Moonage Daydream

So far Remus had made it through nearly two months of school without trouble. Well, without much. Sirius and James seemed to excel at generating small mischief in the few classes all four of them shared. Sirius, especially. Passing charmed notes during class was surely one of his favourite activities. Just last week he sent a note over to Remus that blew up in an array of fireworks shortly after he finished reading the message. This unfortunately earned both of them detention, completely unfair in Remus’ opinion. Sirius was the one who pulled the dumb stunt, why did he have to get detention? Regardless, Remus couldn’t deny that the beautiful explosion of reds and golds were something wonderful to behold. 

The castle was decorated with pumpkins and charmed bats for Halloween. The excitement of the holiday was growing on everyone. Remus walked with Lily to the dorm after their class. 

“I don’t understand why wizards celebrate Halloween, I didn’t think they would celebrate muggle holidays,” Lily noted, looking at the decorations.  

“I have no idea.” Remus shrugged. “Asked my dad about it once, he had no explanation either. It’s weird though.” 

“It is weird. Do wizards celebrate Christmas too?” 

“Erm, yeah. But it’s more important to my mum, she’s a muggle too.” 

“Does that mean there’s Wizarding Christianity?” 

Remus furrowed his brows. “I don’t think so? Oh my god, it really is weird.” 

“See! It’s weird!” 

“It’s so weird!” Remus laughed.  

The two walked up to the Fat Lady painting to deliver the password. Once again, she tried to stop them from going in by getting them to listen to her song. It took several tries to get past her. “God, her singing is awful,” Lily complained. 

“Honestly!” Remus flopped on the sofa with Sirius and James, Peter was sitting in an armchair and Lily took a seat on the loveseat. “What are we talking about?” 

“Snivelus,” Sirius groaned. 

“Who?” Lily quirked an eyebrow up. 

“Severus Snape,” Remus clarified. 

“Why would you call him that?” Lily gawped. “That’s so rude!” 

“Because he sucks!” Sirius grumbled. “God, he’s such an arse.” 

“He’s annoying,” James agreed. “He’s a show off in potions.” 

“He’s rude, I want to punch him,” Sirius sighed. 

“You almost did last week,” Remus noted, recalling the incident. Snape had gotten in his and Sirius’ face over their failed attempt at brewing. He had taunted the two of them over it for nearly five minutes while Remus held Sirius back. “Potions class, remember?”  

“Oh yeah. You didn’t let me though.” 

“Because that’s a great way to get expelled, you already got detention.” 

“He still deserved a good punch. I could have beaten him.” 

“You would have messed up your perfect hair,” Remus teased. 

“My hair is never out of place,” Sirius huffed, sitting up. 

“You’re awful,” Lily huffed and marched up to her dorm room. 

“Merlin, what’s her problem?” 

“She and Snape are friends,” Remus said with a shrug. 

“She’s got poor taste then,” James laughed. 

Remus hummed, sinking down into the sofa. 

~.~ 

Remus piled his plate high at breakfast again, this time there was some sort of chocolate spread which he applied liberally to his toast.  

“You know what we should do?” Sirius announced over his eggs. 

“What’s that?” Peter asked. 

“Teach Snape a lesson.” 

Lily popped her head up from her book. “Don’t you dare. Leave him alone.” 

Sirius waved her off. “He deserves something, he’s a jerk.” 

“You’re the jerk,” Lily huffed, tossing eggs at Sirius. 

“Ugh.” Sirius wiped the food off himself. “Gross.” 

Remus shovelled the last of his breakfast in his mouth before running to catch up with Lily to walk to their class. “Oi, Lily, wait up!” 

She stopped to let Remus reach her. “Your friends are so mean to Severus.” 

“Yeah, yeah I know.” 

“Why does everyone hate him so much? He’s really not the worst!” 

“He is kind of a jerk. I’m sure they won’t do anything though,” Remus assured her. 

“They better not.” 

~.~ 

Remus was changing in the bathroom again, the faint sound of his roommates talking leaking through the door. His eyes lingered on the new scars he’s gained over the last moons. They were slightly silver and raised on his pale skin. Remus ran his fingers over a scar that extended across his shoulder. It seemed there hadn’t been a moon yet where a new one didn’t appear. He slipped on his pajamas, covering up the scars and slipping out to the room. 

Sirius, James and Peter were sitting in the middle of the room on the floor with papers out in front of them. They seemed to be deep in discussion together. “Remus! We need your help,” James announced, patting the ground beside him.  

“What do you need my help with?” he asked, sitting cross-legged beside James. He picked up the papers on the ground, they were scribbled with random thoughts and ideas, a few indecipherable doodles in the margins. “What is all this?” 

“We’re trying to come up with a way to get back at Snape,” Peter explained.  

“We’re thinking of a prank,” Sirius added.  

Remus sorted through the ideas the other boys had come up with. They were all funny ideas too. He giggled to himself at one he was sure Sirius came up with. The boys had thought up everything from exploding books to turning Snape’s hair pink. The four talked for hours trying to come up with the perfect prank to pull on Snape. It had to be magnificent in their opinions. After many vetoed ideas and crumpled pieces of paper later the four decided that Halloween would be the perfect day to pull off their prank. 

~.~ 

Halloween finally came around; Sirius had stayed up for hours and days on end studying to make the prank perfect. The tables in the Great Hall were topped with bright jack-o-lanterns, the decorations were completely over the top and music was enchanted to play through the Hall. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter found their seats at the Gryffindor table while the great feast started. The dishes were piled high, pumpkin was a common theme among them. The boys exchanged giddy looks between themselves. They had yet to fill their plates with food while everyone ate. 

Sirius grinned at the other three boys, slipping away from the table. Remus had to hold in his excitement as Sirius crossed the room with his wand under his sleeve. He snuck over to the other side of the room where the Slytherin table was. He spotted Snape eating his dinner. Sirius took out his wand, whispering a spell under his breath. Snape’s dinner morphed into a pile of crawling, chittering bugs and lizards. Snape shouted, his voice cracking as beetles skittered over his hands. A large snake emerged from the center of the bug pile and Snape screamed, falling back. 

Sirius hurried back to his space at the Gryffindor table, the four boys giggling as they watched Snape jump around and squeal. Many of the other students started laughing as well. Dumbledor stood up, waved his wand, and the bugs and the snake transformed into streamers and glitter. 

“Calm down everyone,” Dumbledor announced in his booming voice. “It seems this was just a harmless Halloween prank, no need to get excited. Back to your meals.” 

The boys giggled to themselves, high fiving underneath the table. The boys finished their meals, stuffing themselves full of the seemingly endless candy before making their way back to the dorm just before curfew. “Sirius! You should have told us about the snake!” James slapped Sirius’ arm. “That was awesome!” 

Sirius laughed, jumping on his bed. “I wanted it to be a surprise!” 

“Well, it was a good one,” Remus chuckled. “Snape definitely deserved that.” 

“He absolutely did,” Peter agreed.  

The three of them laughed about the incident, copying Snape’s squeals. 

~.~ 

It was a few days after the Halloween prank, something that the boys had yet to stop talking about. Now that winter was approaching, the moon kept coming up sooner and sooner. Remus couldn’t even stop for dinner.  

He dropped some of his things off at his dorm after studying in the library. Remus started off towards the infirmary to see Madame Pomfrey. 

“There he is!” Peter yelped, running over to Remus with James and Sirius in tow. “We were looking for you!” 

“Yeah, mate, we’ve got to plan our next prank,” James told him in a hushed tone. “It’s got to be way bigger than the last one.”  

“Er, sorry guys. I can’t. I’ve got somewhere I have to be,” Remus muttered. 

“But it’s almost supper,” Peter pressed.  

“I’m skipping it tonight. Sorry, I can’t.” Remus pursed his lips and put his head down under Sirius’ owl-eyed gaze. “I’ve got to go; I’ll talk to you later.” He hurried off to the infirmary, abandoning his friends in the hallway.  

Remus made his way to the infirmary; he was met by Madame Pomfrey with a quick cup of tea and some biscuits for the two of them. She walked Remus out to the shack, letting him in and assuring him that she will be back to get him in the morning. 

The shack had started to get even colder, Remus could only imagine how bad it will be in the dead of winter. The building wasn’t exactly great at keeping the heat in. He shivered, rubbing his arms. Remus saw a wisp of his breath as he exhaled and wished he had any other place to go. He paced around the small room to try and keep himself warm until the transformation happened. He choked when he felt the transformation snapping his bones and sending him tumbling to the ground.  

~.~ 

Remus woke up cold and shivering. He grabbed a thread bare blanket off the bed and wrapped it around himself. He curled into a ball, whimpering quietly. Remus pressed his head against the floor and waited for Pomfrey to finally come for him. 

Pomfrey padded into the room, calling out Remus’ name. “Oh, you poor dear,” she muttered, kneeling next to Remus. She clicked her tongue, taking out her wand to cast a healing spell. “There, all better. You’re all better,” Pomfrey assured Remus, running her hand through his hair. “It’s okay, dear, let’s get you back to the castle now.” Remus nodded, slowly sitting up against the achy pain in his bones. Madame Pomfrey turned while Remus put his clothes back on. She held his arms while they made their way back to the castle and to the infirmary. “Seems like you had a really bad night, huh?” Pomfrey hummed while she casted a spell to check Remus over.  

“Is it ever a good one?” 

Madame Pomfrey gave him a sad smile. "I know, dear. Well, you’re all good to go back to your dorm, do you feel well enough?” 

“Of course, I’m fine.” 

“Alright then.” She patted his knee. “Come to me if you feel like you need to rest.” 

Remus nodded, heading back to the dormitory. He tried to enter the room as quietly as possible, Sirius was already sitting up in his bed. He stared at Remus with his famous owl-eyed expression.  

Remus stared back at him, frozen in place. “I have to get changed,” Remus finally said, rushing to the bathroom, grabbing his clothes on the way. He sighed, quickly getting dressed. James was just waking up while Sirius got dressed when Remus got out of the bathroom. “When did you get back?” James slurred through a yawn.  

“He got back this morning,” Sirius answered, staring down at Remus. “Where were you all night?” 

Remus bit his cheek and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Personal thing, so leave it alone.” 

“Mate, that’s really ominous,” James hummed, getting on his clothes. “Come on, where’d you go?” 

“I told you, it’s personal, drop it,” Remus snapped. “I’ll meet you at breakfast.” Remus left the room in a huff. 

Sirius, James and Peter joined Remus at the Gryffindor table a few moments later, the silence hanging around them heavily. They ate quietly until the mail came. A small box landed in front of Sirius. James perked up when he saw the package. Remus’ eyes went wide as a letter from his parents was dropped for him. He quickly grabbed the envelope and hid it in his robes. 

“What’s that?” James asked, leaning over to look at the package Sirius got. 

“It’s, erm, it is a birthday present,” Sirius admitted. 

“It’s your birthday?” Peter piped up. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” James asked excitedly. 

“Happy birthday, Sirius,” Remus said. “Show us what you’ve got.” 

Sirius chuckled, starting to rip open the paper. “It’s from my parents, I doubt it’s anything interesting.” He pulled out a shiny pocket watch and a small note with Sirius written on it in impeccable lettering. Sirius opened the note, skimmed it, and put it back into the package. “Told you, it’s nothing special.” 

“Can I see?” Remus asked, Sirius handed over the pocket watch. Remus ran his fingers over the grooves of the cover, it was a caged design of ivy vines interlocking that you partially see the face through, he opened the watch and studied the crystal face. It was so clear and reflective Remus could almost see his face in the glass. “I think it’s really cool,” Remus finally mumbled out. He glanced up to meet Sirius staring at him. “Er, here. Sorry.” Remus held the watch out. 

“Keep it.” Sirius waved it off. “I don’t want it. You seem to like it, so you keep it.” 

Remus’ mouth dropped open. “Oh, I can’t. This is so nice, and-and it’s a birthday present, I can’t take it.” 

“I’m not taking it back, just keep it.” Sirius pushed Remus’ hand back. “I don’t want it.” 

“Uh, thank you.” Remus pursed his lips, tucking the watch into his robes. 

“We need to celebrate,” James hummed. “It’s your birthday, we’ve got to celebrate, after dinner.” 

“We do,” Peter agreed. 

“We could steal a cake from the kitchen,” Remus suggested.  

“You’re a bad influence,” Sirius teased.  

“And you’re getting a birthday party,” James said with his wide dimpled grin. 

~.~ 

Remus and James raced out of the kitchen with a small cake hidden under their robes after dinner. They laughed between themselves while they ran up to the dorm. “We’ve got the cake!” James announced once they reached their room. Peter had hastily put up streamers around the space for their last-minute party. Remus grabbed one of their side tables and pulled it to the middle of the room, James put the cake on top of it. He whipped out his wand and charmed some small flames to float above the cake. “Sorry, we don’t have candles.” 

Sirius grinned and shook his head. “This is great,” he laughed. Sirius pushed his hair to lean over and blow out the candles. The boys whistled and jeered, breaking out into a horribly sung version of Happy Birthday. 

“Okay, wait, wait, I have one more thing!” James announced. “I learned this in charms.” He pulled out his wand, casting a devious grin at everyone. He waved his wand, reciting a spell, fireworks exploded in loud cracks from the tip of his wand and bounced around the room. The boys laughed and squealed, ducking from the sparks. 

One of the sparks bounced, landing on James’ bed curtains, igniting them. “Oh, bloody hell!” Sirius laughed. Remus grabbed his wand, casting a water spell at the curtains, putting the fire out and soaking James’ bed.  

The boys froze, staring at the smoldering curtains. Remus giggled, “Your fault for putting fireworks out in our room.” 

“Oh, bugger off,” James groaned, playfully shoving Remus.