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The Marauders Year 3

Chapter 4: Pictures

James stepped out of the fireplace, taking his glasses out of his pocket and putting them on as he did. He really didn't like to Floo. Anything would be better than having to Floo. Behind him he heard the fireplace roar to life once more as one of his friends joined him. "Next time we come here, we are not taking the Floo." James grumbled.

"How do you plan to get here?" Sirius's voice replied.

"I don't know, but we aren't taking that blasted Floo." James shouted as the fireplace roared to life once more, meaning that Peter was arriving. "That Floo is evil. It always gets me covered in soot and I have to remember to take my glasses off or they were break. And what if I forget once and wherever we go there isn't an of age wizard there to fix them for me. I mean, what will I do then? And if they do break-"

Footsteps rushing down the stairs caught Sirius's attention and he forgot all about the ranting James next to him. Though, since his friend was ranting so loudly, he didn't hear the footsteps. A few seconds later a bandage covered Remus reached the last step and was staring into the living room with a surprised look. Sirius gave a small wave and grin, but Peter and James didn't notice anything as Peter was watching James rant. Sirius took this moment to give Remus, who wasn't wearing a shirt, a quick once over. His chest and left arm were heavily bandaged, while his right arm was in a sling, probably the reason why he didn't put a shirt on. A piece of white cloth was tape on his left cheek. He couldn't see his friend's legs through his pants, but he could guess that they were just as bad.

"Remus," Sirius called, jumping over the couch that separated them and through the archway. He skidded to a halt in front of his friend and looked at him. Up closer to him he could see the disheveled hair, the dark circles under his eyes, and the strain shining in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Remus raised a brow at him.

Sirius chuckled. "Right, stupid question."

The tired boy nodded his head at the ranting boy. "What is James going on about?"

"The Floo." Sirius said with a laugh. "He says next time we aren't taking it. He absolutely hates it."

"Oh, you could try the Knight Bus." Remus replied with a smile. "It's a rather rocky ride, but I think you'll find it fun." He tilted his head as he examined his friend with a look that was way too innocent for someone in his predicament in Sirius's opinion. "Glad that you escaped your house for the rest of the summer, Sirius, but what are you guys doing here? I told James I would be over a few days after the full moon."

Blinking, Sirius gave his friend a frown. "What are we doing here?" He asked in a low voice. "Oh, that is it." He turned to the still ranting James and Peter, who finally looked away from James and was looking at Remus, giving him a once over like Sirius did. "JAMES POTTER! GET YOU EGOTISTICAL HEAD OUT OF YOUR ARSE AND COME OVER HERE TO HELP ME BEAT SOME SENSE INTO OUR DEAR FRIEND!"

"You don't have to yell, Sirius." James said immediately, looking at his friends over his glasses. "But I do have to know, what are you talking about? Why are we beating Remus up this time?"

Sirius pointed at Remus as he whined, "He actually had the nerve to ask why we came here."

Scowling, James propelled himself over the couch, sliding across the floor as his feet hit it from the force of his jump. Sirius managed to grab his arm and stop him from going any farther when he was near them. "You dare to ask such an atrocity!"

Remus blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"Come on, Remus. Even I'm not dumb enough to miss what they are referring to." Peter scoffed, arms crossed on the back of the couch as he kneeled on it.

"You're not dumb, Pete. You're just not the best in class." James said forcibly, as if trying to push confidence into the boy. He wasn't the best in class, but he wasn't dumb either. "Anyway," The black haired boy continued, looking back at Remus. "We wanted to see how you were after the full moon. And," He held up a hand to stop Remus from speaking. "Before you say anything about us not having to, it's not about having to. It's because we care about our friend. Is that not allowed, Remus? You would rush over to our houses if you heard we were injured, so why can't we do the same for you?"

Remus scowled. "Why can't you? I don't know." He said sarcastically, and with an eye roll that Sirius always found annoying, seeing as he does it so much. "Maybe because I'm a werewolf and this is my life. I'm going to be injured all the time and with the world getting darker outside, it's going to happen more. You guys can't just keep putting your lives on hold just because I'm injured. It's going to happen all the time, and besides, I'm used to being alone. It's nothing new and it's not life threatening so I don't need you guys to pause your lives just for me."

"Wow." Peter said with an annoyed look. "You make it so hard to care and be a good friend."

"What Pete said!" James shouted. He grabbed Remus's shoulder, turned him around and pushed him up the stairs. "And you shouldn't be walking around. You'll agitate your wounds. Is your mom not around?"

"She's never around anymore." Remus muttered angrily.

James nodded his head. "Do you get up often with these wounds?"

"I kind of have to since I am a….a human and have to eat and go to the bathroom." Remus said sarcastically.

James narrowed his eyes when he noticed his friend pause on the word human but let it go as it seemed Peter and Sirius didn't notice and might have been his imagination. But then again, as James looked at his other two friends, they were looking at a picture and arguing over it. He rolled his eyes. Those two would get distracted so easily.

"I hate bed." Remus grumbled when James pushed him onto his bed.

James snorted. "You hate bed? Remus, if I recall, you're the one always sleeping in."

"Yes, sleeping." Remus retorted, crossing his arms in an annoyed manner. "But I hate being forced to rest. It's boring. I'd rather be up doing something."

"Not with those injuries." Sirius said as he looked through the bookshelf. He grabbed a book at random and tossed it to Remus. "Here, a book. That should ease your boredom."

Remus glanced at it and threw it back. "That's our first year potions book."

"Oh good." Sirius threw the book back. "You need all the help you can get."

"I'm passed first year." Remus argued, throwing the book back.

Sirius snorted. "With all the explosions you cause and how many potions you blotch up when you are working by yourself, I find that hard to believe."

Remus threw him a withering look. But James coughed to bring their attention to him. "Right, Remus, stay here and rest. I'll go make lunch, okay?"

"You can't be any worse at making food than me." Remus murmured.

"Merlin, you even mess that up? No wonder you suck at Potions." Sirius commented before he was being chased out of the room by many flying objects from the little werewolf.

A laughing James followed Sirius and the flying objects from the room with Peter staying behind to help Remus find a book to read. "Wow Sirius, do you two ever stop fighting? I swear it's at least once a month there is a fight between you two."

A grinning Sirius popped over the stair railing to look at his friend coming down the stairs. "Well, it makes life fun, especially since most of the fights seem like jokes." He raised a brow. "Do you know how to cook?"

James shrugged. "A little and it can't be any harder than Potions, can it?" He gave Sirius an evil grin. "And besides, if something does go wrong, I can just blame it on you since you'll be helping me." His hand jumped out and grabbed the back of Sirius's jacket when his friend tried to runaway. Sirius ended up just screaming about injustice, evil friends forcing him into things he didn't want to do, and how it was all Remus's fault as he was dragged, struggling he might add, into the kitchen.

"Right," James said amused as he dropped Sirius into a kitchen chair. "What shall I make?" He opened the fridge and looked around.

"Something simple." Sirius muttered. "Like soup."

"That's not really filling." James argued, looking over the door at Sirius with a frown. "I guess I can make some type of chicken with it."

"Do you even know how to prepare chicken?" Sirius growled.

"Do you?" James retorted.

Sirius, huffing about idiots, got up and pushed James away from the fridge. "Fortunately for you, unfortunately for me, I do know how to prepare chicken. My mom made me learn to cook and prepare meals as part of my punishment for dishonoring the family so much during school."

James tried to hold back a smile, but didn't have much luck, and a few seconds later he was rolling around on the ground with tears of mirth rolling down his face. Scowling, Sirius kicked him in the side, but that did nothing to ease his laughter. After a few minutes of this Sirius was getting really annoyed. "Come on, Jamesy. I thought you wanted to make lunch."

James tried to stifle his laughter. When he looked at Sirius, a giggle came out. His friend looked at him with a murderous look, so he stuffed his hand in his mouth and struggled to his feet. "Alright, alright. Let's get started on this soup and chicken."

Up in Remus's room, Remus was stubbornly refusing any books that Peter handed to him. And for the life of him, Peter couldn't figure out what was wrong with his friend. Remus loved to read, and yet he was refusing every single damn book! He was getting beyond frustrated with his friend. And for the slightest moment, felt like knocking him out with a rather heavy and thick book he found. Of course he resisted the feeling, but that didn't change the fact that that feeling was there for even a moment.

"UGH!" Peter shouted, shoving a book back onto the bookshelf. "Remus, just tell me what the bloody hell you want to do already? I'm getting tired of having books thrown back at me."

"I want to fly." Remus said, glancing at his broom.

"I'm pretty sure that goes under the classification of not resting and James won't like that." Peter argued. "Soooo, no flying."

Remus crossed his arms stubbornly. "Wanna fly."

"No." Peter replied. "How about you draw a picture?"

"Wanna fly." Remus snapped.

"Once more, you can't. You need to rest and heal quickly." Peter said, rolling his eyes. "I don't know how Madam Pomfrey can stand you after the full moon." He looked around the room, trying to think of something that Remus could do. "How about-"

"Flying?" Remus asked.

Sighing, Peter turned to Remus, which was a mistake. His friend was sticking out his bottom lip, giving him sad, puppy eyes, and had his head tilted to the side in such an innocent manner. Peter clenched his eyes shut and look away. Begging just seemed to be a specialty of Remus's. "No, Remus, no, no, no."

"Please, Pete. Please, just a little flying, for only about five minutes." Remus pleaded.

"No." Peter said. "No."

"Come on, Pete." Remus pleaded. "I'm promise it will only be five minutes of flying and it won't do anything to my wounds. I'll be careful, I swear I will. I just want to fly. You know bed rest is boring."

Peter bit his lip. "Well, I guess….wait, what am I saying?" Peter growled. "No, I'm not listening." He grabbed Remus's broom from the corner of the room and left the room. "Not listening, not listening, not listening." He mumbled as he left the room.

He ran down the stairs, leaned the broom against the wall outside the kitchen, and entered it. Peter had to the stifle a laugh at the sight of Sirius wearing a flowery apron as he cut up chicken while James was cutting on carrots. Biting hard on his lip, he went into the living room where Mrs. Lupin kept her husband's old camera. He snuck a glance back into the kitchen and took a picture. The sound of the camera clicking caught the boys' attention and they turned to Peter with evil looks.

Grinning nervously, Peter ran and put the camera back before returning to the kitchen where Sirius threw a piece of raw chicken at him. "Eww." Peter moaned, peeling the chicken from his face and throwing it back before going over to the sink and washing his face.

"Find Remus a book, mate?" James asked.

"The stubborn git refused to do anything. He wants to fly. He was acting like a little kid when I didn't let him. Like a five year old, James, a BLOODY five year old." Peter replied with a laugh. "That is so not like him."

James laughed. "I get it, Pete. A five year old. He's just….bored, yeah that's it. It's just the boredom seeping through."

Peter raised a brow. "You really believe that's the reason?"

"It's all I got!" James roared. He softened his tone. "You didn't leave him with his broom, did you? I mean, I can't see Remus sneaking out to fly after we told him no and that he had to rest, but you never know…."

"No, it's in the hallway." Peter said.

"Actually," Sirius said, popping up behind Peter which almost gave the boy a heart attack. "You have to remember this is Remus we are dealing with. A sneaky little berk."

James put his knife down with a frown. "What'cha mean, Sirius?"

"He got his broom and is now flying." Sirius jerked his head in the direction of the window.

James and Peter ran over to the window and looked outside. The former twisted his head all around to get the best view, trying to find Remus. A second later he saw the boy swerving between the trees. "THAT IDIOT!"

Sirius chuckled. "What are you going to do?"

"Sirius, just finish lunch. Peter and I will get Remus." James grumbled, dragging Peter out the kitchen door by the arm.

"REMUS JOHN LUPIN!" James screamed, glaring up at the boy flying around.

"Hi James!" Remus shouted as he flew by.

"DON'T HI ME, REMUS! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" James yelled.

"You know, he must be a great flier to be able to fly with a broken arm." Peter said thoughtfully, making James glare at him.

"I don't care how good he is." James hissed. He glared back up at Remus, who was just floating above them now with a smirk. "WHAT THE HELL, REMUS? YOU ARE INJURED! YOU CAN'T BE DOING STUFF LIKE THIS!"

"But I like flying." Remus whined.

"I DON'T CARE! YOU WILL NOT BE FLYING WHILE YOU ARE INJURED!" James shouted. "NOW GET DOWN HERE!"

Grudgingly, Remus lowered himself to the ground where James snatched his broom away. "You're acting like an over-protective mother, jerk."

Rolling his eyes, James pushed Remus into the house through the kitchen door. "Honestly, Remus, did you take some type of childish potion or something? You're acting like a little kid today."

"Just wanted to fly." Remus muttered.

James sighed.

"DONE!"

Peter and James jumped in surprise. "What?"

Sirius glowered at him. "Food is done, prat. You know the thing you made me slave over."

"I didn't make you do anything." James replied, crossing his arms and looking away from Sirius in a snobbish manner.

*Y*E*A*R*3*

"Where's Remus?" Sirius asked, eyes scanning the bookshelves in the living room. "Did he decide to go flying again?"

Peter snorted. "No, James confiscated his broom."

Sirius laughed. They had finished eating lunch and cleaning the dishes. When that was done, Sirius and Peter decided to laze around. The latter was lying on the couch, twirling his wand in his hand, and the former was looking at the books. "So where is he?"

"I think he is with James in his room." Peter replied.

Just as Sirius was ready to give up on looking at books, a title jumped out at his eyes. He grabbed the book and sat on the floor, back to the bookcase.

Upstairs in Remus's room, James and Remus were having a staring contest. "So," James bit out while trying not to blink. "My parents are taking us to Diagon Alley to get our supplies Saturday. You in?"

"Probably the only time I will get a chance to go, so yeah." Remus replied. "My wounds should be healed by then."

James gave a small nod. "And my mom can probably speed up the healing of your arm." His eyes moved to Remus's cheek real quickly to see the cotton on the cut starting to turn red.

"Did Sirius get his form for Hogsmeade signed?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, even if his parents don't like him much, they still signed it. Weird, huh?" James replied. "I can't wrap my mind around it."

Remus shrugged. "You're right about it being weird. But we don't know much about his family so we can't really figure it out, now can we?"

"I guess you're right. He's like you with your lycanthropy, refuses to discuss his family without some persuading." James muttered annoyed.

"And he complains about me not talking openly about my problems." Remus snorted, shaking his head.

James smirked. "HA!" He jumped to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at Remus. "You just closed your eyes!"

"What?" Remus snapped, slapping his face.

"I win, I win, I win." James sang while he danced around on the bed.

"Shut it, Potter. You have a horrible voice." Remus snapped.

James grinned down at Remus. "Somebody's a sore loser."

"More like somebody's a sore winner." Remus retorted with a smirk. He swung his leg out from under him which knocked James off the bed. Laughing, Remus looked over his bed at his friend. "James fell, James fell, James fell."

"Hahaha." James muttered sarcastically, looking up at his friend from his position. He looked at him with slightly calculating look. "You know, I just now noticed, Remus. I can't believe I was so blind, but your hair is getting rather long. Shouldn't you cut it?"

Scowling, Remus ran a hand through his shoulder length hair. "I would, but I don't want to waste my mom's money on a haircut. I don't know why Sirius liked his hair long at all. It's annoying."

A sudden grin came over James's face. "I'll cut it for free."

"NO!" Remus shouted. "I'm not letting you near my neck with anything sharp."

James rolled his eyes. "You worry too much. I'm not going to cut your neck." He grabbed Remus's arm and dragged him from the room and to the bathroom. Then he left and returned with a chair, that he placed in front of the sink, and a pair of scissors and a comb. He pointed at it while glaring at Remus. Pouting, Remus obeyed.

James just finished combing the knots out of Remus's hair and began to cut it when, "JAMES!"

James jumped in surprise. "WHAT? I'M BUSY!" He yelled annoyed. He had almost messed up in cutting Remus's hair because he was so surprised.

Probably from following James's voice, Sirius and Peter appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. The former opened his mouth to speak, but paused when he saw Remus and James, and blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Giving Remus a haircut." James replied like it was a normal thing to do.

"I'm surprised Remus let you near his neck with a pair of scissors." Peter muttered.

"I didn't. I was forced to let him." Remus corrected.

Smiling, Peter disappeared from the bathroom without another word. Sirius just shrugged when the other two looked at him in confusion. "Well, I can tell you what I have to tell you later. You can finish with Remus first." And with that, Sirius sat on the edge of the sink and watched James cut the hair of a scowling Remus, while laughing at the revenge and annoyance in Remus's eyes. Annoyed with the laughing, Remus tried to throw a kick at Sirius.

CLICK!

"PETER! Don't take a picture of this!" Remus snapped, trying to glare at his friend, but James forced him to remain facing the front.

"Sorry, Remus, couldn't resist." Peter said with a shrug.

"OH!" Sirius said excitedly, waving his hand in the air like a little kid who knew the answer to a problem on the board.

"Yes Mr. Black?" James asked with a laugh.

"Do you recall all those pictures that we took in the last two years we've known each other?" Sirius asked, a huge grin in place.

Remus groaned. "How can we not? Some of those were rather embarrassing."

"We should continue taking a bunch of pictures and make a photo book." Sirius said excitedly. "That way we can remember our adventures."

Remus and Peter stared at Sirius while James continued to snip at Remus's hair.

"And where do you suggest we get a camera?" Remus asked with a frown. "Pretty much all those pictures were taken by someone else and they just gave us the copy."

"Details, details." Sirius said unconcerned with a wave of his hand.

James snickered. "It's kind of an important detail, Sirius." He looked at Remus in the mirror with a satisfied nod his head. He brushed the loose hairs off of Remus's shoulders. "Well, what do you guys think?"

Sirius and Peter examined Remus's hair. His light brown hair was now short. The only part of his hair that was long enough to hang was the front where his bangs were that framed his face and went down to chin. There were some short bangs that covered his forehead.

"It actually looks good." Sirius said in shock.

"And you all doubted my ability to cut hair." James scoffed in offense. "Anyway, Rems, you got more grey hairs."

Remus groaned.

"Don't worry, Remus. When you come over to my house, I'll get my mom to use a spell to color your hair." James said.

"Okay." Remus muttered.

'That's the spirit." James said with a grin before turning to Sirius. "What was it you wanted to say?"

Sirius moved his eyes to Remus then back to James. Nodding his head, James looked at Peter. "Distract him." He mouthed to him, pointing at Remus as he did.

"Okay, what is it?" James whispered as he watched Remus and Peter go into Remus's room. Peter was talking excitedly about something with Remus nodding his head once in a while.

Sirius pulled the book he was reading off the bookshelf and showed it to James. "This book, Human Transfiguration: Animagus. It has a lot of information on Animagi. I think it can really help us in learning how to become them."

"I wonder why Remus has this book." James said, flipping through a few pages.

"I don't know why he has it, but we could use it. I bet he won't even notice that it's gone, and we can always return it when we are finished. I'm sure he won't mind once we figure this out." Sirius said.

"I guess." James said uncertainly after a few minutes of silence.

Sirius frowned at James. He knew how his friend felt about stealing. It was just one of those things he absolutely hated. It fell into the category of dishonesty, a category which drove Sirius crazy. James had a category for about everything and this certain category was one of the ones that Sirius hated the most. "It's not stealing, James. We're just borrowing without permission. We'll return it. Besides, what use does a werewolf have for this book and you said it yourself. His mom doesn't use magic anymore."

James nodded his head. "Alright, we'll take it for now. But you better damn well hope that it is helpful."

"Ha! Need a pic of Remus's new hair." Peter yelled as he ran down the stairs, camera in hand, with Remus trailing after him. "Group picture, everyone!" He pounced on the surprised James and Sirius, knocking them to the ground. Once the boys got to their feet, James grabbed the isolated Remus, who couldn't join in because of his wounds, and pulled him to them. Sirius being the tallest, held the camera up. James wrapped one arm around Peter's neck and his other around Remus's stomach. Sirius wrapped an arm around Remus's shoulders.

"Say cheese!" Sirius yelled before snapping the picture.

CLICK!

A/N: If you don't understand my description of Remus's hair, you can go look at my profile picture. That's what his hair looks like.

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