The Marauders
Sirius POV
“Siriusssss!” Voices squealed.
“Mary and Dorcasss!” Sirius exclaimed, arms out as they both tackled him for a hug. He smiled widely, and when they both let go (after nearly choking him), Lily caught his eye and said “Hey Sirius.”
Sirius made a joking gesture of tipping an invisible hat to her, saying “Evans.” She grinned back at him.
James cleared his throat loudly, offended. “Oi, I’m right here. Aren’t any of you excited to see me?”
“Hi James,” The girls said in unison, with considerably less enthusiasm.
Marlene patted him on the back, saying sympathetically “It’s okay James, I’m excited to see you.” He shook his head pretending to be heartbroken, while muttering something about ‘favoritism’.
Peter, their band’s drummer, a shorter boy, murky blonde and with a round face approached them. He wore their band T-shirt, which was a deep maroon colour with the word ‘Marauders’ emblazoned on it in a spiky font. A stag, rat, dog and wolf were underneath the text.
“Hi everyone! I did all the sound checks, ‘think we’re all good to go.” Peter said.
James patted him on the back playfully. “Great, mate, thanks.”
Marlene squeezed her girlfriend Dorcas’ hand nervously. “How big do you think the crowd will be?” Dorcas placed a small kiss on her forehead and squeezed her hand back. “It’ll be okay, love.”
“I mean, this seems like a relatively small place, shouldn’t be too crowded. Besides, you’re all gonna do great no matter how many people there are. We’ve seen you play the keyboard, you’re really good. Don’t even worry.” Lily reassured her friend, putting her hand on Marlene’s arm.
She seemed to take a breath then and her shoulders loosened. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
People were all beginning to spill into the area, which was a floor above the coffee shop and had enough room for a bar, a band and a dance floor. Neon LED lights were strewn over the walls and the sound of excited chatter, laughter and clinking drinks surrounded them. The atmosphere was buzzing with anticipatory energy.
Sirius was about to say something, when he caught the familiar sight of chestnut brown hair and chocolate brown eyes that made his heart stop. “Remus?”
“Hi,” Remus said, joining the group’s circle.
“Ooooh, who’s this?” Mary cooed, a suggestive look on her face. Sirius felt his cheeks go red.
“I’m one of the baristas from downstairs. I met Sirius today and thought I’d come check out your music.” Remus said, friendly.
Sirius immediately made the mental decision to make this performance his best one yet.
“Ah, well we’ve heard alllll about you. Sirius here is quite hopelessly in looov-” James began, but Sirius clapped a hand over his mouth before he could embarrass him further. “Hahaha, that’s enough. This is James by the way.”
“I’m Peter!” Peter chirped. “And I’m Dorcas.” Dorcas said. Soon enough, everyone else around the circle followed and introduced themself.
“Nice to meet you all,” Remus grinned. Then Lily gaped from across from him and said in a shocked voice. “Remus lupin? As in-Riverwall college Remus Lupin?”
Remus blinked, his brain only just filtering what she was saying. “Erm, yeah?”
His eyes widened with recognition.
“Lily? Is that you?”
She threw her arms around him so hard he nearly fell over, saying “Oh my god! I haven’t seen you in so long. You cut your hair.”
“Yeah!” He cleared his throat and turned to the others. “Oh, me and Lily were roommates and friends in college."
“Partners in crime,” she confirmed, grinning.
She punched him rather hard in the arm and said “How come you didn’t stay in contact?”
He and Lily immediately began chattering away about their lives as if no one else was in the room. Lily began ranting about how she got into journalism and how much she enjoyed doing it, and Remus nodded enthusiastically as he listened.
A young woman approached the group and cut through their chatter, saying “Are you all set up and ready? Your time slot starts in 10 minutes.”
“Oh lord, that’s soon, we’ll be right there, thanks.” James reassured as the lady rushed off.
James turned to Remus, looking like he had a lump in his throat. “Do you.. think Regulus is coming?”
“Oh, er..” Remus looked sympathetic and regretful to be the bringer of bad news. “Probably not, sorry mate.”
James’ mood visibly dampened, which Sirius couldn’t have happening so he linked an arm around his best friend's shoulder. “Don’t worry about it! It’s gonna be a great gig, and you’ll have other chances to talk to my moody brother.”
James hummed in response dully.
Sirius still didn’t understand in the least what James saw in Regulus honestly. (Especially when Remus was RIGHT THERE, but if James tried anything Sirius would have to kill him.)
“James! Sirius!” Dorcas grabbed their attention. “We have to do some final makeup and outfit checks, come on.”
Marlene began whisking the two away to have them pampered and ready. Sirius offered Remus a helpless smile as he got pulled away by the arm.
Besides being their keyboardist, Marlene was also crazy good at makeup art and just makeup in general, so it was her job to make them look their best. Dorcas was extremely successful when it came to fashion and even had her own fashion line, so naturally she, Sirius, James and the others spent lots of time clothes shopping together to piece together the perfect outfit.
Tonight, Dorcas had Sirius in platform Doc Martens with silver studs, fishnet gloves, a tank top with the band name (to show off his many tattoos that clung to his arms) and baggy pants with chains attached to them. His nails were painted black and he wore a superfluous amount of rings and silver jewelry. His long midnight hair tumbled down about a third down his back. Marlene had done possibly the most perfect eyeliner wings on both of his eyes and highlighted on the inner corners.
He had his electric guitar, and he was ready.
As for James, he wore a dark leather jacket and a baggy band T with jeans and some gold earrings and a necklace which complimented his color palette nicely. His hair was relatively scruffy and his face was clean shaven, with more subtle but noticeable makeup against his tan Latino skin. James looked handsome, Sirius could admit it. The crowd was going to go absolutely wild.
Dorcas stepped back from the two of them to admire her work. “Yep, you’re all ready. Blow them away guys.”
“Two minutes!” A voice called somewhere behind them.
“Okay, go, go!” Dorcas ushered them towards the stage, and they smiled gratefully to take their positions. Marlene gave Dorcas a quick peck before skipping to join them.
The lights dimmed and the space was considerably tighter as more people came into the room. Excited murmuring spread across the crowd like a wave.
The stage was near-pitch black, except for the silhouette of the instruments and band members and artificial fog that rolled over it, making the scene misty.
Sirius flexed his fingers on his guitar in anticipation, looking into the sea of curious eyes and bobbing heads.
A low male voice began. “Introducing to you, a new band this time, the one, and only.. Marauders!”