First A/N: Hello! I've been wanting to write a Marauders fic for so long now, but I've finally gotten around to it. April-June, I will have a lot of stuff going on- I have AP Exams, finals, school trips, camps, music competitions, and rehearsals -things I'm stressed about. However, I need to get better at sticking to plans, prioritizing things, and getting stuff done. I'm a classic Ravenclaw, what can I say? I will try to post every Tuesday/Wednesday, if not, another day that week, each chapter will be 3000ish words. I am not a professional, I wish I was, and I don't own Harry Potter. Ooh, one more thing. I will try to stick to canon as much as possible but remember that this is fanfiction, and I can explore however I wish. Enjoy :)


20 June 1976
Dear Moony,
I really am sorry. I wasn't thinking, it was all my fault. Dumbledore gave me detention for next year, so at least you know I'm getting punished.
But, Remus, I am sorry…
Sirius

The letter arrived the next day to Remus' window. The boy groaned at the sight of it- he knew whose it was. Maybe, if he ignored it, it would fly away? Clearly, that wasn't the case, as the owl started chirping louder and louder. He shut his book and clumsily walked over to open his window and untie the letter.

His eyes read the first sentence: "I really am sorry." And he'd considered ripping it up then and there. He was furious with Sirius! After the incident, Remus had fully decided he would never speak to Black again. Like, seriously, there was a chance that Remus could never go to school again, and Sirius, the selfish bastard, was the one to put this at risk!

It'd happened the night of June 11. Their O.W.L.s were through and there were only three more days 'till it was time to go home. Sirius always grew whiny and sulked as it grew closer and closer to the summer holidays. So, he'd needed a laugh. After James humiliated Snape for the millionth time and he'd spoiled his friendship with Lily, the Slytherin wanted to get revenge and receive justice. Annoyingly, he'd asked Sirius if Remus was a werewolf. Shit, he'd figured it out. Sirius, instead of denying it and walking away, told him how to get through the Whomping Willow into the Shrieking Shack.

Then, on that night, as the moon was nearly at full height, and Remus was on the verge of transforming, Snape made his way out to the giant tree, following Sirius' instructions. What happened next, well… let's just say that Snape almost died, James saved his life- much to the irritation (and thanks) of the greasy-haired boy. Sirius, Peter, and James weren't in their Animagus forms, luckily.

Snape was outraged, terrified, and utterly embarrassed that he had to be "rescued by his enemy." James had then got a nasty wound down his arm from blocking Remus' first blow. In the end, when Dumbledore was informed, Peter, James, Sirius, and Snape in his office, James was praised for saving Snape, even when they didn't get on, Peter was let off with nothing but a nod, and Sirius was given detention for all of September. Snape was apparently forbidden from telling anyone ever, but, as mentioned above, all of Remus' career could be tarnished by this knowledge.

That moon was one of the worst ones yet because his friends didn't end up coming back. He was in the hospital wing for the rest of school and even stayed a few extra days into the holiday. James was the one to inform him of it all, and Sirius, when coming to visit him in the hospital wing, received a rather terrible scolding from the boy, before exiting, leaving both boys close to being in tears.

And that's why Remus wasn't quite sure what to do, now he was home.

...

Sirius was now anxious, so much so, he was being more reckless than ever. He was snapping at both his parents, Regulus would just stand and watch him sadly. The scariest part was that Walburga was starting to resort to the Cruciatus Curse to punish him, yet Sirius was getting himself in more and more trouble. It was already mid-July, and none of his friends had heard from him in nearly a month.

On one particularly normal day, or so it seemed, Sirius took it upon himself to enchant his Muggle posters throughout Grimmauld Place with various charms. First, he'd made copies of ones, then modified them to have excessive features, like breasts, each the size of full melons, and making the face look like his house-elf. Definitely, things that drove Walburga and Orion to the brink of insanity. He'd charmed them to hide literally everywhere; one in Kreacher's old hidey-hole, multiple in their bedrooms, and then they'd jump out of places that startled everyone in the room. Orion lectured (screamed) at Sirius for nearly a half-an-hour, and all his son did was crack snarky remarks.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, SIRIUS? I-I WISH YOU WEREN'T EVEN BORN!"

"It takes two to create a child. So, you and your dear wife shouldn't have hooked up, also, that's your mistake, not mine!"

Orion slapped Sirius after that one…

Towards the end, things escalated so far, that Sirius even started dueling his father, but decided to retreat once multiple Avada's were sent his direction.

Regulus was standing on the stairs as Sirius sprinted up them, and he tried to stop his brother, but Sirius just shook out of his grasp and continued to his room. He heard his parents chasing after him up the stairs, so he threw a couple of locking jinxes on his door- enough to keep them busy for maybe two minutes.

His trunk was half-emptied onto the floor, rather inconveniently, so he'd just have to buy more later on. Reaching across his bed, he grabbed his money pouch, a few letters, his photo album, and that was just going to have to do. He sealed his trunk, grabbed his broom, and just as he made his way out the window, his parents ran in.

As he made it to the top of the sky, ignoring the shouts from his parents, it hit him: he was free. Did he know where was he going? Not a clue. He supposed James' manor was an okay bet, so he flew in that direction until he got there.

He didn't know why he'd waited so long. It surprised him, though, that it was something as simple as enchanting Muggle posters that drove his father to try and murder him.

...

"James, don't slide down the banister!" Euphemia Potter cried from the sitting room. Her husband, Fleamont, was in his Quidditch Trophy Room polishing his many assorted relics from his years of recreation.

"Sorry, Mum!" James shouted with a loud thud on the base of the staircase.

Euphemia walked into the main room with the grand staircase and leaned against the wall with poise and ease. "You aren't planning on going out again, are you?"

"Why? Is that a bad thing?"

"Your father is having the head coach of Puddlemere United over for dinner tonight? If you want any chance of joining, I suggest you clean yourself up a bit and, you know, remember your manners?"

"Merlin, that's tonight? Pete and I were supposed to go out!" James groaned.

"Well, you're not. Go Floo Call him, now before he shows up to embarrass your father. This is huge for him and you, remember?"

"Ugh, Mum!"

"James Potter go call Pettigrew now!"

"Okay…" he sulked as he dramatically left the room.

Euphemia rolled her eyes before calling her house-elf, Brisby.

The creature apparated into the room dizzily and turned around to face her 'Master.' The Potters were a respectable family; purebloods, yes, but they had good morals, unlike the Blacks. They had employed multiple house-elves, but none were bound to their family, all were free and were paid. Contrasting the majority of elves, they were proud of both being free and working, still.

"Yes, Mistress?" Brisby asked loyally.

"How's the meal coming along?" Euphemia asked, checking her watch.

"Brisby is working hard, Miss. It wills be ready soon, Miss."

"Perfect, Brisby. Make sure there's enough for you to eat, too," the woman added.

The elf nodded before disapparating.

...

Sirius was approaching his best friend's house, the sight becoming clearer and clearer. He pulled his trunk closer to his body as he descended slowly. He did charm it to be lighter- at his house, so he wouldn't get in trouble with the Ministry -and that helped a bit, it just was awkward and bulky to carry.

When he landed, he walked up to the door, dragging his trunk behind him, his broom in his other hand. Sirius lifted his hand to knock, realizing that it was probably dinner-time, but not caring, anyway. He, first, rang the doorbell, and a small house-elf answered.

"What does you need?" the creature squeaked.

"I need to see Prongs," Sirius said impatiently.

"James is busy, sir."

"I can't wait, for Merlin's sake! Just get me him, now!"

"Yes, sir," Brisby replied, quite frightened by Sirius' urgency.

James was sitting uncomfortably across from Coach Blemson, explaining how Gryffindor had miraculously won the Quidditch Cup the last year, when his house-elf entered awkwardly.

"What is it, Brisby?" Euphemia asked incredulously. She was simply standing there at the end of the table.

"James has a guest, ma'am."

"James Potter, I told you to tell Peter you weren't able to go!" She yelled accusingly.

James put his hands up in surrender. "I did, Mum! I did!"

"Well, I'll go explain to him what that means." Euphemia did like embarrassing James, who deserved it a lot of the time.

When she got to the door and opened it up, she was shocked to see not Peter, but Sirius standing there.

"Sirius?" she asked, surprised.

"Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Potter, but…" he trailed off. He ran his hand through his hair. Why was he here? "Can I see James?"

"We are rather busy tonight, Sirius, I…"

"It's okay, I'll wait, it's-"

"No, no! I'll fetch him… It's just… we're having dinner with someone rather important now.

Sirius nodded and sat on the chair inside the entrance room. When James entered by himself, he stood again, this time, at a loss for words.

"Bloody hell, mate! What are you doing here?"

Sirius relaxed a bit at the familiarity of his best friend. "Can I crash at your place for a bit?" Sirius asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, of course! What's up? You look like shit!"

"Oh, Prongsie… you're in for a long story…"

...

Remus assisted his mother in cooking dinner that night. His mother, Hope, was a Muggle, so his household functioned, mostly, in Muggle ways. This included cooking by hand, a chore that Remus rather enjoyed. His father, Lyall, worked for the Ministry. Hope didn't have a full-time job, but she worked around the house, cleaning, cooking, knitting, the common things women did.

When Lyall married Hope, he was forced to tell her of his magical background. She was shocked, sure, but she was thankful for his honesty, and kind of astonished, in a good way. It would always be an envied gift, but she tried her best to hide it. Remus was her only child, and Hope loved him a lot. When he was six, and he was bitten, she was angry with Lyall and the Wizarding World. How could something like this happen to her child? Lyall had bad-mouthed Fenrir Greyback at work, and he'd decided to get his revenge on their son, something that Remus, obviously, had to deal with ever since.

The family then had to adjust greatly to their new… situation. There was a special basement built for him where he'd go on the nights of the full moons, and in the morning, they would have a Healer come and tend to him for the few days that followed.

But Remus tried to maintain as normal a life as possible, even though that meant being homeschooled for the five years until Hogwarts. Lyall and Hope weren't quite sure it would be a good idea, but Dumbledore insisted, by which Remus would be forever grateful. He would've never met his friends, learned magic, or even pretend to be normal if it wasn't for both Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.

But now that Snape found out, Remus was terrified to go back. Were the Marauders going to stay friends? James was in an awkward position, for sure, because he saved Snape and respected Remus, but was also closer to Sirius. It was… complex.

...

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! You just… left? You're not going back?" James asked, flabbergasted.

"Well, I sure as hell can't! They bloody tried to kill me!" Sirius snapped.

"I mean… Of course, you can stay here… Stay as long as you need, we have room for you…" James said slowly, trying to process it. He knew Sirius was heedless and that his parents were gits, but he didn't ever suspect things would get this far out of hand.

"Thanks, mate, you're a life-saver," Sirius said, not quite sure what else to say without sounding gooey.

"Well, I better go back for dinner… The Puddlemere coach is here…" James said.

"What? Go!"

James turned just before rounding the corner, gave a cheesy smile and thumbs-up, and ruffled his hair up a bit more. He had to make a good impression, right?

...

19 July 1976
Dear Lily,
I am so mad! Queen's performing in Scotland in September! They're in the US all summer… Sometimes I hate only being able to go out in the summer… In other news, you remember Reg Cattermole, the Hufflepuff? He's a year older than us… I met him on the train home, and he asked me to dinner… He's so sweet! We've been dating two weeks, now, and I'm so excited! He wants to work in the Ministry, something I don't want to do, of course, but I'm glad he has it all planned out. You should meet his friend, Brian, he's super cute, you'd like him. Besides, you need a boyfriend, girl!
We need to hang out! Third of August, I am going to Diagon Alley, so try to come! Alice and Marlene are coming, too! Dorcas hasn't answered my invitation, yet, so pass on the news!
Love,
Mary MacDonald

Lily smiled as she read the letter her friend sent. It'd been so long since she'd seen all of them. Mary was Muggle-born, like her, but Dorcas was half-blood, and Alice and Marlene were pure-blood.

"Mum, Mary wrote to me!" Lily called to her mother, Beth. Petunia was two years older than her sister, so she starting at university in the fall. Her and Lily's relationship wasn't very stable… It was at the point where Petunia wasn't directly rude to her, but she was still jealous. Lily was very aware of the grudgingness that her sister held towards her, but she'd tried to ignore it and make the most of their sisterhood, as strange as it was. They were starting to get closer, much to her delight, but it felt as though one slip up would cause everything they'd worked for to tumble apart, never to be restored.

"Really? How is she?" Beth responded.

"She's got a boyfriend," she said.

"Ooh, exciting, exciting. I remember when I first met your father… He dropped his groceries all over the sidewalk…" her mother recalled.

"Sounds like him," Lily laughed.

"When's she going for her school supplies?"

"Third of August," she informed.

"Lovely, we'll make sure to go then, too," she said with a smile. Lily saw Petunia roll her eyes from the sofa.

"I don't have to go, right?" her sister asked warily.

"No, Tuney," Beth said. "You know that."

"Good…" Petunia said, relieved. She rose off her seat in the sitting room and walked out towards her bedroom. Lily frowned. Why was she acting like this again? They were finally on good terms!

...

"So…" James started. He and Sirius were out playing Quidditch in the backyard. "Have you owled Remus, yet?"

"Yes," Sirius replied shortly.

"And? Did he answer?" he asked hopefully.

"Nothing. I just… I didn't think it'd become such a big deal… I was just taunting Snivellus… He was suspecting things!" Sirius defended.

"I know that… It's just, you've made Remus' secret at risk to be found out… I mean, I like the idea, I'd love for Snivellus to be mauled by a werewolf, but Remus would throw himself off the Astronomy Tower if he found out we'd let him bite someone. You messed up, big-time, Padfoot," James explained.

Sirius didn't speak, he just felt another wave of guilt run through his blood, a recurring feeling that hadn't left since that night.

...

Remus hadn't gone out in a month. None of his friends were inviting him anywhere, he had no desire to talk to Sirius, Peter, with his lack of common-sense, radiated stupidity, and Remus was not pleased with the thought of possibly catching second-hand idiocy. So, this meant that, besides his letters with James, he wasn't doing much. The full moon was the tenth, so he was finally recovered from that, and now he was waiting to go to Diagon Alley, the only outing planned for the whole summer.

His mother was growing quite worried with his isolation, but Remus was able to convince her "he was fine" or that "he was just tired." James did ask him to go to Diagon Alley on August 3rd, although telling him Sirius would be there, Remus agreed nevertheless.

So, when that day approached, he was fully prepared (he'd spent a week obsessing over it) and set off to London by himself. Much to his disgust, the werewolf had torn himself up pretty bad at the last moon, as being depressed did impact the severity of the effects. There was a terrible wound starting from his lower right cheek going up across his nose, stopping slightly above his left eyebrow. It'd scarred with the help of healing potions and charms, but it was still a werewolf scar, and wouldn't fully disappear. So it was a pinkish-white, fully visible on his face. Hideous, he thought.

Upon his arrival at the Leaky Cauldron, he spotted, to his surprise, Lily Evans by herself at a corner table, reading. He wasn't particularly close with her, but out of all four of the Marauders, Remus was the only one that she would allow a conversation with. They'd been prefects together, and they'd studied together before, but they weren't 'best friends' or whatever. Despite all of this, he walked over to where she was to say hi.

"Hey, Lily," he greeted nervously.

"Oh, hi, Remus," Lily said, grinning.

"You waiting for someone?"

"I'm afraid I showed up a little too early…" she laughed.

"Nothing wrong with that… What book is that?" he asked.

"One of my favorites," she said showing him the cover.

"The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett? I've never read that one."

"Wow, I'm ashamed!" she joked.

"Hey, I'm more of a Charles Dickens kind of guy!"

"Whoa, but no Burnett? I love so many of her books!" Lily said. And, soon, they got into a heated discussion about books, one that intense readers would be jealous of. To Lily's amazement, and delight, Remus had read quite a lot of classic Muggle literature.

Soon, though, James and Sirius made their way in, and Remus and Lily grew equally annoyed, another thing to bond over, right?

"Evans! You're looking amazing today! Care to let me show you my amazing tonight?" James tried arrogantly. To nobody's surprise, Lily wasn't impressed.

Lily scoffed before answering, "In your dreams, Potter." Then, after muttering a farewell to Remus, left to go visit Alice, who'd walked in.

Remus turned in his chair to face the two other Marauders who'd fully made their way over at that point. He avoided eye-contact with Black and wondered why the hell he'd agreed to this.

"Where do you want to go first, Moony?" James asked, filling the awkward silence.

"Er…" Remus mumbled. He self-consciously covered his face with the side of his hand, not positive why he was getting so nervous to see these people. After all, he'd known them for five years! "I suppose Gringotts?"

"Lovely," James agreed, looking at Sirius, who was staring at his feet. "Great to see this will be a fun, talkative day."

Remus sent Prongs a rude glance, and he just shrugged, at a loss for words. Yes, it would be a long day.