A/N Okay guys I started this story wanting to write something for Lily and James that included the other Marauders as well. Unfortuneatly Remus and Sirius decided to take over the story quite a bit. So I'm going to warn you again, this story contains to boys who love each other, therefore they kiss. If you don't like that kind of thing, I suggest you don't read this.
Okay for everyone who wasn't scared away by that, enjoy (I hope)! Oh and feel free to review :)
Monopoly is a Dangerous Game
The Best Marauder
It was the Christmas holidays of 1976. Four boys and a girl sat in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room. The small group, for the most part, were sitting in contented silence, their stomachs full and their brains lethargic after the Legendary Hogwarts Christmas Feast. The silence was comforting, surrounding all in a lazy haze.
Sirius lay with his head in Remus' lap, eyes closed, as the werewolf gently pulled his fingers through the others hair. Remus' other hand was occupied by a book. Peter was staring at the small fire dancing behind its grate. James stared at Lily, though his eyes had a blank faraway look. Occasionally he would smile softly which led the others to believe he was thinking of his future with the redhead sitting next to him. The pale girl was the most active of them all, fidgeting and squirming, as her eyes continuously flicked from one boy to the other. Her eyes would often rest on James longer than the others though. She was acting so uncomfortably because of the unfamiliarity of the situation-Lily's mind had still not come to grips that these boys were now her friends, not her enemies.
"James," Lily murmured, examining her boyfriend's face. The bespectacled boy looked up questioningly.
"Yeah?" he asked sleepily.
"Can we do something other than just sitting here?" she said, slightly ashamed that she was the one who was restless when Sirius Black was present. James smirked at the girl and his eyes glimmered dangerously. He had obviously misinterpreted the question. Lily smacked the back of his head. "You know that's not what I meant!" she said.
"Sure I did but that doesn't mean I would say no to a special Christmas shag," James replied leaning forward so his lips almost touched Lily's as he spoke.
At that moment Sirius took interest in the couple's conversation and he looked up at the two grinning. "Get a room!" he said loudly. Remus stopped his gentle stroking to hit Sirius lightly over the head for his comment but the desired angry effect was lost in the werewolf's smile.
James looked at Sirius and he smiled to match the other boys grin. "With pleasure!" he said happily.
Lily sighed at James' antics and looked around the room for something the group could distract themselves with. Her eyes fell on a muggle board game. Now that's a good idea, the girl thought.
Lily proposed her idea to the others, "Hey, how 'bout we play monopoly?"
"What?" questioned James, "Monopoly?" His face took on a puzzled expression, his eyebrows drawing together in a way that Lily thought looked adorable, even if it was on a fully grown man.
"It's a muggle game," the girl explained, "Me and my…err…family used to play together." Lily faltered at the almost mention of her older sister.
Remus quickly jumped in and smiled kindly. "I'd love to play, Lily," the scarred boy said. Lily smiled back at him gratefully.
"I'm playing!" Sirius quickly put in as he discovered Remus was joining in.
"I guess we all are then. Pete?" James looked towards the chubby boy questioningly.
Pete broke out of his reverie and turned to face the row of almost identical questioning expressions. "What, oh, yeah, sure," he said incoherently.
Lily hopped up from the sofa and made her way over to the low table that the board game was resting on. She sat down cross legged and opened the box, peering inside. She took out the board and placed it in the middle of the table before looking into the box and finding the other pieces of the game were in a huge mess. She sighed and began sorting through it all, separating the different cards and organising the money into neat piles.
Half way through her task Lily looked up and noticed the four boys were still in the exact positions she had left them in. Pfft, Lazy, she thought. Lily raised an eyebrow and called out, "You guys coming to play or what?"
The boys collectively grumbled in an unconvincing tone. When no one moved Remus volunteered to be the first to make his way over to the table.
"Get up, Sirius," he said not unkindly. Sirius grunted and stayed in the same spot. "Come on, Pads, move," he said again sternly.
Sirius snorted and replied, "Put away your professor voice, Moony."
"Hey," Remus said indignantly, "I don't sound like a teacher. Now get up or I'll throw you off." James smirked watching the two knowing Remus was being serious (A/N No pun intended, sorry guys). Sirius just snorted and buried his head deeper into the werewolf's lap his nose digging under the hem of Remus shirt and resting on the pale skin of his stomach. Remus resisted the urge to moan contentedly and stood up instead, dumping a deeply annoyed Sirius onto the floor.
"Hey!" Sirius said crossly, "That's no way to treat your boyfriend!" He sat up and crossed his arms, pouting adorably. Remus stuck his tongue out and ruffled Sirius hair as he walked passed.
"I did warn you," Remus said. Sirius was not pleased. The werewolf made his way over to Lily and sat opposite her.
"I call the car!" the pale boy said loudly.
Sirius shot up at the mention of the muggle machine and all but ran over to the table. "Aww but Moons," he whined, "I want to be the car."
"Well you can't be, I already called it," Remus replied smugly, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He actually had no intent to be the car he just wanted to annoy Sirius. "Anyway, you should be the dog, it suits you." Remus picked up the piece and showed it to Sirius. The boy looked at it before shaking his head.
"No, I want the car." He said stubbornly.
James got up as the argument started to get interesting. He made his way over to the table but not before pulling Peter up and dragging the poor boy behind him. He let go of Peter's arm unceremoniously and flopped down next to Lily, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against him. Peter rubbed his arm slightly from where James had been gripping it quite tightly and sat at the head of the small table.
"Well you can't have it," Remus replied acting just as stubborn, the Marauder in him was pleased with the audience he had gathered, even if it was only a very small one.
That was when Sirius noticed the glimmer in Remus' eyes. He realised he was going about this in the totally wrong manner. He dropped all previous efforts and adopted large puppy dog eyes. He looked up at Remus before leaning forward and rubbing his face against the side of Remus neck. "Please Remmie, may I be the car?" Sirius breath ghosted across the other boy's neck making him shiver slightly in pleasure.
"I'm going to need more convincing than that," he said, his voice low.
James quickly saw what Remus was getting at and pulled a disgusted face, closing his eyes hurriedly. Before he did that though he slapped a hand over Peter's eyes saying, "You don't want to watch this Wormy."
Sirius hid a smirk directed at his two friends and stretched up pressing his lips softly against the golden eyed boys chin. His lips then traced their way up to Remus' ear and he whispered sweetly, "Please."
Remus let out a soft moan that only Sirius heard, his hand clenching into the fabric at the back of Sirius' shirt. He quickly agreed to his loves request with a dramatic sigh and a small mumble about how he didn't know what ever convinced him to put up with the other boys antics. Lily smiled softly at the two boys in front of her thinking of how beautiful they looked together. James, seeming to think that the mushy displays of affection were over, slowly opened one eye. When he saw his two friends had stopped all the gooeyness he opened his other eye and removed his hand from Peter's face. "It's alright, Wormy, they've stopped raping each other."
Peter sighed in relief and looked at the pieces in front of him on the table. He noticed Remus had swapped the dog for the thimble and that Lily had taken the wheelbarrow. He quickly reached out and took the ship before James could get it and placed the metal object in front of him. James mock glared at him and took the boot. Lily gave each boy a pile of money and smiled at them asking who would like to go first.
Sirius in typical Sirius fashion quickly yelled out a 'me!' Remus mock winced and said irritably, "We're right here you know." Sirius sent him a loving glare and picked up the dice Lily had placed in front of him. He paused and glanced around the board his eyebrows drawing together slightly.
"Err…How do you play?" he asked.
Pete, Remus and Lily all laughed at the confused wizard. James frowned slightly and looked over the board too. "Hey, that's a good question, how do you play?" Remus shook his head jokingly at the naivety of two of his closest friends and quickly launched into an explanation of how to play. Peter and Lily helped out adding in anything Remus forgot.
After a long conversation, where some rules were repeated as many as four times, Sirius finally nodded in understanding of all the instructions. He picked up the dice that he had put down a while ago and rolled them after much shaking and blowing-Sirius was a firm believer that blowing on the dice made them come up with the number he wanted. He rolled and got a seven landing on 'chance'. He picked up a card 'oohing' excitedly and read it.
"Advance to Mayfair? What kind of card is that?" he said put out.
Remus laughed, "It means you move your piece to the Mayfair Property, love. It's the most expensive property of them all." Sirius eyes lit up at that and he promptly forked over the money and bought the place.
"It's my first house, Rem!" he said excitedly, "Do you want to move in with me?"
This time it was Peter's turn to laugh, "It's a game, Padfoot, Moony can't move in with you." Sirius looked slightly annoyed but then shrugged. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, he contemplated, At least that's what Remmie's always saying. Peter picked up the dice and rolled having his turn. James went after him and then Lily. Remus was the last to have a go.
The five continued in this fashion taking turns, swearing when they had to pay other people money and buying their own properties. They all had a good laugh when Sirius picked up 'the go to jail card', saying that the game was trying to predict the future. Sirius took on an offended expression but couldn't help but laugh as he tried to imagine Mr Monopoly as a dementor. James had taken it upon himself to mention that he was probably the one who guarded the prison seeing as he was the only character from the game.
Eventually they got to the stage where Sirius went broke to Remus after landing on one of the boys train stations. The animagus sighed and passed all his property over to the werewolf who was wearing a large grin. Sirius looked at him and whispered seductively in the boy's ear, "I guess you can now do whatever you want with me too." Remus' eyes widened and he blushed, slapping Sirius' head. James made retching noises as Sirius grinned.
Peter cleared his throat, even after five months he had still not got used to the way Sirius and Remus acted towards the other-it was kind of disturbing. "How 'bout we continue with the game," He said.
Remus quickly mumbled an agreement his face still tainted a light pink. Peter picked up the dice and rolled, holding his breath in hope that the dice would not land him on Piccadilly which was currently the proud owner of a hotel. Actually there was only about 15 squares that Peter would actually not mind landing on.
The game continued slowly. There were a lot of held breaths, delighted whoops and annoyed groans coming from the group but they were all having too much fun to care about the noise they were making. Peter eventually got knocked out of the game by Lily and soon after Remus was knocked out by James. Remus groaned as he passed all his stuff over to James-he had only been ten dollars short. James was a ruthless player.
Lily turned to her boyfriend and smiled widely, "I guess it's just you and me James," she said.
James looked up at the red head and grinned wickedly, "May the best Gryffindor win," he replied cockily. Both were very competitive.
They battled it out for another half hour, constantly exchanging money and swapping properties. The three Marauders who had been knocked out of the game were getting bored. Remus had fetched his book and was reading but the other two stared at the board sleepily. It was James' turn and he rolled quite forcefully, one die found its way across the board and was about to fall of the table until Sirius knocked it gently, sending it spinning in the opposite direction. It landed as a five, making his total a seven. James moved, landing on his own property. He had managed to get pass Lily's death trap-a whole lane of hotels. Lily scowled at the board and shook her head.
"That's unfair, you have to roll again," Lily said.
James looked at her confused, "Why?" he questioned.
"Sirius knocked that die," Lily replied, "If he hadn't I probably could have got you half way broke."
"Aww…come on Lils, I don't think it makes a difference," James wheedled.
"Just roll again, James," Lily said heatedly, "It's not that hard."
"I'd roll it, Prongs," Sirius cautioned, he had seen Lily mad before and he knew it was a scary sight to behold.
"I don't want to," James said childishly, "I like the numbers I got." He looked around defiantly at the rest of the table. Pete glanced around noticing the tension in the room. He muttered something about going to the kitchens before walking hurriedly out of the common room.
"Roll, James," Lily said dangerously, her eyes darkening.
"It's only a game it doesn't really matter who wins," James said shrugging.
"I suggest you take your own advice about not caring who wins and just re-roll!" Lily flicked her hair over her shoulder. Her fists clenched at her sides.
Moony looked between the two concerned, "James, please, just roll, there's almost a sixty five percent chance you'll not land on any of Lily's houses."
James looked at the werewolf and said dangerously soft, "Don't get involved, Moony, we don't need you to referee us." He turned back to Lily-his face inches from hers-and looked at her with steely eyes, "It's your turn." He shoved the dice over in front of her.
"Guys…" Sirius protested, trying to push them away from each other, "Just chill for a sec, 'Kay?" Both head girl and boy turned towards the other two present with terrifying looks of venom. "Alright, we're going!" Sirius said quickly, putting his hands up in a sign of peace. He stood up pulling Remus with him and the two hurried up to their dormitory.
Lily turned back to James and said menacingly, "Roll the stupid things, James, otherwise I'm leaving."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" he said loudly, waving his hands around.
"You know what it means. It means I won't talk to you again. Ever," she replied her voice low and angry.
"You wouldn't dare, you've always liked me, Lily." James replied with equal malice. He stood up towering over her. "Now do as I say and have your go."
Lily shook her head stubbornly. "No, James, I'm not even sure why I agreed to go out with you, you haven't changed a bit, you're still just an arrogant toerag who has to have his own way no matter how much it will hurt others."
"Take it back," James growled. Lily stood up to face him and pushed him in the chest roughly.
"Why should I? It's true."
"Yeah? Well I guess you're not so great yourself, Miss Perfect." James said his voice gradually growing in volume, "You constantly boss me around and don't seem to respect that my friends and I enjoy a bit of mischief, instead you just tell us all off! And then how you're so fuckin' possessive-that time that girl kissed me you slapped me so hard you left a bruise and then didn't talk to me for three days. I hated that girl anyway and you knew that!"
"Is that what you really think, James?" Lily said softly, anger leaking into her words. James winced as he realised what he had said. He may be quick to anger but James was also very quick to forgive. Now, seeing Lily so upset-even if she was hiding it well-hurt him. And I caused that pain, he thought.
"Shit! No! I mean, no, I don't think that, I'm sorry Lily! Fuck! I don't mean that at all!"
"Yeah, well, you said it James. There must be some truth in there for you to burst so easily." Lily's voice wavered slightly but she managed to keep up the angry tone.
James looked at her pleadingly, unsure what to say. "Lily, maybe there is a bit of truth but it's not what you're thinking. I know you don't like breaking rules and I understand that you just want us to realise that we all need to grow up eventually. And that time you had every right to be angry. And when you're so possessive and bossy, well, I think it's kinda hot. Lil, please, don't hate me, I love you. Look I'll even roll again if you want me to."
Lily stared at him for a moment not quite understanding the last sentence James had said. Its meaning suddenly dawned on her and she burst out laughing. James looked at her worriedly, wondering if she had gone mad.
"Lily Petal, you alright?"
"Fine, James," she managed to gasp out between laughs. Lily lent forward bracing herself against the boys' shoulders, shaking uncontrollably with laughter. He placed his hands on her waist, steadying the redhead.
"Lily?" James asked confused as to why Lily was laughing so much.
"It's, just…just…this all hap…happened because of that…stupid…stupid game." Lily only just managed to get her sentence out before she collapsed against the concerned boy in front of her.
"Riiiight…" James said, still unsure what had tickled Lily's fancy so. Lily looked up at him finally controlling her laughter; tears of mirth were running down her face.
"Oh, James…" she whispered, her face inches from his. Lily leant up and kissed the boy full on the lips, pulling him tight against her.
oOoOo
Up in the dormitory the two puppies sat listening to the argument downstairs. As all went quiet Remus looked up at Sirius.
"Do you think it's safe to go down there now?" the werewolf asked.
"Probably?" Sirius replied, not sounding very certain.
"Well we better go make sure they haven't killed each other," he sighed. They waited a few minutes, both too afraid to make the first move. Remus eventually summoned his Gryffindor courage and stood up, holding out his hand for Sirius to take. Together they sneaked downstairs as quietly as possible and peeked around the corner at the head boy and girl. The sight they met with was one that neither was too keen to witness. James and Lily were pressed together in a passionate embrace. Their lips firmly locked together in a battle for dominance. At some point James' shirt had been discarded and Lily's was close to being treated the same way. Sirius pulled a face but continued staring.
"You think they would do that somewhere more private, wouldn't you?" he said, his voice decidedly normal for someone who was currently watching his best friend snog his girlfriend senseless.
Remus just nodded slowly unable to speak.
"Come on Moonykins," Sirius said grabbing the pale boys arm, "these two just gave me an idea." He jerked his chin towards his two friends before pulling Remus back up the staircase to the dormitory. Sirius didn't bother to waste time in preserving his lover's virtue.