Remus sat with his head so close to the desk he was barely able to see the words on the page. After a long day of classes and the Professor's constantly stressing over the fact their exams were only a few weeks away, Remus was almost too exhausted to want to finish his essay.
He had spent all evening in the library with Lily Evans working on potions and although her determination had given him a boost he was still left wishing he could borrow some of her energy since he was now lacking his own. It was Friday night, surprisingly warm outside and although he could hear his friends shouting and cheering from the common room he couldn't bring himself to get up and join in.
Remus was distracted as the room door slammed shut and he didn't have to look up to know it was Sirius, he had a habit of slamming doors without meaning too.
"What's wrong, Sirius?" Remus asked dipping his quill in the ink once more without looking up.
Sirius sighed lightly, Remus always had a way of knowing when something was wrong with any of the marauders "I'm bored" he said simply.
Remus raised a brow and looked up at his friend, Sirius was now lying on his bed facing Remus propping his chin in his hands as he watched the werewolf curiously.
"The common room doesn't sound boring" Remus suggested but he wasn't surprised when Sirius screwed up his face
"I don't want to play exploding snap" Sirius said yawning lightly "let's do something else"
Remus shook his head, he wasn't letting anybody distract him tonight "I still have to finish this essay and so do you"
Sirius rolled his eyes "it's Friday so we don't have to do it tonight" he said sounding slightly exasperated.
"But we're going to have to do it eventually so I'd rather do it now" Remus replied absently before flicking the page in his textbook and scanning for the paragraph he needed.
Sirius let out a dramatic groan before flipping onto his back and staring up at the ceiling "bored, bored, bored" he chanted absently.
"Go find James and Peter?" Remus asked now openly glaring over at his friends' immature dramatics.
Sirius scoffed "Peter's playing snap and James has vanished"
"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually" Remus said unable to hide the concern in his voice, not because he thought James was in any type of danger, but because he was now a prefect and he knew that was the professors attempt at getting the marauders to stay out of trouble and when James wasn't present he was normally up to something.
"Speak of the devil" Sirius smirked as the door flew open with a bang once more.
"Stop slamming doors!" Remus snapped.
James stopped in his tracks and held up both his hands as if he was surrendering to Remus, causing Sirius to let out a small laugh at Remus' expense.
"Looking tense, Remmy" James stated simply as he sat on the edge of his own bed looking awfully proud of himself.
Remus glared over at his friend "what have you done?" he asked.
"Yeah, do tell" Sirius said hopefully sitting up to see his friend properly.
"Moody, Padfoot" James addressed them playfully "I have found the solution to all our problems" he said puffing his chest out.
Sirius smirked lightly, he liked the idea of this already and he didn't even know what James had planned.
James looked over to the door quickly before pulling a large bottle from the inside of his robes.
"What is that?" Remus asked completely unimpressed.
"White rum" James smirked.
Sirius rubbed his hands together excitedly before getting to his feet to inspect the bottle "where did you get this?" he asked.
"Bought it off a Hufflepuff" James said pretending not to notice how unimpressed Remus was.
"A Hufflepuff?" Sirius laughed.
James nodded "don't underestimate them, Padfoot" he said playfully.
"How does this cure our problems?" Remus asked putting his quill down now too distracted to continue working.
James shrugged "you need to relax and Sirius is bored…I thought it would be fun and it is Friday night"
"James, I don't think that's a good idea" Remus said looking at James intently before glancing at Sirius. James and Remus had only spoken yesterday about how quickly Sirius was growing distressed at the thought of going home for summer and he knew giving the teen alcohol would only end badly.
"Nothing bad will happen" James said smirking lightly at Remus.
Remus sighed heavily "Prongs, I'm already in trouble for helping you both prank Snape and if I keep getting into trouble Professor McGonagall won't let me be a prefect anymore"
"Technically you told us not to prank Snape" Sirius argued.
Remus nodded "I know but I also didn't stop you and you both took it too far"
"No, we didn't" Sirius frowned.
"You set his notebook on fire" Remus reminded his two friends who were now looking at him innocently with large, expectant eyes "go, I won't say anything" Remus finally muttered before returning his attention back to his work.
"Thanks, Moony" they both said in unison before grabbing the invisibility cloak and running off.
Remus rolled his eyes lightly, how much trouble could they really get into?
. . .
"What do you think next year will bring?" James said slouching against a tree at the edge of the forbidden forest with the invisibility cloak and almost-finished bottle of white rum at his side.
Sirius shrugged taking a long draw of his cigarette "I just hope things get better" he drunkenly sighed unable to keep the anxiety from his voice.
James looked up at his friend before fumbling to light another cigarette, he ignored Sirius faint giggles when it took him five attempts to work the lighter "I meant what I said, about you moving in with us"
"I know you did" Sirius shrugged as he took the bottle of rum in his free hand and went to lean back against a tree that wasn't there.
Sirius emotions were heavy, he always struggled with the school year ending and the idea of having to go home to a completely different world. During the summers at home Sirius struggled to play along with his families pure-blood ideology, the only friend he was allowed over was James as he was his only friend that his parents considered as from a respectable blood line. Although Sirius never invited James over, he would much rather go to the Potter's and spend long weekends where he could just be normal.
His father was also growing more aggressive, the older Sirius got the more he continued to make decisions his family considered as disappointing and his father wasn't shy on putting Sirius in his place.
There was a massive thud as Sirius fell backwards into the long grass with his hands flapping in an attempt to balance himself. They both erupted into laugher as Sirius continued to lie on the grass and stare up at the sky, although he was content he was also too drunk to sit up.
"Uhhhhh" Sirius groaned.
"You should" James randomly said breaking a moments silence.
"I should lie in the grass" Sirius mumbled.
"What? No, I mean move in with me" James slurred "we can get drunk and smoke all summer"
Sirius smiled lightly, he was highly considering getting the Hogwarts Express with James and then going straight to the potters "Remus was pretty pissed about Snape" he mumbled distractedly.
"Fuck Snape" James spat wagging his finger "if he wasn't constantly sneaking around and stalking Lily none of that would have happened" he said rolling his eyes.
Sirius had stopped paying attention and was now giggling lightly.
"What?" James slurred stubbing his cigarette out against the tree.
"I'm lying in your food" Sirius said propping himself up on his elbows.
"What?" James asked eyeing his friend with concern, although he couldn't fight the drunken smirk stretching across his face.
Sirius ripped a chunk of grass out the ground and threw it at James.
"Oi!" James said defensively but he couldn't fight the laugh "don't vandalise my deer food"
"Deer food" Sirius laughed.
James stumbled to his feet before looking at his friend playfully, after a moment of trying James was gone and before James stood a large, lanky deer that was buckling at the knees and staggering everywhere.
"Prongs!" Sirius screamed excitedly.
Prongs staggered towards Remus before completely falling into the man knocking them both down a banking, Prongs let out a strange, disapproving honking sound as Sirius pushed him off.
"Okay, you have to stand" Sirius laughed at the deer that was now wide eyed and completely sprawled out.
Sirius carefully pulled himself back to a standing position and looked down at the drunken deer, his eyes glistening with amusement "okay, we have to get you off the ground" he said wagging his finger at Prongs. Gently Sirius began to attempt to pull prongs by positioning the deer's legs so he should stand when lifted.
Completely forgetting his magically abilities Sirius began to manually try and pull the deer up but drunkenly Prongs fell back into Sirius effectively squashing the still-human wizard into the grass once more.
Sirius let out a drunken squeak at the weight of the deer landing on him "Prongs" he groaned loudly.
They were both silenced by a crunching sound coming from the trees but Sirius sighed with relief as a familiar face came from the shadows.
Remus had snuck out to work out where his friends had gotten to and wasn't surprised when he heard drunken laughter coming from the edge of the forbidden forest, but what he wasn't expecting was to find one of his friends lying underneath an obviously intoxicated deer.
"Help?" Sirius said grinning widely.
"You two have gone too far" Remus said flicking his wand lightly as he lifted Prongs off Sirius before forcing the deer into a standing position.
Prongs let out the same disapproving honk causing Sirius to laugh once more.
"You better change back" Remus said now looking less than amused at Prongs.
There was a moment of silence before a concerned look crossed the deer's face.
"You can't, can you?" Remus sighed dropping his head into his hands, suddenly he wished he'd stayed inside.
Prongs shook his head before dropping into a sitting position and tilting his head expectantly at Remus.
"Don't look at me like that!" Remus said unable to hide his smirk at the puppy-eyed animal staring at him.
"We can sneak him back into the dorms" Sirius suggested.
"Absolutely not" Remus said shaking his head.
Prongs pouted lightly before stumbling back to all fours and hungrily eating some grass.
"Okay we'll find somewhere sheltered and you can sleep there" Remus sighed heavily before trying to shove Prongs from behind.
The deer stubbornly dropped into a sitting position once more clearly not ecstatic with the idea of sleeping in the forbidden forest. After a moment Prongs looked at Sirius and tilted his head, Remus could tell by Sirius' smirk what the deer was asking.
"Don't you dare" Remus started but before he could finish a large shaggy dog stood before him.
Remus wasn't surprised when the dog was twice as legless as the fully-grown Bambi and he dropped his head into his hands unsure of how they were getting out of this once.
"Padfoot, no!" Remus shouted when Sirius took off into the trees drunkenly chasing a rather startled looking squirrel.
Prongs let out another not very deer like honk before staggering off in the same direction with Remus hot on their tracks.
"Guys, you're not funny" Remus sighed "please change back" he called out.
There was a small yelp and a splash from the other end of the trees and Remus ran ahead knocking a wobbly Prongs over before continuing in the direction as the yelps.
Remus could hear the sound of water crashing and he looked down the banking and gasped at the sight of Padfoot desperately trying to swim in the aggressive water.
"Hold on, Padfoot" Remus shouted as he scrambled as quickly as he could towards the struggling dog that was whining loudly, clearly terrified by the water crashing off the nearby rocks.
Remus watched as Sirius was further swept downstream still whining loudly and barking as Remus watched in horror as the scruffy dogs' giant paws slapped the water in a protest to stay afloat.
Remus looked behind him to see Prongs staggering from the bushes now looking slightly soberer and with a small flash Remus sighed with relief as James now stood where the deer had been.
"Sirius" James called before running further downstream.
"Careful, James!" Remus called running after him knowing James would jump head first into any situation when it came to Sirius.
"Hold on!" James called desperately scrambling over the uneven ground to get closer to the dog that was now vanishing under the water every few seconds before desperately sticking its' head up.
They both watched as the water suddenly dropped and the dog vanished from sight.
"No" James gasped and both boys broke into a run towards the sudden drop, luckily the drop was only about five feet and the water seemed to calm afterwards and they both looked down with relief at Padfoot still floating on the surface.
"Help me" James gasped as he stood as close to the edge as he could on the high banking, Remus grabbed his friends hand and with all his strength kept them both from falling in while James managed to yank the dog out of the water with such force he knocked both himself and Remus to the ground.
"Are you okay, Padfoot?" James asked as the dog lay exhausted and covered in mud by the side of the water.
"Sirius?" Remus asked looking worriedly down at his friend who just continued to pant desperately for breath.
Padfood managed to pull himself to his feet long enough to limp over to Remus who was still sitting on the grass, clearly in shock. The dog curled up next to Remus with his head resting on his lap still whining lightly.
Remus put a hand on the dogs' head as he glared up at James.
"I warned you!" Remus shouted "I said your stupid games would go too far and someone would get hurt"
James shook his head "I didn't…I wouldn't"
Padfoot whined up at Remus before dropped his head onto the mans lap once more.
"He's really hurt, isn't he?" James whispered.
"He nearly drowned! He's probably in shock" Remus said glaring angrily at James.
James sighed dropping his head into his hands, he knew Sirius was easy to convince to go along with his fun and games and he should have known better than to give him alcohol. "I'm sorry, Sirius" he mumbled.
"It's fine" Sirius muttered lightly.
James looked up to find Sirius, in his human form, still leaning against Remus for support. Without the fur it was obvious how battered and bruised the wizard was and his squint wrist was definitely a cause for concern.
"Let's get you to the infirmary" Remus said helping Sirius to his feet.
Sirius gave James a sympathetic smile as they all walked back towards the castle side by side.
"Go back to the tower" James said simply to Remus as they entered the castle.
Remus frowned "why?"
"You'll get in trouble if you come with us to the infirmary and you didn't do anything wrong" James said simply and Remus nodded
"You better go straight to the hospital wing, Potter" Remus said simply before turning and walking away.
James put his arm under Sirius' underarm to keep him upright as they continued to limp towards the infirmary still swaying lightly as the alcohol began to leave their bodies and the sickness began to set in.
"I'm sorry" James said looking over at his friend.
Sirius shook his head "it was my choice, Prongs, and I had fun" he smirked.
"You could have died-" James reminded him.
"But I didn't" Sirius butted in "accidents happen when alcohols involved and it was my fault for chasing that squirrel" he reminded James who nodded lightly.
After a moment of silence Sirius let out a small laugh, almost toppling over at the sudden pain in his ribs "jeez" he muttered.
"Are you okay?" James asked holding his friend tighter, Sirius nodded reassuringly but continued to smile "what's so funny?" he asked.
"That really strange noise you kept making the entire time you were Prongs" Sirius said laughing once more "you sounded like a goose"
James frowned lightly "maybe I'm some double-animagi" he smirked lightly.
Sirius scoffed lightly "try mastering the deer first"
James stopped suddenly and looked at his friend intently, although Sirius was battered and clearly in pain he was still joking and smiling and that was one of the things James loved the most about his best friend. He sighed lightly truly worried Sirius would lose that spark if he didn't get away from his family soon.
"I meant what I said tonight" James said carefully watching his friend.
Sirius watched James curiously "what part?" he asked.
"About you moving in with me" James said simply "dad could pick us both up at the station and take us both home, you already have all your stuff here"
Sirius smiled thoughtfully "I had that same idea" he said honestly.
"Great minds think alike" James smirked.
"Potter! Black!" a stern voice shouted and they both flinched at the sight of Professor McGonagall "why are you out of bed?" she asked storming towards them both.
"We're dead" James muttered.
"Maybe I should have drowned" Sirius whispered as they shared once final smirk before walking towards their fate.
I wrote this one-shot months ago and never posted it. It's the first time I've written about the Marauders in their school years so I thought I'd share it
Hope everyone is well!