It was during one of these "days after" in their fourth year that The Marauders came across the aspect of Muggle culture that united them all: The Beatles. Remus had set up Magical Mystery Tour on his record player and was perusing a copy of Strange Tales 130 as his friends barged in per usual and set up camp, keeping Remus entertained and stealing copious amounts of his breakfast while doing so.
As Peter looked over his Divination notes and wondered aloud if "die by your own hand" was going to prove much more than a clever metaphor, Sirius peeked over Remus' shoulder and saw four characters who looked very familiar to him.
"Hey!" he shouted, pointing his finger at the page so rapidly his elbow knocked Remus in the nose again, causing it to bleed once again. "I know those blokes! They were the vultures in The Jungle Book!"
"Episkey! What are you going on about, Sirius?" James asked, mending his friend's nose with a lazy flick of his wand and raising his eyebrow in confusion.
"There are these things Muggles make called "motion pictures-" Sirius began tentatively.
"So, they found a way to make pictures move like we have?" Peter suggested.
"Oh no, no, not like we have!" Sirius said earnestly. "They fixed it so they can make the camera show pictures moving for about an hour or so -"
"Yeah! I think you told me about those, mate." James said, snapping his fingers and nodding encouragingly. "They're called...moovees, right, like tellys but bigger?"
"Yeah, those are the ones!" Sirius exclaimed, bouncing on Remus' bed as he did. "Quite incredible, wish I knew how they did it... Anyway, the one I saw, The Jungle Book, Mowgli is - is in the - the jungle and - um - Peter, why are you raising your hand?"
"Uh, Sirius?" Peter asked, putting his hand to his side.
"What is it now?" Sirius responded, he was starting to get very cross now with his friends continually interrupting him.
"It's just… that doesn't make much sense, if it's a...a... moovee as you say, then how come it's called "book?" Peter interrupted.
"Yeah, Wormtail has a point." James agreed.
"While I'm as fond of Wolfgang Reitherman's take of Mr. Kipling as anyone, I liked the way they did Bagheera a lot, he in particular in his relationships with Mowgli and Baloo were very well handled-"
"Yeah, I'll bet you liked that big ol' square, didn't you?" Sirius teased. "How anyone could watch that movie and not come to the conclusion that Baloo is the best fictional character of all time is beyond me, personally, Phil Harris is the man…"
"But I agree with Wormtail, logically, shouldn't the film be called "The Jungle Movie"? Remus questioned, pretending to ignore Sirius as usual when Sirius got a little too big for his britches. "I think it was done to tie in more neatly with the novel itself (and opening the film with the literal opening of a book suggests this), but do you have any theories as to why this might be?"
"Well, you see, that's not really here or - you know what, what say we table this argument for another time?" Sirius suggested.
"Agreed." James nodded in his friend's direction. "All in favor, say Snape...just sucks."
"Snape...just sucks." the four boys chanted. Madame Pomfrey either didn't hear them, or didn't care.
"Anyway, as I was saying, the kid, Mowgli, is walking along the jungle," Sirius continued. "And he sees these four vultures who look an awful lot like those mop-tops in Remus' book. They sing a song, help 'im and fight Shere Khan the tiger, that sort of thing. My question is, why is this? Was the movie so popular an actual band was created to capitalize on the characters?"
"Oh no, those characters from the movie, and their presence in this comic, were made with the likeness of these guys in order to capitalize on the success of the band." Remus explained. "They're this Muggle band called "The Beatles," they were really popular about ten years ago. I'm playing one of their albums now."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, this one's pretty cool!" James said, indicating the record with his thumb, which was currently in the middle of playing Blue Jay Way. "Very… weird, very melancholy, but I like the weird and I like the melancholy. They got anything more upbeat?"
"Yes, they do!" Remus said. "Tell you what - when I leave this weeked to go home, I'll leave my my Beatles albums behind, so you three can educate yourself on Beatlemania. I've got them all, Abbey Road, Past Masters, The White Album, Rubber Soul, Let It Be, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band -"
"HA! Sorry, repeat that again?" Sirius chuckled. "I dunno, Moony, sounds kinda goofy to me."
"Just listen to it!" Remus insisted. "It'll change your lives. Guaranteed. Tell you what, you don't like it I'll lick the in-between of Wormtail's toes."
"Deal!" Peter said immediately, grinning from ear to ear, and shook Remus' hand viciously.
"Ok, can we talk about how quick he was to agree to that?" James suggested.
Peter blushed furiously.