To us

YEAR 3

Summer passed as it normally did for James. He spent his days running around with Peter and Marlene, alternating between playing games on their brooms to swimming in the lake on James’s estate. He spent nights having bonfires with his friends and family, roasting marshmallows, and telling stories of the year that they had spent away from each other. He laughed until his ribs hurt, played cards with his dad, and got hugs from his mom, and he worried. He worried for Remus, living in what James could tell was not the comfortable accommodation he made it out to be, alone without help before and after the full moons, and yet unwilling to come to stay with him and “put his parents at risk”. He worried for Sirius, in a house that haunted him even at Hogwarts, with parents that didn’t love him, that hurt him. There was a week left that summer, far too long to go without all of the marauders together, and James was on a mission. Remus had finally agreed to visit the next day and spend the week, and all that was left was Sirius.

“James!” his mom called from the dining room table where she sat opening mail. James ran in from the living room, glasses askew and eyes hopeful.

“Mum? Is he coming?!” James asked, breathless. She smiled.

“It took a lot, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to convince them again, but yes James, Sirius is arriving tomorrow morning.”

“YES! Thanks mum! I’ve got to go tell Pete!” James ran over and gave her a quick side hug that almost knocked her over before sprinting out the kitchen door, the tight ball of worry in his chest loosening a little for the first time that whole summer. His best friends were coming, his best friends were safe.

***

Sirius knew that James wanted him there. He knew, logically, that James had invited him, and Effie and Monty had tirelessly campaigned to his mother to let him visit, and yet he couldn’t get his mind to shut up. There was just this constant voice, sounding a lot like dear Walburga Black, in his head.

“SIRIUS!!” He caught James as he flung himself into his arms, ignoring the pain as he hit the bruises. He doesn’t want you here. Why would he?  He smiled and greeted James, ruffling his hair. Don’t touch him, he doesn’t want you, no one wants you. He greeted Effie and Monty, he thanked them for having him, they said it was no problem. But it is. Why would they be okay with you being here? They have James, and James is perfect. They won’t want a screw-up like you. He flinched when Monty led him inside, ready for the hit that never came. Idiot. Now you’ve done it. He’ll throw you on the street.

James was taking a mile a minute. He heard the names of their friends, James’s friends, not yours, no, their friends, and he tried to concentrate on his voice instead of the cruel buzzing in his head. He supposed time passed, as the day got colder and James kept talking, as did he, but he couldn’t hear himself. Not over the voice. It was just so loud, everything was loud, loud, loud-

“Remus!” he looked up. Quiet. James ran from beside him to throw himself into Remus’s arms, grinning from ear to ear, and the buzzing stopped. The screaming stopped; it was all gone. He could breathe, he didn’t know why, but God was he grateful. Remus and James walked over, James talking Remus’s ear off while Remus just smiled, looking as happy as Sirius to be here.

“All right, Sirius?” Remus asked in that soft, careful way he did sometimes. Sirius smiled.

“Am now. You?” Sirius asked. Remus grinned.

“Same.”

James scoffed, “I’m good too, thanks, guys.” He said sarcastically.

“No one cares, Potter,” Sirius said, affectionately hitting him. James lost his fake put-out pout.

“Hey, welcome back to the land of the living. Was getting worried there.” He said jokingly, but Sirius could hear the genuine concern beneath his playful tone.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Takes a while sometimes, you know.”

“Don’t worry about it mate, just glad you’re back before dinner with Pete and Marls tonight. Apparently, she’s got Mary with her too.” James said excitedly, leading them into the house. Sirius went to share a knowing glance with Remus about James’s typical excitement at having people to host but stopped short when his gaze, rather than meeting Remus’s eyes as it usually did, only reached his neck.

“Um, Moony?” Sirius started, gaze traveling up and down Remus’s body, completely changed from just a few months ago. Aside from the huge growth spurt that made Sirius have to look up to meet his friend’s eyes, Remus had clearly been through a lot of changes that summer. He was tanned, with freckles dotting his cheeks and nose, and even his arms which weirdly made Sirius wonder about his back, which he had never seen due to Remus’s tendency to change away from them. His shoulders had broadened a little, and his shirt was tighter around his arms, a telltale sign of muscles that Sirius was sure were never there before.

“Yeah?” Remus replied, stopping as well to wait for him and tilting his head questioningly at him, his curls falling to the side. Curls that had turned lighter from the sun and were longer than Sirius had seen them before.

“What, uh, what happened?” his mouth was dry for some reason.

“What do you mean?” Remus’s eyebrows furrowed over his honey eyes, hints of green showing in the sunlight.

“You’re different. I mean, good different, not that you were bad before, but just, yeah, you look different.” Sirius could feel his face heating up, probably due to the summer heat. Remus’s gaze cleared.

“Oh, yeah, I was working a lot in the gardens for the Inn this summer. Guess I got a tan.” Remus said, shrugging.

“Makes sense,” Sirius said weakly. What the hell is going on, get it together, man. The voice in his head sounded a lot like James now, which he guessed was an upgrade. Remus looked at him closely, looking puzzled. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by James running out of the house and calling them for dinner, shouting that Marlene and Mary, and apparently Emmeline were there.  Sirius felt a flash of irritation at James, immediately followed by confusion. Why on earth was he mad at James? He loved James. He shook it off as just leftover weirdness from his house and smiled at Remus before following James inside.

**

Remus cringed and shielded his eyes as the bludger flew towards Sirius. He sat in the stands with Pete, watching the Quidditch tryouts, bundled up against the unusually cold day in one of the many old sweaters the woman who ran the inn gave him, presumably that used to be her husband’s. James had taken to calling them ‘granddad sweaters,' and Lily loved to tease him about them, and yet he always seemed to catch at least one of his friends wearing one at all times. Frank Longbottom, as the new quidditch captain in his sixth year, was holding open tryouts for the team, announcing clearly that no one was promised a spot on the team, even if they had had one the year before. This was exciting for people like Sirius, who were trying out for the first time, but it resulted in many breakdowns from James even though he was almost guaranteed a spot, not because of having been on the team, but due to his undeniable (even to Remus) skill. Remus uncovered his eyes as Peter cheered from next to him and he looked up to see the bludger speeding away from Sirius towards a player on the opposite mock team, a wide grin on Sirius’s face. He moved his gaze to James, currently flying towards the goals, quaffle in hand and in full concentration mode. He watched as James feigned going right and then scored past Frank himself, who looked incredibly happy about it. The tryouts passed slowly after that as Frank ran drills to test more specific skills. Remus watched James dodge bludger after bludger sent his way, swerving through the course Frank had set up with ease and scoring again and again. He watched Sirius and Marlene over at the Beaters section knock out targets time and time again and work together seamlessly, and he felt a weird flash of jealousy at Sirius being close with someone else. He shook it off as Pete leaned over and whispered something about the girl sitting in front of them and how she had apparently broken up with someone that summer. Remus rolled his eyes and looked back at Sirius high-fiving Marlene. He must just still be feeling weird from the summer. It would go away soon.

That night, James and Sirius were complaining non-stop. Every few minutes, they would moan about how stiff they were, how unfit, how desperate they were for someone to fetch them this or that. Now, Remus could acknowledge how much they had helped him over full moons and could suck up his pride for the first few hours, but when Sirius flopped onto his essay he was working on on his bed and demanded a back massage, he snapped.

“Nope, nope, can’t do it. See you gits at dinner, suck it up.” He said, gathering up his favorite book, throwing on a jumper, and heading out to the library, desperate for some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, the universe has never been kind to Remus John Lupin, and when he turned the corner to the library’s corridor, he found himself confronted with a crying Lily.

“Lily? What’s wrong?” he asked, alarmed.

“Remus!” she hurriedly wiped at her eyes and sniffed, trying to smile. “Nothing at all.” She looked away, clearly trying not to meet his eyes.

“Lily,” he shot her an unimpressed look, “You’re clearly upset. What’s up?” Lily looked up at him and seemed to appraise him. She then pulled him into an empty classroom nearby and shut the door quickly behind them. Remus was starting to get seriously worried about what she was about to admit to him.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath and Remus braced himself, “Look, this is really stupid okay, and I need you to promise you won’t tell anyone!”
“Okay, I promise,” Remus said easily. 

“I was crying because Mary told Jenna I haven’t kissed anyone, and she didn’t mean to, but now Jenna is going to think I’m too immature to hang out with her friends, and I really like her friends, and-” 

“Whoa, Lily, slow down. You’re thirteen, Lils! You don’t have to kiss anyone! Literally, no one has yet, and that’s fine!” Remus reassured her gently, just relieved it wasn't something serious.

“I know. I told you it was stupid. I guess I just don’t want to be left out. It feels like wizards just do everything so much faster than muggles, and I don’t know when I’m supposed to have kissed anyone, and it just feels like another way I’m not fitting in, you know? Like, I don't fit in with Muggles, right, because obviously I'm a witch and my sister is horrid, but then I come here and I don't fit in either, because I'm too muggle? And Severus, you know Severus, we've been friends since forever, he said something really awful the other day about muggles and he apologised, but it feels like he's changing. And he's the one person I know I fit in with, and he can't become awful because then where does that leave me?” Remus softened. Admittedly, he had been thinking this whole thing was ridiculous, but this fear of not fitting in was one he understood well. He knew Lily had a hard time with this issue as she’d spoken about it before, and he knew how hard Snape acting out must be for her. He got it; more than any other thing she could be battling with, he understood the need to fit in more than anything else in the world. Remus knew he couldn't help her that her best friend was turning into an ass, but he could help with one thing. He took a deep breath, not believing he was about to offer what he was.

“Look, don’t make this weird, but I’ll do it,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder awkwardly.

“Do what?” she asked, confused.

“I’ll kiss you. Just quickly, so you can say you’ve done it, and you can fit in, or whatever.”

Lily looked at him with wide eyes, shaking her head as if to clear it.

“You will? Won’t that be weird? I don’t like you like that, Remus. I mean, you've gotten really attractive, everyone thinks so, but-”

“No! No, Lily, neither do I, and it’s just an offer. So it’s done.” He said, shrugging and trying not to betray his embarrassment about the situation. Lily thought about it for a second and seemed to deem his offer genuine.

“Okay,” she said slowly, “Okay, that could work. Just try it, that’ll work. Rather this than with someone I don’t know, right?”

“Yeah, right.” He said, not really knowing what to do now.

“So… should we just do it?” she asked and he nodded.

“Just, let’s not be weird after. This is just as friends.” He said quickly. She smiled.

“Agreed.” She said, and before he could say anything else, she leaned forward and promptly put her lips against his. They stayed like that for a few seconds before pulling away.  He smiled at her, a question in his eyes.

“Thanks.” She said simply, laughing a little, “I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than that, but thanks for letting me say I’ve done it, Re. It kinda does help.”

He laughed. “Yeah, you’re supposed to move more and stuff, but you’re welcome. I was hoping it would.”

“So, are we good?” Lily asked, holding out her hand for a shake. Remus laughed again, taking it.

“Yeah, we’re good.” And they were. They spoke for a while after, then they read, and left for dinner together, with absolutely no awkwardness. Remus thought later in bed about why there had been no awkwardness and thought perhaps it had to mean something to make a difference in a friendship. He didn’t really know, but overall, he was glad he had gotten to experience a kiss, always sort of doubting he would be able to experience anything of the sort due to his condition. He knew already he wouldn’t get anything near real love and romance, and the thought still made him ache, but he had that. He had best friends and a meaningless kiss from time to time that didn’t make him feel anything. He didn't need real love or someone to put him above everyone else because it just wasn't in the cards for him. He was a werewolf, he couldn't ever take that to a relationship or put that on someone else. He was fine with that; he really was. He turned his head into the pillow so his friends wouldn’t see the tears on his face if they happened to look over.

**

“MOONY! REMUS!! MOONS!! GUESS WHAT?! MOONY GUESS WHAT!” Sirius screamed, running red-faced and grinning into the dorm with James and Pete, where Remus sat on his bed, listening to music and reading. It was a few weeks after the quidditch tryouts, so Remus could guess pretty easily what this was about.

“We made the team!!” James and Sirius shouted in unison as Pete flopped down on his bed, out of breath, and picked up the nearest book to him, hiding his grin at their friends’ antics.

“I’m a beater, Moons! Me and Marlene! Can you believe it?” Sirius said excitedly, jumping onto Remus’s bed beside him while James, as he often did, lay down right in the middle of the dorm on the floor.

“Congratulations Sirius, and of course I believe it. You guys were clearly the best and I know nothing about Quidditch.” Sirius beamed at him with the rare smile he did with the boys that held no signs of holding back.

“Now we get to practice together!” James piped up happily from the floor.

“I don’t have to wake up as early as you, do I?” Sirius suddenly asked, worried.

“Well, I guess not, but it’s really good to get some extra exercise before breakfast every-”

“Nope, absolutely not Potter. You keep those insane runs to yourself.” James frowned sadly and Remus felt an urge to comfort him, so naturally he threw a pillow at him.

“Ouch, what was that for?!” James complained, rubbing his head.

“Cheer up, he’s still on the team. Besides, if you two could shut up for a second, I think Peter’s about to have an aneurism.” Remus said, gesturing to Peter who was staring wide-eyed at a page in one of the transfiguration books they had lying around for research on animagi.

“Pete? You good mate?” Sirius asked carefully. Pete nodded and slowly lifted the page out of the book.

“I found it.” He said quietly.

“Found what Petey?” James asked from the floor, sitting up and tilting his head curiously.

“The first step. I found it. We can start.”

“WHAT?!” Sirius and James shouted, jumping up and running to Pete’s bed, stealing the book from him. Remus couldn’t move. No, no, no, they can’t find it. They weren’t supposed to, this was supposed to fall through.

“Holy shit, Pete, you did it!” Sirius laughed, ruffling his hair and reading from Autobiography of an Animagus by Daniella McNeill, “I began my journey of transformation on the 8^th of March 1845. The first step involved keeping a mandrake leaf in my mouth for a month straight, which was unpleasant but manageable due to the help of my friend Margret who helped translate what I needed to communicate through a nifty spell that projected the words I wished to speak in text above my head. I then moved on to step two, which was of course the potion, which took approximately six months, and lastly the spells until the storm…”

“It’s all there.” James said in awe, “We know the order, and we already found the spell, now all we need is the instructions and ingredients for the potion and we’re ready. Guys, we can actually do this!” Remus couldn’t breathe. He watched as James and Sirius celebrated and congratulated Pete and all he could think was stop.  

“No,” he said, stopping them in their tracks.

“What do you mean no?” Sirius asked, looking genuinely confused.

“You can’t do this!” Remus said, getting up and beginning to pace nervously, “It was fine when it was just research and plans, but this is too real. You can’t! I won’t be responsible for you guys getting hurt, or dying, I can’t! You have to stop!”

“Are you kidding?!” Sirius asked incredulously, “No way!”

“Sirius-” James started, but Remus interrupted, starting to feel himself get angry.

“No way? This is my choice Sirius! I’m saying no!!”

“Maybe it’s not your choice Remus!” Sirius shouted right back, moving into Remus’s space, “Maybe you don’t get to decide this!”

“I won’t let you guys do this! It’s too dangerous!”
“I won’t let you stop us! Don’t you get that we can’t keep seeing you tear yourself apart and not do anything?!”

“Oh I’m so sorry me nearly dying every month is such an inconvenience Sirius!”
“Come on he didn’t mean that-” James attempted to jump in.

“Oh, come off it, you know that’s not what I said! Why won’t you let us help, huh? Too damn stubborn?” Sirius was moving closer and closer to Remus, close enough that he could feel Sirius’s breath on him.

“I’m trying to protect you, you idiot!”

“I don’t want your protection dumbass!”

“Well too bad, you have it, and you aren’t doing this!”
“What you can protect us, but we can’t protect you?!”
“I’m a WEREWOLF for Merlin’s sake Sirius, I don’t NEED protection!”
“You DO! Just because you can’t admit-”

“STOP IT!” Pete shouted over them, causing everyone to turn and look at him, “Sirius, shut up and calm down, this isn’t an attack on you, he’s just freaked out. James, take a breath, they aren’t going to kill each other, stop worrying. And Remus!” Remus fought the sudden urge to avoid Pete’s gaze like a scolded child by his teacher, “Stop freaking out! Yes, we know this is dangerous, yes, we know we could get hurt, but we’re doing it. No matter what, and like we said in the beginning, you either help or we do it behind your back, but it’s getting done. And you really think James Fleamont Potter hasn’t thought of all the ways this could go wrong and at least 50 ways to protect us from each one of those?”

“Added more as soon as the potion was mentioned.” James added, while Sirius took a break from looking thunderous to mutter “Fleamont” gleefully.

“So,” Pete continued, “You two can calm the hell down and stop overreacting, and let's go steal some mandrake from Slughorn, yeah?”

“Yeah!” James agreed happily, half-whooping.

“Yeah” “I guess” Remus and Sirius muttered. James ran to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak and draped it around himself and Peter, gesturing for the other two to join even though they barely fitted anymore, and their feet often showed. Remus glanced at Sirius to see him looking sheepishly at him already. Remus nudged him playfully and nodded to the two waiting.

“Shall we?” Sirius grinned and nudged him back.

“We shall” he grinned, and they disappeared with their friends into the night.

**

The mandrake leaves were surprisingly easy to steal from Slughorn’s office, the act being done and the four being back in their dorm in under an hour. The hard part however, seemed to be deciding when to take them. Sirius was convinced that they should take them immediately, Remus wanted to do more research, Peter thought they should do it on a Friday so they could use the weekend to get used to it, and James was under the impression that they should ask McGonagall.

“Are you out of your mind, Potts?” Sirius asked incredulously from the foot of Remus’s bed, everything quickly back to normal with them as it always was after one of their fights.

“What?! She’s done it before, she’ll know!” He defended himself.

“She’s also never going to tell us.” Pete piped up, tossing some chips into his mouth casually.

“We’ll say it’s hypothetical,” James suggested and Remus snorted from behind Sirius.

“Sure, she’ll believe that,” he said sarcastically, “ 'hey Minnie, we were just wondering as the three best friends of a werewolf that are known for their disregard of the rules, how exactly do you perform the dangerous process of becoming something that a werewolf can’t turn? Just curious.' That’ll go over great James, truly.”

“Yeah Fleamont, hate to say it but Rem’s right, we need something better,” Sirius said sadly, not having let go of James’s middle name since learning it.

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake Sirius, 1) I wouldn’t phrase it like that, I’d be subtle! And 2) It’s my dad’s name, and you don’t tease him for it!” James grumbled, nearly pouting. Sirius laughed.

“1) You don’t have a subtle bone in your body Flea-boy. And 2) Your dad is different. He wears it well.”
“IT’S THE SAME NAME!” James shouted, “How on earth is it any different?”

“Your dad’s hot,” Remus said casually, and all at once several things happened. James immediately started gagging, Pete had a coughing fit from choking on a laugh and Sirius froze. Remus looked up, puzzled.

“What?” he asked faux-innocently, smirking.

“You think my dad is hot??” James stuttered, looking around wildly.

“Uh, yeah. Both of your parents are hot. Did you not know that?” Sirius looked at Remus, waiting for him to backtrack or say something, but he just carried on looking politely engaged in what seemed to him like an everyday conversation.

“So, you’re, uh, I mean, are you-” Pete struggled to find words and James glared at him quickly, effectively shutting him up. Sirius was still battling to sort through his thoughts and so apparently missed the sharp ‘tread carefully’ glare James was sending around the room as he blurted out “Are you gay?!” James hissed “Sirius” as soon as he said it, but Remus just looked at him calmly.

“Bisexual, actually. Someone visited the Inn this summer and told me all about it. Means I like both. But you don’t have to be to see that James has hot parents.” Remus seemed completely put together and nonchalant about it, but Sirius knew how to read him, and he could see a little cloud of uncertainty and fear in his eyes, before Remus carried on, “I don’t know if that changes anything, but I wanted you guys to know before you risk everything for me. In case it changes anything.”
“Of course it doesn’t!” James said quickly, jumping up from the ground, “Mum always says it's just more love to go around, you know? She’s bisexual as well, she told me a few years ago! Doesn’t change a thing, mate.” Sirius watched as James hugged him and all the fight left Remus, his whole demeanor softening and relaxing into the hug.

“Thanks, Potts” Sirius heard Remus mumble into his shoulder.

“Of course, Moony, just no hitting on my dad, yeah? Or my mum, that’s gross.” James mumbled back and Remus huffed a laugh, whispering “no promises” and making James shudder. As soon as James let go Peter jumped on Remus, tackling him in a hug too, and saying a simple “thanks for telling us.” Sirius could tell that meant almost as much to Remus as James’s support. The three of them turned to look expectantly at Sirius.

“Sirius?” James said, nudging him. Sirius smiled. “Another reason my mom would hate you is another reason I love you Moons, you know that. I think it’s wicked.” He could almost feel Remus’s relief at his acceptance as he knocked Pete out of the way to put his arm over Remus’s shoulders.

“What do you say we call it a night eh boys? We can figure out the mandrake thing tomorrow.” James suggested. They all agreed and went about getting ready for bed, no different than any other night. When Remus changed in the bathroom and James and Pete closed their curtains while calling out a general “goodnight”, Sirius made the snap decision to get into Remus’s bed, like they tended to do after tough or emotional or draining days. When he felt Remus climb in next to him Sirius turned to face him.

“Is this still okay?” Sirius asked quietly. Remus smiled.

“I think so. I hope so.” Remus whispered back. Sirius smiled and closed his eyes.

“Good,” he said, snuggling into the blankets and sighing, “We’re definitely talking about your crush on Monty.” Remus groaned and Sirius smiled into the pillow.

“It was a joke,” Remus complained softly.

“No, it wasn’t,” Sirius said

“Mm, no it wasn’t” Remus agreed, and Sirius huffed out a laugh.

“Night Moony.” He mumbled.

“Nigh, Sirius, sleep well.”

“Always do when I’m here,” Sirius admitted, barely conscious.

“I’m glad.” Sirius could hear the smile in Remus’s voice and fell asleep with a matching one on his lips.

**

The full moon passed and though it wasn’t pleasant by any means, it wasn’t the worst Remus had had and he was out of the hospital wing within a day. The rest of the boys had spent the night finalizing their ‘Master Plan’ to become animagi. They had doubled down on their research, Remus had only spiraled twice more, and they officially were making progress. They knew now that they had to keep the mandrake leaves in their mouths for a month because they were to be the final ingredient in the potion, but in order for them to be ready to be put into the potion they would have to sit in water for a year at least after being in their mouths. The rest of the potion would only take a month to brew, but the ingredients were extremely rare, and the potion was unbelievably difficult, requiring potion-making skills none of them had or would learn in Hogwarts. After that they had to perform a spell every morning and night for three months, and once the three months were over, they continued with the spells until an electrical storm. By Remus’s calculations, that meant that the process would earliest be done halfway through their fourth year, which gave him a bit of peace as it gave him time to get used to the idea of endangering the boys that had become his family.

The boys all had to ensure that they started and finished their “Mandrake Month”, as James called it, at the same time so that they all could take the potion at the same time, which meant that if one of them messed up, they all did. The morning after Remus rejoined them marked their first attempt, and Remus began his documentation, as he planned to document absolutely everything so that they could ensure that they did nothing wrong and wouldn’t forget anything.

Attempt #1:

Date: October 10

Time taken: 7:13 am

Attempt lasted approximately 5 hours with the leaves. When questioned, I told people they lost a bet and couldn’t speak. Pete swallowed his when eating lunch, Sirius then shouted at him and promptly caused his to fall out of his mouth, which caused James to laugh and choke on his.

Learnt that they taste horrible, and the boys can taste nothing else when eating with them. ATTEMPT FAILED.

Attempt #2

Date: October 10

Time Taken: 6:55 pm

Attempt lasted- 6 hours.

Taken after dinner. James swallowed his in his sleep, woke us all up spluttering. Sirius hit him with a pillow.

Note to self: Research sticking charms that will stick only the leaves to the roof of their mouths

Learnt: James sleeps with his mouth open. unnecessary! - James

Don’t write on my notes James!

ATTEMPT FAILED.

Attempt #3

Date: October 12

Time taken: 12:34 am

Attempt lasted: 18 hours

Taken after lunch. When questioned I told Professors and students that a spell backfired and made them temporarily mute. No complaints, some suspicion.

Reason failed: sticking charm wore off, swallowed during breakfast.

Note to self: Learn how to make temporarily permanent sticking charms.

Learnt: Sirius will not notice when swallowing the leaf until someone else points it out. – RUDE! - Sirius  

STOP WRITING ON MY NOTES!

ATTEMPT FAILED.

Attempt #4

Date: October 17

Time taken: 9:36 pm

Attempt lasted: 4 days, 19 hours

Taken: before bed

Excuse: “playing the most competitive game of the silent game ever. No one wants to lose.”

Reason failed: Quidditch practice, James just had to shout at something and blow the excuse, as well as the leaf out his mouth.

Note to self: The girls see a pattern, asking questions. Need more leaves. Find a way to hide the leaf so they can talk, none of these idiots will last more than a week without it. Camouflage?

Learnt: James will not think of anything but quidditch during quidditch.

ATTEMPT FAILED

The boys took a break from the mandrakes after Attempt 4 for two reasons. 1, They needed to stock up on leaves. 2, and more important to them all, they needed to plan for Halloween. Deciding to keep it low-key this year as they had so much else going on, they started the day as usual, with the Monster Mash and thousands of tiny inconveniences throughout the castle. James had had a great, perhaps disproportionate and slightly worrisome, time charming about 80% of useful things, such as doorknobs, cutlery, quills, and chairs to turn to sand at human touch, which resulted in a multitude of frustrated screams throughout the day as people tried to do basic tasks. Sirius had charmed the portraits to sing- or more accurately scream- along to the Monster Mash and the pumpkins and knights to jump out and chase people as they always did. Peter had made a deal with Peeves to dump things such as paint, mud, water, and red food coloring on students randomly, and Remus had set a multitude of traps around the school that students and professors alike got caught in all day.

At lunch, they let loose a few hundred fruit bats into the great hall and charmed the food to taste like mandrake leaves (which they used as a cover as to why they had stolen many, many more mandrake leaves from Slughorn, earning lots of detention but keeping their secret), and in the afternoon, they turned the lake orange with a particularly difficult spell that James had found and wrote “Happy Halloween- The Marauders” in black. At dinner they simply enjoyed the feast, the song still playing and smiling indulgently at James as he died laughing every time someone tried to eat only for their fork to turn to sand. At one point Professor McGonagall came up to them and full-on begged them to tell her how to turn the Monster Mash off, too which Sirius and Remus honestly answered that they didn’t know, they never made a counter curse in first year and had just set it for every Halloween. She glared at them, looking mildly impressed but extremely irritated, and gave them all four detentions, which they knew were coming. After dinner as everyone was on their way to their common rooms, the Marauders finished off the day with a whispered “happy halloween” echoing throughout the castle, immediately following which all the stairs turned into sand, at James request of course, causing chaos as all the students slid down the now-ramps and knocked each other as they went tumbling. Snape, Avery and Mulciber in particular got knocked significantly as they struggled leaving the hall due to them being in the perfect spot to get trampled, which the boys all vehemently denied planning. The half of the students that made it out in time were laughing and levitating their friends from the bottom to the top of the staircase to get them up, which led to a surprising amount of air traffic that Peeves took upon himself to disrupt in every way possible. The boys helped levitate younger years that weren’t strong enough yet to do it themselves, and they laughed as they saw more light-hearted friend groups using the opportunity to mess with their friends and cause them to fly into people they had crushes on and do tricks in the air. Students at the top started taking the opportunity to slide down the staircases on anything they could use as a sled, which of course the boys joined in on, racing each other down to land in the pile of sand and then levitating each other back up to do it all again. Eventually, McGonagall came and fixed the staircase, after ignoring the many students challenging her to a sled race due to Dumbledore shockingly agreeing and surfing down the ramp, although after fixing it, it promptly turned to sand again every time somebody got halfway up. This caused students to then race up the stairs to see who could make it, which two surprisingly did, inspiring James and Sirius to try as well, falling victim to their own prank. Eventually McGonagall fixed it for good and ordered everyone to their common rooms, as it was far past curfew by that point, where everyone found crates of butterbeer and snacks waiting for them and a note that said ‘Happy Halloween, have a butterbeer and enjoy the last of the Monster Mash. Until next year – the marauders.’ And really, as Sirius had planned, who could be mad after that?

Attempt #5

Date: 1 November

Time Taken: 7:48 pm

Attempt lasted: 1 month

Taken: After dinner

Excuse: not needed, camouflage and sticking charms worked

Note to self: biggest complaint was the taste of everything. Minnie may be suspicious

ATTEMPT SUCCESSFUL, MANDRAKES SECURED

Remus added the note to the corner of the wall they had set up to be easily covered by a curtain in the unlikely event someone else was in their dorm, and that he had stuck all of the others too, the corner dedicated to the “Master Plan”. Along with the notes was their research on the process, the potion, and the spells, and a to-do list, both long and short term. Remus’s eyes wandered to the little post-its that had slowly gathered around it. Little ideas left by James to add, jokes written and drawings done by Sirius, reminders by Peter, and warnings by Remus. The further from the corner the notes went, the more they changed, the less they became about the Master Plan. There were prank ideas, lists like “Things Sirius needs to STOP DOING RIGHT NOW”, “Reasons why Remus is NOT a monster no matter what he stupidly says”, “Why Pete needs to stop winning at chess”, “Reasons why James needs to Sleep. In. For once in his goddamn life”, “Words Remus is not allowed to say anymore”, “Words James can’t say then”, “Why Peter is the best”, “Why SIRIUS is the best”, “Why you both suck” and many, many more. Remus let out a soft laugh as he read through some of them, before moving to other notes, just general reminders to do day-to-day things, James’s fitness schedule, Sirius’s list of albums he wants to buy, with many added from Remus, Peter’s homework to-do list, their collective detention schedule that they charmed to add a new one every time they got a new detention to keep track, and other bits and bobs of their lives. A poster that tracked the moon’s cycle was stuck next to a beautiful drawing that Sirius had done of Remus laughing in one of his jumpers, a drawing James had insisted go there, Remus only later realizing to remind Remus that he was himself, he was human, when he looked at the moon. James had taken to sticking photos that he randomly took of them all on the wall as well, so in between snapshots of inside jokes and future plans, there were photos of them all as they grew, the most recent of the four of them sitting happily on Remus’s bed in the hospital wing after a full moon eating the mountains of chocolate that Sirius had brought for him and laughing. Remus fought a surge of emotions looking at the wall, at the life he built for himself despite the whole world screaming that he couldn’t have this.

“Oi, Moony, we’ve got a game of exploding snap going on downstairs. You coming?” James asked, sticking his head in the door to invite Remus. Remus swallowed quickly and nodded.

“You okay?” James asked, coming fully into the room and putting a hand on Remus’s shoulder.

“Yeah, uh” Remus replied, voice a little rough, “Just, you know, grateful, I guess.” He gestured to the wall and avoided James’s gaze.

“Oh yeah, I get like that too sometimes looking at it. We got lucky.” Remus smiled and met James’s eyes.

“Yeah, we did. Thanks, Potts. For forcing me to be friends with you guys. Best thing I ever did.” James’s eyes rounded behind his glasses, probably because Remus was never this honest and emotional, not even around the full moon.

“Well, I mean Sirius was the one that yelled at you so-”

“James, it was you. Sirius pushed me, but on the first day we met you said we were going to be best friends, and I know you were joking, but it stuck with me. And you never stopped trying, gently, without pushing. So, thanks for making me be your friend. I think you might have taught me how to love people.” James, horrifyingly, looked like he was going to cry.

“Remus I, um- thank you. And I wasn’t kidding. I knew it then, and I’ve known it every day since. Best friends, all of us. It’s just meant to be.” James shrugged, “But you’re welcome. Thanks for letting me.” Remus grinned and shoved him.

“Prat. Let’s go, exploding snap?” he said, walking out of the room. James blinked and stumbled after him.

“Hey! You don’t get to pretend that didn’t happen!” He shouted, laughing.

“Watch me!” Remus called over his shoulder, but that night when he spotted the new post-it with the date and “Remus was emotionally vulnerable! Remus loves us! -James” written on it, he just smiled and left it there. James deserved it after all.

**

The first quidditch game was around the corner, and Sirius couldn’t sleep. Three more nights, and he would play in front of the whole school. He’d be “Sirius Black, Gryffindor Beater” instead of “Sirius Black, family disappointment”, and he had to do well. He had been practicing non-stop, forming a partnership with Marlene so flawless that they could anticipate each other’s moves on the field, and often off the field as they had taken to randomly throwing things at each other in order to test their reflexes. This was great fun to them but resulted in constant complaints from their friends, especially Mary and Remus, who always seemed to be the ones getting hit if they missed. Nevertheless, it helped them, and so they continued despite Remus and Mary’s anger, which ended up working even more to their favor as there was the added stake of getting multiple objects pelted at them if they made the mistake of not catching. Lily and Peter had joined their alliance out of support as well, meaning one missed catch meant at least four random objects flying at you from all directions, whether they accidentally hit someone or not. It had gotten to a boiling point somewhere around Peter’s birthday, when Marlene threw one of Peter’s presents at Sirius and he missed it, which resulted in all six of their friends tossing something at their heads, Remus almost knocking Sirius out with the book Peter had gotten from his parents. But despite the practice, and the tips James had given him, Sirius was wide awake.

“James!” Sirius whispered, shaking his friend, “James! Get up!”

“Sirius?” James groaned, rubbing his eyes, “What’s up?”

“Can’t sleep. Let’s do something.”

“Shut up.” Came from Peter’s bed.

“Not you too Pete,” Remus’s voice complained.

“Great, everyone’s up!” Sirius said brightly, to collective annoyed grumbling, “What should we do boys?”
“McGonagall will go mental if she finds us out of bed two nights in a row,” Peter grumbled, rolling over. Sirius thought for a moment until it hit him. He grinned and met Remus’s eyes, which immediately rolled.

“What if we were never out of bed?”

**

How Sirius convinced them, Remus would never know. How they managed to get an entire four-poster bed out of their rooms, through the common room, and into the corridor at 2 am without waking anyone is again, a complete mystery, and yet there they were. In the corridors, at 2:30 am, sitting on Sirius’s bed and levitating themselves through the castle. Why? Remus had no clue, but Sirius had asked them, and he had sounded desperate, so they did it because a Marauder needed them, and no matter how stupid, they took it seriously. So, they took turns levitating the bed and laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, and all of them could feel the tension leave Sirius and him come down from whatever he was panicking about. James would talk to him more about it later, make him face what it really was about, and then Peter would sit quietly with him and let him work everything out, and then he would come to Remus and they’d talk about everything until it felt like nothing and they fell asleep happy, but for now, he was distracted from his immediate panic. That was until they almost ran over Frank Longbottom.

“Frank!” James exclaimed, lowering the bed to the floor. Frank blinked at them a few times, rubbed his eyes, and then just shook his head.

“What… why...? What the hell guys?” he asked wearily.

“Well, you see, technically-” Sirius started, but Frank held his hand out to stop him.

“No, I don’t care actually. McGonagall is around the corner, either somehow fly out of sight in four seconds, or-”

“What on earth?!”

“Never mind, good luck boys.” Frank saluted them and greeted McGonagall before sidestepping the bed and walking towards the Gryffindor dorms.

“For Merlin’s sake, what is this?” she asked, exasperated.

“Well-” James started, glancing at Sirius.

“It’s my fault, Minnie.” Sirius jumped in, “I was having a bad night and Pete didn’t want to break the rules two nights in a row and then we realized that the rule is ‘Don’t get out of bed after curfew’ and we aren’t out of bed, so-”

McGonagall rubbed her temples and sighed, “Look, Mr. Longbottom and I have just been dealing with something that, quite frankly, has put things like this into perspective. You know very well you are breaking the rules, which I will work on rephrasing, but consider this a warning and consider yourselves lucky you chose tonight to do this. Get up off the bed.” The boys all exchanged looks and scrambled off of the bed, which McGonagall then shrunk and handed to Sirius.

“There, take this and head to bed, you can figure out how to enlarge it tomorrow. Goodnight, and don’t push me tonight. Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, Sirius, I’m trusting you all. Don’t make me regret it.”

“Thank you” they muttered, all turning hesitantly to walk towards the dorms, but Sirius stopped.
“Minnie?” he said quietly. She looked up, not even bothering to correct him, “What happened? It’s dark, I can feel it. What is it? Is everyone okay?” The way Sirius said everyone instead of everything made Remus shiver. He had felt something off in the air, but Sirius’s experiences had made him recognize it as dark magic. It made his heart ache that he was so familiar with it that he could sense it in the air, and he saw a similarly heartbroken expression in McGonagall’s eyes.

“Everyone is fine Mr. Black. I’m sure you’re aware of some of the recent changes in the wizarding world, out of Hogwarts. Tonight was just a failed attempt to bring those changes inside these walls, which I assure you we will do everything in our power to prevent.” Sirius nodded and swallowed heavily, obviously the only one of the four that understood what she was saying.

“Thank you. I know it isn’t much, but I can help if you need.” Sirius said in a small voice.

“The only thing you need to do is get safely to bed Sirius.” McGonagall said sharply, “You are far too young to be involved. Just,” she paused, and then sighed before looking at all of them, “I will never condone rule-breaking and mayhem, but in the upcoming years, there’s a chance we may need laughter and joy more than ever. I’m not saying you will ever go unpunished, but you boys have a talent for bringing light to the school that is rare to see. Don’t lose that. Keep making people laugh and keep doing it safely. I see how you all leave out or protect the younger students, and I know you never have ill intent behind these pranks, which is the only reason they have been allowed so far. The minute you do, it all stops. I let you continue because I believe you’ve come at just the right time to Hogwarts, and honestly, I’m often impressed by what you accomplish and sometimes even amused. But if you ever take it too far, everything stops. Understand?”

They nodded, trusting Sirius would explain more later and understanding the seriousness of the situation. Sirius and McGonagall’s eyes met, and Remus could see something important pass between them.

“We won’t let you down, Minnie.” He said, and she let out a rare smile.

“I know, Sirius. Now get to bed, all of you. Beds in your dorms, please. There’s a quidditch match coming up, after all.”

**

The first match of the season: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. They were going to win, Sirius was sure of it. Frank had had them practicing non-stop, and they were essentially a well-oiled machine by this point. James and the two other chasers, Fabian and Gideon, now in their seventh year, were almost as perfectly in sync as Sirius and Marlene, and everyone flew perfectly according to Frank’s vision as the keeper at the back. Alice Fortescue, the seeker in fifth year who the team was 99% sure Frank was in love with, rarely missed the snitch and was already being scouted for professional teams, although she had confided in Sirius that she had no interest in professional quidditch, rather wanting to become an Auror. The team started getting ready early that morning after a tense breakfast that made Remus, Lily, Emmeline, Mary, and Peter eventually leave to sit somewhere else, unable to be around their friends. Frank motioned for the team to gather around, presumably for a pep talk, before going out.

“Alright guys,” he started gravely, “We practiced hard, we know our strengths and their weaknesses. We’ve got this in the bag. Let’s show those badgers what happens when you mess with lions eh?”

The team cheered halfheartedly, mainly laughing.

“Nice one, Frankie,” Gideon said, winking at him.

“Yeah, real inspiring, mate,” Fabian added.

“You tried,” Alice said, putting a comforting arm on his shoulder, which all of a sudden seemed to cheer him right up.

“Let’s go, guys,” Alice said, motioning to the entrance from the changeroom to the pitch. Everyone grabbed their brooms and lined up.

“Ready, Black?” Marlene asked playfully, elbowing him as they lined up. He found weirdly that he didn’t mind his surname when playing quidditch as much. It felt more like he was taking it back, like it wasn’t his family’s anymore, just him playing his favourite sport with his favourite people.

“Ready McKinnon.” He grinned, elbowing her back. He felt James come up next to him and ruffle his hair while getting into line, and he smiled, adrenaline pumping.

The game passed in a blur after that. Sirius and Marlene moved as one, playing better than they ever had. James was on fire, scoring twelve goals out of the sixteen that Gryffindor scored. The crowd even began chanting for him at a stage, which was enough to break even Sirius’s focus as he found himself wishing he could see Remus and Peter’s faces at knowing how unbearable James was about to become. By the time Alice had spotted the snitch and begun pursuing it, the team was working so seamlessly together that Hufflepuff had begun to almost give up, playing mainly defensively and hoping for a stroke of luck that never came. Sirius deflected a bludger sent Alice’s way by the Hufflepuff beater, and less than a minute later, Gryffindor had the win. Sirius had the win, and it was something his family couldn’t touch.

**

 The common room was loud, too loud. Remus knew, as it was quite impossible to forget when James shouted it over and over, that they were lucky to be invited. They were only third years, and therefore would normally be sent up to their rooms for the infamous Gryffindor after-quidditch parties, but the involvement of James, Sirius, and Marlene in the win had gained them all an invite.

“Well, you look like you’re just having the best time of your life, don’t you?” Remus looked up from his spot on the couch at the voice.

“Lily,” he greeted gratefully, motioning her to sit next to him on the couch. She flopped down gratefully.

“Not a big partier, Remus?” she asked, grinning. Mary sat on the chair opposite them, listening as well.

“Well, I’m no James over there,” he said, nodding in James’s direction where he sat surrounded by a group of what Pete had taken to calling his ‘adoring fans’, retelling the story of his -admittedly very impressive- last goal.

“No, thank god for that.” Lily laughed, “If I have to hear that story one more time, I think my head will explode.”

“Just be grateful you don’t live with the guy, he’ll be telling it in his sleep I’m sure,” Remus added, causing the girls to laugh.

“Hey, we should play a game,” Mary said suddenly.

“A game?” Peter questioned, walking over with a few fourth years that he had been talking to and sitting down on Remus’s left, “What game?”

Mary blushed as one of the fourth-year Ravenclaw boys (Carmack?) sat next to her, and Remus exchanged a look with Lily.

“I don’t know, what about one of those muggle games?” Mary suggested, still blushing.

“What like spin the bottle?” Lily joked, winking at her.

“What’s that?” One of the other fourth years asked, taking a slug of something that honestly looked vile to Remus.

“This game muggles play at sleepovers.” Another answered. Remus really wanted to ask some of their names, but at this point, it was just that little bit too late, “Basically, you spin a bottle, and whomever it lands on you have to kiss.”

“Just kiss?” Carmack asked.

“Obviously Caradoc,” the other rolled his eyes, “We aren’t going to shag each other, are we?”

“Benjy!” one of the girls shouted, “That’s so inappropriate! They’re third years!”
“And? They're turning 14, and they know what sex is, Jenna, don’t you?” Benjy laughed, nudging Peter.

Peter shot a panicked look at Remus, “Uh, yeah, of course, but, um, this is just kissing right Mary?”

“Yeah, can even be on the cheek if you want.” Mary smiled at Peter reassuringly.

“All right- well, okay then. I’ll play if Remus does.” Peter said, clearly seeking the approval of his friend.

“Wanting a little snog, Pete? You just had to ask.” Remus smirked, causing Peter to turn red and the rest to burst out laughing. He felt a bit bad at first until Pete shoved him rather a lot harder than necessary and called him an ass. He didn’t feel so bad after that.

“All right, boys, that’s enough of that.” Lily laughed, “Are we playing or what?”

The group murmured their general agreement and people started calling friends over until there was a large number of them in a sort of circle around an empty fire whiskey bottle. James and Sirius had joined once they saw the growing number of them, bringing with them their ‘adoring fans’, and word had soon spread until almost half the common room was playing. Lily, looking slightly apprehensive at the number of people listening to her as she had become the unofficial leader of the game, was explaining the rules once again.

“All right, so, we all know the whole ‘bottle lands on someone and you kiss them’ part. Whoever gets kissed, spins the bottle. Now, because of the age gaps, the rule has been added that if there is more than a two-year gap between you, you kiss on the cheek or spin again, and if it is one year the options are cheek or, obviously, mouth. The same year, mouth. Got it?”

Everyone cheered their general agreement, and Lily spun the bottle to decide who started, before sitting down next to Remus, flushed from the attention. From there, the game began, and it was almost as hard to follow as the quidditch game earlier.

The first few people that went all opted for cheek kisses, the last of which included a blushing Mary and a fifth-year boy who was clearly relieved he didn’t have to kiss the girl across the circle from him that was obviously trying her hardest. When Mary spun again it landed straight on Remus, and he groaned at the chorus of ‘ooh’s from the onlookers. Mary and he rolled their eyes and quickly pecked each other before he spun again and had to kiss a fifth-year girl on the cheek. Remus quickly began to lose track of who kissed whom and who was upset at whom. All he knew by the time half an hour had passed was that James had kissed a fourth-year girl and apparently the cheek of her ex-boyfriend, Peter had also kissed Mary and the cheek of Jenna from earlier, and Sirius had somehow avoided kissing anyone at all, that was until James got kissed on the cheek by Alice and spun the bottle directly to Sirius. Everyone laughed and cheered as James and Sirius made a very dramatic show of the kiss, consisting of James getting down on one knee immediately and proclaiming his love, and ending with Sirius in hysterics. Sirius spun and wound up kissing a fourth-year girl, and the moment their lips touched, Remus stood up. A few people looked at him, almost as confused as he was, but he just shook his head to clear it and excused himself for bed. Weird. 

***

Remus was staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, and Sirius wished he could join him. The train ride home had been bleak, all of the other three boys worried about Remus alone on the full moon, but he had assured them he was fine and had been in far worse conditions before, which of course made them worry even more. On top of that, Sirius could tell James and Pete were worried about him going home, and honestly, he was too. The holiday season always did put his mother in a terrible mood, and with the growing tension in the wizarding world around this Voldemort character, Sirius knew his parents would be working harder than ever to make him seem like the perfect little pureblood heir.

As predicted, the holiday was awful, to put it lightly. Sirius, not being able to find it in him to keep quiet when his parents spoke so cruelly, so awfully, about the types of people he considered his greatest friends, led him to some very unpleasant days being cursed and nights in the cellar, once again with Regulus slipping him table scraps when he could. In a weird way, it was nice, knowing Regulus still cared enough to do that. They hadn’t spoken much at school, but they had a sort of understanding between them that they were there if needed, and that they would spend more time together if they could. It was out of their hands. A few days before Christmas, and coincidentally the day before the full moon, Sirius noted, his mother came into his room where he had finally been let to after days in the cellar.

“Sirius.” She said coldly, formally.

“Mother,” Sirius replied, equally as cold.

“Get your things together. Your father and I have decided that you are not fit in your current state to be here during our Christmas functions. You will go back to Hogwarts, and I hope you will be better behaved when you return for the summer. You leave in two hours.” She eyed him disdainfully as he struggled to hide his joy at leaving and left, not bothering to close the door. Sirius grinned and immediately jumped up, throwing his clothes and little personal belongings that weren’t at James’s house into his trunk and closing it quickly. He was just checking under his bed for anything forgotten when he heard a faint knock on the door and saw Regulus watching him sadly, and his good mood dimmed.

“Hey, Reggie,” he said softly. Regulus walked in and closed the door behind him.

“So you’re going?” he asked softly. Always so soft, so silent. Sirius ached for his brother, for the boy he could have been.

“Sorry. I can’t stay. You know I can’t.” Sirius said, begging him to understand.

“I know.” Regulus was resigned and mature. He’d grown, and he’d done it away from Sirius.

“I’m sorry, Reg,” Sirius whispered. Regulus met his gaze, his eyes delicate and much too understanding for a twelve-year-old.

“I am too,” he whispered back. “I wish it didn’t have to be like this. I really did want to be in Gryffindor with you, you know. I just- couldn’t. I’m not as brave as you. But I miss you, Sirius. I miss my brother.” Sirius’s heart broke. He squeezed his eyes shut tight so as not to let any tears escape them.

“I miss you too, Reg. How about this: Wednesday nights every two weeks, at the astronomy tower, we meet. We can chat, catch up, and just spend some time together. Be brothers again.” Reg smiled, small and fleeting, but it was there.

“I’d like that.” He said, nodding. Sirius smiled at him and nodded back before picking his trunk up to go downstairs, ready to leave. As he walked out the door, he stopped and looked back at Reg sitting on his bed, watching him leave.

“Hey, Reg,” he said, “you were wrong, you know. You’re braver than I ever was. I’ll miss you.” Reg smiled at him, and with that, he took his leave.

**

Remus was bored. The full moon was the next day, and he was so unbelievably bored. He sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling and cursing the headache he currently had that was stopping him from reading, subsequently sticking him with only his aching body and his thoughts for company. Fantastic.

“Merlin, Moony, I thought I’d get more of a welcome.” He heard suddenly. No, it can’t be…

It was. Sirius Black was sitting on the bed next to him, smiling.

“SIRIUS!” he exclaimed, before clutching his head and groaning, “Oof, bad idea, headache. Never mind that though, what are you doing here?” he moved to hug him hello, both meeting in the middle before sitting down together on Remus’s bed.

“The warden let me out early, isn’t it great?” Sirius grinned.

“I’m glad Sirius, really,” Remus said, breathing a sigh of relief and losing some of the tension that was always present whenever Sirius was home, “are you okay?”

“Eh, same old, same old.” Sirius deflected, but Remus caught him wincing slightly as he changed positions.

“Nope, uh-uh, let me see. Take off your shirt.” Remus said sternly. Sirius blanched but tried to play it off.

“Steady, Lupin, just because we have the dorm-”

“Sirius.” Remus interrupted, “Off. Now.” Sirius’s eyes widened, and he quickly took his shirt off, averting his eye from Remus’s face. Remus gasped lightly as he took in the smattering of bruises, some old, some new, all over Sirius’s torso where no one would see. He also had a few thin, newly healing scars and cuts on his shoulder and back, nothing that would permanently scar his body, but enough that he knew they hurt.

“Sirius,” Remus whispered, reaching a hand out slowly enough that Sirius could tell him to stop. When he didn’t, Remus traced one of the larger bruises lightly. He felt himself trembling with barely suppressed rage, the fullness of the moon not helping calm him.

“I’ll kill her. I swear, Sirius, I will. Or him, both, whoever. All of them.” He moved his hand to clutch Sirius’s. “You shouldn’t have to go through this. I’m sorry.” Sirius blinked with watery eyes.

“Thanks, Re. I’m fine though, honestly.” He said, giving Remus a smile he could immediately tell was fake. He squeezed Sirius’s hand.

“You don’t have to lie. It’s me. I know how bad it hurts. Let me in, Sirius.” Remus begged. He couldn’t stand seeing Sirius this hurt and not letting himself be helped. Sirius’s jaw clenched, but ultimately he lasted only a few more moments before he met Remus’s eyes, and something in him snapped.

“It hurts.” He said simply, and then he collapsed into Remus’s arms. Remus held him as he sobbed and ran a hand through his hair as he continued repeating those two words, and Remus’s heart broke for the thousandth time.

“I’m here, I’ve got you.” He kept whispering in soothing tones, unable to bring himself to say “It’s okay” because it wasn’t. Nothing was. They stayed like that until Sirius started to quiet down, at which point Remus moved them so they were both lying down on his bed before grabbing some ointment that Madame Pomfrey gave him for bruises and beginning to apply it feather-soft wherever he could reach. When he was done, he lay on the pillow next to Sirius and met Sirius’s grateful gaze.

“Remus? Do you think I’m broken?” Sirius asked quietly, despite it being only them in the room. Remus smiled at him sadly.

“Maybe a little. Aren’t we all? But broken things can be fixed. And we’ll just have to fix ourselves.” Remus said, finding his hand and giving it one last squeeze. Sirius nodded and closed his eyes. Remus followed suit, and for the first time in a while, both boys slept through the night.

Remus and Sirius spent the rest of the holiday working on the map, something both had been neglecting in the hecticness of the year. Within the week that they had the castle to themselves, they discovered three new secret passages, two of which actually led somewhere (namely, the great hall and a random spot by the lake, supposedly just a shortcut. They also made some progress on figuring out their tracking spell, finally successfully tracking something’s movements, and although it was an ant, they were extremely proud of the progress. Of course, when Remus then tried to take the ant off the map to work on tracking teachers and students like they wanted, Sirius refused as he had become awfully fond of “our little Alfonso”. (“Tell me Alfonso isn’t the ant, Sirius.” “He is our son, and I love him.”) And so, time was taken out of each day to find Alfonso, easily due to the map, and to feed him. By the time Remus managed to convince Sirius to take Alfonso off the map, the others were due to arrive in two days, and so, as a compromise, Remus let Sirius spend a day sketching ‘Al’ in various positions and feeding him, until eventually letting him free. Admittedly, Remus mainly agreed to this so he could watch Sirius draw, something that they so rarely got to see as he kept it so to himself, either out of lingering shame from his mother or a need for privacy they tried to understand. Sirius, really very good at art, had also ended up sketching Remus with Alfonso and had placed the photo on the Marauder wall with the caption “Always in our hearts, AL.” Remus would never admit it, but he smiled every time he looked at it.

**

“JAMES!” Sirius looked up at the angry shout as James ran through the portrait hole, out of breath and panicked. They had been back to school for a meager two weeks, and already James had clearly gotten bored. They had celebrated Lily’s birthday, all getting her presents, and that had kept James’s attention for a sadly little amount of time. James ran over to Remus and flung himself behind the chair where Remus was reading in front of the fire in the common room while Peter and Sirius battled through their Potions essays on the floor in front of him.

“Hide me!” James squealed, just as a red-faced Marlene burst through the portrait, Emme, Mary, and Lily behind her clearly trying not to laugh.

“WHERE IS HE?” Marlene screeched.

“Oi, McKinnon,” Sirius giggled, “Nice hair.”

“DON’T YOU START BLACK!” Sirius raised his eyebrows, “IF YOU HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS THE NEXT BLUDGER I HIT WITH YOU WILL BE AT YOU!” Sirius just laughed lightly and put his hands out in a simultaneous “I didn’t do it” and “I surrender” gesture.

“What, um,” Remus stared, also clearly battling laughter, “What happened there, Marls?”

“I’ll tell you what happened, Lupin! James Bloody Potter happened! Two hours, two hours he let me walk around with this bloody hair! I only found out when McGonagall asked me to change it!”

“Can I ask… why the hamster?” Peter piped up. Marlene glared at him, and James peeked out from behind the chair. She saw him and quickly marched towards him, scowling. He scampered away, climbing over the furniture and tripping over himself to explain.

“Look! It was an accident, I swear!! I was only trying to change the light above you into a hamster, to give you a scare because you called me an arse and you’re afraid of hamsters, but you moved, and instead your hair kind of just changed shapes! And I don’t know how, or frankly why it’s just your hair and why it’s not alive, but I was trying to change it back, and you kept moving!”
“Oh, so it’s my fault the top of my head currently has a hamster-shaped mountain of hair on it???”

“No!” James said quickly, “Just, um, well you did call me an arse-”

Marlene screamed and jumped on James, wrestling him to the ground. The rest of the girls pulled their work out and sat with the boys, used to James and Marlene’s antics by now.

“Oi Pete, you grew up with them for a bit, you’re the expert, when do we step in?” Emme said, looking over at Marlene screaming “Did you just bite me?”

Peter looked at them, calculating. “As soon as she’s pulled James’s hair and sacked him in the balls. Otherwise, they keep going. That’s their sign it’s over; enough damage is done. Watch, James will do some kind of damage to her hand, -”

“MY PINKY!”

“- and then he’s out, because he’s terrified of actually hurting her. Now she has full power, and he waits until she’s done.”

“My HAIR! Marlene! STOP! OW!”

“There it is.” Pete grinned, getting up and walking over to the two lying out of breath on the floor, side by side. “Marlene,” he started, pulling them both to their feet, “James will put your hair back. Are you guys good?”

“Good.” They said at the same time, grumpy. James muttered the counter spell, and Marlene’s hair went back to the bun she had had it in before. Then, wordlessly, they joined the others and started working, at first not talking to each other but eventually chatting as if nothing happened.

“Hey, Marls?” Lily said eventually, “You know how you asked me the other day what it was like having a sibling?”

“Yeah?” Marlene looked confused. As one, Lily, Sirius, and Emme, the only three with siblings, replied: “You’ve got one.”

Marlene and James looked at each other for a moment and then grinned.

“Yeah, guess I do. Shit luck it’s him though.” The circle laughed as James stuck his tongue out and threw a piece of paper at her head. Sirius watched them, slightly jealous of their easy relationship. He knew he had a similar one with James, whom he considered his brother and who considered him the same, but he wished for that to be true of Regulus. They had been meeting almost every second Wednesday as agreed, but it just couldn’t make up for the things their relationship had been through already, the things they missed. He caught Lily’s eye and saw his pain reflected there, at a relationship neither of them could ever fully restore. They nodded at each other and carried on working, secure in the knowledge that they weren’t alone, that someone understood. Sometimes, that was all you needed.

**

“Lupin! Potter! Come here.” Remus and James exchanged bewildered looks at the two seventh years beckoning them from the corner of the crowded corridor. They walked over to them, changing their path from where they were going for a walk by the lake at James’s insistence that the fresh air would help Remus’s aching bones.

“Gid, Fab, how are you?” James said cautiously as they approached. Gid and Fab just smirked and led them to an abandoned classroom.
“What’s going on?” Remus asked, looking around.

“We are giving you a gift,” Gideon announced.

“A gift?” James asked.

“Yip,” Fab answered.

“We see potential in you-”

“Great potential-”

“There’s no one greater to carry our legacy.”

“Your legacy?” Remus asked, laughing a little.

“Don’t scoff, young one, for it is a great responsibility,” Gid said seriously. James nodded slowly.

“So what is this legacy, exactly?” he asked.

“Just exactly what you are doing, little Potter!” Fab grinned, “Of mischief-making and mayhem-causing!”

“Of course, we slowed down a bit the past year or so-”

“So as not to drive McGogs into early retirement-”

“I mean you lot were quite enough.”

“But nevertheless, we present to you: This.” With that, Gideon handed Remus an old piece of parchment. He raised an eyebrow at them.

“This is Paper.” He stated.

“Oh, how he wounds me, Gid!” Fabian cried.

“That, little Lupin, is the key to your future. That is every secret passage, room, or closet we have ever found here, and how to get into every single one.”

“Really?!” James snatched the paper and opened it, looking at the list. “Wicked! This’ll be great for the map, Remus!”

“What map?” Gid asked, curious.

“I’ve been making it since my first year. It’s of Hogwarts, tracks the staircases, has passages, tracked an ant for a while.” Remus explained casually, looking over the list. James furrowed his eyebrows at the ant comment but otherwise nodded along.

“It’s brilliant,” James said.

“Genius,” the twins muttered.

“Are you aiming to track professors then?” Gid asked. Remus nodded, still reading the list.

“And students.” He said before looking up, “Thanks for this, we’ve got some, but there are a few great ones on here.”

“Yeah, no worries. Looks like it’s in the best possible hands.” Fab laughed, and the two started walking away, muttering things like “A map!” and “Why didn’t we do that?”

“So…” James started once they had gone, and Remus was back on the list, “I’m guessing that’s our walk canceled?”

Remus looked up and smirked at James, “Oh, James, we’ll be walking A LOT tonight. It’s time you and Pete pull your weight if this is going to be our map. And it’s time,” He duplicated the list and gave one to James, “To check these out.”

***

It felt like no time had passed, and yet here Sirius was, walking onto the field to play the next quidditch match: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. The past few weeks had been chaos, to put it lightly. Ever since Gid and Fab had given Remus and James their list of secret passages, the map had grown bigger than any of them could have ever imagined. Remus and Sirius had worked tirelessly on it, James had had two old tunnels almost collapse on him, and Pete had had a stroke of genius with the tracking spell and they had successfully begun tracking Filch and his damn cat. Remus had some ideas on how to finish off the tracking, which he refused to share, and on top of everything, they were still working on the Animagus process. They had started taking ingredients for the potion, keeping them all safe and hidden in their bath, restricting the boys to showers. It was fine, until James and Remus started getting antsy, James loving a good bath after grueling quidditch practices and Remus after full moons. Sirius looked up at the stands to try and find his friends in the crowd as Frank shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain, and he laughed when he saw Remus’s extremely grumpy expression, no doubt at being out in the cold without his favourite grandpa sweater, that was admittedly stashed in the changerooms for Sirius to put on after the match. Better win then so he couldn’t get upset with Sirius.

The whistle blew, and they were off. McGonagall had been searching for a new commentator for ages now, and it sounded to Sirius like she was trying out Maisie Jennings, a very well-meaning Hufflepuff in their year, but who knew nothing at all about the sport.

“Um, so I think Gryffindor has the ball- the red one?” she said into the mic, and Sirius had to laugh at the expression on Minnie’s face.

“That’s the quaffle, Jennings.”

“Oh, right, thanks, Professor. Um, so, yeah, Gryffindor has- whoops, had the quaffle, now Ravencla- no wait, back to Gryffindor, yeah, one of the twins took it, I think? Yeah, red hair. Gonna miss them next year, they were so fun, and handsome too-”

“Focus on the game please, Miss Jennings.”

“Right, yes, um, so Benjy has the ball, I reckon. Maybe? OH! That almost hit him?! Marlene almost hit him with that other ball?! Is that allowed?”

“That’s the bludger, yes, that’s her JOB Jennings. She’s a beater.”
“Oh, okay, seems brutal. Well done then, Marlene. Um, OH, wait, did someone score?”
“Ten points to Gryffindor, James Potter scores,” McGonagall said into the mic, sounding tired.

Sirius grinned and flew over to high-five James and laugh.

“Blood brilliant,” James said, eyes shining, “Hope she always comments.” Sirius laughed as he flew away, back to the game.
“Right, sorry, Professor, I’ll do better. Okay so, yes, Ravenclaw has the ball. They’re passing it a lot, OH! One of the twins caught it! Now he’s flying with James and- um, his brother, and they’re passing, and oh my word there’s one of those other balls! James duck! Oh no, Sirius sent it away to one of the Ravenclaws, well done Sirius! You know, we might not have the Twins next year, but Black and Potter are always fun to watch, aren’t they?”
“Jennings!”
“Right, sorry. Okay, oh! OH! One of the twins scored again! That’s 2 points for Gryffindor!” The crowd laughed, and Sirius swore he could see McGonagall roll her eyes.

“20, Jennings, each goal is ten.”
“Well, that just makes no sense. But okay, okay, 20-0 to Gryffindors. Good job, guys! Now Ravenclaw has it, Amelia I think, and she’s going for the goal! Oh! OH!! No, Frank blocked it. Good job, Frank, that looked hard. And now James has it again, and he’s passing it to- no! Now Benjy has it, and he’s flying and- GOAL! Good job Benjy, 2-1 to Gryffindor.”
“20-10!”

“Yip, sorry, 20-10. Okay, so, now A twin has it, and OOF! Sirius just hit one of those other balls hard right near the Ravenclaw seeker! That was a bit mean, why-?”
The whole crowd erupted. Maisie may not have noticed, but Sirius had just secured the win, clearing up the path to the snitch for Alice and throwing the other seeker off. The whole team flew and crashed into him and Alice as they cheered and screamed. Ravenclaw flew over to congratulate them, as most players on either team were friendly, but they quickly left the Gryffindors to their celebrating. They got to the ground and were greeted by their grinning friends cheering after them, then they went to the change room and changed and showered in high spirits, ready for the party that night. Sirius laughed as he pulled on Remus’s jumper and noticed James doing the same thing. Life was good.

**

The night passed in a blur of celebration and dancing. Remus, actually enjoying this party as it was far enough from the full moon that his senses weren’t overwhelming, found himself not minding (too much) that Sirius was the one who had forced him to sit in the cold with the comfort of his favourite jumper. His smile, rid of any lingering haunting from Christmas that had been sitting in his eyes, didn’t hurt in making Remus forgive him either.

“LUPIN! LOVELY LITTLE LUPIN!” a loud voice came from behind where he sat on the couch with James and Lily, followed by the weight of a very drunk seventh-year falling over the couch. Gideon grinned at him, lying upside down with his head on Remus’s lap. Remus quirked an eyebrow and stuffed down his laugh.

“What’s up, Gid?” he managed. Lily, half being squashed by Gideon, had to slide half onto James’s lap in order to be able to breathe. James stopped laughing after that, looking strangely breathless, Remus noted.

“You,” Gid started, “You need to show me this map. I must see it. I must know! You know?”
“No can do Prewet, marauder business.” Remus replied, winking at James, who had since recovered enough to wink back.

“What map?” Lily asked curiously.

“My map of the school,” Remus replied simply, “He knows about it. I’ll explain later.”

“REMUSSSSS. Show me.” Gideon demanded.

“What will I get out of it?” Remus asked

“Hmmmm. OH!” Gid vaulted himself off of the couch and ran, stumbling, to the corner of the room, before grabbing something and running back, presenting a half-empty bottle of fire whiskey on one knee to Remus.

“I, little Lupin, will let you drink.”
“WHAT?” James shouted, “Third years aren’t allowed!”
“AN expectation, just this once,” Gid said proudly.

“An exception, you mean?” Lily laughed.

“Yeah, that!” Gid said impatiently, “What do you say, Remus?” Remus thought for a second. Really, he didn’t want to drink that much, but James REALLY wanted to, so…

“Deal.” He smirked, holding out his hand for Gid to shake. Gideon actually whooped and pulled Remus off the couch, handing him the bottle.

“All right, you weirdo, follow me.” Remus laughed, leading an overexcited puppy-like Gideon up to their dorm. A few curious eyes followed them, all dreading the team-up between the Marauders and the Prewett twins, but most were too drunk to really wonder what they were doing.

“All right,” Remus began, pausing in front of their closed door and thinking for a moment about the sheer number of incriminating things in their dorm, “Stay here a sec, and I’ll fetch you.” He quickly stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, much to Gid’s annoyance.

“C’mon Lupin! What could you possibly need to hide from me?!” Remus laughed at the irony in the sentence as he covered the Marauder wall, closed the bathroom door, and hid anything else that might give his secret away. With one last check for safety, he opened the door.

“Okay,” he said, allowing Gid inside, “welcome.”

“Why thank you,” Gid said sarcastically. “So, where is it?”

“Right here,” Remus replied, pulling the map out from under the pile of books on tracking spells and potions that lay on Sirius’s bed.  He handed the parchment to Gid, warning him to be careful.

“Whoa,” Gideon breathed, sitting on Remus’s bed, “This is impressive. Like, really.”

“Thanks,” Remus replied, blushing a little, “it’s been a lot of work.”

“I can imagine,” Gid said, looking closely at the different passages and rooms they’d mapped out. “I’m guessing you can’t figure out how to track the students, hey?”
“Yeah, I figured out simple tracking, but I can’t exactly put the spell individually on each student and teacher, can I? Plus, it’d be useless when each year finishes and new students come, anyways.”

“Should just charm the castle,” Gid suggested, and although Remus knew he was slurring and drunk, his brain got caught on that. Charm the castle.

“You know,” he started slowly, leaning down to take the map from Gid, who honest-to-god pouted, “You might be onto something. Thanks.”
“Thank you, been dying to get a look since you mentioned it, Fab will be fuming he didn’t get a chance.”

Remus laughed, “Okay then, how about I don’t show him?” Gideon lit up.

“You’re the best, Lupin. C’mon, you’ve got fire whiskey to drink, and I’ve got a brother to annoy.” Remus laughed again as Gid dragged him down the stairs, already knowing he was going to regret this.

**
“James! JAMES!” Sirius shouted, trying to get James’s attention away from where he was talking to Lily.
“Sirius? What’s up, it’s a party! At least look like you’re having fun!” James said, furrowing his eyebrows under his skew glasses.

“What’s going on with Remus?” Sirius demanded.

“What do you mean? He’s fine.” James replied, still confused. Sirius scoffed. He’d watched earlier as Gideon had thrown himself over the couch’s back and practically lain all over Remus, who hated physical touch from strangers, thank you very much. Then, he saw Gid offer alcohol to Remus of all people, and just as he was about to step in and help, Remus took him up to their room!

“And if that wasn’t enough,” he continued his rant, oblivious to the looks he was getting from Lily, Marlene, and James, “After way too long up there, Gideon’s dragging him down here, and he’s drinking! Drinking, James! And now he’s over there and- and look!” he pointed their attention to the other side of the room where Remus sat with a group of seventh and sixth years. He was on a table with Gideon next to him, a drink in his hand, and Fabian on his knees in front of him, gripping his leg while Gideon kicked him from the side. Remus and the others were laughing and chatting pleasantly, despite the display in front of them.

“SEE?!” Sirius said, turning back to his puzzled friends.

“Um, he looks fine, Sirius,” Lily said hesitantly.

“What’s Sirius on about now?” Peter said, walking over to the group of them with Mary and Emmeline from where they had been dancing. Mary and Peter settled on the floor while Emme draped herself gracefully over Lily and Marlene’s laps.

“He’s being weird.” Marlene piped up from under Emme, throwing a pillow at Sirius that he caught absentmindedly, much to the disappointment of Peter, who looked ready to throw something at him if he missed, as he hadn't in a while.

“About Remus?” Pete asked, flopping down onto the floor.

“How’d you know?” Lily asked.

“He’s always weird about Remus,” Pete said simply, and James hummed his agreement.

“I am not!” Sirius argued, “He’s not himself, though! He’s clearly uncomfortable! They're taking advantage of him!”
As one, the group looked over to see Remus chuckling at something Gideon whispered to him while pointing at Fab.

“I think someone’s jealous.” Mary sang mockingly.
“What? I am not!” Sirius said, “Jealous of what?”

“You’re not the center of Remus’s attention, and you don’t know how to handle it.” Marlene supplied helpfully.

“What?! That’s so not true!” Sirius gaped. “Pete, Potts, back me up.”
For a second, there was quiet from their corner.
“Well actually mate,” James started, “you do seem a little jealous.”
“Et tu, James?” Sirius gasped, making Lily start giggling.

“Oh, you shush,” Sirius said grumpily. “Just because you always have James’s attention because he's like obsessed doesn’t mean that-”

“Oi!” James exclaimed as Lily blushed. Sirius immediately felt bad.

“Sorry. That, uh, that was uncalled for. I’m sorry. Think I’m just tired. I’m gonna head up, k?”

“I’ll come too,” James said, standing up. “Night, everyone!” Sirius noted guiltily that James wasn’t meeting Lily’s eyes. Oh he screwed up big time. They walked up the stairs in silence, until they reached their room.

“Okay,” James started as soon as they were inside the dorm, “What the hell, mate?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius mumbled.

“No, none of that bullshit, what’s the matter with you? You’re acting so weird about Remus and then just exposing me like that?! Yeah, I like Lily, but that was my thing to tell, and you saying that, especially in front of her, was a real dick move, Sirius.”

“I know,” Sirius said, “I’m sorry, really, James, I don’t know what came over me. Everyone was just, I don’t know, they were getting on my nerves, and it just came out. I’m sorry.”

James sighed and sat on his bed next to Sirius. “I know you’re sorry, Sirius, but what was that? Why were you so weird about Remus?”

Sirius thought for a while. “I'm not really sure,” He said eventually. “Maybe I was jealous he was hanging out with other people. Maybe I’m just a little protective, you know? Like, he’s Moony.”
“Yeah,” James said slowly, calculating, “I guess. You want to make sure he doesn’t give up his secret?”

“Yes!” Sirius let out a deep breath, “That’s it exactly! Thanks, James!”

“Yeah,” James still didn’t look sure, “Look, Sir-”

“Whoa-ho! What’s going on in here?!” They both looked up quickly at Remus’s voice as he stumbled in, an arm slung around Fabian’s shoulder as Fabian helped him in.

“Thanks, Fab!” he shouted, grinning lazily as he collapsed on his bed.

“No problem, Lupin; take care of yourself, bud,” Fabian chuckled fondly, and with a nod and salute at James and Sirius, he left.

“Remus?” James called as he and Sirius quickly jumped up and went over to Remus’s bed. “Are you drunk?”

“No,” Remus said pleasantly, sitting up completely normal and acting like nothing had happened.

“What- then what was that?” Sirius asked, baffled.

“That,” Remus explained, standing up, “Was fake. I realized around the fifth person that expressed their astonishment at how well I was handling alcohol for my first time, that with the whole werewolf metabolism thing, I may not be able to get drunk as easily as a regular 13-year-old, so I faked it and left.

“Wow, sorry, Moony,” Sirius said, patting him on the back but feeling oddly relieved.

“Eh, it is what it is. I’m gonna take a shower, the twins have no boundaries. Night, guys,”

“Nigh,t Moony!” James and Sirius called after him as he gathered the pajamas he would no doubt change into in the bathroom.

“Well, there you go, Sirius. Nothing to worry about.” James smiled easily.

“Yeah, nothing at all.” Sirius echoed. And yet that night, past when Pete came back, past when Remus went to bed, past when James started to snore, Sirius worried.

**

March came and went, and with it, James and Remus’s birthdays. The Gryffindor third years had all pulled together and made it one of the best birthdays Remus had ever had, and James had agreed, especially after the surprise party they had thrown them between their birthdays, with almost all of Gryffindor as well as other houses attending. They had ended up playing more muggle games, this time including Truth or Dare, and Remus and James, as the birthday boys, had had to kiss one another for some unknown reason, which brought Remus to a weird and grand total of three of his friends that he had kissed. Sirius had gifted Remus more records, as usual for them, as well as some chocolate, Peter had given him a range of tricks and sweets, James had bought him a new jumper and a stack of books he couldn’t even remember mentioning wanting but was thrilled by, Lily, Mary, and Marlene had bought him some new jumpers (which he knew were just going to be stolen but still appreciated), and Emme had bought him a t-shirt that said “The weather’s great up here, thanks”, which everyone had gotten a good laugh in at, even him as he had to admit he'd grown a lot. Before long, it was the day they had all been waiting for.

April 1^st. April Fools' to some, the most important day of the year to four. The annual Marauder’s Cup. It had sat, taunting, on Sirius’s bed for a year now, and Remus wanted it back. The rules clearly stated that they had to wait until 5 am to start, but no boy slept that night, too afraid of being attacked in their sleep. Sirius sat all night, jittery and terrified, in the middle of his bed, hugging the cup close, while the rest of them prowled around and planned their victories. 5 am came and went in a literal flash, as Sirius blinded them as the clock struck 5 with a bright light, before sprinting down the stairs screeching like a banshee.

The other three looked at each other for a moment before sprinting after him, tripping over each other. The chase continued for a full hour, before Sirius physically couldn’t run anymore, and Remus, who had barely broken a sweat, plucked the cup from his limp hand.

“Thanks, mate.” Remus smirked, tucking it in his pocket.

“You know,” Sirius panted, “The werewolf stamina, technically, counts, as, cheating”

“Hm, no,” Remus said simply, helping Sirius off the floor, “It’s just good karma.” He grinned at him once more before running off, right into a giant spider web that trapped him immediately. Peter jumped out from behind a bush and snatched the cup, laughing maniacally.

“Ah-ha! You fell for it! I am the greatest-”

“Levicorpus!” Pete yelped as James’s spell hit him and he was swept into the air by his ankle. The cup flew out of his grip, and James caught it quickly.

“See ya, kiddies!” James said, running away.

The rest of the day passed in similar chaos. The classes were used for sleep or for planning, and the teachers gave up trying to ask for anything different. The bets grew out of control, the boys grew exhausted, and the pranks grew ridiculous. At one point, James, in order to distract them all, had made beards grow on the other three, until the beard was touching the ground. To get him back, of course, Remus had done the same to him, and as none of them wanted to waste the time to go to the hospital wing, the rest of the day saw them running around with said beards flying out behind them as they ran.

Severus Snape and his little gang of idiots of course took the opportunity of having them all distracted to pull their own little tricks on them, like making holes appear out of nowhere while they ran and tripping them up. It didn’t bother the boys much, however, especially after Sirius was running with the cup and being chased by Remus and Snape pulled one such trick on Remus, causing him to collapse to the ground and twist his ankle. Without thinking, Sirius had spun around, put the levicorpus spell James had used earlier on Snape, fixed Remus’s ankle with one of the many healing spells he had picked up over the last few years between himself and Remus, waited for Remus to get up, and then carried on running. Snape hung there for a good few hours, and the boys were left alone after that since the word had gotten around Slytherin that just because they were competing, that didn’t mean they weren’t still as fiercely loyal as ever.

4:30 pm came, and Remus had the cup. He just had to make it to McGonagall’s office before 5, and he was home free, he was the Ultimate Marauder. He poked his head out from his position behind a pillar near her office, and upon seeing the coast was clear, started running towards her office.

I’ve made it. He rounded the corner I’ve done it. he reached for the doorknob I’ve-

He crashed into the door, smashing it off of its hinges as another body collided with his. He could tell it was James he was wrestling for the cup on the splinters of the broken floor with, both by smell and by the less subtle tell of the voice shouting “GIVE IT UP MOONY!”

“ENOUGH!” Both boys froze at the voice, made eye contact, and then as one looked up to meet McGonagall’s wide eyes.

“What- how- my DOOR!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry, Professor!” They chorused from the floor.

“It’s- I mean- Never mind. Well, get up then, who has it?” she stuttered. Remus and James looked at each other and each gave a small tug, both holding the cup. Sirius and Pete, now watching from the hole where the door should be, also looked in curiously. James met Remus’s eyes, and he could see the message in them, and so they rose together, clumsily, both clutching the cup.

“Well, you see, technically I had it when we reached the door-” Remus started, to James’s immediate complaint, and for a while, they both argued until McGonagall silenced them.

“Well then, there’s only one thing to do.”

“WELCOME EVERYONE!” Dumbledore boomed, “To another April fools come and gone! I hope you have not suffered too greatly from this day of foolery and fun! Now, what we have all been waiting for…” He flicked his wand, and an envelope appeared, “The winner of this year’s Marauder’s Cup, and the title of Ultimate Marauder for the year is… James Potter! Congratulations, Mr Potter, what a show!” James strutted up to where Dumbledore was waiting with the cup and the over-the-top crown, and he lowered his head as Dumbledore put the crown on him and handed him the cup. Across the hall, Snape and his friends were scowling, but majority of people looked entertained. The hall cheered, or at least those who had betted on him, as James held the cup above his head and began his victory lap, cheering and chanting.

“I still should’ve won,” Remus said grumpily as he cheered his friend on.

“Look, you never could’ve expected Minnie to pull a: “Whoever catches it gets it” on you guys. James is a chaser; you stood no chance.” Sirius said sympathetically. James finished his lap and flopped down in the seat opposite Remus, smiling ear to ear.

“No hard feelings, Moony?” he grinned, holding out his hand. Remus couldn’t help but break into a fond smile and shake it.
“Nah, nice one Potts. I’ll get it next year.” Remus said, to be met with a chorus of challenges by the others. The rest of the feast went by and they watched as James was congratulated and people ran from table to table collecting money, and Remus couldn’t help but think April Fools must be his favorite day ever.

**

The boys got even busier after that. Emmeline’s birthday, unfortunately for her, was on the 2^nd of April and so fell short of the excitement of the day before, but they tried to make it special, all giving her gifts and making a fool out of themselves singing for her at breakfast as always. She didn’t seem to mind the day before’s antics, especially when she got Remus’s present of a t-shirt that said: “At least I’m not James Potter.”  After her birthday, Sirius’s came and went with a party, gifts from his best friends, and nothing from home, which he honestly preferred. Soon after that, they wrote exams, and then the final quidditch game against Slytherin came.

“All right, team,” Frank started, “Because this is Gid and Fab’s last game, I’m handing the pep talk over to them. Guys, take it away.”

The team whooped and cheered, both for the twins and because they got to escape one of Frank’s notoriously bad speeches.

“Okay,” Gid started, “First of all, we wanted to say thanks.”

“You guys have been a great team, and it’s been a blast.” Fabian continued. The team awed at them before letting them carry on.

“So, with that in mind,” Gid started

“If you lot let us lose our last ever game, we will get our revenge,” Fab said sweetly.

“We need 190 points to win the cup, and Slytherin plays dirty. So, Alice, no getting the snitch before we’re forty points up. Sirius, Marlene, don’t let their seeker get it.”
“James, you’re our best shot, don’t try give it to us more because it's our last game, we want to win.”
“And Frank, don’t let them score. Also, we love you guys, and we’ll miss you. Now let’s go!”

With that the twins ran out the tunnel to the pitch, completely breaking the normal order, but no one could find it in them to care. Frank turned to the team, who were waiting for his word.

“You heard them. Let’s win this.”

And win they did. Slytherin played dirty as the twins predicted, but they were ready for them. Sirius and Marlene blocked shot after shot and ruined the Slytherins’ plays whenever possible, and James was on fire. Soon, an hour had passed and Gryffindor was leading 80-30, and then Alice spotted the snitch. In a matter of seconds, she had caught it, and they had won the cup. The crowd went wild as the team crashed together to celebrate, and though they denied it, Sirius swore he saw Gid and Fab wiping tears from their eyes.

“AND THAT’S A WRAP,” Gid shouted, and Fab flew straight into him, making them tumble to the ground, and causing everyone to laugh. They’d be hard to replace, those two.

***
“It worked,” Remus whispered in awe from his spot on his bed, watching as the map filled with thousands of footprints labeled as to their corresponding person.

“IT WORKED!” He jumped up, frightening Pete into falling off his own bed where he was playing cards with Sirius, both finished packing to go home the next day. The year had felt like it had just started, and yet here they were ready to go home, ready to miss each other for months and come back together, a little more scarred for some, but together nonetheless. The past few days had been tense as the four got ready to leave, all aware of the summer awaiting Remus and Sirius. 

“Merlin Remus!” Pete complained, rubbing his arm that he fell on. “What worked?” Remus locked eyes with Sirius, and Sirius gasped.

“No WAY!” Sirius shouted, jumping over Pete and snatching the Map from Remus, wide-eyed, excited for the first time all week.

“What is it?” James asked from his spot on the floor where he had been practicing turning a quill into a pillow.

“Wait,” Pete got up and saw what they were holding, “is it- the map? It’s done?”

Remus nodded violently. In an instant, James and Pete were next to them, looking at it in awe.

“Look!” James shouted, pointing at one of the footsteps, “There’s Minnie! In her classroom!”
“Ohh! Benjy Fenwick is in a broom closet with Maisie Jennings!” Sirius pointed out.

“Huh, didn’t see that coming.” Pete mused.

“You didn’t? they were always making eyes at each other.” Remus said distractedly, looking for others that they knew.

“Oh, this would make hide-and-seek impossible,” James said sadly. Remus and Pete busted out laughing.

"When were you playing hide and seek, J?” Pete asked. Remus watched as James and Sirius met each other’s eyes.

“We get bored sometimes,” Sirius admitted. Remus smiled fondly at their sheepish expressions.

“Wanna play? We’ve got to test it somehow.” James and Sirius lit up and immediately dashed from the room without another word. Pete and Remus watched the map versions of them move quickly through the castle, running into people as they went until eventually they for some reason chose to hide in McGonagall’s office.

“They probably think we won’t go in there,” Pete guessed.

“Ah, but you see, we, unlike them, know when she’s coming,” Remus smirked.

Pete laughed, looking at the dot of McGonagall heading to the oblivious James and Sirius dots.
“We’re going to cause a lot of damage with this thing.”