Chapter 12

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter

The next few weeks, the group seemed to forget what 'fun' means. Either they were in class, doing homework, making potions and modifying them and such, spells as well, training in the duelling room, running experiments with Moony and Remus, or continuing planning their Rights for Lycanthropes movement. Unsurprisingly they were all stressed and beginning to get short and snippy with each other, but as they got more used to it, they found they actually enjoyed the constant work more and more. That didn't mean it wasn't still getting to them, as became obvious during potions.

"That's not what I mean James!" Severus insists as the group arrives at the class, the two had been so busy with everything, they'd forgotten to ever 'break up' so the entire school still thought them dating. They'd sort of forgotten that too.

"Really? Because it's what it sounded like."

"Boys, perhaps you can continue this little quarrel after class?" Slughorn requests, they both take their usual seats, next to each other, and try to ignore the problem for the lesson.

Ten minutes later there's a small explosion behind them, they turn around to see a pissed off looking Lily and an equally aggravated Bellatrix glaring at each other with blue goop covering the both of them.

"Okay, let's take a deep breath before someone says something they'll regret," Remus suggests from the desk beside theirs, both turn to glare at him, he holds his hands up in surrender yet the request stays clear on his face.

"Fine," Lily says eventually, taking a breath before she starts cleaning up the mess, Bellatrix following suit.

"What'd you expect from a bloody mudblood?" Avery mutters to her as she walks past him to get new ingredients and try again, Bellatrix stops short.

"What did you just say?!" She asks quietly but fiercely.

"Oh now, I know you're fond of your precious half-blood, but you can't have seriously expected his pet mudblood to be of any use to you in a magic school, did you?" Bellatrix looks at him for a moment, turning to make it look like she'd walk off before she quickly turns back and throws a punch straight to his face, "Argh! YOU CRAZY BITCH!" He screams at her as he falls to the ground, blood pouring from his now obviously broken nose. She heals it, but makes sure it scars, knowing that once it's healed like that no one will be able to remove the scars.

"That will always remain visible, every time you see it Avery, remember that that is the calmest response you could have possibly gotten for that remark. Remember that if I ever hear you say something like that again, you will be useless to your family because you will be unable to produce an heir. Remember that that scar was made in the name of Lily Evans and every muggle-born and half-blood you or anyone else has ever been daft enough to remain prejudiced against. Remember that you will forever be less than you were because you were a bigoted git, and remember that I was the one to make you that way," She tells him in a low threatening voice before she gets up and returns to grabbing the ingredients, "Let me know when those detentions will be Professor," She tells Slughorn as she passes him.

"Wednesday nights for three weeks, Mr Avery, you'll be attending too," Slughorn replies, Avery looks at him in shock, "I won't accept that sort of talk in my classroom, least of all from my own house." Avery sneers, Bellatrix looks around the room and sees that Slughorn was the only one to hear what either of them had said, though she's no doubt it's rather obvious now.

"You'll regret this Slughorn."

"No, I'm quite certain I won't," He says seriously, James can't help it, he whoops in excitement. Soon the class save for that group of Slytherins is cheering on Slughorn.

"Why exactly did you punch him?" Lily asks when she gets back to the desk, Bellatrix looks at her in an airy sort of way as she giggles.

"Why not?" Her friends are confused as to why her craziness has suddenly come out in a way it hasn't in a while, but decide to leave it alone for now.

"We have astronomy tonight, right?" Peter asks as they walk to P.E.

"Yep," James replies shortly, Remus rolls his eyes.

"Okay this has to stop. We can't keep doing this. From now on, no more than three days a week spent in the attic, and no experiments those nights. The other two days of the school week, we spend the day normally without that but can experiment at night. Weekends are for schoolwork and fun," Marlene tells everyone sternly, "The rest of today we have off of all of it." Severus sighs but no one argues. Later, this is why everyone will blame Marlene for creating boredom amongst the Marauders.

The four of them were disappearing, frequently, during the weeks leading up to Halloween. Then one day they arrived late to Transfiguration, James with pink hair, Sirius drenched, Remus had fur all over him, and Peter was dripping with slime.

"Detention, all four of you, and stay back after class," McGonagall tells them straight off the bat, they nod, unsurprised. She goes on with the lesson ignoring the entire thing.

"What the hell happened to the three of you?!" Alice asks, they all seem embarrassed, though no one would have been able to see Remus blush with the fur on him. They don't answer.

At the end of the lesson the three walk over to McGonagall's desk, Peter still dripping slime but at least Sirius had dried off a whole bunch. McGonagall waved her wand at Peter, stopping the slime.

"Explain." They exchange looks awkwardly.

"There was a slight…mishap." She continues to look unimpressed. Remus sighs.

"We were trying to set a prank on the Slytherin table for the Halloween feast, but then the house elves were talking about how they needed to clean the whole room and decorate and stuff and we realised they might set it off. But we didn't have time to undo it all before class so we…we set it off ourselves to make sure it didn't get the houselves," He tells her regretfully, McGonagall sighs.

"I assume that you've all learnt your lesson about pranking your classmates then?" The four exchange looks again, she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Whatever you have set up, take it down. I don't want to hear a word of another prank from you four for the rest of this term. Am I understood?" Peter gulps, James scratches the back of his neck as Remus bites his lip, Sirius smiling innocently, "It's too late isn't it?"

"A bit yes," James replies.

"Shall we all go to the feast and find out what new mayhem you've created before I decide on a suitable punishment?" They all nod bashfully.

They enter the great hall and find the entire student body. Sort of.

"GOATS?! YOU'VE TURNED THEM ALL INTO GOATS!?" The four seem confused at that before following her gaze to the staff table where, indeed, they are all goats.

"I have to say, I thought you'd be more annoyed about the students all becoming the animal of their house. I mean you have hundreds of lions in here but you're worried about the goats? Really Minnie, priorities," Sirius tells her, Remus facepalms as Peter kicks him in the shin and James tries not to laugh. McGonagall looks positively livid.

"We made all the goats their favourite colours! See, Dumbledore's even the correct shade of pink!"

"Well now at least I know where you two came from, where exactly does the water and the slime come in to it?" Just as she says that, water drops from the ceiling over everyone, except the Slytherins who are covered in slime. Unfortunately, the slime bounces quite a bit and ends up all over them as well.

"Huh, we miscalculated that," Remus mutters, McGonagall stares at all of them furiously.

"Fix it. Now. All of it," She demands before she turns and walks out of the room, "Within the hour," She adds as she goes through the door, "Albus, I'm borrowing your floo!" She calls down the hallway. The four marauders look to their school cohort who appear extremely unimpressed with them, they just start laughing before walking over to the nearest animal to lift the spell.

An hour later, McGonagall returns to find the room empty save for a pink goat being spoken to by James, two eagles being chased by Remus and Peter, and Sirius mopping up the slime under the close scrutiny of Slughorn.

"Turn him back Mr Potter, now. Whoever the two of you are, please allow them to turn you back and immediately return to the Ravenclaw common room. Mr Black, a spell will work much quicker." A moment later it's all done, "The four of you, and you Albus, need to come with me now. Your parents are waiting." The four students exchange nervous looks, "And for goodness sake," She mutters, "Get rid of Mr Lupin's fur."

By the time they reach Dumbledore's office, Sirius has managed to get rid of the fur, for which Remus is extremely grateful.

"There you are, what is the meaning of this?" Walburga Black demands as soon as they all enter, Sirius immediately looking to the ground and shrinking in on himself. Remus looks at him in mild concern, then he sees the disappointed look on his own parents' faces and looks to the ground as well.

"Your children are known as quite the…"

"Marauders?" James offers, McGonagall gives him a death stare.

"Troublemakers," She finishes, he grimaces, "While everything that they've done, save for Mr Lupin of course, has been relatively harmless, they've gone above and beyond today." Euphemia pinches the bridge of her nose.

"That's just what Professor McGonagall did!" James exclaims, his mother glares at him, he gets very bashful very quickly.

"What is it that they've done exactly? No one's been attacked again, have they?" Hope asks while looking at her son in disappointment.

"Not as such. They transfigured each of the house groups into the animal of their house, and all of the staff into goats of their favourite colour. Then they dropped water from the ceiling except above the Slytherin table where they dropped slime!" McGonagall rants, none had seen her lose her temper in such a way before.

"How'd you know what all their favourite colours are?" Lyall asks curiously, Hope glares at him, he clears his throat, "That was very disrespectful, inappropriate, and immature. A bit of harmless fun every now and then isn't a problem, but this was too far. Do you all understand that?" He asks them seriously.

"But no one got hurt Mr Lupin! Well…I suppose you could count what happened to Remus as damage but he's fine now!"

"You got caught by your own prank?" Orion asks them incredulously.

"Not exactly, we didn't take the houselves into account and didn't want them to set it off so we had to set it off ourselves and fix it all so that it wouldn't go off until a certain time rather than when the seats were taken. Which made more sense anyway, really we should have started with that," Remus comments, Monty sighs.

"You know very well that isn't the point Remus."

"I know Sir. Sorry."

"Are you?" Mrs Pettigrew asks, "Are any of you sorry?" Peter, Remus, and James look to each other, considering the question. They all look to Sirius and see how he still hasn't looked up and is shaking slightly.

"Yes, I don't think we've ever regretted anything more in all honesty," James tells them, shooting Sirius a concerned look that the boy either didn't see or doesn't acknowledge.

"Sirius," Walburga growls, the boy flinches slightly.

"We're sorry. It won't happen again."

"Good. Are we done here?" The woman rudely asks Dumbledore who nods once. The Blacks leave.

"Remus." Remus looks up to his Mother who is kneeling in front of him.

"Yes Mum?"

"Do us all a favour, Son. Find a hobby that doesn't involve making everyone's life more difficult." He smiles slightly and nods.

"New hobby, yes Ma'am." She smiles lightly at him.

"Would've been funnier if you made the Slytherins lions and the Gryffindors snakes," Lyall comments, Monty laughs, their wives glare at them.

"Would you both stop encouraging them!" Hope asks them, the two look to the ground awkwardly, Euphemia sighs. Harlene turns to her son, ignoring the other adults.

"Peter, I don't want to be called back in here."

"Yes Mum, I'm sorry." The parents all leave, Hope giving her son's shoulder a squeeze as she leaves.

"Sirius?" James asks, kneeling in front of him as Remus drags a chair over and seats Sirius into it, "They're gone, she's gone." Sirius starts breathing a little easier, "You're okay," He says, rubbing Sirius' hands slightly. McGonagall and Dumbledore keep quiet and allow the boys to help their friend, Minerva regretting her decision to involve the boy's parents. She's certain that the Potters would have been sufficient for him to fall in line.

"Hey Sirius, I kissed Narcissa," Remus says suddenly, the boy looks up at him in shock.

"Y-you what? Is there a member of my family you haven't snogged?!" Remus smirks, Sirius realises it was a ploy to get him out of his own head and smiles slightly.

"I was getting through to him," James mutters, Remus rolls his eyes.

"My way was quicker and more amusing."

"Wait, so you didn't kiss her?" Peter asks, Remus sighs.

"No Pete, I did not kiss my girlfriend's sister."

"You say that like you're so above it, but you kissed her cousin."

"Please don't ever kiss my brother," Sirius tells him suddenly, Remus looks at him in mild disgust.

"Have no fear, the Little Marauder is definitely safe from that. Relax Sirius, Trixie is the only member of the Black family I have any interest in beyond friendship." Sirius smiles at him, Remus and Peter don't notice how forced it is, James does.

"You realise my Mother will tell my Aunt about this, right?" The others pretend not to notice the slight tremor in his voice at the mention of his mother, Remus nods with a grimace.

"Well, they'd have hated me eventually anyway." Dumbledore chuckles at that, Remus rolls his eyes.

"Now boys, this was very serious. I don't know how you managed this, but it will not be happening again, do you understand me?" McGonagall asks them, they all nod, "Fifty points from each of you, your detentions stand as they are, one tomorrow night, and I meant what I said. No more pranks of any kind for the remainder of the term or the consequences will be severe." Again they nod.

"I hope you realise how dangerous this could have been," Dumbledore tells them all seriously, they all just look around awkwardly, Dumbledore nods, "You may go." They all leave.

When they get back to the Gryffindor common room, they are unsurprised to find most of the house waiting for them and looking pissed off, nor are they surprised to see Severus and Bellatrix among them, James sighs.

"It's possible that we may have gone a tinsy bit too far this time," He tells them all, they glare.

"You turned most of our house into lions and those two into snakes," Frank reminds them, as though they'd forgotten somehow, as he points to Bellatrix and Severus, neither of whom look happy.

"You do realise they aren't actually of this house, right?"

"Oh please, we've adopted them, they're honorary Gryffindors now."

"I don't know whether to be offended or flattered, but I appreciate the sentiment," Severus replies, James' lip twitches in amusement until Severus glares at him again. James feels a tug on his sleeve and turns to see Remus who looks to Sirius. James follows his line of sight and sees the boy still looking shaken, James nods to Remus and to Peter.

"All right listen, I know, we suck. But on the other hand it was pretty great, right? When will you ever get the opportunity to be lions, or snakes, again? When will you ever again have the chance to see all your teachers as colourful goats? Or all of Slytherin covered in slime? When ever again will you have the chance to see McGonagall look that pissed off?" James asks, moving towards the fireplace as he does, diverting their attention in that direction as Remus leads Sirius up the stairs.

"Hopefully never," Lily mutters, "And where do you think you're going?" She asks the two boys, Peter steps in.

"More importantly, who else can teach you how to turn other people into different animals? Especially on such a large scale? And the timing? Who else would have bothered to try!" He says before nodding to James.

"Our point is, yes, you can look at it and us as the biggest pain in the ass of your life. Or you can see this as an opportunity, and yank it by the balls and make it your bitch," He concludes.

"We can yank on your balls and hear you squeal like a bitch?" Severus drawls, James winces, the entire common room turns on he and Peter. But the other two made it upstairs, along with Bellatrix James thinks when he can't see her anywhere.

"All right, we get it, won't happen again. We'll stick to pranking Slytherins. But if it helps, we've been banned from doing any for the rest of the term."

"YOU ALSO LOST US TWO-HUNDRED POINTS!" An older girl yells.

"Yes, I realise that. Let's all take a deep breath and keep the noise down, we've no need to wake the entire castle," James says, eyes flicking nervously to the dormitory.

"The last person on Earth we would listen to right now is you." James gives Mary a considering look, he looks to Peter and raises his eyebrows, Peter nods.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Peter says, swishing and flicking his wand, James remains calm as he feels himself rise in the air.

"Now I'm not on Earth," He replies, Mary glares, "We apologise for what we've done. Nothing of this severity will occur again for the rest of the year and whatever we eventually do do of this magnitude we will ensure is actually funny. Furthermore the school gets the rest of the term off pranks from us, but you as our house get two. Also, we will all be working our hardest to earn those points back to make up for it. You may all be vocally annoyed until we manage that. It may make you feel better to know that our parents were called in so I doubt we're going to be having a fun Christmas. I would like you all to know that we arranged for a feast of our own in here, and for the older students, we have a surprise. A good one. So in conclusion, we're bastards, we know it, we're sorry, you won't have to deal with it again for a while, we'll make up the points, our parents are as mad as you, and here's some food!" He says, clapping his hands twice and make food begin floating around the common room, "No one under fifteen is allowed to touch any drink in a blue cup, it's been enchanted to know the difference, even I couldn't touch it. Nor could Remus and he's the one that did it so…yeah. Enjoy. We'll get out of your hair." Peter lowers him to the ground again and they make their escape.

"I'll stay here and make sure no one goes in," Peter tells him when they reach the door, James claps him on the back before he heads into the room and finds Sirius on his bed, bracketed by his cousin and friend. James walks over, laying across Remus' legs to lay his head on Sirius' chest.

"You doing okay?" He asks after a few moments silence, Sirius takes a deep shuddering breath.

"Yeah, I think so. I'm sorry for freaking out and leaving you alone to deal with parents and then the mob down there."

"I don't think another voice would have helped in either situation, so don't worry about it." Sirius nods slightly, Remus bites his lip.

"Holidays are a month away, are you going to be okay going home?" Bellatrix's hold on her cousin tightens.

"No, I won't be. But I don't have a choice, there's no way they let me go anywhere else," He tells them, James and Remus frown, "I-I might not be able to write much over break. But it's only two weeks so…so hopefully it won't be too bad." Sirius isn't sure if he's trying to convince them or himself, the others are pretty sure it's himself.

The rest of the term is uneventful, the Marauders manage to earn back about twenty points seeing as all the teachers are reluctant to give them any. They get pulled up for a prank someone pulled and framed them for, luckily Remus is a genius and proves their innocence in the three days they're given to do so before a suspension is given. The group continues to hound Marlene about it being her fault until finally she snaps and the next day they all wake up with blue hair. This lights Sirius' eyes up in a way none had seen since before Halloween and the confrontation with his Mother. Unfortunately, they all recognise it as the 'I have a brilliant plan for a prank' face. (There's an argument in the Marauder's dorm that lasts well into the night after that, but luckily they manage to get his agreement on waiting until the next term.) James never changes his pink hair. Then suddenly, they're on the train back to Kings Cross, sitting on laps much like before only now Severus is on James' and Marlene is on Sirius'. All too soon they are off the train and looking for their families.

"Mum!" Lily calls, seeing her Mother, "Your parents are there too guys, only, I don't see Drom," She says with a frown, they all head over to the group, greetings all exchanged as normal before Sirius sees Petunia.

"Petunia, how lovely to see you again my Dear," He tells her with a dramatic bow, taking her hand and placing a kiss on the back of it, the girl blushes.

"Nice to see you too Sirius," She tells him, "Clara keeps asking about you." He smirks, she rolls her eyes at him, "No need to look quite so smug."

"I tell him that on a daily basis Pet," Lily tells her sister, nervous about how she'll react, her sister smiles exasperatedly at her, she grins.

"Right we'd best be off, you're grounded for the remainder of the holiday after all," Euphemia tells her Son who sighs but doesn't argue, the three leave.

"I suppose that's the case for us as well?" Remus asks his parents and the Pettigrews, both of whom nod.

"Has anyone seen my sister?" Bellatrix asks, they all shake their heads.

"No, but your Aunt is over there looking rather unhappy," Hope tells her, pointing to the woman in question who is looking around with little patience, Narcissa standing beside her.

"We should go," Sirius tells Bellatrix who nods, "See you guys at school." The two walk off nervously, hand in hand.

"You know, for all that I joke, that wouldn't be possible if you weren't dating Bella," Peter tells Remus who looks worried but also proud of the two, "See you."

"Bye," Remus replies, the Pettigrews leave.

"We'd best be off as well," Lyall tells his son who turns to his remaining friends.

"I'll see you guys in two weeks, bye Mr Mrs Evans, see you later Petunia."

"Bye," Petunia replies as the parents nod and his friends wave.

Remus,

I'm only going to be able to write one letter, so please pass this on.

I'm okay for the moment, it's only been three days but they've mostly ignored me so hopefully that continues.

I managed to get out and buy all your presents, so I'll give them to you guys when we get back like we all agreed.

Bellatrix is having a harder time, her parents aren't happy with the 'sorts' she's hanging out with. Both of us have been banned from speaking to you all again, I'm sure you can imagine how well that conversation went down, considering they decided to get together and tell us both at once.

Bella and Reg say Hi by the way.

Miss you and Moony,

Sirius

Remus sits in his room as he reads the letter, quickly writing more out to send to the others as he feels the relief flow through him. He rushes out of his room and to the one next door to his, opening the door without knocking and throwing himself onto the bed.

"What's up with you?" Remus grins at his twin sister Phia.

"He's okay."

"Who?"

"Sirius."

"Ah, the wizard." Remus glares at her.

"Yes, I know you hate all wizards, but he's in a dangerous position right now and he's alive, so can you just not be an arse about it right now?" Phia sighs and nods.

"I'm sorry Rem, you're right. I'm glad your friend is okay." Remus bites his lip nervously.

"You know, you could meet them. Not this holidays obviously, but…"

"Reeeeeeeemuuusssss."

"They aren't like the others!"

"How would you know?!" He sighs.

"Phia, they know I'm a werewolf." Her eyes go as wide as saucers, "They aren't like the others."

Sophia Lupin hates wizards, when the twins were toddlers and their magic began to appear, she was entranced. She loved every moment of it, often purposely using it and then saying it had been an accident. She had loved the wizarding world with all of her heart. Then one night, she woke up screaming from a nightmare about her brother being bitten by something terrible, her father ran in to the twins room, only instead of going to his daughter, he sees the wolf standing over his bleeding son. The wolf snarls at him, then jumps out of the window and runs off into the night. Lyall had explained all about werewolves to the twins after Remus had been stabilised, told them how they were seen in wizarding society and that they had to be careful. Over the years she had watched and seen the lengths they had had to go to to keep her twin safe, she had heard the pain he was in and seen the effects of his affliction. Not to mention what happened the night of his first transformation… She grew to hate all things to do with the wizarding world because if not for them, Remus would be fine, he would be happy, and soon enough, there was nothing that filled her heart with hatred more than the idea of attending Hogwarts. So she didn't. She didn't go to Hogwarts and begged her brother not to as well, but he had never lost his love for magic, and she had never wanted to be the reason he did. They made a deal, he would go and she would support him, but she never met a wizard, he never mentioned her to any of them, and she wouldn't guilt him about it anymore. She'd be happy for him, afterall, his sisters support is all he ever asked of her, and it was the least she could do for him as she abandoned him to those…those wizards. She knew he had never talked about her at his school, and she knew it killed him that she never asks about school, though she listens when he talks. That's how she knows it meant so much to him that she wrote to him everyday, and he to her. She may hate magic, but there is nothing in the world she loves more than her twin brother, and that is ultimately the deciding factor of this decision.

"All right. I'll meet them." His eyes go wide as a huge grin breaks out across his face.

"YES! OH MERLIN I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE THE BESTEST THING TO EVER EXIST THANK YOU!" He yells as he tackle hugs her, she knows she's made the right decision as she feels the complete delight he feels as if it were her own. That often happens when they are together, they don't talk about it, she never talks about anything relating to magic and her.

"They are not to do magic anywhere near me."

"It's illegal to do magic outside of Hogwarts until you're seventeen," He tells her, she smiles.

"Good." He's still grinning as she continues setting down ground rules, "They aren't staying over here, I'm only agreeing to meet them once, and if I don't like them, I never have to again."

"All right but you can't bitch and moan about them being witches and wizards and stuff."

"How about we avoid magic talk all together?"

"Sort of hard when a few of them are purebloods."

"Pure what now?" He sighs.

"Purebloods, it means there are is no muggle blood in their lineages, see some of the old wizarding families think muggles are inferior and that allowing them and wizards to procreate is diluting the magic gene and dirtying the genepool." She frowns.

"That's horrible." He raises an eyebrow at her.

"But hating all wizards for the beliefs of a few is okay?"

"Remus tell me honestly, if I were to walk into that funhouse of yours," He rolls her eyes at the description of Hogwarts, "And announced my love of werewolves, what sort of reaction would I get?" He frowns and looks to the bed, she frowns too and hugs him tight, "I will meet them because they are important to you, and for that reason alone I will keep an open mind." He smiles again.

"Thank you."

"Anything for you Brother."

At King's Cross station the Evans, the Potter, the McKinnon, the Pettigrew, the MacDonald, the Prewett families, and Severus Snape all stand around waiting for the last two members of their group to show up.

"You guys think Sirius is okay?" Lily asks nervously, "I know Remy said he was, but that was eleven days ago, a lot can happen in eleven days."

"I didn't know you cared so much, Evans." Everyone turns to see Sirius standing behind her with a cocky smirk on his face, they all gasp, "Well I know I'm attractive but this is a bit much, then again I guess I really am just that ruggedly handsome."

"What happened to your face?" Marlene asks as she walks up to inspect him closer.

"Tried to bring a book off of the top shelf of a bookcase. Dropped it and it fell on my face." No one believes him, "It was a very high shelf." Before anyone has a chance to say anymore, they hear a commotion and see a bunch of trolleys be knocked over as well as people.

"A galleon says that's Remy," James challenges, Peter snorts.

"No one is stupid enough to take that bet."

"I'M SO SORRY ARE YOU OKAY?!" They hear Remus yell. A few minutes later everything is up right and Remus sprints over to them, "GUYS I HAVE AMAZING NEWS OH MERLIN I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED!"

"Language Remus," Hope reminds him in a tired way as though she has said it many times already today, Lyall turns up looking amused.

"Forget something Remus?" Remus looks confused until he turns around and sees his father with his trolley, he blushes.

"Oops."

"What's going on?" Sirius asks with a laugh at his overly ecstatic friend, Remus turns to him and frowns, James shakes his head minutely so Remus decides to leave it alone.

"OH RIGHT YES I'M SO HAPPY!" He shouts again when he gets back on topic.

"Okay Remy, we're right here, calm down." Bellatrix tells him, he seems surprised.

"Oh hey Trixie, sorry I didn't notice you there. Not that I don't notice but I um…yeah anyway." She just shakes her head fondly at him as everyone cringes except James and Sirius who laugh at him, "Okay, we all need to meet up next holidays, there's someone you guys need to meet and she's finally agreed to actually meet you and oh my lord I'm so fu…" Lyall clears his throat, "err, fluffing. I'm so fluffing excited," He finishes awkwardly, Lyall sighs.

"Who are we meeting and why didn't they want to before?" Mary asks, Remus looks to the ground, shuffling on his feet.

"Um, okay so first off, no one be mad, there's a reason I haven't mentioned her before…" His friends grow concerned.

"You aren't married, are you?" Peter asks, Bellatrix just looks at him like he's an idiot.

"Of course he's not married, even ignoring the fact that he'd never cheat on his wife or me, he's twelve!" Remus smiles at her.

"Well I don't know how the muggle world works, maybe they marry young!" All the pureblood children pause at that.

"You aren't married, are you?" James asks him, Remus sighs.

"Potter, you're an idiot," Lily tells him, James pokes his tongue out at her, "Real mature."

"I'm beginning to think this may be a bad idea after all," Remus mutters, Lyall chuckles, "I am not married and for the record, in the muggle world you have to be eighteen to get married, where I live anyway."

"So who are we meeting Remy?" Marlene asks as she ignores James fascinated look, he always looks like that when Muggle things are mentioned.

"My twin sister."

"You have a sister?" Peter asks, Remus smiles sheepishly and nods.

"Is she hot?" Sirius asks, Marlene punches him as Remus glares, he puts his hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay, no hitting on the twin, got it." Marlene raises an eyebrow at him, he coughs awkwardly and puts his arm around her, "Heh, sorry." She rolls her eyes.

"Yes, I have a sister, and ew Sirius. Even if that weren't wrong on so many levels, she's not into guys."

"Hey, you're dating my cousin, you have no leg to stand on," He tells Remus strongly, Bellatrix giggles and moves closer to Remus who responds automatically by putting an arm around her, "Also, how great a woman would I make?"

"I can see that, little make up. With your skin and eyelashes it wouldn't take much. Your hair certainly helps," Marlene tells him, he grins.

"It's gorgeous, right?"

"Has anyone bothered to notice that this is a big deal for him?" Petunia asks them all, they turn back to Remus who seems a little annoyed.

"Sorry Remy, we would love to meet your sister," James tells him, the others all nodding.

"You're invited too Petunia. I think she'd be grateful to have a Muggle there."

"Thanks," Petunia says with a surprised smile, Lily grins in delight.

"And Reg of course." Sirius smiles at him.

"Hold up, why isn't this twin at Hogwarts and why would she want a muggle around?" Petunia raises an eyebrow at him and James grimaces, "That came out badly."

"Bit like you and Severus," Sirius says earning laughs and two angry looks.

"She…isn't exactly the biggest fan of the wizarding world. When our Hogwarts letters came, she decided to keep going to Muggle school and ignore her magical abilities."

"A witch that doesn't like magic?" Petunia asks, he winces.

"More like a witch that decides to ignore the existence of magic and everything that goes along with it."

"Why?" Mary asks, Remus looks sad.

"It's complicated. Anyway, she didn't want me to mention her to any wizard types and she refused to meet any of you. I realise none of that exactly endears you to her but I promise she's a really great person, she's just protective. Um, but she finally agreed to meet you all and it's really important to me so…please?" They all seem nervous but nod.

"Of course." He beams blindingly and none can help but smile back.