Disclaimer: However much I might wish I did, unfortunately I do not own any of these characters… They all belong to JKR.
Between You and the Giant Squid
-
Chapter 1 – Another Refusal
-
The weekend was here. Admittedly, the last day of the weekend, but a glorious day of no school work nonetheless. In the case of the rest of the school, this constituted flocking across the sprawling expanse of grounds and discussing all those trivial little issues that make all the suffering of teenage life more bearable. In the case of three of our favourite Marauders, this constituted a day like any other... only their time was legitimately spent out of the conundrum of the classroom.
In the case of Remus Lupin, this constituted yet another afternoon of pretending to block out the sounds of his three best friends in a (pathetic) attempt to read his set text books. Secretly, he loved every minute his friends spent attempting to prise him away from the heavy pages. He knew their care for him could not last forever, so why not savour it while it was there?
Naturally, our self-complacent sixth years concerned themselves in attracting as much attention as possible. Interestingly enough, they did this in a fashion which attempted to badly disguise their true intent.
"I'm bored." James Potter declared as he strolled down the steps of the ancient castle, his stomach full of the delicious bacon and eggs he had scoffed for breakfast.
Sirius Black, the closest person he had ever had to a brother, turned around with a disinterested pout. "Well if you had actually been paying attention to your role as lookout, then our brooms wouldn't have been confiscated, would they?"
James grimaced, the sour note in Sirius's tone noted.
Catching the expression, Sirius shook his head. It was the closest to an apology he wanted. "I don't know why you're dead set on her, mate."
Deciding it would be prudent to intervene, Remus gestured over to the lake, giving a direction to the group's otherwise meandering amble. "It's hardly going to be love at nth sight, is it?" He commented, "Let's go down to the lake before some pesky midget nicks our spot."
Evidently placated, Sirius switched course to their usual oak tree, throwing himself down at the base, the large tentacle-like roots making the perfect arm rests. James sighed, a large thump following his descent to the ground, leaning back on his elbows and crossing his legs casually up against the trunk of the tree. Although upside down, he had a perfect view of the castle steps... and coincidently anyone that decided to exit the castle.
"So, Padfoot. Who're you taking to Slughorn's latest old-boy network bash? The girl from this week, last week or the week before?" Peter asked, settling himself next to the others. It never failed to amaze him how Sirius had a never-ending supply of dates.
An arrogant smirk spread over Sirius's face as he contemplated the question. "Well I was thinking about ask-"
Remus tuned the answer out. He had already decided he would have to decline his invitation. Or rather, the lunar calendar had decided for him. He swung himself into one of the lower branches before stretching out to stabilise himself.
Sirius's verbal debate with himself over the chances he thought he had at getting into various witches' knickers gradually died down as the rather comical sight appeared of a tiny house elf trotting across the grounds with a large parcelled box that was larger than her. It was unusual to see one of the little creatures outside of the kitchen.
While the Black family held their slave-like house elves in very little regard, as with most topics, Sirius disagreed with his family's opinions. He had a marked affection for the elves that provided him with culinary wonders at any time of the day or night at which he requested them.
When it seemed evident that Sirius had paused, James paused in his surveillance of the castle steps to see what had distracted him. The tiny elf stopped when she reached a greasy-haired, lanky teenager with an overly large nose who sat surrounded by a small group of girls. The sight of Severus Snape and a ready-made audience had fireworks flashing off left, right and centre in the minds of the Marauders.
"Excellent. Snivellus." Sirius hissed, his voice soft and silky with the appreciative malice in his tone. He sat up from his casual slouch and exchanged a mischievous glance with James. With a raised eyebrow, James habitually messed his hair up and the back before standing up and turning to saunter over.
Peter looked up in slight trepidation to see if Remus would follow. He cast a sidelong glance at his mate before shaking his head almost imperceptibly. With only Snape by himself to annoy, he doubted James and Sirius wound need any backup. Snape was just the sort of idiot who would rather lose by himself than win as part of a team of friends.
The house elf scuttled down to place the parcel at Severus's feet, a little out of breath from the exertion "Sir will be excusing Mitzy, but this is arriving for you just after the morning owls, sir. The instructions is saying for us house elves to be bringing it to you. The boy stood up and muttered his thanks out of earshot of the intimidating Marauders before taking the package.
One of the girls emerged from the group and shoved the package in the direct line of sight between the boys and Severus. It was clear that she was more interested in what he had to say to her than why the boys had bothered coming over "So, Severus. You were going to ask me something?"
The lanky teen faltered slightly, making a circuit of glances between the ground, the redhead, and the box hiding James and Sirius. "I… errr… well…"
Unperturbed, the Marauders advanced closer. "What's in the box, Snape?" James demanded, scuffing the edge of the packaging with his shoe. Sirius pounced on it, snatching up the contents with little regard to the careful wrapping.
When Severus jumped up with a noise of angry protest, James flung an arm out and knocked him suddenly back down. Realising what he was holding, Sirius shook the lacy dress-robes out, along with a small scrap of parchment.
His partner in crime swooped down and picked up the note before reading it out loud. He raised his voice and took an ostentatious survey of the audience to make sure all the eyes were on him. It was a shame that his powers of observation did not extent to the group of girls who had been talking to Sirius... or rather, one of them in particular. James started reading the note aloud while Sirius inspected the robes holding them by the tips of his fingers as though they might infect him.
"My Son," James read, his voice an annoying falsetto, "I gather you have managed to secure yourself an invitation to Horace Slughorn's latest gathering of potentials. It pleases me that you have finally decided to take an interest in such matters. As talented as you reputably are, you will do yourself no favours to behave in a socially inept manner throughout the evening. Do behave yourself, Severus.
Signed, Mother."
The boys roared with a practiced laughter while Snape blushed into the roots of his hair, embarrassment from James's physical restraint or the contents of the parcel, one could not know.
"I hope you weren't thinking of asking Evans to the evening, were you?" Sirius managed to choke out. Snape used James's amusement as a distraction before shoving the heavier boy away. Content with the embarrassment, James allowed Severus to grab the robes and sprint off in the direction of the castle.
Sirius's words sinking in, James spun around, wondering how he had overlooked the presence of Lily Evans. Spying her horrified glared, he bowed to her as if he had realised that she was there all along. "In you honour".
Her horror snapped to defiance, "Oh get lost Potter! Very clever, bullying someone you know won't fight you back while your backup crow with laughter over there." She gestured over to Remus and Peter without taking her glare off the wizard in front of her.
"Lily, I was merely sparing him the mortification of your refusal." James justified, "We were doing him a favour." He nudged Sirius, who affirmed the idea. "After all, if you go with Severus, then who am I to take?"
She scoffed, "You're under the mistaken impression that I care." She paused, before deciding to elaborate , "And as long as you remain the arrogant prick that you are and keep picking on people weaker than you for no good reason at all then it will always be a no! Besides, I've already been asked!" She stormed past him and found another spot around the opposite edge of the lake. The group of girls went to join her, giggling at James as they passed him.
Relief that she did not go after Snape, and hurt that she had rejected him once again battled inside James's mind. Nevertheless, he put on a smirk and strutted past the girls, back to the tree where Remus was still sitting, the tip of his finger caught as a book mark in his book. Remus shrugged, knowing from experience that James was struggling to keep his facade in place. Trying to change the subject he commented, "Full moon tonight."
"No partying for you then." Sirius sniggered.
As tactlessly as any normal teenage boy, Peter did not catch on to Remus's intentions. "Well, Prongs, you can't have Lily, so who else are you going to ask? They're all out there, mate, just waiting for you."
James took to ruffling his hair again, "If I can't go with Lily I don't reckon it'll be worth going. I don't fancy watching some git prance around with her, sucking face just for revenge." James grimaced.
"So Moony can't go, Wormtail hasn't got an invite and you won't go. There's not going to be much point in any of us going at all." Sirius commented lazily. Over on the other side of the lake, an exaggerated re-enaction of Lily's latest refusal was being discussed.
"So it's just going to be us sitting around in the common room all night?" Pete asked, his voice contemplative. Sirius raised his eyebrow, not enthused with the idea.
Remus noticed the girl's chatter, and determinately kept up conversation to distract James, "What have you got in mind?"
Peter shrugged, "I was thinking -"
"Why? What's wrong?" James dived at his friend and raised his hand to Peter's freckled forehead. Peter swatted it away good naturedly and continued,
"I was thinking," he began again, "that everyone who we would normally have to look out for will be at the gathering, teachers included. Maybe we could try keeping Moony company."
James looked up at his pale friend, eyeing the nervous excitement there. It was clear to anyone who knew him well that Remus was looking forward to not having to go through the transformation by himself."We're up for it."
A/N: While going through some of the atrocities I have posted, this came across as one of the worst casualties. With a couple of more years experience and maturity taken to hand, I have set about editing and reposting it. Repost of 'Tears of Sadness, Tears of Joy. Feedback would be appreciated.