Remus
“What is going on?”
Peter Pettigrew stood, frozen, in the doorway of Remus’ flat. His eyes flicked from Remus to Sirius. “Padfoot and Moony? I thought you were fighting! Like, about irreconcilable differences that you could never move past—”
“Shhh!” James appeared behind him and slapped a hand over Peter’s mouth. “Erm, what are you two up to?”
Sirius stood up from the kitchen table. “Wormtail, Moony and I have something to tell you‒”
Peter’s eyes bugged out of his head.
"Not that!” Sirius snapped. “We’re still fighting.”
“Violently,” Remus added from the chair farthest away from Sirius, though he could feel a flush creeping up his neck.
He knew what it looked like— but they were really, truly not getting along. Sure, they were sitting at the table together. Sure, there were two plates in the sink. Sure, two cigarettes slowly burned in the ashtray by the windowsill. But it was not enjoyable, and Remus began to feel suffocated by the sheer amount of people in his usually quiet flat.
Sirius took a deep breath. “Moony and I are… We’re…”
“Yeah?” Peter squeaked.
Sirius gagged. “Oh, Merlin. I can’t say it. You tell him.”
“McGonagall asked Sirius and I to watch the Order’s kids,” Remus said plainly, “and we agreed to help. After a lot of convincing. Dumbledore himself had to beg.”
“He was on his knees in front of us,” Sirius added.
Peter didn’t look convinced. “A daycare?”
“No,” Remus cut in. “Not a daycare. Just a place where we watch kids during the day while their parents are away.”
Peter stared at him. “Yeah. That sounds a lot like a daycare.”
“No,” Sirius snapped. He reached across the table and grabbed a piece of paper from Remus’ hands. “We’re coming up with names now. Cool names. Not for a daycare. For something else. We just don’t know what to call it.”
Peter looked dubiously at James, but James had turned away, shoulders shaking, disguising his laugh as tears of emotion when he turned back around.
“They’re watching Harry,” he said to Peter, wiping his face.
James and Peter were silent for a moment, then collapsed into simultaneous laughter.
“Shut up, Pete!” Sirius exploded, wielding a knife from the kitchen counter with a hiss of metal. “Shut up right now or I will cut off your fingers one by one.”
“No need, Padfoot,” James said, pulling up a chair as he tried to disguise his laugh as a cough. “What are your ideas so far?”
“We haven’t agreed on any,” Remus said tersely. “Padfoot’s the one who’s insisting on coming up with a complicated name—”
“—And Moony just wants to call it something simple and stupid,” Sirius shot back.
“Well, you’re both Marauders,” Peter said, swiping the piece of paper from Sirius and handing it back to Remus. “Why don’t you add that in somehow?”
“Yeah, but it’s not all the Marauders.” James drummed his fingers on the table.
“Prongs, you are a genius. I had no idea,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “It’s only half the Marauders.”
“Arguably the better half.” Remus clicked the ballpoint pen in an infuriating rhythm. A smile tugged at his lips as he glanced up at Sirius.
Sirius’ cold eyes flooded with warmth. “The better half! That’s good. The Better Half of the Marauders’...”
Remus scribbled furiously on the page of notes. “Then it should be something that sounds like the Order of the Phoenix. A synonym for order, maybe.”
“Association? Organization? Coalition? Society?” Sirius counted on his fingers as he paced the length of the kitchen.
Remus pointed his pen at him, deep in thought. “That’s good. Society. Sounds all official. But it has to be obvious this is for the kids.”
Remus watched as Sirius continued to pace, feeling almost like he was back in their Hogwarts dormitory, planning the Marauders’ next prank. The creativity felt good. God, he missed school.
“The Better Half of the Marauders’ Children’s Society?” Sirius offered, looking to Remus for reassurance.
The chair screeched against the floor as Remus stood up. “Too long. Let’s cut it. The Better Marauders’ Children’s Society?”
“That's good, but that makes it sound like a study group. Where’s the fun? Where’s the action?” Sirius’ boots squeaked against the kitchen tile as he came to a halt.
“Lads, I’ve got it,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “The Better Marauders’ Children’s Society and Auror Training Center. The last part will be in parentheses. For me.”
The kitchen was quiet.
James and Peter shared a look.
James traced a nick in the table with his fingernail. “You two sure do work well together… despite your irreconcilable differences.”
“No, we don’t,” Sirius scoffed, turning to Remus. “Moony… we don’t.”
Remus felt his nose crinkle in disgust. “We don’t. For the record, I think parentheses are stupid in an organization’s title.”
“And I think parentheses are marvelous.” Sirius put his hands on his hips, as if that statement solved everything.
James nodded slowly, a grin spreading across his face. “So I’ll drop Harry off tomorrow?”
“At Padfoot and Moony’s daycare?” Peter gave a snort of a laugh.
Sirius lifted the knife again, looking positively murderous. “Kiss your pinky finger goodbye, Wormtail. It'll be the first one to go.”
In an instant, Remus flicked his wand and the knife jumped from Sirius’ hand into his own. “Everyone be quiet. Peter, do not breathe a word of this to anyone or I’ll send Padfoot after you. James, stop pretending you’re crying. Get out before I kill you both, and take Sirius with you.”
Sirius pumped his fist in the air. He disposed of his glass in the sink, grabbed his leather jacket from the back of the chair (as Remus used to watch him do multiple times a day), and on the way to the door, leaned into Remus and—
Remus immediately recoiled, tripping over a table leg. “Get away from me.”
Sirius’ eyes widened when he realized what he had done. He took a few hasty steps back. “Merlin, sorry, Moony. I don’t know— habit, I guess.”
“Just go, please.” Remus ran a hand through his hair, yanking at the roots. He caught sight of James out of the corner of his eye. “James, stop crying. Get out."
James tried unsuccessfully to hide one more laugh, tears streaming down his face as he struggled to keep his mouth straight. He pulled Peter and Sirius from the room with a garbled excuse.
Remus heard the front door open and close, and he could finally breathe.