A/N: Happy (almost) Halloween! I hope this isn't to clichéd.
Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately. They be J.K.'s -sigh- Sirius wants to go Trick-or-Treating! -grabs pillow case- I'm all set! What do you mean I can't go till tomorrow!?!
--
Remus Lupin, a seventh year Gryffindor, stared at the bulletin board in the common room. He felt someone tap him on the shoulder, when he turned around he came face-to-face- with Lily Evans, another seventh year and Head Girl.
"What are you staring at?" she asked with a hint of a smile on her face. Remus gestured to the board over his shoulder. They both turned and read the note.
'Hello, Hogwarts Students!
We, the Marauders, would like to make an announcement:
We're throwing a Halloween party!
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Who's invited? All 5th, 6th, and 7th year students. (Yes, even Slytherins)
Where shall it be held? In the Great Hall
When should you be there? Arrive at 9 and be gone by 12
Why are we doing this? Because we don't have classes the next day! Oh, and because it's Halloween.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Costumes are a MUST (That includes masks!)'
"I can't believe you wouldn't tell me about this," complained Lily.
Remus turned to her, "I had no idea about this. Didn't James tell you?"
She shook her head. James Potter, Lily's boyfriend of 2 months, was Head Boy and had been on his best behavior lately. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It has been a while since he's done anything."
Remus rolled his eyes as he led Lily to the couch. "I wonder why they didn't tell me…"
"They probably don't have permission to do it," reasoned Lily.
"I'll have you know that we do have permission." Remus and Lily turned around and saw Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew coming from the dorm.
"Really, now?" said Lily, disbelieving. "Then where is James?"
Sirius sat down next to Remus while Peter took a seat adjoining them. "Probably looking for you," provided Peter.
"So, what are you two going to dress as?" asked Sirius. "I'm gonna go as D'Artagnan."
"For once, I agree with what you said, Black," Lily said lazily.
Sirius smiled his crooked smile, "Finally coming to your senses, huh? About time."
Lily threw a pillow at him and succeeded by hitting him in the face. "I meant that you and D'Artagnan are similar in characterization. You're both hot-headed." She looked at the other two boys, "Actually, all four of you remind me of the musketeers."
Remus cocked an eyebrow, "Really? How?"
Lily pointed to Sirius, "You're D'Artagnan, I've already said why. Peter reminds me of Porthos. Porthos is gullible, honest, and likes to eat. Sorry Peter."
He shook his head, "I don't mind. It's true after all." The four students laughed and Lily continued her explanation.
"James would be Athos, the leader. And he's kind of the father figure." She turned to face Remus, "And that leaves Aramis for you." She smiled.
"Why am I Aramis?" he asked, slightly confused.
"Forget the fact that Aramis likes women and drinking; because you don't like either of them. Friendship is very important to you, like Aramis."
"So, I'm a gay version of Aramis because I'm value my friends?"
Sirius placed a hand on Remus' shoulder, "Would you rather be the fat one?"
Remus rolled his eyes as he sighed, "I'd rather not. Fine, I'll be the Aramis to your D'Artagnan." Sirius crushed him in a hug, "Yayy!"
"Not that that conversation is done," interrupted Peter, "What are you going as Lily?"
"Hmm…I don't know. Seeing as I just found out about the party now." She glared at Sirius and Peter. "I'll see what James is doing and maybe we can go as a couple."
"Well, I'm going as a zombie. James is helping me tear up some clothes."
"As long as they're not mine, have fun," said Remus.
Peter rolled his eyes, "What about you, Moony? Got any ideas?"
Remus shook his head, "I'm not going. I need to catch up on homework." The full moon had been a couple of days ago and Remus was falling behind in his studies. He still had a few essays to write and he needed to see Professor Slughorn about a potion he missed.
Sirius jumped onto his lap and whined, "But you have to go! It's our very last Halloween!"
Remus poked his stomach and laughed. "It is not our last Halloween, Pads."
"Well, it's our last one here," he looked at the werewolf. "And you should be there."
"The notice did say the Marauders were holding the party," reasoned Peter.
Lily pushed Sirius off of Remus' lap, making him mumble under his breath on the floor. "Leave him alone, you two. If he doesn't want to go, then he doesn't have to go."
Before Sirius or Peter could protest, James walked in. "Hey, guys. Hi, Lily." He walked over to the couch and kissed the top of his girlfriend's head. "What are we talking about?"
Lily stood up and dragged Remus with her. "Remus and I were going to the library to do some studying." She kissed James on the cheek and yanked Remus out of the portrait behind her.
When they were a few feet away from the hole, they heard James shout, "WHAT?!?"
"Is there a reason why you rushed me out of there?" asked Remus.
Lily slowed their pace, "I didn't want all three of them to give you a hard time. I know the full moon was harsh on you this month." Lily had figured out last year that Remus was a werewolf, but had waited to let him tell her.
He gave her hand a squeeze and they continued their way to the library. "You do know neither of us have our book bags, right?"
Lily stopped and stared at him, "I knew that." Remus laughed as they turned around to head back.
--
Remus was lying on his bed reading when he heard a pair of feet stomping up the stairs. He looked up to see a peeved James walk through the door.
"What's wrong, Prongs?" he asked as he placed a bookmark to hold his spot.
"Is there a reason why you don't want to go to the party?" he asked when he reached the bed. "Are you really that upset that we made plans without you?"
Remus smiled as he sat up. "No, James. I really do have homework that I need to catch up on. Not to mention I need to do that potion for Professor Slughorn."
James plopped down on the bed. "Come on. It'll be fun," he said in a sing-song voice.
"I know," he replied in the same voice. "But I have to do it."
James grinned, "You have to do it, huh? Who are you doing it with?"
"Why, Lily, of course," he said with an evil smirk. James stared at him with an open mouth. Remus waved his hand in front of the astonished boy, "James? I was kidding, mate. Really, I was."
He heard someone else coming up the stairs and when he looked up he saw Sirius eating a chocolate bar. "What's wrong with him?" Sirius asked when he noticed the still boy.
Remus shrugged his shoulders, "I was kidding around and he froze up." Sirius sat on the other side of James.
Remus watched the chocolate as it was lifted to Sirius' lips, but his line of sight stayed on his mouth even after the bar left. He continued to stare as Sirius asked, "What did you say?"
When Remus realized that Sirius was staring at him, he looked away and told him what he and James were talking about. "I didn't think he'd freak out like that."
"Oh, bad move on your part, Moony," Sirius said as he shook his head. "You should know better than to joke around with Lily."
"I know that," he said as he avoided looking at Sirius plump lips.
"Maybe we should kiss," suggested Sirius. Remus stared at him, stunned.
"W-what?" Remus couldn't believe his ears.
"You know. To shock him awake."
Remus blinked, "Do you really think that'll work?"
Sirius shrugged, "It might and it might not. You never know till you try," he said with a smirk. "So, do you wanna try it?"
Before Remus could answer, Sirius leaned in and gave him a small peck. Sirius looked at James while Remus stared at Sirius. 'What the hell was that about?'
Sirius looked back at Remus and shrugged. "Guess it didn't work." He held up his wand and shot water at his best friend.
"Why didn't you d that first?" asked Remus as James sputtered awake.
Sirius shrugged his shoulders again and took a bite of the chocolate.
"What the hell was that about, Sirius?" shouted James. He shot off the bed and headed to the bathroom, mumbling to himself the entire time. Sirius got up also and headed to his own bed; he popped the last of the bar into his mouth as he opened his trunk.
'Apparently, that kiss didn't mean a thing,' Remus thought sadly. He was about to say such a thing, but then he remembered the notice. "How did you guys get into the Slytherin common room? I'm pretty sure they didn't let you three waltz in."
Sirius turned around and smiled. "We waited by the portrait hole until someone left. Then, we snuck in using the invisibility cloak. But it was only Prongs and me; you know the cloak can only hide two people now."
James walked out of the bathroom, all dried off and rubbing his eyes. "I know you swing both ways, Sirius, but did you really have to kiss Remus?"
Remus blushed as he got up, "I'm going downstairs to see if Lily's there."
When he got there, he saw Lily talking to one of her friends. As he approached, Lily's friend looked up and smiled at him.
"Hi, Remus," greeted Lily. She turned to her friend, "I'll talk to you later." Both seventh years took a seat by the fire. "I talked to James and guess what we're going as."
"Who got to pick?"
She glared at him playfully, "I did. But he agreed to it without a complaint."
"Ok…You're going as Romeo and Juliet." Lily scoffed and he looked at her, "Then what are you doing?"
She smiled as she said, "We're going as Bonnie and Clyde."
"Cool," was all Remus said. He was too stunned to say anything else.
"I know, it's a bit out of character for me. But I wanted James to have fun. And I wanted a little romance."
Remus shook his head as he smiled, "Only you would think to be that 'romantic' couple." Lily nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Maybe you should head to bed. You look tired." He felt Lily nod again and he helped her up. "And don't believe a word James says tonight."
She gave him a quizzical look, but stayed silent. When Lily was gone, Remus decided it was safe to head back upstairs.
--
"Happy Halloween!"
Remus shot up in bed the next morning and glared at the screaming boys. "Thanks for the wakeup call, guys," he said sarcastically.
Sirius and James jumped onto his bed and held out their hands. "Trick or Treat," they chimed.
"How about this: Get off my bed or you'll get tricked."
Only James got off the bed, Sirius decided to sit right down. "What crawled up your bum and died?"
Remus rubbed his eyes, "I guess I didn't get much sleep last night. I was up late trying to finish my Charms essay."
"How many more do you have to write?" asked Peter from his own bed.
"I still have to finish my Transfiguration essay. And I have write essays for Herbology, Astronomy, and Arithmancy. Not to mention that blasted potion…"
"Why do you have so many to write?" inquired James as he grabbed his uniform. He spent the night so he and Sirius could finalize plans for the party. "That's not like you."
Remus pointed at Sirius, "He ruined my Herbology essay. I just haven't had any time to rewrite it. And I can't find my Astronomy one anywhere." He rubbed his eyes again; he felt someone grab his writs and yank them away from his face. He saw Sirius glaring at him.
"One: I didn't ruin it. It just has some lovely little designs on it. And two: can't you just skip them? For the party?" Remus rolled his eyes as he pulled his hands away from Sirius' lap. Not a good place for them.
"I will not dignify the first statement with an answer. But, I can't 'just skip them'. They need to be finished before classes." Sirius got off his bed in a huff and went to the bathroom. The three boys heard him lock the door behind him. "What's wrong with him?"
James and Peter just shrugged. The three remaining boys got dressed and headed down to breakfast.
--
Shortly, Sirius joined them and he sat next to Remus. "Not mad anymore?" asked James as he buttered some toast.
Sirius shook his head, "Nope. But look at what I found." He grabbed his bag from the floor and pulled out a piece of parchment. "It's your Herbology essay. And it's all clean."
Remus took the essay and examined it; it was indeed clean. "When…? How…?"
"I grabbed it from the garbage this morning and cleaned it up," he explained. "Now it's one less essay for you to write." Remus put the essay on the table and side hugged his friend.
"Thank you so much!" He felt Sirius wind his hands around his waist and pulled him closer.
"Aww, Remus loves me!" He pulled away and looked at Sirius and found him smiling.
"But that still leaves three and a half essays to write."
The three boys looked at Peter-ruined-a-happy-moment-Pettigrew. "I know," said Remus dejectedly.
Sirius stuck his tongue out and everyone started to eat.
When they were finished they all went to their respected classes. "I'll see you guys at lunch," called Remus.
As soon as Remus entered his Ancient Runes class he sat in his seat and lowered his head. A few minutes later he felt a warm hand on his back. He slowly picked his head up and saw Lily giving him a small smile. "How late were you up, Mr. Moony?"
He chuckled as he stretched, "I was up till one. And then the guys decided to wake me up early."
Professor Babbling entered the room and said, "Today I want you to finish up the assignment I assigned last class. If you've finished it already, you may have a free day." She sat down at her desk and started to correct the assignments from another class.
"That's great," said Lily. "Now I don't have to worry about it." She pulled out her homework but Remus just sat there, grinning. "Well? Aren't you going to get it out?"
Remus shook his head, "I already finished it. Before the full moon."
"Lucky. Hey, why don't you work on one of your essays? If you finish, then you can go with us."
He nodded and pulled out his Transfiguration essay and finished it up.
By the time class was over, Remus had finished one essay and had started another one. "I'll see you later," he said to Lily as he rushed out of the classroom. After Ancient Runes, Remus had to hurry over to the greenhouse for Herbology.
Remus shared this class with Peter, James and Sirius had Care of Magical Creatures. "Guess what," said Remus as he took his place next to Peter.
"What?"
"I f-" he started, but Professor Sprout interrupted him by entering the greenhouse.
"All right, let's get started." The entire class was quiet; fearing the deadly plants they were working on would wake. About half way through the class, Peter's plant woke up and bit him. He was taken to see Madam Pomfrey right away.
--
After Herbology, Remus headed to the Great Hall. When he got there he saw the usual seats empty. As he got closer he saw Lily sitting there all by herself.
"Where is everyone?" he asked as he sat down.
"James and Sirius are talking to Professor Dumbledore and I'm sure you know where Peter is." He nodded and he and Lily ate their lunch.
Afterwards, Remus made his way to Transfiguration, hoping to see the other boys there. On his way to class he saw Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Lupin, Professor Slughorn would like to see you about a potion you missed. You're excused from class today." He told her thank you and headed to the dungeons.
"Professor Slughorn?" he called as he entered the cold room.
"Back here, my boy." Remus saw the professor in the potions closet. "I've gathered all the required materials for you. So, you can get started."
Remus took the ingredients and got to work. He was working on it when it started to boil over. "Uh…Professor?"
Professor Slughorn made his way over and sighed, "It looks like you need to start again, Mr. Lupin." He cleaned out Remus' cauldron and Remus gathered all the materials again.
It took Remus a couple of more tries, but, eventually he got it. He turned it in and was told it was almost dinner time. Instead of going to Study Hall, he picked up his bag and headed to the library. By the time he finished his Arithmancy essay, dinner was almost done. He quickly collected his things and headed out.
When he entered the Great Hall, he looked up and saw the usual floating pumpkins, there were bats swooping down and almost hitting students in the head, and lots of candy on all the tables. Remus sat next to Sirius and listened to all of them talk about their days; he never got the chance to mention he was almost done with his homework.
Dinner ended at 8 o'clock and the boys spilt up. James, Sirius, and Peter stayed in the Great Hall to make preparations, and Remus headed to the dorm room. When he got there he took out his Astronomy book. He opened it up and out fell a piece of parchment. He bent to grab it and saw that it was his missing essay. "How did it get there?" He stood up and smoothed it out. That's when he realized he didn't have any homework. "I have the entire night to myself," he smiled and fell onto his bed.
About a half hour later, he heard a quiet knock on the door; he grumbled but got up. He opened the door to see Lily in a 1930's outfit. She was wearing a dark green skirt that stopped right above her knee and a lighter green shirt. Her red hair was colored brown and pulled back into a bun. On top of her head was a hat the same shade as her skirt.
"Where's your gun?" Remus asked as she entered.
She sat on the bed and smiled. "Didn't cha hear? I nevah carry a gun. I'm the brains behind this outfit." Remus sat next to her and smiled. "Whater you lookin' at, hot stuff?"
"You," he said plainly. "Can you stop talking like that? It's quite annoying."
"Sure thing, doll face," she said with a giggle. "How's the homework coming along?" she looked at his bed to see what he was working on.
"Actually, I don't have anything to work on. Apparently, I finished everything."
"That's great!" she squealed. She cleared her throat when Remus gave her a look. "I mean, now you can go to the party."
"I would, but I don't have anything to wear."
Lily smiled and pulled a ring out of her pocket, "Never fear. Lily is here."
"And how is a ring supposed to help me?" he asked as he took it.
"Well, I figured that you would finish your homework. And I knew you wouldn't have anything to wear. So, I went to the library and found a charm to help you. That," she pointed to the gold ring Remus was holding, "will charm the clothes you're wearing into anything you want. Or what I want, since I charmed it."
Remus cocked an eyebrow and put it on his ring finger. Where his tattered school uniform once was, was now an elegant pirate's outfit. He had on a black pair of trousers that stopped at his knee and a pair of large bucket topped boots. His white shirt was open to his mid-chest and he also had on a long coat with big cuffs. His jacket was a dark brown and the cuffs were huge. He felt the top of his head and pulled off a tricorn hat. He looked at Lily in amazement.
"What an imagination you have, my dear Lily." When he stood up he felt something heavy hit his hip. He saw that it was a gun holster, "What? Now I don't get a gun?"
"I can't trust you," she giggled. She stood up next to him and took the hand with the ring. She pulled it off and Remus' clothes changed back to his uniform.
"So how does the ring work?" he asked as he took the ring and changed back into a pirate.
"The charm on the ring will work until last stroke of midnight; or until you take it off. Whichever comes first. But, if you take the ring off before midnight, whatever time is left will still be charmed on it. So that means, if you take it off at 11:30, you'll still have a half hour of pirate costume left."
"That's brilliant," he said as he stared at the golden wonder. He looked up at her, "But what about a mask?"
She pulled a red scarf out of the pocket from before and handed it to him. "Tie this around your face. It's as good as a mask." He did what she told him and they both entered the bathroom. He changed his hair to a darker brown and made it longer. He dirtied his face and turned to look at Lily.
"How do I look?"
She hugged him, "Like a pirate." She pulled out a white scarf and tied it around her own face, "Ready?"
Remus nodded and offered his arm, "Let's go." Lily took it and they headed to the party.
--
A/N 2: End of the first chapter. I hope y'all like it. Part two will be up tomorrow! I'm not expecting a lot of reviews for this. ^^