Hello! Welcome to Random One-Shot Number Two! If you haven't read my Marauders Marauding story then 1) I really wish you would and 2) there are some things you need to know. James, Sirius and Remus met on the train, and are now sort-of friends with Peter, since they are trying to protect him from bullying Slytherins. Remus has just experienced his first full moon at school, and has become convinced that James and Sirius are better off without him. He has decided to stop being friends with them via silent treatment. This is the story of 22 days of Remus' attempt.
Day 1
James was worried about Remus. He had still looked pretty sick when he and Sirius had brought him notes, and James knew his quiet friend must be feeling pretty awful. It looked like there had been bandages around Remus' fingers, and James wondered what had happened for them to be necessary. Could it be a side effect of the sudden flu that Remus had gotten? Madam Pomfrey had said it was contagious, but no one else had gotten sick. Where had Remus gotten it from?
"Do you think Remus is out yet?" Sirius asked from beside him. They were eating breakfast with Peter in the Great Hall, but it was obvious that Sirius, at least, was a little worried too. He hadn't been shoving food into his mouth with quite as much gusto as usual.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Peter reassured them. "After all, it's not like either of you has never gotten sick before, and you've both recovered."
"You're right, Pete," James relaxed a little. It was just a little fever; what was he so worried about? "Maybe we should head back to the dorm to grab our things and then head out for Transfiguration. What do you say?"
"Sounds like a plan," Sirius grinned, getting up. James and his friend flanked Peter, whom they were protecting from Slytherins at all costs after they had seen those bruises on his arms. The injuries had faded now, but their little housemate was still terrified of Slytherins in general, and James wasn't about to let some evil snakes push a little Gryffindor around!
When they reached McGonagall's class, James was a little taken aback to see that Remus was already there. Their friend was sitting by himself in a corner, with no seats next to him for them to sit in.
"Hey Remus," he grinned nonetheless, filing into the seats in front of Remus with Sirius and Peter in tow. "We didn't know you were out yet. Feeling better?"
"Yes. Thanks for the notes," said Remus shortly. Sirius raised his eyebrows at James. James shrugged. Maybe their friend was just tired after being so sick. He was about to question him further when McGonagall herself entered the classroom and began to teach. No one dared interrupt that.
After class, James turned to find that Remus was already nearly out the door.
Despite their attempts to talk to Remus before and after classes, the still slightly sick-looking boy always brushed them off. At lunch he was nowhere to be found. After classes James and Sirius left Peter in the common room to go look for Remus. They even checked with Evans in the library ("What are you dunderheads doing here? I didn't know you could read.") but Remus simply wasn't anywhere. He only returned to their dorm late that night, immediately brushing his teeth and closing the curtains around his bed.
The next morning he was already gone when James pounced on his bed.
Day 3
"He must be up to something," Sirius said. "Why else would he be avoiding us? Ever since he got sick-"
"Exactly!" James interrupted. Why couldn't they see it? "Since he got sick. Maybe he's still feeling bad? Or what if he just doesn't want us to catch whatever he had?" James was grasping at straws and he knew it, but what other reason was there? Friends don't just randomly dump each other after being sick, right?
Sirius shook his head. "That would make sense, but Remus has been working with Peter sometimes. If he felt that way, then Remus would probably be avoiding everyone. Plus Madam Pomfrey let him out of the Hospital Wing days ago! She doesn't seem like the type to let someone out early."
That was true. The day before in Charms, Flitwick had made them all practice Wingardium Leviosa on each other's ties. Remus had gone with Peter, but had hardly said one word to him the whole lesson. James was completely baffled, but also suspicious. Why was Remus doing this?
"I'm going to find out what he's doing. There's no way he'd just dump us!" James said determinedly.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah no way he'd ever find you annoying. You're James freaking Potter, after all."
"Exactly," James quipped. He knew Sirius was being sarcastic, but he didn't think he was that bad. Plus, he had a new idea. "I have a plan. Are you listening Peter?"
"Yup," the other boy swallowed and leaned in.
"How about you try to be partners with Remus in another class today and see if you can get anything out of him about why he's avoiding us. He obviously won't agree to be partners with Sirius or I, but he was already partners with you once."
"Tell us everything after class," Sirius added. "We need to figure this out."
Day 4
It was driving James crazy! Remus was avoiding him and Sirius, barely talking to Peter, and now he was sitting alone in Potions class! Remus never worked alone in Potions class. His friend was undeniably bad at the subject, and it was obvious that he wasn't doing too well alone. Just today his potion had started to emit a strange orange smoke when it was supposed to be purple and bubbling. Why would Remus rather fail potions than sit with James or Sirius, or even Evans, who may or may not have been his library buddy? James couldn't solve this mystery and it was driving. Him. Crazy.
Day 6
Remus wasn't at dinner again. James knew that his friend had to be sneaking food out somehow, but they weren't supposed to eat food elsewhere in the castle, and James couldn't see his polite friend breaking that rule on purpose on his own.
Giving up for the moment, James began listening to Sirius' conversation with Peter. "That's Bellatrix," his friend said, pointing at a beautiful black-haired girl in Slytherin. "She's a Seventh Year, and plays with Dark spells like most girls play with dolls or dresses or whatever."
Peter shuddered. "I'll keep that in mind."
Sirius nodded. "Over there," he pointed to the other end of the Slytherin table, "is my cousin Andy, short for Andromeda. She's actually pretty nice if you get to know her. I think she and her Mum are actually having a fight right now because she's friends with a muggleborn."
"If your family decides to kick her out or something, she's welcome at my house," James piped up. "I think kicked out of House Black is pretty much my family's highest recommendation."
Sirius grinned. "I'll keep that in mind if you ever decide to tell your Mum that you're friends with the Heir to House Black." He pointed to a blonde Slytherin girl who looked a couple of years older than them. "That's my last cousin, Narcissa. She's a snob, but not as bad a Bella. Just stay out of both of their ways and you're golden."
"Thanks," Peter grinned.
"I'm full," James declared. "Shall we head up to Gryffindor tower?"
"Sounds good," Sirius stood with Peter, "I'm tired of talking about my slimy snake relatives. No offence to Andy, of course."
James laughed. Speaking of Snakes…
"Isn't that Snivellus?" Sirius sneered, pointing toward the doors of the Great Hall that they had just left. James sucked in a breath and dove behind a nearby pillar, Sirius following suit nearly immediately. Just before Snape spotted Peter, James dragged the chubby boy behind his pillar.
"Watch out!" he hissed. Peter nodded, and peeked out at Snape. James looked too, and the sight nearly made his blood boil. "What's he doing, talking to Evans?" James muttered.
For he was; Snivellus Snape, greasy Slytherin extreme, was talking to pretty Lily Evans, the innocent red-headed and freckle-faced Gryffindor girl, as if they were actually friends or something. James knew that Lily had defended the git in the common room when they were fighting, but he thought that that had only been because he had said he didn't like him. Plus, James had warned that particular snake to stay away from Evans. The memory of the tickling charm and the greasy bat's angry face still make him smirk.
Sirius waved at them from behind his own pillar and pointed. Snivellus was walking down toward the dungeons. James nodded. "C'mon," he muttered to Peter. "I warned that snake to stay away from Evans. We're going to go get him back."
"Are-Are you sure that's a good idea?" Peter asked hesitantly.
"Trust me," James grinned. "We told you how it went down last time, remember?" Peter nodded, looking a little more confident when he remembered James' story about how defeated the grim-looking Slytherin with a tickling charm. James grinned happily, and Sirius came over to join them for the hunt.
"I saw him go around this corner," Sirius whispered. Together, the trio tiptoed down deeper into the dungeons, farther and farther away from the Transfiguration class they were supposed to be getting books for. Peter stumbled and James and Sirius froze, but Peter righted himself almost immediately, and Snape didn't seem to notice anything. Cautiously, they continued.
"There!" James whispered. Snape had ducked into what looked like an unused storage room behind a tapestry of a decrepit old castle. This jerk would regret the day he didn't listen to James Potter. James silently turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Sirius followed quickly at his back, with Peter shakily bringing up the rear.
Red light. James cried out and jumped away. The light hit Peter, who began to laugh hysterically. Snape, too, had apparently decided to learn the tickling charm that he so helped James in their last fight. James clenched his teeth. He would win this. He was James Potter!
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Snape called, swishing and flicking his wand as they had learned. James tried to duck out of the way, but Snape's spell hit his wand. The small stick went flying straight up in the air and stayed there, hovering just out of James' reach.
"Coward!" Sirius yelled, casting his own spell. A dark purple light escaped his wand and hit Snape in the stomach. James wasn't sure what the spell was, but it appeared to have knocked the wind out of Snape. Peter was still laughing behind them, and Sirius carefully performed the counter charm while Snape recovered. James jumped as high as he could, and finally managed to catch his floating wand.
"Not so high and mighty now, are you?" Snape hissed. He had stood straight once more while their backs were turned, and was now aiming his wand right at Sirius' face. "I can't even-" Snape was cut off by a meow. "Mrs. Norris!" James called to Sirius, relieved to see the cat for the first, and probably only, time in his life.
"Catch ya later, Snivellus!" Sirius yelled, and the three Gryffindors sprinted off, away from the ever-closer sounds of Filch's footsteps.
Day 8
"Flying lessons cancelled?!" James read the flyer on the Gryffindor message board. "What? How can they do that? I've been looking forward to flying circles around Slytherins for weeks!"
"Unfair!" Sirius agreed. "If we already know how to fly, can we go up just for fun?"
"It says Madam Hooch is ill," one of the girls said. James thought her name was Mary. "I was looking forward to learning to fly, too. Now we have to wait nearly two weeks!"
James noticed Remus standing at the back of the group of first years, looking disappointed. He wasn't the only one.
"Why are you sad, Remus?" Peter asked. "I thought you didn't like flying."
"I don't," Remus sighed. "I hurt my shoulder last week and Madam Pomfrey said I couldn't go to the lesson. But now that it's postponed I'll be required to go through with it."
"You're Loony, Lupin," Sirius grinned, lightly elbowing their friend. James held his breath, then sighed, annoyed, when Remus shrugged and walked away. Why wouldn't he just act like the Remus that James knew? How had they driven him away? James didn't know, but he was going to get Remus back!
Day 10
James couldn't believe that Remus hadn't talked to them yet. It had been over a week, and his friend hadn't cracked. James and Sirius had tried poking him, whispering questions to him, teasing him, and tickling him with a feather that James had nicked from Charms. Nothing even got a response. (Remus was apparently immune to feather-tickles.)
"Just let him be," Peter had implored. "Maybe he was telling the truth."
Every time James saw him Remus looked a little more tired, but he was always studying some book or another, and James knew for a fact that Remus had started getting 'O's and 'E's on every paper and homework assignment; Sirius had swiped his planner to check the theory. Remus had all of his grades written next to completed assignments. He had also circled the day that he was sick, probably so he would remember what day he had missed, James figured.
He knew that Remus' excuse for ignoring them was that he wanted to get better grades, but James was sure that that reason was about as true as the word of a Slytherin. What kid ignores his friends to get better grades when he was already getting 'A's, 'E's, and "O's to start with? No, something terribly fishy was happening with Remus Lupin, and James was going to figure it out if it killed him.
Day 11
"I saw your little Lupin friend earlier, Potter!" Snape sneered from the other side of the Potions class. "He's not looking too good. I can see why you dumped him!"
"Shut it, Snivellus," James scowled. He wasn't sure what had been done wrong in his friendship with Remus, but Snape was not allowed to say anything about it. That was for James, Sirius, and Peter only.
A paper hit James in the side of the head. Furtively glancing at Slughorn, who was practically cooing over Evans' and Snape's potion, James unfolded the note.
Heir to the Potter fortune won't get you anywhere when you're a snobbish, spoiled, ignorant Gryffindor. Lupin was the smart one.
Scowling, James crumpled up the note and fed it to the flame under his cauldron. Then he glanced over at Remus, whose potion had boiled over. He didn't let anything show on his face, since Snape was doubtlessly still watching, but he kept having sinking doubts that the greasy Slytherin was right. Had James been a bad friend?
Day 13
"Hey James?"
"What, Peter?"
"Can you give me a hand with this Transfiguration essay? I don't get why the right words and pronunciations are so important."
"They're important because… you need them to, you know, do the spell right. They, like, direct your magic… and stuff. I don't know!"
"Sirius?"
"Huh?"
"Do you know why the right words and pronunciations are so important in Transfiguration?"
"They help your intent to focus and… something about helping shape the magic, especially when you're inexperienced, because a lot of adults can do it wordlessly if they want… does that make sense? And it's in latin because of that thing about early wizards and spell inventions, remember?"
"I wish Remus was here."
Day 15
"I don't think this is a good idea…" Peter muttered, quietly scurrying behind James and Sirius.
"Oh come on, Peter!" Sirius muttered, "where's your sense of adventure? There's no reason not to-"
"Shhhh! We're losing him," James cut them off. Snivellus turned another corner up ahead, and James stealthily followed, jumping cat-like between shadows with Sirius ducking and silently moving in the dark behind him. Peter followed, but didn't seem to quite understand why they were ducking around like ninjas when the corridors were empty. Still, James thought the overall effect was quite mysterious.
"Which way did he go?" Sirius whispered, as Peter pulled up panted beside them. James' poor little friend had decided to sprint the last half of the corridor in order to catch up with them, and it hadn't gone over well with the chubby boy's legs.
"I don't remember," James admitted. "It might have been right. No wait… left. Wait… yeah. It was definitely left."
"Final answer?" Sirius smirked. It actually looked quite frightening in the half-light with his hair hanging over his face.
"Left," James said confidently. Mostley.
"Let's go," Peter grinned enthusiastically. He was practically bouncing with excitement at searching for the Snake Den, as Sirius had aptly named it, and James secretly hoped that Peter would calm down a little before they found it.
Sirius still looked skeptical of James' sketchy memory, but they all went down the left corridor in the end. After that, though, it was anyone's guess.
"Right or straight?" James muttered. "Or that weird diagonal path up ahead?"
"Straight!" Peter whispered at the same time that Sirius and James both said "diagonal."
"I meant to say diagonal," Peter blushed. "James must be right."
"I said diagonal too," Sirius muttered good naturedly, to which Peter immediately apologized. James silently laughed at Sirius' predicament as he tried to reassure Peter that he wasn't really offended. Finally, they continued on, like brave knights riding into the unknown on their faithful unicorns. James wished they had a map. Or Remus, who had memorized the way to their classes in about two days, and could probably figure out where they were in relations to the potions classroom.
"This can't be right," James finally decided. "I don't think we're even in the real dungeons anymore! And haven't we passed that pile of barrels before?"
"You're right," Sirius muttered, thinking. "Because I was wondering what was in them, and Peter thought they looked like barrels of firewhisky."
"They do," Peter put in.
James sighed. How were they supposed to find the Slytherin common room when they had lost the Slytherin they were tailing an hour ago? He leaned tiredly against the wall, rubbing his hands against his forehead, then jumped back in shock when he heard a small giggle!
"Did you hear that?"
Sirius looked at him oddly. "Hear what?"
"That weird giggling sound! I swear I just heard someone giggle!" James looked around. The corridor appeared to be deserted.
"Maybe there's some kind of creature in the barrels?" Peter asked timidly.
"No," Sirius turned toward James. "That wouldn't be it… Hey! What's that portrait you're leaning against?"
"Portrait?" James had, to his surprise, been leaning against a portrait. It appeared to be a simple bowl of fruit, and James wondered why anyone would bother painting a portrait with nothing but fruit on it.
"What did you do?" Sirius walked over, and Peter followed after him. "Do whatever it was you just did."
"I only leaned against it like this!" James muttered. He didn't think it was the portrait; fruit didn't giggle as far as he knew, but nothing else made sense! He leaned against the portrait again, and heard a little chuckle. Peter started, and Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"The pear just giggled."
"No way," James turned around, only to find the wiggling pear still letting off little chuckles. Curious, James reached up his and and poked it. The pear laughed again, and James began to tickle. It laughed for a moment, and then somehow morphed into a large green doorknob.
"Do you think it's safe?" Peter whimpered.
"'Course. It's in a school, isn't it?" Sirius said confidently. He stepped forward and turned the knob. He stopped dead. "You've got to see this…" he whispered.
Day 16
Poke. "Hey, Remus?" Remus didn't respond. James poked him again. Remus twitched. Encouraged, James started poking his friend repeatedly in the side.
"What?" Remus finally snapped.
James was surprised that it had actually worked, and found that he had nothing to say. He was actually a little miffed with himself for not planning on actually getting Remus to talk. "I can't think of any good pranks, so you have to be my muse."
Remus sighed. "Use dungbombs." Then he left. James huffed. Dungbombs were so… unrefined. He'd thought Remus would at least suggest something with more finesse. Oh well. A bag of dungbombs under the Slytherin table had been ordered...
Day 18
Remus was going outside. That was where he had been eating for the past two and a half weeks. James wasn't sure who he wanted to yell at: Remus or himself. How had he not thought of that sooner? Now he wasn't sure whether he wanted to follow his friend. If he did, Remus might shout out something that he didn't want to hear. That Remus was no longer his friend. James refused to believe that Remus would ditch him and Sirius so thoroughly, but he was running out of other things to believe.
Yes, James steadfastly refused to even think that Remus would walk out on their friendship after the pranks and fun they had been through. So, to avoid any conflicts that might contradict that belief, James bravely turned around and went back inside, decidedly not thinking about Remus' retreating back, or the fact that Remus wasn't just avoiding James; he was avoiding everyone. Maybe Remus was in pain or terminally sick or just really antisocial because he had gotten a 'P' on something and was determined to never do so badly again, but James should go and talk to him so that he'd know. But he didn't, because James didn't want to know.
He was a coward.
Instead of confronting Remus, James and Sirius together went out and hexed Snape. Again. It was strangely satisfying to see the one that had planted the doubts in James' head get a black eye and have to head to the Hospital Wing, even if James himself had a scraped up elbow and chin and Sirius had a goose egg on his knee. No one had known enough spells to duel properly, so they had ended up in an all-out fistfight. They all got detention from Madam Pomfrey for fighting, to be served the next day. Separately. She hadn't even needed to ask what had happened.
Day 22
It was finally the day of the flying lesson, and James was bouncing off the walls with anticipation. "My Dad says I was born on a broom. I can't wait for the flying lesson; I haven't flown since August! Do you think they'll let us just fly around if we already know how? Oh, I hope we have these with the Slytherins so I can fly circles around Snivellus!"
"I'm with you, mate," Sirius grinned. "I'll be great to wipe that smirk off his face once and for all. Shall we head down to the pitch?"
"Brilliant idea, my friend. Peter! Remus! We're heading down for the flying lesson and you should too!" James yelled out to the others. Peter looked up from his lazy doodle at their stolen table. He'd been nervous and excited about this in equal measure for the past three days.
"I'm ready! Are we going?"
"Hold on," Sirius said. He walked over and pounded on the bathroom door. "Remus! I know you're in there! You are coming with us to the flying lesson, so get your butt out of that bathroom right now!"
Low muttering could be heard. Apparently Sirius could understand it, though, because he shouted back.
"I don't care what you prefer! Did you know, I was looking through my Defense book for cool spells during class. There's once called confringo that blows things up! Do you want me to practice on this door?"
Remus opened the door. He didn't say anything, but his glare at Sirius didn't seem to require words.
"Let us go, faithful comrades and one wet blanket, to the adventure that awaits us!" James yelled happily, brandishing his imaginary sword.
Sirius pretended to draw one as well. "Sir, yes Sir!" Peter saluted. Remus rolled his eyes. James took that as his cue to stampede out the door and down to the quidditch pitch, where they would be holding their lessons.
When James and his friends arrived, they found two rows of old, scraggly looking brooms lined up on the ground. A stern professor, Madam Hooch, James remembered, was standing over them. Several Slytherins were already there.
"I'll be the best, wait and see," bragged a brown-haired Slytherin called Avery. He was standing near Snivellus and another Slytherin, Mulciber, and glanced over a few times toward a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, called Parkinson. James snorted.
"You will be the best? Yeah, right. I've been riding a broom since before I could walk."
"Well that's not much of an accomplishment, Potter, considering how long it must have taken you to learn to walk!" Avery shot back.
"Yeah," Snivellus sneered. "What with that over-inflated head of yours, I'm impressed that you can even get off the ground."
Sirius' eyes flashed. "Well at least he's got more experience than you, Snivellus. Weren't you raised in a muggle town?"
"Better there than your house, Black, after where you've been sorted," Mulciber snorted.
"Ha!" James crowed, "I'll bet you've never flown in your life."
"Well you-" Snape was cut off by Madam Hooch.
"Alright everyone! Get in front of a broom and say 'up!'" James rolled his eyes. Baby stuff. He got the broom on his first try, and Sirius was only a few seconds behind. They high-fived and turned to the others. Avery, having gotten his broom on the first try as well, smirked triumphantly at James. James ignored him. Remus was biting his lip and looking very nervous about letting his feet off the ground; his broom had merely rolled over when he shouted the command, and Remus didn't look altogether disappointed about that. Peter's broom hadn't moved at all.
Madam Hooch was giving out different instructions, but James didn't really pay attention. He knew how to fly quite well, thank you very much.
Seeing everyone else pick up their brooms and begin to mount, James smoothly mounted his own broom and waited expectantly to be able to fly again after almost two whole months without a broom.
Madam Hooch was taking forever to show everyone the right way to hold their brooms. James tried to cover his laugh when Evans took several minutes just to get the hand grip right, but judging by the way that she sent a pleased glare at him once she got it right, he hadn't done very well at hiding it.
Finally, finally, they were allowed to begin.
"On my whistle, kick up from the ground hard. Hover for a few seconds and then come down by gently leaning forward. Ready? Tweet!" James kicked off. It felt wonderful. The wind whipped through his hair and he let out a whoop! If only he could be on the quidditch team this year, James could do this all the time! He looked over at Sirius, who was grinning as well. The two best friends only came down when Madam Hooch sent a look their way that probably meant something along the lines of "do as I say or so help me you will be disgraced and expelled and never allowed to fly again in your natural lives." It was brilliant.
James breezed through the competence checks that Madam Hooch made them go through, and was amused to see Snivellus just barely wobbling his way through. The ones who didn't make it, Remus, Peter, Evans, another Gryffindor called Lucy Wright, and a Slytherin girl, (Zabini, James thought,) had to stay back for more instructions while the rest of them got to fly around. James felt a little bad for them, but if they couldn't fly, he supposed it wouldn't be much fun. Instead, he and Sirius started a game of catch with an old Drooble's Gum package that James had found in his pocket.
Or, they did until Snivellus showed up.
"You think you're so high and mighty on your broom, Potter! Why do you lower yourself so as to talk to us mere mortals? How did Black here and that Lupin idiot ever become so lucky as to be graced with your mighty presence?"
"You're just jealous because you got stuck in slimy Slytherin! Who wants to go there? Why should I care what you say about me and my friends, Snivellus?" Thank Godric for Sirius. James would never take him for granted again.
"Yeah, Slytherin's for manipulative, dark idiots. Everyone knows that!" he backed up his friend. Honestly, Snivellus was a nightmare. Anyone who actually wanted to be in Slytherin had this coming.
"Why you- you just think you're too good for the rest of us, Potter! I don't think that Lupin idiot even wants to be your friend; I've seen you avoiding each other." Oh Snivellus was asking for it. He was really asking for it... "Did he finally figure out what thoughtless imbeciles you two are? I'll bet he decided to dump you and laugh behind your back with someone else, didn't he?"
James saw red.
"Shut up! You don't know anything! He wouldn't do that…." James yelled. Remus was so quiet when they met him, so strangely nice. To go and betray his friends like that just wouldn't be… Remus. Right?
Angrily, James turned and saw Remus a little apart from the beginners' group staring at them. How much had he heard? Remus looked away, and James felt even worse. He had really screwed up somewhere.
"Alright, kids! Get down here and off those brooms, or you'll all be late for your next class! Come on, chop chop!" Hooch called. Sirius flew over to James and they descended together.
"It wasn't us," Sirius muttered. "If Remus wants to leave that's his problem, not ours." He seemed to be trying to reassure himself and James at the same time, but James was grateful nonetheless. Still, when he saw Remus he couldn't help but call out. To his surprise, Remus made his way over with almost no hesitation.
"Is not true, is it Remus?" James whispered, "You wouldn't just leave us like that, right mate?" Remus looked away.
"Why would you do that?" Sirius snapped, looking hurt and angry. "Never mind." James was surprised when Sirius' face turned into one of disappointment. "I just thought you wanted friends at this school, just like we did."
Wow. Remus looked really guilty, but James didn't feel bad for him after everything that Remus had done. Or not done, he supposed.
"See you in Potions, Lupin," Sirius spat. James turned away and Sirius followed.
"Wait," Remus said from behind them. James stopped, and he felt Sirius grip his shoulder as if waiting for an insult. "I thought- I just figured that you two were my friends out of pity." Pity? Why would they pity Remus? Sure, he was short and skinny and a little weak-looking, but James knew for a fact that Remus was as smart as any Ravenclaw. Plus, he had a great devious pranking streak.
"You make a great twosome. You're funny, the teachers love you… what do you want me for?"
"You thought we didn't want you? Why would we not want to be friends with you?" James couldn't believe what he was hearing. Why hadn't Remus talked to them about this? Remus turned away, but Sirius grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around.
"Why?" Sirius repeated James' question.
Remus took a deep breath. He looked as if he was stealing himself. "I've never had any friends before. You two were the first. I see how well you do in class, how you get good grades without even trying. Why would you want to be friends with me? I can't do anything special, I'm just Remus. I get sick all the time, and I read books! No one wants to be friends with a person like that! You'll just dump me eventually, so I figured I'd save you the trouble."
"You're wrong, Remus." James declared. Remus opened his mouth, but James cut him off. "No! You. Are. Wrong. You get better grades on written assignments than both me and Sirius. You were the one to plan our only successful prank. We didn't move the furniture around without you because it wasn't the same with you gone. We want to be friends with you, Remus Lupin, and we have no reason at all to stop! So quit avoiding us already!"
"He's right," Sirius said, supporting James for the second time that day, "we want to be friends with you because you are smart and funny and nice. I don't think you realize how rare of a thing genuine niceness actually is. The only one in my family that's nice is my cousin Andromeda, and she's a fifth-year Slytherin."
"Really?" Remus looked at them doubtfully. James mentally compared his friend to a kicked puppy.
"You are so Loony, Remus!" he rolled his eyes. "Of course really! Why would we lie? Now, I think it's time you re-join your fellow Marauders just in time to start planning a Halloween prank. We've no clue what to do; we tried following Snape to the Slytherin common room and all we found was the kitchens."
"You found the kitchens? Where are they?"
"Down in the dungeons behind a bowl of fruit," Sirius told him. "We got a bit lost and James leaned up against it while we tried to figure out where we were. Imagine our surprise when the pear started laughing!"
"You have to tickle the pear to get in," James clarified at Remus' confused expression. "We'll show you sometime." He couldn't wait to see Remus' reaction to the house-elves!
"Deal," Remus said happily. "Merlin's beard! We're late for potions! Run!" James grinned as they took off. Just like old times.
-M-
If you would like to review, that would make me very happy! Also, head over and read Marauders Marauding and my other one-shot My New Best Friend about how James and Sirius met on the train!
Always keep reading and writing! ~Meg