School: Durmstrang
Theme: First Wizarding War 1945 - 1990 (Marauder Era)
Prompt: Thunderstorm [weather] (main), Any Magical School [setting], Time Turner [object]
Year: 2
WC: 2645
Explanation of prompt use at the end of the fic and line breaks used for changes in time/setting/POV
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"This sucks," James announced again to the room, his first attempt not eliciting the response he had been hoping for. He surveyed the room from his position, half hanging from the four poster bed, glasses half dangling with the frame cutting the room in two: half in perfect clarity and half a mix of colourful shapes and blurry movement.
"You have mentioned that James," Remus remarked, not looking up from his book as he turned another page. James knew from experience that Remus' position would likely have mimicked his own if this rainy day had occurred at any other point of the month. But now, with a few fresh wounds carefully tended to by Madam Pomfrey, he held himself with a kind of peculiar stiffness, unwilling to move too much in fear of undoing her handiwork. And so, Remus was propped up on a nest of pillows like a sick Victorian child, wearing an old t shirt of Sirius' with a Muggle band plastered across the front, a pair of tartan pyjama bottoms and a pair of mismatched woolly socks, very much unlike a sick Victorian child. His feet were resting in the small of Peter's back, one toe sticking through a hole in them.
"He's not wrong Moony," Sirius replied, voice slightly muffled by the quill clamped in between his teeth, ink smudges staining his mouth, "Quidditch is serious business."
As if to highlight his words, the world outside the window lit up as lightning streaked across the sky.
"Watch it, watch it!" Peter called, raising his head up to squint outside, the lightning's forks twisted and distorted by the pouring rain. The light died just as quickly as it had arrived, shapes twisting across everyone's vision as they began to count, slowly and laboriously in time with Peter's heavy silver pocket watch before the rumbling of thunder stopped them.
"Seven seconds Wormtail mate. This storm isn't going anywhere fast," James said, squinting at him, letting his eyes deliberately go in and out of focus.
"This sucks," Sirius echoed James' previous statement, removing the quill from his mouth and chucking it at him like a spear which he batted away, "Look at those nimble Chaser reflexes going to waste. He's practically fading in front of us."
Remus raised an eyebrow at this, tipping his book forward to peer at James, emitting the aura of a long-suffering professor, something the whole group were familiar with. James stared back at him, scrunching up his face to raise his glasses up precious few millimetres so Remus was fully in focus, before raising one hand to press the back to his forehead and faked a swoon, sliding further off the bed with a startled yelp. Peter snorted, hiding his face behind his hands as his whole body dissolved into sniggering little giggles.
"Near death," Remus told Sirius, the corner of his mouth twitching as he fought to maintain his deadpan expression.
"How about a trip to the kitchens?" Peter piped up, casting a longing look at the rain streaked window as lightning crashed across the sky once more.
"Say no more, say no more!" Sirius cheered leaping up from the bed in a confetti shower of parchment, ink bottle held in one hand, threadbare quill behind his ear, "Peter has suggested shenanigans!"
Remus moved the book to the side to stare at Peter, one eyebrow raised.
"I had just gotten to a good bit," he tried, knowing the course they had been set on with those seven words.
"Is there a good bit in 'Lizard's Claws From Africa'?" James asked, accepting Sirius' help to stagger to his feet, a wide grin on his face.
Remus sighed in response, shaking his head at James as he slipped the bookmark in and carefully set the book down next to him, drawing his feet up so Peter could scramble to his feet. He rolled his shoulders, mouth drawing downwards as he let out a hiss of pain, three sets of eyes turning to Remus' immediately.
"Alright men, we have our mission!" James announced, slamming his fist onto his open palm.
Sirius and Peter exchanged glances, but otherwise quickly shuffled into an attempt at a line facing James, Sirius nearly tripping into an open case as they did so. Remus bit back a snort of laughter, slowly pulling himself forward to sit on the edge of the bed, completing the haphazard line.
James paced up and down the small dormitory room, a general gearing up to address his loyal troops.
"Men we have a dangerous mission on this stormy..."
"Tuesday," Remus supplied, shaking his head in disbelief, "You can tell me the phases of the moon at any given time but the days of the week are beyond you."
"It's a specialised skill," James replied with an almost roguish wink that would have caused Lily Evans to roll her eyes if she was in the general vicinity. She wasn't however so it fell to Sirius to fulfil that motion.
"Anyway," James enunciated, clapping his hands together and kicking a discarded set of shoes out of his way as thunder rolled behind him, "we have a mission, a most noble task: to get all of us down to the kitchens to enjoy the sweet forbidden fruit of the house elves labours because we have been denied our Quidditch due to this awful storm."
"Without being spotted," Remus interjected, staring intently at his socks, wriggling his toes.
"Without being spotted goes without saying, eh Moony, old buddy, old pal?" Sirius laughed, rising up on his tiptoes to grin at Remus over Peter's head.
"But how are we getting Moony down there?" Peter asked, nose twitching as the lightning cracked once more, pocket watch twisting round and round his fingers.
"Just abandon me to my book and bring me back some biscuits," Remus said, flopping backwards and stretching out for his book.
"Come on Moons, piggyback time."
Remus craned his neck upwards to stare at Sirius, so eager and puppylike it almost hurt to pretend to be deadpan in the face of all that enthusiasm. A silent war waged between them that seemed to last forever and yet took no time at all before Remus pushed himself up into a seated position once again.
"Fine, let's go."
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"Everyone is curled up in Common Rooms Moony, will you stop fussing?"
Remus cuffed James' round the back of the head, the other laughing and making to shift out of the way, but never straying too far.
"Just claim we kidnapped you if we get caught, which we won't," Sirius laughed, resettling his grip on Remus' legs, bumping him up a few inches higher.
"I'll fake an illness. The teachers are more likely to be sympathetic given the circumstances," Remus sighed, resting his chin on Sirius' shoulder, eyes scanning the corridor for Peter's return as the trio waited in the small alcove off the main staircases.
Thunder rolled high overhead, rain slamming against the windows of the nearby classrooms as they waited, seemingly paused in time, nerves jangling for every footstep or creak of the door.
"If we had the map working this would be a breeze," James groaned, quickly cleaning his glasses on the bottom of his jumper before shoving them back onto his nose.
Peter scampered back around the corner, his shadow elongated and distorted turning him into a terrifying monster for the few seconds it took for Sirius and James to yelp, Remus' hands clapping over their mouths.
Peter bounded forward a few steps, nose twitching, before he returned to the junction, glancing back over his shoulder impatiently.
"Mmpk mmmm," Sirius grunted behind Remus' hand, his nails slightly digging into his cheek. He paused for one heartbeat and then another before licking Remus' hand. Remus let out a noise of disgust, immediately releasing the pair to wipe his hand on Sirius' face, the other muffling his laughter as they slipped from the alcove and down the corridor after Peter, more relaxed now they were in motion. Just two boys carrying a third, all wearing mismatched clothes that would make three complete outfits between them following a rat down the corridors of a magical school in Scotland, nothing for any teachers to be suspicious about.
The pear giggled as they slipped through the door to the kitchens, pulling it shut behind them.
"Uh guys?" Peter said, blindly stretching out to tap James on the elbow. They turned and were greeted with an unexpected sight.
Two pairs of startled eyes met theirs, a spoon clattering to the floor from the boy's loose grip. The boy was perched on a table, slippers half hanging from his feet as they dangled, toes almost brushing the floor. He was wearing a yellow knitted jumper with a large 'T' emblazoned across the front. It was clearly made when he was younger and at least half a foot shorter, several inches of forearm extending from the sleeves and the edge wrapped around his waist. He had been caught in the middle of scrawling something on a piece of parchment balanced on top of a plain leather book and was blinking in joint surprise at their arrival and the speed with which the girl had removed the parchment from his hands. He turned his head to her in confusion, a ripple shifting through his previously pink streaked hair shifting it to a solid dark brown. She shrugged at him, shoving the parchment into her jacket pocket, playing with a steadily growing hole in her own dark blue jumper, a large white 'V' on hers. Her hair, not quite blonde and not quite red, was in two long plaits tied in bows.
"That is cool," Sirius said after a few moments of stunned silence, nodding his chin towards the boy's shifting hair.
"Uh, thank- thank you?" the boy responded, eyes darting between them and the girl with rapid fire accuracy, one hand rising to tuck a thin golden chain more securely underneath his jumper.
"Looks like we weren't the only ones wanting a little midnight snack," James said with a shrug, helping Remus steady himself on his feet, looping an arm companionably around his waist as Sirius stretched, his back cracking.
"The elves made cookies," the girl said pointing her thumb at a nearby table, the house elves slowly wandering through the kitchen behind them, large pots and pans faintly steaming and covered in bubbles bobbing along behind them.
"Excellent," Peter said, darting forwards to inspect the offerings more closely, Sirius hot on his heels with a wink at the girl who only raised an eyebrow and shifted ever so slightly closer to the boy.
"Don't think we've ever seen you before. You aren't Gryffindors?" Remus asked, leaning more fully against James as subtly as he could, arm shaking minutely.
"No. I'm a Hufflepuff, she's a Ravenclaw," the boy answered. He didn't look away from Remus, gaze strangely intense, almost staring at him as if he was trying to imprint the image onto his soul. The girl laced her fingers into his, running a thumb across his knuckles.
"Sorry for the weirdness," she said, waving her free hand in the air, "We've just heard a lot about your group. It's a bit of a surprise to run into you here."
"Sirius! We have a legacy!" James called, pressing his one free hand to his chest.
"I'm so proud," Sirius replied, cheeks bulging as he took another bite out of the cookie in his hand, swaggering back over with two more held aloft. The boy started, as if he had forgotten there were other people in the room, the book on his lap crashing onto the floor in a flurry of colour. He hopped down to grab it, but James was faster, Remus transferring his grip to Sirius in under a second.
"Oh wow," James breathed, flicking through the pages, eyes scanning over the mix of spell diagrams, pencil drawings and cramped notes, "What are they teaching you new ones?"
He passed the book to Remus who carefully scoured the notebook, fingers tracing over the lines as he looked.
"Just a- just a hobby," the boy said, eyes as wide as dinner plates as he licked his lips nervously, throat bobbing.
"So proud of this new generation," Sirius cooed, hand rising up with the two cookies held aloft, out of the reach of Peter's grasping fingers.
"These are really good," Remus said, "You should be proud of them."
The boy's mouth worked frantically for a second, gears churning just behind his eyes.
"T- thank you," he stammered, stepping forward to take the book back from Remus, hugging it tightly to his chest.
"See you around kids," James said with a bow, crouching down to scoop Remus up with a grunt of exertion, Sirius opening the door as Peter kept a careful watch up and down the corridor, his head swivelling in all directions.
"See you," the two echoed, the girl leaning forward to rest her head on the boy's shoulder, arms wrapping around his waist.
"They seemed nice," Remus said as the door swung shut behind them, "Those drawings were amazing."
"I feel confident in our legacy," James laughed as Peter shifted into a rat, Sirius tucking the pilfered cookies into his pockets, "We did well."
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Teddy Lupin let out a shaking breath, sinking backwards into Victoire's comforting embrace, trembling hard enough to set his teeth chattering.
"That went better than expected," she said after a few moments, squeezing him with her knees when he didn't responded.
"My dad said my drawings were amazing and I should be proud of them," Teddy said, his voice tight, breaking at the end as he dissolved into heavy sobs, hands flying up to cover his face.
Victoire held on tighter, burying her face into his neck as he sobbed helplessly.
"I'm good, I'm good," he gasped, breathing still shaky as he pressed a kiss to her head, wiping the tears from his face after a few heart wrenching minutes.
"Yeah?" Victoire asked, pressing a kiss to his shoulder, pulling a tissue from her sleeve and offering it to him.
"Can Pabkey help the young Master and Mistress?" a house elf squeaked nervously, his hands wringing the tea towel he was wearing.
"Thank you, but we'll be leaving soon," Teddy said, wiping his eyes with the tissue, hair slowly sliding back into the pink streaked brown.
"We aren't in a rush, could hang around for a bit longer if you wanted," Victoire said, wriggling the piece of parchment out of her pocket and studying the map, tracing her finger over the footprints labelled Remus Lupin, now safely back in the Gryffindor boy's dormitory.
"Miss Weasley! Suggesting breaking the rules," Teddy laughed, pressing one hand to his chest in fake surprise.
"Next time, my darling boyfriend, you can borrow your own Time Turner from Aunt Hermione's desk and use it to to try and plan a trip backwards in time that gets gate-crashed," Victoire said, tapping Teddy twice on the nose, unable to keep the grin from slipping across her face. Teddy chuckled, tucking the book back into his pocket before drawing the Time Turner out from underneath his jumper. It sparkled in the faint light from the hanging lantern, sands ever changing, coiling up the glass as if trying to escape. He tugged the chain, fragile metal easily increasing under his fingers before he looped it around Victoire's neck.
"I love you," Teddy said softly, turning to face her, a small smile on his face.
"Love you too," Victoire said, taking his hands in hers, squeezing them gently.
The Time Turner shimmered as they twisted, softly counting each turn as years flew past them in distorted blurs. Fingers intertwined and eyes met in understanding, a secret they both shared and a burden unloaded by one small conversation.
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Thunderstorm: The thunderstorm was used as the catalyst for the meeting: if it hadn't been storming, the group wouldn't have gone into the kitchen, wouldn't have met Teddy and Victoire and the conversation wouldn't have happened. That is why I used it as the main prompt.
Any Magical School: I used Hogwarts due to the time and characters I was including in the story.
Time Turner: this is only explicity mentionned at the end although it was used by Teddy and Victoire about halfway through. My personal headcanon is that Time Turner are almost nonexsistent following the events of the OotP, but I don't think Hermione would expect balant theft from her desk by her nephews/nieces which is how Victoire was able to snag it.