Chapter 23
Peter was the last of them to turn 15. On the morning of the last day of September, a Tuesday, James pulled back his oldest friend’s bed curtains and began to sing at an alarmingly high pitch. Peter didn’t open his eyes. He pulled one of his pillows from behind his head and smacked James square in the face with an accuracy that was surprising for someone who was still clinging to a few more minutes of sleep. James wasn’t about to let a pillow stop him, though; he continued right on with his screeching rendition of “For He’s a Jolly Good, Wizard.”
“Prongs, shut the hell up,” Sirius called from under his duvet.
Peter moaned. “Can’t a bloke sleep in on his birthday?” he said but pulled himself up into a sitting position anyway.
“Not around here, mate,” James said, climbing into his friend’s bed.
“Shove off, Prongs.” Remus and Sirius were out of bed and were shuffling over to Peter dressed in nothing but their shorts and socks, and in Remus’ case, a long-sleeved t-shirt that had seen better days. “Not you guys, too,” he groaned as the two of them squeezed in beside him and James. “These beds aren’t big enough for all of us.”
“We fit,” James argued. “We just gotta make some room for daddy longlegs over here.”
“Don’t ever call me that again,” Remus groaned. He folded his legs under himself, so he was sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed. James and Sirius were lying on either side of Peter, each of them with an arm thrown over his midsection. “Happy birthday, Pete. Feel any different?”
“Not a bit,” he said with a yawn. He lifted his hand from beneath the covers to rub some of the sleep from his eyes. Sirius’s hand shot out and grabbed Peter’s midair. “Look what we have here,” he exclaimed.
“What?” Sirius twisted his hand around so Peter could see what he saw. “Oh!”
“Way to go, Petey!” James gripped him even tighter into what could have loosely been called a hug.
“Let me see.” Remus leaned forward to get a better view of what they were looking at. Peter flashed his hand towards him and Remus let out a low whistle when he saw it.
Peter rotated his hand in front of his face, marveling at his new soul mark from different angles. It was small. Thin swirly lines of white along the length of his pinky finger. “Merlin, this is going to be tough to hide. Anyone got a pair of gloves I can borrow?”
“Don’t hide it,” James complained. “You should be proud. Show it off.”
“That’s easy for you to say, yours isn’t on your bloody finger.”
“No one’s even going to notice,” Remus assured him.
“Look at it this way, Pete, at least it’ll be easier to find your soul mate.”
“I guess,” he grumbled, but in the end, Peter didn’t have to worry about it too much. At least not while he was at school, since the sleeves of their robes extended past his hands. He knew his mum would insist on him covering it when he was home, but hopefully, he could come up with a solution by the time Christmas break rolled around.
Remus’ alarm clock went off as the four of them were discussing their plans for the evening and exchanging gifts. They had classes all day, but the evening was free. Peter requested a relaxed get-together, despite James and Sirius’ attempts to convince him to let them throw another rager. Something small, he told them, he didn’t want them to scare Susanna.
“Fine,” James had sighed.
Peter left the group at breakfast, opting to sit with Susanna at the Ravenclaw table when she called him over. She kissed him on the cheek when he sat down and handed him a parcel wrapped in sparkling silver paper. It was a book on the history of wizards’ chess. Peter thanked her and gave her a quick one-armed hug even though he knew he would never read it.
He was reaching for the butter knife when he noticed Susanna staring at something intently, her lips pursed in an odd way. His sleeve had ridden up, exposing his soul mark. Peter flexed his fingers and balled his hand into a fist. He met her eyes. He smiled at her awkwardly and she did the same, though it didn’t reach her eyes.
Susanna followed him around more than usual that day— walking him to and from class, waiting for him outside of the boy’s restroom, insisting that he spend his free period with her. At first, Peter thought it was because it was his birthday, and she wanted to make it extra special for him, but he soon realized it was so she could keep an eye on him. By lunchtime, she had already accused him of looking at another girl’s pinky.
Peter was the last of them to get back to the dorm after the last class of the day. When they walked out of the charms classroom, Susanna was waiting right outside of the door. “Can I talk to you, Peter?”
“S-sure.” He told his friends he would meet them later and, while James and Sirius just shrugged with a ‘see ya’, Remus’ expression told him he needed to worry.
She broke up with him right in the middle of the corridor, people stared as they walked by. She gave him the whole It’s Not You, It’s Me speech, but by the end of it, she had burst into tears and asked him why she wasn’t good enough. Peter didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything, and that was probably the worst thing he could have done because a moment later she was calling him a cheating pig before she took off down the hall.
“This is the worst day of my life,” he complained as he dropped his bookbag heavily on his bed.
Remus had been pacing when he entered. “Fuck, man. I’m sorry.”
James and Sirius perked up. “Wait, what happened ?” James asked. He dropped the golden snitch he had been fidgeting with and sat up in his bed.
“Susanna broke up with me.”
“What? Why?”
“She said I looked at someone else’s pinky. Can you believe that?”
“She’s mad that you have eyes,” Sirius threw his hands up. “Ridiculous.”
Peter sighed. “Maybe I did look at a few,” he admitted. “I didn’t mean to, though.”
The room was quiet. None of them really knew what to say. None of them had gone through a breakup before and it was nothing like all those times they had to deal with the aftermath of Lily rejecting James— his blind optimism didn’t leave much need for comforting. Remus looked to James, pleading with his eyes for him to do something, anything.
“So,” James tried his best to change the subject. “Does this mean you’re up for a party now?”
Remus cringed.
“I’m not in the mood,” Peter grumbled. He laid down on his bed and flung his arm over his eyes. It was dramatic, but Peter felt like being a bit dramatic; he had just been dumped on his birthday, of all days.
Sirius stood from where he sat by the window and started rifling through James’ trunk. James didn’t even bat an eyelid at the intrusion. He uncovered the bottle of fire whiskey they had pilfered for Peter’s birthday, took a swig, then tossed the bottle to Peter. “Hold onto this for me, will ya?” Peter lurched to grab it before it fell to the floor and broke.
Sirius grabbed his and James’ broomsticks from behind the door, glad for once that James was too protective over his broom to leave it in the broom cupboard near the pitch and had convinced Sirius to do the same. “Come on, you gits. I know a spot.”
James was out of the window first, eager to fly, with Peter clinging to the end of his broom. He did a few loops that made Peter whoop and yell, despite his previously gloomy mood. Sirius hesitated by the window, waiting for Remus to climb on. “Come on, then,” he urged when Remus didn’t move a muscle.
“You know I don’t like flying.”
“I know, Moons,” Sirius said softly. “It’ll just be a few seconds, I promise. And it’s going to be worth it.”
“Alright. Go slow, though, okay.”
“Of course. Hang on to me; I’ll keep you safe.” Remus did, even though it would have been easier for him to hang on to the broomstick. His arms were strong and steady around his chest.
James and Peter hovered in the air until Sirius kicked off from the windowsill. “Where to, Pads?” James yelled; his voice was muffled by the wind that had picked up sometime after lunch.
“Follow me,” Sirius mouthed. He circled around the tower, James following close behind, until he came across the alcove he had spotted while trailing after a rogue bludger during quidditch practice only a few days before. It was small but there was enough space for all of them and the walls enclosed around them offered protection from the wind.
“The bottle, Pete?” Sirius held his hand out and Remus wasted no time in adding an invisible barrier so they wouldn’t fall to their deaths. He chanced a look below and the distance to the ground stretched before his eyes.
James let out a sound of pure awe, looking out towards the pitch and the surrounding forest as Sirius transfigured his rings into shot glasses for the four of them. “I feel like I’m on top of the world up here.” They each threw back a shot, then another, and felt that warm feeling drop down into their stomachs. Time seemed to speed up as they laughed, talked, drank.
It was a lot easier to talk about their feelings once they had a few drinks in them. The setting sun had turned the sky orange and pink by the time someone brought up the elephant in the room (alcove). It was Sirius. “I’m sorry, Pete,” he said with a hiccough. “I shouldn’t have introduced you to that girl. She didn’t seem so crazy before.”
Peter scratched his chin. It seemed like he had already forgotten all about it. “That’s okay. It was fun while it lasted and I finally got my first kiss,” he said. “Besides, all girls are a little crazy, aren’t they?”
They all laughed. “I don’t think you should say that in front of anyone else,” Remus warned him, shaking his head.
“Yeah, Marlene would hex you if she heard that.”
“I’m sure she already wants to.”
Their laughter died down and the four of them took another shot of fire whisky. “You seem surprisingly okay about the whole breakup, Pete,” Remus commented.
Peter shrugged. “I thought I would feel more, but—” he trailed off with another shrug of his shoulders. “Guess I didn’t really like her all that much.”
“Right, still sucks, man.”
“Bloody hell,” Peter smacked his palm to his forehead. “We’re missing dinner right now.”
“Don’t worry, Pete,” Remus said. “We can just pick up something from the kitchens. The elves might even whip you up a birthday cake.”
“Oh yeah, Moony will make sure we don’t get caught, too,” James teased. “Right, Mr. Prefect?”
Remus rolled his eyes. “Your nicknames need some work, Prongs.”
“Hey! I’m the one who came up with Moony,” he argued.
“I rest my case.”
James took hold of him by the shoulders and pretended like he was about to throw him over the edge until Sirius grabbed him by the arm and pulled them both back.
“Careful, Prongs,” Sirius chastised.
“Relax,” he said. He held his hand out and was repelled by the barrier before his arms passed the threshold of the alcove. “See, Moony’s protection spells are top-notch.”
“Still—” he mumbled under his breath. “Just sit down, alright?” The four of them did as Sirius requested, leaning up against the exterior wall of the castle. Sirius made sure to position himself between James and Remus. The sun sank below the horizon and night fell around them. There was a slight chill in the air, and they were all glad to still be wearing their jumpers and robes. All of them except Remus, of course, but he ran warm anyway.
“You guys want to see something cool?” James asked. He held his wand out to the sky. Sparks flew and soared through the air before erupting in a bloom of bright lights. Fireworks. “Dad taught me how to do that.”
“That’s brilliant.”
James taught them the spell and the wand motion, but it was Remus who thought of changing the shape of the explosion. “Watch this,” he said, sending red and green from his wand. A crude shape of male genitalia flashed in the sky, balls included, and the others clutched their sides in a peal of laughter.
“You’re so bad, Moony,” Sirius claimed, but the look in his eyes gave away just how impressed he was.
“Merlin, I think I pissed myself,” James wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
Peter tried next. Yellow sparks appeared, then a pair of round breasts appeared in the sky. “This is so much better than a party,” he breathed. James added to Peter’s fireworks, adding curves and a voluptuous behind.
Then it was Sirius’ turn. He thought for a moment; he didn’t want to do the same thing as the others. Finally, he decided on the words ‘SUCK MY DICK.’ It was simple, but each letter was at least a story high, and the words glowed like a neon sign. They spun and flashed; Sirius added more fireworks that danced around the words.
Remus looked at him with a mischievous smile, and for a second, Sirius’ mind went straight to the gutter. “I just thought of the most perfect prank,” he said.
They spent the rest of the night planning before flying back through the dorm window. James was so drunk that he almost flung Peter off the end of his broom when he forgot he was there, and Sirius wasn’t faring much better. Remus clung to him and pressed his head against Sirius’ shoulder, cursing every time the broom stuttered and stalled. They made it back in one piece, though, and the four of them venture down to the kitchens for Peter’s birthday cake.
The next day, the Marauders were buzzing with energy. They were all too excited for the prank they had planned for their mood to be dampened by a hangover. They would do it that night; the sooner the better. None of them could wait and were in an ecstatic mood throughout their classes. McGonagall even threatened to kick James out of class for being too disruptive when he couldn’t stop chuckling every time Sirius looked at him.
They bunked off dinner once again, but this time they were waiting in the wings for the right time to strike. The enchanted ceiling was dark except for a light freckling of stars and the Great Hall was thrumming with chatter. The plan was easy. They were just going to show off James’ firework trick to the rest of the school, but they would need a distraction if they didn’t want to get caught.
And what better distraction was there than James Potter? James, veiled by the invisibility cloak, grabbed the closest thing he could find, which happened to be a 7th year Hufflepuff’s half-full goblet of pumpkin juice.
“What the—” the 7th year exclaimed when the goblet flew up from the table and clattered to the floor. Juice splashed over the stone floor and the shoes of anyone sitting nearby.
The rest of the hall fell silent as they turned to look at the noise. “Was that a ghost?” someone asked. Peter took the opportunity and fired sparks from his wand from where he stood behind a pillar. The fireworks erupted with a loud bang and everyone in the hall whipped their heads from the fallen goblet to the faux sky.
SLUGHORN SUCKS, the fireworks read in dancing lights among the stars. The Professor in question sputtered and looked around indignantly, searching for the culprit.
Remus took his chance as Slughorn turned to Dumbledore demanding an explanation, and everyone else was still gawping at the scene above them.
MULCIBER MISSES HIS MUMMY
He even added the image of a crying baby with a full diaper. The confusion in the air evaporated and students were now screaming with glee, pointing at the ceiling.
James was next:
AVERY SMELLS LIKE DUNG
Then Sirius:
SNIVELUS WETS THE BED
The Great Hall fell into pure and utter chaos. Roars and smoking wands from failed copycat attempts filled the air while professors ran around, trying to apprehend whoever was at large. It was time for their getaway. Peter transformed into Wormtail and scurried from the hall. Sirius was swept under the cloak and Remus simply walked out amongst the chaos without a second glance in his direction.
They met back up in the hidden nook just outside the Great Hall. They took a moment to catch their breath, the adrenaline from the prank still coursing through their veins, before their eyes met and they broke into a fit of laughter.
“That was brilliant,” Peter whispered.
“Did you see Sluggy’s face?”
Remus' ears prickled. “Shh, someone’s coming,” he said. He put his hand over Sirius’ mouth to muffle the sound of his laughing, then quickly retracted it when he licked the palm of his hand. “Gross,” he mouthed and wiped it on his trousers. Sirius just shot him a sly smile.
Remus held his finger to his lips as the footsteps came closer. He shifted the tapestry that was shielding them and peered out into the corridor. It was Snape. He was walking from the Great Hall towards the dungeons, his pace fast and his posture rigid and furious. Lily followed close behind. She struggled to keep up with him and tried to hold onto his arm to get him to slow down, but he just shook her away.
“Sev, just hold on one moment.”
“Leave me alone, Lily.” Remus caught the words, though it was probably too low for the others to hear.
“Dumbledore will catch whoever was behind all that.”
Snape rounded on her. “You know damn well who pulled that stunt and you still choose to protect them.” His nostrils flared. “Leave,” he commanded, yet he was the one who turned and walked away. Lily stood there, slumped, for the time it took to watch him walk down the corridor and around the corner, deeper into the castle. Remus couldn’t see her face, but he could tell she was upset. She took a deep breath and lifted her chin, wiped her eyes, and retraced her steps back to the Great Hall.
The four of them ran up to the tower when the coast was clear and stayed in the common room until after curfew. The Prewett twins came in right after them and slapped each of them on the back. “Good stuff, lads,” Gideon complimented.
Then Fabian said, “Wish we had come up with that. We might need to up our game.”
They listened to their housemates gossip about their prank as they trickled in after they were released from the Great Hall. Everyone was talking about it. “You guys missed it,” Frank told them. “Someone set off fireworks at dinner.”
“It was quite a show,” Alice added.
Mary came up to them on her way up to the dorms. “Lily’s pissed at you guys,” she informed them, to which Peter blurted out, “We didn’t do anything!”
The common room eventually cleared out, though much later than usual. They were just about to head up the stairs and get ready for bed when they heard the portrait hole open. “You arseholes are a bunch of bullies,” Lily fumed. Her arms were crossed, and her face was stormy.
“Evans—” James tried.
“No, don’t talk to me,” she cut him off and rushed towards the stairs.
Remus moved to go after her, but Sirius stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Tomorrow,” he said. “Let her cool off.”
…
Sirius felt high, even though he wasn’t. They had pulled off the most glorious prank the night before and they didn’t even get caught. McGonagall had stared them up and down when they got to her class that morning, probably waiting for one of them to break and confess to the prank, but she stood down when none of them budged. There wasn’t much she or Dumbledore could do when there was no evidence to pin them as the culprits.
Evans was still mad at them. She had given them all the cold shoulder at breakfast, even Remus. None of them were expecting her to straight up ignore him at the breakfast table, but if anyone could be stubborn, it was her. “She’ll come around eventually,” Remus said, mostly to himself.
“I don’t know what she sees in that guy,” James commented after she left the table, shaking his head.
Remus didn’t seem too pressed about the whole Lily situation, or at least he was pretending like he wasn’t, so Sirius decided not to let it get him down. He had been floating on cloud 9 all day and the praising looks they received from the other students who had figured out they were the ones to set off the first round of fireworks did wonders for his ego. Their fireworks had triggered a chain reaction of other lads wanting to join in on the fun. They all had detention now, of course.
They trekked down to the grounds to Care of Magical Creatures, the only class he didn’t share with Remus. Sirius didn’t mind, though, because he had slipped a secret message into Remus’ bag before they went their separate ways, and he knew it was bound to make him blush.
Care of Magical Creatures was quickly becoming one of his favorite classes, right after Ancient Runes and Transfiguration. Though, it would be much better if Remus was there, of course.
Hagrid was there that day, as he often was, assisting Professor Kettleburn with the different creatures. Class was always the best when Hagrid made an appearance. He was known for having a zoo of exotic beings and was probably more qualified than Kettleburn at this point. Today was no different, and he even had a familiar face with him. The hippogriff that Hagrid acquired the previous year was right beside him. It was taller than when they last saw him all those months ago during detention, almost as tall as the half-giant himself. He had lost some of the cuteness he had as a foal, but what was lost was replaced by an air of regal magnificence.
Buckbeak blew air through his large nostrils, nodded his snout up and down, and shimmied his hooves as the boys approached the clearing amidst the outskirts of the forest where Kettleburn held class. “Ello boys,” Hagrid said to the three of them. “Looks like he remembers you.”
“What is that thing?” Marlene asked. The girls had been walking right behind them, though they had been lost in a hushed conversation until that point. Mary was clinging to Marlene’s arm as she struggled to traverse the uneven ground.
“This ‘ere is a hippogriff. Ain't he handsome?”
“I guess so,” Marlene hesitated.
“He’s beautiful, Hagrid,” Mary cut in. By this time the rest of the class had arrived and Kettleburn stood awkwardly before a large oak tree as the attention of his class was centered around his large teaching assistant. “I’ve always wanted a horse…bird?” She added, unsure of what she was looking at.
“His name's Buckbeak. Now stand back,” he said as the class started to gather around. “Hippogriffs are known for being a bit testy.” Hagrid taught the class how to approach Buckbeak, to initiate contact with a bow of respect. “Wait for him to bow back to ya,” he repeated as each student took their turns giving him a treat and a pat on the nose.
Buckbeak bowed right away when it was Sirius’ turn. He took the food right from his hand and nuzzled him when he leaned in to pet him. James and Peter hardly got the same response.
“No fair,” Peter huffed. The hippogriff had been hesitant to let him approach and made him bow for several minutes before bowing back to him. There were even a few of their classmates that were not given permission to approach and Buckbeak stood tall and bristled as they bowed in vain. It was mostly the timid students who Buckbeak didn’t trust, the ones who were nervous to stand before the 8ft winged beast.
“He can smell the fear on ya,” Hagrid said as he comforted a young Slytherin girl who had been turned away. She sighed, but the look on her face gave away how relieved she was to not have to pet the creature that cleared her head by more than a foot. Kettleburn gave her a sympathetic look as she passed him.
It was the first year that Hagrid was invited to join Kettleburn in teaching Care of Magical Creatures and the two of them had butted heads on more than one occasion. It obviously wasn’t his choice to share his class; Dumbledore had probably forced it on him. Though Hagrid didn’t seem to take much notice of the animosity that oozed from the white-haired professor. Sirius suspected he was used to it. Giants didn’t normally live among humans and were bound to come across intolerant people, even if they were half-human.
Sirius wasn’t proud to admit he had once been one of those people. His mother had warned him of the abomination that lived on the grounds before he started school, and how he should steer clear of the monster. When Hagrid met the first years at the station in Hogsmeade, Sirius rolled his eyes at his mother's obvious exaggeration. He didn’t think of Hagrid as a monster, but it took some time to shake the feelings of superiority that had been ingrained in him since birth.
Despite Kettleburn’s unease around Hagrid, he still hung back while he shared the rarer creatures in his collection. Professor Kettleburn seemed to recognize Hagrid’s expertise even though he never attended any formal schooling, unless you counted the rumors about him attending Hogwarts for a few years. Hagrid’s experience offered more to the students than Kettleburn’s textbook education and his field research with the docile flobberworm.
The rest of the class went smoothly. They took turns feeding and petting Buckbeak if he allowed, or hanging around the edge of the clearing if not. That was until Snape and his two walking dumbbells finally decided to join in. They had been standing in the back, behind the throngs of students, too busy acting like they were too cool to participate or still nursing their wounded egos from the night before.
Sirius supposed it was their way of getting revenge on them for their harmless little prank, but what happened next sent a wave of panic through everyone who was there. It all happened so fast.
Peter grabbed a cut of rabbit meat from the bucket Hagrid had set out for them and was about to do his bow, when Snape cast an enlarging charm on the root under his feet. Peter tripped, flew forward, and landed right before Buckbeak as the startled hippogriff reared up onto his back legs. Peter covered his head with his arms as his screams rang out throughout the entire forest. Birds flapped and flew from trees in flocks, disturbing the canopy above them, and everyone held their breath as they awaited impact.
It was almost too late. It would have been too late if James hadn’t been so quick on his feet. He lunged towards Peter, like that one time he tried to fill in for the Gryffindor seeker before one of the most important games of the season and had nearly fallen from his broom as he chased the golden snitch. Buckbeak’s hooves were centimeters from the crown of James’ head, a second later and he would have been stomped into the ground.
James rolled them out of the way, and Peter conked his head on the stump of a dead tree, but it was still better than what could have happened. Blood streamed down his forehead and matted in his blond hair. Hagrid tried his best to calm down the spooked hippogriff, but he only did so when Kettleburn ushered the rest of the class back behind one of the larger trees.
“Woah, boy,” Hagrid tried to reign him in.
“Hagrid, that is enough!” Kettleburn yelled from behind the safety of the oak. His face was red and angry. “Get that thing out of here!”
“And you boys,” he turned to James and Sirius who were crouching around a stunned Peter. “Take Mr. Pettigrew to the infirmary, he’s going to need stitches.”
…
It was a few days later. The hype from the prank and the near-death in Care of Magical Creatures had died down and the Marauders were all in their dorm room after dinner. All of them except James, who was currently serving detention because he fell asleep after dinner the night before and was late for his Astronomy class. Electric Warrior was spinning but none of them were really listening to it. The volume was turned down low. Remus was lying on his stomach, reading a book, Sirius was tinkering with some ideas involving ancient runes (Remus had asked what he was doing, but Sirius said it was a surprise and refused to say anything more), and Peter was copying Mary’s Potions notes, which she had copied from Lily, and scratching idly at the bandage on his forehead.
It was quiet in the room except for the sounds coming from the record player when the three of them heard a tentative tapping on the window. Remus was the first to notice it, his head shooting up and whipping around the room. “The hell is that?”
“Is that an owl?” Peter asked.
Sure enough, there was a small, dark-colored owl perched by the window. It was unfamiliar to all of them. It wasn’t the Potter’s owl, or Peter’s mum’s owl, nor was it the mean and large owl that belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Orion Black.
Remus was the one to get up from his bed and go to the window. Sirius wanted to stop him. It wasn’t often the students received mail outside of breakfast, and something told him it might be dangerous. The war had started, no matter how much the Daily Prophet wanted to deny it, and it would do them all some good to act with caution. Before he was able to say anything, Remus was opening the glass and the bird hopped in to stand along the windowsill.
Remus reached for the letter tied around its twig-like leg, but the owl pecked at him before he could do so. “Bloody bird,” he grumbled, inspecting the side of his knuckle where the bird had drawn blood.
Peter approached, wrangling the bird into submission and untying the letter. “It’s for you,” he said, turning towards Sirius.
“For me?” he asked, he had started biting his nails without meaning to and quickly removed them from his mouth to take the letter.
His name was written on the outside of the envelope in beautiful, looping calligraphy. Sirius. Not Sirius Black, just Sirius. That was a good sign. He opened it.
My Dearest Little Cousin,
Sorry, it has taken me so long to get back to you. Ted and I have been staying with Uncle Alphard in France. They both send their love. The countryside is beautiful, and we’ve all been getting some much needed sunshine.
I suspected Bella was watching us for a while, but your letter confirmed my suspicions. Thank you for that, cousin. You just might have saved our lives.
I have some news I would like to share with you, but I would rather do it in person. I know the first Hogsmeade weekend is coming up, meet me at the Hog’s Head at 3 o’clock sharp. Tell Aberforth you’re there to meet Angelica Greene. He’ll tell you what to do.
Until then,
Your Favorite Cousin
She didn’t sign her name and there were words scratched out so he couldn’t read them, but he was able to piece the message together. His letter had done some good after all, he only wished that he had been able to send it sooner.
“She wants to meet up with me during Hogsmeade weekend,” Sirius exclaimed.
“Who are you meeting up with?” James asked, walking into the room.
“Andy,” he answered and tucked the letter into his Runes textbook. “You’re out of detention early.”
James smirked. “Someone must have changed the clock in Sinestra’s classroom.”
“Nice one, Prongs.”
Later that night, Sirius snuck into the bathroom while Remus was brushing his teeth. “Moony?” he asked.
“Hmm?” Remus grunted and spit into the sink. “What is it, Pads?” he asked when Sirius didn’t say anything.
“Will you go with me?”
“Right now?” He asked, studying him in the mirror. He was wringing his hands. “Where?”
“No, Hogsmeade weekend,” he explained. “I want you to meet Andy.”
There was a pause, then: “Okay,” Remus nodded.
“Really?”
“Of course,” Remus turned away from the sink and walked out of the bathroom. As he passed Sirius, he touched his hand to his shoulder and smiled. It was small, just a quirk of his lips, but it left Sirius swooning against the doorframe.