Disclaimer: I do not own anything. This is purely for entertainment purposes. I am not getting anything except pleasure.
A/N: So, I'm back again. I just want to thank everybody for reviewing and for reading the last few chapters. It means a lot to me. I want to go ahead and thank my beta. She is wonderful and makes me laugh.
In the last chapter I referenced something about the Beatles. I was doing some research and realized that the Beatles were the sixties and the Marauders were in school during the seventies. This is a terrible brain fart on my part and I apologize for any confusion. Please insert any seventies Brit. band you wish. Sorry again.
Becoming Moony: Runaway
Remus snorted and rolled over in his bed. His navy blue bed linens were tangled around his legs and pinned him firmly to the mattress. The white duvet lay abandoned on the hardwood floor, crumpled up like a pile of leaves. Remus flung his arms above his head and buried his face further into the feather pillow. It was so good to be lazy once in a while. That was what the summer was for, wasn't it?
The summer rain pattered across the roof and trickled down the window. Rain was soothing for Remus; it represented a new beginning. Remus turned one more time and brought his left arm under his body. His body was now so close to the edge of the double bed that one more move would…
FLUMP! Remus's body fell to the floor with all the gracefulness of a sack of potatoes. Remus's eyes snapped open and a groan came gasping from his throat. He pushed himself up onto all fours, his head hung down onto his chest. Remus shook his head to clear the remaining moths and tried to stand. The sheets that were still tangled around his knees brought him crashing back down.
"Remus? Are you alright, sweetheart?" came his mother's voice. Remus rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
"I'm fine, mum." Helena paused in the doorway of the room, her eyes roving across her teenaged son. His upper body was sprawled across the floor with his lower body wrapped up in the linens. It was all in all a rather pathetic sight. A snorting laughter burst from her chest and she quickly tried to stifle it.
Remus gave his oh-so-loving mother a dirty glance as she laughed at him. This is why no teenager needed parents; they claimed to love them and then laughed at the slightest thing. Remus unwrapped the blue fabric from around his knees and stood, pulling the red flannel pajama bottoms more firmly around his waist. He sniffed as he walked past her, holding his head high so as to make him seem larger than her. Helena smiled and wrapped her arms around his abdomen.
"Oh, don't be mad at me, you just looked so pathetic I couldn't help it." said Helena, laying her head on Remus's shoulder. Her baby boy was far too tall now, he had shot up like a weed earlier in the summer and was now a strong five eleven. She felt rather short now, her five three not withstanding age.
Remus smiled down at his petite French mother, she was so lovely. He knew he couldn't stay mad at her for long, not when she cared about him so much. He brushed one lock of her graying hair behind her ear and nodded toward the stairs.
"I'm hungry. What's for breakfast?" Helena laughed once more and started down the rickety wooden stairs. Remus was always hungry now. She supposed it was a part of being a male teenage werewolf.
/page break/
Remus was halfway through a mound of pancakes slathered in maple syrup when an eagle owl swooped in through the open window. Remus recognized James's owl, Achilles, and raised an eyebrow. James didn't usually owl him until the end of the summer, not in the middle. They had already planned to meet at James's house for the last two weeks of school like they always did. So why was James owling him now?
Remus shoved the last bit of his fifth pancake into his mouth as he flipped the heavy parchment open. Remus promptly spit the piece of pancake out, staring at the missive in shock. This could not be happening, thought Remus.
Now Helena Lupin was not a fool, there were very few things that could make her son react like that. She really wanted to know what James had written to provoke such a vivid reaction from her usually steadfast child.
"What did James want, dear?" Remus's head snapped up and he stared at her, his shock evident.
"Sirius ran away."
"He WHAT!" yelled Helena, dropping the soapy pan back into the sink. She had known from Remus that Sirius's home life was not what one would call wonderful. In fact, Helena had reason to believe that Sirius was abused. She had seen Walburga Black and, although her son was taller and broader than she was, knew that she could easily cause damage to her eldest son.
"Yeah," started Remus as if in a daze, "James said that he was on his way to James's house."
"How is he getting there?"
"James doesn't know, all Sirius said was that he had his owl and that he was on his way. I'm going to assume that he hasn't got any money."
"Doesn't James live near Leeds?" asked Helena, gnawing on a knuckle in worry.
"Yeah." mumbled Remus, staring once more at the letter. Leeds to London on foot would take at least a day. Even as Padfoot it would take time. Remus didn't even know if Sirius knew how to get to James'.
"Remus."
"Yes, mum?" Remus looked at his mother, he had never heard her sound so forceful. Helena straightened up and looked at Remus, a stern look on her face.
"You owl Sirius this instant and tell him to come here first. He lives in London, we're closer to him than James is. It'll be dark before he gets halfway there, he will absolutely not travel through England in the dark!" Remus grinned at his mother; she would help a murderer if he seemed pathetic enough. When she got an idea in her mind there was nothing anyone could do to dissuade her from doing it.
Remus wrote a quick note to Sirius, giving him detailed directions on how to get to the Lupin Cottage, and told him to get his rear over here or face the wrath of Helena Lupin. Remus smiled as he watched the owl fly off. He was glad that Sirius had left his place of torment, but was sad that he thought of James before he thought of Remus.
/page break/
Sirius arrived at the small cottage at twenty past five, just in time for tea. As he stuffed his face with homemade pastries and small sandwiches he recounted his daring tale. Although the black eye and multitude of cuts he sported told a tale on its own.
Apparently Sirius had done one too many wrongs and Walburga had snapped. She had yelled, screamed, hit, and threw things at her oldest son just to get all of the tension out.
"I decided that I didn't want to be there anymore. I'm seventeen, I can move out on my own. I'll be okay." mumbled Sirius, still eating like a starved man. He probably was half starved, thought Remus, who knew what the Blacks had been feeding him. Sirius had always been skinny, but he couldn't weigh more than Remus and he was at least four inches taller. It wasn't healthy for Sirius to weigh so little, and Remus could see Helena mentally planning meals, resolving herself to have fattened up Sirius by at least one stone in the week he planned to stay at the Lupins.
Sirius had ended up staying at the Lupins' as James's parents still weren't back from their impromptu holiday in Greece. The three boys had decided that it would be safer to face Josephina Potter's wrath with a plan in mind. So for the time being, Sirius would stay with the Lupins.
Remus was both excited and at a loss. He was excited because he could take Sirius to see all the "wicked muggle things". He was at a loss because Sirius would be staying in his room and Remus didn't know if he could control himself for a week.
After tea, Remus took Sirius up to his room. The room wasn't all that special, it had white walls with a blue border, a light brown desk and bookshelf, a blue denim easy chair, and, of course, the double bed with blue and white linens. All in all, it was pretty boring compared to what Sirius was used to.
When Sirius walked into the bedroom, his eyes were immediately drawn to the piles and piles of books that littered the room. The lone bookshelf was buckling under the weight of all the books and more books covered the desk and most of the floor. There were even books resting on the windowsill.
Sirius started to laugh at the indignant look on Remus's face. "There are too many damn books in this room, Remus."
Remus smiled at Sirius and shook his head. Of all the things to notice, Sirius would only see the masses of books.
/page break/
Sirius was bored. And when Sirius was bored somebody needed to entertain him. Sirius thumped down the stairs and into the living room. He was too busy thinking of what he wanted to do that he nearly tripped over John Lupin's legs. As it was he ended up stumbling over the man's long legs and landing face first into a red armchair.
"Sorry about that Sirius. I'm afraid that once I'm on the floor I can't get up anymore." chuckled John, pulling his body upright. The man was lounged across the caramel colored rug, a book and a cup of tea at his side. What John had been doing on the floor in the first place was beyond Sirius.
"Sir?"
"Oh, none of that 'sir' stuff, Sirius. 'Sir' was my father. I was simply trying out a new reading position. I've always been confused as to how teenage females manage to lie on their stomachs for long periods of time without moving."
Sirius laughed, John Lupin was very strange. He loved to experiment and research. He would give his body to science if they would let him read the results.
John laughed as well, his grey hair flopping over into his blue eyes, which twinkled with mirth. Sirius really liked it with the Lupins; they were normal and represented everything that his family hated. Even the Potters weren't this relaxed; Harold Potter had a strange affinity for proper dining techniques.
"So, Mr. Black, what brings you into my humble living room with such a morose look upon your visage?" asked John, sitting up against the couch. Sirius laughed once more and sat down next to John.
"I'm slightly bored and Remus is busy doing his homework." said Sirius, making a face at the word 'homework'. John nodded knowingly and patted Sirius's knee.
"I know how that is. Helena is frequently telling how boring I am. No matter, I'm sure we can drag Remus away from his schoolwork for more than an hour. We need to go into town anyways."
"Okay. Want me to go get him?" asked Sirius, standing. John nodded, but as Sirius began to walk away he called Sirius back.
"Help me up before you go, Sirius. I don't think I can do it by myself anymore." said John, grasping onto the hand Sirius extended to him. Sirius pulled John to his feet and moved back up the stairs to the "blue room", as he had dubbed it a day earlier. As he hit the doorway, Remus looked up at him.
"Get up you lump! Your dad says we're going somewhere." said Sirius, bodily lifting Remus from the chair and placing him on his feet. Remus wriggled to get loose and looked up at the very excited boy.
"Alright. You better get dressed. You can't go into a public place with your pajamas on." Remus replied, nodding towards Sirius's red and gold plaid pajama bottoms and black t-shirt.
"Oh, yeah I suppose that would be a good idea." said Sirius, glancing down at himself.
/page break/
Remus pulled Sirius along as they walked down the main street. Sirius was too busy staring at everything muggle to walk himself. Remus had found the one thing that would make Sirius Black drool more than food or girls: cars. Muggle automobiles were Sirius's weakness. The moment he had seen the Lupin's 1970 Volkswagen Cabrio Beetle, Sirius had begun his almost fanatic obsession over muggle cars.
"Moony."
"What, Padfoot?"
"I want a car."
"YOU WHAT!" shouted Remus, turning to stare at the estranged Black. Sirius looked guiltily down at the pavement and mumbled that he wanted a muggle automobile. Remus shook his head and patted Sirius on the head. The poor delusional child, thought Remus, wanted an automobile.
"Now, Sirius, you don't know how to drive. You don't have a license. You can't…"
"Now why not, Rem? Why can't the boy learn to drive?" asked John, putting his hand on Sirius's shoulder.
"Dad, you can't possibly think that this is a good idea." pleaded Remus, mentally begging his father not to fall into Sirius's foolishness.
"I think it's a great idea. Not to worry Sirius, I'll teach you how to drive. It'll be up to you to buy your shiny car though." said John, steering Sirius on down the street. Remus trooped after them, hoping that this was just a phase and Sirius didn't really want to learn how to drive. How John planned on teaching Sirius to drive was beyond Remus. John had no idea how to drive, Helena had taught Remus and helped him get his license.
"Remus, why don't you go get the groceries. Sirius and I will go and look around the auto shop for awhile."
"Dad. This is not a good idea."
"Oh don't be such a stiff, Moony. Let me learn how to drive. Please?" Sirius looked up at Remus, his lethal puppy eyes boring into Remus. Remus knew this was a terrible, no good, bad idea. A pureblooded wizard should not learn how to drive a muggle automobile. But he couldn't deny the eyes, many a person had fallen to Sirius-Black's- Nearly-Patented-I'm-So-Cute-Puppy-Dog-Eyes, and it looked as though Remus would be next. The only people who hadn't fallen to them had to be Walburga Black and Minerva McGonagall.
Remus sighed, "Fine. But I'll be the one to teach you. You know you've been forbidden to drive by mum, dad."
John had enough decency to look sheepish. Sirius was too busy jumping up and down in the street to notice.
Doing the rest of the chores that needed to be done around town passed relatively quickly, the only hang up being when Sirius saw a motorbike for the first time. His exclamations of "What's that Moony?" and "Its pretty, can I have one?" still echoed in Remus's rather sensitive ears.
/page break/
Why, oh, why was Remus so damn nice? Why did he have to decide that it was a good idea for him to teach Sirius how to drive? Why did he have to be the good friend with a muggle mother who knew how to drive? Why Remus?
These thoughts ran rampant through Remus' head as Sirius swerved around lampposts and screeched around roundabouts. The man had only been driving for a couple of minutes and Remus, who transformed into a bloodthirsty monster once a month, was paralyzed with fear. Sirius was a reckless nutcase who needed to be locked up and never, ever be allowed to drive. Ever.
Sirius was having the time of his adolescent life, he felt free and weightless. He punched the pedal that made the car go faster and let out a manly yell. Remus shut his eyes and tried to get Sirius to stop.
"Sirius, you really need to slow down. The car is not meant for this and it could flip over if you're not careful. Please slow down, for my sanity at least. Please?" whimpered Remus, who could no longer contain his fright at the demonic driver's tactics. He closed his eyes and gripped the side of the car, praying and hoping that it would be over soon.
Thankfully Sirius did slow down and finally pulled over to the side of the road. Luckily there was nobody else on the back road, so nobody had to see Remus heave a sigh and peel his eyelids from his corneas.
"Hey Moony, what does this button…. oooh, that's cool." Sirius had managed to get the convertible top to go down on the poor Cabrio and was gleefully making it go up and down to please him. Remus flopped his head onto the headrest and gave thanks to the gods who may have protected him at his time of terror.
"Sirius. I need you to either not drive like a nutcase or to get out of the driver's seat and let me drive us home. And no, there is no third option." said Remus, determined to make Sirius see reason. Sirius pouted and promised to be more careful, so long as Remus let him drive some more. He loved to drive, it made him feel good. And for Remus to threaten to take that away…well, Sirius didn't want to loose his sense of freedom, so he promised to be more careful while Remus was in the car. Now, if he was by himself? That was another matter entirely.
Remus knew that making Sirius slow down was torture for the young man. He knew that driving a muggle car gave Sirius a sense of liberty that even a broomstick couldn't. A broomstick was just another way that the pureblooded society pinned down their youth. They had the best brooms on the market and got them lessons three times a week for as long as the child wanted them.
All in all it was a fruitless existence and one that Sirius was probably tired of. Remus understood, he really did, he just needed Sirius to be more cautious with his newfound freedom.
"Hey, Rem, I'm not really that bad a driver, am I?" asked Sirius, a sad look upon his face. Remus felt his heart crack. He wasn't a bad driver, maybe just a little speed obsessed.
"No, Padfoot. You aren't a bad driver, you actually learned quite fast. You just need to control the urge to put on insane bursts of speed." Sirius really was a fast learner, he quickly learned all the basics and wanted to progress on to something more difficult.
"Hey, you said this was all about practice right?"
"Right. Why?"
"How am I supposed to practice if I don't have a car? I know James doesn't have one."
"I don't even think James knows what a car is Sirius. We'll figure something out." Remus laughed at the mental image of James looking at a car, little question marks forming about his head. Sirius laughed as well, seeming to see the same image.
"Come on Padfoot. Let's get home before my mother worries herself into the kitchen."
"Huh?"
"My mum has a tendency to bake like a fiend if she is left to worry to much. My dad calls it Worry Baking Syndrome. Apparently its common in French muggle women with werewolf children and wizarding husbands."
Sirius looked at Remus, a blank look on his face, not quite sure if Remus was joking or being serious. After a moment Sirius decided that Remus was being a little of both…he was probably joking about the syndrome but was serious about his mother "Worry Baking". Remus shook his head and patted Sirius on the arm.
"Lets go Sirius, unless you want me to drive." Remus sat up in his seat, confident that Sirius would be more cautious in the future. Sirius pulled away from the side of the curb and turned to go back to the Lupin's cottage.
Sirius managed to drive less recklessly and with much less speed. He only hit over the speed limit twice. By the time they got back to the house, Remus was very proud at how mature Sirius was acting. And he knew it was an act, for Sirius Black was not mature and delighted in telling people that growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. Remus knew for a fact that Sirius would never grow up. His childhood had been severely repressed by the woman he had to call his mother.
Their arrival was punctuated by John's voice telling Helena to "put down the mixer and step away from the confectioner's sugar." Remus laughed and walked through the open door, where the smell of chocolate chip biscuits permeated the air.
"Mum, we're back in one piece." Remus called, walking up behind his mother, who was brandishing her whisk at her husband like it was Godric Gryffindor's sword.
"Don't tell her that, Rem. I am loving these biscuits." came Sirius's rather muffled voice. Remus turned to see Sirius burying himself in the small mountain of biscuits Helena had already prepared. He had two in each of his hands and had another stuffed into his mouth. Remus shook his head in exasperation. If you presented food to Sirius he would eat it, even Remus had to admit though, his mother was a great pastry baker. She claimed it was her French Italian heritage. She could bake like a fiend and made a mean spaghetti sauce.
Helena was startled into a laugh and she put her weapon of mass cooking down on the counter. John stood from where he was cowering, putting his platter "shield" down as well.
"Well, Sirius, I will bake you as many as you want. In fact I have a Black Forest Cake in the oven if you're hungry. I also have a dozen Cinnamon Sugar Biscuits in as well." Sirius was drooling all over the floor by the time Helena had finished speaking.
"I'm starving." was all Sirius could say before the thought of so many sweets overpowered him.
"Well then, I'll go ahead and start dinner shall I? How about spaghetti?"
"Yeah, that would be good. And then…cakes!" cried Sirius, scrambling up the stairs to make himself presentable for dinner. It was a behavior that was a little too permanently ingrained to ever go away entirely.
/page break/
Remus sat on his bed and moped. Sirius had gone on to James's house earlier that morning. Flooing instead of walking. They had explained the situation to the Potters and they had welcomed Sirius with open arms. Not that Remus had expected anything less, Josephina Potter, who had always wanted more children but couldn't have them, treated Sirius like he was her own. She had from the moment she had met him back in the summer after their first year.
Remus really wished that Sirius didn't have to go, but Sirius had promised James that he would stay with the Potters. And besides, thought Remus, it wasn't like I'm not going to see Sirius ever again. It was true; Remus would be leaving for the Potter's house within a week and a half. They would go to Diagon Alley and both James and Sirius would spend enough money to make Remus' head spin. Both boys loved to spend money. It probably came from the fact that James was an only child and Sirius's family had enough money to buy the Queen out of Buckingham Palace. At least, Sirius used to be able to; Remus wasn't sure what Sirius's financial status was.
The house seemed so quiet without Sirius's boisterous self living in it. Even the elder Lupins seemed down. Helena had gotten used to Sirius eating anything and everything that, now, she didn't know what to do. John had gotten used to Sirius always asking him things that he felt rather lonely. Remus of course had nothing to do. They had finished their homework; help from John and biscuits and cake from Helena made it go faster than ever before. So Remus was stuck being bored for a week and a half.
Remus sincerely hoped that Sirius was having the time of his life and didn't feel as lonely as Remus did right now. He simply looked toward the future and to the time when three of the four Marauders, Peter was forbidden by his mother, would be together again. Remus picked up his newest novel, The Lord of the Rings, and begun to read the time away.
A/N: There it is! Yay me! Hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to get the next chapter finished soon.
