Chapter 2: Fireworks
In which our favourite knights gallant go questing after their 'misunderstood' friend, a loathsome and strangely familiar Slytherin prefect appears, a Hufflepuff saves the day, and someone impresses a third year.
Despite any of James Potter's possible claims to the contrary, it was he, and not a certain Remus Lupin, who came off worse from the incident in the Prefects' Compartment on the morning of the 31st September. One hour after the conclusion of the start-of-year prefect meeting, the quartet of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs could be found in a lonely compartment at the end of the Hogwarts Express. Mr. Padfoot nursed a black eye, Mr. Wormtail nursed a stitch in his sides that refused to go away after the exertions of the day, and Mr. Prongs nursed a horrifically scarred ego, and possibly a pair of bleeding ears. Mr. Moony, on the other hand, had returned to gazing out of the window and brooding.
"Long time, no see, eh?" said Remus to the room at large, and he sounded distant.
Peter attempted to articulate his sentiments on this matter, but failed to find the breath, and sagged back onto the seats dejectedly. Sirius opined that it was unnecessary to give Remus a response. James growled viciously.
"Good OWL scores?"
Silence.
"Yeah, me too, but they could have been better."
"We've already talked about OWL scores, you mug, Remus. I don't want to think about exams already."
Remus ignored Sirius. "So, you three can go ahead and get the careers you want, then?" said Remus, slightly viciously this time.
Peter opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.
"I don't even see why I came back to Hogwarts this year. I mean, what's the point, huh? Obviously, when nobody treats me with any kind of respect, then..." Remus's voice trailed off, but his shoulders started to gently shake.
"Moony, I'm sorry, but what on earth are you talking about?"
He stood up, whirling round in fury at Sirius's rather insensitive comment, and the other three boys were shocked to see that he nearly had tears in his eyes. "What am I talking about? Don't you get it, you tactless berk." Remus's voice was rising uncontrollably. "I'M A FUCKING WEREWOLF AND I HATE MY STUPID FUCKING LIFE! I hate it all, and no one at this fucking school ever fucking understands!"
He extracted his wand from his jean pocket, and clutched it tightly, shaking all over. His fingers were white, and stood out starkly against the mahogany colour of the wand.
Sirius rose, hands raised in a gesture of peace, but he was thrown roughly back onto the seats.
The door of the compartment shattered, showering the boys with shards of glass, and Remus stormed out.
"Where the 'ell did that come from?" said Peter disbelievingly as the dust settled from Remus's explosion.
"I think Moony's having his monthly problems again," said James, in a rather inappropriate statement, considering what had just happened.
When they looked back on the morning, it really did seem incredible that it they had managed to fit so much angst in before lunch had even begun.
"I thought that we were on easy street after OWLs. I mean, wasn't this meant to be the stress-free year?"
Remus had been shipped off to the Hospital Wing already, ahead of the rest of the students, so it was only three quarters of the Gryffindor boys that were sat in one of the school carriages; vehicles that could, at best, be described as 'cosy'.
James looked absolutely sick as he stared out of the triangular window of the coach, and he had already gone through three entire packs of cigarettes since lunch, a record for him, and a sure sign that the day had gone badly. Even now the stench of cigarette smoke mingled with the outside scent of pines that passed the carriage by as it wound its way up the hill.
None of the three boys had yet recovered from Remus's earlier outburst and, more importantly, none of them had spoken to or even seen their friend since the incident.
"You better put yer fags away, Prongs. Prefects'll be 'ere soon."
Indeed, as Peter spoke, the gates into the Hogwarts grounds loomed into sight.
The leaden bars covering the opening into Hogwarts stood still in the night air, and were flanked by two large, stone pillars that emerged from the ground. Atop these pillars two huge gargoyles leered ominously down at passers-by, watching everything that went past them. Peter still shivered at the sight of them as the cold mist of the evening hung around them.
Standing like sentinels beside the pillars were two prefects, one holding a list, presumably to check names off. The two of them looked utterly disgusted at being within the company of one another. On the left was an affable seventh year Hufflepuff called Edgar Bones. He slouched against one of the pillars, looking thoroughly bored. On the other side, keeping her distance from Edgar was a toady-faced Slytherin, who held her nose in the air, and stared in contempt at her colleague. None of the three Gryffindors had seen her before, or, if they had, they did not remember her.
"Names and identity?" asked the prefect haughtily.
"Er, I'm Peter Pettigrew, but I din't know we needed iden'ity–"
"Who the fuck are you? Everyone knows us, you stupid bitch," interrupted Sirius angrily from the back of the carriage. He had been somewhat bothered by his evening being ruined by Remus's outburst, so was in a foul mood already.
The prefect raised her eyebrows, and gave a high-pitched cough. "I," she began pompously, "am Dolores Umbridge, and you have just lost your house fifty points, you ill-mannered lout."
A snarl came out of the carriage, and James stuck his head out the window, opening his mouth to say something. However, he was stopped by Edgar Bones, who lurched into action at the sign of trouble, and said in a soothing voice, "Calm it, Umbridge. I know who they are." He turned to the three boys in the carriage. "You can go through to the castle, lads. Where's Remus, though?"
"That's why we're in the rush, Ed."
"I'll catch you later, Bonesy."
The carriage rolled on through the gates of Hogwarts and up to the castle, leaving the unfortunate Hufflepuff to calm down the fuming Slytherin prefect.
"Why can't the fucking carriage hurry the fuck up?" snarled Sirius, who was getting increasingly tetchy as the pumpkin-shaped vehicle, seemingly moving of its own accord, trundled its way up to Hogwarts at an irritatingly slow pace.
Eventually, the impressive first view of Hogwarts Castle appeared before the three boys. On any normal occasion, this sight, no matter how many times it had previously been seen, would have knocked the breath out of any witch or wizard, but Sirius Black was not in any kind of mood to be impressed. He threw open the door to the carriage, and swung down from his seat, giving the side of the carriage a vicious kick as he passed, narrowly missing a flinching Peter Pettigrew, who was awkwardly making his own way to the safety of the ground.
"Piss off out of my way!" exclaimed Sirius, rudely shoving a third-year girl to the floor as he raced to the giant, oaken front doors of his school and home.
"I'm so sorry; 'e's in a bit of a mood," said Peter, making an apologetic gesture that was of little help at all, before he too scrambled up the front steps of Hogwarts, almost threatening to break into a run, such was his haste to follow his temperamental friend.
James methodically tucked his final packet of cigarettes back into his robes, before ambling towards the third-year girl, who still lay prone on the wet grass surface. He offered her a dazzling smile, helped her to her feet, and followed his friends on their quest to find Remus at his own leisurely pace, as the now-blushing girl stammered her eternal gratefulness to him.
A/N: There we go; second chapter! I'll be editing it, because I thought that the Marauders' argument at the start was very poorly written, but I just couldn't get it to sit right.
Thanks to those who have read through my nonsense. Feel free to comment on/ praise/ tear to pieces, and please point out any spelling or grammar errors, because I'm picky about them. :)
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