The Marauders
Thursday, September 30, 1971
After three weeks of research, the plan to change Snape’s tie was finally coming to a head. They had spent countless hours in the library, flipping through pages and pages of books on charms, and finally found a colour changing spell that they could put a time limit on. Testing it out on James’ tie, they charmed it to flip through all four house colours, and after a few tries, it finally worked. Now for the execution.
They decided that Sirius, ever dramatic, would cause a distraction in potions, and Remus would cast the charm. It was a practical lesson, so the plan was for Sirius to make a ruckus when all the students were lined up to get the ingredients.
“Okay Remus, ready for it?” Sirius asked, to which Remus nodded in confirmation. Sirius walked over to the supplies cupboard and joined the throng of students there, and ‘accidentally’ bumped into Lily Evans, causing a chain reaction of kids falling over. Everyone looked toward the shouting, and it was then that Remus pulled out his wand and murmured the incantation, pointing toward Snape.
Now they wait. Snape had just dashed over to help Evans up, and upon pulling her to her feet, she caught a glimpse of his tie.
“Severus, why is your tie Hufflepuff colours?” she asked. Snape looked down, flushed, and immediately covered his tie with his hand.
“Someone must’ve switched my tie,” he sneered, which Slughorn overheard.
“Mr. Snape, my boy, are you suggesting that some marauder stole into your room in the night and switched your ties out from Slytherin to Hufflepuff?” Remus liked that, marauder .
“No, Professor, of course not. It was a Slytherin tie this morning!” Snape responded indignantly.
“Whatever you say, child, now can we please get back to the lesson!” exclaimed Slughorn, and the hubbub ceased.
When Sirius returned to the cauldron he was sharing with Remus, and James returned to his and Peter’s behind them, they knew they had gotten away with it.
“Hey, guys, y’know what Slughorn said about a marauder slipping in and switching his ties?” Remus asked a few minutes later, and the boys nodded. “James, you said we need a name, how about The Marauders?”
James’ eyes opened wide, and he grinned from ear to ear. “Yes, Remus Lupin, you're a genius!” he exclaimed quite loudly, and Slughorn gave him a stern look. The rest of the class passed without incident, save the students near Snape giggling every time his tie changed colours again.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
From then on, the boys would hold secret Marauder Meetings, usually assembled by James or Sirius, which mainly consisted of the group scheming to get back at Snape for whatever horrible thing he’d done that time or to be a nuisance to Slytherin house in general. Remus decided that he had to be there for the meetings, otherwise the other boys would simply go too far and get somebody seriously hurt or come up with the most basic, boring ideas on the planet.
“Okay, fine, but we have to do something really big for Halloween!” Sirius insisted, to which the other boys agreed. After long deliberation, and vetoing various ideas including TPing the Great Hall, turning every tapestry orange, and getting the ghosts to follow people around, they finally landed on their idea.
“C’mon, Sirius, TPing houses was a regular Tuesday for me when I was 9,” joked Remus.
“What if we… oh, I dunno…” dithered James, thinking so hard Remus could smell his brain setting on fire. “What if we enchanted the jack-o-lanterns in the Great Hall to sing or something?”
“Ooh! Ooh! I know! Make ‘em sing The Monster Mash !” supplied Remus, which fell on blank faces.
“What the hell is The Monster Mash ?” asked Sirius and James simultaneously.
“Oh gosh, I forgot you guys don’t know muggle music. Okay. I’ll figure out a way to get you to listen to it but trust me, it’ll be good. The muggleborns might even start dancing, and we can make it so loud it almost hurts?”
“Dancing? I’m sold,” said Sirius, “You’ve gotta teach me that dance, though, my cousins will go insane if they see me dancing a muggle dance!”
And the plan was set.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Monday, October 4, 1971
Once again, Remus was restless all day but did a much better job hiding it than last month. He found that sweets helped, particularly chocolate, and ate as much as he could get his hands on.
“Hey, Remus!” James said cheerfully. “I managed to figure out the spell already for Halloween, and I figured out how to listen to that song. One of the fourth year girls, Maggie Wolpart, brought a radio and she charmed it to play requests. Great suggestion on that, it’s perfect mate!”
Remus nodded and continued pretending to read his book.
“Wow, The Encyclopaedia of Bat Eyes must be maddeningly interesting, care to share with the class?” James declared sarcastically, raising a brow when Remus looked up at him.
“Sorry James, I’m just not feeling too well.” Remus checked his watch for what seemed the thousandth time that day, and it was already 6:40, shit. Sunset’s in six minutes. “I need the hospital wing, and I don’t think I’ll be able to make dinner, so. I’ll see you later!” Remus dashed out of the portrait hole and walked to the hospital wing.
“Cutting it close tonight, are we dear?” tutted Madam Pomfrey as he reached the doors of the infirmary. “Come now, let’s get going,” she said, and the pair made their way to the willow tree where McGonagall was waiting, and they wound through the long tunnel and entered the shack.
“I think I actually still have a bit of time, it doesn’t happen until it’s fully dark,” Remus stated, to which Madam Pomfrey hummed.
“I’ll keep that in mind, I don’t want you in here for any longer than is strictly necessary, dear,” she stated kindly and sat with him comfortingly until she noticed his face start to screw up in pain. “Oh, I best be off. I’ll be here at dawn again, darling,” and she was gone.
As soon as he heard the trapdoor to the tunnel close, he let the pain take over and remembered nothing past that point.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When he came to, the most noticeable pain was in his shoulder. Probably dislocated, he surmised, and then he noticed the pool of blood on the floor. For a moment he panicked, thinking someone had somehow gotten in and he had killed a person. Then the gash across his stomach made itself known to him, and he passed out from the pain.
The next time he awoke, it was to the bright light of the sun coming in through the windows of the hospital wing. He groaned, the pain in his abdomen still prominent. The click-clack of Madam Pomfrey’s heels approached and she tentatively moved the screen around Remus’ bed.
“Hello there,” she said softly, pulling out her wand and checking him over. “I see it was a nasty night, but I already popped your shoulder back and healed the little cuts. The big one is still healing, but the bleeding stopped. I’m afraid it’ll scar badly, I’m so sorry dear.”
“Sokay, ‘nother for the collection,” he joked and winced as he sat up. Madam Pomfrey adjusted his pillows behind him and gave him a healing potion.
“Do you need anything dear? Food? Water?” she fussed, and Remus nodded to both.
“Chocolate, if it’s not a bother,” he replied, and she called on a house elf (oh, that’s what they are, okay.) named Misly to bring him sandwiches and chocolate, then gave him a glass of water. “Oh, what time is it?” he asked.
“It’s just past four o’clock, dear. Eat up,” she said and returned to her desk.
So that’s why James, Sirius, and Peter weren’t here, they’re in the transfiguration lesson. Remus hoped that at least one of them took proper notes for the lessons he missed today, because he really, really doesn’t want to fall behind.
After he had finished eating, he picked his book up and began reading, appreciating that Madam Pomfrey always leaves his books out for him. Not long after, the doors to the infirmary flew open and footsteps quickly approached his bed. He looked up as the screen was ripped back, and Sirius Black sat down in a huff on the edge of his bed.
“Reeeeeeeemus! We thought you died!” he whined, and Remus was so, so glad he was wearing a shirt so the boys couldn’t see the bandages underneath.
“Yeah, mate, what happened?” asked James, as Sirius shot him a scarily knowing glance. Remus tried to think up a quick lie, but Madam Pomfrey swooped in and beat him to it.
“Poor dear got the flu. Could hardly sit up, the muscle aches were so bad,” she supplied, handing Remus another potion. “Drink up, it’s a painkiller. Should help some. Don’t worry boys, he’s not contagious anymore! I’ll leave you to chat.”
Thank God for Poppy Pomfrey, Remus thought, as the group was satisfied with her answer.
“Hate to ask, but does anyone have today’s notes?” Remus asked, sheepishly.
“Yeah, here you go mate. Realised you weren’t in classes and made sure to jot down everything,” Sirius said and handed him a small stack of parchment.
“Cheers,” he replied and immediately started going through them. Extraordinarily comprehensive notes, indeed, including due dates of homework. Remus smiled up at Sirius. “Oh, these are wonderful, thank you!” he exclaimed, and if he hadn’t been in such pain, he would have appreciated the pat Sirius gave his shoulder.
“Not a problem, I’ve got you covered,” he replied, and the four boys simply did their homework until it was time for dinner.
“D’you think she’ll let you come down for dinner?” Peter asked sheepishly, clearly intimidated by the mediwitch. Remus considered his state and shook his head.
“Nah, I think I’ll be lucky if I get to classes tomorrow morning. She’s very strict about the health of her patients,” Remus replied.
“Yes, indeed,” said Madam Pomfrey, shooting an apologetic look Remus’ way.
“That’s settled, then. Tough luck, you guys go on down.”
“Absolutely not!” exclaimed James, which earned him a quick glare from Pomfrey. “My apologies. If it is all right, of course, Madam Pomfrey, the three of us would be overjoyed to spend our dinner with Mr. Remus Lupin here. Would that be in any way possible?” He asked formally, earning him a soft chuckle from her.
“Oh, okay, but only because you’re all so good to Remus. Quiet, though, please. I do have work to do,” she responded, to which James and Sirius high-fived.
Madam Pomfrey ordered a house-elf to deliver a selection of the dinner dishes to the table one of the boys transfigured from an infirmary screen. The four ate and chatted quietly, and then continued their homework until the mediwitch shooed them away, insisting they go to bed. James thanked her profusely, gave her hand a kiss, and the three boys bid goodnight to Remus before heading out.
Remus continued his homework after the boys had left, and hoped Sirius didn’t really try too hard on these notes. Clearly, he didn’t need them for himself, as he didn’t ask once for them as he was doing the homework assigned that day.
Eventually, Madam Pomfrey came over and chastised him for overworking himself before blowing out his candle and telling him to get some sleep. Remus gingerly put Sirius’ notes into his bag, and as he was drifting off, all he could think about was how glad he was to have such good friends.