Year 7
1977
Late September
Remus rolled over with a groan. He could feel the full moon, only a day away, in every joint, fiber of muscle, and hair follicle. Peter's Muggle alarm clock, which his mother had spelled to work within Hogwarts, was making a horrific beeping noise. James ripped open his curtains and stumbled to the bathroom. As usual, there was no movement behind the curtains of Sirius's bed. Remus groped around on the floor for the thick wool socks that he always tossed there before falling asleep. He cast a light warming charm on them and slipped them on, struggling to remain under his blankets for as long as possible.
"Peter! Turn that fucking thing off." James grumbled, upon his return from the bathroom.
Peter's stubby fingers scrambled around on his nightstand for his wand and he cast a hasty silencing charm at the alarm. Remus, deciding it was worth braving the cold world outside his bed sheets for the promise of a hot shower, did his best to hobble as quickly as possible to the bathroom. He grabbed his towel, which was the only one hanging up neatly (the other boys dropped theirs in most heaps on the ground under the bathroom sink, something Remus found utterly repulsive) and shut the door behind him. He had left his wand on his nightstand and had to fiddle with the shower knobs by hand until he got the water to the right temperature. More importantly, no wand meant no warming charm on his towel and no drying charm on his hair.
Moony was lathering his almost-too-long hair (a nice eucalyptus scented shampoo, of course) when the door creaked open and Sirius stumbled into the bathroom. Remus was not bothered by this. The four boys had a carefully constructed morning routine that always included Sirius blindly stumbling about and knocking over James's cologne collection as he searched for his toothbrush.
Remus reached for his towel and turned the water off. He scurried from the damp shower to the sink with his towel around his waist. His muscles, which had temporarily found relief under the stream of hot water, began to tense and ache as soon as Remus stepped into the cooler air.
Sometimes Padfoot would still be preening in front of the mirror when Remus came to grab his purple toothbrush, other days he would already have returned to the dorm room. Today however, he disrupted the schedule and began stripping out of his pajamas.
"Left any hot water?" he asked Remus, covertly eyeing his friend's back as he stepped into the shower stall.
The little drops of water from Remus's hair were dripping down his spine, halting just after two little dimples above the towel. Soaked up forever. Remus mumbled the affirmative through a mouthful of foamy toothpaste. Their eyes locked in the mirror for a moment and he could have sworn he saw Sirius wink at him. Remus spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth as he heard Sirius step under the water.
"Are you singing ABBA?" Remus asked incredulously.
"You are a dancing queen! Young and sweet, only seventeen!" Sirius pulled back a portion of the curtain and flung some soap suds at Remus's face.
There was, Remus noted, an abundance of soap suds. Half of Sirius's face was covered with them. His hair was white and fluffy and there were trails of the iridescent bubbles oozing slowly down his friends chest. Remus found himself distracted by one particular river which seemed determined to drip straight down the middle, cutting a foamy line on Sirius's lovely chest, and, he imagined, across the plane of his stomach, further down... Remus blinked and looked back up at Sirius's face.
"Are you washing your beard?"
"Yep!" Sirius cried triumphantly, slapping the sides of his face.
"Padfoot, you don't have a beard."
"You can daaaaance! You can jiiiiive! Having the time of your life! Ohhhh!"
Remus fled the bathroom.
James was struggling to put his shoes on the wrong feet and Remus was greeted with Peter's pale flabby back as he shimmied into his school trousers. It was, he decided, quite a normal Monday after all.
"I'm going to meet Lily in the Great Hall." James announced, nervously rubbing the back of his head so that the hair stood up in frightening disarray.
"Oh, Prongsie, have you and Evans got a breakfast date?" Sirius teased from the bathroom door.
"We have to plan the prefect's meeting and our free periods are different. Plus with Quidditch and all the tutoring she does, this was the only option."
"Well, don't have too much fun now." Sirius said, patting his friend's cheek with a smirk.
"It's a planning meeting, Sirius."
"Yes, we know, we know."
"Cheers, then." James said as he strode out of the room.
"He doesn't even react when I bait him about Evans anymore. I'm worried about him. We need to do something." Sirius frowned across the room at Remus and Peter.
"What can we do?" Peter asked in defeat. He shrugged on his black school robes and combed his fingers through his fine blonde hair.
"Don't look at me!" Remus said, throwing both hands up and shaking his head as the other two rounded on him.
"Come on, Moony. You've got to have an idea!" Peter pushed.
"I don't. Honestly." All three friends lowered there eyes and contemplated the problem of their grieving friend. Sirius's stomach rumbled loudly after a few short seconds.
"Er, mind if we brainstorm in the Great Hall? I'm absolutely starving."
"How you're even hungry, I can't understand. How many chocolate frogs did you eat last night?" Remus asked him. The three grabbed their school bags and plodded down the stairs.
"Not as many as you, you chocolate fiend."
"I don't know, Sirius. I think you might have eaten more than Moony last night…" Peter was a step behind the others, already happily contemplating which jam he would use for his toast this morning.
"Impossible!" Sirius shouted.
"Do you think they'll have raspberry jam this morning?" Remus asked aloud. Peter grinned broadly; happy to see he wasn't the only one already planning his meal.
"Oi, Evans! What're you doing here, don't you and James have a meeting?" Sirius shouted across the common room once the three Marauders arrived at the bottom of their staircase.
Lily Evans was seated in her usual spot, a window seat near the fireplace, and was already pouring through a textbook. Remus thought it might be the charms text, judging by its purple binding.
"Um. No?"
The three friends traded serious looks and Peter ran up the stairs claiming to have forgotten something. He returned after a minute, completely breathless.
"It's gone." His blue eyes were wide with panic (and exertion, poor guy hadn't run up any stairs in quite some time) as he regarded Sirius and Remus.
"Let's start in the Great Hall, take a quick look. Then we'll split up. We have to hurry because our first class is Transfiguration and McGonagall will be livid if we're all late." Remus spoke in hushed tones to Peter and Sirius.
The three boys were huddled together and Lily regarded them with suspicion.
"Was the cloak missing as well?" Sirius prodded Peter with his finger in the boy's shoulder. He nodded emphatically.
"We might not find him then." Sirius said with a sigh.
"Come on." Remus said, ignoring his friend's pessimism.
Moony, Wormtail, and Padfoot hustled to the Great Hall, knocking down a poor first-year Ravenclaw in their rush.
"Sorry!" Peter cried hurriedly over his shoulder as his friends sped up, threatening to leave him behind.
"Nothing." Sirius said through a full slice of toast a few moments later as they stood at the end of the Gryffindor table. He, Peter, and Remus were grabbing as many slices of toast and pieces of bacon as possible while their eyes carefully scanned the hall for James.
"Split up, then. Peter, Room of Requirement. I'll take a quick look by the lake. Remus, Astronomy Tower or Owlery?"
"Owlery." Peter said sternly, cutting Remus off.
"Right. Break!" Sirius shouted, dashing through the doors without glancing to see if the others were following him.
"Meet us outside the Transfiguration classroom, don't be late, Peter!" Remus scuttled off in the direction of the West Tower.
Really, James could have gone to hide anywhere, the castle was huge and the Marauders had of course spent the last six years trying to find as many nooks and crannies for hiding as possible. Without the map it was highly unlikely they would find James, unless he wanted to be found. Remus seriously doubted that. He was trying to hustle up the stairs, but his body was too sore and tired with the oncoming transformation and he found himself pausing every five steps to take a deep breath. When he reached the top of the tower he glanced around. There was no sign of Prongs, but he noticed the young first year girl from last night sitting on the window-ledge with a piece of parchment in her hands.
"Um, you really shouldn't sit like that. You might fall."
"I'm not going to fall." She said sharply, glaring at him. Remus felt bad, as he had clearly startled her. A fat tear slipped down her right cheek and he felt his chest tighten as he looked down at the paper in her hand closely. His heart thudded violently when he saw the barest hint of a purple seal.
"What are you holding?" he asked anxiously. She flung it across the room at him. The parchment, heavy as it was with wax only fluttered halfway and landed among the hay and owl droppings on the floor.
Remus stooped down and picked it up carefully.
Miss Carrie Wittrow,
I regret to inform you that earlier this morning your parents were found dead in their home. An investigation is on-going but all current evidence points to foul-play and possibly murder. You will be contacted soon with more information.
As a student of Hogwarts I urge you to speak with your Head of House immediately. Professor McGonagall has been notified and will have more information for you.
I am sorry for your loss and wish you the very best for your new school year.
Signed,
Frank Longbottom
Auror
Remus let the letter fall once more to the ground and stepped forward towards the girl.
"Carrie? If you follow me I can bring you to Professor McGonagall." He held out his hand and noticed it was shaking. How dare they, he thought to himself, how dare they ruin this girl's life.
She stood, shockingly obedient and lucid after receiving such news, and held tightly to Remus's hand. She grabbed the letter from the ground and held it carefully in her free hand. She was squeezing so hard that Remus thought she might meld the bones of his fingers together.
"Quite the grip you've got there. I'm sure you'd never drop your wand in a fight." Remus said awkwardly as the pair descended the stairs.
Remus felt a headache coming on as he thought about James's father and now the family of this scrappy little first-year.
"Do you think my parents got my letter?" She asked him, seeming to ignore Remus's comment.
"I'm not sure." Remus said quietly.
"I'm going to kill them one day. The people who did this."
Remus was taken aback by her matter-of-fact statement and couldn't bring himself to say anything else as he led the girl to the Transfiguration classroom. A quick glance at his watch told him they had two minutes until class started. That meant McGonagall would be in front of the blackboard writing out the plan for that morning's class. Sirius and Peter weren't waiting for him outside, but Remus found them seated near James when he entered the class. He frowned in confusion at the seating arrangement. James was sharing a table with Lily in the first row, while Sirius and Peter sat behind them.
"Ah, Mr. Lupin, I see you've found Ms. Wittrow. Thank you." She took the girls hand and, Remus was amazed, smiled down at her softly.
"Copy the notes on the board and begin reading Chapter 3. I shall return in half an hour. I trust you all to act like the adults you are in my absence."
McGonagall led the girl from the room with a quick glance at Sirius and Peter. She was not smiling at the seventh years.
"Who was that, Remus?" Lily asked, leaning back to look around James as Remus sat at the empty table across the aisle.
"She's a first year, I found her in the Owlery reading a letter from the Aurors. Her parents have been murdered."
"Isn't that the same one who sent a letter to her parents last night letting them know she'd been sorted into Gryffindor?" Sirius asked quickly.
"Why would they send a letter like that to such a young girl?" Lily asked. There were lines of confusion and sadness on her pale face.
Remus closed his eyes and placed his face in his hands.
"What is it, Moony?" Sirius asked standing and coming to sit in the seat next to him.
"Her sister was an auror. She was murdered this summer. So I'd guess that little first-year is the only one of her family who is even still alive."
"Oh." Lily said breathlessly, clearly expressing just how speechless they all were at the moment. Sirius looked down at his hands and picked nervously at his nails, a large frown on his face.
"Things are moving too quickly." Peter said softly, anxiously glancing up at Remus who nodded in agreement.
"Yes, Pete. Yes, they are." James said suddenly, patting his friend on the shoulder. "We can't do anything about it at the moment though, so we might as well copy down Minnie's notes and do like she asked."
"Potter are you ill?" Lily asked, trying to joke with him.
"Yeah, Lils. I'm sick of people being murdered. But I can't go and start killing Death Eaters, now can I? Dumbledore made me Head Boy, which means he wants me stuck in this bloody castle for another year. I might as well try and learn while I'm here."
Lily didn't even berate him for using her nickname, she was in such shock at his response, and turned to copy the notes on the board. Everyone else did the same, even the Ravenclaws who had been eavesdropping. All of them were feeling guilty for being there when that girl's parents were cold and dead.
The N.E.W.T level Transfiguration class was a mix of students from all houses. McGonagall had very high requirements for her course since it was a requirement of some of the most demanding professions, and limited the number of students per section to twenty. There were only fifteen students in this section of the course, and the only one from Slytherin was the infamous Severus Snape. The class worked diligently and quietly to copy the Professor's outline and there was hardly any chatter as everyone read, and in some cases re-read, Chapter Three: Introduction to Human Transformation. The Marauders were finding it extremely boring and Sirius began doodling in the margins of his textbook.
"That's quite good, Padfoot." Remus said, looking carefully at the miniature rendition of Padfoot in the glowing navy ink that Sirius preferred to use.
"Just a doodle." Sirius said with a shrug, but he smiled at Remus anyway. Remus smiled back and the two studied each other. Sirius had been replaying the image of Fred and Remus he had conjured up on the train and had found himself quite angry with the Hufflepuff boy in his head. He had been trying to work it out, and had come to the conclusion that perhaps he shouldn't talk to Remus about his flings with boys again. Did that make him homophobic? He thought to himself, panicking.
Remus, clueless to Sirius's thoughts, was looking him up and down. Repeatedly. It had been two years since Sirius had kissed his cheeks, and Remus couldn't remember anymore how it had felt when Sirius's full pink lips had brushed his skin. He hadn't forgotten it had happened, but instead he had filed it away carefully and went on convinced that Sirius had done it out of friendship. He found himself coming back to idea's of Sirius's pink lips around many a full-moon, however, when he felt more...frisky than usual. It was harder in those moments for him to ignore how attractive he found Sirius, an attraction that he felt simply made their friendship stronger.
Remus was careful with his feelings. He hadn't developed any for Fred, that was certain. There had been a seventh year Ravenclaw before Fred whom he had been very attached to. He had found it difficult to manage his growing feelings with the knowledge that the wizard would leave soon. Remus had ended their relationship over the holidays of 6th year. The older boy hadn't understood how Remus's mind worked. You see, Remus was in love with all of his friends. He would die for any one of the Marauders, for Lily, and certainly there were a few others, but those four were the most prominent. At first, he thought his love for his friends was dependent on their acceptance of him as a werewolf, but Lily had made him realize that his heart followed no logic; the love of Remus Lupin was free and independent of the need for reciprocation.
Sirius was shifting around in his seat when he noticed Remus's honey eyes dragging themselves down his face, neck, torso, stopping at the desk, and making the return trip back up. He was really very close to saying something, his mouth was slightly open, when Professor McGonagall returned.
"Black! What is the name of the spell that forcibly returns an animagus to its human form?"
"Animagus Reversal Spell." Sirius said quickly, following up with the incantation. Lily's eyebrows flew together in confusion and she frantically searched through the chapter. Remus heard James sigh heavily.
"That incantation wasn't in the chapter." McGonagall said shrewdly.
"Professor! I'm shocked you would try and trick me like that, ten points from Gryffindor!" Sirius said loudly with a smile on his face.
The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws in the class laughed at Sirius, but Remus could see his own laughter didn't go all the way to his eyes, which were guarded nervously. McGonagall had been asking the Marauders too many questions about animagi since last term.
She didn't push it further today and began lecturing. Remus loved Transfiguration, if he was honest with himself he loved all of his classes, but he felt that McGonagall was perhaps one of the best teachers at Hogwarts. Even though she lectured for the full hour and a half that was left to that period without allowing the students to take a break, the room was filled with the sound of scratching quills as the students struggled to catch everything she said. Even Sirius was doing his best to keep up with his favorite Professor. Remus snuck a look at his friend's notes and was mildly surprised to see neatly organized bullet points and charts drawn carefully.
The hourglass at the front of the room let out a soft charming noise and flipped itself back over, the sand changing from emerald green to a shinning gold.
"Everyone will prepare a two foot draft on today's lecture, in addition to using outside research including three outside texts on the Animagus transformation process. You may focus on any aspect of it that you wish. I will collect these on Wednesday! I expect it to be well researched; this should not be a repeat of what you handed me in third-year. That being said, I have given you all permission to use the restricted section for the next two days. You would do well to time yourselves in preparation for your N.E.W.T.'s in the spring." McGonagall said as everyone stuffed books and quills back into their bags.
Lily was chewing her lip in concentration as she left the room, no doubt, Remus thought, planning out her essay already.
"Off to potions, then?" Sirius asked Remus and James. "What about you, Peter? Gunna go take a nice nap before lunch?" The other Marauders were jealous of Wormtail's impressive eight free periods this year.
"No, I've got to work on that Charms essay for tomorrow and I'd like to find some of those books we used in fourth year."
"Excellent idea, Wormtail. Bring the good ones back to the dorm, will ya? You know how I hate that library." Sirius said with a bright grin to their friend.
"Sure thing, Pads. That'll cost you exactly six chocolate frogs and a bag of sugar quills." Peter said jokingly.
"You've got a deal." And the two shook on it.
Remus grinned and hurried out of the classroom after James, leaving Sirius and Peter behind for a moment.
"James! James! Wait up!" Remus shouted down the narrow hall. The second years, which apparently had transfiguration next, were crowding around and making it difficult for Remus to wade through. James was leaning against a large suit of armor when he finally made it out of the sea of un-trained wizards and witches.
"Where were you this morning? We spoke to Lily and she said you didn't have a meeting."
"I just needed a walk." James said with a shrug, the corners of his lips turning down slightly, a telltale sign he was lying.
"With the cloak and the map?" Remus pushed.
"I didn't want to be bothered." James said quietly, looking at Remus out of the corner of his eyes.
"You've never been much of a loner before." Remus accused as gently as possible.
James took a deep breath, as if searching for patience, and Remus was anxious that he might have upset the taller wizard. His friend didn't say anything though until they reached the dungeons when he saw Remus chewing his lip as he looked around at the seating arrangements.
"You can sit with Lily this time. Sorry about that, she just kind of sat down in McGonagall's classroom."
Remus wanted to argue and say that he wasn't upset about the change in seating arrangements, because honestly he didn't mind either way, but something about the serious look on James's face kept him quiet.
"Hello, Remus." Lily said brightly as the werewolf dropped his bag on the ground and took a seat on the stool next to her. He heard Sirius sit down next to James a minute later.
"Hey, Lils. What're you going to do your essay on?"
"Well, at first I was thinking I would focus on the potion aspect, but then I realized McGonagall might like that, so I tossed that idea out. I'm really interested in how the transformation is achieved without a wand though. I mean, after a witch has mastered the initial change, how does the magic linger to cause the subsequent transformations? Is it just a wandless spell? Transfiguration is so exact that I'm really curious to see how that works, ya know?" She paused to take another breath after her spiel, "What about you?"
"Not sure yet. I might write about what happens when it goes wrong. Some of the stories I read about it are quite gruesome."
"Settle down, class! Settle down!" Slughorn said happily. Remus looked around the room. To call it a class was a bit of a stretch. In addition to the four Gryffindors, there were two Ravenclaws and Snape.
"Today," Slughorn continued while rubbing his round belly through his straining orange velvet vest, "I will be allowing you to pick any potion from Chapter 6 of your text for you to brew. You have the full two hours, and if you choose something that requires a bit more time I will allow you to continue next class as well. You have five minutes to decide and begin." He clapped his hand three times, his way of letting the students know it was time to get to work.
Lily quickly turned to Remus and told him she honestly just wanted to work on something simple today.
"Sluggie will never stand for you slacking off, oh Wondrous Potions Prodigy." Remus teased, ruffling her hair.
"You're right…" Lily said, biting her lip, ignoring the way her pony-tail was now rumpled. "And if I don't have a good enough idea he'll pair me up with Severus and make us create something again. I really don't have my head on right to do that today."
"Is combining potions any better? Say, Veritaserum and something else?" Remus said quickly as the two saw Slughorn waddling over.
"And what will you be working on today Ms. Evans?" he asked exuberantly.
"I was hoping to try the Moonseed Poison and," she began but Slughorn interrupted.
"That is the same level as other poison's we brewed last term." Slughorn said, a tone of disappointment coloring his voice.
"Yes, professor, but Remus here had an idea to change it slightly by combining it with Veritaserum. We will be brewing the antidote as well. You see, you need both. So that the taker is threatened with death upon taking the Veritaserum by the Moonseed Poison, but if they answer the questions the antidote can be administered."
"Well. My… that is quite the… you two have really thought this one out." Slughorn finally sputtered, looking a little put out over what he saw as homicidal tendencies in his brightest student.
"I'll let you know if we reach any problems, Professor." Lily said with a sweet smile.
The potions Professor nodded and predictably headed towards the table of Severus, where the two sat in quiet discussion for quite some time.
"Lily," Remus began with a small, amused smile, "you do realize that I have no idea how to combine two potions like this, right?"
"Well, Lupin, you're going to learn. Its your own damn fault for suggesting it in the first place." Lily said roughly.
She spent the two hours trying to be patient as she explained the complexities of altering and creating potions.
"Come on, Remus! It's just Golpalott's Third Law!" She cried in exasperation after nearly an hour.
"Lily, I know Golpalott's Third Law, and this is not it. What you're doing is, well, it's like-"
"Magic?" she said, not amused.
Remus blushed and added the next ingredient as he carefully followed the neatly written instructions in lavender ink that Lily had given him.
"I'll keep stirring this if you go get these ingredients. They should be on the right, at the top. I can't reach that far up." Lily handed him another list, which he read back to her to make sure it was correct.
He stood up and headed carefully to the supply closet, holding his breath as he passed the cauldron of the Ravenclaws, which smelled quite putrid.
"I think it's best if we just start again," the girl was saying to the boy, patting his arm gently.
Remus found Sirius inside the supply closet, desperately searching the shelves.
"What's up, Padfoot?" he said brightly.
"Hey, mate. How's it going with Evans?"
"She decided to make her own potion, and has been trying to teach me about the very complicated and delicate art of potion-making."
Sirius snorted.
"Sounds tragic." he said honestly. Remus shrugged and pulled down one of the vials Lily had listed.
"Pads, can you reach that squiggly green one up there for me?" Remus asked the boy since he stood at least three inches taller than the werewolf.
"Yeah, no problem." Sirius said standing behind Remus and reaching up. His hand was on Remus's hip for balance, so he told himself, and the entire front of his body pressed up against Moony as he grabbed the bottle of thick viscous sludge. Remus was frozen.
This wasn't the first time in the boy's long friendship that Sirius had been extra touchy. Growing up around the other wizard, Remus was well aware that Sirius considered physical contact very important. However, that was traditionally limited to light punches, headlocks, slaps on the back, moderate tickling, and things of that nature. Gentle grasps on his hip had not ever been part of the program.
"Here you go," Sirius said, holding the bottle in front of Remus's eyes, not moving from behind Remus or taking his hand off his waist.
"Cheers, Pads." he said quietly.
"Mhmm." Sirius said as Remus turned around to face him. Remus was hoping he would get the message that he was trying to leave. Instead, he found himself confronted with the space between Sirius's mouth and the knot of his tie, their chests occasionally bumping together when they breathed in at the same time.
"Remus!" Lily shouted just as the wizard was contemplating what it would feel like to trace his lips across his friend's neck.
"Coming!" he cried back, scooting sideways and out of the closet without glancing back at Sirius.
"You're all flushed." Lily said with a giggle when he sat down. "Oh, and look, there's Black coming out of the supply closet. He looks a bit pink in the cheeks as well." She whispered this against Remus's ear, careful that no one else would hear, and Remus turned to glare at her.
"Touched a nerve, have I?" she asked with a smirk.
"Leave it, Lily." Remus said quickly.
"Fine. I'll leave it for now. But you owe me a long conversation. I've caught you two staring at each other nearly every class for the past month. Something's going on and I want to know what it is."
"Lily. Nothing, I mean, absolutely nothing, is going on there. What I feel towards Sirius is the same thing I feel about you."
Remus's statement wasn't a lie, exactly. He did love Lily and Sirius both, and he did find Lily attractive (something he once let slip to James and thus earned himself a black eye), but the witch was lacking whatever it was about Sirius that had recently caught Remus's attention. Or, re-caught rather, because if you remember, Remus's attention had been caught by Sirius when they were in their fifth year.
"I know about your twisty word games, Lupin. I won't let you wiggle yourself out of this one because of semantics. You and I are having a date this weekend, and you're going to spill." Lily was speaking quietly still as she carefully measured the green sludge, but there was a huge smile on her face as her eyes flicked up to Remus, who was blushing.
"Fine." he acquiesced hotly.
Lily's grin grew even more.
"There is one downside to you all being there during the moon." Remus said as he slipped his school tie around his neck the Wednesday morning after his transformation.
"What's that?" James asked worriedly.
"I'm hardly ever hurt badly enough to skip the next day of classes." Remus said with a grimace as his sore fingers struggled with his tie. Sirius stepped forward and helped him.
"We'll make sure to beat you up a bit more next time, Moony." Sirius teased lightly, smoothing down Remus's wrinkled school shirt.
Remus gulped as his friend's hands ran down his chest and paused slightly on his stomach, which tensed as he held his breath. Sirius looked up at him, expressionless, until they heard the Matron walking towards them.
"Mr. Lupin, here's your pepper-up potion!" Fairley said with too much enthusiasm for any of the sleepless boys to stomach.
"Thank you Ms. Fairley." he said weakly as he choked the double strength pepper-up potion down.
"Off to Transfiguration boys!" she practically sung.
Peter and James had fallen asleep but suddenly jumped awake when her off-key falsetto reached their ears.
"Ughh. How are we going to make it through two hours with Minnie?" Peter groaned loudly.
"It's okay, Petey," Sirius said slowly, just as tired as the rest, "James smuggled plenty of breakfast for all of us."
With that, James did indeed reveal the wonderful breakfast spread he had stashed in his specially enlarged robe pockets. Each of the boys took a muffin and several pieces of greasy bacon.
"I'm parched." Peter said as they walked quickly, but not too quickly as Remus's left leg was still giving a slight twinge with every other step, towards the Transfiguration classroom. Sirius pulled out a flask of pumpkin juice and the boys passed it around silently.
"I swear, if Minnie lectures all period I'm going to be snoring fifteen minutes in." Sirius confessed as they walked into the room.
"Me too." Remus agreed with a giant yawn.
"I can't believe Dumbledore doesn't let you take today off." Peter said with a slight shake of his head.
"It's N.E.W.T.'s Pete. You know I can't afford to miss a class."
"Yeah. It just doesn't seem very fair to you." Peter said miserably.
Remus ruffled his hair and smiled at the boy. Of them all, Peter was the one who had always said that it wasn't fair that Remus was a werewolf. It made Remus happy to think that his gentle friend sympathized with him so much.
The four were so tired they didn't notice all of the desks had been removed until they walked into the haphazard ring of students.
"Hello, what's this?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
"So good of you to volunteer Mr. Potter." McGonagall said from the front of the room. The other three Marauders quickly slipped from the circle and tried to melt in with their fellow students.
Lily looked at Remus and squeezed his hand mouthing, How was it? to which Remus replied with a shrug. She nodded and looked back towards where James stood, dropping his hand.
"What exactly have I volunteered for?" James said tiredly, dropping his bag on the floor.
"Well, the librarian has informed me that each and everyone of you spent time in the Restricted Section researching these papers, so I thought I would reward you all with a free period."
"We can go back to sleep?" Peter shouted happily.
"No, Mr. Pettigrew. Unfortunately, you must stay in class. But I have decided that today we will practice dueling."
Everyone around the circle whispered to each other, except for Lily and Severus, who wore identical frowns on their faces.
"Mr. Potter, you may chose your first partner and then I will explain the rules."
James carefully turned on the spot, examining his classmates, trying to decide whom to pick. In the past, he might have chosen to duel against Snape, but after the death of his father, James realized how important it was to learn as much as possible while he was here. He needed to duel with someone who's magic he wasn't as familiar with, but who he knew would be just as strong. He didn't know the skill level of the Ravenclaws, and while he knew Remus and Sirius would match, possibly even beat him, he knew their magic patterns as well as his own. That only left one option, really.
"Evans?" he offered with a quip of his lips.
"Yes, alright." she said quietly stepping forward.
"There are only two rules," Professor McGonagall began, shocking all of the students. "Do not use any Unforgiveables, and do not kill one another."
She nodded at James and Lily, who were regarding one another carefully.
"Everyone step back and have your wands at the ready in case you need to deflect any rogue spells. It is your job to protect yourself." McGonagall made eye contact with each of her students to ensure they understood.
"Very well. Evans, Potter, please step back from each other five more paces and prepare to duel on my count."
The two took careful steps back, wands already drawn, eyeing each other hungrily. Lily had lost herself already in the heady pulsing of her magic in her veins. She could feel her excitement build and knew that Potter was feeling the same.
"Three, two," McGonagall began her countdown, but before she had even finished saying 'two' both duelists had suddenly fired at one another, James a fraction behind Lily as he responded to her silent spell-casting, only being able to guess the type of spell by the quick and efficient jabs of the witch's wand.
Remus glanced quickly at McGonagall to see her reaction and was amused to see her smiling proudly at two of her very best students.
The duel was fierce and violent. Remus himself had to cast protego three times and he knew he wasn't the only one. He knew James was tired, he could see it in his eyes, but also in the way his aim was just slightly off. Evans could feel it too, he knew by the glint in her own green eyes as she took a step forward.
"Come on, Potter. You're lagging!" She goaded from across the room. James set his mouth tightly and fired a rapid succession of spells, gaining the offensive for the first time since they began dueling. Remus could tell by the few verbal spells that the pair used that their aim was not to knock the other's wand from their hand. James and Lily were in a race of endurance, a marathon that required not only stamina, but creativity and knowledge.
The three girls from Ravenclaw were cheering Lily on passionately, booing every time James landed a hit. She had a small cut on her lip and her hair was still smoking from when James had set it on fire. She had removed his glasses and managed to pin his left arm behind his back, effectively throwing him off balance.
He heard Lily shout triumphantly as she twirled her wand aggressively around her head, down her side, ending with a quick flourish at her hip, a combination of movements that Remus had never seen before. The result was easier to discern than the spell; James found himself spinning wildly in a circle. Remus looked again at McGonagall who was following the duel closely with squinted eyes. She did not look like she was going to step in. All of the students were silent, holding their breath.
"Come on, James!" Sirius shouted harshly. Everyone gasped as James's wand flew out of the cyclone. Lily grinned and lowered her wand, taking a deep breath.
Before McGonagall could say anything, Sirius had jumped in and turned towards Lily, releasing spells at the unprepared girl. As she sprouted tentacles for hands (which made it quite difficult to grasp her wand, which had suddenly become very slippery) Remus jumped in front of her, wand out as he turned on his best friend.
"So nice of you to join me, Rem." Sirius said with a dramatic bow, giving Remus the perfect shot.
He saw James stop spinning behind Sirius as Lily uttered the counter curse. She carefully walked around the ring of students, an eye on the dueling Sirius and Remus, to approach James.
Remus was lost in the exchange of flashing light and his heart was racing as he stared carefully at Sirius's face and wand arm. His friend wore a maniacal grin that Remus found rather unnerving.
"The first one to disarm the opponent receives an extra ten points on their next assignment!" McGonagall cried from behind Remus.
Sirius, not interested in his grades, ignored her and continued firing bizarre and overwhelming spells at the werewolf. Remus simply defended himself and waited. He knew Sirius would run out of spells in the next ten seconds, he knew the boy's style, and in the brief two milliseconds as Sirius regrouped he would have his chance.
There!
Remus sent a stinging hex directly at Sirius's wand-hand, followed immediately by a tripping hex. As his friend yelled sharply and fell forward, he silently lifted him into the air and floated him up towards the ceiling of the room.
Sirius, now wandless, wiggled helplessly in midair.
"Put me down, Remus!" Sirius shouted.
"Make him, Mr. Black!" McGonagall challenged, placing a hand on Remus's wand-arm.
Sirius crumpled his face in concentration, whispering furiously and the whole room watched as he struggled with the wandless magic.
"Agh!" Remus shouted suddenly, losing his concentration as he felt sardines pouring out of his nose. Sirius, unable to concentrate enough on a complicated counter charm, had reverted to a third-year hex. He smirked charmingly at his friend from the ceiling and wiggled his fingers in a wave. Remus muttered the counter-spell and lowered Sirius to the floor, much to McGonagall's disappointment.
"Ms. Bones and Ms. Jasper, you're up." McGonagall said immediately as Sirius collected his wand and stumbled towards Remus.
"Good one, Rem!" he said, slinging his arm around Moony's shoulder. The two turned to watch the Ravenclaws duel. Sirius was pleasantly surprised to find both girls were quite good.
"What do you think? Could we talk to them?" he whispered to Remus.
"Bones, yes. We revised for Muggle Studies together last year and I know she's not into blood purity. I don't know Jasper." Remus whispered back. He was very aware of Sirius's arm still around him.
"Excellent." Sirius said as they watched the two girls duel.
"Wormtail." Remus whispered. Peter looked up at him, dragging his eyes off the fight in front of him.
"Yeah, Remus?"
"Tell Prongs that we need to talk to Edna Bones."
"Got it." Peter said with a nod as he turned to whisper to a still woozy looking James.
McGonagall called for Peter to duel with the remaining Ravenclaw girl and the other four Gryffindors were surprised to see him last until the enchanted hour glass sounded the end of class.
Remus had hardly been paying attention, which he felt guilty about, because he had been distracted by Sirius's arm resting on his shoulders.
Everyone dropped their essays on McGonagall's desk on their way out, only to be handed a slip of paper with their next assignment written in plain black ink:
Please read Chapters 4 and 5 of your text and write two feet of parchment on any aspect of the history of Metamorphmagi.
Remus groaned as he followed his classmates to Potions.
"Look, Lily. I'm dead beat today, can you give me all the easy jobs?" Remus pleaded as he flopped onto the stool in the Potions room.
"Yeah. I'm surprised you could beat Sirius today as tired as you are. Don't you two normally draw when you duel?"
"Usually, yeah." Remus said tiredly.
"You did well." Lily said.
"We aren't as flashy as two other duelers I know." Remus drawled at Lily.
"Potter's a great wizard." She said quietly.
"What?" Remus sputtered, nearly falling off the stool.
"Oh come on, Remus. I'm not an idiot, and its time to let go of my pride. I've been thinking a lot about what's going to happen after this year is over. The girls and I stay up most night's talking about everything. Did you know everyone in my dorm has family who's disappeared already? I want Potter on my side, I'm not going to ostracize him because he's got a giant ego and harassed me for a date for the last six years."
Remus didn't say anything and just nodded as he began chopping whatever it was Lily had set in front of him.
"Cut them just a bit finer, if you can." She said quickly and rushed over to the supply closet.
Remus somehow made it through the rest of the week's lessons although he was fairly certain it was only because he slept through Muggle Studies and depleted Lily's store of Pepper-Up potions.
Friday night he found himself being dragged to the top of the Astronomy Tower by an impatient Lily. He managed a quick wave over his shoulder at his confused friends before they disappeared out of the portrait hole.
"Spill!" Lily cried after kicking out some fifth years and taking over the platform for themselves.
"I wish you would have given me some time to grab my bag." Remus complained, pursing his lips.
Lily held out the tiny tin he sometimes kept cigarettes in.
"I accio'd it from you today during Herbology." she admitted sheepishly, handing over a lighter.
"I thought Sirius had stolen it." Remus said shaking his head.
"Oops?" Lily said laughing.
The two sat down on the edge of the platform and Remus lit his cigarette.
"Oh come on!" Lily said, practically bouncing next to him.
"I'm not sure what you want to know." He tried.
"Reeeemuuus." She begged.
"Seriously, Lily! I don't know what I'm supposed to be spilling here."
"Do you, Remus John Lupin, have a thing for Sirius Black?" She demanded, crossing her arms and looking up at him.
"Define 'thing'." Remus said, drawing air quotes with his hand.
Lily smacked him on the arm.
"If you're asking if I find him attractive, then yes, anyone with eyes finds him attractive."
Lily rolled her eyes as he tried to avoid coming out and saying it.
"Rem, honey," she began in a falsely sweet voice, "I'm asking if you're going to shag."
"Lily Evans!" he gasped, feigning shock and placing a hand on his chest. "I would never have imagined you to say such filthy things!" He smiled down at her, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
"Seriously though, Lupin. Cut the shit."
"I don't know, Lily. I'm not exactly planning to shag any of my mates at this point."
"What about Fred?"
"No." Remus said blowing out smoke. "No, I'm actually going to break things off with him. He's been getting too clingy. Expects me to see him everyday and stuff."
"Well you two have been messing around for months." Lily pointed out.
"Yeah, well I'm not interested in it anymore, I guess." Remus said with a shrug.
"Because you have your eyes on Sirius."
"I do not 'have my eyes' on Sirius." Remus exclaimed.
"Whatever, Moony, I see you making eyes at him all the time. Especially when he stretches and shows off that little happy trail, you're practically drooling!"
"Who else is drooling, Evans?" Remus asked with a knowing glance.
"You said yourself anyone with eyes would see he's a good looking bloke." She said in defense, although she wasn't very embarrassed.
Remus had always known Lily had the slightest of things for Sirius. She claimed it was pure aesthetics and that the boy had great hair. Remus didn't believe it went any further than that since Lily was more indifferent to Sirius's presence than anything else.
They sat in silence until Remus had finished smoking and then looked out across the dark grounds of the castle.
"You'll tell me when it happens, though?" she poked the skinny wizard in the side.
"When what happens?" Remus said confused.
"When you fuck Sirius Black!" she shouted. Her voice echoed around the platform and across the grounds and Remus found himself laughing loudly.
"Yeah, Evans. When I fuck Sirius Black I'll let you know. As long as you tell me when you have your way with James."
"As if!" Lily said, but Remus knew her heart wasn't in it the same way it had been last year. Not to mention her face was as bright as her hair.
"You can't hide it from me, Ms. Evans. I've got special werewolf sense, I can smell it on you." Remus tapped his nose for emphasis and Lily's face drained of all color.
"Oh my god, can you really?" she asked horrified.
Remus grinned, a grin that was as devilish and handsome as Sirius's, and Lily buried her face in her hands.
"When did he get to be so handsome?" She said flinging herself back desperately. Remus chuckled and patted her knee in comfort.
"Remus? Lily? Sirius and James said I had to ask if you were both decent!" Peter's voice carried up the twirling staircase of the tower.
Lily sat up sharply and looked in the direction of the door with panic on her face.
"Yeah, come on up!" Remus shouted back, smiling at a glowering Lily.
Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs appeared at the top of the stairs carrying goblets and bottles of what Sirius knew to be firewhiskey.
"Who else needs a drink?" Sirius asked, holding up one of the bottles.
Lily raised her hand first, shocking everyone except for Remus who had gotten quite smashed with Evans on many an occasion in the past.
"What're we drinking to?" she asked after everyone held a full goblet.
"The end of our first month of our last year." Peter suggested.
"It's a bit wordy," said Lily.
"The beginning of the end." Remus said, holding his goblet up.
"The beginning of the end!" Everyone echoed, clanking their goblets together, making eye contact with everyone around the circle for good luck before downing the cup, as was customary for Gryffindors to do when drinking the first glass of firewhiskey of the evening.
"Remus, what ever happened to that first year girl whose parents were murdered?" James asked abruptly, pouring everyone a fresh cup.
"Leave it, James. Let's just try to enjoy the night, yeah?" Lily said gently, holding her gaze with his.
Lily glanced over at Remus, mouth half open to ask him to tell them all a good story, but caught herself just in time. Sirius and Remus each had a cigarette between their lips, Sirius's was lit, but the wind on top of the tower was making it difficult for Remus and his matches that he had been using exclusively for the last week.
Lily watched, a half-smile on her face as Sirius cupped his hands around Remus's neck and pulled him forward a bit so the tips of the cigarettes were touching. The boys sat like that for a moment until Remus's caught. She quickly looked away as they leaned back from each other.
"Oi, Rem. Get on with a story, will ya?" Peter demanded, taking a swig.
Remus tapped his chin, contemplating as everyone sat around breathless.
"This, gentlemen, and lady, is a true tale. There were not many witnesses, and so you will find no one else who will willingly recount the events I am about to share with you, but let it be known that they are indeed true. The story begins in this very school, at the work table of a young red-headed witch, as she researched something quite ordinary in the library." Remus's eyes flicked to Lily's mortified face as he continued.
"The title of the book on her desk was, Amorentia: The key to everlasting passion. The target? The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."
"Evans! That was you?" Sirius roared with laughter, cutting Remus off mid-sentence.
"Hush, Padfoot. I'm telling a story." Remus said quite seriously, winking at Lily.
Despite her overwhelming sense of embarrassment as Remus recounted exactly how she had attempted to make the hunky Quidditch Captain fall in love with her, Lily still noticed how Sirius sat with his leg pressed against Remus and that he occasionally would reach out to brush the hair out of his friend's eyes.
After one such incident, Lily looked around to see if anyone else had seen it. James caught her eye and glanced back at the other two, his eyebrows raised and the hint of a grin on his lips. Lily Evans shrugged and sipped out of her goblet. Poor Peter was passed out on the cold stone, bundled underneath James's black robe, and hadn't seen a damn thing.
A/N: School is starting up again soon so I don't know how regular I'll be with my updates! And remember, reviews are lovely.