A/N: Retyping this... AGAIN... anyway--- It's not romantic right away, and if it's sorta fluffy when the romance comes, then you'll just have to put up with it, won't you? I won't try to make it sickeningly sweet and I'll make Kamara (my made-up character) have some faults and won't try to make her too Mary Sue-ish. This thing has basically no plot, no mystery, nothing but my musings on Remus's teenage love life. Set in MWPP days and The Rat IS in the story because he WAS a part of the Marauders, whether we like it or not. I hate him, you hate him, EVERYONE hates him (with the exception of one person that I know whose name I will not mention because you'd all beat her senseless if she was found out), but I believe that his traitor-ism started AFTER Hogwarts, and he was actually a really... erm... nice person and good friend when he was in school (but if there's a few times when I speak unfavorably of him in my story, y'all won't mind, will you?). And I couldn't think of a better title.
If you see the name Brielle in this story, ignore it and pretend that it says Kamara instead. I changed the name.
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize isn't mine, it belongs to Ms. JK Rowling, because she is a genius and I am not (who wants to be perky and positive when you can be perfectly negative?).
Dedications: Ice Angel, for introducing me to all your friends and rescuing me, The Dancing Mailbox for all your efforts to the "Help A Poor Tortured Wisconsinite Get to Canada" Fund (unfortunately, there were no proceeds whatsoever, so the trip is aborted), Eschew Obfuscation for reading my poetry and Beth the Fox for being crazy and emailing twice a day and running into walls and telling Echo to stuff it. AND TO ALL OF YOU FOR READING HARRY POTTER! (my class is so boring....)
They are in SIXTH YEAR! I changed it... it was fifth year before.....
A Remus Story
By: Xaviera Xylira
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Remus Lupin trudged into the Gryffindor Common Room with his three best friends and dumped his books on the nearest table. Sighing, he slumped down in a chair, James, Sirius and Peter following suit.
"Just because Snape's cauldron happened to explode the same moment that I dropped the firework into it, Ominia loads US with a three-foot parchment essay on the Importance of Cauldron Compatibility for Potion Brewing! Unbelievable!" Sirius burst out.
"Well, you could've been a bit more discreet about it, Sirius," James began irritably. "Ominia was standing right there and she was staring right at you and you just---"
"Thanks, James," Sirius cut in loudly. Silence.
"You have to admit, though," Remus began after a moment, "it was pretty funny, seeing that stuff blow up in Ominia's face...." He grinned thinking about Ominia's ash-covered face, her beady black eyes widening in anger and surprise.
"And then she coughed up that smoke!" piped Peter.
"And then, Snape--- did you see Snape's hair?!" Sirius added, causing laughter to erupt from everyone. No, greasy hair and potions explosions did not form a pretty picture, Remus agreed mentally.
Sixth years, prefects (with the exception of Peter, who couldn't make an A to save his life; and Sirius, who was decidedly "too much of a risk" to earn the prefect badge, courtesy of the Hogwarts staff.) and best friends, Remus, James, Sirius and Peter were hardly seen without each other--- or not pulling pranks, for that matter. This earned them the title "The Resident Master Pranksters of Hogwarts"; quite an honor, in their opinion. And their opinions were in highest regard among themselves. Though they did end up getting more detentions than Remus really wanted, he enjoyed every minute of it.
Well, almost every minute
, he thought dejectedly as he pulled out his Potions book. Potions, which was nearly everyone's least favorite subject (save for the Slytherins), was taught by Professor Ominia, who also happened to be head of the Slytherin House, which made things considerably worse. And oh, how Ominia hated the Gryffindors....But thank God today is Friday
, Remus thought gratefully as he started a new paragraph on his essay. A second later, however, he was distracted: the portrait door opened, revealing a fifth year girl with dancing eyes."Hiya Birdie," Sirius crowed, bouncing over to Kamara, who rolled her eyes and gave him an amused and slightly exasperated smile, a smile she reserved for only the Marauders. (A/N: I don't know why her nickname is Birdie. Ask the little voices in my head.)
"Sirius, get a life," she replied good-naturedly while making her way over to the table. Sirius followed, grinning broadly. Kamara was a friend of the Marauders, one of their closest. She was the quiet, studious type (when she wasn't around the raucous quartet, that is). She too was a prefect, and spent most of her time in the library if she wasn't with the Marauders.
Quiet and studious, however, was only how she appeared. After hanging around her constantly, nagging her, bugging her and--- in Sirius's case ---hitting on her, the Marauders had finally gotten her to show her true nature--- and my, what a nature it was, too.
But when she wasn't in the presence of the Marauders, she reverted back to her reserved and revered persona, a mask that she wore quite well.
After that fateful day in third year, Kamara (or Birdie, as she was frequently referred to by Sirius) had remained close friends with Remus, James, Sirius and Peter.
Releasing a comical sigh, she set her books down and sank tiredly into a chair. After stretching once, she looked around the table with her dancing blue eyes, tried to hold back a smile (without succeeding), and said, "That was some prank today...."
This statement was immediately followed by loud laughter from the five.
That was Kamara. She never took part in any pranks, no, much to Sirius's utter horror and bewilderment ("How can you survive without pulling pranks?!"), but she was always up for a laugh, and she truly enjoyed hanging around with the four guys, as far as Remus could tell. She was a great person to be friends with, she was always there for you when it counted, always the comforter. She had her own line of snappy comments that she let loose on James and Sirius whenever she decided that their egos were getting too big and she was always the first to point out quirks in their prank plans.
In a sense, she and Remus where a lot alike. Both logical, and somewhat quiet, a bit more low-key than Sirius or James.
But Kamara would take care to withdraw herself from other people unless it was the Marauders. It was only through persistence--- lots of persistence ---that she was friends with them now. She didn't really communicate with anyone else. Remus was cautious with who he talked to, he had to be, with his condition, but he didn't cover himself in an imaginary invisibility cloak and pretend not to exist. Kamara would talk to other people, of course, she wasn't shy, that was obvious; Remus had always wondered what made her so partial to solitude.
It was Sirius who interrupted Remus's musings.
"Hey, Birdie, what did we have in History of Magic again?" Sirius asked eagerly. Kamara sighed. Remus rolled his eyes, knowing that Sirius either knew what the assignment was or was just trying to get a rise out of Kamara to annoy her. Kamara probably knew this too, which is probably why it irritated her as much as it did.
"Write a sixteen-inch essay on whatever Binns was talking about today, due Monday," Kamara supplied drowsily, yawning.
"And what was Binns talking about?" Sirius asked, his eyes glittering. Oh, he'd just love it if Kamara started yelling. She glared instead.
"Gee, Sirius. I forgot. Sorry," she retorted, her tone confirming that she wasn't in the least bit apologetic. Sirus pouted. James sniggered. Remus smirked. Peter grinned. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Sirius-lord-of-stupidity, I have to get to sleep," she mocked, yawning again. "'Night, guys." And she walked towards her dormitory stairs.
"No, I won't excuse you!" Sirius shouted after her.
"Well, too bad, I'm leaving anyway," and she continued walking.
"It's not even seven yet!" James called.
"Point?" she yelled back without looking. Remus smiled as he watched her trounce up the stairs, leaving her forgotten books on their table. She'd probably finished at the library, where she most likely was before she came in.
Remus would have loved to tell Kamara about his "condition". She would understand, she--- no, she'd never understand this. He was still shocked that James and Sirius and Peter were his friends. Things hadn't changed one bit--- if anything, they had become better friends. They had found out in their first year, and last month, October, they had all helped Peter finally succeed in becoming an Animagus. This meant everything to Remus, not because they would be with him now on the full moon, but because they actually did that for him, because they were his friends, and they cared.
James stuck his head up and looked around the Common Room. Apparently empty. Perfect. Dipping his head in once more, he began, "All right. The Marauders Meeting is now officially in order. Next prank victim?"
"Severus Snape!" Sirius shouted, eyes glittering maliciously once more. The other three grinned knowingly.
"Our favorite target.... Now, what shall we hit dear old Snapey with this time?" James asked, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. Immediately, Remus took out the Official Marauder's List, which named dozens upon dozens of possible pranks. Remus read off the most recent addition.
"We could give him a neon green afro and write 'I love James Potter' on---"
"Sirius!" James interrupted, reddening.
"What?" Sirius asked innocently. But his eyes decieved him, as they had many other times.
"Cross it off the List," James commanded. Remus smiled inwardly as he obediently scratched it out. He continued reading off pranks, stopping at various times to scratch off things that Sirius and James strongly objected to. They were just debating whether or not to curse Snape to sing "Treat Her Like A Lady" at breakfast when the portrait door opened again, revealing yet another fifth year girl. But this girl didn't look remotely happy. Quite the contrary, she looked livid with rage. Her normally sparkling emerald green eyes were narrowed and piercing, her hands were balled into fists, and her fiery red hair--- no, wait, it's... it's blue! Remus corrected himself, taking the opportunity to join James, Sirius and Peter (who were suffocating themselves with laughter) on the floor.
"POTTER!" The girl screeched, causing James to cover his ears. He stood up and tried to contain his laughter, allowing himself a cocky grin.
"Did you want something, Lily dearest?" he asked her nonchalantly, biting his lip to keep the laughter down. She strode over to their table and paused clearly wanting to make an intimidating impression, which she succeeded at. Peter backed up and Sirius toned down his fit, biting his lip as well, shaking with supressed laughter. (A/N: Anyone know a synonym for laughter?)
"Change. It. BACK," she commanded through clenched teeth. James sniggered.
"But Lily dearest, you look so good in blue!" he smirked as the Marauders broke into laughter once more. Remus saw Lily take her wand out of her pocket, but he didn't have enough breath to shout a warning to James, who received a well-placed Silencing Charm, causing Sirius, Remus and Peter to howl with laughter even more. James was mouthing soundlessly (yet vehemently) to Lily. Remus supposed that if he could actually be heard, he would be yelling a few death threats right about now.
"What's that, Jamsie-poo?" Lily teased, putting her hand up to her hair. James's mouthing increased--- he hated that nickname. "I can't quite hear you. Could you speak up a bit?" She began to laugh. "Oh, Potter, what have you gotten yourself into now?" And with that, she turned around and cackled her way up the dormitory stairs, probably going to find one of her dorm mates to turn her hair back to it's original red.
James turned to the three Marauders, who had tears of mirth streaming down their faces. Peter silenced under his glare (still giggling silently, of course), but Remus and Sirius only laughed harder. Finally, after another five minutes of uncontrollable teasing and laughing at James, Remus finally removed the charm, against Sirius's wishes. He had thought it would've been fun to let James suffer a bit more. And in all honesty, Remus thought it would, but James would have let all hell loose if they had done that to him.
After having the charm removed from him, James treated them all to a nice long rant about how utterly useless Lily Evans was, how she was almost as low as a Slytherin (almost), how she had that hideous red hair and he was doing her a favor by turning it blue. Remus was starting to think about putting the charm back on him.
But then he sighed. A grateful, knowing sigh. No matter how insane his friends really were, he loved them for it.
And so, after deciding that tomorrow they'd make Evans and Snape to the tango at breakfast, the four friends grabbed James's invisibility cloak and headed to the kitchen for a mid-evening snack.
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A/N: All right, I know, that was pretty boring, but IT DOES GET BETTER! And I'll upload sooner if I get at least three NICE reviews. Constructive criticism, NO FLAMES, the usual.
~~~Xavi
