To us

Remus picked at his nails subconsciously and pulled the sleeves of his ratty old jumper further down to cover his hands. The last full moon was worse than normal, perhaps because of his nerves about Hogwarts, perhaps because he was getting older and the wolf was getting stronger, but regardless, it had left him with 2 more large scars on his arm. His mum had healed the wounds, but werewolf scars didn’t fade, no matter the magic used. He kept his head down as he waited for his mum to stop talking so he could say goodbye. He could tell she was nervous for him by the way she was stalling, but eventually, he had to interrupt her rambling.

“Mum? I want to get on the train now. So I can get a department to myself, you know?” he said quietly, gesturing to the doors.

“Oh, of course,” Hope replied, flustered. “Just remember, dear, keep your head down, and you’ll be fine. Be polite to people, but don’t let anyone find out. And have a little fun.”

“You know me, mum, I’ll have a blast.” He replied, which caused her to smile sadly and take hold of his face to force him to meet her eyes, which, alarmingly, had tears in them.

“My brave boy. Be careful, okay? I’ll miss you.” She sniffed, and Remus nodded.
“I will, mum. Don’t worry about me.” She gave a wet laugh, said something along the lines of “as if,” and hugged him tightly, which he didn’t quite know what to do with. She never hugged him. She would never admit it, but Remus knew she was afraid of him, or afraid of hurting him, she couldn’t help it. Regardless, the hug only lasted for about 2 seconds before she let go, short and tense enough that he didn’t need to reciprocate. He smiled slightly at her before stepping onto the train with one final goodbye, shaking off the weird tightness in his throat at his first hug in years from his mother. He quickly found an empty compartment and, still exhausted from the moon a few days earlier, he promptly fell asleep.

Remus woke up ten minutes later to the sound of laughter. Loud laughter. He blinked and was met with the sight of a boy with wild, dark hair, glasses, warm brown eyes, and a smile that seemed to take over his whole being. Next to the boy who seemed to be made up of sunshine was a small, rounder boy with blonde hair and blue eyes who looked as if making the brown-eyed boy laugh was his greatest achievement to date. Remus kept his eyes closed for a little bit longer, knowing that people let their guards down when they thought they weren’t being observed which would allow him to figure out the type of people they were.

“So, then Marlene said she wouldn’t sit with us! Honestly, I can’t believe her!” the brown-eyed boy exclaimed. “Really, why would she need other friends?!”

“Well, to be fair, James, she won’t be rooming with us.” The blonde boy said.

“Which I still think is ridiculous. Who cares if she’s a girl? She’s Marlene!” James, Remus had gathered, replied.

“We’ll still see her.”

“I guess. I just hope she’s okay without us. It’s only 1^st year.”

“You know she will be. If any of us could do okay alone, it’s her.”

“You’re right, I just-”

“Want to keep everyone with you? I know James.”

“Okay, I get it, Pete. Lay off Marls. Loud and clear.” James said, slightly grumpy. With that, Remus gathered three things

• James and Pete, whoever they were, were fellow 1^st years
• They were kind, loyal friends.
• They could under no circumstances, be his friends. They cared too much and noticed too much.

With that, Remus opened his eyes slowly and sat up.

“Hey, mate, hope you don’t mind us sitting here. You looked lonely,” James said cheerfully, sticking his hand out for Remus to shake. Remus opened and closed his mouth with no words coming out.

“Um, thanks, I guess, but I was fine.” He shook James’s hand, forgetting momentarily about the newest scar on his wrist.

“Whoa, neat scar! What’s that from then?” James asked, turning Remus’s hand over to examine it closer. Remus snatched his wrist away quickly before covering it back up. “Nothing, it’s just a scar. Leave it.” James shared a look with Peter that Remus had seen a million times before. Check out the freak, how fast can we get out of here?

But then Pete said something that Remus was completely unprepared for.

“Sorry about him, he’s got no filter. I’m Peter Pettigrew, this is James Potter. What’s your name?”

“Um, Remus. Remus Lupin.” Remus tried for a friendly smiled but worried that it came out more like a grimace.

“Nice to meet you, Remus,” James said brightly. “I am sorry, by the way. Won’t ask again.” And Remus, not in the business of trusting anyone, believed him.

**

“Yes, mother,” Sirius said for what he felt like the millionth time this morning. Having said goodbye to his father and Reg at home, his mother took advantage of the time alone to remind him of everything that was expected of him at Hogwarts, from the neatness of his uniform to the company he was not to keep. He nodded, only half listening to her as he watched other children hug their parents goodbye with tears and promises to write. He then turned to his mother to say his own goodbye, which would contain none of that. Public scenes were not fitting for a Black.

“I must be going now, Mother. Goodbye.” He shook her hand, and she squeezed it tightly, a reminder of her power over him.

“Behave, Sirius. Do our family proud.” She released his hand, and with one curt nod, she turned and walked away. Once she was out of sight, he loosened up and smiled, bounding up to the train. He walked from compartment to compartment, looking for a free seat. Many people that recognised him offered to move for him, but he waved them off, not wanting to start setting himself up as another entitled Black right off the bat. He soon found an empty seat in a compartment that hosted three boys who also looked as if they were first years. Two were chatting comfortably, and the third looked a little overwhelmed. He locked eyes with the third, a boy with sandy-brown hair, hazel eyes, too many freckles to count, and who was positively drowning in his jumper. They smiled at each other shyly, and Sirius noticed that the boy smiled as if he was doing so against his will, as if he had no right to smile, and if there was anything in the world that Sirius could understand, it was that. He walked in and looked around.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asked.

“Not at all, have a seat!” one of the other boys said excitedly. “This is Pete, Remus, and I’m James. James Potter.”

“James Potter?” Sirius questioned, smiling instantly. “Excellent, my mother said I was not to socialize with you. Lovely to meet you. I’m Sirius Black.”

“Black, eh? You don’t look like pure evil.” James replied, grinning.

“Give it a day or two,” Sirius said, which caused James to laugh.

“I like you; you’re going to be one of us, I can tell.”

“One of us?” Sirius asked curiously

“One of James’s ‘people.’”

“Friends, Pete, that’s your word,” James said, rolling his eyes.

“Once James likes you, that’s it; you’re in,” Pete explained, smiling.

“And that’s what you two are, James’s people?” Sirius asked, also starting to smile, looking to Remus as well, who shook his head, looking alarmed.

“Oh no,” Remus started, “I was just sitting here-”

 “Yip,” James interrupted, “Remus and I are going to be best friends; he just doesn’t know it yet.” Sirius laughed at the look of alarm on Remus’s face.

“You know what, Potter?” Sirius said, winking at Remus secretly, “Remus and I are honored to be your people.” James’s answering smile lit up the compartment, and Sirius knew that he had made a decision at that moment that would impact him forever, and for once, he wasn’t scared of that.

**

The train ride passed quickly after Sirius joined them. Remus found himself loosening up with each minute that passed without a remark on his appearance or odd behavior. He kept quiet for most of the ride, only speaking when spoken to as his mother had taught him, but often found himself on the receiving end of a wink or smile or conspiring glance from one Sirius Black, and he didn’t quite know what to do with that. Regardless, it was fascinating to watch the boys interact. James and Pete had the ease of an old and well-established friendship about them, which Remus soon learned was because they lived close to each other. Sirius and James, however, were a breed of their own. The way they clicked instantly, bouncing comments off each other at lightning speed and finishing the other’s phrases as if they were two halves of one extremely loud, abrasive person, was truly special to witness. It was like experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event; it was something you somehow knew was always meant to happen; it was experiencing fate doing its job. Sirius and James were made for each other, and Remus Lupin was merely lucky he got to bask in the glow of their finding one another. But somehow, it didn’t make him feel lonely. How could it when they so readily shared that glow with him and Peter, when they included them wherever they could, when Sirius looked at him as if he was dying to figure out what made him tick and James looked at him like he would stop at nothing to keep him from being uncomfortable again like he was when James had asked about his scars? James and Sirius were made for each other, but sitting in that compartment, Remus knew that in some way, they were made for him as well, and despite what he told his mother, he didn’t know how long he could fight that.

**

Sorting. Sirius wouldn’t show it (he was a Black, after all), but he was shaking. His name was one of the first (curse B being so early in the alphabet), and he was terrified his plan wouldn’t work. He didn’t know if it was even possible to influence where you were sorted, but he knew where he was going if he could help it. With James, to Gryffindor. Somewhere he could leave his legacy behind and just be Sirius, not the Black heir. Andromeda had warned him about how hard she had to work to fight the preconceived notions about her in Slytherin, and he knew he could break off now, quick and easy, with one word from the sorting hat.

“Sirius Black.” Professor McGonagall called out, and he walked up to the stool, blank-faced with perfect posture. Old habits die hard, I guess.

He sat down, and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Straight away, he could feel it getting ready to announce his house purely based on his family, and he couldn’t stand it. As hard as he could, he remembered the words Andy had said when her mother had threatened to have her muggle-born boyfriend killed for impregnating her at 18. Different circumstances, sure, but he felt it fitted.

Don’t you fucking dare. He felt the hat still on his head.

Oh? A voice echoed throughout his head, Not Slytherin, then?

Please, anything but. He begged silently. He saw heads at the Slytherin table start to turn, to whisper. No Black had taken this long to sort before.

Let’s see then. Ah, I suppose putting you in Slytherin wouldn’t be quite right, but are you sure? Your path in Slytherin is much easier and much less controversial.

But there is another house?

Oh yes, one I daresay you are better suited for. One you would thrive in, I’m certain.

Then please, forget about my surname.

Interesting, young Black, defying your family. Yes, I see now how this is the perfect fit. Very well then if you’re sure… it’ll have to be… “GRYFFINDOR”

Silence. Sirius smiled weakly. He had done it, but the shocked and, quite frankly, appalled faces looking back at him made him want to turn back time and go to the table in the corner with his cousins at it quietly and without fuss. But then something happened that he knew would stay with him for the rest of his life. From the front of the hall, one lone first year amongst the terrified masses started cheering. Loudly, without remorse. James Potter shouted and clapped alone until Peter and, to Sirius’s surprise, even Remus joined in. Before long, the Gryffindor table joined in, and half the hall did with disbelieving laughs. Sirius looked down at James with as much gratefulness as he could in his eyes and laughed as James jumped up and down, whooping and shouting. He stumbled over to the table and was welcomed by a red-haired boy grinning next to someone who had to be his twin.

“Hey, Sirius, what an entrance, man. Welcome to Gryffindor. I’m Gid, this is Fab, we’re fourth years.” Sirius nodded and smiled at them before turning back to the sorting. Before long, a few more first years joined him in Gryffindor. Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald, and Emmeline Vance for the girls, and to his surprise and complete joy, the three boys he had shared the ride over with for the boys. James ruffled his hair as he came to sit next to him and grinned.

“Way to make an impression, Sirius.” He laughed.

“Thanks for what you did, James,” Sirius said quietly.

“No worries man, wasn’t right no Gryffindors were cheering,” James said this simply as if it was that black and white. Something wasn't right, and so he rectified it. Sirius envied his naïve outlook on the world but simultaneously hoped he wouldn’t change.

“Still, thanks.” Sirius looked over at Lupin, who was staring at the feast as if he had never seen food before. Sirius laughed.

“All right there, Lupin? Just eat some; that’s what it’s there for.”

“Right, just eat it,” Remus mumbled, sarcastically to Sirius’s delight so he did have some hidden snark, Sirius knew it, “because food that just appears is always safe to eat.”

“You muggle-born?” Peter asked, his mouth already full.

“Half-blood,” Remus replied and didn’t elaborate.

“Same here. Mum is a witch, Dad's a muggle.” Remus nodded to show he was listening and carefully picked up something to eat. Sirius found it fascinating how cautious Remus was about everything, and he wondered what made him like that. Before long, however, James caught his attention again as he tapped him to introduce him to the girls in their year.

“This is Marlene, Sirius; we grew up together. She’s bloody annoying sometimes, but she’s a laugh, right Marls?” James said, winking at her. Marlene glared at him good-naturedly.

“Shove off, James.” She replied, rolling her eyes.

“And this is Emmeline, Mary, and Lily. Girls, these are Remus, Sirius, and Pete.” Everyone smiled and exchanged greetings. Sirius turned to look back at Remus again and found him still with an empty plate.

“Have you not eaten yet? Lupin, hurry up before it leaves.”

“I ate!” Remus argued self-consciously.

“So, you finished a whole helping already?” Remus blushed and mumbled something about eating fast, causing Sirius to instantly feel bad for making him uncomfortable. He tried to smile at Remus reassuringly but felt like it fell short. Oh well, he’d make it up to Remus at some point.

**

Remus couldn’t believe how careless he had been. As he walked up to his dorm room for the first time, he should have been excited, but instead, he was furious at himself. It was only the first night, and Sirius had already noticed his eating, James had noticed his scars, and just a few minutes earlier, Pete had commented on the limp that he had gotten from spraining his ankle at the last full moon. There was only one thing to do: Forget all these stupid notions he had gotten today about friends and listen to his mum. He was here to learn, and he was to keep his secret at all costs. He found himself looking at Sirius as they opened the door to their room, at his excited expression, his tussle for the bed farthest from the door with James, and his race with Pete to go to the bathroom first. He knew Sirius had his challenges, and he had thought maybe, just maybe, they could understand each other, but watching him made Remus sure that that wasn’t the case. He was with more people his age than he had ever been; he wasn’t hated yet, in fact, James had proclaimed them as future best friends (oh, if James only knew), but he had never felt more alone. Quietly, he started unpacking his trunk, ignoring James’s attempts at conversation and praying he would give up soon; he didn’t know how long he could last like this.

A month passed, slowly. Remus withdrew from his dormmates further the harder they tried to engage with him, and he could see it began to irritate Sirius. Pete seemed to be willing to give him his space, James was unaffected by his attempts to push him off, but Sirius, Sirius was a problem. The moon was almost full in the sky, and he could feel the wolf inside of him itching to come out; he could feel his bones start to ache, and his bite scar start to burn. The plan was in place. Tomorrow afternoon, he would start to 'feel sick' and would excuse himself to go to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey, a wonderfully kind woman Remus had met when the plan was explained to him, would then walk with him down to the Whomping Willow, a considerably less kind and extremely violent tree, where she would open a passage that would lead him to the place he would spend the night, unable to escape and harm students. He took a deep breath as he steadied himself on the staircase, willing the bite on his hip to stop burning so he could get to class on time.

“Remus?” he heard from behind him on the staircase. He turned to see Lily Evans, green eyes wide with worry as she held her arm out to him, “Are you okay?” Her voice felt like honey, and embarrassingly, he wanted to cry. Remus never cried, ever, but after weeks of pushing and pushing and pushing people away, the thought of taking the offered arm was enough to almost break him. He cleared his throat.

“Lily, hi,” He said roughly. “I’m perfectly fine, thanks. Just, lost, you know.”

Lily narrowed her eyes at him and pointed to the map all first years got in his hand.

“Right, um, well, it’s bloody useless when the staircases move, isn’t it?” he attempted, and Lily laughed.

“I suppose,” she agreed, “they should make one that tracks the staircases too.”

“Add in that you can see when Filch is coming, and I’m sold.” Remus agreed, and shockingly, Lily smiled at him.

“You know, when you actually allow yourself to be, you’re not bad to talk to.” She raised her eyebrow at him, and he blushed a little, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Yes, well, you caught me on a bad day. Talk to me tomorrow, and you’ll see, I’m awful.”

“I doubt that very much, Remus,” Lily said kindly. “Now, let’s go before Flitwick kills us for being late.” She held her arm out for him, but he ignored it, which she didn’t comment on. They walked together to class, chatting idly, and it suddenly struck Remus how lonely he had been despite his roommates’ best efforts. When he sat down next to Pete in Charms after waving goodbye to Lily as she went to sit with Mary, he was almost tempted to start another conversation, that is, until his hip started to burn again as if it was warning him against it. Loud and clear, no friends. He thought bitterly and set about taking down what was on the board.

 The next day was somehow worse. The moon was close, and Remus could think of little else. He was miserable all day, snapping at his classmates when they asked what was wrong, if he wanted to do something, or why he was looking so tired. Eventually, Sirius reached his breaking point with Remus, which came as no surprise. James was trying to coax Remus into playing a game of cards with them, to which Remus had stiffly ignored him, causing Sirius to huff and roll his eyes. While Remus would usually ignore this, today was not the day for that.

“What, Sirius?” he snapped.

“What? Here’s ‘what, ’ Remus. James has been nothing but kind to you, and I’m sick of this act of yours!”

“Sirius, leave it-” James tried to cut in, but Remus had had enough, and he was relishing in the opportunity to take some of his anger out on someone.

“No, James, let him say what he wants to. I’m sorry I’m not falling at the feet of the heir of the Potter or Black dynasties, but the world doesn’t revolve around you lot!”

“Us?!” Sirius shouted, “You’re the one walking around like you’re so much better than us! Looking like it’s such a pain to be around us! What happened Remus? We had fun on the first day, then suddenly it’s like you decided we weren’t good enough for the great Remus Lupin and you were damn near sick at the sight of us! What did we do? James has been trying, and you’ve been awful to him, and that’s not okay! So either spit out whatever you don’t like about us or get over it because I’m telling you right now that I won’t stand for it anymore. Okay?” Sirius had moved closer to him in his rant, and Remus could feel the fight drain out of him. He had been unfair to James, to all of them, and they didn't deserve it. He knew what he had to do.

“I’m sorry. You’re right,” he said, hanging his head in shame.

“You- what?” Sirius stuttered, looking like he had severe whiplash, clearly surprised at Remus’s abrupt attitude change. Remus couldn't blame him, he could barely keep track of his mood this close to the moon, and he was the one feeling it.

“You’re right. I have been unfair, and I’m sorry. You won’t have to deal with it anymore.”

“What do you mean?” James asked slowly, not taking his eyes off Remus.

“Nothing. I’m sorry, James.”

“No worries, mate, are you okay?” Remus almost laughed at that. He had been awful to James for weeks, and it took two words for James to go straight to worrying. He nodded.

“I’m going to take a walk; see you guys later,” Remus said, knowing this may be the last thing he said to them. He would talk to Dumbledore about going home after the moon, hiding this wasn’t going to work. He took a moment before leaving to memorize them, the people who could have been his friends in another life. Pete’s innocent, confused expression as he looked to James for answers, James, scruffy in his uniform, messy hair and glasses skew above his concerned brown eyes, and Sirius. Sirius stared straight back at Remus like he could see straight through him. His grey eyes still showed signs of the anger that had taken hold of him. His soft black hair, usually falling into place perfectly, was almost as messy as James’s after the number of times he ran his hands through it during their short fight. Remus smiled slightly at him, wanting the last time he saw him to be better than what it was, and then he turned and walked out towards the hospital wing.

“Remus, welcome.” Remus smiled at Madame Pomfrey.

“Afternoon, Madame Pomfrey.”

“Are you ready?” She asked kindly. He nodded, and she led him out the doors towards the grounds.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. He remembered entering the shack, the cold seeping through the cracks in the walls. He remembered taking his clothes off to protect them and lying on the broken bed in the center of the room upstairs. He remembered the sun setting, the beauty of it haunting him. He remembered the pain. Blinding pain throughout his whole body. His bones snapping, changing shape, his body breaking and remaking itself into something he couldn’t control. He remembered screaming until his voice was lost, replaced by howling in pain and then in hunger. He saw flashes of white and remembered trying to get out get out get out now, needing to escape. More pain, more howling, then nothing. Warm hands, a soothing voice, a blanket over his shivering body, a potion to keep him semi-conscious. A bed. More voices, assessing him. More potions, spells, fixing bones, knotting skin back together, sympathy. Remus hated sympathy. He fell asleep to the sound of the voices discussing him, typical.

“His roommates are worried, Albus.”

“I’m aware, Minerva, but they cannot know, so they may not visit. Come up with something.”

“They say he’s been unhappy, that he may have done something…”

“We all know that is not true.”

“Couldn’t it be? It can’t be easy for the poor boy. He asked me if he could leave Hogwarts. I, of course, told him that was nonsense, but he seemed very upset-”

“Poppy, you of all people should know that he has no choice.”

“I know Albus, but maybe-”

“End of discussion. Make up an excuse, Minerva, his roommates can’t know. It’s not safe for them, nor for Remus.”

“As you wish, Albus.”

**

“It makes no sense!”

“I know, Sirius”

“‘He fell.’ Yeah, as if.”

“I know Sirius.”

“He was upset, he said he wouldn’t bother us anymore, whatever that means, and now he’s in the hospital wing? I don’t buy it.”

“SIRIUS! We know, we agree, now, please, for the love of Merlin, SIT DOWN.”

Sirius huffed and sat on his bed. Remus was due to arrive back any minute, and Sirius couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about this whole ‘accident.’ He shot up when their door creaked open.

“REMUS!” he shouted, running across the room. James jumped up as well and threw his arms around Remus. Remus looked shocked like he didn’t know what to do with himself. Sirius could relate. The first time James hugged him, he had almost punched him, not knowing what was happening, thinking James was trying to wrestle with him. Hugging was not something the Blacks did; it wasn’t necessary.

“Hey, James,” Remus said, patting him awkwardly.

“Are you okay, what happened??” James asked, looking Remus over, eyes widening at the bruises on his face and the bandages on his arms. Remus shrugged self-consciously.

“I fell.”

“You fell?” Sirius said skeptically, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yeah, you know those stairs, nasty things. Lily reckons we should track when they change on our maps to avoid accidents.” Remus rambled.

“You’ve been chatting to Evans?” James asked, hurt radiating off him.

“Only once!” Remus said quickly, “Don’t worry, I’m just as much of a prick to everyone else as I am to you lads.” Sirius snorted at that.

“Glad you can admit it then.” He said. Remus cracked a crooked smile, and Sirius found his anger melting away mysteriously.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Just don’t do it again,” Pete said, grinning at Remus.

“I’ll try,” Remus said softly.

A week passed with Remus and the rest of the boys acting, for lack of a better word, civil to each other. Remus was less hostile than before, but Sirius still felt as if he was holding back from the rest of them, not letting himself let loose. He found himself looking over at Remus whenever the other boy felt he wasn’t being watched, trying to figure out what he was hiding.

“Sirius!” James waved his hand in front of Sirius’s face to get his attention away from watching Remus read.

“Yeah? Sorry, what did you say?” James rolled his eyes.

“I said, what were you thinking of doing? You said you wanted to prank the Slytherins?”

“Oh, right! I don’t know, but I’m getting irritated at how they keep calling me a traitor, and Gid and Fab were telling me about pranks they’ve pulled, and it seemed like a good idea.”

James frowned thoughtfully. “Well, we could set off dung bombs in their common room?”

“Uninspired,” Sirius replied, “Anyone could do that.”

“We could levitate all of their stuff out of their dorms?” Pete suggested, most likely due to his recent success at Wingardium Leviosa.

“I don’t think we have the skill set to pull that off, Pete,” James said kindly. They were all quiet for a moment, just thinking before they heard Remus clear his throat hesitantly. Sirius looked up and saw Remus already looking at him.

“Remus?” he asked, almost not believing that Remus was initiating a conversation.

“Well, it’s just, if you want to get the people calling you a traitor specifically, you should target them,” Remus said quietly. James was almost bursting with joy beside Sirius, but he could tell he was trying to control himself.

“How would you do that?” Pete asked at the same time that James suggested Remus join them. Remus looked to Sirius, who quickly nodded and motioned for Remus to come to sit on the bed with them. Remus got up slowly and sat stiffly next to Pete at the end of the bed.

“Well,” he started, “I think that we could just put a charm on Sirius. That way, it would be triggered by someone insulting him, and would do something to them. Turn their hair pink, make them speak Mermish for a few days, stuff like that.”

James grinned, almost maniacally. “You think we could do that?” he asked excitedly.

“I don’t see why not,” Remus said carefully. “It would be difficult, but Sirius is basically two years ahead of us in magical theory, and you are extremely powerful, James. Plus, Pete is ace at charms, so theoretically we could pull it off.” Sirius stifled a laugh at the adoration flooding out of James at Remus being nice to them.

“I love it!” Pete said quickly.

“I do too, but I think it shouldn’t just be about me. What about any time someone says something derogatory, they have something happen to them? Like “mud blood”, “blood traitor”, “half-breed”, and things like that.” Sirius said slowly. Remus smiled at him with that crooked smile that he does, and Sirius felt a weird sense of pride well up inside of him.

“So, what do you think we should make happen to them?” James asked excitedly.

“Not sure, that’s up to you,” Remus said, looking at Sirius.

“You're the idea man.” Sirius grinned, nodding at Remus. He knew that Remus was starting to back out again, and Sirius was desperate to stop that from happening.

“Well… I think if we could modify scourgify and get it to become activated by those specific words, it could fill their mouths up with soap. You know, wash their mouths out? It could work, but we would have to figure out how to cast it onto the whole school at the same time.”

“I could figure that out,” James said nonchalantly, as if it was easy for a first-year to mess with the integral magic of a spell.

“It would take some time, though, wouldn’t it?” Pete asked. James and Sirius looked at him, confused. Then Sirius looked at Remus and realized what Peter was doing. If Remus was involved, he was engaging with them. And when Remus was engaging with them, they had a chance at getting him to open up. He grinned at Peter, nodding.

“Probably, and I’ll need some help. Remus, you in?” James asked, looking eagerly at Remus.

Remus looked from James to Peter, hesitating, before looking at Sirius. Sirius tried his best to convey trustworthiness and friendliness, two qualities his mother had ironically tried to train out of him. Whatever he did must have worked because Remus smiled. Not the half smile that Sirius had been living off, but a real, genuine grin.

“Okay.” Remus said, getting more comfortable on the bed, “Here’s what we have to do.”

The next few days were filled with planning. Remus got them books from the library to help them research how exactly they could alter the spell to become word activated, while James and Sirius researched ways to cause the spell to affect the majority of Hogwarts. They sat together most nights, plotting and researching before Sirius demanded one night that they were overdue for a break.

“What do you have in mind?” James asked, instantly closing his book.

“I don’t care, let’s just get out of here.”

“It’s after curfew.” Remus piped up from his place on the floor, surrounded by books.

“We can use my dad’s old Invisibility cloak,” James said, “He gave it to me.”

“An Invisibility cloak? Really? But those are so rare!” Sirius exclaimed, looking around for it.

“I know, it’s a family heirloom. Here, wait a second.” James looked excited to show his friends his cloak as he rummaged around for it, eventually pulling it out of his trunk with a flourish.

“Wicked, can’t believe Monty let you take that. Where should we go?” Pete asked excitedly.

“I don’t mind, Sirius?” James asked.

“Don’t care, I just want to go. What about you, Remus?” Sirius asked, expecting to be told to shove off.

“Well, I could use something to eat if I’m honest,” Remus said slowly. Peter jumped up.

“I’ve got it! Let’s go to the kitchens!” he said quickly, looking excited.

“How do you know where those are?” Sirius and Remus asked simultaneously, to which Peter just grinned. He gestured for them to follow and, armed with the knowledge of where the kitchens were that a Hufflepuff girl had bestowed upon him, led the rest of the boys to the portrait of a bowl of fruit. Remus gave him a questioning look, and he winked. Sirius stifled a laugh, loving how confident Peter had suddenly become. Peter reached forward and tickled the pear, which giggled loudly and caused James to shriek and jump backward. The rest of the boys laughed, Remus far more apologetically than the others, before moving to climb through the hole in the wall that the portrait had swung open to reveal. They were instantly met with hundreds of eyes blinking at them. Remus turned to Sirius and whispered in his ear, “What are they?” Sirius gave Remus a questioning look. “They’re house elves.” He said, confused. “Have you never seen one?”

“I was raised muggle, when would I have seen a house elf?” Remus replied, waving shyly at the elves, which seemed to inspire confidence in them.

“Masters! Welcome.”

“What can we get you?”

“Sit down! Do you want some tea, Masters?”

The four boys were ushered to sit down and immediately swamped with food. Sirius laughed at the way Remus’s eyes lit up at the chocolates that appeared in front of him.

“Thank you. What is your name?” Remus asked quietly to the elf that presented him with the chocolates.

“Wimly, sir!” the house elf squeaked.

“Lovely to meet you, Wimly.” Remus said, holding his hand out for the elf to shake. Sirius turned away, smiling to himself, although he wasn’t sure why.

Sirius started up a conversation with another elf called Vopley, and before long, they were all chatting happily with the elves. Sirius looked over at Remus and saw that the plate full of chocolates next to him was now empty.

“You like chocolate, hey?” he said quietly, nudging Remus.

“What? Oh, um, yeah, love it. Can’t get enough of the stuff.” Remus said quickly. Sirius laughed and nodded, weirdly pleased that he had gathered this new piece of information about Remus that he could store away.

Later that night, they snuck back to their dorm with arms full of snacks, and with that, their routine was set. Remus came up with the ideas and got them started. James inspired them, researched, and kept their morale up when they failed. Peter and Sirius did snack runs in the middle of the night and helped where they could with research. Once they had an idea of how they would pull the prank off, Sirius and James started what they called “Recon missions”, which just meant running around the castle at night testing their spell. They were occasionally able to convince Remus and Peter to join them, Peter when they needed more manpower and Remus when they could convince him that what he was doing was useful. Everything was running smoothly until Remus got sick.

“Okay, but what’s wrong?” Sirius asked for the millionth time, to Madame Pomfrey’s annoyance.

“Mr. Black, for the last time, Remus has the flu. Now, leave me alone.” She huffed.

“Okay, but he was fine yesterday. He wasn’t coughing at all! And then suddenly last night he leaves?”

“And as I’ve said, Mr. Potter, he will be fine tomorrow, so move on out of my way and let me get back to him!”

“Can we at least visit him?” Peter begged. Pomfrey seemed to soften a bit.

“Look, boys, I’m glad you seem to have taken Remus in, I really am, but no, you can’t see him, okay? He’s weak, but he will be back with you tomorrow.” She gave them one final smile and walked away, leaving them fuming.

“Come on, let’s go back to the dorm,” James said, turning to walk away. The rest of the afternoon passed with James trying his best to distract Sirius from worrying, but he couldn’t help it. By the time the sun set and everyone was in bed, he couldn’t take it anymore. He jumped out of his bed and crossed the room to James’.

“Hey, James,” He whispered, shaking him awake, “Can I use the cloak?”

“What? Why?” James asked blearily

“Recon.” Sirius replied, and James just gestured to the cloak on the end of his bed in a ‘Sure, Sirius, take it,’ kind of way.

“Thanks, mate,” Sirius whispered, snatching the cloak up and heading to the door.

“Tell Remus I say hi.’ James replied, causing Sirius to glare at him on his way out.

**

“Psst. Psst, Remus!” Remus blinked his eyes open to see Sirius’s disembodied head beaming down at him. He startled and swore quietly.

“God, Sirius, what are you doing here?” he whispered furiously, covering himself more with blankets, thankful for his long sleeves.

“Wanted to see you, Pomfrey said no,” Sirius replied. He frowned down at Remus. “Your arm is bandaged. How did you do that? Pomfrey said you were sick?”
“I was!” Remus said hastily, “I mean, I am. I fell though, because I was sick, see. Couldn’t see where I was going. You know, clumsy Remus.”

“Remus, no offense mate, but you suck at lying. Is someone hurting you? You know you could tell us, right?” Remus blinked up at Sirius, not knowing what to say. He wasn’t prepared at all for this, not now, half asleep and in pain. Sirius must have taken his silence as hesitance because he cleared his throat and sat down in the visiting chair next to Remus’s bed, which had never been occupied, and started to talk in a careful tone that Remus had never heard before.
“You know,” he whispered, “Those letters from my family that I get every week? They aren’t as friendly as I make them out to be. My brother and I are banned from writing to each other. I miss him a lot. He was kind of my best friend before Hogwarts, and now he’s alone in that awful house. My mother goes on and on about how disappointed in me she is and how much trouble I’ll be in when I get home, and honestly, I’m scared. I know she’s going to do something bad, and I don’t know if I can handle it, Remus. So, I know you may not think you can trust me and share whatever is going on with you, but you can. I get being afraid. I am too.” Remus could see that Sirius was uncomfortable from sharing that, and he wouldn’t look at him. Unaware of his actions, he reached out and pulled Sirius into a hug.

“It’ll be okay, Sirius.” He whispered, tightening his grip when Sirius relaxed into the hug.

“You hug like James,” Sirius mumbled.

“So do you.” Remus laughed.

“Picked it up from him, I guess. The only person who ever really hugged me.” Sirius admitted timidly.

“Me too,” Remus whispered, and although he didn’t tell Sirius his secret that night, and Sirius didn't tell him exactly what his mom did to him and his brother, they both left the interaction comforted by the understanding that had been found between them. Underneath the money, prejudice, secrets, and scars, they were both just two boys who had never really been hugged before they met James Potter and had never been understood before they met each other.

**

 Two weeks later, they pulled it off. They visited the house elves one night, and while Remus and James charmed them, Sirius and Peter put the charm they had worked out on the food for breakfast the next morning. They then treated themselves to some treats from the house elves, Sirius making sure Remus got extra chocolate, and snuck back to their dorm. The next morning, they went down to breakfast, eager to see if their plan worked.

“What’s going on with you guys?” Lily asked, leaning over Mary to reach them.

“Nothing!” They all shouted, causing Sirius to wince. Well, that couldn’t have been more obvious.

“Right…” Marlene drawled, looking at James, “James has his, ‘Mom, look at what I just pulled off!’ look on.”

“I do not!” James shouted indignantly

“Volume James,” Lily, Marlene, and Pete said at the same time.

“Sorry,” James mumbled but was quickly distracted by the commotion over at the Slytherin table.

“It seems we have our first victim, boys,” Sirius said, causing Remus to give him one of his half smiles. They looked closely, and Sirius saw that a fourth year, and unfortunately his cousin Narcissa’s boyfriend, Lucious Malfoy, was spitting mouthfuls of soap out of his mouth that just kept refilling. They all laughed at the shock on his face and doubled in their laughter as more and more students had their mouths filled with soap.

“Surely they aren’t all saying slurs?” Peter asked with wide eyes.

“Nah, Remus here,” Sirius announced, slinging his arm around Remus’s shoulder, “Decided to make the list of triggers a bit more… extensive.”

“Most insulting words are covered, as well as our names, and a few other words just for fun. With that, Remus handed Pete and James, and to Sirius’s surprise, Lily, Marlene, Mary, and Emmeline, a list of words to avoid.

“So, it was you guys?” Lily asked, laughing.

“Of course it was us,” Sirius admitted, grinning.

“Really?” Marlene laughed, looking up from the list, “D-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-N?”

“Didn't want anyone giving McGonagall any ideas, although she won’t be affected.” Remus shrugged.

Before long, the great hall was in chaos. The professors were trying in vain to keep everyone calm as more and more people shouted in panic words that Remus had deemed important enough to include on the list. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before McGonagall spotted the group laughing rather than panicking and stalked over to them.

“Boys! Was this your doing?” She demanded. Remus sat up extraordinarily straight, and Sirius could see he was afraid of getting in trouble. Remus had told him confidentially a few nights ago that he was on a scholarship of some sort and was afraid he would be kicked out or wouldn’t be funded if he got in trouble, to which Sirius had vowed that he wouldn’t.

“It was me, Professor.” He said, before handing her the list of triggers, “Although you may want to examine the words that caused it to go off on each student.” He smiled angelically at her. Her expression remained stern, but he could have sworn he saw her falter a bit at the top words “Blood Traitor, disgrace, and Unworthy.” Followed closely by Mud blood, half-breed, misfit, and other insults, it wasn’t hard to figure out the reason behind the prank.

“Very well, however, this list is extensive enough that I couldn’t possibly punish them all. Besides,” she added, looking around, “I would hope this has taught them a lesson. Regardless, you will be punished, Mr. Black.  I assume you did not work alone, as this is magic far beyond that of a first year, let alone one working alone.”
“I helped, Professor.” James piped in, to no one's surprise. Peter also added his involvement, and to Sirius’s horror, Remus added his. He sent him a questioning glance, to which Remus nodded reassuringly.

“Very well. Detention for all of you for a week. And ten points will be taken each.” With that, McGonagall walked away to try to help find the counter spell.

“Thanks for trying to cover for us, Sirius, but we can’t let you have all the credit.” Remus joked, giving Sirius another half-grin.

“Look at them go,” James laughed, pointing at the foaming mouths of the Slytherins, some of which looked close to tears.

“Does it go all day? That’s barbaric!” Lily said, glaring at them.

“Of course not, it stops after like two minutes, but it will restart if they say something wrong again. Not our fault they can’t go a sentence without slurs.” Sirius said, laughing.

“And the counter curse?” Mary asked, clearly interested.

“There isn’t one.” James said proudly, “It wears off in 12 hours.”

They all sat in silence for a while, enjoying watching the chaos unfold.

“Well boys, Sirius announced, relishing in their success, “I think that was a job well done. What’s next?”

**

“A Halloween prank?” Remus said skeptically. Sirius nodded enthusiastically. “Why?”

“Why not?!” Sirius asked, before adding, “People loved the last one! Plus, it's Halloween, and I’ve never been able to celebrate it before! Let’s make it memorable.” Remus rolled his eyes, already knowing he would say yes. That was just Sirius’s effect on him.

“What do you have in mind?” He asked absentmindedly, half-focused on adding the newest charm to his map, still trying to get it to track the movement of the staircases. It had started as a joke, but he had begun to see the merits of having shortcuts and tricks handy on days before and after the full moon. He had even added the kitchens to the map as well as instructions on how to get inside.

“Well, if you would stop tinkering for a second, I’ll tell you.” Sirius sighed, flopping dramatically next to Remus on his bed. Remus rolled his eyes and put the map down.

“Where’s James and Pete? Can’t you bug them?”

“I could, but they’re not the idea man.”

“I came up with one idea.”

“Which makes you the idea man! Anyways,” Sirius continued before Remus could argue, “I was thinking we do something that celebrates the theme of Halloween. Something spooky. Or something to do with dress-up or chocolate. You love chocolate.”

“I do, but maybe not center a whole prank around it?” Remus had to stop himself from smiling. Ever since he had told Sirius he loved chocolate, Sirius had made it his mission to surround Remus with the stuff. It was endearing, but a little overwhelming. “Maybe dress up? We could transform everyone’s uniforms into something.”

“Make them pink,” Sirius suggested.

“Or orange”

“Red and Gold.”

“Too big”

“Too small”

“Transparent”
“Remus Lupin you dog!” They both started laughing at that, basking in the ease of their conversation, something neither of them had with many other people.

“We should charm all the crests to sing Monster Mash,” Remus suggested.

“What’s that?” Sirius asked.
“You know, the song,” Remus said slowly.

“No, the only songs I know are classical,” Sirius admitted.

“WHAT?” Remus shouted, shocking Sirius. He was sure this was the first time he had ever raised his voice in front of Sirius, but he couldn’t help himself. “You- what about- nothing?? Bowie, Queen, Floyd, Zeppelin, not even bloody Abba?” Sirius shook his head. “Wow, okay, I have a lot to teach you. When I go home this Christmas, I’ll bring back some records. You need to be educated.”

“Excuse you, I speak five languages, play four instruments, and am trained in-”

“Not that stuff posh boy,” Remus said, ignoring Sirius’s frankly hilariously insulted face, “real education. Music, Sirius, music.”

“Okay then.” Sirius said, laughing, “You can teach me, Professor Lupin,” Remus rolled his eyes, “And they call me the dramatic one.”

“You are the dramatic one Sirius; this is just really important.”

“You’ve made that clear, Professor.”

“Oh, don’t make that a thing.”

“Too late, it’s a thing. Sorry, Remus, old pal, now back to planning! I think we should reconsider the scary idea, it could be fun?”

“Nah, I reckon there’s too much room for failure. We could charm the decorations to jump out at people if you want?”
“And the pumpkins can sing your monster song.”

“We could flood the hallways too”

“Why?”
“It’d just inconvenience people, wouldn’t it?”
“I like the way you think, Lupin. A whole day of small inconveniences…”

“Ending with one big finish.”

“It’d be a lot to pull off.”

“I reckon we could do it, don’t you?” Sirius grinned at Remus.

“Yeah, Professor, I reckon we could.”

**

Halloween dawned just like any other day, but with three noticeable differences.

1) Sirius Black was the first in the dorm to wake up. By now, the boys were used to their morning routine. James would wake up at an ungodly hour, and he would make his bed and shower. Next, Remus would get out of bed, shower, and change in the bathroom. James then woke up a reluctant Sirius and Peter, who lay in bed until the very last minute and then ran down to breakfast half changed, with a smug James and Remus trailing them radiating ‘Told you so’ energy. But today, before even James was awake, Sirius was up and planning, double-checking that everything was in order.

2) The bell to wake the school didn’t go off. Instead, the school was startled awake to the charming sounds of “Monster Mash”, a song Sirius was now far too familiar with, at top volume. By the end of the day though, no one would be able to picture life without the constant loop of the song.

3) The normally quiet morning getting ready was filled instead by shouts from across the school as people looked in the mirror for the first time that day.

“Morning Sirius, wicked hair,” James said as he got up, grinning. Sirius ran a hand through his now bright pink hair.

“Thanks, mate, back at you.” James winked and shook out his own bright orange hair. They were going to do the whole school one color, but when they found out that they couldn’t exactly control the spell yet, they decided to just let it do what it wanted. So far Sirius’s hair had been pink, blue, and white in the past hour. James and Sirius turned their heads when they saw Remus open his curtains and walk out with a shining purple mop on his head in place of his normal honey curls. Sirius felt a weird urge to change it back immediately but shook it off.

“Think Pete’s is red,” Remus said as a greeting. Sirius smiled and ran over to Pete’s bed, yanking open the curtains to see Pete still sleeping, but as Remus guessed it, with now tomato-red hair.

“How’d you know?” James asked. Remus shrugged and replied, “Lucky guess”

“Come on boys,” Sirius interrupted cheerfully, “Let’s get going, lots to do today!”

After the day’s start, understandably not much work got done. By the end of breakfast, everyone’s hair had turned different colors, with a few exceptions, and many faced a new problem. The great hall was filled with squawking and snorting as mouths and noses were replaced with beaks and snouts. Eyebrows started growing at alarming rates while the hair on people’s heads seemed to disappear entirely. People's robes changed colors, the owls delivering male got spooked and started dropping packages on people’s heads, the decoration pumpkins started to fly around the room dropping fake spiders everywhere and, exhilarated by the chaos, Peeves the Poltergeist flew about knocking over plates and pelting chalk at people. Sirius sat, almost in awe, as he looked around at the chaos that they had caused, but when he turned to see Remus’s reaction, all he saw was the boy looking politely intrigued as he gazed around the room, humming along to the Monster Mash, which hadn’t stopped playing. Sirius was about to question him when he heard a throat being cleared behind him. He put on his most winning smile and turned to McGonagall.

“Minerva, Minnie, dear, what a pleasant morning.” He grinned

“That’s Professor to you, Black.” She replied sternly, and fair, he was pushing his luck, “And you wouldn’t happen to know who was behind this, would you?”

“Me? Never, but whoever they are, they seem to be amazingly gifted and handsome. Probably funny and charming too.”

“Hm. And you, Potter? Know anything about this?” Sirius winced. James was never as good of a liar as him, or Remus for that matter. James averted his eyes and shook his head.

“Not very believable, Potter. Get better at lying, will you, or these next 7 years will become quite tedious. Detention, both of you, and ten points are taken each.” She turned to walk away, before stopping and looking back, “Not that I’m approving, but that is some excellent transfiguration work, boys. Keep it up. But please, turn the song off.”

The four boys looked at each other in shock. Remus looked from Peter to James and Sirius.

“Did me and Peter just… get away with it?” he asked, trying to keep from laughing.

“You’re taking the later ones!” James and Sirius both shouted at the same time. Remus opened his mouth to argue but was interrupted by McGonagall announcing to the hall that they were to move to their next lesson, where their teachers could help them fix their appearances.

The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion to the morning, with disruptive pumpkins, the catchy Halloween song, and no real work being done. At one point, all classes were stopped as a group of nifflers were let into the school and had to be found. Later, all classes were given up on when every piece of chalk in the school mysteriously started to dance its way out of the classroom to the beat of the Monster Mash, followed closely by the desks and chairs, some of which had students on. The afternoon passed in eerie silence as people fought to get their faces back to normal and wondered if everything was over. Many seemed to have figured out the people behind the chaos and were constantly asking how they had pulled it off or what was coming next, but the boys, drained from the magic it was taking to keep everything going, just replied with a simple “Wait and see.”

At 6 pm, the students of Hogwarts simultaneously jumped as a voice echoed through the halls, putting a sudden stop to the song that was slowly driving everyone to insanity. It said only two words, over and over, “Great Lake”, before fading out again, to be replaced once again by the Monster Mash. Sirius had to stifle a laugh at the hysteria that arose after hearing the song for what was probably the 200^th time that day (he was sure at least two people started crying in his vicinity, and the rest were close to strangling him) but he didn’t care. The school, not wanting to anger the voice that came from the same place as the song loop from hell, gathered at the great lake. A minute or two passed without anything happening before people on the edge of the crowd screamed and ducked. The rest of the school looked to see what had happened, discovering that almost all those people were covered head to toe in orange paint. Before anyone could gather their wits, they found themselves having to run and find cover from three boys flying above them on broomsticks, throwing what appeared to be sacks of different colored paint at them. Peter Pettigrew, usually quiet in large groups, was cackling at the top of his voice, taking great pride in covering Slytherins with the brightest, glitteriest pink anyone had ever seen. Sirius Black was flying around dropping mass amounts of glitter on the people who had believed they were safe, shouting about the magic of water balloons and genius muggles. Remus Lupin stood on the ground, the picture of innocence to those who weren’t looking closely, but in reality, directing stray balloons at anyone who had been fortunate enough to be missed. James Potter, bored now of drenching people in paint, flew high into the sky and spelled out Happy Halloween in glitter, before sending that flying over the masses as well. Happy with his work, James then flew at breakneck speed down to the ground, landing with a smirk and spinning around to look for Remus, only to be faced instead with a bright purple, blue glittered, extremely angry Professor McGonagall.

“That’s it!” She seethed, snatching his broom, and ignoring his outcry, “Absolutely no more brooms for first years!”

**

November came, and along with it came Peter’s birthday. From what Remus could figure out, Peter’s greatest present that year was finding out that he was the oldest out of the four of them, which, once discovered, was not let go of for a second. The boys were subjected to constant reminders in the form of “Sirius, do respect your elders”, “well Remus, as the oldest and therefore wisest of all of us,” and Remus’s personal favorite, a screamed, “Stop hitting me James I’m older than you!” that resulted in Peter landing in the infirmary for once with a curious case of ever-growing eyebrows, something that had been seen frequently since Halloween.  Remus and Sirius, at odds about what to get Peter, had asked for help from his oldest friend, only to be presented with a two-foot-long list that James had apparently been making for as long as he had known Peter on what he mentioned ever wanting.

“This is… excessive,” Sirius had said, glancing at Remus with raised eyebrows. James had merely shrugged and said cheerfully, “I have one for all my friends, don’t you?”

“No, James,” Remus had replied, laughing, “I think this is purely a Potter thing.”

Armed with the list, Sirius and Remus had set out trying to find a way to buy Peter a present. Their biggest problem, they found, was that they weren’t allowed to leave the castle.

“There must be a passage somewhere,” Remus had whispered desperately to Sirius three days before the 14^th, Peter's birthday.

“Out of the castle? Surely not,” Sirius had replied. And that brought Remus to his current issue: he knew there was a passage out, right near Hogsmeade where they could buy Pete something, but taking Sirius there was absolutely not on the table. But he knew deep down that that couldn’t be the only passage; there must be more.

“Come on,” he said, gesturing for Sirius to follow him, which Sirius did without question. He walked across the common room to where Gid and Fab were sitting chatting up some girls.

“Gid, Fab,” he greeted, sitting on the armchair opposite them with Sirius hovering uncertainly behind him, “I have a question for you.”

“What is it?” one of the twins asked, grinning. Remus still couldn’t tell one from the other.

“I need a way to Hogsmeade, preferably without anyone finding out,” Remus replied, glancing from one to the other.
“Ambitious, are we?”

“Who says we can help you?” They said at the same time.

“Figured it was a safe bet,” Remus shrugged, “But if you don’t know, could you just point me in the direction of someone who would?”
The twins exchanged glances.

“This is a level 6 secret you’re asking for first-y,” Remus rolled his eyes. “What makes us sure we can trust you?”

“We’re asking to get out of the castle, not the code to your bloody safe,” Remus replied, before sighing at the confused expressions looking back at him and adding, “Muggle thing, sorry. Would you just tell us?”  The twins seemed to have an entirely telepathic conversation before answering.

“All right boys, but first, you need to swear this isn’t for some swotty first-year thing, and you’ll do some damage with this knowledge. We know you’re capable of it.”

“I solemnly swear we’re up to no good,” Remus said sarcastically, putting a hand on his heart. Sirius snorted from behind him and added, “Yeah, I swear.”

“Good,” Fabian (Remus was 70% sure it was him) nodded in satisfaction. “Fab, shall we?” He asked, turning to his twin. Well damn, guess not.

“We shall.” Fabian (the real one this time) announced, “Sorry Daisy, Alice, we’ve got business to attend to.”

“Real serious business, I’m sure,” Alice said, rolling her eyes and smiling at them.

“Top secret, as always,” Daisy added on, to which the twins just winked at them and gestured for Remus and Sirius to follow them.

Twenty minutes later, Sirius and Remus were in front of a statue of a humpbacked witch, sure they were being had on.

“Um, is this the right place?” Sirius asked hesitantly.

“Sure is little man,” Gid announced, grinning. He then pulled out his wand, tapped the statue, and whispered, “Dissendium”. The bump on the witch’s back opened to reveal a slide down into a secret passage, and Sirius and Remus grinned at each other.

“Got to add this to your little map,” Sirius whispered. Remus laughed and replied, “I will,”, before thanking the twins, who merely winked, againdo they ever stop? and left.

“Well, let’s go,” Sirius said, sliding feet-first into the passage without checking if it was safe.

“Has anyone ever told you you have no impulse control?” Remus shouted after him
“Has anyone ever told you you have too much? Live a little, Lupin!” Sirius shouted back. Remus grinned, took a deep breath, and followed Sirius. He always followed Sirius.

The 14^th arrived in the usual chaos of a morning in their dorm, but with Marlene added to the mix. She had burst in at 6 am, screaming happy birthday at the top of her lungs with James singing an unnaturally high, and deafening, excuse for a harmony. Sirius and Remus joined in between laughter as they all dog-piled onto Pete’s bed.

“Happy 12^th Pete my man!” Marlene shouted, shoving a parcel in his face.

“Ta Marls,” Pete acknowledged sleepily, moving to sit up on his bed and shoving Sirius off in the process. He opened the gift, which consisted of a mix of all of Pete’s favorite sweets and some dung bombs from Zonkos.

“Hey, thanks!” he said happily, hugging her quickly. She ruffled his hair in a sisterly fashion and replied, “Sorry it’s not more. Had to send away for it. Enjoy.” Pete waved off her apology, but before he could say anything he was buried in more presents.

“This is from me and Remus,” Sirius announced. Remus tried not to blush, remembering how he had not been able to afford a present for Pete and Sirius had insisted on buying, claiming that Remus finding the passage was his contribution. Pete’s eyes lit up at the assortment of pranking and joke supplies from Zonkos, and he nearly jumped for joy when he uncovered the rememberall they had bought him, so excited by the idea that he could finally lose his reputation as the scatterbrain of the group.

“Remus charmed it so that it tells you what you’re actually forgetting. A really clever piece of magic.” Sirius explained.

“Well, I figured it was pretty useless otherwise, wasn’t it?” Remus said shyly.

“Thanks, guys, really,” Pete said gratefully. James then forced his attention to him and his present, which was taking up the majority of the bed. Peter tore open the immaculate wrapping and actually did jump up this time when he discovered the contents.

“James?! A Wizarding chess set? This must have cost you a fortune!” He exclaimed, looking at the pristine set in awe.

“I got a good deal,” James said dismissingly. “Do you like it?”
“I love it!” Pete gushed, “Thank you!”

With that, James was established as the group’s greatest gift-giver, a title he bore proudly until his dying day.

***

December crawled closer, and as the weather got colder, Sirius started to realize his inevitable return home, once a far-off idea, was moving silently closer every day. He grew restless, desperate to keep his mind off his family. He played jokes on his teachers and classmates, he stopped holding his tongue, and he scheduled his days so that he wasn’t alone with his thoughts for a second. His number of detentions doubled, McGonagall saying something about him and James breaking some kind of record for first years. But he couldn’t account for the nights. Most nights, he snuck out, stealing James’s invisibility cloak, sometimes alone and sometimes causing trouble with the other boys, but as it got colder and colder, he couldn’t do it anymore. When he slept, he was haunted by the angry letters he had ignored all year, the threats that grew more and more violent, and the look of pity on Reg’s face, which morphed into James, then Pete, and then stayed at Remus. Remus reaching out to help him but shackled by his own chains, Sirius locked in the wine cellar for the whole holidays, Reg having to sneak him flat food under the door like he did when Sirius was 8 and had decided that he wanted to play rather than learn French, with resulted in his mother having to discipline him. The night before he was set to go home for Christmas, he found himself unable to take it a moment longer. As he got up, ready to walk around the grounds alone despite the frostbite he was sure to get, he heard Remus moving in his bed. He moved closer and heard whimpering, then crying. Remus was in pain, or was having a nightmare, and Sirius didn’t need to hear anything further. He pulled open Remus’s curtains, ready to wake him, only to see him awake, gripping his arm.

“Remus?” Sirius asked, and Remus jumped back in fright, quickly covering the fact that he had been upset.

“Sirius? Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Are you?” Sirius shot back. Remus looked ready to brush it off, but then he locked eyes with Sirius and something in the hazel shifted.

“No,” he whispered, dropping his gaze, “It hurts,” he said, holding out his bandaged arm.

“I’m not either,” Sirius admitted, sliding onto Remus’s bed next to him.

“Your family?” Remus asked. Sirius nodded.

“Fall again?” Sirius said bitterly, and Remus flushed, “I know you lie about how you get hurt. I just don’t know why. But you don’t have to tell me, I’ll figure it out.” Remus’s head shot up, suddenly deadly serious.

“Sirius, you can’t. This isn’t something you can fix, and you just can’t know. Please, please leave it alone. We won’t be friends anymore if you figure it out.” Sirius looked at Remus’s pleading face and knew Remus really believed what he was saying, but he couldn’t bring himself to agree, so instead, he deflected.

“Anymore?” he said, grinning slightly.

“What?” Remus blinked in the low light.

“You said we can’t be friends anymore. Meaning we’re friends now. You admitted it. I’m your friend.” He said smugly. Remus rolled his eyes but relaxed.

“Yeah, like I’d be friends with a posh git like you.” He said, grinning.

“No take-backs, we’re friends. Me, James, Pete, and you. Best friends forever.” Remus groaned and shoved him.

“Absolutely not.” Sirius laughed at him. They sat in silence for a while, each trapped in their own thoughts.

“Are you afraid your family is going to hurt you?” Remus asked quietly, as if afraid Sirius would break. Sirius couldn’t find it in him to respond, but he nodded quietly.

“Shit,” Remus whispered, causing Sirius to almost smile.

“You’re the only 11-year-old I know that curses like that.”

“Situation deserved a shit.”

“It does.”

“So, shit.” He said.

“Shit,” Sirius agreed, causing Remus to laugh.

“It just sounds so weird out of your posh-boy mouth.” He giggled, causing Sirius to softly shove his good arm, careful not to hurt him. More silence. And then-

“I still haven’t replied to any letters.” He confessed, everything easier in the low light, “and the threats are getting… harsher. I’m scared, I guess. A little. Of how far she’ll go. If he will get involved, if they’ll hurt Reggie. I think I’m just not ready to go home yet and break this little bubble of safety we’ve made. I’m worried she won’t let me back or she’ll force me into Slytherin or something. I don’t know, it’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb, Sirius,” Remus said softly, “I get it. I’m sorry about your family. It’s…”

“Shit?” Sirius suggested. Remus laughed.

“Yeah, shit. I wish you didn’t have to go back there. But you know if you ever need anyone…”

“Really?” Sirius said, starting to smile.

“Of course, James is always there for you.” Sirius laughed at that, and Remus smiled at him awkwardly and cleared his throat, “But, you know, if that doesn’t work out, you could always, you know, come to me.” Remus ducked his head, not meeting Sirius’s eyes. Sirius felt a warmth welling up inside of him at the sight of this scared, stand-offish, quiet boy shyly telling him that he was there for him. Sirius Black, of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Blackmail and Abuse, had gained the trust of Remus Lupin, and he didn’t know what he did to deserve that, but he knew he would never take it for granted.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” Sirius asked quietly, “I can’t sleep in my bed, and Reg and I used to stay together when that happened.” Remus looked up at him and nodded shyly, moving over and lifting the blankets. Sirius crawled under them next to Remus, settling immediately.

“Your bed’s much comfier than mine” He mumbled into the pillow.

“Grass is always greener on the other side,” Remus mumbled back. Sirius nodded as if he understood what on earth that meant.

“Thank you, Remus,” Sirius said, and when he met Remus’s eyes, he knew that they both knew he was thanking him for much more than just letting him stay the night, but Remus simply nodded and replied, “It’s just a bed. You’re welcome.”

**

Christmas at the Lupin house was always the same. They didn’t have enough money to make a big deal of the holiday, which had regardless lost a lot of its magic for Hope once she discovered magic was real and her dirtbag husband who left her and their 5-year-old son could do a lot of what Jesus did in the bible.  Nevertheless, she tried. She bought Remus what he needed (new clothes, toiletries, other essentials), and sometimes, if she could, she would buy him a record or two to add to Lyall’s old collection. Remus hated almost everything about his father, who baited Greyback into biting his son, was a leading anti-werewolf activist, and then left his family when his son was forced to bear the burden of his mistakes, but one thing he loved was those records. When the full moon was approaching, he could take his mind off it by lying on the cold floor and drowning himself in the songs depicting the stories of thousands of other people.

This Christmas was proving to be no different from any of the others. Hope had been hesitant of him, but that was usual, always afraid her son really would turn out to be the monster her husband thought he was. She flittered in and out of the house, leaving Remus to his own devices. He spent his days listening to music, kicking a football by himself, and reading. And worrying about Sirius. He worried about Sirius a lot.

On Christmas Eve, when Hope was sitting on the couch working while Remus read on the nearby armchair in uncomfortable silence, they received an invitation.

“Remus!” Hope called, causing him to look up from the book, unused to her seeking out a conversation with him.

“Yes mum?” he asked, hesitantly.

“Who are Euphemia, Fleamont, and James Potter?” Remus froze.

“And why,” she continued, “Are they inviting us to a Christmas party?” Remus’s pulse quickened

“Not sure, mum, maybe new people in the neighborhood?” he lied.

“Who sent a magic letter to a supposed muggle?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Now that I think about it, you said James Potter? Yeah, he’s in my class. Probably sent one to everyone. They’re rich like that. We can just ignore it.” She tilted her head at him, cleared her throat, and began to read

“Dear Mrs Lupin and Remus.

We hope this finds you in good health. Every year, we host a small Christmas Party on the day after Christmas for all our friends and associates. Attached to this letter is an invitation for both of you. We thought it would be fitting for you to join us, seeing as James and Remus have become such close friends.

We hope to be meeting you soon!

Love from,

Effie, Monty and James.”

 Remus winced. Dammit, James, why does your family have to be so nice?

“Okay, so, here’s the thing,” Remus started, but Hope interrupted him.

“We said no friends. It’s too dangerous for you, Remus. They could find out!”
“James won’t! I swear! They’re my roommates, I couldn’t-”

“They? Shit Remus, how many are there?”
“They’re friends mom, not goddamn enemy soldiers! And three. Maybe four. Tops five.”
“Five?! Remus, that’s five people that could find out. Have you any idea how dangerous this is?” Remus couldn’t take it anymore.

“You mean how dangerous I am?! I know, mum, it’s all you talk about. But they’re safe, they don’t know, and they won’t know, and your reputation is safe, and I have friends! For once in my miserable life, I have people who like me! They’re good people, and they like me! Can’t you let me have this?”

“Remus, you’re young, and you don’t get the risk-” Hope said, trying to stay calm

“I don’t get it?!” Remus interrupted, getting truly angry now, “I don’t get it!? I’m the only one that does! I know the risks; I’ve lived them! You aren’t even magical. How would you possibly know anything about this other than the poison Lyall spilled to you while he cared enough to stick around? You can’t even say it! Go ahead, say your son’s a werewolf! Or are you that repulsed by me? You say you’re keeping me safe, but I was miserable without them, mum!” Hope glared at him.

“You think you’re so grown up now. Fine, go ahead. Have your friends, let them find out, and see what happens. I’ve only ever tried to protect you, Remus. Lyall was wrong about a lot, but I saw the way your world treated your kind,” Remus scoffed at her words. Still couldn’t say it. “I know how these friends of yours would react if they found out. They’d shun you, hurt you, or get you arrested, and I can’t let that happen. I’m trying my hardest here, pet, but I can’t protect you from that if you won’t protect yourself.” Remus was shocked to see tears in her eyes and horrified by the tears in his own.

“I can’t go my whole life alone, mum. I just can’t. James, Sirius, Pete, and even Lily and Marlene and Emme and Mary, they showed me what it could be like, having people you can rely on. It's been four months, and they mean more to me than anyone I've ever known. Maybe they’ll betray me one day, find out and get me arrested or killed, but I have to take that chance. I have to.”

“I can’t let you do this to yourself, I won’t,” Hope said softly. “I won’t have you in this house if you insist on putting yourself at risk.”

“Do your best, Hope, but leave me out of it,” Remus replied, equally as soft, “And if you won’t have me here, I’ll leave.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“It’s my mistake to make.” Remus snatched the invitation out of Hope’s hands and walked out of the door, waiting for Hope to call after him. She didn’t call, and he didn’t know why he expected her to.

**

 Sirius stirred slightly at the sound of the cellar door opening and closing. He tensed, waiting for a blow that never came, and when he looked up, it was Regulus’s scared face looking back at him, holding a plate of food.

“Reg!” he cried out hoarsely, trying to lift himself up. Reg dropped to the floor to help him, placing the food in front of him.

“Sirius,” he whispered, “try to eat, quickly. They’re at some kind of event, I saw a chance and took it.”

“Thank you,” he rasped, shoving the food into his mouth desperately, “I owe you.”

“You don’t, you never do,” Reg replied sadly. “I’m sorry they do this to you. It’s never been this bad for me. I don’t understand why.”

“You aren’t the heir, and you aren’t the Gryffindor scum,” Sirius said, attempting to smile, which just made Reg start to tear up. Reg was everything Sirius wasn’t. While Sirius was rough, too wild to tame into a proper heir, a proper Black, Reg was soft. He cried easily, he loved calmly, no less strong than Sirius, just subtler. Regulus was trusting, easy to manipulate and force into submission, whereas Sirius was stubborn and hot-headed, which landed him in his current situation. Not even an hour after he arrived back, his mother had started on him about Gryffindor, about who he was friends with, and the things he was doing. Unfortunately, Sirius had lost his ability in the past months at school to bite his tongue, and his cheeky remarks had landed him in the cellar. For the past two weeks.

“They’ll need to let you out for the Christmas Eve party,” Reg whispered, “Prove to them that you can behave, then you won’t be back here.”
“I’ll try,” Sirius whispered back, drinking the water Reg had brought him. “Now get upstairs, keep safe.” Reg nodded and gathered the plates he had brought.
“I’m sorry, Sirius,” he said, tears spilling down his face. Sirius hoped this house never hardened Reg as it had him.

“It’s okay, Reggie. I missed you, you know? A lot.” Reg smiled through his tears.

“Missed you too, Sirius. See you soon.”
With that, the door was opened, and light spilled in for a second, before it was just Sirius and darkness and pain left, and Sirius collapsed back onto the floor, wishing he was back in the comfort of Remus’s bed before he had come back home.

**

“James! Stop jumping around, they’ll be here soon.” James’s mum looked at him fondly and put her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him, but he couldn’t help it. He loved going home and spending his days messing around with Pete and Marlene like he always did, but he missed Remus and Sirius terribly. Neither of them wrote to him the whole holiday, and he was worried about them. He didn’t quite understand their home lives, but he could gather enough to know that neither of them had it easy.

“James!” Pete shouted, tugging at his sleeve and pointing into the crowd of students at the platform, “There’s Remus! Look!” James followed Peter’s gaze and met Remus’s eyes. Remus smiled at him slightly, and he grinned, sprinting towards Remus and hugging him tightly.
“REMUS!” he shouted, “How was your holiday? Why didn’t you write back?”
“Hi James, it was all right, and yours? I’m sorry, I’ll explain later, okay?” Remus replied, his eyes tired and sad enough that James couldn’t bring himself to question him more, merely nodding and saying some throwaway comment about his holiday in general. Pete and Remus exchanged quick hellos before James’s parents came up behind them.

“Honestly James, you have to stop running off like this!” his dad huffed, though he was smiling.
“You must be Remus?” his mom said, smiling at Remus, who nodded and said, “Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Potter. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to make your Christmas party, thank you for the invitation.” Effie, never one to hold a grudge, waved off his apology, looking positively charmed by his manners.

“No apology needed, young man; I just hope we weren’t overstepping with the invite. Monty was worried.”

“Not at all,” Remus said quickly. “It was very appreciated.”

James and Peter stood slack-jawed. They knew Remus was charming, they had seen him chatting pleasantly to Professors and somehow weasel his way out of detentions that the other three constantly found themselves in, but on James’s own parents it was something else. He couldn’t for the life of him connect this mild-mannered, polite boy with the rough-edged, foul-mouthed, cunning Remus that lived with him. That is, he couldn’t, until Effie turned away for a moment and Remus winked at him mischievously. He stuck his tongue out in response and looked around for Sirius. I didn’t feel right, having just the three of them. They were four parts of a whole, James had felt it on the first day, and through the times when Remus tried his best to pull away, he had always known they would end up back like this, as four, as a family.

**

Remus couldn’t help looking out for Sirius wherever he went. He hadn’t gone back home after his fight with Hope, instead, he wandered around for a while until he found himself at an inn. He had begged for a place to stay, offered to work in exchange, and after a lot of convincing the old woman that owned the place agreed to let him convert the old tool shed into a place to stay, even giving him an old bed and a heater to try to keep warm, as well as meals. She had said that he didn’t even have to work, but he hadn’t wanted to be more of a burden, so when he could, he helped clean and work in the gardens. The woman, Rose, had started inviting him to eat dinner with the staff immediately, who was really only made up of her, her best friend Diane, and five other men and women that kept the place together and running. He had grown weirdly close with them, fond of their over-protectiveness and doting manner, aware that his age was a large factor in how they treated him, but he had kept to his shed as often as he could, and he was grateful he could come back to Hogwarts now and have a proper, warm place to stay and the company of people his own age that weren’t curious guests at the inn.

After chatting with Effie and Monty for a while, using all the skills he had gained entertaining guests at the inn, Remus, James, and Pete bid them goodbye and searched for a compartment, hoping Sirius would find them there. Before they could board the train, James spotted Sirius, but instead of pulling his usual James Potter move and rushing up to Sirius in a blur of happiness and shouts, he froze.

“James, what’s wrong?” Remus asked, concerned.

“Sirius. Something’s very wrong.” James had replied, his eyebrows furrowed as he pointed to where Sirius was standing, perfectly postured and blank-faced as he nodded along to whatever his mother was telling him through clenched teeth. They watched in silence as he bid her goodbye and stalked toward the boys. Remus watched sadly as Sirius’s entire demeanor changed, his shoulders relaxed, and his dull eyes brightened.

“James! Remus! Pete!” Sirius exclaimed when he reached them, “All right?”

“All right, you?” James replied, looking at him deeply.

“I’m fine, mum,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes. “Come on, let’s find a place to sit, shall we?

 **

“Remus?” Sirius whispered. Remus rolled over in bed and saw Sirius standing over him in the soft moonlight. His hair, shorter than it was when he left for Christmas, fell in strands and barely reached his eyes anymore.

“Sirius? What’s wrong?” Remus whispered back, immediately moving over so that Sirius could come to sit down on his bed. Sirius did just that, crawling under the blankets with him.
“I just missed this when I was there,” Sirius admitted.

“At home?” Sirius scoffed, “Sure, home.”

“What happened?” Remus asked.

“Nuh-uh. Not until you tell me what happened to you.” Sirius shifted on the bed and faced Remus. Remus blinked, not expecting this.

“What do you mean?” Remus asked hesitantly.

“You’re different. Upset, but something else too?”

“It’s not a big deal.” Sirius raised his eyebrow at him. “What? It’s not!”
“Look, Remus, I know you don’t think you can trust anyone. I could recognize it from one to another the second I saw you. I think that’s what made me trust you, weirdly, knowing that you didn’t trust me. But you can, you know? I won’t tell anyone else anything you don’t want me to.” Remus averted his eyes and cleared his throat. Sirius was staring at him so intently that he didn’t know what to do.

“Look, Sirius,” he started, unsure, “I can’t tell you everything. There’s some stuff about me that I just have to keep to myself.” Sirius’s face dropped, and Remus felt instantly guilty.
“I get it, don’t worry,” Sirius said, putting on a smile that would have convinced almost anyone else, but his eyes gave him away to Remus. They were too dull; they lacked their usual glint.

Remus sighed, “but…” he started, and Sirius’s head shot up, his eyes lighting up, “I can tell you a little, I guess.”

“Really?” Sirius whispered excitedly, “you don’t have to, but I’m really happy you want to! But you don’t have to, I swear. Thanks. I’ll stop talking now.” Remus chuckled softly, shaking his head at Sirius’s puppy-like excitement. Sirius was right; Remus didn’t trust people. But Sirius was, despite his best judgment, his best friend. He was reckless, hot-headed, and arrogant, but he was also loyal to a tee, loved his friends more than anything, and was the first person Remus had ever really felt like himself around. He was the bright side to most of Remus’s days, the feeling of warmth after a harsh winter night, and he trusted him. He really did.  

“I ran away.” He confessed quietly. Sirius sucked in a quick breath, obviously trying to be calm and collected but failing miserably.

“This holiday?” Remus nodded.

“Before Christmas. My mom and I got in a huge fight, and I left.”

“Where did you go?” Sirius asked. Remus told Sirius all about the Inn and his time there. Sirius moved closer to him as he spoke, maybe subconsciously, maybe to provide him with extra comfort. When he finished, Sirius let out a shaky breath.

“I can’t believe you just… left. I wish I could do that. You’re really brave, you know that, Lupin?”

“I don’t know about that-”

 “I do. You were brave. Can I ask you a question, though?”
“You just did, but I’ll allow another one.” Sirius rolled his eyes.

“1, that was dorky. 2, what did you and your mom fight about?”

“Ah… that, that is something I don’t think we can get into,” Remus admitted. Sirius nodded.
“I get it, thanks for telling me about this holiday. I’m sorry though, about all of it.”

“Yeah, well, not a big deal,” Remus replied, uncomfortable with the attention, “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Oh, my turn, is it?” Sirius said.

“Tit for tat.”

“Hate that saying.”

“Me too. Creeps me out.”
“You know what creeps me out?”
“Pete’s pile of clothes that moves?”

“Pete’s pile of clothes that moves.”

They laughed quietly. James said something in his sleep that quieted them down again before starting up again. The next half an hour or so passed in quiet conversation and hushed laughter before Remus began to grow tired.

“Sirius?” he whispered once they had fallen silent, “Did you still want to talk about your holiday?” Sirius looked up from his place on one of Remus’s pillows and met his eyes. He looked like he was calculating something for a while before smiling softly.

“You know, I did, but I think I’m okay. I think I needed this more.”

“This? What do you mean?” Remus asked. Sirius went red.

“Don’t make me say it, man. You know,” he said, and Remus grinned.

“I know.” And weirdly, he did. He understood how Sirius could find comfort in Remus sharing something private with him because he knew how Sirius sharing what happened to him at home had helped him feel closer to him that first night in the infirmary.

“Well, if you want to share at some point, you can. I’m here for you, I guess. And I don’t know exactly what your family did, but I know it was wrong. And I’m sorry, you deserve more.”
“Thanks, Remus. I guess.” Sirius replied, grinning. Remus shoved at him, and they grinned sleepily.

**

Three months passed, and Remus kept mysteriously getting hurt, or sick, about once a month. Sirius couldn’t figure it out, and it was killing him how much Remus was holding back and how much pain he always seemed to be in. James and Remus both had their birthdays come and go in March, with James declaring the entire week his birthday week, and Remus not letting them all know that it was his birthday until the 9^th, the day before. Luckily, Sirius had no conscious or regard for the rules, so the night of the ninth was spent with Pete and James, stealing Remus's presents from Honeydukes (which James left money for, the good boy that he was at heart). They had surprised the other boy with an assortment of chocolates the next morning, promising more presents later, which Remus was overly grateful for and extremely reluctant to accept. He was even worse a week later when the rest of his presents arrived. A few new soft oversized jumpers from James, records and more chocolate from Sirius, a few new muggle books that Remus loved from Peter, and other bits and bobs from the girls that he was apparently loved by. James’s birthday on the other hand was known about for ages beforehand, and they all planned for it for a while.

It had become a bit of a tradition between them on birthdays that they were woken up by being piled on by the others who sang the “Happy Birthday” song as out of key as possible, just like James does by accident every time, as well as a large scene being made in the Great Hall over breakfast, and overdramatically, embarrassingly fawning over them.

 April brought with it April Fool’s Day, which Sirius and Remus learned was a big deal in the Potter household as they woke up to James and Pete’s laughter as they both got covered in whipped cream. After cleaning up, they decided revenge was necessary, which was how James and Pete ended up twenty minutes late to the first lesson covered in feathers and mud. Later that day Pete betrayed his and James’s alliance by dunking a bucket of ice-cold water onto him as he walked through the door, which James retaliated to by hexing him to make every sentence he said come out in gibberish for the rest of the day, meaning he couldn’t retaliate with spells. Sirius then swooped in and died James’s eyebrows bright pink. These pranks escalated throughout the day until the rest of the school started getting roped in, classes were disrupted to the point of being canceled, friendships and relationships were formed and broken, and the boys were called into McGonagall’s office.

“Boys, I don’t usually get involved in this kind of student nonsense, but this has gone too far. Potter, your hair is quite frankly disturbing, as is Pettigrew’s nose.” She said, but Sirius could have sworn he saw a smile.

“Well, frankly Minnie-” Sirius started.

“Professor” McGonagall corrected.

“-that’s quite offensive to Pete and James. They’re really insecure about-”

“Black!” she shouted, and he involuntarily flinched at the name and tone of her voice, eerily similar to his mother's tone before she would lock him in the cellar. He silently prayed that no one had noticed, especially Remus, who had noticed before and had acted weirdly nice to him after it. “I don’t want to hear it! This day has been a nightmare for everyone in this school, you’ve gotten countless others involved, no work has been done by anyone, and people have started to place bets on who will come out victorious. It ends now. You four will declare a truce and never prank each other again, understood?”
Sirius and James met eyes, and their faces slowly lit up, which caused James to start giggling, probably due to the hex Remus had put on him that made his teeth look like something out of a horror movie. He was still working out the counter curse.

“You see, Professor, we can’t really call a truce without a winner. We need you to declare a winner.” James grinned. McGonagall sighed and muttered something along the lines of ‘Of course you do’ before straightening up.

“You want me, a professor, to get even more involved, and declare a winner of this ridiculous prank war?”
“Yip.” Sirius declared happily, “And we want a ceremony. With a cup, like a house cup, but for the winner.” McGonagall glared at him, clearly about to say no, but Remus spoke before she could.

“Professor, we understand this is inconvenient to you, so in exchange, we would be willing to offer two completely mischief-free weeks, whenever you feel obliged to take us up on the offer. I will personally ensure my dorm mates do nothing disruptive in those days and are perfect students. We just feel that due to the number of students that have gotten involved, it would only cause more chaos to leave it unresolved.”
The boys all held their breaths as McGonagall thought this over, clearly wanting to say yes but trying to hold on to her professionalism. Finally, she sighed and transfigured a nearby pencil into a miniature trophy.

“Here’s the deal, boys,” she said, putting the trophy down in front of them, “I will have this cup in my possession for the next day. It’s currently Thursday afternoon, by this time tomorrow afternoon, whichever of you has this in your possession will be the winner, then this ends. Whoever brings this back to me anytime between 5 and 6 tomorrow evening wins. I will announce the winner to the school at tomorrow’s dinner so that everyone knows this is over. You will be allowed this once a year, in exchange for two weeks of peace. I believe this is more than fair, and ridiculous enough that you will agree. However, you are not to harm anyone else, or each other, in the process, and you will be under a truce for the rest of the year. Deal?” Sirius couldn’t believe it. She was agreeing, she was playing along. This was the best day of his life; nothing was ever going to top this.

“Deal,” James said, grinning from ear to ear, going up to shake her hand.

“All right,” she said, already sounding exhausted, “Your day of marauding starts-”

“Marauding? What’s that?” Pete asked, his voice nasally through his enormous bright orange nose. McGonagall rolled her eyes.

“A marauder is a thief or someone who generally causes chaos while robbing something, as you four are no doubt about to do.  Now, your day starts now. Good luck to you all, don’t burn down the castle.”

Sirius and James looked at the cup, lying on the desk, and then at each other, then back to the cup. As one, they moved to grab the cup, but before they could, Remus froze them both with a quick charm and stole it, flashing McGonagall a charming smile and thanking her for her time before sprinting away, Pete running after him. McGonagall looked down at James and Sirius and sighed before reversing the charm with a quick wave of her wand.

“Thanks, Minnie!” Sirius said, jumping up.

“I’m already regretting this,” She replied, deadpanned, “Now for Merlin's sake, leave my office.”

“Yes ma’am!” James said, saluting, before they both ran out, stumbling over each other as they did.

The next day was, to put it lightly, hell. Sirius spent no less than 80% of his time being either hexed or hoodwinked, had the cup for approximately 10 seconds before being brutally tackled to the floor by James, who held the cup for a total of two seconds before being hit with a tickling jinx by Remus and dropping the cup at Remus’s feet. Remus then made the fatal mistake of holding it smugly and by just the handle, allowing it to be summoned out of his hands by Gideon Prewet, who handed it to Peter in exchange for 2 galleons. This kind of competition carried on all through the night until prefects and staff alike gave up on telling them to go to bed and merely sat around watching the chaos and placing bets on the outcome. The sun rose over the great lake on Friday as it always did, but rather than a peaceful and serene environment, it shed light on more than half the school awake, cursing the four Gryffindor first years and all the racket they had been making the whole night. Lunchtime rolled around, and the four of them, who had started being referred to and referring to themselves as ‘The Marauders’, sat and ate in silence, glaring at each other as they tried to figure out who currently held the cup. Sirius was sure it was James, but James swore Remus took it off him while he slept, to which they all scoffed and replied as one, “None of us slept, Potter.”

Eventually, Pete gave himself away as the cupholder, cackling and holding it up as he ran out the hall, only to be tripped by a bored-looking Lily Evans, who casually picked it up and threw it to Remus with a wink.

“Thanks, Lils!” Remus shouted as he ran out. Sirius couldn’t help but wonder when Remus had suddenly become such good friends with Lily Evans of all people, but he brushed the thought aside in exchange for chasing after him.

5 o’clock rolled around, and Remus was nowhere to be found. The other boys had teamed up to try to find him to no avail and had settled for merely waiting in the corridor by McGonagall’s office to ambush him. When the clock hit 5:30 they heard footsteps and jumped up. Remus appeared, smirking and empty-handed. Sirius stepped forwards.

“Where is it, Lupin?” he asked quietly, wand out.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Remus replied, still smirking. James, obviously deciding a sneak attack was his best option, ran towards Remus, yelling, only to fall face first into a pool of mud that had appeared before him in place of the floor. He sat up, spitting mud out of his mouth and wiping it off his glasses.

“Not cool, man” he groaned, completely covered.

“Anyone else want to try?” Remus asked smugly. Sirius narrowed his eyes.

“You have to get past us to get to the office,” he said, “And you don’t seem to have the cup on you. What’s your game?”

“I could tell you,” Remus started, picking his way across the corridor past James’s mud pool, “But then I would have to kill you.”

Pete, following James’s strategy, suddenly jumped at Remus, who casually sidestepped him and let him fall into the mud with James, waving his wand and causing some feathers to fall over them and stick to them, no doubt as a homage to the first prank Remus and Sirius had pulled on them the day before. He knew they would end up there, Sirius realized, he’s got this whole thing planned out.

“Okay, you win Lupin. Where is it?” he asked, edging his way closer to the door to block Remus.

“The cup?” Remus asked innocently.

“No Lupin, the new Bowie album Hunky Dory. Yes, the cup!”
“Wait,” Remus paused, “You listened to it?”

“I’ve been waiting to tell you, I loved it,” Sirius replied excitedly.

“How good was it?!” Remus grinned.

“It was amazing, honestly, he has to be a wizard.”
“Honestly, I think he is, or he knows a few.”
“Changes? Pure magic.”
“I’m so glad you liked it, and we will definitely talk about this later, but should we get back to the whole cup thing?” Remus asked, still smiling.

“Oh, right!” Sirius straightened up and hardened his expression, trying not to laugh at James and Peter still trying and failing to get out of the mud without falling, “Where is it Lupin?”

At this point, McGonagall had emerged from her office to watch the end of the competition with polite interest, or maybe just to make it easier to end it once and for all. Until next year, that was.

“Yes Mr. Lupin, where is it?” she asked, looking at his empty hands, “The cut-off is in two minutes.”
“I know, Professor, I have it here,” Remus replied, smiling at her.

“Where?” Sirius asked suspiciously. Remus walked closer to him, until they were almost touching, before reaching out and slowly taking a small pin off of his robes, a pin he hadn’t noticed was there. Sirius raised an eyebrow at him, to which Remus just grinned, turned away, and stood next to McGonagall.

“Here it is, Professor.” He said, handing the small pin to her.

“Um, Remus,” James said, from the floor where he lay, having given up, “That’s a pin.”

“I know.” Remus replied, “But it is currently 5:59 and as of 6 o’clock, it won’t be.” A few seconds passed, in which Sirius realized. But there was no way. That was 3^rd year-level magic, and Remus couldn’t-

Just then, the bell went that signaled half an hour to dinner, the 6 o’clock bell, and Remus turned to McGonagall’s outstretched hand and quickly transfigured the pin into the cup. Sirius wanted to scream. It had been on him the whole time.

“Well done, Mr. Lupin,” McGonagall praised Remus, looking genuinely impressed.

James and Pete finally managed to climb out of the pool and ran over to them.

“No way!” James said, “We never said you could transfigure the cup! And how do we even know it’s the same one?”

“It has my magical signature on it, Potter,” McGonagall said, smiling, “And as for the no transfiguring, that just goes to show that next year you will have to make more clear rules, won’t you? Until then, Remus is the winner.”

Sirius laughed and flung his arm around Remus’s shoulders, ruffling his hair, “Well done, Remus, you played us. Enjoy this, next year that cup is mine.”

“Merlin save us,” McGonagall muttered. “Boys, go clean up for dinner. Remus, well done. Ten points to Gryffindor for some truly advanced magic.”

Remus beamed and nodded his thanks shyly, and suddenly Sirius couldn’t find it in himself to be anything but proud of his win.

Later at dinner, Dumbledore himself announced Remus’s win with much flare and dramatics, which promptly caused Remus to go bright red and sink in his chair and half the school to cheer and begin claiming money from the other half, who had apparently all been betting on the outcome. Remus was forced to stand up and accept the cup from Dumbledore, and the other boys, now clean and rid of any lasting effects of the two days, cheered louder than anyone else at his win, promptly back to being best friends. Sirius forced Remus to wear a crown that he and James had made that had “Ultimate Marauder” written on it, and together they scratched his name into the side of the cup next to the year.

When the rest of the school returned to their own meals and conversations, James forced the boys to lift their glasses to Remus.

“Well deserved, my friend. To Remus, the reigning Ultimate Marauder. Enjoy this year, next year it’s mine. Cheers.” James toasted. The others laughed and ‘cheers’ed to Remus, and the rest of the night was spent in blissful peace for the rest of the school. Before he went to sleep, Sirius saw Remus carefully place the cup on his bedside table, the first personal belonging he had ever placed there, and he smiled to himself. He would take it to his grave, but he was glad Remus had won, he deserved it, no matter how much James claimed he cheated. He really was the best of them.

**

Sirius’s birthday fell on a full moon. Of course, it did. Remus cursed himself at allowing this to happen, although realistically he knew he had no control over either event. He knew that in order to make it up to Sirius his gift had to be amazing, so he managed to convince McGonagall to send out an order to a muggle music shop for him and to buy three records that he knew Sirius would love, firstly because it was a muggle object and Sirius was obsessed with everything Muggle, and secondly because Sirius had gotten hooked on listening to music ever since Remus had introduced him to it, having snuck into his house the day before school started to retrieve his school supplies, his record collection and a few other personal items he needed. He didn’t have the money to pay for it, so he had offered to teach Gid and Fab how to play poker, and promptly took a good portion of the fourth-year boys' dorm’s money.  McGonagall had even converted the galleons to muggle money for him and given him the leftover, confirming his long-held theory that she had a soft spot for them, especially Sirius. On the morning of the 10^th of May Remus was woken up quietly by James to help get ready to surprise Sirius.  Every nerve in his body protested as he got up, but he gritted his teeth and pushed himself out of bed, gathering the neatly wrapped present from underneath it. James, Pete, and Remus gathered around Sirius’s bed and counted to three, before ripping open the curtains and screaming “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” at full volume, causing Sirius to scream and fall on the floor, tangled in his sheets. They jumped onto his bed, screeching the birthday song as loudly as they could and ignoring him cursing at them as he untangled himself and stood up to join them. Once they finished Pete produced the cake they had bribed the house elves into making the night before, red velvet as it was Sirius’s favorite. He grinned and stuck his finger in the side, licking the icing off and announcing that it tasted great.

“Thanks, guys, really.” He said happily as James handed him his first present. Nobody mentioned the lack of presents from his family, just as no one had on Remus’s birthday so long ago, and it was nice. Remus could almost forget about the upcoming night of torture as he watched Sirius squeal with excitement over the bundle of presents he got from James and the Potters, who had also deemed it necessary to give all of James’s friends presents on special occasions. He thanked Pete for the bunch of jokes and pranking supplies he had given him from Zonkos, he grinned stupidly and strutted around in the new sunglasses that Marlene had given him, the two of them having bonded over their love of muggle fashion, and Remus could have sworn he nearly cried when he opened Remus’s gift and saw the three records.

“Re, “he said softly, holding them like they were precious, “How did you-, I mean, my own records, I just- thank you!” Remus blushed and mumbled “No problem” as Sirius launched across the bed and hugged him.

Over breakfast, they sang again, this time with most of the hall joining in due to their growing, and wildly surprising, popularity after April Fool’s, and Sirius standing on the bench to conduct them. None of them ate very much, mostly full from the cake in their dorm, but they chatted and fawned over Sirius, constantly asking how he was and if they were meeting his birthday needs until James offered to feed him grapes and fan him and Marlene officially told them to cut it off before she threw up the cake she had taken from them that morning.
The rest of the day passed in that fashion, the attention falling on Sirius so much that no one noticed as Remus slowly stopped being able to keep up and started wincing at every step. At 4 in the afternoon, however, Remus couldn’t take it anymore, and he announced that he was feeling sick and was going to the infirmary.

“Again?” Sirius asked, immediately concerned, “Re, this is getting ridiculous. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Remus said through gritted teeth as he stood and began to walk out of the common room. Sirius followed him, because of course he did.

“Come on, it’s my birthday. You aren’t allowed to lie to me.” He said, nudging Remus playfully, which on a normal day wouldn’t have hurt at all, but today almost made Remus pass out from the pain.

“Sirius,” he started, trying to remain calm, “I’ve told you before, there are some things I can’t tell you. Now I’m sorry, but I’m in a lot of pain, and I need to go to the hospital wing, so if you’ll excuse me-” Sirius stood in front of him, clearly trying to stop him. Remus took a deep breath and tried to remind himself that he was just worried, and this was his best friend, and he didn’t mean any harm, but he was running out of patience.

“Sirius, move.”

“Remus, tell me.” Sirius retorted. Remus bit the inside of his cheek to keep from swearing.

“Sirius, I’m not asking again.” He said slowly. Sirius met his eyes, equally as stubborn, standing his ground. Remus huffed out a breath and prayed to Merlin that he wasn’t about to make a huge mistake. He stepped forward and picked Sirius up with ease, turning around and then setting him down without any ounce of effort. Sirius’s eyes went wide.

“What the hell, Remus? How the hell are you that strong?? What-”

“Goodbye, Sirius. Happy Birthday.” Remus said, cutting Sirius off and walking stiffly away, leaving Sirius staring dumbfounded after him. Yip, he was going to pay for that one later.

**

July came, and everyone started preparing to go home for the summer. Sirius had been doing more and more research on what Remus could be suffering from and had found nothing, but he had some theories and would search more at his house, as long as he could keep out of the cellar. He just couldn’t understand what made someone sick so often, yet didn’t always affect them, and how Remus, while being so sick, could fully lift him without breaking his stride when he was supposedly in so much pain. It made no sense, but he was determined to figure it out and find out how to help Remus if it was the last thing he did. When the day came for them all to leave, Sirius woke up in Remus’s bed, not remembering how he got there but not entirely surprised, as it happened more and more often these days as home time approached. James woke them up, berating Sirius about leaving his packing to the last minute and helping Pete get all of his stuff together. Remus and Sirius started blearily packing and Sirius frowned when he reached his collection of muggle things that he had gained throughout the year.

“Hey, James,” he called, and James immediately came over.

 “Yeah, what do you need?” he asked, starting to make Sirius’s bed for him, as if the house elves wouldn’t strip it after they left.

“Could you, um, keep some stuff for me this holiday? It’s just, my parents can’t know I have it, or they’d freak out.”

“Of course,” James said easily, going over to his neatly packed trunk and opening it, moving things around to create space for Sirius’s items.

“Thanks, mate,” Sirius said gratefully, picking up his collection and moving it over to James’s bed putting it down on the neatly folded sheets, “You’re a neat freak, but you’re all right.”

“Ha ha,” James replied sarcastically, “Someone had to be, could you imagine our dorm without me?”
“He’s got a point,” Remus chipped in from his corner where he sat packing his own trunk. Sirius rolled his eyes but thanked James again anyways.

“It’s really no problem, I’ll put it in your room,” James said, packing the stuff.

“My room?” Sirius asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” James said easily, “My parents dedicated a room to you, for if you ever want to come to stay, they know your parents aren’t the easiest people to deal with and they wanted you to have somewhere to go. Remus has one too.” Sirius couldn’t speak. Embarrassingly, he felt his eyes well up with tears and a lump form in his throat, which he quickly swallowed down and couched. These bloody Potters. He looked over at Remus who was staring at James with a similarly awe-struck impression.

“You fucking Potters,” Remus said, before covering the width of the room in three huge strides and tackling James into a hug, quickly followed by Sirius.

“Um, guys, what’s going on?” James asked, laughing and nervously patting them, likely due to the fact that neither of them had ever initiated a hug before. Pete leaned against the bedpost and laughed at James’s scared impression.

“Just let it happen J,” he said, grinning. Sometimes, Sirius got the impression that Pete understood a lot more than he let on. Sirius and Remus clung to James for a few more seconds, before both quickly pulling away and going back to their own packing as if nothing had happened.

“Guys?” James said hesitantly, “What just happened?”
“Don’t know what you mean, Potter,” Remus said roughly, while Sirius replied with a simple and classy, “Don’t be daft, James.” And that was that.

**
The train ride passed in a blur of laughter and attempts to distract Sirius, which usually involved dung bombs and Slytherins, mostly those related to Sirius. At some points, the girls came and sat with them, having become friends over the year, before bidding them goodbye to go sit by themselves. Through it all, Remus kept an eye on Sirius, who nudged him gently at one point to tell him that he was okay, and changed the conversation to ridiculous ways he could try to escape to come to see them this summer.  

“I’ll get you out, at least for a week,” James said confidently, “You too, Remus. The last week of summer, you’ll see, you’ll all be at my place.”

“James, you do know that I can come and visit this summer, right?” Remus said cautiously. He hadn’t told James and Pete that he had run away, but he figured a few days here and there at the Potters wouldn’t be out of order.

“You can?!” James asked excitedly, “Okay, then it’s settled. This summer, the last week, you are all coming to mine.”
“Good luck with that, mate,” Sirius said, shaking his head, but Remus couldn’t help but believe him. It was that James Potter grin, paired with his overconfident demeanor and the pure optimism that he walked around with that made Remus believe that if James wanted them together at the end of the summer, no amount of Black family mind games or blackmail would matter, they would be together at the end of the summer. He remembered the first day he met these three, how determined he had been that he would not make friends, that he would be alone for the rest of his life, and how James had simply decided that that wasn’t good enough and he wouldn’t stand for it. He remembered the nights the four of them had spent over the year chatting and causing trouble, or the moments they had leaned on each other through exams or family issues, how James had been a beacon of hope and a constant source of kindness for the rest of them, no matter what, and Remus suddenly felt overwhelmingly grateful for whatever force in the universe that decided that James Potter would be in his life, in all of their lives. Remus looked over at Pete, sitting quietly and concentrating on his game of exploding snap with Sirius, and he grinned at the look of determination on his face to finally beat Sirius at the game, which he had never lost. Sirius cheered as the pile exploded on Peter and Sirius won again, teasing Pete about the ash all over his face. Remus smiled. He had an upcoming summer of work at the inn, of entertaining guests and tending to the gardens, of bad sleep in a rickety old shed, of transforming chained to somewhere safe and of insane amounts of pain, but right at that moment, he was happy, and, looking over at Sirius, he found himself thinking that the rest could wait.