Warning: Talk of drug use.
James looked around the Common room for Marlene, but she wasn't there. So he accompanied Remus to the library, and there she was, reading a book about Billywigs.
"Hey, Marlene, can I talk to you?" he asked her, as Remus wandered off to the Transfiguration section.
"Sure, James."
"Last night, we were in Dumbledore's office-"
"Why were you in Dumbledore's office?" she asked, grinning. "Surely, you lot were up to some mischief."
"Doesn't matter, but Phineas Nigellus was warning Sirius about something," he said, and Marlene's face suddenly became serious.
"What exactly did he say?" she asked him, and James told her what he said.
"What happens when you turn sixteen, Marlene? Is there an evil Black right of passage or something?" he asked her worriedly.
"Not particularly, Sirius never mentioned anything like that, but then..." she said, biting her lip worriedly.
"But then what?"
"Sirius is the heir, there's probably something he might need to do, you know... boxes he might need to check off before he officially inherits everything."
"Like what?"
"I have no idea, I'm sorry," said Marlene. James looked really distressed. "Oh, don't look so worried, James, Sirius can handle himself," she said.
"Can he?" he asked, and they looked at each other gravely. Then they watched as Remus approached them, his arms laden with books.
"Remus doesn't seem too worried about Phineas' warning," said James.
"He knows nothing about how these old pureblood families work," Marlene reminded him.
"Oh yeah."
"Ready to go?" asked Remus innocently.
"Yeah," said James. Marlene stood up and walked back with them to the Common room.
"That's a lot of books, Moony," said James. "Here, let me carry some."
"Thanks, James," said Remus, giving him a couple. "The Hogwarts library is the best, it always has all the books I need, all the time," he said happily.
"Isn't it?!" said Marlene, uncharacteristically excited. "It's a wonderful place, not only for reading, but for a myriad of things!"
James and Remus looked perplexed.
"If you two heard what all goes on there..." she said, smirking like a maniac.
"Like what?" James asked.
"Francois Antoine was practising Cheering Charms in the library just earlier, and his charm accidentally hit a book in the Restricted Section. The book started laughing," she told them, and they all laughed.
"Please tell me he got detention," said Remus.
Marlene nodded. "Of course he did."
"Yes!"
"But he's a Prefect, why would he be practising Charms in the library?" asked James. "Isn't that the most important of the ten commandments of the library? 'Thou shalt not perform Magic in the library'?"
Marlene laughed. "No one has any idea what they're doing anymore, it's OWLs time, everyone's going slightly insane."
"That's true, Milla Larsen was taken with hysterics in our Arithmancy class yesterday," said Remus. "Madam Pomfrey had to give her a Calming draught."
"How is she now?" asked James.
"She's fine," said Marlene. "But coming back to the library, I've heard that several clandestine operations take place there," she said, raising her eyebrows dramatically.
"Are you saying people are doing drugs?" asked James, displaying his cluelessness yet again. "Because yesterday, Gareth Towler tried to sell me some powdered dragon claw, he told me it would make me clever for a few hours."
"You didn't buy that, did you?" asked Remus worriedly.
"Of course not, my brain power is completely excellent without the help of such aids," said James proudly. "In fact, it felt insulting that he even considered I would need it!"
"You'd be better off buying some Ganja off of him," said Marlene.
"Excuse me, Towler's selling Ganja?!" asked Remus. "I'll have to confiscate that." Marlene looked shocked.
James laughed. "You should know better than to talk about illegal things in front of stuffy old Remus here," he said.
"I'm not stuffy... I'm probably the worst Prefect in the history of Hogwarts," said Remus. "The things I let slide!"
"Please don't confiscate it, Remus," pleaded Marlene. "I need that stuff to calm down, I get anxiety."
Remus sighed. "Fine."
"You know, James, by clandestine operations, I didn't mean a black market trade, alright?" she said.
James looked extremely interested.
"I meant people snogging in its dusty aisles..." she said, and Remus understood what she was implying. She looked at him sideways, but he didn't say anything.
"It's very interesting if you think about it, even I didn't get the idea to take someone to the library to snog them," she said.
"Okay, fine! we get it, he told you," said Remus, smiling even though he didn't want to.
"What? Oh," said James, realising what they were talking about. "Right..."
"Poor James, always the last one to know," said Marlene.
"That's not fair, why didn't he tell you, but not me?" asked James indignantly.
"Why did he tell anyone anyway, what a weird thing to tell," said Remus.
Marlene laughed at them. "I thought James was weird for getting angry about this, but you're weirder," she said.
"Why am I the weird one? Padfoot is weird for telling," said Remus. "Anyway, I'm sure it's because you're very talented at getting things out of him."
"He told me on his own!" she said. "Besides, he said you're the talented one, the things you can do with..." Then she pointed to her mouth.
"Oh Merlin!" Remus exclaimed, blushing a little.
"It's natural to tell," said Marlene, shaking her head at them. "It means he's happy."
"Oh," said Remus. Then he smiled. Marlene chuckled at him.
"So why didn't he tell me?" asked James again.
"Trust me, James, you don't want to know these things," she told him.
"But I do!"
"Fine! I'll tell you something he probably hasn't told either of you yet," said Remus. James grinned eagerly at him. "Do you know what happened on the day of the Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff game? You will find this hilarious." And he told them how Sirius had chosen to declare his love, about the shoelaces and Minerva catching them in that position, James started giggling at this point.
"Oh, Moony, hahaha... I'm so glad you told me... haha... he would never have told me about the whole 'love is like a crying baby' thing..hahaha!" James wheezed. Marlene clutched her stomach, laughing. Just watching them laugh was making Remus chuckle too.
"...on his knees…!" said Marlene, and they laughed all over again.
The Portrait Hole opened and Frank and Alice walked out. They grinned curiously at Remus as they passed.
"Don't ask," Remus told them. They chuckled and walked away.
"This is gold, Moony! I'll be telling this story at your wedding…!" James said, holding his tummy.
"I'll dance all night at your wedding," said Marlene.
"Um, guys, we're men, I doubt we'll have a wedding, and also that's thinking too far-" Remus said, but James was shaking his head. He stopped laughing for a minute.
"I guess you don't see it, but I see it. I've always seen it... you two are forever," he said.
Remus blinked at him uncertainly. How is he so sure?
"I'm so freaking happy, I'm over the moon... haha, get it?" he added, giving Remus a sudden hug.
Remus was at a loss for words. He just smiled and followed James into the Common room.
After that, James teased Sirius about it every opportunity he got, chortling endlessly. He dubbed it 'the Crying Baby' incident, and Sirius was annoyed to the core. "This is all your fault, he'll never let me forget it," he growled to Remus one day, during Transfiguration.
"Sorry Pads," Remus said, grinning guiltily.
"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, care to share to the class what you're talking about?" said Professor McGonagall loudly. They jumped and looked up at her.
Then James started laughing. Not secretly or silently, but loudly. Everyone gaped at him and the Professor looked affronted. Sirius put his fingers on his temple and Remus tried not to smile.
"Mr. Potter, if you don't stop laughing, I'll have to send you-" she began.
"Crying baby," he said weakly and continued to laugh.
Then her lips twitched and she accidentally smiled. The class stared at her, dumbfounded. Professor McGonagall had smiled. In the middle of class.
"Professor!" Remus said accusingly, and Marlene started laughing too.
"Not you too, Minnie! There's no respite!" Sirius said. James pointed at her and laughed even more, because she knew exactly why he was laughing.
She recovered in an instant and pointed to the door. "Out," she told him, the severe look back on her face. James picked up his book bag and sauntered out, still laughing. "And tuck your shirt in, Potter!" she added.
All around the class, friends put their heads together to discuss how amazing James Potter was. The Great Potter who could make even Professor McGonagall grin in class.
Lily was annoyed at first, but she had been equally amazed as everyone else when the professor had smiled. She wouldn't even admit it to herself, but she thought it was pretty cool. She gazed over at the other Marauders, Sirius was hitting a giggling Remus with a book. She rolled her eyes. She'd been so mad at the Marauders that she had been completely ignored them. She completely pretended they didn't exist, even Remus. She was the most angry at James for bad-mouthing Severus, then she was angry at Sirius for whipping out his wand on her, when she had been trying to help him just earlier.
The arrogance!
But she wasn't exactly sure why she was mad at Remus too. She had expected him to understand Severus' position better than the others, but it seemed he just couldn't. He had said nothing when the others were arguing with her, he had even sided with the others at one point.
I thought Remus was better than that, but clearly, he isn't!
She was also angry at all of them for telling her what to do.
Who are they to tell me what I can and can't do?! Such misogyny.
She didn't talk to Remus even when she started missing their conversations. His dry humour used to make her laugh for hours. Their impromptu intellectual debates were the highlight of her week, and none of her girlfriends were like him.
One evening on their rounds, Dorcas told Lily about the Marauders' efforts to discover the secret Slytherin passageway. "To be honest, they were the perfect people for the job, they're always exploring. I don't think there's any other person who knows this castle better than they do, actually," said Dorcas.
"Better than Dumbledore?" asked Lily.
"Yes, I do think, better than Dumbledore," said Dorcas.
"Right," Lily said awkwardly. She was still salty about James' most recent efforts in his 'Tell-Snivelly-to-fuck-off' campaign.
"Hmmm, still not talking to Remus, I see?" Dorcas asked her and she shook her head.
"Well, did you know? They finally got together," Dorcas said.
"Black and Remus?" asked Lily.
"Yeah."
Lily started shaking her head, but then she remembered something. "Well, Marlene did mention something a week or so ago, but I wasn't paying attention…" she said slowly.
"Yes, dear old Minnie caught them as Sirius was on his knees, professing his love to Remus," said Dorcas, giggling.
"On his knees?!"
"Well he was tying Remus's shoelace," said Dorcas, and the two girls giggled.
"Sweet Jesus, finally!" said Lily. "What did McGonagall do?"
"Nothing, apparently. She just walked away."
Lily grinned.
Oh, so that had been why they were laughing in class the other day.
She felt happy for Remus. Then she suddenly missed him.
"You should talk to him," suggested Dorcas, as if she knew what Lily was thinking.
"Why can't he?" she said defiantly.
"Well I'm assuming he's angry with you, since he requested that you two not have Prefect duties together," said Dorcas.
"Excuse me?" Lily was shocked. She had been thinking that she was the one ignoring him, but he was ignoring her?
I mean, fancy that! What right does he have for ignoring me? I've done nothing at all.
"Oh, crap. You didn't know that, did you?" said Dorcas, scratching her head.
Lily said nothing. This was when the ego set in. It didn't allow her to go ask him what she had done wrong. It was out of the question, and it looked like the end of their friendship. The girls had tried to persuade her to go talk to him, they saw she wasn't the happiest. Alice had even tried to talk to Remus about it and almost got jinxed.
"Come on, Lupin. You miss each other, everyone can see that. Why don't you make the first move? Be the bigger man, yeah?" said Alice.
"You know, Alice. I recently learnt a jinx that brings on a week-long blue beard, are you interested?" he asked brightly.
"Walking away now," she said, and quickly got out of there.
A few days later, Peter asked Remus to proofread his Herbology essay. "Last essay before the exams, Remus!" he said, wiping his forehead.
"No problem, Wormtail," said Remus, taking the parchment roll. After he was done checking, he asked Sirius for his Herbology essay too. "You're brilliant, Sirius, I know, but you just make a lot of spelling mistakes, even you know this. Just show it to me," said Remus.
Sirius glanced at Remus nervously. "It's not here…" he mumbled.
"Well, bring it down then," said Remus impatiently.
"It's not in the dorm either," Sirius told him. Peter was nearly panicking, he knew Sirius hadn't done the essay for Herbology, which was due at nine, tomorrow morning.
"What do you mean?" asked Remus, confused. "Where is it?"
"Let's say I ate my own homework," he said, trying not to grin as Remus stared at him, open mouthed.
"You haven't started it? It's due TOMORROW!" he yelled. Some people looked over curiously, but most Gryffindors were now were quite used to Remus telling the Marauders off.
"I thought it was due next week," said Sirius meekly.
"Next week? In the middle of our OWLs ?" asked Remus, folding his hands angrily.
"Oh yeah, I did think it was odd," said Sirius.
"Pads, it took me a whole week to write it!" said Remus, holding his forehead.
"It's not gonna count towards my OWL anyway," said Sirius.
"So what? You're always doing this, you're always off gallivanting-" Remus stopped abruptly and took a deep breath. "You're coming with me to the library now, Padfoot," he decided, and got to his feet. "Have you decided on a topic or not?"
"Of course I have. I'm gonna write about Betony," Sirius said, grinning.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's go," he said and got to his feet.
"But it's past curfew," said Sirius.
"And when has that ever stopped us?" asked Remus, raising an eyebrow.
"You're right. See you lads later," he told the others sadly, and they waved at him, grinning gleefully. He followed Remus to the library.
The next morning, the boys struggled to wake Sirius up. "Sirius wake up," said James, kicking him, but he still didn't move. "When did you guys go to bed last night?" he asked Remus, who just walked out of the bathroom. Peter ran into it.
"Around half past three. That's when he finally finished his essay," said Remus, shaking his head.
"He's not even moving," James said. "One night of work and he's in a coma."
Remus laughed. After he put on his school robes, he walked over to Sirius and sat down beside him.
"Come on, Padfoot, you stay up later than this on Full moons," he said, shaking him.
"Mmmm… Remus, no," Sirius mumbled, opening his eyes at last. "I'm skiving off today. Tell them I'm sick."
"You're not sick, and it was your own fault you left it so late," Remus told him. "But you know, I'm so proud of you for working so hard to finish your essay."
"Yeah?" asked Sirius, sitting up.
Remus smiled. "Yeah," he said, and kissed his forehead.
"Aww," said James, beaming at them. Then Sirius grabbed Remus' face and kissed him.
"Aaargh!" said James, turning away quickly. Remus and Sirius laughed.
"What's wrong, Jamesie? I thought you said you wanted to know?" asked Remus, grinning at him.
"He said that?" asked Sirius. "Well in that case, along with my treatise of Betony, I can now present you with one on Remus' mouth-"
"No, no, no!" yelled James, trying to stuff socks into his ears. "I do not want to know anything!"
Sirius and Remus laughed. "Oh, by the way, Prongs, Moony and I discovered a new passageway last night!" said Sirius.
"Really?!" asked James, turning around and removing the socks.
"Yeah, you know how there's no direct path between the West Tower and the Ravenclaw Tower?" said Remus.
"Yeah?"
"But there is, there's a passageway!" said Sirius excitedly.
"Wow!" said James. "New passageway! Where does it start?"
"So, after I was done with my assignment, I was too high strung, you know how I get," said Sirius.
"Yeah."
"Yeah, so we went for a walk and we were in one of the abandoned classrooms in the West Tower-"
"Sirius decided to teach me Latin-" James chuckled at them. The thought of the two of them just happily spending time together made him happy as well.
"I wrote Aperio on the blackboard, and it moved aside to reveal a black hole-"
"It leads from that classroom to the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower," said Remus.
"Awesome! Make sure to add it to the Map before we leave," said James. The other two nodded.
"And that passageway is where I studied Remus' mouth actually," whispered Sirius, grinning.
"I change my mind!" said James quickly. "I don't want to know any such details." The other two laughed again.
"Love you, Moony," Sirius said, as Remus unbuttoned his pyjama top for him.
"And you're... incredibly sexy," Remus told him, looking down at his bare chest.
"Thanks for that compensation," he said and laughed.
Remus huffed and threw Sirius's school robes at his face. "Get changed."
Finally, the OWLs were here, and the fifth years spent all day and all night revising, taking breaks only for eating and sleeping. Their first exam was Theory of Charms, which everyone agreed was easy.
"I'm so happy that's over!" said Sirius, flinging his copy of Achievements in Charming aside.
"But we still have the practical in an hour," moaned Peter, picking up the book again. Peter was completely terrified of the practical exam, Charms was Peter's weakest subject. James and Sirius and Remus managed to calm him down by telling him he was the best out of the Marauders at colour-changing charms. All the students gathered outside the Great Hall, and were called in by alphabetical order. It had already been twenty minutes since Sirius and Remus had gone in, but Peter thought they must have left from the other way, since none of the students were coming back out.
"Pettigrew, Peter," called Professor Sprout and Peter whimpered.
"You can do it, Pete! Luck is on your side," James whispered encouragingly, but Peter wouldn't move. "Pete, go." He still wouldn't budge, so James gave him a little push, and he started walking.
"It's going to be alright, Mr. Pettigrew, just trust yourself," said Professor Sprout. Peter looked at her as if she was a dementor.
Oh dear.
But it wasn't alright. The strict-looking Professor Marchbanks asked Peter to make a quill float. "A simple, basic charm, Mr. Pettigrew," she said.
"Wingardium Leviosa," said Peter, and the quill slowly rose into the air.
Later on, Sirius and Remus found Peter crying as he walked into the dorm. "Pete, what happened?!"
"I poked Professor Marchbanks in the eye with a quill! She had to be taken to the Hospital Wing!" he yelled. "I'm failing for sure!" and he fell in his bed, weeping. Before they could walk over to him and comfort him, James ran in.
"Pete, McGonagall says you get a do-over, come on," he said, and somehow, he gently coaxed Peter to go back down and do his test again.
Their next exam was History of Magic, which went alright, except for the part where the exam had to be paused for five minutes because Buach Murphy had smuggled in a remembrall and got caught. Sirius felt terrible for the guy as he begged and pleaded to the professors, but in the end, his exam parchments were collected and he was sent away. "I already told you, people," said Professor Slughorn, looking around at all the students smugly. "Don't cheat, you will get caught."
James ruefully looked out of the window. The grass was so green, the sky periwinkle-blue... perfect flying conditions were going to waste while he was stuck indoors trying to remember the name of the wretched goblin who had initiated a rebellion during the time of Hesphaestus Gore, Minister for Magic in the mid-eighteenth century.
"Vargot!" he whispered to himself, and started writing again.
Remus sat in his Herbology theory exam, frowning at question number nine - State why metal gardening instruments shouldn't be used for Caldora. Sirius turned around in his seat and grinned at him, and Remus smiled and started writing the answer, knowing he'd get full marks for it.
On Thursday, Remus had his Ancient Runes exam, and the others had a day off, and instead of revising for Potions like they were supposed to, Sirius, Peter and James went for a swim in the Black Lake, wasting the whole morning. But they didn't call it that. They called it a well-deserved treat. Lily wished she hadn't been fighting with Remus, cos she knew she'd have done better in the exam if she'd revised with him.
