Long Winded Author's Note, Anyone?
This is a Remus-centric fic. (And the crowd goes 'Duh'.) It will briefly feature your other fave Marauders (since we all love Peter Pettigrew!... Syke!), but will mostly focus on everyone's favorite Werewolf. And this is straight hetero, kids. Turn back now if that disappoints you! Not your typical Marauder-Era fic, either. It's not set at Hogwarts, for one thing, or even after the lads graduate from Hogwarts. The relationship I'm going to explore is Remus and a Muggle gal. Not your cup of tea? Don't read it. This is for the true Remus fan who doesn't wanna be bothered by lesser characters such as Sirius, James, Dumbledore... Harry Potter. ;)
That said... please read, review, and above all, enjoy.
Chapter 1
Life was exhausting for Remus Lupin. Being a Marauder kept you on your toes... constantly. With friends like Sirius Black ("Come on, Moony! It's just a quick drop off the Astronomy Tower, right?"), James Potter ("Staying up five consecutive days and nights without any sleep will NOT kill you, Remus."), and Peter Pettigrew ("Do you s'pose we COULD light Sprout's knickers on fire?"), one was constantly alert and ready for anything. Which was tiring, to say the least.
Add Remus' prefect duties on top of the chore of being best mates with the biggest troublemakers in the school. In addition to his regular school responsibilities (and classes were exhausting enough), Remus still had to find time to patrol corridors, mentor first year students, sponsor one extra-curricular activity for his house, and keep some form of order in the Gryffindor Common Room during the evenings.
There was also the slight drawback of being a werewolf. About a week before (and a few days after) the full moon, Remus felt as if there were weights attached to his limbs, and a constant light-sensitive headache pounded behind his eyes. He never felt like doing homework during these times, it was a burden to tell off rowdy kids in the Common Room, and he literally had to tell Sirius, James, and Peter to sod off about four times a day to keep from doing anything stupid or potentially dangerous.
As much as he would miss his best friends, Remus lived for the summer. Being a Marauding-Prefect-Werewolf had its benefits, and at times was even a blast, but was tiring as anything. Two thirds of that strange combination was subtracted during his summer break, and it was a welcome relief.
It was nearly end of term now. Exams were officially over with the completion of Astronomy, which had been held the night before the last day of term. It was nearly midnight as all the Gryffindor sixth-years trooped back up to their dormitories.
Sirius Black flopped onto his bed and pulled a pillow across his face.
"Smother me," he instructed anyone who was listening, "That was the longest exam of my life."
"Well it's over now," James Potter reminded his best friend, pulling the pillow away from his face, "So don't off yourself. What'll I do all summer without you?"
"Er... stay out of trouble?" Sirius suggested, displaying his lop-sided grin.
"Jesus, Moony, you're not PACKING!?" James asked, his voice raising an octave or so, as per usual when he was excited, nervous, or being particularly annoying.
"No, James, I'm not packing. I'm just putting my things in my trunk for my trip home," Remus quipped, carefully folding a few sweaters and placing them at the bottom of his trunk.
Peter laughed and looked to James for his reply. James merely shrugged and sat at the foot of his bed.
"Moony, do it after the feast tomorrow night like a normal person," Sirius ordered, sitting up and throwing his pillow at Remus' head.
The pillow hit the floor with a 'flump'. Remus ignored this and continued his packing, his upper half briefly disappearing under his bed to collect a surprising number of shoes that had accumulated over the year.
"Peter, your nasty trainers are under here," came Remus' muffled announcement from beneath his bed.
"Pack 'em for me," was Peter's reply, as he pulled off his robes, keen on nestling into his bed.
"Pack your own," Remus muttered, sending the shoes sailing into the center of the room.
"Moony, why don't you pack all of our trunks?" Sirius suggested, "Jamie and me'll pay you for it. Wormtail will shine your shoes or something."
Remus gave no reply.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. Sirius Black wasn't used to being ignored, even if Moony managed to do so almost half the time Sirius spoke to him. Remus smiled from beneath the bed, enjoying how his silence was probably driving Sirius nuts right about now. Sure enough, Remus felt the floor shake a bit, and knew Sirius had jumped down from his bed. Footsteps came closer and closer to Remus' bed, and before he knew it, there were hands around his ankles and he was being dragged on his stomach from beneath the bed.
He lay there momentarily on his stomach, legs hoisted halfway in the air, Sirius' hands still around his ankles.
"Bloody hell, where's the house elves when you need 'em?" James asked in mock-shock as Remus rolled onto his back, totally covered in dust bunnies.
"Moony, you're a sight for sore eyes," Sirius said in a high pitched voice, batting his rather long eye-lashes. He dropped Remus' legs to the floor and flopped down next to Remus on the ground.
'Sirius flops an awful lot,' Remus thought lazily, admiring Sirius' ability to flop just about anywhere; chairs, couches, grass, beds, his desk in McGonagall's class, hard-wood-floors.
Remus lay his head back on the cool wooden floor and folded his arms across his chest. Nearly his last night in Gryffindor Tower, then back home for the summer. Summer meant a multitude of things; playing chess with his dad, long talks in the kitchen with his mum, laying out on his hammock in the backyard to read a book at his leisure, swimming laps in the pond by the Jenkins' run-down farmhouse... Summer meant seeing Shelby.
A smile played at the corner of Remus' lips at this thought. Shelby would be home a week or so after him, making the trip all the way from America, and in Muggle-fashion, no less. She'd listen intently to Remus' adventurous tales from the recent school year, they'd go for long walks together, she would come over with an arm-full of books and they'd share his hammock, both content with their novel and each other's silent company.
Sirius interrupted Remus' thoughts with a sudden joyful outburst of "Merlin!"
"What?" Peter, who had just gotten comfortable, asked a bit groggily.
"That little blonde girl from Ravenclaw! You know... hell, what's her name... Amelia? The good looking short one?" he looked around for support.
"Yeah, she's in Arithmancy with me," Remus replied, rolling over to look at Sirius, propping his elbow on the ground and supporting his head with his hand, "What about her?"
"Well, she's moving," Sirius grinned.
"What's that got to do with us?" James asked, sliding his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.
"It's got nothing to do with you, mate. It's got everything to do with me," Sirius raised one eyebrow and smirked.
"All right, all right, what's Amelia Thorn's moving got to do with YOU, Sirius?" Remus asked, taking Sirius' bait.
"She's moving... across the street... from Jamesy-boy," Sirius announced slowly.
His declaration was met with dead silence.
"So?" James asked, dropping backwards on his back, "I thought you were gonna tell us something important for a minute."
"I am!" Sirius said defensively.
"So tell us," James stated simply.
"Amelia! Moving across the street from you, James! She's perfectly shaggable and quite in my reach!" Sirius announced this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"She's not moving across the street from YOU, Sirius," Remus reminded him.
"No, but moving across the street from James is the next best thing. It's practically my house anyway," Sirius said this last part a bit wistfully.
"Yeah, yeah, it IS practically your house," James supported, nodding vigorously.
Sirius beamed at his best friend and continued, "Anyway. I've already laid the groundwork with her. Caught her alone in the Owlery the other night… We had a snog session she won't soon forget. She was practically floating back to the Ravenclaw dormitory. By the end of the summer I'll have bedded that one, mark my words."
"What if she doesn't wanna sleep with you?" Peter asked sleepily.
"Why wouldn't she?" Sirius asked, genuinely confused by Peter's question.
Peter shrugged as best as he could from his laying-position and pulled his blanket up to his chin.
"Well, I'M excited about it, at least," Sirius said with a bit of a pout.
"Good for you, Padfoot," James supported.
"Thank you, Prongs," Sirius replied loftily.
"What about you, Moony?" James asked, removing his glasses and setting them on the end table next to his bed.
"What about me?" Remus asked cautiously.
"Oh, Beautiful Muggle Girl who conveniently lives next door to me in the country!" James said in a Remus-esque voice, "You're gorgeous and funny and we used to take baths together!"
"No we didn't," Remus said quietly.
"That's not the point," Sirius said with a flick to Remus' head, "The point is... are you gonna tell her this summer, or what?"
"Tell her WHAT, exactly? 'I'm glad we're friends, Shelby'? Because that's all there is to it," Remus sighed and pulled himself off the floor, wincing a bit as a stab of pain shot through his leg. It hurt just to walk to his bed... Transformation a few nights ago had been brutal...
"You KNOW there's more than that!" Sirius barked, jumping off the floor, "You know you were about two seconds away from shagging her rotten when I came over last summer!"
"Was not," Remus mumbled, sinking onto his comforter.
"Wait, wait, who are we talking about?" Peter asked, finally deciding to join the conversation.
It was on the tip of Remus' tongue to say 'Just a mate from home,' when James interrupted.
"Merlin, Peter, how thick can you get? We're talking about Remus' soul mate!" James tossed a shoe at Peter.
"Sorry," Peter mumbled, pushing the shoe off to the floor, "But I still don't know who it is."
"You actually know her brother," Sirius said, "He's that tall seventh-year bloke in Hufflepuff. Only wizard in his family. Remmy's girl is a Muggle through and through. Right shaggable if you ask me, though."
"Please don't call Shelby 'right shaggable', Sirius," Remus requested patiently.
"Whatever you say, Moony, but it's the truth. I popped in last year--"
"Literally! Dropped by in the fireplace without so much as a warning!" Remus interjected.
"--And there was our 'lil Remsy on the couch with--" he allowed his voice to go quite a bit higher, "--SHELBY and if Remus wasn't about to have it off with her right then and there on that sofa, well then... I'm... I'm best mates with Severus Snape!"
"Was he kissing her?" Peter asked, his eyes wider than usual.
"No!" Remus answered defiantly.
"It was about to happen!" Sirius smirked.
"Even if it WAS about to happen, YOU ruined it by showing up!" Remus snapped. Great. He had allowed his temper to flare up, making it all the more obvious to his friends that they were quite right; he DID have feelings for Shelby, and yes, he WAS about to kiss her with everything he had when Sirius turned up that day.
"Sorry mate!" Sirius said with a very irritating grin, "But you DO have all summer to nail her."
"Oh shut up," Remus muttered, kicking off his shoes in Sirius' direction. Sirius dodged the flying foot-wear and laughed his way across the room back to his bed. James laughed as well and rolled off of his bed to undress. He and Sirius stripped off their robes, t-shirt and trousers and fell into their beds, still giggling in that grating way.
Remus sat on the edge of his bed, sending mental-anger-vibes in Sirius' direction before imitating his friends' action and stripping down to his boxers. He gingerly climbed into his bed, ignoring the pain in his leg. As exhausting as Remus Lupin's life was, he found it very hard to get any rest that night. He kept thinking about Shelby...