Chapter 1
Remus sat at the library table, doing his arithmancy homework. The class was kicking his ass. He honestly shouldn’t have picked the selective, but here he was. James was next to him, working on history of magic and stealing glances at Lily. She was finishing her herbology assignment (draw a picture and name the parts of a mandrake) with Dorcas, occasionally meeting James’ eyes and grinning.
They’d been like this for months now. James had finally gotten his head out of his arse, and Remus was sure they’d be together withing a month. According to Sirius they’d started writing letters last summer. On the train they were actually civil with each other and Lily had joined them in their compartment for some of the journey.
Sirius sat across from them, working on transfiguration. He was holding hands with Marlene, who was writing a charms essay.
They’d been dating for a few months now. Marlene didn’t bother Remus at all. She was his friend. Sirius seemed to really like her. They were great together. Sirius deserved it, he deserved to feel loved and Remus was really glad he’d had found someone. Sure, in an ideal world it would be Remus, but he was a werewolf. Remus could only imagine how taxing their friendship was already. It wouldn’t be fair to tie Sirius to himself like that.
Remus glanced at Dorcas, who was looking at Marlene with a strange expression. While he was trying to figure out what it meant, his thoughts were interrupted.
”Hey, Remus?”
Regulus had arrived. He was standing next to the table, looking very nervous.
“Oh, fantastic!” Remus got up. “That’s our final member, guys.”
Everyone else looked up.
Slytherins had built a very bad reputation, and everyone there knew who Regulus usually hung out with. He had let them know beforehand that Sirius’ younger brother would be joining them, but the air still seemed a bit tense. That didn’t bode well for his project.
“Hello Regulus,” Sirius said. “How are you?” It was polite in a forced sort of way, like he didn’t really know how to act.
“I’m well,” Regulus replied. “And you?”
“Very well, thank you.”
Remus groaned internally. This would be a long two months.
“So, everyone, this is Regulus,” he said out loud. “Regulus, this is Marlene, Dorcas, Lily and James.”
Everyone waved and Lily gave him a friendly smile. Remus glanced at James, expecting him to be jealous, but he was smiling at Regulus as well. Regulus mumbled something that sounded like ‘nice to meet you’, but it was hard to say.
“D’you want to sit here, Regulus?” Lily moved her bag from the empty chair she’d left between herself and James. Regulus nodded and moved there quickly, avoiding eye contact. Both of the older students smiled at him, and he flushed slightly.
“Fantastic,” Remus said, feeling slightly relieved. Everything was still peaceful. It shouldn’t surprise him that Lily would include everyone and anyone. He supposed James was trying to impress her by finally learning manners (which did surprise Remus).
“So basically, I need you guys’ help for this project. I don’t have all the details worked out, but April first is coming up. I know you two,” at this he looked at Sirius and James, “will want to do something big, but I don’t plan on getting caught this year. So, we’re going to start planning now, and they won’t be able to trace it back to us.”
“Seriously?” Lily asked. “You invited me here to plan a prank? I thought you were above this stuff.” Despite her tone she was grinning.
“Finally,” James said, sounding a bit choked up.
“Our Moony’s grown up,” Sirius continued, a hand over his heart.
Remus glowered at them. “This is self protection. I got a month of detention last year, and we have exams coming up.”
This was partly true. Remus would never admit that he actually did want their last April fools to go down in history. However, he also wouldn’t mind getting away with it for a change. Anyways, he had lots of spare time now that James and Lily were getting their act together and Sirius was dating Marlene. He was always invited along of course, but it was a little uncomfortable, considering the soul-consuming crush he had on Sirius.
“I want this to be huge,” Sirius demanded.
“Obviously,” Remus agreed.
“And spectacular,” James added.
“Of course.”
Lily cleared her throat. “I’ll help, but I’m not going down for this.”
Dorcas and Regulus nodded in agreement.
“I think we should all sign an agreement that states that if one of us gets caught, they won’t betray the rest of us,” Regulus said.
Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Then Marlene huffed: “Could you be more Slytherin?
The atmosphere tensed again. Regulus shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Sirius. He stared pointedly down at his lap. Everyone else was looking between the two. Remus couldn’t allow this tension to ruin his project.
“I think,” he said carefully, “that sounds like a good idea.”
“Yeah.” Lily smiled at Reg, James clapped him on the shoulder, and everyone else seemed to relax. Honestly, since when was James nice to Slytherins?
Remus continued: “Anyhow, I was thinking we could split up into smaller groups to brainstorm, and then get together again next week to start planning properly.”
Everyone nodded quietly. He’d thought he’d have had to persuade Dorcas and Regulus or even Lily, but that didn’t seem to be the case. “So, what kind of groups would you guys like?”
Dorcas opened her mouth, but Marlene was quicker: “I want to work with Sirius!” Sirius grinned, looking pleased.
Remus looked over to Dorcas and Lily. Dorcas looked hurt. Before Remus could think about it, Lily said: “Dorco, will you work with me?” She smiled apologetically at James, who waved his hand dismissively.
Remus turned to him and Regulus. “Will you two work together?”
“Sure,” Reg said, glancing at James, who grinned.
Remus knew he only agreed because of himself. They’d become friends a few years ago, when Regulus had seen Remus reading Pride and Prejudice in the library. It had taken him a few days to approach him, but they shared an interest in muggle literature and had since become quite close. Remus credited himself with the Black brothers reconnecting. They were quite careful to only discuss literature, classes and the weather. Never houses, politics, or (god-forbid) families.
“Alright,” James said. He grinned at Regulus, but Remus caught him glancing at Lily hopefully. She was chatting with Dorcas though, and didn’t notice.
Regulus looked a bit lost, but before Remus could offer to join their group, Sirius said: “Moons, will you work with us?”
Remus breathed deeply and nodded. His heart twinged, but he shoved it aside. “Sure. So, we’ll meet here next week, same time, and start actually planning this thing.”
Regulus clapped him on the shoulder as he left, and Dorcas rushed out without saying goodbye to anyone. Marlene looked after her with another one of those strange expressions on her face, and Lily looked between the two, seeming a bit worried. James grinned at her. She smiled at him, packed her things and went after Dorcas, waving goodbye to Remus, Marlene and Sirius.