It was times like this that Remus Lupin was thankful that he had the greatest friends in the universe.
It was one of those days that the Marauders were a little bit rowdier than the rest. They were practically the embodiment of sound today, and even Slytherin could hear them all the way across the Great Hall.
"Say, Lily-flower, will you go out with me?" A boy with messy black hair and a dashing smile full of teeth yelled.
"Not in a million years!"
It was like a routine between the two. James had asked her out so many times that Lily was able to snap back with a response just as fast, if not; quicker. James's smile was still at its full beam even though she rejected him.
"Why do you keep asking her out, mate?" Peter Pettigrew asked, his voice a little bit high-pitched, "You could have any girl you want, yet you still chase her..."
"She's interesting, my friend," James said.
Meanwhile, Sirius was attracting the attention of others. He had a certain vibe around him that attracted girls like bees to honey. With a smirk etched on his face and a personality that screamed adventure, it was no doubt that he drew in more hordes of people begging for his attention.
"Who would be a perfect ten to you?" A shy Hufflepuff asked him.
"A perfect ten...?" Sirius said.
Sirius pretended to stroke an imaginary beard.
"Like a person who has looks that you would rate a ten out of ten!"
Sirius took a deep breath and the crowd focused their eyes intently on him.
"Let me tell you about the worst part of kissing a perfect ten," some of the people in his fan club yelped, "It's the cold feeling you get when your lips touch the mirror."
Peter let out a sigh when the crowd responded with a blank state to his friend.
"He means that kissing a perfect ten would be kissing himself, and the only time he can do that is when he's in front of a mirror. He wishes that there was another one of him so that he can kiss himself and feel his warm, juicy-"
"Oh, like Bellatrix Black!" A third-year yelled from the crowd.
"They look exactly alike!"
"Are you saying they kissed?"
At this point, James couldn't hold in his laughter. Loud guffaws came out of his mouth and Peter had to hold back tears of laughter. Lily and her friends were shaking uncontrollably, as Sirius's fanclub and other students continued to babble before him.
"He did say a "cold feeling"."
"My parents told me that the Black Family did dabble in incest a long time ago..."
Sirius's face, flushed only seconds ago, had gone stark white. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but no sound came out. Peter had a devious smirk etched on his lips and winked at them.
"Sirius Black secretly has a crush on Bellatrix Black!"
At this, the Great Hall went silent. A fork dropped onto the plate and clattered. The professors stared at the said boy strangely and looked at the mentioned girl back and forth.
"Have you gone mental? Bella is like a hag- she's so ugly and her face is so squeamish and all she knows how to do is just yell and scream for 'Mummy!' and have I mentioned that she looks like a hag and she also peed her bed until she turned 10 and also did you know that she has a crush on lestrange and god she smells like wet chickens and did I mention that she looks like a hag-"
"Sirius Black!" Bellatrix roared, and whipped her wand out, "I challenge you to a duel! In the name of Black-"
A pale hand gripped the wild-haired girl's robes, "Bella, please sit. You are making a scene."
"Cissa..." Bellatrix growled.
"I will tell Mother if this escalates."
At this, Bellatrix immediately stiffened and sat down. She mouthed curses at him, and Sirius returned them vigorously with some of his.
No one noticed the boy sitting in between the commotion, scratching at his silvery scars until they bloodied, or how Sirius squeezed the boy's hands-careful of his growing claws.
"Potter, I'm going to take away points for Gryffindor if you keep trying to harass Evans!" McGonagall sniffed, "Pettigrew, I can see you trying to eat the food we're trying to transfigure! Black, if you keep trying to make fun of Snape then I will personally talk to your mother myself about your behavior!"
They stiffened and rubbed their heads sheepishly in sync. A piece of banana fell out of Peter's mouth.
"But Professor..."
"Minerva..."
"I'm just hungry..."
She gave them a stern look over her glasses and her lips thinned when Sirius called her by her first name. She mentally approved of James's transfiguration of his banana though. It let out a small bark and Sirius growled threateningly.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor for successfully transfiguring a banana to a dog," They cheered and gave each other high fives, "But five points off for Sirius's disruptive behavior. Five points off because of Potter's attitude towards Evans. Five points off for Pettigrew's snacking habits."
However, they still each gave each other loud whoops. Other students looked at them with confusion, some of them even stopping at their transfigurations halfway to look at the celebrating Gryffindors.
"We still got five points!"
"Thanks James!"
"I know, I'm pretty cool-"
"Five-no, ten points off for disrupting class."
At this, the trio fell into a somber mood until the class was over. However, Remus's tired smile and the scritch-scratch of his arms was all they needed to hear to assure themselves that they did the right thing.
After class, McGonagall came over to them with a thin-lipped smile and held carefully packed lunch bags in her hands. They each took the brown paper bag gratefully in their hands.
"Five points to each of you for helping a housemate."
At dinner, Remus picked at his food. He could hear his classmates' voices louder than ever, and there was a hunger in him that refused to be sedated with food. The golden mashed potato suddenly reminded him of yellow poo, and the green beans had the texture of slime-covered grass.
Beside him, his friends were guffawing and joking with each other.
"Knock knock," Peter said.
"Who's there?" Sirius replied.
"Noah," Peter said.
"Noah (know any) good jokes for me to tell?" James finished with a snort.
Their laughter was contagious and soon Remus cracked a minute smile. Like Remus, none of them really touched any of their food. Even Peter, who was notorious for his appetite, didn't touch a single morsel on his plate.
Afterall, food usually didn't sit well on the night of a full moon.
It was one of those days that the Marauders were quiet and tired. They were practically the embodiment of fatigue today, and even Slytherin could see their tired faces and fading red scars all the way across the Great Hall.
It was times like this that Remus Lupin was thankful that he had the greatest friends in the universe.