A/N: After all the rather angsty Order fics, I wanted to do something light and fun and humorous. And thus we have a new Marauders fic - yay! I still own nothing, I haven't used a beta, and this particular fic is set the beginning of 7th year. So read, review, enjoy!
"That does it," Sirius threw his cards onto the table, where they promptly exploded with a loud bang. "We're going swimming."
"We're doing what?" Remus gaped, whether at the statement or at Sirius' now soot-covered face he was unsure. Peter seemed to be quite unmistakably stunned by the words, while James had nearly fallen off his seat laughing. Seven years had passed, Remus noted dryly, and some things had yet to change.
"P-Padfoot, it's cold," James said finally. His glasses had slipped down to the end of his nose, and he watched Sirius over the top of the round frames. "Very cold."
Remus felt quite confident that the idea of very cold, very dark, very squid infested waters quite easily undid any desire he himself had possessed of swimming in the lake. Sirius, on the other hand, had likely decided on the activity purely for those reasons. With a deep sigh Remus shook his head and settled into his seat, preparing for the inevitable argument. He had been hoping for a nice, quiet evening in the Shrieking Shack to celebrate the beginning of their final year at Hogwarts. Of course, quiet evenings generally meant that the firewhisky intake was more limited than on special occasions and there were less loud, potentially damaging jinxes thrown about. Often there was a good deal of plotting for future mischief making or tweaking the map to add in some new discovery from the previous full moon. And if they were all feeling particularly marauderish James' trusty invisibility cloak would be employed for some new atrocity against the Slytherins. Or the teachers. Or any other hapless victim that James or Sirius happened to think of. Remus enjoyed those nights more than he would ever willingly admit, and he quite been looking forward to one such evening after the long train ride and increasingly difficult first years. Sirius, however, seemed to have other plans. He had in fact been insisting on a swimming expedition since Peter opened the very first bottles of butterbeer (they had started out slowly, since Remus-the-prefect was now joined by James-the-Head-Boy). James had managed a distracting game of Modified Exploding Snap that lasted a good half hour. Half hours, Remus noted, were near the extent of Sirius' attention span, even at seventeen.
"Of course it's cold," Sirius sighed, clearly exasperated and not comprehending why none of the others shared his ambition to swim in a freezing lake. "That's the fun part."
"How exactly is that the fun part?" Peter asked, eyes narrowed.
"Who do you know that's swam in the lake?" Sirius challenged.
Peter hesitated for a moment, eyes dropping to the floor where several cards lay scattered.
"I can't think of anyone."
"Neither can I," James admitted, now watching Sirius with a thoughtful expression. All eyes turned to Remus now, Sirius with his eyebrows arched expectantly.
"I don't know of anyone," Remus sighed, head falling into his hands.
"Exactly. And have we done it?" Sirius pressed, and now James' eyes lit up, his glasses sliding dangerously close to the end of his nose. Peter looked halfway between excited and frightened. Remus just felt ill.
"Indeed we have not," James' tone had changed entirely. "Quite possibly the only thing we haven't done in our illustrious career."
"Exactly!" Sirius pounded his fist on the table, sending the remaining cards scattering and smoking into the air. "What better way to celebrate the start of our final year?"
"Oh, I can think of a few," Remus said airily, "Chocolate. A good book. Perhaps a nice, safe, highly illegal prank or two..."
"Rubbish, Moony," James' was grinning madly now, an expression mirrored by Sirius. Remus knew at that moment that there would be no stopping the pair of them now. "You want to, right Pete?"
"Yes," Peter answered quickly, stuffing the cards back into a neat deck. "But what are we going to swim in?"
James and Sirius seemed not to have considered that particular part of the issue. They glanced to each other, mouths set in solid lines and eyes narrowed in concentration. Sirius' face broke first, mouth spreading into a wide, dark grin. Remus had learned, over the years, that he did not like the look of that grin.
"We could always swim starkers," Sirius declared.
"I-I that's not what I-oh..." a slow red flush began to creep across Peter's face. Remus was merely impressed that after six years of living with James and Sirius, Peter still possessed even a slight ability to blush.
"I'm certainly not swimming starkers," Remus stated firmly. "And perhaps the Head Boy shouldn't either."
James' mouth formed an 'o', and he pushed his glasses back into place abruptly.
"Remus might be right, I wouldn't want Dumbledore to-"
"My dear Prongs. You being Head Boy isn't going to spoil all of our fun is it?" Sirius slung an arm around James' shoulder cheerily. "We survived Moony's prefect-hood."
"That," Remus shook his head slowly, "Is because Moony is quite possibly the worst prefect the school has ever had."
"Oh now that's unfair. You've docked points before," Peter supplied helpfully, then frowned. "Though you've never docked points from yourself, which you probably could have. And you never exactly intervened..."
"Not helping, Peter," Remus grumbled. Peter stammered out some sort of apology and then vanished into the next room to stow the cards back in the cupboard. Sirius, meanwhile was still trying to persuade James that skinny dipping in the lake would be an excellent adventure. He had pried James out of the safety of the battered chair and dragged him to the window, gesturing in what Remus guessed to be the direction of the lake.
"And just think how fantastic we'll look," he was presently insisting, "Like some young gods enjoying the moonlight."
"We enjoy the moonlight quite enough as it is," Remus said dryly. Sirius huffed and abandoned James to glare momentarily at Remus.
"I don't see why you're being so disagreeably Moony. You've been playing Quidditch, and you've got those wicked scars. I'd think you'd want to go prancing about."
"I don't prance. Especially not starkers."
Remus crossed his arms and returned his attention to the now empty table, only to be forcibly removed from his chair seconds later. James, it seemed, had been drawn to Sirius' side of the argument, as usual. Remus spluttered and consider fighting his way free. He certainly could, and James and Sirius were both well aware of that fact. Instead he sighed, fixed them both with a sharp glare, and contented himself with dragging his feet across the ground. Not a difficult feat, since he stood well taller than either of his two captors, but progress toward the trapdoor was slowed noticeably that, at least, was comforting. Peter had returned from the next room and was watching the odd struggle with a faintly amused expression.
"Don't just stand there Wormtail, get that door open," Sirius ordered, freeing one hand and waving towards the floor where the trapdoor lay. Smiling and eager to help, Peter scurried across the room and heaved the heavy door open in two tries. Remus was dragged a few more feet and then resolutely dropped down into the tunnel. Some of the effect was lost, however, since when standing upright Remus' head and shoulders were both above the level of the trapdoor. He glared up at James and Sirius, who were both grinning quite excitably.
"Fine. But I'm keeping my shorts on."
He kept a straight face for about three seconds before he was leaned against the wall, clutching his stomach and eyes squeezed shut in laughter. Somewhere above him, Peter's squeaky laugh and Sirius' sharp bark and James' loud, rolling laughter echoed together off the walls of the ruined house. James dropped down into the tunnel first, lighting his wand and wiping his eyes and Sirius followed, still laughing madly. One moment he was dark haired, handsome boy in pajamas, the next there was a huge, bearlike black dog bounding down the tunnel after James. Peter clambered down last, albeit with a bit of help from Remus. And then the door was closed and Remus followed the thin trail of light and the occasional barks as James and Padfoot led the way.
James stunned the Whomping Willow with a quick spell too the knot at the tree's base and waited at the top, helping first Peter, then Remus out of the tunnel. Padfoot had already raced down the hill in the direction of the lake, a slick black shadow in the night. A half moon hung overhead, white and glowing and ghostly in the sky, mirrored in the dark lake below. Even past midnight, the whole grounds of Hogwarts school were bright and backlit. Remus suspected that had he never encountered a werewolf, he might have been the sort of person who enjoyed the nighttime very much. So lost was he in the night sky that Remus failed to see the giant black dog barreling towards him. Padfoot struck him in a flying leap that knocked both of them to the ground and knocked the air out of Remus with a 'whoosh.'
"Alright, alright, get off me," Remus laughed, fighting off Padfoot's attempts to prod him with a very cold wet nose.
"Come on Moony!" James shouted from somewhere down the hill. "Padfoot, let him alone!"
The great dog responded instantly, tail wagging and bolting back toward the sound of James' voice. Remus sat up slowly, grinning as he watched Padfoot - now Sirius again - come to a rolling stop at the bottom of the hill, sending Peter and James toppling in the process. And the realization suddenly struck him that tonight was the beginning of the end, their final year here at school. The last chance he would have to make mischief and be an awful prefect and do mad things like go swimming in the lake at midnight. Remus shook away the feeling, forcing back the sudden reminiscent mood as he hauled himself to his feet and jogged down the hill to where James and Sirius and Peter were laughing once more.
Thick, black water hugged the shore and marked the beginning of the lake, a scattering of soft round pebbles separating the grass from the water. Of course, currently the pebbles were being used as the location of a rapidly growing pile of clothes.
"You got lucky," Sirius said, pulling off a sock, "Peter doesn't want to take off his shorts either. So we'll swim in skivvies."
"I appreciate that Peter," Remus managed to look serious for a moment.
"You're quite welcome Remus," Peter nodded.
"Enough chatter!" Sirius interrupted. "Start stripping, Lupin."
Remus waved a rather rude gesture at Sirius, which earned only a laugh, and pulled his shirt over his head. The shirt joined the other three in the pile, and wands and pajama pants quickly followed. The night air had a definite chill, and then Remus stepped into the shallows of the lake and decided that the water had a much, much more definite chill. All four boys stood in a line along the water's edge, eyeing the lake uncertainly. James and Sirius, dark hair and sun-gold skin glowing in the moonlight. Peter, arms crossed and visibly uncomfortable over the baby fat that had never quite gone away. Remus himself, tall and thin and slightly more filled out after a season of Quidditch, skin crisscrossed by pink and white scars. And they were all standing beside a very cold lake on a windy fall night wearing only their underpants, Remus noted unhappily. He had had such high hopes for the evening.
"We ought to just jump," James said firmly. "Get it over with all at once."
"It's cold," Peter seemed less than enthused by the idea.
"Who's going first?" Remus asked, still eyeing the black water uncertainly.
"We'll al go at once. On three," Sirius answered without even the hint of asking if that would be alright with everyone. There would be three seconds and then they would all be jumping into the icy water. Remus wondered if he could get to his wand and get away before any of them caught up.
"One."
Remus curled his toes, rather confident they had already gone numb.
"Two."
"I think this is could be consider a form of torture," Peter murmured softly. Remus nodded in agreement. James and Sirius merely looked unsurprisingly gleeful.
"Three."
Remus squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, clamping his mouth shut and leaping forward into the lake. An incredibly loud splash ripped the silent night and sent cascades of water arching up into the air. And then there was sharp, bone-chilling cold that knocked the breath out of him and prickled his skin painfully. Remus opened one eye, then the other, realizing he was quickly sinking towards the colder, more squid infested depths. The water was utterly dark, like diving into a vat of ink, and Remus kicked upwards towards the shifting moonlight that fluttered overhead. He broke the surface and gasped for air, the formerly chill Scottish night now infinitely warmer than the frigid water into which he had jumped. Peter's face emerged from the blackness next, already shivering noticeably and blong hair plastered to his head.
"T-this w-was a s-stupid i-idea."
"I know," Remus sighed, "But don't let Sirius hear you. He might decide we should sleep out here."
"Did someone say my name?"
Sirius floated into view a few feet behind Peter, stretched lazily across the water and paddling idly with his hands.
"N-no," Peter scowled at Sirius, quite obviously blaming the dark haired boy for his current frozen state.
Water splashed upward to Sirius left, scattering like diamonds in the night in the wake of James Potter's arrival. Somehow even when soaking wet, his hair continued to be unreasonably messy. James' glasses fogged over almost instantly but failed to hide his sloppy grin.
"This was brilliant Sirius!"
Sirius made an excellent attempt at bowing while in water and succeeded only in plunging himself beneath the surface once more. To his credit, he did at least reappear laughing.
"I know. I should have thought of this sooner."
"We've got to do loads of stuff like this this year," James said eagerly, his glasses finally clearing. "Loads of brilliantly mad stuff."
"I think the cold's getting to you," Peter said.
"But it's our last year!" James looked to be on the verge of having an episode.
"I think...I think James has a point," Remus said slowly, surprising even himself. "It is our last year. We ought to be...Merlin I can't believe I'm going to say this...we ought to be remembered."
"Who are you," Sirius' eyes narrowed dangerously, "And what have you done with Remus Lupin?"
Remus smiled weakly and ignored Sirius entirely, shrugging and glancing away in the general direction of the castle. Peter, however, shifted his scowl in Remus' direction now, although the effect was somewhat lessened by the shivering.
"I think people will remember us already."
"I'm saying, make this a year to remember," Remus explained gently. "One last great year."
"I like the sound of that," James murmured, the quietest he had been all night, "One last year, before the mischief's managed."
Sirius snorted and splashed James with a fairly large amount of frigid water.
"Come on Prongs, you make it sound like we're all going to die. It's just the end of school. We'll still be Marauders."
James's smile returned, smaller this time, and he pushed his glasses back up his nose once more.
"Alright then. Marauders for life, terror of Hogwarts for one last year. Who's in?"
Swimming forward a bit in the water, James reached out his hand and waited, warm hazel eyes passing over each of them in turn. Sirius moved first, which had always been the right and proper and accepted order of things, hand overtop of James'.
"Definitely."
Remus swam forward and reached out, pressing his own hand on the top of the pile, cold skin meeting his fingertips.
"Always."
Last was Peter, struggling and shivering in the murky water, finally stretching out his hand and completing the circle.
"I'm in."
They floated like that for a moment, four friends, four brothers, ringed by black water and moonlight, the lights of the castle twinkling like fallen stars. Then Sirius dove forward and grabbed hold of James, pulling him underwater with a strangled yelp, and Remus swam backward too late too avoid the spray of cold water. Peter shivered and swam towards shore, avoiding the spectacle entirely. James and Sirius returned, breaking free from the depths, laughing and wrestling and dragging Remus into the fray. The three of them struggled and fought for awhile, splashing and laughing and shouting like children. Inevitably, James lost his glasses, which signaled the end of the night's fun. Peter managed a respectable summoning charm and rescued the glasses from the depths, and they all spent a very long time chattering and shivering and fumbling with their clothes and charming themselves dry. Then James produced his cloak and they all huddled together, warm for the first time in hours as they snuck back into the castle.
Soon enough, Remus found himself tucked into his warm four poster in Gryffindor Tower, safe and warm and entirely content. Perhaps this would be the final year for the Marauders at Hogwarts, but certainly they could make this a year to remember.