Hey everyone! I've decided to start a new fic, a nice long writing project. I plan to follow the Marauders through their seventh year at Hogwarts and after Hogwarts, up to that fateful Halloween in 1981. It possibly will turn into a series of two or three fics, but at this point, I'm not entirely sure. This is also going to stick to canon as much as possible, but as a WolfStar shipper I'm also having Remus and Sirius together. It still follows through and fits in with the sixth and seventh book, and this Remus still marries Tonks and has Teddy. If you don't like Remus/Sirius or slash, then I suggest you don't read this.
Other than that I hope you enjoy the story :)
Staring at the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross Station, Remus Lupin felt lost. Not physically lost, he knew exactly where he was, but emotionally lost. It was his seventh year, his final year at Hogwarts. His friends were looking forward to leaving school, carrying on with their lives, but Remus was miserable about it.
Anyone who knew Remus and his friends, known as the Marauders, would've thought Remus would be the one looking forward to leaving Hogwarts, to start a life outside of school, while the others would be the ones who wanted to still hold onto their teenage years.
However, most people who knew Remus didn't know Remus was a werewolf. In fact, the only people who did were Remus' three friends. James, Sirius, and Peter. But even they didn't know the difficulty Remus would face when he left school. Oh, sure, they understood the bigotry a little, but Remus had no prospects because he was bitten by a werewolf as a young child. Hogwarts had been a shield for Remus in many ways. He could behave as any normal teenager, with no one knowing about his 'furry little problem', thanks to the Headmaster and the excellent school nurse.
That would change after this year. No one would hire a werewolf, he would have no way of supporting himself. His parents were great, but how long would they want to help out their grown son? James always said that he was always welcome to stay with him, but Remus doubted James fully understood the issues Remus would be facing, that Remus would never be hired by anyone.
"Oi, Moony, move!" Remus turned to the source of the yell, and spotted Sirius and James. He grinned at them as they came forward with their trolleys and stood on either side of him.
"Why are you just standing there?" Sirius asked.
"Just… contemplating things," Remus said. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Only you, Moony. Come on, let's go. You need to get to the Prefects carriage," Sirius said, mocking him slightly. He heard James chuckle nervously on his other side, and Remus nodded.
"Right. After you, Padfoot," Remus said, smiling. Sirius grinned and ran at the barrier disappearing. Remus glanced at James, who gestured for him to go, so Remus walked calmly towards the barrier, going through and meeting Sirius on the other side. No matter how many times he walked through the barrier, he would never get used to it. It was still a solid object.
"So, what were you contemplating?" Sirius asked casually.
"Just thinking about life after Hogwarts," Remus said.
"Don't worry about that, Moony. We still have this Hogwarts year to enjoy, it will be the best yet. James and I have already been discussing some pranks, though Prongs has decided to lay of the Slytherins," Sirius said as James came through the barrier.
"I've realised that hexing certain Slytherins won't help my case with Evans," James said, grinning at Remus. He laughed.
"Only took you six years. Anyway, I'll come join you guys later, I should get to the Prefects carriage. I wonder who the Head Boy and Girl are? Lily is probably Head Girl," Remus said. James looked a little nervous, and Sirius scoffed.
"Who cares who the Heads are? They won't be stopping us from having fun this year," Sirius said.
"Have they ever?" Remus asked, "One of your best friends is a Prefect and you still carried on as usual." Sirius grinned at Remus, and he headed to the Prefect's carriage alone, leaving James and Sirius to wait for Peter.
When he'd gotten his trunk safely stowed away on the train, he headed towards the Prefects carriage. Only one person was in there, and she had the unmistakeable red hair of Lily Evans. Lily turned and smiled at Remus.
"Hey, Remus! I'm Head Girl! Are you-?" she looked at him, then frowned, "You're… you're not Head Boy?" She looked confused. Remus shook his head.
"I don't think I quite meet the – ah – requirements," Remus said. What he meant was that they probably didn't want a werewolf as Head Boy. Not that Lily knew he was a werewolf. Lily shook her head.
"Of course you do! You're one of the top students!" Lily exclaimed.
"Think about who I'm friends with, Lily. I was lucky to even be a Prefect," Remus said.
"What's wrong with your friends?" Lily and Remus turned to see James in the doorway.
"Potter, this is the Prefects carriage, what are you doing here?" Lily snapped. James smirked, and Remus saw for the first time the Head Boy badge on his chest.
"You weren't wearing that before," Remus said, jabbing it with his finger. James continued to smirk.
"Yeah… Padfoot doesn't know yet, though he'll find out soon enough," James said. Remus gaped at him.
"You've kept this a secret from Padfoot? But he lives with you!" Remus exclaimed.
"You heard him. I don't know what he'll think about it. He gives you a hard enough time about being Prefect, imagine what he'll give me for being Head Boy," James said.
"No one in their right mind would make you Head Boy," Lily said, still looking shocked. Remus secretly agreed with her, but didn't want to say it to James's face.
"Good thing ol' Dumby's not in his right mind," James said, grinning at her, "Look on the bright side, Evans, we'll get to spend time together!"
"If that's the bright side I don't want to know what the dark side is," Lily snapped. James just grinned at her as more of the Prefects came in, most of them looking surprised to see James there, since he wasn't a Prefect. The room filled quickly, and people talked to their friends. Lily refused to look at James, sitting with her arms crossed, looking absolutely furious. When it hit eleven, and the train started to move, James glanced at Lily before clearing his throat.
"Well, I'll introduce myself then. I'm James Potter, the Head Boy, and this is Lily Evans, the Head Girl," James said, gesturing to Lily, "Miss Evans, do you have anything to say to these fine people before we start the patrols?" Lily glared at him before standing up, and Remus sighed. This was going to be an interesting year with the Head Boy and Girl hating each other. What on earth had Dumbledore been thinking?
"Moony, have you seen Prongs?" Remus sighed as he sat down next to Peter, not surprised it was the first thing Sirius said to him, but a little disappointed as well. Remus liked to think Sirius cared about him as well. No, stop it, you can't think like that.
"Haven't you seen him?" Remus asked, knowing it wasn't his place to tell Sirius about James being Head Boy.
"No, when I saw Peter on the platform he disappeared, haven't seen him since," Sirius said, then he shrugged, "Oh well, I guess he'll turn up eventually. Who are the Head Boy and Girl, anyway?"
"I thought you didn't care?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, still would be interesting to know. Is it Evans? I bet you were right. Who else would be Head Girl other than Miss Perfect?" Sirius said. Remus frowned.
"Yeah, Lily is Head Girl, what's your problem with her, anyway?" Remus asked. Sirius looked offended.
"I have absolutely no problem with Evans, I just take it as a personal offence every time she says something to James because I know how much it hurts him, even if he waves it off," Sirius said.
"You're a very loyal friend. Just like a dog," Remus said, smirking. Sirius threw an Every Flavour Bean at him, and Remus caught it, putting it in his mouth before spitting it out again.
"Gross, it was soap flavoured," Remus said, looking at the bean in his hand that was now covered in saliva. Sirius barked with laughter, and threw a Chocolate Frog over to him. Remus opened it, biting the frog and chucking the card back to Sirius. He didn't collect the cards, but he loved the chocolate. Sirius groaned as he looked at the card.
"Merlin again. I have eight of him. Wormtail?" he said, offering it to him. Peter shook his head.
"I already have one," Peter said.
"Does everyone have Merlin?" Sirius yelled dramatically, "Life is not fair!" Remus rolled his eyes.
"Just throw it out," Remus said as if it was the most sensible thing in the world. Which it was. Sirius looked scandalised.
"Throw it – throw it out? Moony you can't just – just throw a Chocolate Frog card out!" he said, putting his hand over his chest as if he was in actual pain, "What is this blasphemy?" Remus sighed, wondering why on earth he put up with Sirius. Because he became an Animagus for you, he didn't abandon you when he found out you were a werewolf. Don't forget that you're completely in love with him.
"Don't be so dramatic, Padfoot," Remus said in a long-suffering tone, "it's one card, a card that most people have multiples of." Sirius shook his head.
"You just don't understand, Moony," he whined, "Why don't you understand?"
"Moony understands everything," said James as he walked in, sitting next to Sirius.
"Prongs! I thought I'd never see you again! I thought you were lost forever!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arms around James as if he'd just escaped from Voldemort. James pushed him off, laughing slightly.
"You can't get rid of me," James said.
"You're like a weed in that way," Remus said, grinning.
"Shut it, Moony. Anyway, I've been around. Moony knows where I was," James said, pointing to Remus. Sirius looked at Remus.
"You do? Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius asked.
"I thought it would be best coming from Prongs," Remus said simply. Sirius looked back at James, and finally noticed the badge stuck to his chest. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he pointed out it, too shocked to say anything.
"How did I not know this before?" Padfoot demanded when he finally got his voice back, "Head Boy? Merlin, James, you've betrayed us. This is worse than when Moony was made Prefect."
"Sirius!" Remus admonished, looking carefully at James who seemed a little hurt.
"That's exactly why you didn't know before," James said, "I know you think being a Prefect or Head Boy is boring but if Dumbledore trusts me enough for this job then I'm going to take it seriously."
"But this year was going to be awesome with pranks!" Sirius complained.
"Yes, because being Prefect stopped Moony from breaking the rules," James snapped, "We just have to be more careful with them. I can't be seen to be involved in them."
"Everyone thinks it will be us anyway," Remus pointed out.
"I know, we just can't shout it from the rooftops," James said, "I think it will probably also help with Evans." Sirius laughed.
"How did she take the news, anyway?" Sirius asked.
"She wasn't pleased at all. She was expecting me to be Head Boy, and was confused that I wasn't," Remus said, "But it's not like I could tell her it was because of… well… you know. They don't want someone like me as a Head Boy."
"That's bloody ridiculous, Moony, and you know it," Sirius said, "You're one of the top students-"
"So are you and Prongs."
"You always do your work, you're quiet and people like to talk to you, not just the three of us, people feel comfortable coming to you for help. You'd be a great Head Boy," Sirius said.
"Yeah, except for my furry little problem," Remus said bitterly, "It doesn't matter anyway." It did matter. Remus had told himself that he couldn't hope for the badge, but he'd still been a little disappointed when his Hogwarts letter came and he didn't get it. And now one of his best friends was the Head Boy, and would probably just use the position to get closer to Lily!
James shifted in his seat guiltily. He had fully expected Remus to get the badge, and whatever Remus said, he could tell he was disappointed that he wasn't Head Boy. Sirius was right, of course, Remus would have made an excellent Head Boy, much better than himself, but somehow he, James Potter, had ended up with the badge even though he wasn't even a Prefect. That didn't happen very often.
James thought about this as Sirius moved over to sit next to Remus.
"It does matter, Remus. Everyone thought you were a shoo in for Head Boy, and they made a mistake not giving it to you," Sirius said, putting an arm around Remus.
"Thanks," James said. Sirius ignored him.
"Dumbledore knew what he was doing, I'm sure. I didn't expect it," Remus said softly.
"Yeah you did, you just didn't let yourself think you expected it," Sirius said, "We all expected it for you. As much as I give you a hard time for being Prefect, who else was it going to be? Definitely not Prongs or I. Wormtail? I don't think so. No offense Wormy."
"It's fine," Peter said, "I'm definitely not the type to be Prefect."
"Exactly and it's not like there are any other Gryffindor boys in our year," Sirius said.
"It doesn't matter, Padfoot," Remus said firmly, "Prongs is Head Boy, and he'll be a good one. He said himself he's going to take the job seriously. Anyway, having Head Boy under his belt will help him with getting a job after Hogwarts. Nothing can help me." Sirius and James glanced at each other.
"Someone will hire you," James said, "Not everyone is bigoted."
"It doesn't matter," Remus said, "Let's just forget it, okay?" James and Sirius hesitated before they both nodded. Remus shrugged off Sirius' arm, and Sirius moved back to his seat, and turned to Peter.
"Wormy, why don't you tell us about your holiday?"