Mischief Reborn
“Rise and shine, sleepyheads,” Remus slammed the door open, turning the light on.
“Moony,” Sirius and James whined together, burying their faces in their pillows. “Let us sleep.”
“It’s one thirty PM guys. You’ve slept enough”
James sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“We went to sleep at like two AM,” he complained.
“And that was our dumb choice, that we have to live with,” Remus responded immediately. “Are you serious though? If I hadn’t come you would’ve stayed in bed the whole day? Bambi, Draco and Reg are at least sleeping outside.”
Sirius stumbled to the bathroom dramatically, causing his boyfriend to laugh.
“You’re not a teenager anymore, Pads, grow up.”
Sirius sighed.
“I wish I could still be one,” he admitted.
“Do you though?” James questioned from the bed. “Our school years were a nightmare; One drama after the other. I’m actually pretty happy with having a semi-normal adult life.”
“Oh, I definitely don’t miss the fights in school or the tests, but being able to be dramatic,” Sirius sighed longingly. Remus threw his hands to the sides.
“Unbelievable,” he mumbled, hiding his smile. “See you downstairs for lunch in ten minutes. If you’re not there I’ll come and drag your sorry asses downstairs by the ankles.”
At the threat James leaped out of the bed and into the bathroom right before Sirius locked the door.
When the two Marauders came downstairs they found the table set, clearly by Spark, and a mouthwatering variety of food on it.
“Should we wait for them?” James asked Sirius. “Nah, we shouldn’t,” he then answered himself. “Let’s eat.”
“You have zero self control,” Remus scolded them when he came. “Zero. If Minerva was here you would’ve gotten a whole talking to.”
“You mean like what they’re getting now?” Regulus asked, sitting by his brother casually.
“You too now?” Remus asked incredulously. “You were normal yesterday. What could’ve possibly happened in the hours I was in school and those two morons were sleeping?”
“I happened,” Harry interrupted, joining the meal. “I can be a bad influence too.”
“Oh, you,” Remus sighed. “Yeah, I know that. The amount of times you almost got your friends killed is countless.”
“He snuck a dragon out of the school in first year,” Draco mentioned, biting into a piece of toast.
“He what now?” The four others choked and Draco laughed.
“Tell them, Harry,” he encouraged. “It was hilarious.”
“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “But my favorite part was the detention you got because of it.”
“He got detention because you broke the rules?” Regulus sputtered and the two boys burst out laughing.
“We should make a party out of this,” Harry wheezed. “Now that I’m thinking about it, our years were funny as much as they were traumatizing, and we should get Ron and Hermione here to tell it with us.”
“We can do that,” James was on board immediately. “Party tonight, here, with your friends, whoever you want, for story time. I’m psyched.”
“I’m inviting the Weasley twins too. It’ll be a good opportunity to introduce them to the Marauders, and to rub in their faces all of the shit we pulled without them in school,” Harry decided.
“I was super down for what you said, but I don’t know how mature that second half was,” Remus chuckled.
“Don’t ruin my fun,” Harry threw a slice of cucumber at him but he ducked in time and it hit Regulus square in the face. Ten minutes later the dining room was turned into a food battle zone around James who continued eating with evident joy at the entertainment.
“Prongs, are you not joining?” Sirius wondered.
“Nah, I’m just loving watching the chaos.”
***
Ron and Hermione apparated right outside the Potter manor.
“What the fuck?” Ron breathed. “That is fucking huge.”
Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide her own shock at the beautiful house that their best friend was apparently going to inherit one day.
“Hi guys,” Harry yelled from the front door. He heard the sound of apparition and hurried to greet his best friends. The two jogged over to him and hugged him.
“Come on in,” he invited them. “James wants to meet you already.”
Hermione looked over his shoulder and laughed. James was standing a few feet behind Harry, pretending to straighten a frame on the wall while sneaking glances at the front door. His eyes met Hermione’s and he blushed. He didn’t see the slight disappointment that flashed in Regulus’ eyes.
“Oh, they’re here,” James called out, pretending to be surprised. “Hi, I’m James. Who are you?”
“Dad, you’re not fooling anyone,” Harry rolled his eyes at him. “These are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, my best friends. And that is James, my barely over teenager dad.”
“Don’t say it like that,” James huffed. “That sounds wrong on so many levels.”
Harry giggled and turned to his friends, leading them to the living room. Everyone, sans Regulus and Draco, exchanged hugs with the two newcomers, and they settled down.
“That’s Regulus Black,” Harry introduced Regulus to his friends.
“As in R.A.B?” Hermione questioned in wonder. “It’s so good to meet you,” she said warmly when he nodded. “What you did was so brave, and I’m really glad you’re here to enjoy the outcome of your sacrifice.”
“Thank you for your kind words,” Regulus replied politely, moving to shake her hand.
“Yeah,” Ron agreed. “You’re really cool.” Regulus smiled at him.
“I thought you were inviting the twins too?” Hermione said-asked.
“I did,” Harry confirmed. “They’re probably gonna come soon. The time I told them was later than what I told you, so we can chill a bit before.”
An owl flew into the house a minute later and dropped a letter in Harry’s lap. James went to get owl treats, while Harry opened the envelope.
“It’s from the Ministry of Magic,” he recognized the seal. “I hope they don’t want me for another big decision they don’t want to make on their ow-” his voice died down. He handed the letter to Remus who scanned the parchment fast.
“It’s from Dean,” Remus told the others. “Vernon’s trial is in two days.”
“I told you we had three days of quiet,” James cheered. Harry laughed, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.
“We got this, Prongslet,” Sirius promised. “You don’t need to think about it for at least another day.”
“Yeah, We’ve got a party to attend to,” Ron agreed seriously. Harry pulled Draco towards himself and squeezed his hand, grounding himself.
“Let’s gooooooo,” Fred and George cheered, bouncing into the living room and making everyone jump.
“How did you get in?” Harry put a dramatic hand over his heart. “I didn’t hear you.”
“Behold, the newest invention from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes,” George called out, holding an imaginary mic in front of him (and earning odd looks from the wizards that weren’t familiar with all of the muggle gadgets yet). “The Enchanted Cinderella Hot Air Balloon,” Fred completed the announcement.
Harry hurried to the door with everyone hot on his tail. A massive ball was in the yard, decorated with Cinderella themed colors.
“What in the…?” Harry’s mouth hung open. “What the hell gave you this idea?”
“Charlie dared us to come up with a muggle-child-friendly invention,” George explained. “We asked all the Muggleborn First Years what muggle fairy tail they would want to live, and the cinderella carriage won.”
“That is not a hot air balloon,” Hermione objected. “That is just a giant ball that you somehow use for transportation.”
“Don’t get caught on the details,” Fred groaned. “It’s a balloon, and it gets pretty hot in it.”
Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it, knowing that there is no reasoning with the twins once they decided something.
“Why don’t you introduce yourselves?” Remus suggested with a slight smile before the kids’ banter turned into a fight.
The twins exchanged glances, smirked and turned to him at once, saluting.
“Yes, sir,” they shouted together.
“My name is George Weasley, sir,” Fred continued immediately.
“And he’s an alcoholic,” George whispered next to him, pulling snickers out of their impromptu audience.
“Thank you, Fred,” Remus laughed. “But let’s do it real for the first time at least.”
Shock flashed in both twins’ eyes before they saluted again.
“Sit down, you morons,” Hermione ordered, summoning another couch from a different wall closer to them, creating a circle from all of the different seats.
The twins plopped down obediently, and Regulus could not help but see the similarities between the two and Sirius and James.
Harry stood up and introduced each one of the present people, and they all did their best to stay serious and pay attention to his words, but too many of them were hyper with excitement or anxiety for it to pass calmly. At last, Harry returned to his spot and motioned for Remus to speak.
“Always the teacher,” Sirius pointed out with a wide grin before he could get even one word out.
“Pads,” Remus said exasperatedly. “I swear to Merlin, one more word from you and I’m gonna fucking silence you until we go to sleep.”
“He cursed!” George and Fred shrieked together. “A professor cursed! Our lives were a lie!”
“Now look what you’ve done,” Sirius shook his head in faux disappointment, earning himself a whack on the back of his head.
“Guys, there is so much you don’t know about Remus,” Harry told the twins, eyes sparkling with anticipation. “Can’t wait for you to figure it out.”
“Don’t give away our secrets, Prongslet,” James berated him. The room devolved into chaos, everyone teasing and annoying everyone, no one actually listening to anything.
“-umbasses to realize how stupid they look right now.” Hermione looked around. “Of course you all shut up the second I said that,” she groaned.
“Okay, the stage is yours, Moons,” James declared with a wide hand-gesture.
“Welcome to the Potter Manor,” Remus started. “Where everything and everyone is crazy. Feel free to leave now before you get sucked into the fucking insanity that is this household.”
“Leave me out of this!”
The guests all jumped at the feminine yell that came seemingly out of nowhere.
“Sorry, Spark,” Remus chuckled. “I meant these maniacs.” Sirius gave him a weak shove, pouting at him till he rolled his eyes and pecked his lips. “Anyhow, we’ve all gathered here to learn about Harry’s adventures in Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione are clearly here to help with the story telling, and you guys-” Remus grinned at the twins. “To quote Harry you are here - quote: to rub in their faces all of the shit we pulled without them in school, end of quote.”
The twins turned to Harry slowly, matching evil smiles on their lips.
“We’ll show you shit,” Fred promised.
“Moony, you weren’t supposed to tell them,” Harry sputtered, but Remus just cackled.
“What?” another duet made everyone jump. “Did you just call Remus ‘Moony’?” Fred and George stared at Harry with huge unbelieving eyes.
“And there’s secret number one,” Harry smirked. “Meet The Marauders; Moony, Prongs, and Padfoot.” He pointed at each one of them with the nickname.
Fred and George stared, mouths hanging open.
“This is the longest I’ve seen them quiet together,” Ron whispered, earning a chuckle and a whack from Hermione, and only a chuckle from the rest.
“I can not fucking believe this day has come,” Fred uttered each word separately, clearly deep in shock.
“You are who?” George screamed. “You are fucking who?”
“Dude, this is the best moment of my life,” Sirius declared. “I’m an Idol.”
“No, you’re not,” Ron rolled his eyes. “You’re a dumbass that impresses other dumbasses.” Harry high fived him, laughing.
“Wait,” George shook his head. “Prove it. Prove that this isn’t just a prank that Harry is pulling on us.”
“But we told Harry everything we know,” Fred reminded.
“I know,” Harry perked up. “The names. Remus is Moony, because he’s a werewolf…”
“Sirius is Padfoot because his Animagus is a dog,” Hermione continued.
“Prongs, do you want to show them why you’re called that?” Harry offered.
A second later there was a stag on the couch.
“That’s sick!” the twins exclaimed together, drowning out Regulus’ scream.
James transformed back, bowing deeply.
“Thank you, thank you,” he waves a hand elegantly. “Wait,” he paused. “Reg, what’s wrong?”
“I’m okay,” Regulus replied shakily. “I didn’t know how big your animagus form was.”
“Aww, I’m sorry, baby,” James hugged him tightly, and he squeaked in surprise.
Fred and George waited impatiently until it wasn’t rude to turn the attention back to themselves.
“Tell us everything,” they demanded. “Where’s Wormtail? How did you make the map? What other things did you do?”
“Wormtail was called that because his animagus was a rat,” Remus answered shortly, and the twins nodded in understanding, realizing who it was. “And we’ll tell you everything. For now let’s get comfortable and start with this trio’s stories? That’s the reason we all came here after all…”
“Story time,” Fred Sing-songed.
“Where are we starting from?” Harry asked. “I already started telling James a bit, and I’m not sure what’s important or interesting.”
“You should start with the night I died,” James suggested. “At least for Reg, who still doesn’t understand how the fuck you got rid of Voldemort.”
“Are you implying that you understand everything?” Fred wondered.
“After the war, the three of us worked really hard to figure out what happened in the last seventeen years,” Hermione explained smugly. “We know everything.”
“Why did Dumbledore want to die?” Draco asked immediately, and giggled at her glare. “You don’t know everything,” he corrected her pedantically. “We know a bit more than we did before the war.”
“Can we just start?” Ron groaned. “Everyone will get to understand everything, but only if we actually do this.”
Harry summoned the pensieve from the corner of the room and Hermione whistled.
“You have a pensieve?”
“It’s Professor McGonagall’s,” Harry replied.
“Favorite student much?” George asked under his breath, earning an annoyed look from the student in question.
Harry focused on the spell for a long moment, and dropped a silver memory into the basin.
“Are ya’ll ready for some fucked up shit?” he asked sarcastically. When everyone confirmed his face straightened. “I’m being serious, this whole thing is gonna be gory as hell. We’re literally starting with seeing a one year old’s memory of his parents dying.”
He gave everyone another twenty seconds before gesturing towards the pensieve.
“All right then, let’s go.”