“Especially for a Prefect,” Peter chimed in, his brow furrowed with worry, while Sirius huffed his disapproval at the reminder of their friend’s new status.

As the train pulled away from the platform, they sat in awkward silence, waiting for Remus to burst through the door—but he never did.

“Did he just miss the train?” Sirius asked incredulously. “I can’t believe it!”

“I guess being a Prefect changes nothing, eh?” James chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. However, Peter's keen eye spotted something amiss.

“Wait a second, though…” He pointed to a fourth trunk in the compartment. “Isn’t that his trunk?”

James and Sirius twisted in their seats, craning their necks to confirm Peter's observation.

“Well, if that’s his trunk, then where could he possibly be?” Sirius grumbled, his bubble of amusement quickly deflating. The thought of Remus missing the train as a Prefect had tickled him. 

The next hour passed quickly, the boys engaged in animated discussion about the upcoming September full moon and the delicate matter of revealing their newfound Animagus abilities to their friend, who would likely disapprove of their illegal and highly dangerous behavior. Even though it was a well-established fact that werewolves generally did not attack other animals, they were pretty sure Remus would be anxious at the thought of them joining him on the full moon nights, fearing that the wolf would recognize them as humans in disguise. 

As they pondered their dilemma, a sharp rap echoed against the frosted glass compartment doors. Lily Evans entered first, followed by Remus, who looked slightly sheepish with his hands buried in the pockets of his faded school trousers.

“Evans, get out of my way,” Sirius commanded playfully as soon as Lily stepped inside. “I need to properly welcome little Remy back to school!”

“Little Remy?” Peter muttered, glancing at Remus. “He’s grown about half a foot since school let out!”

Remus had, in fact, grown quite a bit over the break, almost as tall as James! This left Sirius a head shorter and dwarfed Peter in comparison. He didn’t have the same healthy summer glow as he had the summer previously, though, and looked more exhausted than he had at the end of term, and his thin wrists pointier where they poked out at the ends of his too-short school jumper.

After a moment of Sirius and James hassling Remus about almost everything about him, with Peter egging them on, which the boy in question pretended to hate, Lily cleared her throat loudly. 

“Excuse me? If you’re done behaving like circus animals, I’d love a word with you all.” Remus sighed loudly, knowing what was coming, while the remaining three boys simply blinked at her in curiosity. 

“Lily, you don’t–” Remus began, before Lily tutted loudly and cut him off. 

“No, Lupin, actually I do,” she said rather brusquely before turning back to the other three boys. “I know you all enjoy harassing people, getting in trouble, and generally causing mayhem and disruption, but for the love of all things holy, please leave Lupin out of it. He is your friend, and he would probably do anything for any one of you knobheads, but he’s also a Prefect, and he deserves a chance to actually do his job without being dragged into your idiotic schemes. Plus, he looks like he’s about to keel over nearly every other day. Maybe he’d actually have a chance to rest and recover if he wasn’t chasing after you all the time, trying to stop you from accidentally killing yourselves!” 

Remus bristled slightly at the remark about his appearance, knowing it was true but still stung by the blunt observation. 

“Hey! That’s not fair! Sometimes we go along with Remus’ idiotic schemes!” Peter interjected, defending their friend’s Marauder status. 

And it was true.The Marauders often found themselves swept up in Remus' ambitious plans, racing through the corridors at night to help him map out every nook and cranny of Hogwarts. While their nighttime adventures had tapered off a bit due to James' conditions of returning to school (ie. no exploring after dark), Remus and Sirius still ventured out occasionally on their own.

Yeah! And who are you to judge his appearance?” Sirius interjected, his tone laced with venom, his pureblood accent slipping out. “You’re no looker yourself. Looks like you've been spending too much time with Snivellus; all those greasy spots seem to have rubbed off on you… right James?” Sirius glanced at James, hoping for some support.

Before James could respond, Lily sniffed, uttered a succinct "Fuck you, Black," and bolted out of the compartment, slamming the door behind her.

“Sirius, that was a bit much,” Remus said wearily, sinking onto the seat next to Peter, across from where Sirius and James stood watching the spot Lily had just left.

“Who does she think she is? Coming in here, telling us how to behave and then insulting your appearance. What a bitch, honestly.” Remus rubbed his temples, exhaling loudly as he tried to find the right response to Sirius’ awful treatment of his friend. “I’m not wrong. You agree, don’t you James? Pete?” Sirius looked between the two other boys, only to have Peter looking down, pointedly away from him, and James covering his mouth, unsure what to even say. 

“Sirius, you can’t be so hard on her, she doesn’t know about me. What else is she supposed to think?” Remus wrung his hands anxiously. “She just doesn’t want me to make her look bad… and she’s right to worry. I’m going to be an absolutely horrible Prefect.”

“No Remus! You’ll be great!” Peter interjected supportively. He scooted over and attempted to wrap a comforting arm around Remus’ shoulder, which proved to be quite difficult, given that Peter’s shoulder was a good four inches lower. “Everyone already loves you! And you’re smart, and good at explaining things, and you always say the right thing. I bet you could make Evans forget that any of this even happened!”

James agreed, quickly echoing Peter’s sentiments, while Sirius remained silent, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery outside the window. Remus shrugged, but his expression betrayed his lack of confidence.

“I think it will get old very quickly- me ditching her on our rounds because of the moon stuff. At first she might accept it, but I think she’ll come to hate me soon enough,” Remus’ anxiety escalated with each word.

“I don’t think she’ll hate–” James began to disagree, but Remus continued, standing and pacing, working himself up as he was prone to do. 

“And if she doesn’t hate me for it, she will definitely figure me out on her own because she’s very intelligent, obviously, and then she will either hate me for being a werewolf, and if she doesn’t hate me for that then she probably will deservedly hate me for lying to her for so long. And in either case she will definitely tell Snape, and he will definitely tell all his horrible, nasty friends, and then I will have to leave school, and–”

“STOP!” Sirius exclaimed, abruptly cutting off Remus’ panicked tirade. His friends stared at him, stunned by his outburst. Remus stood frozen in the middle of the compartment, his breathing rapid and shallow, panic beginning to take hold.

“Remus, take a deep breath and sit down,” Sirius instructed in a firm, authoritative tone. After a moment, Remus complied, sinking back into his seat. Peter began to take loud, deep breaths, hoping to trigger Remus into reflexively doing the same. James shot Sirius a look, urging him to steer the conversation in a more constructive direction than the way it was currently headed.

“I’m sorry I insulted Evans, but she has no right to make any comments about or decide who you get to be, so I’m not sorry for saying something at all,” Sirius said, in lieu of a real apology. “But in terms of that next part, you are completely in charge. You chose to stay at school after we figured you out, and you chose to accept the Prefect position. If you want to choose what happens with Evans, you can either quit being a Prefect or tell her yourself, so that she can understand when you ditch her during Prefect duties... And that way you choose when she finds out so that you can ask her to keep it a secret. But don’t get all worked up thinking that bad things are just going to happen to you if you don’t do anything about them, Remus! Be courageous, be a fucking Gryffindor, mate. Grow up.” At this point it was Sirius who was getting a bit worked up, his cheeks flushing with emotion. 

It was quiet in the compartment, aside from the soft whooshes of Peter’s guiding breaths, Remus’ a soft echo only a second behind. 

“You’re right,” Remus finally said, cheeks flushed and eyes a bit red. “You’re right about all of it.” He sniffed, and shakily stood. “Excuse me for a moment.” He hurried out of the compartment, leaving James and Peter with a grumpier Sirius than before.

Sirius's words hung heavy in the air, the tension in the compartment thickening with each passing moment. 

“Why’d you have to be like that?” James scolded as soon as the door slid shut.

“I’m not being any way,” Sirius replied defensively. “He’s acting like none of this is in his control when it is. He can make decisions too. He’s grown up enough to know what he wants.” 

“Yeah, but you know him. He can be a bit… sensitive about all this stuff,” James reminded him evenly, moving towards Sirius, who pulled away from him and towards the window aggressively. 

“Just because he’s sensitive doesn’t mean he can’t hear the truth. And if we don’t say it, who will?” Sirius retorted, crossing his arms fiercely before suddenly, he drooped. Sirius’ chest deflated, and his voice wavered. “He can’t just keep running away from things that make him uncomfortable.” 

With that statement, James began to suspect that there might’ve been more to the fight than Evans’ attempted Marauder intervention, but with the sour mood Sirius was in, there was absolutely no chance of getting him to talk about it. 

Peter had received a book about Muggle card games for his birthday, and so he and James ignored Sirius while he cooled off, and passed the time learning a couple of them; their favorite was one where you had to slap the card down, and it had devolved into rolling on the floor of the compartment slapping each other wildly when Remus came back in. Sirius’ gaze snapped from where he’d been glaring out the window for the past hour. 

“Re, I’m–” 

“I’m sorry.” 

They gave each other the tiniest of smiles before looking away. James rolled his eyes. 

“Well, now that everyone’s done being sorry, who wants to play… err Pete, what’s that game called again? With the pile in the middle?” 

“Get Fish, I think?” Peter said, thumbing through the pages of his book.

Remus raised an eyebrow. “D'you mean Go Fish?”

“Yes, that’s it!” Peter exclaimed! Begrudgingly, they managed to get Sirius down on the floor too, and the four boys spent the rest of the ride as they’d always planned- enjoying time in good company. 

As the train chugged into Hogsmeade, Remus fumbled with his Prefect badge, trying to secure it onto the lapel of his robes amidst the jostling crowd. "Finally, got it!" he exclaimed, a nervous grin threatening to spread across his face. "See you all at the feast," he called out, catching Lily's eye as they made their way through the throngs of students, heading towards their assigned post to guide the first years towards Hagrid and the boats.

Lily shot a fierce glare at the three Marauders standing beneath the street lamps, but James, blissfully unaware and unconcerned, waved back in Remus’ direction before he and the other two boys sauntered off towards the carriages to take them up to the front entrance of the school.

Unprompted, Sirius kept an arm slung around him nearly the entire walk there, which was a relief, seeing as the sun had gone down an hour or so earlier and the lamps lining the way let off such a subtle glow that James wasn’t able to see too much in front of him.

"Oi, Potter, Black!" a voice called out from behind them, and Sirius turned. 

"Mary! Marlene!" Sirius exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across his face as he halted their progress to exchange greetings.

“Hello to you too, Mary,” Peter grumbled, before Mary bounded over and squeezed him tight, the beads at the ends of her freshly braided hair hitting him in the face lightly. Peter seemed to be the only Gryffindor to not have hit a growth spurt over the summer, seeing as now even Mary was a good three or four inches taller than him.  

“Good summer, boys?” Marlene asked, taking Mary’s place between James and Peter as her friend went over to greet Sirius. 

“Very good, thanks. And yours?” Peter asked politely, leaving James to focus on the path in front of him. 

“Mine was very nice as well, I spent some time with my family, and you know, my oldest brother just got a job working at the ministry, so I stayed with him in London for a few days. Since that’s where Mary lives, we got to see each other, and her older sister took us to a muggle dance club! It was incredible!” 

"I'd kill to go to one of those!" Sirius exclaimed eagerly, leading the group towards an empty carriage. "Remus played some records for me last term, and I couldn't get enough of that one guy… What's his name? The one with the red hair and the lightning bolt on his face on the cover?” 

Mary laughed. “You mean David Bowie?” 

Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, him! Absolutely brilliant!"

James and Peter liked muggle music, but weren’t as into it as Sirius or Remus, or Mary, apparently, so they tuned out that conversation and made some small talk with Marlene until they finally arrived at Hogwarts. 

Exiting the carriages, Peter spotted a friend from the chess club and dashed over to say hello, and Mary and Sirius walked ahead, engrossed in their music discussion, leaving Marlene and James standing side by side.

Anxious about running into something in the dim light, James impulsively reached out and linked arms with Marlene as she stepped forward, a gesture that caught her off guard. She looked up at him, her freshly-trimmed bangs framing her face nicely, bringing James’ attention to her soft, hazel-brown eyes, and she smiled, a faint blush coloring her milky cheeks.

Feeling a pleasant flutter in his stomach, James felt a bit shy, and had to look away for a second before turning back to her with an easy smile. "So, tell me, McKinnon, how was London? Besides the dance club, of course. I think I’ve heard enough about this Daniel Bowie bloke to last a lifetime."

“Daniel Bowie? You’ve got to be joking, James!” 

They walked along, comfortably linked, and as they entered the Great Hall, the anticipation of the sorting and feast hung in the air. Despite the raised eyebrows and suspicious glances thrown their way by Lily and Sirius, James and Marlene settled into their seats, ready to embrace the excitement of the new school year.