Year One: Winter Quidditch

The snow covering the Hogwarts grounds did, unfortunately, not convince Madam Hooch to cancel flying practice. The wind nipped at their cheeks as they staggered out onto the pitch. Remus had been careful to change in a far corner of the Quidditch tent, and looped a shawl around his neck for good measure.

Halfway through the lesson, Remus met a particularly nasty gust of wind. He veered off course and smacked into one of the goalposts, losing his grip and tumbling into the snow. He cursed under his breath. Nearly immediately, James landed gracefully next to him, followed by Madam Hootch.

“You alright, Lupin?” he asked.

Remus nodded. He always stayed as close to the ground as Madam Hootch allowed, ignoring the sniggers from his classmates. “Fine. The snow makes for a soft landing.”

“Good lad.”

“On you go then,” Madam Hootch said. “You still have five laps left. Potter, keep an eye on him.”

The incident with the goalpost proved positive because the Marauders left Remus alone when he said that his head hurt and he was going to take a nap.

Thursday, they saw Snape during History of Magic, and James and Sirius decided to pelt Snape with quills for the entire lesson. The quills wheezed past Remus’s and Peter’s faces, occasionally hitting an increasingly angry Lily.

Remus had to work hard on keeping a straight face whilst pretending to take notes. Snape glared at them through the Great Hall at both lunch and dinner that day, but couldn’t muster the confidence to confront them in front of an audience.

“Are you satisfied with your revenge on Snape?” Remus whispered to James whilst watering the plants in greenhouse five the following day.

James wiggled his eyebrows. “Are you cooking up one of these sweet plans of yours?”

“Is that all you think about?”

“That and Quidditch, mostly.”

Remus shook his head. James’s grinning had attracted Sirius, who was holding a pair of shears. “What are my fellow Marauders up to?”

“Nothing,” Remus said.

“We all know that is a lie. Come on? A potion? Charms?”

“Less chatting back there,” Sprout called from the other side of the greenhouse. James rolled his eyes.

They stumbled out of the greenhouse thirty minutes later and followed their classmates to lunch. Remus spotted Lily and Marlene walking a few paces ahead with two Hufflepuff girls from their year, but lost sight of them when the Marauders headed for the viaduct bridge. It was the fastest way to the Great Hall, and popular during the summer. During the colder months, a gruelling wind tore at everything traversing the stone bridge and most students duly avoided it, opting for the much shorter bridges away from the lake.

“What are we doing with our free afternoon?” Sirius asked.

“Library?” Remus suggested, glad when they finally reached the covered pathway in the courtyard. “We got a bunch of homework.”

“I don’t like Madam Prince,” Peter said.

Sirius pushed past a sixth-year Gryffindor in the doorway. “Why?”

“She’s mean.”

“And talking isn’t allowed,” James said. “We could watch the Quidditch practice instead. There’s a match coming up.”

“Or,” Sirius said. “You could tell us about the revenge plan you’re hatching.”

“You got a plan?” Peter asked, dropping onto the bench next to Sirius.

“I don’t,” Remus said, loading up his plate. “Besides, homework.”

“But that’s boring,” Sirius said.

“Some of us need to study,” Remus mumbled.

James patted him on the back. “We also need some fun. A round of gobstones? Or a scenic flight?”

“I’m not getting on a broom,” Remus said. “We can break in the chess set you sent me.”

“Chess sounds wonderful,” Peter squeaked.

“If we’re going to sit around a table all afternoon, you’ll have to take a look at my star chart, Peter,” Sirius said.

“I can do that,” he said, perking up. “Anyone else’s?”

Remus nodded, his mouth full.

“And while we’re at it, we can brainstorm some prank ideas,” James continued.

“I thought you and Sirius had it covered yesterday,” Remus said, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. He could still feel the slight prick at the back of his head when one of them had aimed badly.

“That was minor—”

“Insignificant—”

“Diminutive—How long has it been since we did something grandiose?” James asked.

“The stink pellets in the girl’s loos on Monday?” Peter suggested, shoving a forkful of potatoes into his mouth.

James gestured wildly. “Something all of us are involved in.”

“A proper marauder prank,” Sirius finished.

The Marauders set up camp at one of the best tables in the Gryffindor common room, next to the big windows, giving them ample space to spread their books, Peter’s chessboard and a heap of snacks. Remus sat on the windowsill, leafing through ‘The Theory of Transmutation: Understanding the Science Behind Transfiguration’, occasionally glancing at James and Peter, who were engaged in a lengthy chess match. Sirius sat next to James, whispering advice into his ear.

James’s birthday would be coming up at the end of March, and Remus was trying to find an appropriate gift to pay him back for the chess set. He couldn’t ask his parents for money, and doubted the few sickles he had would buy anything good, if he could figure out how to get to a wizard shop—so a prank was his only option. Remus had kept the date of his own birthday a secret. A party or grand gesture was the last thing he needed.

“Oi, Lupin,” James called. “Do you want to take over for Peter? I’m tired of losing.”

Peter laughed and moved chairs to let Remus take his seat. “Peter’s set hates me,” Remus complained.

Peter unrolled a scroll, flattening one edge with a box of Bertie Botts. “Nah, just let them do their thing. You’ll be fine.”

James opened the game, and after Remus’s second move, he regretted his decision. A pawn argued for five minutes and refused to move until Peter looked up from James’s star chart and told him to cut it out. Sirius apparently took pity on him and abandoned James to help Remus.

“You’d think you’d get your own star right,” Peter muttered.

Sirius laughed, “What can I say? I’m hopeless.”

Remus frowned. Sirius was the brightest star in the night sky. Despite the scarcity of his astronomy notes—nearly puncturing his eyes with his telescope in half of the astronomy lessons—even he could find it on a chart. Remus sighed. “Pure-bloods are so weird.”

“The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black has always been a bit arsey with its naming conventions,” Sirius mused.

“I got it,” James shouted, jumping to his feet.

He sprinted toward their dormitory, leaving his queen open for Remus’s knight to take and claim a victory.

***

“So, explain the plan, please,” Remus whispered in between classes on Monday morning.

“My dad got me fireworks for Christmas, really small ones,” James said, raising his eyebrows. “And we’re going to put some in Snivellus’s cauldron today.”

“How is that supposed to be grandiose?”

James pumped his fist into the air. “Today’s about retribution. We have time for grandiosity another day.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Sirius said. “Peter, you sit closest to Snivelly. You put the fireworks in. We others distract him and the redhead.”

Remus raised his eyebrows. Peter wasn’t normally tasked with the execution of pranks but helped in the preparation and was their designated lookout. Hopefully, he would keep his nerves and not get caught. Remus’s knee bounced under the table in potions. James had given the fireworks to Peter on their way into the dungeons. They were barely bigger than peppercorns and, according to James, exploded when they came in contact with liquids.

Their healing potion had cured over the weekend, and only powdered Marigold petals, jellyfish tentacles and flobberworm juice were missing. Peter was working the mortar when Remus said, “Lily, could you help me with those jellyfish, uh, parts?”

“She’s not your partner,” Snape said immediately, but Lily jumped to her feet.

“Stop it, Sev. What do you need help with?”

“I’m just not sure which part is dangerous anymore. I don’t have gloves, you see.”

She smiled, moving closer to point out the right spots on the jellyfish tentacles. “But you should really wear gloves, Remus. I mean, it’s thinner than twine, and I don’t want you to get hurt if I’m wrong. You can borrow mine.”

“I can just levitate them,” Remus said quickly, hoping to give Peter more time. He still seemed conspicuously occupied with the flower heads. “Look.”

“No, don’t,” Lily fretted. “What if you lose control?”

“Just let him,” Snape remarked, grinning.

A loud hiss escaped Snape’s cauldron before the olive liquid shot from the rim and splattered all over the table. Remus had pulled Lily and Peter back by the hoods of their cloaks. Mary and Marlene let out a scream of surprise. Everyone sat far enough away that the potion hadn’t burned them.

“What did you do?” Snape yelled.

“Now, now. What do we have here?” Slughorn stood behind Snape, inspecting the damage.

“He blew up my potion,” Snape roared, pointing at Remus.

“Nonsense,” Slughorn said. “I suspect you got the petals and buds mixed up, m’boy.” He chuckled. “It happens to the best, yes.”

“I hadn’t even—”

“Clean that up,” Slughorn said.

“But, sir. What about our mark?” Lily asked.

“I am afraid you don’t have a potion for me to assess.”

“Lily helped us a lot,” Remus said. “You might as well count her into our group.”

Snape’s black eyes gleamed, threatening.

“Is that so?” Slughorn asked.

“I wouldn’t say a lot,” Lily murmured.

“You stopped Peter from adding powdered newt eyes when I hadn’t taken the cauldron off the fire yet, and then you reminded me I needed another stir counter-clockwise, and—”

“That is quite enough.” Slughorn turned to Lily. “You will be given credit for the potion. From now on, Miss Evans, I expect you to pay attention to Mr Snape’s work and not another group’s.”

Lily nodded, keeping her eyes down. Snape sat in his spot, seething. Remus heard Lily whisper an apology. James wiggled his eyebrows. At the end of the lesson, Remus bottled three vials of their potion and deposited them on Slughorn’s desk.

“Did you see Snivellus’s face?” James whispered on their way upstairs.

“I know,” Remus answered. It was worth it.

“I know it was them,” Snape said to Lily outside. Sirius and Peter waited a little way off, carrying Remus’s rucksack with their books in, giggling to themselves. James clapped Peter on the back before swinging an arm around him.

“How’d you manage?” Remus whispered. “I didn’t notice a thing.”

Peter shrugged, his back straight. If it weren’t for the messy hair, Peter would be taller than James.

“I will get you back—” Snape yelled. The Marauders turned around. Lily stood next to him, red-faced. “You and your little gang, Potter.”

“Go on and give it a try, Snivellus,” Sirius said. “You couldn’t dump water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.”

Lily stepped in front of Snape, red-faced but holding him back. “Just go.”

“Come on,” Remus muttered, tugging on James’s sleeve.

“No—”

“I don’t want to end up in detention again,” Remus said.

“Fine,” James said.

“We could have taken him,” Sirius huffed, his arms crossed.

“We did,” Peter said. “Half an hour before.”

“I mean, really taken him. Taught him a lesson.”

Remus scratched the raised line at the back of his neck. “And sent him to the hospital wing again?”

Sirius gestured wildly, the rucksack swinging on his arm. “If that’s what it takes.”

“Why are you so bent on making his life miserable?” Remus asked.

“He choked you,” James said. “He could have killed you.”

“And?”

“We’re not going to let anyone harm a fellow Marauder,” Sirius said.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m fine?”

Remus didn’t wait for an answer, climbing the stairs to the dormitory as fast as possible. He flung his rucksack onto his bed and loosened the cloak, huffing.

He yanked off the scratchy school jumper and replaced it with a maroon one his mum had made that had sleeves long enough to cover his hands, gathered his stack of books and descended, searching for a secluded windowsill. James and Peter had joined a game of gobstones by the entrance.

Sirius leaned against the wall next to Remus. “Can I sit with you?”

Remus swallowed, nodding and making space for the other boy. It was the first time Remus was truly alone with Sirius since he’d seen the scars. Remus tried to focus on his book, pretending he couldn’t feel the stares.

“What are you reading about?”

Remus showed him the cover. “I’m trying to find a birthday prank for Potter,” he said. “Don’t tell him, though.”

“I’ll help.”

Remus shrugged. “All I’ve got so far is ridiculously advanced. And I don’t want it to end like your birthday.”

“That detention wasn’t so bad. Better than the tea with my cousins.”

Remus laughed. Only Sirius would enjoy a detention. “Well, I was thinking something with a spell.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“Huh?” Remus looked up. Sirius’s eyes were on him. “Spring.”

“But when?” Sirius asked.

“A bit before James.”

“Can I talk to you?” Lily stood in front of them, her hands clasped together, bouncing on her heels.

“Sure,” Remus said.

“Alone?”

Sirius snorted. “About your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Lily said, raising her voice. “Stop being such a prick.”

“He deserves it,” Sirius said.

“Why? Because he’s in Slytherin?”

“Because he’s a sleazeball.”

“So are you.”

“Can we all just calm down?” Remus said, snapping his book shut. “Merlin.”

Lily crossed her arms. “Can you tell your friends to stop being so horrible to him, please?”

“We’re horrible—”

“Black,” Remus said, locking eyes with Sirius. His eyes burned fiercely. Remus swallowed. “Just—”

“He can be a bit difficult, I admit that,” Lily said. “But he’s got a tough life, and if you only get to know him, he’s not that bad. Honestly.”

“How does a tough—” Remus shoved past Sirius.

“Come on,” he said quickly, throwing a silencing glance at Sirius. Lily followed him out of the common room.

“Are you allowed to walk around the castle without your uniform?”

Remus shrugged. “I don’t think it will make the top-ten rules I broke.”

“What was Black talking about?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Will you just drop it?” Remus stopped. “Please.”

Lily looked at him, and he thought he could see tears forming in her eyes. “Fine.”

She left him standing in the hallway, his breath forming small clouds. He returned to the common room to find Sirius leafing through his books in the alcove.

“What’d she say?”

“I didn’t tell her about the train.”

“Really? I thought that’s why she ran up to the dormitories,” Sirius said. “You don’t have to take it, though. You know that?”

Remus shrugged. “Take what?”

Sirius looked at the book in his lap. “Anything. You’re better than that.”

Remus crossed his arms, wrapping himself tighter in his jumper. “Have you any ideas for the prank?”

***

Remus kept busy throughout January. He’d finally mastered creating a bracelet from a worm when McGonagall announced they’d be transfiguring frogs next. Sirius joined him in finding a surprise for James’s birthday in the library after classes, whilst James sat out by the Quidditch pitch observing their practices. Lily seemed to ignore him as thoroughly as possible.

Remus approached McGonagall the week before the moon and asked to be put into the hospital wing for the weekend leading up to the full moon. On Friday, he packed his rucksack and sequestered himself in Madam Pomfrey’s office. She’d set up a cot much like the one in the Shrieking Shack. Remus couldn’t help but shiver, but he was thankful nonetheless.

Madam Pomfrey offered to spend time with him, but Remus refused, burying his nose in the books he’d checked out from the library, and trying to come up with an excuse he could give to the Marauders. Madam Pomfrey made an effort to spend the mealtimes with Remus. She offered to teach him about healing potions, so Saturday afternoon, Remus stood behind the witch in her laboratory, watching her make a potion to relieve pain.

“Your friends have inquired about you,” she said over dinner.

Remus blushed. “I haven’t told them.”

“It must be difficult for you.” Remus didn’t answer, poking the vegetables on his plate. “Tell me, how is Lyall?”

“My dad?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know him?”

“We were both in Ravenclaw, although he was three years younger.”

“He never told me. He’s fine, I guess. He works a lot.”

She smiled. Remus enjoyed the quiet in the hospital wing. He’d finished all his homework by the time he had to leave for the grounds. Dumbledore accompanied them to the Whomping Willow, humming contently as they waded through the snow.

Remus woke with only minor scratches in the morning. Madam Pomfrey was delighted as she ushered him up to the castle. His friends took the news that he’d been home to see his mother well, informing him about a brilliant prank they’d pulled on Sunday.

Soon, Valentine’s Day transformed the Great Hall into a flutter of pink and red. Flitwick had bewitched roses to float among the candles in the hall, and they periodically shed their petals, showering the hall in flurries of red. Filch stood by the entrance holding a broom, Mrs Norris perched on his shoulders, looking miserable. Remus found the whole thing over the top.

James, however, was jittery, and blew up his forgetfulness potion, when Snape discreetly tried to slide a vial of pink potion over the desk to Lily. Remus suspected James’s excitability had more to do with the second Gryffindor Quidditch match set on Saturday, although Snape’s odd behaviour had definitely played a part. It took him several minutes to recover from the bout of laughter.

Remus was woken early on Saturday morning by James, who dragged the boys down to breakfast at first light. He was bundled up in a Gryffindor scarf and matching hat. The hall buzzed and cheered when the players of the teams entered, all except the Slytherins, who couldn’t warm up to either team.

Just before noon, the school wandered through the grounds to the Quidditch pitch. The wind was cold and bit at their nose, but at least the snow had melted, leaving muddy puddles and stray white patches on the hillside.

The Marauders found a place in the stands among the other Gryffindor first-years. Next to Lily and her friends sat a miserable-looking Snape with his arms crossed, covered in green and silver. James wolf-whistled.

“Bugger off, Potter,” Lily said, turning away.

The Marauders sniggered. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her whistle. Fifteen brooms rose, high, high into the air.

“And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Edgar Bones of Hufflepuff—” The Prewett twins did the commentary for the match. “A neat pass to Captain Rosalind McKinnon—the Gryffindors have taken the Quaffle, Robert King gains the Quaffle and off he goes—King flying like an eagle up there—he’s going to sc—no, stopped by an excellent move by Hufflepuff Keeper Ted Tonks and the Hufflepuffs take the Quaffle—that’s Chaser Julie Bones there, nice dive around Weasley, off up the field and—ouch—that must have hurt,—Quaffle taken by Gryffindor—that’s Captain Robert King speeding off toward the goal posts, but he’s blocked by a second Bludger—sent his way by the Diggorys—McKinnon back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes—she’s really flying—dodges a speeding Bludger—the goal posts are ahead—Keeper Weasley dives—misses—Hufflepuffs score!”

Hufflepuff cheers filled the cold air, and Marlene cheered, too, albeit more quietly. “What about house spirit?” James complained.

Marlene turned around. “I’ll show you my house spirit when I’m on the team next year.” She winked. “My sister doesn’t know what’s coming for her.”

James laughed. “We’ll be unstoppable.”

“Chaser Weasley ducks two Bludgers, and speeds toward the goal—excellent pass to King, up high stopped by Keeper Tonks and Bones is off with the Quaffle, ducks a Bluger by McGonagall—Weasley takes the Quaffle and off he goes, pass to Shacklebolt dodging McKinnon, back to Weasley, and he scores! Ten points to Gryffindor.”

Marlene cheered. Remus had never seen her so jubilant. Her cheeks and nose were red from the cold. She was covered head to toe in red and gold, rivalling James’s dedication to Quidditch apparel. Snape had buried his face in a book, his nose almost touching the paper. Their section cheered again.

“Twenty to ten for Gryffindor. Hufflepuff in possession—McKinnon with the Quaffle—passes Edgar Bones—passes Julie Bones—hit hard by a Bludger. Gryffindor back in possession—Weasley to King—back to Weasley, an excellent sloth grip roll to dodge Keeper Tonks, and score! Thirty to ten for Gryffindor.”

“Hufflepuff in possession, Chaser Bones ducks and speeds toward the—wait a moment—was that the Snitch?”

Remus focused on the game for the first time. Two girls hurdled toward the ground at an alarming speed. The others seemed to float in place—the game forgotten—to watch the girl in red be overtaken by the one in yellow and pull her broom up at the last moment. She held one hand outstretched triumphantly.

“Alice Prewett has caught the Snitch—a hundred-fifty points to Hufflepuff—Hufflepuff wins!”