He thinks, The Force is strong in my family.
Or,
How an old bet is settled and a new generation is introduced to Star Wars.

A dreary afternoon in August saw Sirius and Remus sitting together in silence, Firewhiskey in both their hands. Remus, swirling his glass and staring at the contents, snorted suddenly. Sirius lazily looked over at him, gulping down his own Firewhiskey. "What?"

"You won the bet."

Sirius leaned back, propping his feet up on an ugly coffee table he'd always hated. "I won a lot of bets, Moony. Be specific. Which one do you mean? The McGonagall Bet of '73, when I knew what she was going to put on the exam, the many bets on who was being asked to Hogsmeade, the Great Bet of '77, when I brilliantly predicted when Lily and James were getting married -"

"The Star Wars bet."

Sirius sat up so fast his back made a protesting noise and his Firewhiskey sloshed in his glass. "Luke and Leia are -?"

Remus nodded.

"No, Moony, that's a spoiler! Oh, I wish I could've watched it! How dare you, Moony? I thought we'd never spoil anything for each other, I can't believe you would do this…."

The corner of Remus' mouth twitched. Before he could say anything, a head with messy black hair poked from around the door. "Is everything alright here? I heard shouting - Sirius, what happened?"

"Blasphemy, Harry, that's what has happened!" Sirius cried, slamming his glass onto the table and pointing at Remus, whose shoulders were shaking silently. Harry jumped back, startled at his godfather's outburst. "Moony here thought that it would be a good idea to spoil the last Star Wars movie and -" He let out a wordless scream before collapsing onto the cushions, covering his face with his hands.

"Er, I don't -" Harry said, looking alarmed as he watched Sirius proceed to sit up and continue yelling at Remus, who had abandoned all pretenses of subtlety and was laughing loudly. "Are you talking about those space films?"

Sirius stopped shouting abruptly, and turned to stare at Harry with a gobsmacked expression on his face. Remus, too, stopped laughing, and simply stared at Harry. The teenager shifted uncomfortably as he took in their expressions. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You don't know what Star Wars is?" Sirius asked in a devastated voice. Remus just looked sad, all traces of merriment erased from his face.

"Well, isn't it a series about adventures in space?" Harry asked, confused. "I've never seen it, though. The Dursleys thought it was a 'bad influence', that I would 'get ideas' and never let me watch it."

The two Marauders exchanged looks that spoke volumes, while Harry got more uncomfortable. "Why do you know about Star Wars anyway? You're a pureblood, Sirius, and Star Wars is a Muggle movie."

"We loved those movies," Remus said softly. Harry stopped talking, eyes widening as he realised who 'we' was. He slowly walked over and sat down opposite the two, silently begging them to continue.

"Lily took us to watch it," Sirius continued, smiling softly at the memory. "We knew about movies, of course, but we never would've gone for this if it weren't for her. We couldn't get enough of the story, you know? Parts of it reminded us of our own war, and we saw ourselves in the heroes. All of us watched the second one together as well. Your mum and dad, the two of us, and -" He cut himself off, swallowing audibly.

"And Peter," Remus said, calmly. Sirius shot him a look. "No point pretending he wasn't there. He was our friend."

"He was a traitor."

"That was after." He raised a hand to stop Sirius' words. "I'm not saying that his betrayal was justified. I'm just saying that what he did during the war shouldn't erase the good years."

"I'll tell you what he did with what could've been good years-"

"I know what he did, but-" a sigh. "Just, don't avoid his name. We can say 'Voldemort' but not 'Peter'?"

A tense silence. Sirius stared moodily into his glass, then sighed.

"You - you were saying my mum took you to watch Star Wars?" ventured Harry, desperate to know more and desperate to break the tension.

It worked. Both men relaxed into nostalgic smiles.

"Your mum was the best," Sirius said, a beam lighting up his face. "She was so excited when she told us she was going to take us to watch it, and both Lily and James were so excited to show these movies to you."

Harry face shone like a child's, as it always did when he was told something about his parents.

"Anyway, we wanted to watch the third one together as well, but it came out in '83."

Remus and Sirius both looked down, and Harry's smile dropped at the reminder of everything that had happened.

"If things had turned out differently, you would have been right with us. Like I told you, your parents always wanted to introduce you to Star Wars."

Harry looked at the floor, scuffing his sneaker on the grubby carpet. "I didn't know Mum and Dad liked it so much. If I had - I dunno, maybe I would've tried harder to watch it." He looked up at them. "Did Aunt Petunia know?"

"She may have. Lily… well, she tried hard to reconcile with Petunia. Maybe she thought mentioning something Muggle she liked would help."

"I bet that nasty old toad turned her nose up at that," Sirius muttered bitterly. "She must've been disgusted by the Force. Probably thought that of course the only film Lily talked about had magic in it. Decided not to show you anything her 'freak of a sister' liked."

That hadn't occurred to Remus, but Harry didn't look surprised. He nodded as if in understanding. It made Remus clench his fists. Then he remembered something and began to smile.

"Padfoot," he started, smiling at his old friend. Sirius' eyes narrowed. Harry didn't know that smile but Sirius most certainly did. It was the classic I-look-innocent-but-I'm-planning-something smile that Remus had perfected in third year, and it had fooled even the great Minerva McGonagall.

"Moony," Sirius returned cautiously. Harry glanced between them, eyebrows raised above the rims of his glasses.

"Have you ever been in the presence of a VCR?"

"Are you mad? They were bloody expensive, no I haven't -" Sirius stopped. "No."

"Yes."

"You -"

"It's been almost fifteen years, the price has gone down."

"And did you -"

"First things I bought."

"Moony!" Sirius laughed delightedly and picked up his discarded glass in a toast, then downed the entire glass.

"Hang on," Harry said hesitantly, glancing between the two adults. "What is this about VCRs?"

"Remus here is a genius," Sirius said, patting Harry on the shoulder, smiling from ear to ear.

"Not a genius, I just love Star Wars," Remus said, smirking over the lip of his glass.

"He has the VCRs of all three movies!" Sirius shouted, putting his glass down and almost tackling Remus in a hug. "I knew we taught you well!"

"You didn't teach me, if anything, Lily was the one who-"

"But wait, does this mean..?" Harry interrupted as understanding and excitement slowly dawned on his face.

"It's time you were introduced to our legacy," Remus smiled.

And so Mr Moony and Prongs Jr. take Padfoot for a walk to Mr. Moony's house.

"Sirius, did I mention that George Lucas announced he's working on a new Star Wars movie?" Remus asks almost casually as he put in the VCR. Sirius, who is taking a drink of water ("I need to be sober for this momentous occasion!"), chokes.

"Are you…" he splutters, "trying...to kill me?" He waves off Harry, who is uncertainly pounding a fist on his back.

Remus widens his eyes innocently. "Oh, I wouldn't dare."

"Oh yeah, I think I heard that too!" Harry says, eager to add to the conversation. Sirius turns to Harry with a deeply betrayed look on his face, and Harry shrugs, as if to say but I did hear it, and how was I supposed to know to tell you? (The minute Sirius looks away, though, Remus and Harry exchange a mischievous and triumphant grin.)

Sirius takes a deep gulp of air, turns pointedly away from Harry, then draws himself upright and points a steady finger at Remus. "You do not treat important information about Star Wars with anywhere near the level of casualness that you have been employing today."

"I'm sorry," Remus says, his tone contrite and his expression anything but. "But your reactions are always a thing of joy."

The only response he gets for this pathetic excuse for an apology is a muttered string of French, which completely goes over Harry's head but makes Remus grin like Harry hasn't ever seen.

"There is a child here, Sirius, mind your language."

"Shut up, Moony, and start the bloody film." Sirius collapses onto Remus' threadbare couch with all the drama of his twenty-year-old-Han-Solo-grieved self and gestures Harry to come over.

Godfather and godson occupy the couch as Remus kneels in front of the old telly to start the film.

"My young Padawan," Sirius begins, addressing Harry, "you are about to experience magic unlike anything you've seen before."

"I dunno, Sirius," the boy deadpans, "I go to a magic school."

"You jest, child, but this is a different type of magic entirely." Sirius pauses dramatically. "The magic...of cinema."

"You sound like Hermione."

"That's because he's using big words to be dramatic. Quite common. Especially about Star Wars."

"Moony!"

"But watching Star Wars for the first time is an experience, Harry. Just keep your mind open." Remus fiddles with some wires. "I hope you don't know any spoilers."

"I don't know anything about it," Harry assures him.

"Ah, it's about to start. Sirius, take a few deep breaths. We're starting him from A New Hope."

Sirius doesn't bother snarking back. He inhales deeply, and then clasps Harry's shoulder. "You will be pulled in from the beginning. From the first words on the screen. From the opening mu - OH IT'S STARTING!"

Remus settles into an armchair as blue words appear on the dark screen -

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…

Sirius and Remus delighted in watching the first two movies with their eyes focused on Harry. Having seen the movies themselves, they took joy in watching Harry's wonder rather than the scenes they'd already watched and known by heart. They laughed when the Millennium Falcon first arrived on the screen, cried when Obi-Wan died, and celebrated the movie with their only heir.

When Remus sits down after putting on the third one, Sirius' attention abruptly shifts. Side by side with Harry, he watches raptly as the music begins and the opening crawl scrolls up the screen.

It had broken Remus' heart to watch Return of the Jedi alone, but he did it - three friends dead and one in prison, what use is it to wait? This is the first time he's watching it with people, with Sirius and Harry, James-and-Lily-combined, and he wants to see how they react.

Sirius laughs out loud and turns a smug grin in Remus' direction, which he steadfastly ignores as Luke was revealed to be Leia's twin.

"Pay up, Moony," comes a soft whisper, barely audible over Harry's gasp, and is abruptly shushed by an enamoured Harry.

Godfather and godson cry together as Darth Vader defeats the Emperor, saving Luke and sacrificing his life in the process. Darth Vader is like no one they know, but this act too closely mirrors a personal tragedy, and Harry looks especially affected.

The lights of a celebratory bonfire on the telly screen flicker over their faces, illuminating tear tracks on Sirius' gaunt cheekbones, reflecting in Harry's James-like glasses and shining Lily-like eyes, and Remus' heart swells as he thinks, the Force is strong in my family.