Disclaimer- Hp and co. are still in the posession of JK Rowling.
A/N- In case it is unclear, butterbeer is a nonalcoholic drink. Hope you enjoy, and PLEASE review!
Moony woke up the next morning with a teacup pig on his chest, and an odd ache in his head. He also had an odd tense feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't quite understand. He sat up and groaned as the room spun around him. He had never experienced a hangover before, but he was quite sure this was what one would feel like.
"Sirius," he mumbled through a dry throat, "why in the name of Merlin is there a pig on top of me?" But there was no one in the room other than him and Prongs. James looked even worse off than him. He was sprawled on the floor, on a pile of dirty laundry. James's only response was to utter a piteous groan.
Moony managed to get off the bed, after shoving the pig off, which gave an indignant squeal. He then tottered to the door of their common room. Lupin realized he would not be able to continue, if he didn't clear away his headache, and looked about for his wand. It was nowhere to be found.
"Where is my wand?" Lupin inquired a note of panic in his voice.
"I don't know," James mumbled. He found it after digging through the scattered articles of clothing, in the corner. It was oddly enough under a tablecloth, which appeared to have been taken from the Three Broomsticks.
"Renervate," Moony said, performing the charm that quickly cleared him of his aching head. What in the world had happened last night?
He walked into the common room, and saw what appeared to be the leftover trash from a massive party. Then it all came flooding back.
"Lupin? Are you quite sure that this was your doing?" McGonagall had inquired after Moony had taken the blame for the stolen potions ingredients. Remus knew it was the only way that this would end in no one being expelled, and had kept his resolve.
"Yes Professor. I'm so sorry about that. I hate to burden you and Slughorn with my-"he paused and looked at Snape, "illness. I just wanted to find some way to make it more bearable. I'm truly sorry." Dumbledore seemed a bit pleased for some odd reason, but Professor McGonagall looked extremely upset.
Sirius looked like he wanted to throttle Severus, who was snickering quietly behind them. Wormtail seemed relieved that he wasn't going to be in trouble, and James was frowning at Lupin, trying to convey that he should stop lying. It was in vain though, because Lupin would do anything to make sure that his friends weren't expelled.
"This is very serious Remus!" McGonagall said, her face worried. Dumbledore spoke from behind her,
"Severus, perhaps it would be best if you went back to your dormitory. The situation will be handled." Snape seemed loathe to leave the room, presumably because he wanted to see them all punished. He curtly nodded, and left the, banging the door behind him.
"Remus, I know that you were not doing this to be bad, but it could have ended disastrously." McGonagall paused, and looked pointedly at the three Marauders other than Moony.
"It's all right Professor," he assured her, "they already know everything." She shook her head in a sort of exasperated manner, and continued.
"Many people have tried taking various potions or assorted remedies during their transformation, but it always has a bad effect. It seems for some reason to help the wolf and not the person. It doesn't help them keep their wits, but aids them in hunting as a mindless wolf. Once someone tried to take a potion that would give them a clear mind when they were a werewolf, in an attempt to be able to keep their human mind. Instead, they only became a smarter wolf that hunted humans with an eerie precision. Quinten Barnes, an accomplished potions brewer and werewolf, once tried to take Felix Felicis when he transformed. The luck potion only made the wolf incredibly lucky. Imagine a wolf that when they started hunting, never failed to kill whoever they stalked. Many muggles were killed, and in the end he was killed by a muggle hunter. It was a disaster. So you see that it is never a good idea to experiment with something dangerous, when you are uncertain of the effect."
Moony hung his head, and attempted to appear very remorseful.
Lupin actually had considered trying to find something that would cure him, or at least would have made the transformations not painful. He was very glad now that he hadn't. McGonagall then continued talking.
"We knew it was risky to take a young dangerous werewolf in, but Dumbledore convinced the staff it would be entirely harmless." Dumbledore smiled kindly at Lupin from behind Professor McGonagall.
"I still have complete faith in you," he said, his eyes twinkling from down his crooked nose.
"Be that as it may," McGonagall said, keeping up full stream, "you could have potentially danger the student population. Normally that would consist of expulsion-"Moony looked up, his eyes wide and startled.
"Professor?" he gasped.
"As I was saying, would normally, but since you were unaware of the danger, you shan't be expelled. You did convince you friends to steal illegal potions supplies for you, though I have no idea how they would help your condition." She still hadn't said what was stolen, and Lupin was burning with curiosity. If there was only some way he could get her to say what was stolen. She seemed to doubt his story though, and was perhaps trying to trick him into revealing it wasn't his plan, by his ignorance.
Wormtail was fidgeting in the corner, and James and Sirius actually appeared a bit bored. They had both looked up shocked when McGonagall had mentioned Lupin being expelled, but were now no longer really listening.
"We planted the Whomping Willow on the grounds as means to get you out of range of the castle. If you took any potions, it could aide you in escaping, and potentially killing students, or residents of Hogsmeade. From this point on, you will have to be monitored to ensure the safety of the students." Dumbledore frowned at that, and finally entered the discussion.
"Minerva, I trust Remus completely. I find that unnecessary. It would be more prudent to just explain to him the dangers in length, and trust him."
"Albus," she said turning to him, "With all due respect, I must disagree. One of my cousins was killed by a werewolf; I want to make sure that Remus doesn't slip out and injure or kill a student. I know he is very responsible, but I don't want anything to happen. It's better safe than sorry." The four Marauders glanced at each other. That was news to them. Sirius seemed to be trying to tell Lupin something, but he only made it seem like he was trying to get his eyebrows to jump off his face. Moony looked confused, and Sirius tried to motion even harder, while Dumbledore and McGonagall argued behind them.
After length, Lupin had deciphered that Sirius wanted to get out of there. Or, well, at least that's what Lupin thought he meant. After a length of time, Moony realized that Professor McGonagall was trying to get their attention.
"Boys!" she said loudly. They all turned to her. "For the time being we are unable to agree on the 'results' of this incident, so you are to return to your dormitories."
Sirius was unable to hold back a grin, and dashed out the door before the rest of them. The office had gotten stuffy during their time in it, and the cool air felt good. James was grinning broadly.
"Thanks Moony mate, you really are the best friend ever!"
"Hey!" Sirius shouted, sounding falsely offended.
It was dark outside already, because it grew dark very early in the summer. Even though it was probably only 6:30, it felt to be around ten. Padfoot seemed euphoric that he hadn't gotten in trouble, and was idiotically skipping down the hallway.
"You know what?" Sirius asked them, and then continued without giving them a chance to answer. "We should go to Hogsmeade. They'll be in there arguing for forever. No one's going to check to see where we are!" James hesitated, and then agreed.
"Screw this, of course we should!" he said enthusiastically. Prongs of course just happened to have the Marauders Map in his pocket, but the boys knew the castle so well by now, they didn't really need it. In their giddy excitement at not being expelled, no one thought to bring the cloak of invisibility that James owned.
They wandered up the dark empty stone hallways, until they came to the statue of the one eyed witch on the third floor. They tapped her hump, and a passage opened up. Laughing and talking in hushed whispers, they walked rapidly down the long passage, until they reached a cul-de-sac. Above their heads was a wooden floor, and a trap door. It led into the storage room of Honeydukes.
Luckily the store was closed early on a Saturday. They hoisted themselves up through the door, an out of the store, quietly using an unlocking spell on the doors. Sirius swiped some chocolate frogs while they were in there, but Lupin was too happy to be out to care. Normally he made them all leave money behind if they took some of the treats sold there.
The streets of Hogsmeade were quiet, with only a few stragglers out. James picked the Three Broomsticks to enter, who didn't really care if you were there when you weren't supposed to as long as you paid. They ordered butterbeers, and celebrated once more escaping punishment, for they all knew Dumbledore would make sure that they weren't reprimanded. Everything was clear to Lupin, until he'd drunk his tenth butterbeer.
Lupin walked down the steps, and stood on the common room floor. He spotted Sirius asleep on one of the sofas by the fire. Wormtail was still nowhere in sight.
"Oi Sirius!" Lupin exclaimed. "Wake up? What happened last night?" Prongs sat up groggily, but didn't seem as effected as James and Lupin. Sirius was addicted to butterbeer, and drank it much more often than the boys. Butterbeer was good in moderation, but if dranken in large quantities caused extreme sugar rushes.
Sirius just appeared more tired.
"Hmmmm?" he asked. Moony threw a pillow at him.
"Alright, alright I'm awake!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Where is Wormtail?" Lupin asked concerned.
"Wormtail is a big, fat pig," Sirius mumbled.
"I know! But where is he?" Lupin asked.
"He is literally a pig! I think it was James who transformed. Wouldn't stop talking once he was hyper," Sirius laughed. Lupin just shook his head. He did remember something of the sort.
Wormtail had been talking about how hard it was to be a rat or something very confusing. James and Sirius both had glared at him for some odd reason, but Wormtail kept on talking about some 'transformation' or something. James had finally and exasperatedly just turned him into a pig. That explained the pig that was sitting on Lupin when he awoke. He had probably been trying to wake him.
There had been a party in the common room, Lupin remembered. They had all left the pub rather crazy, and gotten back narrowly avoiding Filch. Filch constantly was monitoring the halls, and had it out for the four Marauders.
Sirius had decided he was hungry in the common room, and had summoned the kitchen house elves and begged for a feast. They had more than willingly obliged, and brought up a banquet. They had been quite a bit loud, and eventually many students had come out of their dorms, to join the party. After all, it was a Saturday, and a party in the Gryffindor Common room wasn't very uncommon at all.
At some point Lily Evans and her friends had entered the room, all clad in their pajamas, quelling the rumors that the Gryffindor girls slept in scandalous attire. They had told them all in a rather impolite manner, to keep it down.
James had then come up to her, and in an in attempt to impress her, dumped a glass of pumpkin juice down her shirt. He had been drunkenly trying to juggle a few glasses of it. She was utterly furious, and had screeched at him, then stormed up to her dorm. James had then behaved like a baby for the rest of the night, explaining his condition upstairs.
It still didn't explain why there was a table cloth upstairs too, but right now Lupin didn't care.
He was going to take a nap.