Trouble with Padfoot

"Oi, George, c'mere! Look what I found!" Fred yelled. He hopped off the stool on which he was standing on.

"Lemme see!"George replied cheerfully, joining his twin brother on the other side of the Black's Library. They hunched over a spellbook about various nonhazardous hexes that they might be able to use in their pranks.

The Weasley twins were staying at Grimmauld's Place, just like the rest of their family. After a while, they became bored. Sirius told them to have a look in the library while he was "forced" to clean up the house. Fred and George decided it was a perfect opportunity to plan pranks and create new products for Weasley Wizard Wheezes. The only other people who were in the room were Remus (who was extremely absorbed in a book that seemed suspiciously about dealing with an annoying, insane person), Hermione (who was rambling on something educational to their ickle Ronnikin), and their brother Ron who had apparently fallen asleep in the middle of Hermione's lecture.

Suddenly, Sirius' voice came from downstairs. "REMUS!RRRREEEEEEMMMMMUUUUSSSS!"

Everyone glanced at Remus. He was still absorbed in his book. Sirius started yelling again.

"Remus! COME DOWN HERE NOW OR I'LL HEX YOU TO ETERNITY!"

No response from Remus. Hermione stopped lecturing. Fred exchanged a look with his twin. Who knew Sirius can hex? The silence was broken by Ronnikin snoring and muttering something about Chudley Cannons and food.

"RRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMM MMMMMMMMUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS! REM-"

He was cut off by a shriek. "Sirius Black! Stop yelling!"

"I NEED REMUS' HELP, MOLLY!" Ignoring Mrs. Weasley, Sirius continued yelling, louder now. "REMUS! I TOLD YOU TO GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT OR-ARGH! SPIDERS!"

That woke Ron up. Everyone was staring at the door. Well...everyone except Remus who sighed and slammed his book shut. He covered his ears and shouted back:

"WHAT IS IT SIRIUS? COME OVER HERE IF THERE'S A PROBLEM!"

"REMUS! I. NEED. HELP." No response.

"HHHHEEELLLPPP MMMEEEE!"

"Why?"

"PPPPPPLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEAAAAAA AAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEE!"

Remus grumbled something about lazy mutt, but yelled back, "Coming!" and went downstairs. A moment later, the people in the library heard an "Ouch!" then Remus' incredulous voice: "You're done cleaning already?" There was a muffled response. "Siri-Where are you?"

The people in the library heard Sirius' voice again. "I'm in the closet!"

"What?"

"ME. IN. CLOSET!"

"Ah. Alohomora."

There was the sound of stuff falling out, clanging, and then "OUCH!" from Sirius again.

"What were you doing in there?" Remus asked.

"I tried to attack a Boggart."

"WHAT?" Remus shouted. Fred, George, and Ron snickered. Hermione rolled her eyes. The twins looked at each other before dashing down to where the two men stood. Remus and Sirius didn't seem to notice.

"You're supposed to say Riddikulus! Not attack it! Even my old students knew that! But how did you-"

"I lunged and landed inside the closet."

"Sssmmaaaaarrttt...Sirius..."

"Really?"

"No. I was being sarcastic."

"Oi!...anyways, I accidentally locked myself in. The Boggart escaped." There was silence, then laughter.

The twins peeked in. Both men seemed a lot younger. In the end, Sirius conjured a pillow and threw it at Remus. It hit the target: Remus' face. The latter choked, then conjured another pillow and chucked both of them at Sirius. Soon, they were engaged in a furious pillow fight. Fred and George conjured a few pillows and joined them. It went on for a few more minutes before Sirius realized something.

"Wait...FRED AND GEORGE?! When did you get here?"

"..."

"Well?" Remus demanded.

"We heard you guys and decided-"

"to see what was going on."

"You started a pillow fight-"

"so we decided to join you!"

Remus frowned. "How much did you hear?"

"Not much," replied Fred. "From the time-"

"You went down here,"George finished.

"You two were loud, sir." They chorused.

Sirius made a face. "Sir? We're not sirs yet. Call us Remus and Sirius."

"Sure, sir!"

Remus looked at his friend. "Sirius, if they heard us from the time I came downstairs, that'll mean..."

Sirius looked affronted. "Nooooooooo! Moony! They heard me attack the Boggart! This is embarrassing!"

Moony? The twins thought.

"Actually..."

"It was quite funny."

"I reckon everyone in the library heard you as well..." Fred added unhelpfully.

"NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Moony! Help me!"

Unfortunately, Remus wasn't in the state of helping. He was two busy rolling on the ground, laughing. Sirius turned to the twins, but they found they were busy gaping at him.

"Er...Something wrong?" he asked.

"Moony? You know him?"

" 'Course we did," Sirius answered, confused. "Right, Remus?"

Remus struggled to recompose himself. "Yes, yes."

"Who was he?" Fred asked curiously. George, on the other hand, snorted.

"From what I've heard, you, Pro—Remus must be Moony!"

Remus nodded. Fred's eyes widened in realization.

"Moon-y! You're a werewolf! So-"

"Your nickname makes sense!"

Remus chuckled. "Oh, we, the Marauders caused trouble alright. Especially Prongs and Padfoot. Speaking of Padfoot..." He turned to a red-faced Sirius. "I never thought someone would be more of an idiot than Prongs asking Lily out more than 700 times. But I guess I was wrong." He resumed laughing.

"So you're Padfoot?" Fred and George asked Sirius who grinned and comically puffed up his chest.

"The one and only!" he declared proudly.

"Wow..." they goggled at the men for a moment. "So out of the Marauders-"

"Moony taught us-"

and Padfoot is-"

"a wanted escaped convict."

"But who are Prongs-"

"and Wormtail then?" Sirius and Remus' face darkened.

"Prongs was James Potter, Harry's father and Wormtail is Pettigrew the traitorous rat."

"Does Harry know about this?" George asked.

"Yes, ever since the end of third year."

"Why didn't he tell us?" Fred asked angrily.

"Never came up, I guess," Sirius shrugged.

"Actually, I think that he wanted you to find out yourself. I mean, this discovery did come up rather...interesting. You saw Pads getting himself..."

"Oh! Just forget that extra embarrassing part!"

"...stuck inside a closet by pouncing on a Boggart and..."

"If you continue, I'll hex you!"

"...therefore being known as an idiot." Remus finished grinning.

By now, Sirius was very red, of annoyance or embarrassment, who knows which. BANG! He tried to hex Remus, but the latter ducked and the wall behind him turned bright pink. One bright pink wall in the dark Black house. Crickets...then...

"Oups."

"Hahahahahaha!" All four were caught in an uncontrollable laughing fit.

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Weasley had descended the staircase and was standing by the doorway. She hasn't noticed the pink wall yet.

"We found out-"

"who our idols-"

"the Marauders-"

"are! They're-"

"them!" They both pointed at the two men who had stopped laughing. They stood up.

"Padfoot-"

"and Moony-"

"at your service." They did a little bow that they've mastered along with Prongs and Wormtail, during their school year.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to be deciding whether or not to scold them for their childish behavior or to laugh because of the same reason. In the end, she cracked a smile.

"Alright...But why were you all laughing?"

Remus and the twins exchanged looks while Sirius scowled. "Nothing," he grumbled.

Remus started: "Well padfoot, how can you call-"

"pouncing on a Boggart-"

"getting stuck in a closet-"

"having a random pillow fight-"

"and turning a wall pink-"

"Nothing?"

Mrs. Weasley stared at the wall for a while then at the grinning/ scowling people in front of her. She shook her head in amazement. "I'll just leave you four troublemakers alone." She left. They heard her mutter something about 30-year-old men who don't grow up. Fred and George snorted and turned to the two Marauders who grinned widely at them ( Remus somehow got Sirius to stop scowling).

"Well..." Remus started.

"Do you want to hear 'bout some of the pranks we did?" Sirius cut in.

The Weasley twins nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Yes! Do tell!"

The adults conjured chairs for everyone and put up a silencing and privacy charm around the room. When everyone was comfortable, Remus said, "It started in 1st year when we first met each other...