Chapter Forty-Nine: Homeowner
"I kissed Lily Evans," James muttered under his breath, "I kissed Lily Evans."
"Will you cut it out?" Sirius snapped, whacking James on the back of the head.
It was eight-thirty the next morning. James, Sirius, and Peter were making their way to the Great Hall for a late breakfast. Remus was already gone by the time they woke up at seven-thirty. The funny thing was, he wasn't on the map again. At all.
They sat at their usual seats towards the end of the Gryffindor table, and James couldn't help but to notice Lily sitting ten seats down. Her red hair fell gracefully past her shoulders, and James could detect signs of make-up or some kind of magic that made her face look smoother than ever. Even her green eyes were more beautiful than ever.
"Hello," said a voice in his ear, "earth to James."
James blinked, and then swiped at Sirius, whose face was just inches from James' ear.
"Ow!" Sirius cried, hitting James in the shoulder in return.
James ignored it, but Sirius wasn't going to let him slip away that easily.
"Back on planet earth," Sirius said, "your mom won't care if I come over this summer, will she?"
Shaking himself out of it, James answered.
"What? No." He laughed a little. "Hell, my mom likes you better than me!"
Sirius beamed.
"I know," he said proudly.
Just then an owl flew in from no where, flying into James plate of food he had just dished out.
"I hate owls," James muttered under his breath.
The coal black owl dropped a letter in front of Sirius, who took it.
"Hey, cool!" Sirius said, reading the letter.
"What?" James asked, vanishing his old plate of food and conjuring a new one.
"My Uncle Alphard died!" Sirius said, excited.
"That's horrible," Peter commented, taking a bite of some dried toast.
"No, it's great!" Sirius said, hardly able to contain his excitement.
"Okay, I'm lost," James admitted, confused. "Why is that great?"
"I mean, it's horrible," Sirius said, correcting himself, "but it's great!"
"Will you spit it out already?" James exclaimed, annoyed.
"He left me five hundred galleons!" Sirius said finally.
James stared at him.
"So?" He said, still confused.
"Well sorry some of us didn't live our lives on cloud nine," Sirius said, "but to me, that's a lot. Guess I won't be needing to stay over this summer after all."
"What?" James said. "Why not?"
"I can get myself a flat now," Sirius explained, "I mean, hey, I can be a homeowner!"
"Congratulate the wife," James muttered.
"Seriously though," continued Sirius, "I can live anywhere. I'll have my own place- think about it."
An idea suddenly came to James' mind.
"So can I bring Lily over?" He asked, hopeful.
"He called her 'Lily'," Peter whispered into Sirius' ear.
Sirius smirked, enjoying the moment.
"Whatever," he said then put on a parenting tone, "but no staying up past ten, okay?"
James laughed a little, quickly taking his gaze back to Lily.
Since it was Saturday, they went back to the Common Room. They were going to get the Marauders Map in hopes of a sight of Remus, who they figured would show up at breakfast. But they didn't have too go far. Remus was sitting on a Common Room couch, staring at nothing on the floor, lost in his thoughts. James glanced at Sirius, and Sirius shrugged, knowing James was asking what they should say. James sighed, and stepped into the room.
"Hey Remus," James said, cautiously walking up to him, missed you at breakfast. "Where were-"
"I was in the Hospital Wing," Remus answered, cutting him off in a hoarse voice.
"Why?" Sirius asked casually, sitting on the arm of one of the large chairs, what happened?
Up close, they could see Remus was holding his right wrist as if in pain. He didn't answer, but instead looked up at them. The sight made the other three stopped. Remus looked like he had hardly survived a war. His face was scratched in numerous places, with one particular scar over his right eye, and no doubt his arms were scratched up too.
"What the hell happened to you?" James asked, staring at him.
"The moon happened," Remus answered simply.
"What?" Sirius exclaimed. "What do you mean the moon? How could- oh."
It just then hit the three Marauders that last night was full moon. How could they forget?
"Last night was full moon?" James said, speaking his thoughts. "You never even showed up-"
"I know," Remus said, "I went alone."
"Why?" Sirius asked, confused. "We were bored as hell-"
"Wanted to," Remus shrugged.
James glanced at Sirius. He knew what was wrong with Remus, but he didn't think Sirius got it.
"We were just about to go play some Quidditch," James lied, "want to come?"
"Nah," Remus said, continuing his stare to the floor.
James looked at Sirius, who shrugged. James nodded to the stairs, and Sirius and Peter followed him to the dorm room.
"He's depressed," James said, closing the door behind them.
"What?" Sirius said. "No he's not-"
"He is," James cut in, "that's why he went alone last night. He could've killed himself."
"You don't think he was...trying to, do you?" Peter asked quietly.
"No," James said, shaking his head, "even Remus isn't that stupid."
"So what are we going to do?" Sirius asked, not getting the big picture.
"It's more like, what you're going to do," James said.
Sirius looked at him, more confused now than ever.
"What?" He asked.
James nodded, approving his own plan.
"What?" Sirius asked again, nervous. "What am I going to do?"
"You are going to break up with Aria."
