9 Years with the Marauders: 1972-1981. Beginning in 2nd year, the trials and tribulations of the Marauders right up until the deaths of James and Lily Potter. Remus/Sirius relationship-centric. James/Lily. Warning SLASH! Contains m/m content in later chapters.
DISCLAIMER: All characters, locations, and bits (with a few exceptions) are property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Studios.
NOTES ON THIS CHAPTER: November, 1977. WARNING: This chapter contains strong language and scenes inappropriate for younger audiences.
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Remus hated how James made it look so easy. It was their seventh year, their last year. They were high and mighty over all in the school – barring teachers and staff – and they only had one more set of brutally difficult tests before they would get to leave and go out into the "real" world. James however, had managed to juggle at least five different major responsibilities as though it were nothing. He had ten classes from Divination to Potions, all of which he was slated to take the N.E.W.T.s for. Then he had the duties of the Quidditch team, which meant practices every other evening until nightfall no matter the weather, and every Friday a strategy session with the Gryffindor team to go over moves with their little model Quidditch pitch. And then he was Head Boy, going on patrols after dinner but before practices, and checking the halls before class (though Remus knew he enjoyed showing up five minutes late on purpose with no repercussions). And of course to top it all off, he and Sirius were still just as troublesome as ever. Just a week ago, they had charmed up a new batch of whoopee cushions, ones that made male or female sex noises when sat upon, and then two days after that they had filled Jocasta Warrington's book bag with undiluted bubotuber pus, which caused her to run screaming to the hospital wing. The other Slytherins were not pleased.
And yet, despite all that, James was leading like a champion. Responsible (sort of) and grown up, and a natural born leader. The younger students listened to him more than they had ever listened to Remus, possibly because James was popular and possibly because they were a little afraid of whoopee cushions or charmed suits of armor. And he still had time to work on the llama issue with Sirius until they had come to a solution. A solution that Remus was now watching play out.
Sirius had manage to "coax" the password out of a third year, and now, at two o'clock in the morning, they were all standing quietly in the green-tinted room. All but one of the emerald lamps was out, and Sirius and James were huddled around a couch, muttering to each other. Remus was standing by the doorway which lead to the dormitories. He was supposed to report of any noise coming from the sleeping students. Peter was standing near the brick wall listening for anyone on the other side of it.
After a few minutes, the couch suddenly staggered. Seconds later, a dark green llama was standing where the piece of furniture had once been. Using their many skills at Transfiguration, Sirius and James had concluded the best option was to just Transfigure all the furniture into llamas. And alpacas, and perhaps a couple sheep. James flicked his wand once more at the llama, and the green faded to a normal beige color.
Around the room they went. Every couch and armchair became a llama, the cushions and tables were alpacas or sheep, the floor lamps and vases – upon contemplation from Sirius – were turned into goats. The llamas and alpacas and sheep all calmly wandered around and started chewing on tapestries or rugs, but the goats immediately began bashing their heads against any inanimate object they could see. Remus heard a noise behind him as a goat made a "bong" noise bouncing off of a vase.
"Time to go." He whispered pointedly, heading for the wall. Sirius pouted, flicking his wand one last time at the last end table, which popped into a sheep. Then the four boys vanished out of the dungeon wall.
Sirius pulled out the Marauder's Map. It had finally been completed, to the best of their ability. Remus liked watching it unfurl in Sirius or James' hands, watching all the little people scurrying about. "Filch is still up on fourth, but Penny is near Potions, on the other side of the dungeons."
They all headed for the stairs, avoiding going down any hallways that would cause them to be seen by Miss Penny. They hurried back up to Gryffindor Tower without any mishap. They were experts by now. Champions of the dark hallways of Hogwarts after hours. Remus could get to almost any location in the pitch darkness by heart. Only Peter ever needed to light his wand or risk running into something. Back in the dormitory, Remus crawled into bed and sighed. Tomorrow morning would certainly be an interesting one.
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"James..." There was a dangerous, vase-throwing inflection to Lily's voice. James was lounging on an armchair and lazily completing a Divination assignment (which for James and Sirius mostly just involved writing down bullshit predictions to appease Professor Reluquim), but when he heard Lily's voice he jumped upright, steadying his bottle of ink and the box of jelly beans he had been rifling through.
"Er... yes Lily?" He said kindly.
"McGonagall is requesting our presence in her office." Lily said, one hand on her hip, the other primed for throwing. "Something about... llamas... and goats... and utter chaos."
"Really?" James said casually, keeping his tone of voice neutral.
"Really."
He followed her out of the portrait hole and into the hallway. She whirled on him. "What did you do?"
James opened his mouth, but she wasn't finished talking. "Llamas? Llamas in Slytherin Dungeon? Slughorn tried to remove them and then he called McGonagall because they were obviously Transfigured llamas, and she knew immediately that it had to be you and Sirius, you're the only Transfiguration students with enough talent to pull that off..."
"Why thank you."
"Shut up! You are Head Boy James! You are supposed to be responsible, a role model for younger students! You are supposed to enforce the rules, not break them."
"I've always considered myself a role model for younger students."
"A positive role model you great dolt!"
"Lily..."
"No, don't even talk to me. I'm so furious with you." Lily said angrily, and she started off down the hallway. James went walking after her rather dejectedly, his hands stuck in the pockets of his robe. Memories of a younger redhead surfaced in his mind. Just as angry, just as vivacious, with flashing green eyes. They made him burn with happiness.
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Remus looked sideways at Sirius. He was angry. Sirius never openly said whether or not he was angry with someone of course, because that would require acknowledging his feelings and talking about them. Instead Sirius became dark and brooding. He was doing that right now. On the outside he appeared to be sorting out Chocolate Frog cards, however, there was a furrow to his brow, and a rigidness to his posture that was familiar to Remus.
James approached them, slumping down into the couch. Sirius didn't even look up from where he was sitting on the floor. Remus inhaled slowly, pulling An Unabridged History of Magic, Volume 4 towards himself a bit more firmly. Sirius was mad at James. That was a very bad sign. The both of them were so emotionally retarded that James probably had yet to realize that Sirius was even angry.
"Oh Merlin's beard, have you seen the Slytherins' faces today?" James said with a grin. "Snivellus had llama dirt all over his shoes, it wouldn't come off, so then Filch started screaming at him for dirtying up the floors, it was hysterical!"
"It was until someone ruined everything." Remus peered over the edge of his book to see Sirius gripping his Morgana card with such force it was bending and tearing at the edges.
"Someone who?" James said in surprise.
Sirius was silent, but angry. Remus raised the book up slightly and hid himself from view. This was not going to go well. "Forget it."
"What the hell, Sirius. We performed one of the greatest pranks we've ever performed, ever, period! Losing a hundred points from Gryffindor was so totally and completely worth it!" James said, sitting up. "Do you even realize? Filch and three students have been cleaning up the dungeon for hours and hours and it's not even working! Somehow we Transfigured llamas with dung that just won't clean up. It's like a beautiful side effect. And they are in fact shitting all over the place. Constantly. I don't even know what they are eating!"
Sirius made a derisive noise, somewhat like a snort, and threw the Morgana card down on a pile of other Morganas angrily. All the cards looked up at him accusingly, the bent and torn Morgan le Fay shaking one tiny fist at him. This only seemed to anger him further, and with a great sweep of his arm he pushed all the cards he had been meticulously sorting back into one great big pile and shoved them into his bookbag with broad, angry motions.
Now James knew something was up. Sirius' anger was pushing itself to the edge. Remus scooted back on the couch. "What the hell is wrong with you?" James demanded.
Sirius got to his feet, and gave James a glower so severe that Remus was sure a part of James was shrinking at the very thought. Indeed James curled his upper lip back in irritation. "Nothing, except you've got yourself a new best mate, and the Marauders might as well disband! All of you, nothing but a bunch of... UGH."
"Er..." Remus attempted, but a look from Sirius shut him up. Seconds later, the dark-haired boy was whipping up the dormitory stairs. The three remaining Marauders just looked at each other silently for a moment, before James made a rude noise and motioned towards the stairs.
"What the fuck is up with him? He's cross over nothing!"
"Must be puberty." Peter said, only it wasn't as witty, nor as funny, as when Sirius, James, or even Remus tried the line.
"Shut up, Pete." James shot out, twisting sideways and giving Peter a scathing look. The blond scrunched up his face and shrank down obediently.
"I think he's a bit put out by you being Head Boy, that's all." Remus attempted. "He's always been a bit iffy on Lily, doesn't really understand..."
"He's an idiot." James said decisively, but he looked disturbed, glancing up at the stairs.
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Remus looked around the dormitory. It was empty. James and Peter had started playing Exploding Snap and Remus had very delicately removed himself from the situation. Now he looked for Sirius. From the bathroom he heard the shower running. Since it was before dinner there wasn't anyone in the dormitories, so obviously it was Sirius. Remus set his book on the bed and headed into the bathroom.
He checked to make sure they were alone, and pointed his wand at the door. "Muffliato."
"Moony?" Sirius' voice came from one of the showers. Remus dragged his shirt over his head and then removed the rest of his clothes, folding them and laying them on the small shelf where Sirius' clothes had been shoved haphazardly into a pile.
"Yeah, it's me." Remus slid into the shower and closed the curtain. Sirius smirked at him and handed him the soap.
"Wash my back?"
Remus ran the soap over Sirius' skin and massaged it in, and then they turned around together under the water to rinse it off. Half-way through washing the muscular planes of Sirius' shoulders Remus' grip on the soap slipped and the bar fell to the floor. Remus broke out into a laugh that was disturbingly like a giggle. "Sorry."
Sirius bent down, and grabbed it, and then jerked upright as Remus' hand made a grab for something very un-soap-like. "Hey!"
"Shhh..." Remus kissed Sirius, and Sirius slid against the cold tile wall of the shower, and their mouths did all the talking that they wanted to do.
Until Remus pulled back and looked at Sirius. "Why are you so worried about Lily?"
Sirius froze, his fingers tightening on Remus' waist where they had been resting. "What?"
"You're upset about Lily. And about James being Head Boy, and about James hanging out with Lily. You act as though James is using Lily as a replacement for you. Dumbledore gave him this responsibility for a reason, I mean, really, you're acting a bit childish about it..."
Sirius shoved him back, and Remus scowled. "Don't you tell me I'm acting childish! You don't know anything!"
He tore out of the shower, snatching a towel off the rack and wrapping it around his waist. "Padfoot! Sirius!" Remus said, coming out of the shower and reaching for him. His hand was too wet though, and Sirius nearly tripped as he turned around, and extricated himself easily.
"Bugger off." Sirius hissed darkly, leaving the bathroom and Remus alone.
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"Hey Black, why don't ya tell us all about your family?"
"Yeah, have they Cruciated any Muggles lately?"
A small dark-haired boy looked up at his tormentors. His charcoal gray jumper was lined with red and gold. He screwed up his face in anger, staring at the pair of fifth years. They laughed.
"Shut up, asshats!" The boy called Black – first name Sirius – shot back at the older students.
Their laughter was louder than ever. "You little black-hearted rat. Looks like the Sorting Hat finally got something wrong! You don't deserve to be in Gryffindor. You should be in Slytherin with all your other stupid relatives. All of you deserve a Killing Curse!" One of the boys pulled out a wand. "Just wait a few years, you'll get yours."
"AIIIIIIEEEEEE!" The scream was full of capitalized letters and far too many exclamation points. A blur of black and grey and red and gold came out of nowhere. The scream and the blur were followed by an explosion of brown and a putrid odor.
A hand wrapped around Sirius Black's small arm, and dragged him away. The fifth years – covered in the contents of three perfectly thrown dungbombs – yelped and scrambled backwards. Sirius was pulled around the corner and then released. The bespectacled boy who had rescued him from the fifth year Gryffindors now turned to look at Sirius, grinning widely.
"Buncha jackasses." He said kindly, then he laughed.
Sirius stared for a moment, and then burst into a peal of laughter as well. "That was brilliant!"
"You betcha. I'm smarter than five of those guys put together." The boy said, laughing and clapping Sirius on the back. "'Sides, buncha jerks anyway. You don't need 'em."
"You're a first year, aren't you?" Sirius said with a sideways glance. No one had yet greeted Sirius Black: First Year Gryffindor, with anything but scorn and jibes about his surname.
"James Potter. Listen, you don't need to worry about being a Gryffindor." James smirked. "My mum is a Black."
"What? I've heard of the Potters before, didn't know..."
"Yeah, yeah. My mum talked about it once. She got kicked out, kinda... well that's not totally true, but listen, not all Blacks are bad. I mean, some of them, well most of them are anyway... but the Sorting Hat never lies. My dad said so. You were meant to be a Gryffindor, and if anyone tells ya different we'll punch their lights out!" James punched Sirius' arm.
The two eleven year olds burst into childish and – on the part of one formerly lonely first year – relieved laughter, and James led his new friend to the Great Hall. New best mate? Maybe. At least for a little while.
"He hasn't even looked at us for days." Peter said mournfully. "He might not ever talk to us again."
Jerked from his thoughts, James looked over at Remus, who was staring over the back of the couch and out the window. Remus had been moony – the state of mind sort, not the fuzzy sort – more than ever in the last few days. James had assumed that Remus would be there to smooth things over. Remus was after all, friends with both Sirius and Lily. However, Remus seemed to be more lost than James himself felt.
And lost he felt indeed. He and Sirius had never fought. Remus and Sirius had that one time back in fourth year. But not James and Sirius. Never James and Sirius. The first two, brothers in arms – and now that they were sharing two parents they were almost like blood brothers. They stood against general prickishness the world over, armed with nothing but genius, dungbombs, rakish handsomeness, and a touch of insanity. He looked back at his broom, the bristles of which he had been trimming carefully with a pair of special scissors. Thoughts faded in and out of his head.
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Sirius had been sitting on the couch when suddenly he was struck. Not by inspiration, nor by a sudden thought. No, Sirius Black was struck by a large bucket of yellowish liquid. Some of it splashed into his mouth, and he coughed and spat out the liquid, but not before he felt a tingle in the back of his throat. He straightened, and looked up at James, who was staring him down with the empty bucket in his hands.
"What the he-" Instead of the dulcet tones of his usual, beautiful voice, the sound that issued from Sirius' throat was high-pitched, squeaky trilling, quite simliar to the sound that fairies made while they tried to mob someone's head. "You... Volubilis Potion?"
"Because I'm sick of hearing you mumble deeply under your breath like some great stupid ape." James said angrily. "Stomping around like you're the center of the goddamn universe. Well guess what Sirius Black, you aren't."
"Fuck you!" The squeaking voice made Sirius' words sound like a chipmunk was speaking, and it only made him angrier. "Who are you to tell me what to do? You aren't my parents, you aren't anybody!"
"I'm your bloody best mate, that's what! You and I are brothers, you promised that to me seven years ago! Just because I care about someone and you wouldn't know how to love someone if they were on their knees in front of you and begging you with everything they had. You are a stunted, childish... boy!"
The common room was staring, everyone either pretending not to notice by lifting books over their heads, or looking at them both outright with no shame. Peter, who had also been splashed by the potion, but thankfully hadn't ingested any, was standing next to a lamp as though he were trying to get his girth to fit behind the stand of the lamp, to hide behind it. Remus had been up in the dormitories, but he came rocketing down the stairs when he heard James shouting, and now he stood at the bottom of the stairway, looking from one to the other of his best mates like each of them held a rope and was trying to pull him in both directions at once.
Sirius took a swing at him. James dodged it, and before anyone could even move, they were on top of each other. Fists flew, James' glasses went flying, and fabric ripped as Sirius tore James' Head Boy badge off his chest. Remus pointed his wand at the badge as it went sailing through the air, and it landed softly in his hands.
The fight went on, too long. And then, just as suddenly, the common room went quiet. Those people who had been watching them suddenly had something else very important to do. James and Sirius stopped as well. James still had a fistful of Sirius' hair, and Sirius' hand was very close to James' throat.
Minerva McGonagall was standing in the doorway, her hair frazzled, pointed hat askew. Remus gazed at her, fear caught in the back of his throat, showing on his face. "Mr. Potter. Get up this instant. You need to come with me."
James and Sirius broke apart, not looking at each other. Remus handed over both the glasses and the badge, and James stalked off, leaving one knocked over table, two chairs, and three very confused and torn Marauders.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sooooo... my writing schedule has been a bit off. Looks like instead of every single day like you very spoiled readers are used to, every other day is going to be more likely. I have no intentions of letting things slow down much more than that if I can help it, so I hope you guys don't mind.
A bit of a cliffhanger here. I had a hard time with this chapter mostly because it was a bit painful. After all, it's hard to really point a finger at anyone in this situation. I have to pity Lily, who has to deal with a Marauder who should be a Head Boy, and then of course I feel sorry for James, who just loves her so much that getting the chance to be Head Boy alongside him makes him rather stupid. And then there's Sirius, who feels neglected and jealous of Lily because she is taking away his best friend, but of course he's too emotionally stunted to really understand how he feels. And then Remus, who is trying to be everyone's best friend all at once and failing miserably.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK:
hotpinkfleur: in every single chapter, because she is, as always, my ever-present writing advisor and friend *hug*
LoverFaery, Lonewolfe001, pshhh yeahh, PharaohDeli: Almost at two hundred reviews you guys! ZOMG NO WAI LIKE TOTALLY. xD I love you guys, so keep being awesome!