The Mormfongs
Hi there! This story will follow our beloved Marauders from First Year through to the end of Seventh Year, following canon with some quirks of my own. Hope you like it!
Reach for the stars, and if you don't grab them, at least you're on top of the world
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He was entirely too thin.
He had a twitchy, enigmatic smile.
His hair was neither too long, nor too short. It was at the length that it fell artfully into his eyes, tickling his cheekbones and chin, but was too short to be tied back properly.
Remus Lupin was something of a mystery to his dorm-mates, ever since they first met on the Hogwarts Express.
Sirius Black and James Potter met in a compartment, and had instantly recognised a mischievous kindred spirit in the other. And so, they began to play a game to pass the time: Guess The House.
They pressed their noses to the window of their compartment door, and watched their fellow first year students walk past, and guessed which House they would later be placed in.
"Eurgh. My second-cousin. He'll be in Slytherin," muttered Sirius, disdainfully.
James grinned.
A pudgy boy with wispy blonde hair walked past, looking utterly confused.
"Hufflepuff," James and Sirius chorused together, before erupting into laughter.
A skinny boy with a quill tucked behind his ear walked past their door, stopped, and sat down in the corridor on his trunk.
"Ravenclaw, if ever I saw one," announced James.
Sirius, however, opened the door of the compartment, and smiled down at the tawny-haired boy, who was reading quite happily, the small book perched on his raised knees. "There's plenty of space in here, if you want to join us?"
The boy peered into the compartment doubtfully, but stood up, and dragged his trunk in.
Sirius slid the door shut, and resumed his seat opposite James.
The newcomer sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall.
James surveyed him curiously. "You don't have to sit on the floor, mate."
The probable-Ravenclaw met his gaze, smiling benignly. "I prefer the floor, but thanks." And then he returned to his book.
James and Sirius exchanged a look.
"So," said Sirius, attempting to resume the conversation, "naturally, a Potter like you is going to be in Gryffindor, and fall in love with a red-head?" He smirked, and placed his feet up on James's bench.
James made a face. "Yes, I'll be in Gryffindor, but I'm going to be a bachelor. None of this girl nonsense for me, thank you."
At that moment, a flame-haired first year girl walked past their compartment.
Sirius burst out laughing. "I bet you six chocolate frogs, a bottle of firewhiskey and three dungbombs that you end up marrying that girl."
"Don't be stupid," muttered James, blushing deeply.
"One day," said Sirius, his tone full of wisdom.
"Just because it runs in the family doesn't make it fate for me," said James.
"Oh, I agree with that statement, but you will marry that girl."
"What unfortunate connotations do your family have?" James inquired.
Sirius grinned. "Oh, insanity, sadistic intent to torture people, general evilness, you know?"
"Sure," said James, sounding uncertain.
There was a quiet thump on the floor, as the book dropped from the boy's hands, and then another as his head came to rest on Sirius's bench.
"Is he dead?" Sirius demanded of James, sounding worried.
"Sleeping," James assured him, after checking the other boy's slow breathing.
"Thank God," muttered Sirius. "I dunno how people can do that, though; fall asleep anywhere."
"Maybe he's just really tired," suggested James.
"Yeah, maybe."
"Quit staring at him; it'll be unnerving for him if he wakes up."
Sirius tore his gaze away from the boy, back to James. He grinned. "So, we're in Gryffindor, yeah?"
"Definitely."
"You reckon we'll be in the same dorm?"
"I expect and hope so," agreed James.
"This is going to be brilliant," announced Sirius, almost cackling with glee.
"You're not nervous at all, are you?"
"Only about my mother's reaction when she finds out what House I'm in," said Sirius, cheerfully, "but I'm sure that'll die down by the time I go home for next summer. These are going to be the best seven years of our lives, Jamie-boy. You wait and see."
(-)
Remus Lupin frowned ever so slightly when the Sorting Hat shouter 'Gryffindor'. He had been utterly convinced that he was either going to Ravenclaw -for his mind- or Slytherin -for his condition.
After a tiny moment, however, his surprised frown turned to a delighted smile, and he happily made his way over to the boys who he had shared the train compartment with. They were both proudly sporting Cheshire Cat smiles, despite the glares being shot at the non-spectacled one by the entirety of the Slytherin table.
"You'll be in our dorm, no doubt, Mr Remus Lupin," announced James, beaming. "You can be the brains of our adventures."
"A plan indeed, Mr James Potter," said Sirius, grinning at Remus.
"I suppose I could lend you my expertise," said Remus, quietly yet brightly.
"He's one of us," Sirius announced, throwing an arm around Remus, who turned a marvellous colour. "Oh, and he blushes! How cute!"
"Oi, Sirius, it's that Hufflepuff being Sorted," said James, quietening to hear the Hat's verdict.
The Sorting Hat thought about Peter Pettigrew for such a long time, that even the teachers were shuffling, wondering if it had fallen asleep. Eventually, however, it announced: 'Gryffindor' without the usual finesse.
The boy assumed the expression of a rodent when confronted with a mouse-trap, and stumbled over to the Gryffindor table, looking very, very, utterly terrified. He stared hopelessly at his empty plate; eyes wide.
"Doesn't look very Gryffindor-ish to me," muttered James.
"Maybe he's very shy, but very brave once you get to know him," Remus suggested, though his tone was less believing.
"Hmm," said Sirius, sceptically.
Once the feast was over, and they had been led up to the vast Common Room, Remus, Sirius and James were allocated a dorm with Peter Pettigrew, who smiled a very twitchy, watery smile, before immersing himself in the task of unpacking his trunk.
James tested the springiness of his mattress by jumping up and down, quite repeatedly.
Sirius began to 'surf' on his bed, humming the Hawaii-50 theme, which he had heard in a muggle television shop a few days previously.
Remus was struggling in his attempts to rearrange his bed to his liking. He had managed to manoeuvre his mattress onto the floor, and had climbed up one of the posts to unhook the drapes.
"You alright up there, mate?" James inquired of the eccentric, tawny-haired eleven year-old.
"You don't have a hammer, per chance?" Remus inquired, succeeding in letting one side of drapes come loose.
"Er, no."
"What are you trying to do?" Sirius asked.
Remus dropped back down to the floor. "Make a tent. I don't like wooden structures much: bed frames, benches, chairs... I find it... cluttering. I sound mad, don't I?"
Sirius nodded as though he understood, and examined one of the posts. "I think it's just joined on; we should be able to lift it off the actual bed. Come on, lads; lend a hand."
James jumped to it, taking one of the corners.
"Peter?"
Peter's eyes went wide once more, but he cautiously moved over and grasped a post.
"On three, gents," said James. "One, two, three-"
They carefully lifted the canopy up four inches, and moved it to stand over the mattress.
"Will that hold steady enough?" Sirius asked Remus, who shrugged.
"Oh, I'll improvise a better one soon, but this will do for now. Thank you for the help, by the way."
James grinned. "Any time."
Peter's lips quivered, before he dove back into his own bed.
"Remus?"
"Hmm?"
Sirius smiled fondly at the other boy. "You're wonderfully odd, did you know?"
"Noted," replied Remus, with a responding lop-sided smile.
"Anything else you need help with tonight?"
"Oh, I'll sort everything else out tomorrow," replied Remus, breezily. He looked over at his personalised bed, and frowned. "I'm not so fond of it now."
"Looks a bit stuffy," Sirius agreed, eyeing the red velvet drapes.
"I agree. Can we move them again? I'll just have the mattress."
Peter was snuggled up in his bed, the blankets drawn up over his head.
"Eh, he's no use to us now," muttered Sirius.
"Know any spells for it?" James suggested, looking at Remus.
"Only the theory," said Remus, apologetically.
"I might have an idea," piped up Sirius.
James and Remus eyed the young Black's wand with great concern as it was raised and pointed at the wooden bed frame.
"Reducto!"
An almighty bang sounded, waking Peter but also reducing the bed to smoke.
"You are just vanishing this, aren't you?" Remus asked, nervously, as Sirius set to work on the drapes.
"Sure, Remus. Now, DIE CURTAINS!"
(-)
The corner of Remus's mattress was heavily singed, but as he was tucked up with his cushions from home and the dorm's heavy, comforting, Gryffindor blankets, he felt safe and happy in his unfamiliar surroundings.
Breakfast the following morning consisted of the boys consuming more crumpets than ever before, washed down with lashings of pumpkin juice and tea.
Sirius cheerfully ignored the glares of the Slytherin table, and two owls carrying sinister-looking letters addressed to him.
Remus was cutting his toast into precise soldiers when Professor McGonagall gave him his timetable. He scrunched his nose up at the box labelled 'Potions', but continued to nibble his toast as he read through the day.
Charms, Prof. Flitwick
Transfiguration, Prof. McGonagall
Break
Herbology, Prof. Sprout
Lunch
Potions, Prof. Slughorn
Defence Against The Dark Arts, Prof. Higgs
Peter stuck to James like glue during their walk from the Great Hall to the Charms classroom, terrified of getting lost or left behind. Sirius frowned at this -being James's self-designated best friend- but at the roll of James's eyes, realized that this status was not in jeopardy. Instead, Sirius cosied up to their most eccentric dorm-mate, quite cheerfully.
A bunch of Sixth Years began a stampede through the Charms corridor, and the First Years edged quickly to the sides to avoid being run over.
"If I was a woodlouse, I'd be in trouble," muttered Remus, shuffling his books into a more correct order in his arms.
Sirius grinned fondly at the caramel-haired boy, and together they edged into the Charms classroom.
They joined Peter and James on a table at the back of the room, and Remus carefully placed his books on the table, and removed his quill from behind his ear. This resulted in James and Sirius exchanging identical, affectionate grins over the boy's head.
Sirius stole Remus's notebook -ignoring the wide-eyed look he received in return- and wrote down the woodlouse quote in a margin, before returning the book to its rightful owner.
Remus smiled softly, and blew gently on the ink to dry it. "I may have to continue that as a habit," he warned Sirius, lowly, as Professor Flitwick stood up at the front of the class.
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Mormfongs: [Moony Wormtail Padfoot Prongs]
Give Me Everything: Pitbull
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