holidays
“Morning love” his mother, sat at the wooden dining table with a cup of tea, smiled at Remus coming downstairs in his second pair of pyjama shorts (out of the two he owned) and a t-shirt - summer always brought about the most sweltering nights.
“Morning Mum” he smiled back at her and then saw his dad sitting in his brown armchair, reading the muggle newspaper “Morning dad”
“Hi Son” he looked up over the newspaper and gave a quick smile before returning to the news.
Remus then cooked up some eggs for himself and his parents because he was feeling nice that morning, happy to be back in the comfort of his own home. “Toast?” he called out
“I'm not too hungry but thank you anyways Remus”
“mum you need to eat”
“You are already making me eggs”
“Fine mum no toast for you” he sighed “and what about you dad? Toast?”
“Yes please” he hummed, looking up from the newspaper “Hope you really should have something to eat”
“Got my tea and my eggs, that’s all you need in life” she then stood up and hurried over to the teapot to get a refill.
Lyall chuckled a little before returning to his newspaper.
Most of the morning had been very much the same, calm and quiet, spending it doing the simplest of activities, his parents had even complimented him on his eggs, but honestly you couldn’t go wrong with something so simple
“You’ll be a chef yet” his mum winked at him, setting her fork down and standing up to take her plate to the sink
“Oh yeah” Remus rolled his eyes “because eggs exhibit such culinary talent”
“Well you’re better than Lyall here” she turned around to jerk her head in his direction “ he made me eggs a month ago and had the gall to burn them”
“The gall? ” Lyall scoffed with a twinkle in his eyes “Honey, burnt eggs are worthy of a gourmet restaurant”
“Is that so?” Hope replied, humming slightly as she washed her plate, a little slower than usual.
“Sounds plausible to me” Remus shrugged and returned to eating his piece of toast while the small family fell back to their pleasant quietude. Hope sat back down in her seat to continue with her tea and Lyall carried on with his daily mirror newspaper with the headline “Horror of the poison victims”
Quite a big contrast to the homely atmosphere.
Remus then looked out the open window above the kitchen sink, sunshine was seeping through the cracks between the leaves of the trees just outside. There were no clouds in the sky, meaning it was bound to be a very hot day - maybe he’d go upstairs and shut his curtains in a second to prevent his room from overheating later on. He planned to finish his homework today so that he had the rest of the holidays to do what he wanted and he did not need heat interfering with his plans.
He then a heard a flap of wings and sure enough an owl flew in through the window, holding a letter in its claws addressed to Remus
Lyall set his newspaper down and looked at his son with knitted eyebrows. “Who’s it from?”
“Hang on” Remus muttered as he opened and read the contents of the letter.
Dear Remus
Hope your summer’s going well so far.
Yesterday’s weather was so bloody nice I was outside on my broom the whole day, Peter was for a little bit too but the poor bloke gets easily sunburnt so he left after a while. His birthday is on the 26th. We can't properly celebrate with him but me and Sirius (if his parents let him) are going over to his anyway and giving him a typical marauder birthday. You know.
If you haven’t already figured it out, you’re invited of course. It would be great if you came over to mine, as I said on the train my parents love visitors and they also said they want to speak to you properly! (They saw you on the platform talking to your dad who by the way is freakishly tall)
And you know if you’re ok with it we could even come to yours for the day! Sirius’ place is a no, and Peter's mum doesn’t like having a lot of company plus I’ve been to his so many times.
Anyway, if you could come round at least for Peter’s birthday that would be brilliant!
And maybe we could even play some quidditch? (wink, wink)
James :)
“It’s from James” he folded and put the letter back in the envelope on the table, the owl almost tried to take it thinking it was a reply but then Remus shook his head at the animal and picked the letter back up
“Remus”
“I know dad”
Then, another owl flew in
“Good god” Hope murmured “Wizards and your bloody owls”
Remus laughed a little, shrugging “I don’t get it either mum” He then took and opened the second letter - this one from Sirius
RJ give me strength
RJ give me hope
I’m about to go ask mother if I can go to James’ and if she says no then I’ll tell James to pick me up anyway. How on earth did I live here for eleven years?!
Sirius Black
He shook his head, set Sirius’ letter down and asked for a pen, his mum then answered by whipping one out from her dressing robe pocket and so he quickly used it to scribble down a reply.
Good luck
Remus don’t call me RJ Lupin
He sent the letter away and before writing back to James he turned to his parents and asked
“Can I go over to James Potter’s house?”
“Don’t see why not” Hope shrugged
But of course it wasn’t going to be as easy as that because his father had sighed very loudly “I’m not so sure that’s the best idea Remus”
He rolled his eyes at him who then replied with a slightly raised voice “Don’t roll your eyes at me! It is for your safety Remus!”
“I know that more than you do” he retorted back, slightly irritated
“Remus, you aren’t being as careful as you should be!”
“We’ve been over this a million times dad!” Remus raised his voice to match his fathers “At Christmas you came to the conclusion that it was fine on the condition that I don’t spill all my deep dark secrets which I am perfectly capable of doing!”
“Remus” Hope started gently “He knows that you’re capable”
Hm, doesn’t seem like it.
Lyall, closed his eyes for a second taking a deep breath and then opened them again looking steadily his son. “I don’t want to argue right now” fair enough they argue a lot nowadays “I didn’t say you couldn’t go I’m just asking you if you could at least reconsider”
“Lyall he’s capable of making his own decisions” Remus’ mum spoke up, a look of sudden exhaustion resting on her features, a second later it was gone though and instead Remus turned to his father who just looked fed up with the whole situation, they were in the same boat, Remus was just as tired of this as he was, if not more.
Lyall then sighed “I know he is, you can go if you decided to”
They left it at that
Remus knew that his father wanted nothing more than for his son to cut off contact with the marauders, go back to Hogwarts for his second year and pretend their friendship had never happened - Remus wasn't capable of doing that, he finally had friends that had lasted for more than a few months and were most likely going to keep having a presence in his life especially if there were no falling outs and if Remus kept his promise to his father of being careful and not letting all his secrets fly away from him.
“Thanks Dad” he sighed and walked over to the calendar hung up next to the fridge and over the countertop looking at the 26th when Peter’s birthday was.
Crap.
He groaned
“What?” Hope asked - she was now sitting curled up on the sofa
“Can’t go anyway”
“Oh Remus” his mum frowned with sympathetic eyes “You can always go later”
“Don’t think my friends birthday can wait until later”
“Sorry honey”
He then scribbled a quick reply to James’ letter
Sorry James I can’t come my parents won’t let me. I’ll send Peter a birthday card at least. Maybe I can come at a later date but I’m not too sure about that either, my mum isn’t very well at the moment
Anyway if I did come, there’s no way I’d play quidditch, it’s a stupid game.
And no I’m not sorry for offending you by saying that.
Remus
* * *
Dear Remus
Please come!
You're more than capable of sneaking out. James is killing us. With torturous quidditch training of course. He gets up every morning to go for a run. And attempts to do press ups. His record is the grand number of one. Hold the applause. He's so weak. I could probably do a hundred press ups if I tried. I would beat all of you.
If you hadn’t figured it out I managed to come to James’, it was hard but I did get approval!
You should come. James' place is so nice. And his parents are a million times better than mine. I said I'd be back at the house of nightmares right after Pete's birthday. But you know I'm just going to stay longer. There'll be consequences, they only agreed to me going in the first place if I came back when I said I would. But honestly I don’t care. I’m happier at the Potters. You know it's weird because my family spent the whole year ignoring me and all of a sudden they want me to be in their sight 24/7. Constantly in their grip. I’ll have to go back eventually anyway, at least to help Regulus start packing for Hogwarts, he helped me before I went so I guess I should return the favour.
Just sneak out for one day. It'll be fun. Sirius Black
p.s I don't encourage the bad boy behaviour (J.P)
pps. He does - s.b
* * *
Dear Remus
I got your birthday card! It was really well drawn and I also really like the muggle paper you used. I like it better than parchment. It did come a day early but never mind. I still love it. It's sad you can't come. But you're also kind of lucky. Don't have to be put through James' reign of terror. I love quidditch and I’m perfectly happy to follow him and play for an hour or two But he's on some sort of other level. I swear.
Have you ever had coca-cola? James and Sirius havent. Philomena managed to get me some from her secret boyfriend (I know!) and i’m too skeptical to try so I wanted to ask your opinion.
Pete
* * *
Peter woke up, heart pounding, senses on high alert, squinting his eyes to try and identify the noise which had awoken him.
Nothing.
He listened hard.
There it was! He looked at his clock which read 3am 26th July . Someone was knocking on the door at 3am on his birthday. Merlin.
It was probably James and Sirius, they had been hinting at something for the last couple of days now and so if it was not them, then it would have to be a dark wizard.
Despite the fact it was probably his friends, Peter waited, somewhat frozen in his spot, wary of everything because his paranoid mind would not let him get out of bed, especially after last night’s tea when Philomena had recounted quite a horrifying story she had seen in a muggle newspaper she had picked up whilst exploring London.
Another knock.
He took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he was probably going to have to do, and then listened out, waiting to see if anyone else in his family would answer the door, but he heard nothing and therefore he gathered up his courage, crawled out of bed and crept downstairs as slowly as possible, careful to miss the creaky step to answer it himself.
But when he opened it no one was there. Just a simple and plain street plunged into the darkness of the night
Had the knocking come from a ghost? Probably not. You could still see them couldn’t you? The ones at Hogwarts surely couldn’t be any different than other ghosts in the world.
He squinted out for a few more seconds, but then he saw a dark shape move and it made him jump so much that he slammed the door shut, almost pissing himself from fright
Peter then double and triple checked he’d closed the door properly and then turned his back away from it, however just as he was about to climb the stairs back up to his bedroom the knocking sounded again.
Quietly, carefully, he approached the door and slowly pulled it open, peering through the gap to see what dark wizard was waiting on the other side.
"SURPRISE!" James and Sirius then pushed the door open with full force knocking Peter back into the shoe stand.
"Ow! That really hurt" he whined rubbing the back of his calf.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Peter. Happy birthday to you" he could just about make out the other boys smiles in the dark as they sang the birthday song in hushed tones, and Peter couldn’t help but smile back even if they had caused him an injury.
Then Peter lead them to the kitchen as he thanked them for showing up, closed the door and switched the light on; hopefully no one else in the house would notice.
James and Sirius were wearing matching pyjamas but their appearances could not look more different. James, who was holding a small pile of presents, was looking extremely dishevelled, his already messy hair being made worse by bed head and his glasses dangerously close to sliding off the end of his nose. Whereas on the other hand Sirius just looked like he normally did when he woke up in the morning, groggy and a little untidy in small places but his overall impression still somehow looking well put together.
He was holding what at first glance looked like a very odd cake, however on closer inspection Peter realised it was a pie. A birthday pie. Unconventional, but he actually kind of liked it, with it’s golden crust and what looked like a bunch of whipped cream piled on top. He couldn't tell what the filling was - maybe it was all cream. There were also the letters 'Happy B-day Peter' written on the top in swirly chocolate icing.
"Go on. Open them" James let all the presents out on the the countertop
"What's with the pie?"
"I'm glad you asked Peter my boy” James pointed at him “The true purpose of the birthday pie will be revealed soon. First presents" he pushed a bright pink present towards him
"Do you not like the pie?" Sirius asked, looking curiously at Peter
"I do. It's just a bit... special that's all"
The present opening then began and Peter was more pleased than he thought he would be. He’d got a bunch of his favourite biscuits, a nicely knitted scarf (even though it was the middle of summer), an incredibly fancy quill and the same pyjamas that Sirius and James had on them - there was probably a pair waiting for Remus somewhere as well.
In addition to this Sirius had kindly got him what he called an extra present ; David Bowie's apparently new album 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars', which was a bit weird since he didn't even own a record player (Philomena wouldn't let him borrow hers) and he had never shown any interest in David Bowie whatsoever.
Sirius however was suspiciously excited about it.
"Pete" James got his attention, so Peter turned around to face him.
He was holding the pie. "Sirius would you like to do the honours?"
"Certainly" Sirius took the pie from James and stepped forward, grinning like he was the King of the world. "Happy Birthday Peter"
And then he screwed his eyes shut, realising that the pie was now being smushed into his face.
So that was the purpose of the birthday pie.
He just looked at the two laughing boys in front of him, eyes round and mouth wide open in pure shock
"You wasted perfectly good pie!" was the first thing he said
"Who says it's wasted? Try it" Sirius replied, eyes glistening.
He then licked his mouth, tasted it and as the horribly weird flavour of the pie registered he spat it out, spluttering, making all three of them erupt into laughter.
"Sh…” he put a finger to his lips, trying to stifle his own giggles “I really don't want to wake anyone up" Peter then walked over to where the pie was placed on the countertop and was then able to salvage something from the ruins of the desert so that he could taste it properly. That was a mistake.
He spat it out again and pulled a face causing even more laughter to explode from behind him "Where did you get this from!?" he asked as he got a glass of water to wash it down, astounded that pie could even taste that bad.
And just as Peter was taking a sip of water Sirius replied. "Made it ourselves of course" Peter whipped around in shock and spat the water right into Sirius' face.
All of them doubled over into silent fits of laughter. James actually fell on the floor from how weak his legs had turned which just made everything even funnier.
"Right" James started once they had all calmed down. "Me and Sirius better get going, we'll write a letter to Remus"
"Wait. " He crept up to his sisters room. She was the deepest sleeper Peter had ever met so he had no problem getting her magical record player out and taking it downstairs. Luckily Neil Diamond's album was easily accessible so he didn't have to rummage around for it.They went out to his garden to play Peter's favourite song - sweet caroline.
Hands, touching hands
Reaching out, touching me, touching you
Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I've been inclined
To believe they never would
And eventually all three of them were dancing around hysterically singing the lyrics in whispered voices, except from the one time that James had lost of control and went full out
"SWEET CAROLINE BUM BUM BUM" James shouted
"Sh" Peter giggled.
It was all going well. They were having fun and laughing, dancing around each other in the grass, Peter following James and Sirius’ lead because did he have a clue how to dance? No, but he was having fun anyway.
But then...
*CRACK*
"MY FUCKING GOD THAT FUCKING HURT" Sirius shouted for the whole world to hear. The music instantly stopped playing
"Please be quiet, what did you do?" Peter looked around anxiously, wringing his hands, waiting for his parents to come running. Being up in the middle of the night wasn't something they approved of, his mum was always nattering on about how sleep was vital to his health.
"Uh well..." Peter looked over to where Sirius was standing. It wasn't good
"Sirius! You just broke Peters sisters record player" James was practically shouting, but in a way that suggested he wasn’t aware of how loud he was actually being - he was probably on some sort of sugar high "She'll kill you!"
"She will"
Uh oh
"Mum!"
"Peter. And James. And I think I'm correct in saying Sirius Black?
"Yes" Sirius sort of shrunk away looking guilty
"Don't worry I'm not mad." his mum smiled and made the small light they had turned on shine brighter so they could actually see each other clearly. "Just a little confused as to why my son and his two friends are jumping around to music in my garden at four in the morning."
"I'm sorry about the record player Mrs Pettigrew I wa-" Sirius started
"Don't worry about Phil's music thing, I've been asking her to get rid of it for a long time now" she waved her wand and made the mangled record player disappear
"It's late. You two should go" they followed her into the house "Thank you for all the lovely presents" she nodded and then chuckled a little “And the slightly questionable pie”
"Yeah thanks guys. Bye"
"Bye Peter" the two boys walked out the door waving goodbye as he waved back.
He then looked up to his mum who was now closing the door "Peter” she sighed, disappointed “I told you, you weren't allowed to have your friends over for your birthday. I wanted to spend it as a family."
Peter hadn’t even known they were coming!
"I’m sorry mum"
"It’s ok, Go to sleep please” she smiled, patted his cheek and gestured for him to go up stairs. He looked back at the table with the presents on, thinking of his friends and how much he couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts.
David Bowie's album had mysteriously disappeared.
* * *
Hello Remus.
Pete had a somewhat brilliant birthday. We went over to his at 3 in the morning. Did the usual stuff. Presents and cake. Well in his case pie, which we did throw in his face.
Now that I'm writing about it that doesn't sound so great does it? Well trust me it was great. He spat the pie out. Turns out Sirius is a terrible baker. He thought I was doing it all wrong so decided to take over. Didn't turn out great for him did it?
We listened to Sweet Caroline out in his back garden and it was brilliant… well until a certain someone (cough cough Sirius) broke Philomena's record player.... need to check and see if Peter hasn't died at her hands yet. She's usually pretty quiet and a sweet person, but it's always the quiet ones you've got to watch out for, it's a well known fact. Then his mum came and rushed us out the house. So yeah.
Hope you're doing well. It sucks you can't come. Mum and dad are willing to formally meet your parents if that's the problem, although it doesn’t make sense because Dad did say something about knowing your dad - Lyall is it? The Potter household is the most trustworthy family there is! Or we can even pick you up if travel is an issue - anything for you to come and visit.
However, none of us condone Sirius' suggestion of sneaking out. It's dangerous
Ps. i hope you like the last pair of matching special occasion pyjamas - i think you’ll be glad to know that the three of us have collectively decided to take a bit of a break from the tradition, for now anyway.
James
* * *
What’s up Remus? You haven’t replied to poor James yet :(
Breaking all our hearts. It’s not the same without you and if you don’t show up at the Potters I guess we’ll have to hunt you down and arrive at yours.
Sirius
* * *
Sirius and James
I’m sorry I can’t come. I’ve got to take care of my mum at the moment.
Which is why I do not recommend hunting me down, I don’t think she’d appreciate some boys she’s never met barging down the door demanding to meet with me. Plus, who said finding me would be easy?
Remus
* * *
Who said we’d barge down the door?!
Sirius
* * *
It’s something you would do
Remus
* * *
No it isn’t
Yes it is (peter)
NO
YES IT IS (peter)
Ignore him RJ
And anyway even if we were to barge your door down you can't deny that you’d be happy to see us - it’s mid august for merlin's sake! You haven’t seen us in approximately a month's time and that is just simply unacceptable!
Sirius
* * *
I think you guys can survive ten days without me, trust me i’m not that important
Remus
* * *
Counting down the days are you?
And trust me RJ, you are the most important
Sirius
* * *
Remus
barging down the door is something they’d definitely do - especially because how they've been acting recently
And yeah it sucked without you, but i think you’d be glad you didn’t come over because Sirius and James have been living in their own bubble I swear! They made a blood pact the other day after they were injured during James’ daily flying time.
(not a big injury!)
Looking forward to seeing you - only a few more days to go! Three marauders isn’t the same as four.
Marlene did offer to fill in, but I said no of course - also I don’t think she can be a temporary marauder all the way from Italy.
Peter
* * *
Sirius stood in the doorframe and knocked on the open door to get Regulus’ attention who was sat cross-legged on his neatly-made bed and flicking through a book
He looked up, a little startled, with slightly raised eyebrows and wide eyes and in return Sirius attempted a small smile - and it was an attempted smile for a reason but Sirius did not want to think about that right now. His brother's features then momentarily shifted into a twistedly odd look “You’re back” he stated his face now turning blank.
“Hey Reg” then he waltzed right into his room, no invitation and he dived right into their conversation because he suspected Regulus wasn’t going to initiate it because of how he was sat staring at him like a foreign object “What’s up? You can’t believe the time I had with James, I am exhausted! We spent so much time outside flying around this huge back garden he has while Effie, that's James' mum, made us strawberry ice lollies which you will be trying when you come with me next time and don’t worry you will be coming because you’ll actually have met James and the rest of my friends!”
Regulus just looked at him.
“I’m sorry for leaving you for a little while longer, but it’s ok right? I’m going to help you pack for Hogwarts and stuff!” Sirius then fully grinned in encouragement and Regulus nodded a little
“Yeah, it’s ok” and then he gave a half-hearted smile, his eyes softening a little “I guess I’m just glad you’re here… to help me pack, I’v-” and just as Regulus was about to continue he was interrupted by an owl pecking on the window
“It’s Remus’ owl!” Sirius exclaimed, and then he hurried over to let the owl in and retrieve his letter which he then subsequently opened sitting on the bed next to Regulus.
Sirius?!
What is this I hear about you and James making a blood pact?
Remus
Sirius laughed just a little bit
After a few moments Regulus asked, sounding confused “A… blood pact?”
“Yeah” Sirius breathed, and then looked his brother in the face explaining excitedly “Isn’t it cool?! Through our blood pact James and I have basically made a binding oath of loyalty, promising that we’ll always plan and execute our finest ideas together as best friends”
Regulus just stared and after a small moment of hesitation “Isn’t that a bit dramatic?”
“James is my best friend”
Regulus blinked “Oh ok… what did mother say?”
“Well I didn’t tell her about the blood pact”
“I mean when you came back, what did she say?”
Sirius shrugged “The usual”
“Being?”
“The usual, she was a bit of bitch, no surprises there”
Sirius didn’t want to talk about it.
Regulus nodded, again looking concerned and he seemed to hesitate as he very obviously wanted to ask something
“Do you think… “ a sort of childish wonder suddenly glazed over his brother’s eyes “do you think when I go to Hogwarts I’ll make friends like that?”
“I’m sure you will Reggie” Sirius nodded confidently “You’re my little brother, anyone would be mental not to like you”
“Right..” Regulus then smiled, looking assured and then without warning his face then turned blank once again, re-opening his book to start reading, as if the conversation hadn’t happened.
Before Sirius could say something else they were rudely interrupted by Walburga. “REGULUS BLACK COME DOWN HERE AT ONCE!”
Sirius could then feel his eyes widen in shock as he looked frantically at his brother, questions on questions. Had he gotten in trouble?
Regulus then scoffed at him “Oh don’t you worry, I haven’t done anything, that’s not her angry voice”
“Are you sure?”
Regulus nodded a little short, and then the owl made an irritated sound “Better go reply to James Potter” he gestured toward the owl
“Remus” Sirius corrected
“Remus”
“Don’t want me to come down with you?”
“I’ll be fine” Regulus nodded and the owl screeched “Go Sirius, before the owl throws a fit and destroys my room”
And then Sirius did what he said, leaving his brother behind, still sat on the neatly made bed.
“REGULUS!”
Regulus was right, that was not Walburga Black’s voice of fury, funny how he didn’t realise before, since just twenty minutes ago he had been exposed to it in a room that had been put under a fool-proof silencing spell.