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The Marauders Year 2
Chapter 10: The Holidays Part 2
The letter slipped from Remus's grasp and floated slowly to the ground, swaying back and forth as it went. Remus didn't even notice he was no longer holding the letter as he raised his frightened and angry eyes to his mother, who was watching him with tears in her eyes.
"Remus," Lena tried to speak.
Remus shook his head and took a step away from her. His eyes darted to the letter on the ground then back to his mother. He bent down to pick the letter up, not taking his eyes off his mother. He folded the letter up and put it in his pocket before running out of the kitchen and up to his room.
Looking around frantically, Remus's mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts, questions, worries, and anger. He jumped onto his bed and buried his face into his pillow. He let out a strangled scream and cried himself to sleep, thinking about the betrayal from his father.
After a restless night of nightmares, waking up to fall back to sleep to enter another nightmare, and tossing and turning in his sleep, it was morning and Remus dragged himself out of bed. He went downstairs to find his mother already in the kitchen making breakfast.
Lena looked at her son and smiled weakly at him. "Remus, we need to talk."
"What is there to talk about? My father betrayed me." Remus snarled as he sat down at the table.
"Remus, you have to understand that your father never meant for any of this to happen. He tried to get Greyback to renounce the threat he made against you, but Greyback refused to renounce it. He wanted to show what would happen if anyone insulted him again. No one has dared to insult him when they learn who he is. They are too afraid for their kids." Lena explained.
Remus snorted. He clenched his fists. "Dad knew what would happen if he insulted Greyback and yet he insults him. He knew Greyback would come after me after that. How am I supposed to forgive him for that?"
"He never wanted you involved, Remus dear. It was a mistake. When people are mad, they do and say things that just slip out. He never meant for you to get involved in these affairs, but Greyback doesn't care about getting kids involved in adults' affairs." Lena replied. She placed a calming hand on Remus's shoulder.
Remus shrugged his mother's hand off. "I don't want to listen to this."
Lena sighed. "I knew you weren't ready to learn the truth." She turned back to the stove to continue cooking. "Think about everything, Remus." After a few minutes of silence, Lena spoke again. "What time are you going to James's?"
"What?" Remus asked confused.
Lena looked at her son. "His New Year's Eve party is tonight. You were going to spend the last few days of break there, remember?"
"I don't want to go anymore." Remus replied.
Lena sighed. "Remus, you can't let the truth affect you and keep you from living your life."
"I'm not. I just don't want to go to James's anymore. It has nothing to do with this." Remus growled.
Sighing again, Lena went back to making breakfast.
"James," Sirius whined. He was draped over the arm of the chair that James was sitting on in the sitting room. "The party is tonight. Where is Remus?"
Rolling his eyes, James pushed Sirius off his chair. "I don't know."
Just as James said this, Darkwing came flying through the window with a letter on her leg. James, Sirius, and Peter glanced at each other. Why would Remus send them a letter when he was supposed to be coming over soon?
Darkwing hooted and held her leg out for James to take the letter. As soon as James had the letter, Darkwing hooted again and flew out the window.
James pulled the letter out of the envelope. His eyes scanned over the words causing him to frown.
James,
I'm not coming over for the party anymore. I just don't want to. Right now I need to be alone. I see you, Sirius, and Peter back at Hogwarts.
Happy New Year!
Remus
"What is it, James?" Peter asked.
"Remus isn't coming over. He says he needs to be alone for some reason." James replied, as he passed the letter to Sirius to look at.
Sirius looked up from the letter. "I wonder what happened."
"We can ask him on the Hogwarts Express." James said. He took his glasses off and rubbed his face. "Why is Remus always like this?"
"Like what?" Sirius asked.
"So independent. He never comes to us for help or to just talk. We have to go to him to get him to just open up to us. Why does he feel he has to do everything alone? Even you talk to me when you have a problem, well, most of the time." James gave Sirius an annoyed look.
Sirius shrugged. "I don't need to talk with you about everything, but yeah, I do come to you when I really need to."
"You have to understand his situation though." Peter said.
Sirius and James turned to look at Peter curiously.
"Well, he's been a werewolf since he was five and he said he didn't have any friends until he came to Hogwarts. He only had his family and he probably kept all his problems to himself because he didn't want to worry his family. We are the first people to be his friends since the accident and the first people outside his family to ask him to talk to us and to come to us when he needs help. Do you really think he is ready to talk to us on his own? We only just found out last month that he is a werewolf." Peter explained.
The two black haired boys glanced at each other.
"It makes since, but he has been slightly more withdrawn from us since we found out." Sirius replied, leaning back in his seat.
"We'll ask him about that on the Hogwarts Express when we have him cornered in our compartment." James said as he pushed his glasses up. "He really needs to know that he can trust us completely. We are not going anywhere."
That night at the party, the three Marauders were planning to cause chaos when James's father called them over to him in the dining room. "Boys, I would like you to meet someone. This is the new Head of the Auror Department, Alastor Moody." Charlus motioned to the man standing with him.
"I heard about you. You're a great Auror who is fighting against Voldemort and his followers." Sirius said, grinning. "My parents hate you, which makes me like you even more."
"How is that so?" Peter asked.
"I like everyone that my parents think are a disgrace to the wizarding world." Sirius explained.
"I guess you are Sirius Black and you are James Potter." Moody said, looking at each boy. "You two look like you could be twins."
James and Sirius laughed. "We get that a lot."
Moody nodded his head. "I just met your other friend, Lupin, the other night at his cousin's wedding."
Immediately the boys perked up and looked at Moody intensely.
"How is he?" James demanded.
"James, don't be rude." Charlus scolded.
James frowned. "Dad, Remus was supposed to come over tonight for the party and stay here for the rest of break, but he sent us a letter today telling us he wasn't coming over and that he needed to be alone. I want to know what is wrong. Something had to have happened in the last few days to cause this."
"He was fine when I saw him. The only thing wrong with him was that he didn't trust his cousin's new husband, but I don't think that would stop him from coming here." Moody grunted.
"Trust issues? Why?" Peter asked, raising a brow.
Moody shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't really elaborate on it. It might be because of his lycanthropy."
The boys glared at him.
"I don't care that he's a werewolf." Moody said.
The boys calmed down.
"Does his cousin's husband know that he is a werewolf?" James asked.
"I don't think so." Moody replied.
Sirius frowned. "That is probably why he is having trust issues. Werewolves always have trust issues because they have it hard because no one trusts them and they are always getting betrayed by people for it."
"You might try researching werewolves more and learning about them. The more you know about them, the more you will understand about your friend. He might just open up to you more and let you help him more if you understand his situation better." Moody said.
Sirius groaned. "That means we have to go to the library…..again."
James smirked. "I have a better way of getting information about werewolves."
"What?" Sirius asked.
James shook his head and moved his eyes to the adults then back to Sirius.
"Besides, we shouldn't go back to the library." Peter said.
"Why?" James and Sirius asked.
Peter raised a brow. "Didn't you guys see all the looks we got for going in there for the first time without Remus? Everyone wanted to know what we were reading and kept trying to get looks at the book. We have to be more careful or people might realize about Remus being a werewolf from us researching about them."
"Even Evans showed an interest." James said dreamily.
"I KNEW IT!" Sirius yelled, pointing an accusing finger at James.
"Knew what?" James asked still in his dream-like state of mind.
"You love Evans!" Sirius accused.
James snapped out of his dream and glared at Sirius. "I do not! She is a bossy, nosy, know-it-all who is always telling on us for talking or passing notes in class. She always follows the rules and never does anything wrong."
"But she is pretty." Peter added with a smirk.
James's eyes glazed over. "She is very pretty with her long, wavy red hair and her brilliant bright emerald green eyes!"
"Not in love, my arse." Sirius whispered to Peter, who snickered.
Charlus cleared his throat, getting the boys' attention.
"Yeah dad?" James asked.
Charlus pointed to behind James.
James and his friends turned around to see an owl sitting on the table, annoying the people who were sitting there that were trying to eat and talk with others. "Darkwing!" James called in surprise. He looked at his friends to see that they were surprised too. Why would Remus send them another letter? James quickly took the letter. His friends read it over his shoulders, barely noticing that Darkwing wasn't leaving this time.
James, Sirius, Peter,
I thought about it and changed my mind. I can't stay here for three more days. Being here with my mother is causing me painful reminders of what we talked about yesterday and I don't want to remember it. Please don't ask me what it is that we talked about. I don't want to talk about it. I'm Flooing over in half an hour.
Remus
"It takes Darkwing about twenty minutes to get here in normal weather and it's a blizzard outside so it would take her longer, which means Remus will be here any second." Sirius said.
James stared at Sirius. "You're talking logic. Who the hell are you?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I can be smart when I want to be."
The boys ran out of the dining room and to the sitting room. They pushed their way through the people who were in the sitting room to reach the fireplace. Just as they reached it, the fireplace flared up with green fire and Remus stumbled out of it with his trunk.
"Hi Remus!" James greeted, smiling slightly. He pulled Remus into a quick hug before letting go and yelling for his house-elf. "LARKY!"
Larky appeared in front of the boys within a few seconds. "What can Larky do for master?"
"Take Remus's trunk up to his room." James ordered.
"Yes sir." Larky replied. With a snap of her fingers the trunk disappeared and Larky left with it.
Peter walked over to Remus and gave him a hug and a quick greeting.
Sirius pulled Remus into a hug next. When he let go, he peered at Remus's pale and sweaty face. "Are you okay mate?"
Remus nodded his head.
James looked at him doubtfully, but didn't ask as he knew Remus wasn't going to answer any of their questions. He grabbed Remus's wrist and dragged him through the group of people with his other two friends following. They went upstairs to James's room to talk without anyone hearing or bothering them.
"So, Remus, how was your Christmas?" Sirius asked when they were in James's room. James and Remus were lying on their stomachs on James's bed while Peter was sitting on the desk chair and Sirius was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his legs pulled up half way to his chest.
Remus shrugged. "Could have been worse I guess."
"Get anything good for Christmas?" James asked, turning his head slightly to look at Remus. He frowned when he noticed the dark bags under Remus's eyes and Remus's bloodshot eyes.
Remus rested his cheek on his folded hands in front of him. "Not whole lot. I got a few books, candy, some clothes, healing potions, and some joke supplies."
"What kind of joke supplies?" James asked with a grin.
"I'll show you later." Remus replied.
"Hmm, so how was the wedding?" Peter asked.
"Beautiful, but boring. I spent the whole time talking with Moody." Remus answered.
"What did you talk about?" Sirius inquired.
Remus shrugged as best he could while lying on the bed. "Lycanthropy, Dark Arts, Voldemort and his followers, and other things."
"Moody is here tonight." Sirius said.
"That's nice." Remus replied.
Sirius tilted his head to the side. "Where is the Remus that speaks in detail? You are hardly saying anything tonight!"
James sat up on his knees and looked at Remus more closely. "Remus, what happened at home? We need to know. You are our best friend. We want to know what is wrong. Please tell us what you and your mom discussed last night."
Remus closed his eyes and shook his head fervently. "I don't want to talk about that. I told you in my letter not to ask me about it, so why do you insist on asking me when I said not to?"
"Because we are your friends and we care and worry about you." Peter suggested.
When Remus didn't reply, James clapped his hands together and jumped off his bed. "Remus, you look exhausted. You must have not gotten a lot of sleep last night. Why don't you go to bed and Sirius, Peter and I will get out." Not bothering to wait for a reply, James opened the bedroom door and waved Sirius and Peter out.
Blinking in confusion, Remus rolled off the bed and moved towards the door only to have James step in his path.
"Bed Remus." James ordered.
"I know." Remus replied as he tried to step pass James.
James stepped back in front of Remus. He crossed his arms and raised a brow. "Then where are you going?"
"My room. This is your room, you know." Remus replied.
James pointed at his bed. "Sleep there tonight. I'll sleep in your room tonight."
Looking at James weirdly, Remus kicked his shoes off, took his cloak off, and crawled under the covers of James's bed. It felt strange to be in his friend's bed and that strangeness increased when Remus smelled James's scent on the pillows and covers with his werewolf sense of smell. All of this barely processed in Remus's sleep deprived mind though. He barely noticed when James said good night and turned the light off. As soon as the light was off, Remus's heavy eyelids slid shut and he was off to Lalalala land.
Sirius stood leaning against the wall in the hallway, waiting for James to come out of his room. Peter stood next to him, wringing his hands together.
"Why did you do that?" Peter asked immediately when James came out of his room. He was completely confused about what was going on.
"Do what?" James replied.
"Tell Remus to sleep in your room." Peter explained.
James shrugged. "The library is right next to his room and I don't want to wake him up. He would probably hear us walking around in the library through the wall if he did sleep in his room."
Sirius gaped at him. "You want us to go into your library during break!"
"Shh!" James hissed. His eyes moved to his bedroom door. "Remus is sleeping. And yes we are going to go to the library. Move it you two."
Sirius allowed himself to be marched to the library by James. He stared open mouthed when they reached the library. Even the library at his house wasn't this big! The Potter Library was almost as big as the main library at Hogwarts. Shelves filled with books were all around. Books lined the walls as well. In the center of the library was circular area fill with three tables and chairs.
"Why are we here?" Peter asked.
"Find as many books about werewolves as possible and pack them in your trunks. It will take us a while to get them all read." James explained, pushing his glasses up as he looked around the library. "We have to keep the books hidden from Remus, the teachers, and other students. We don't want anyone to know what we are researching."
Sirius and Peter gaped at James. "You're insane!"
"I'm following Moody's advice. He was right after all. We don't know much about lycanthropy and the more we know, the more we can help Remus." James replied. "You guys do want to help Remus with this, right?"
Grumbling, Sirius began to search the library for books about werewolves with Peter and James. With a library this big, it would take them hours to find all the werewolf books, especially if they are spread all around the library. Why was he friends with the craziest boy in the world?
It wasn't until a few hours after they started searching the library that something new happened. A loud scream brought the boys out of their boring search. James threw the book he was looking at on the ground and ran out of the library and to his room with Peter and Sirius following him. He was so happy that his parents' party ended a little while ago. With how loud Remus was yelling, he might have spooked the party goers.
James slammed his door opened and ignoring his parents' questions, he entered his room to find Remus thrashing about in his bed and yelling for help with tears streaming down his face.
"Why does he always have horrible nightmares?" Sirius asked from behind James. The others got nightmares too, but it didn't seem like they got such horrible nightmares like Remus did. His always seemed to be the worst.
James ignored him and moved over to his bed. He pulled the duvet off the bed and threw it onto the floor so it wouldn't strangle Remus. With the duvet gone, James could get onto his bed more easily. He straddled Remus and pinned his wrists to the bed so he wouldn't hurt himself with all the thrashing around he was doing.
"James?" Maria asked concerned.
James looked back at his parents, who were standing in the doorway of the room. "Mom, Dad, we can handle this. Go back to whatever you were doing." He yelled over Remus's screaming. "Peter, go and get a glass of water for him. Sirius, get Remus some new pajamas."
Both boys pushed pass James's parents to do what they were asked. James's parents realized that the boys must have had to have done this before and decided to do as James asked and leave. They knew what they were doing and how to take care of Remus. They weren't needed here.
When everyone was gone, James turned his attention back to Remus. He let go of one of Remus's wrist, which started flailing around as soon as it was free. James slapped Remus's face gently and started yelling his name. "Remus, wake up! Remus, come on mate. It's just a nightmare. Wake up!"
Remus whimpered softly and slowly opened his eyes to see a concerned James's looking down at him. "What the hell, James? Why are you pinning me to my…..well, your bed?"
"I didn't want you to hurt yourself with all the thrashing around you were doing from your nightmare." James frowned. "What was your nightmare about?"
"Nothing." Remus replied. "Can you get off me?"
James grabbed Remus's free wrist and pinned it back to the bed. "Remus, you need to talk to me. I want to help you, but the only way I can do that is if you talk to me. Please tell me about your nightmare so I can do that. I'm your friend, Remus. Nothing you say or do will get me to abandon you. Your past isn't going to scare me away."
Remus shook his head.
Sighing, James released Remus's arms and got off of Remus. They sat in silence until Sirius and Peter returned. After Peter handed Remus the glass of water and Sirius threw the pajamas on the bed, James dragged them into the hallway.
"You guys go and pack the books we found and go to sleep. I want to try to get Remus to talk to me." James told them.
"Don't you want our help?" Sirius asked, frowning.
James shook his head. "I don't think he will talk to all three of us at once. We should get him to slowly open up to us by having him talk to only one of us at first. I want to get him to believe that he can trust me, then maybe he will start to realize he can trust you guys too. That way he will open up to us on his own."
Sirius sighed. "Fine. Good luck, James."
James went back into his bedroom to find Remus still sitting on his bed. He was looking at James with wide and scared eyes. His pajamas still sat at the end of the bed. "Remus, change your clothes and drink the water. It will help your throat."
Remus looked at James, shyly.
Sensing what was wrong, James sat at his desk chair and faced the wall so Remus could change without being watched. He knew that Remus hated it when others saw his body, probably because of the scars, but James wasn't sure if that was the reason or not. He knew that Remus felt very uncomfortable when he showed the Marauders his body so they could see the bite marks he got from the werewolf that bit him.
After a few minutes of staring at the wall, James turned around to find Remus sitting in his pajamas on the bed. Smiling grimly, James moved back over to his bed and sat next to Remus. "It's just the two of us tonight, Remus. Can you please tell me about your nightmare now? Talking about it will help."
Remus sighed. He really wanted to talk about everything with his friends, but he was afraid that they would call him a coward for not being able to stand what he was going through on his own. His friends meant everything to him. He couldn't take rejection from them.
"Please talk to me. Nothing you say will make me think about hurting or insulting you in any way. You've had a hard past. I'm not surprised that you are having a hard time with your past and dealing with your furry little problem." James replied.
Remus let out a small chuckle at James's codename for his lycanthropy.
"Well, you smiled. Now you just need to talk to me about what is wrong. I won't judge you." James said, smiling slightly at his friend.
"I won't talk to you because I'm afraid that you will laugh at me and say I'm a coward or something along those lines." Remus explained, staring at his hands.
James swung an arm over Remus's shoulder. "I'm not going to do that. You're my friend. We all have problems, big or small. I won't laugh. Just tell me so I can help you."
Remus sighed. "Okay. I'm not exactly sure how to start though."
"How about you start with what you and your mom talked about yesterday." James suggested.
Remus shut his eyes tightly. "When you guys found out about me being a werewolf, Sirius said that I shouldn't feel sorry for the werewolf that bit me and that the attack was probably my dad's fault. I got scared and sent a letter to my mom asking her about the night I was attacked. She told me that she would tell me when I came home."
James pulled Remus into a tighter hug. He had an idea of where this was going and he didn't like it.
"She just told me last night, well she didn't tell me. She showed me a letter that my dad wrote for me in case he died. I wasn't supposed to find out about this until I was fifteen. He wanted me to wait to learn until I was old enough to handle it, but with Sirius saying what he did, I wanted to know now. Now I wish I never found out." Remus said, breathing heavily.
"Remus, you can stop." James whispered.
Remus shook his head. "No, I have to finish."
James nodded his head and pulled Remus closer to him. "Go ahead then."
"The werewolf who bit me is Fe-fenrir Greyback. My parents knew all along who it was that bit me and why he bit me." Remus whimpered.
James rubbed Remus's back in a soothing manner. "You don't have to continue."
"NO! I want you to know." Remus growled. His breathing picked up and his heart rate increased. "F-fenrir attacks the kids of adults who insult him. My dad insulted him and I'm the one who had to pay for it. It's my dad's fault that I'm a werewolf and I have to deal with all these prejudices."
James ran a hand through Remus's hair and made shushing noises. "Remus, you had no reason to fear telling me that. I would be angry and upset if that happened to me too. You're right. It isn't fair that you were targeted because of a mistake that your father made, but don't let a mistake he made seven years ago affect what you think of him now. I'm sure he never meant for you to get involved. Your father loved you so much."
"I had nightmares about it all last night. I kept dreaming that my father did it on purpose, that he wanted me to get bit. I thought he and my mom hated me after I became a werewolf. It's why I came here. I couldn't face my mother after these thoughts came back up." Remus explained. "I can't get the thoughts out of my head."
"Your mom loves you a lot. I know she does." James replied.
After a few minutes of silence, James pulled out of the hug and grabbed the duvet off the floor. "I'm tired. Let's go to bed."
Remus went to move out of James's bed, but James pulled him back. "The bed is big enough for two of us, maybe even three seeing as you are so small." James smiled when Remus chuckled. He threw the duvet over them and grabbed one of the pillows for himself, letting Remus take the other.
"You're small too, a scrawny git." Remus mumbled.
"Oi!" James said offended.
"Thanks for listening, James." Remus murmured with a grin.
"Maybe next time you can talk to me without me having to pressure you. And by the way, I'm telling Sirius and Peter everything you said tonight. They deserve to know too. They are our friends too." James replied.
Remus yawned. "As long as I'm not there to hear you telling them."
James put his glasses on his nightstand. "Of course. I don't want you to get upset again."
The two boys fell asleep with smiles on their faces.
CLICK!
A chuckle and another clicking sound made James groan and open his eyes. He saw two bleary figures at the end of his bed. One of them was holding something in his hand. James reached over to his nightstand to get his glasses. With them on, he saw Peter and Sirius standing at the end of his bed. Sirius was holding a camera and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"That shall make a wonderful picture!" Sirius announced.
"What the hell are you talking about?" James asked groggily.
"I thought you were going to sleep in Remus's room." Peter said.
James blinked stupidly at him. It took him a few minutes to recall the events of the night before. "Oh."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Now he remembers. So did Remus talk to you?"
"Yeah." James replied. He looked at Remus to see him facing James on the bed and hugging a pillow to his body. "I'll tell you what he said while he is asleep."
James silently got out of bed and moved to the corner of his room where his desk was. After explaining the main points of the conversation to Sirius and Peter, James got up to go get dressed while they digested the new information.
"So, he is having nightmares about his parents hating him and his dad getting him bit on purpose?" Sirius asked, raising a brow, as James buttoned his shirt.
"Yeah." James replied.
Sirius nodded his head. "That doesn't explain why you guys were in the same bed."
James sent a glare at Sirius. "The bed is big enough for the two of us to sleep on it and I wanted to be nearby if Remus started to have another nightmare. Besides that, I was too tired to go to Remus's room and I didn't want to make Remus have to walk over there either seeing as he needs all the sleep he can get."
"Okay, okay. No need to get defensive." Sirius held his hands up in surrender.
"I ought to throw you out that window." James grumbled.
"But you won't cause you love me." Sirius replied.
"He might, but I don't. Shut up, Black!" Remus hissed. "And don't say cause like that. It's not the right use of the word."
Sirius smirked. "I'll use cause any way I want."
Remus lifted his head off his pillow. "I would throw you out the window, but I'm warm and comfy here, so I'll get my revenge later. Now shut up!"
Sirius's smirk turned into a frown. When Remus got revenge, he got revenge! You didn't want to be on the receiving end of Remus's revenge. It is seriously bad for your health.
"Isn't tomorrow the last day of break?" Peter asked, causing Remus to groan into his pillow.
"Yeah." James replied, before his eyes widened and he looked at Sirius. "Your parents are returning tomorrow and my parents don't know that you are here without permission!"
"James, relax. I left my parents a note. They know I'm at a friend's and that they will take me to the train station." Sirius replied unconcerned about his parents. His concern was all directed at the revenge that Remus was planning against him.
James frowned. "Relax? How can I relax? Do you have any idea of how mad they will be? What if they come straight here when they see the note? No offense, mate, but I don't want them in my house!"
"And they don't want to be in your house, which is how I know they won't be coming to get me." Sirius replied.
James pouted. "My house is awesome."
"Well, I know that, but they hate it." Sirius said.
Peter raised a brow. "They've never been here though."
"I know. They hate it because it belongs to a family of blood traitors." Sirius explained.
"Don't you bloody prats ever shut up?" Remus moaned. He pulled the covers over his head so all you could see was a ball in the middle of the bed.
James sniffed in an offended manner. "Well, it seems someone is in a bad mood."
Remus mumbled something, but didn't come out for under the blankets. He listened to feet move across the room, a door open and close, and smiled before he fell back to sleep.
"AHHHH!" Remus screamed when someone jumped on him, efficiently waking him up from his lovely dream.
"Remus, it is lunch time. My mom says you have to get up now." James ordered, pushing the smaller boy off the bed with the duvet.
"But I'm warm." Remus groaned.
James sighed and pulled the duvet away. "Up you get, Remus! No more sleeping. You already slept half the day away. Go get dressed!"
Remus glared at James, but the black haired boy just laughed because it looked so funny with Remus's hair sticking up in all different angles.
"Come on, Remy. Mrs. Potter says we can't eat lunch until you are dressed and down there." Sirius whined.
"Then I guess you are all just going to starve!" Remus declared. He jumped back onto the bed and buried his face in his pillow again.
Sirius stomped his foot on the ground. "I don't think so, Lupin!" He wrapped an arm around Remus's waist and lifted the smaller boy off the bed, earning him a shriek of surprise. With Remus thrown over his shoulder, Sirius skipped happily out of the room and down to Remus's room.
James stared at Sirius's back with a few chuckles escaping.
Peter cleared his throat in a nervous manner. "Shouldn't we go save Remus?"
James looked at him incredulously. "Remus? It's Sirius who needs saving. Hold on." He held up three fingers. "Three….Two…One!"
Almost on cue, there was a loud yell and the sound of something breaking in the next room followed by a thud.
The two boys left in James's room looked at each other for a few seconds before running over to a window. They each opened the window they were in front of and poked their heads out of them. James looked down at the ground to find Sirius's legs flailing around. The rest of his body was trapped in a snow pile. Broken glass lay all around him.
"I TOLD YOU I WOULD GET REVENGE!"
James looked over to see Remus leaning out his window and yelling down at Sirius.
Remus noticed James's gaze and blushed. "Uh…..the window broke."
"I see that. How?" James asked amused.
"Uh….Sirius jumped out of it." Remus screamed, before slamming his window shut.
James laughed and pulled his head back into his room.
"WHAT ARE YOU FOUR DOING UP THERE?" Maria yelled.
"NOTHING MOM!"
A minute later, Maria was in her son's room, brandishing a wand. "I heard yelling and glass breaking and you say nothing is going on!"
James nodded his head sheepishly as his mom looked over his room.
Peter laughed. "Wrong room, Mrs. Potter."
Maria raised a brow in a curious manner. She left the room and went next door to Remus's room with James and Peter following her. "WHAT HAPPENED?" She shrieked in surprise.
James and Peter peered around Maria to find Remus standing alone in his room with broken glass all over the place. Remus didn't look up at them as he was straightening his shirt. "Can you please not yell? I have very sensitive hearing." He said calmly.
James raised a brow. How can anyone be so calm after throwing one of their best friends out a window?
"Where is Sirius?" Maria asked in her normal volume.
Remus pointed at the window in a nonchalant manner. "He and the window had a disagreement."
Maria ran over to the broken window and with a flick of her wand, it fixed itself. She opened the now fixed window and looked outside at the ground. When she saw Sirius, she wasn't sure if she wanted to yell at Remus, shriek in fear for Sirius, or laugh.
Behind Maria, James and Peter burst out laughing. They found the whole situation to be extremely funny.
Maria shook her head at the boys and ran outside to help the poor boy out of the snow pile. She would deal with the other three boys as soon as Sirius was free of the snow pile and warmed up.
*Y*E*A*R*2*
"Hey Sirius, want to see something?" James asked cheerfully a couple days later when the boys were on the Hogwarts Express.
Sirius looked up from the game of Exploding Snap he was playing with Peter. He saw Peter was all black out of the corner of his eye and smiled. "Sure James. What do you have? A picture of Evans?"
James glowered at Sirius. "No, but I do have a picture to show you." He pulled a picture out and showed Sirius. It was of Sirius being pulled out of the snow pile by James's dad by his ankles. Picture Sirius was yelling something that made Charlus drop Sirius back into the snow pile.
"Get rid of that." Sirius growled.
Remus snickered behind his book.
Sirius whipped his head around to look at him. "You be quiet."
"Are you still mad? It's not like I meant to throw you through the window." Remus replied.
"I'm going to get revenge, Lupin. Just you wait!" Sirius declared. An evil smirk came over his lips. "And I know exactly how."
"Remus, I would be afraid, very afraid." Peter said as he looked at Sirius warily. "When Sirius has that look, it doesn't mean anything good."
The rest of the train ride was peaceful, besides the evil chuckles coming from Sirius and Remus was beginning to become really twitchy. Remus kept shooting looks at Sirius and Sirius seemed to be enjoying himself a little too much.
When they reached Hogsmeade, Remus bolted off the train. He couldn't be with Sirius for one more minute.
"Remus, will you calm down? I'm sure Sirius won't do anything. I think he is just enjoying watching you be all nervous." James tried to console Remus in their dorm.
"How do you know he won't do anything?" Remus retorted.
"He knows it was just an accident when you threw him out the window." James replied calmly.
Remus shook his head and continued to pace back and forth. "Where is he then? He's probably out there right now planning my demise!"
James sweat dropped. "I thought Sirius was the dramatic one."
"Hi guys."
Remus screamed and pulled his wand out.
Peter held his hands up in surrender. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. Please spare me!"
"Relax Pete. Remus is paranoid about Sirius." James said.
"I would be too. He's in the Great Hall waiting for dinner and he was cackling like a madman." Peter replied. "And I just saw Evans. She told me she saw him in the library as soon as we got back here."
"You're a dead man, Remus." James said with wide eyes.
"I know!" Remus cried. "I have to be on my guard at all times."
In the Great Hall, Sirius was receiving a lot of weird looks with his evil cackling. His friends kept shooting him worried and cautious looks, nervous and scared looks in Remus's case.
"So Sirius, has your brother spoken to you yet about you not being at home when they returned?" James asked.
Sirius stopped chuckling and frowned. "No and that is so weird."
"He might just be too afraid to approach you with how insane and evil you are being today." Peter suggested.
Remus's eye twitched.
"Remus is going mad because of you." James said.
Sirius's grinned evilly.
Remus's hand twitched.
Halfway through dinner, Sirius cleared his throat and stood up. "It's time."
The other three Marauders looked at him worriedly.
Sirius climbed onto the table.
"Mr. Black, what are you doing?" McGonagall shouted.
Sirius smiled innocently. "The other day my lovely friend, Remus John Lupin, threw me out a second story window with the window shut….."
"I told you, Sirius. It was an accident!" Remus protested. There was a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"How do you accidentally throw someone out a window?" Frank asked bemused.
"EXACTLY!" Sirius shouted. "And now I'm getting revenge!"
Remus groaned. "Sirius…."
Sirius ignored Remus and pointed his wand at the ceiling. He whispered a spell and waved his wand in a complicated way. Everyone looked up at the ceiling intrigued as to what was going to happen.
The ceiling changed from the clear night sky to a picture of two sleeping boys. One had messy black hair and had the other boy pulled into his chest with one arm lying over the other boy in a brotherly[1]protective way. The other boy had long light brown hair that went down to just above the bottom of his ears. He was hugging a pillow to his chest and had his legs pulled up to the pillow to keep it locked in place there. Both of the boys were smiling and looked really content with sleeping. They were easily recognized as James Potter and Remus Lupin.
James and Remus gaped at the picture. "Sirius, you said you weren't going to show anyone that picture!" James screamed. He tackled Sirius off the table.
Remus blushed when others started laughing and some of the girls started telling him that he and James looked cute sleeping like that. "Maudit sois-su, Sirius! Prenez cette image vers le bas maintenant!"
Sirius groaned from under James. "Uh…..what? Remus, it may not have crossed you mind, but I DON'T SPEAK FRENCH!"
"Let me spell it out for you, Sirius. TAKE THAT DAMN PICTURE DOWN NOW! WHEN DID YOU EVEN TAKE IT?" Remus yelled.
"He took it the morning of the day after you came over to my place. I'm surprised the camera didn't wake you up. It woke me up." James replied.
"It was the day you threw Sirius out the window." Peter clarified.
"I didn't throw him out the window! I told you! He and the window had a disagreement!" Remus protested. He pulled his wand out. "Take the picture down now or I will hex you into oblivion, I swear I will!"
A throat being cleared brought the boys back into the reality of the Great Hall. They looked at McGonagall, who was standing behind Remus. She had an eyebrow raised and looking pointedly at Remus's wand.
Remus smiled sheepishly and put his wand away. "Sorry Professor."
"Mr. Black, as much as I'm sure the students are enjoying looking at that picture, you might want to remove it because I won't stop your friends from killing you. I think they should be allowed to kill you for embarrassing them like this." McGonagall said sternly.
Sirius gaped at her. "B-but Professor, they are crazy! They will seriously kill me if left to their own devices."
"Maybe you should have thought of that before putting that picture up." McGonagall said.
"But Remus tried to kill me! I deserved revenge!" Sirius pushed James off him and stood up.
"I did not try to kill you!" Remus objected. "I only meant to slam you into the wall. The window is the one who got in the way! Hence, you two had a disagreement!"
Sirius stared at Remus. He allowed a grin to slip onto his face and he started laughing.
Remus rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Take that picture down now!"
"Yes sir!" Sirius mocked saluted. With a wave of his wand and a whispered incantation, the night sky was back on the ceiling just as an owl flew into the Great Hall. The owl landed in front of Sirius. It was carrying a Howler. "Oh, wonderful."
James sighed. "Let's get out of here."
Sirius grabbed the Howler and ran out of the Great Hall with his friends following him at a slower pace. They met up with Sirius at the top of the Entrance Hall steps. He was listening to the Howler and holding his hand tightly.
"SIRIUS ORION BLACK, HOW DARE YOU LEAVE THIS HOUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION TO GO TO THE POTTER'S? YOU WERE TO STAY HERE FOR THE WHOLE BREAK! JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU COME HOME FOR SUMMER! I WILL NOT BE HAVING MY SON DISOBEY ME!"
The rest of the Howler was filled with horrible insults and bad words so it will not be repeated here.
Sirius glared at the ashes on the ground when it exploded.
James cleared his throat. "Well, that was horrible."
"I'm sorry about that." Sirius replied. "Please don't take anything she says about you guys personally."
Remus laughed. "Don't worry about it. We don't care what she says about us." He put one of his hands in his pockets in a lazy manner. "Why don't we go to our dorm? I have some burn-healing paste there that you can use on your hand."
"What happened to your hand?" Peter asked surprised.
"The Howler exploded in my hand." Sirius explained. "Why do you have burn-healing paste, Remus?"
Remus shrugged. "Selene gave it to me to use for any burns I get."
In their dorm, Remus pushed his trunk to the side.
"What are you doing? I thought you were getting me burn-healing paste." Sirius said.
Remus looked at him. "I am. I have it hidden."
The three other boys watched in confusion as Remus ripped one of the floorboards up to reveal a secret hiding place filled with stuff. He moved some things aside and pulled out a bottle. He threw the bottle to Sirius before putting the floorboard and his trunk back.
"Why didn't you tell us about that?" James asked.
Remus grinned. "Because I keep my stuff hidden in there."
"What are you going to do now that we know about it?" James asked.
Remus smirked. "Nothing. That is just one place I have things hidden in. I have another hidden stash of things that you guys will never find and that is the one I want kept hidden."
A/N: [1] If you dare to think of this as yaoi, I will hunt you down!
Maudit sois-su, Sirius. Prenez cetter image vers le bas maintenant.- Damn you, Sirius. Take that picture down now!
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