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: February, 1979. WARNING: This chapter contains strong language and scenes inappropriate for younger audiences.
[][][][][][]
Remus –
7:30 am: Wake and very delicately extract self from bed.
7:35 am: Fail in delicate extraction and wake up Sirius, who wants either a) to snuggle, b) to shag, or c) pancakes made for him.
7:40 am: Snuggle, shag, and/or make pancakes for flatmate, all the while mumbling about being late for work. Secretly be pleased.
8 am: Shower thoroughly, locking the door so Sirius will not try and get in, because if he does you will be late for work.
8:30 am: Get dressed and check on Sirius, who has fallen back asleep after his snuggling/shagging/pancakes. Wake him up to inform him you are about to leave. He will grunt and roll over. Ignore him and clean up kitchen.
8:45 am: Apparate to the Library fifteen minutes early, get odd look from boss, as she knows you are either fifteen minutes early or fifteen minutes late every day.
9 am: Start work in Archives. Pretend to be more excited to be working in Archives than you actually are.
11 am: Feel hungry. Secretly eat cheese and crackers underneath desk and hope boss will not come down to see you. Boss never does. Feel guilty for eating near books, apologize to nearest bookshelf. Books do not answer.
12:30 pm: Charlotte from Preservation arrives with new things to be archived. She follows as things are shelved, striking up a conversation about Muggle literature. In the back of your mind, realize that you are being flirted with. As always, very politely decline her offer to get lunch after work. Try not to feel guilty as she leaves. Realize you are too nice for your own good.
1 pm: Pack up things and leave work, Apparate home. Be greeted by overly excited Sirius who wants lunch and/or shagging.
1:30 pm: Actually order and eat lunch. Sirius leaves for nap with full stomach and abated libido. Start cleaning kitchen from Sirius' snack fiasco, end up cleaning most of apartment.
2 pm: Read book and fall asleep while reading much to own disappointment.
5 pm: Be wakened by Sirius who demands attention. Offer to read him book. Earn incredulous look. End up snogging and talking about day at work, but do not reveal most of the details.
6 pm: Order dinner. Same take-out guy every night. Watch Sirius consume more food than can be physically possible. Attempt to use chopsticks, fail as always. Pick out the good parts of the sweet and sour chicken, refuse to eat water chestnuts or small green unidentifiable vegetable.
7 pm: Apparate to Potters. Greet and chat. Attempt to ignore lock of hair in Sirius' face that you always tuck away. Are so distracted by lock of hair that you really don't hear what Peter was saying.
9 pm: Return home. Sirius is being incorrigible and charming all at once. Give in to his charms.
10 pm: Read in bed while Sirius sleeps. His snoring is strangely adorable and annoying. Stare at Sirius for a while trying to decide if you should wake him up so he'll stop snoring.
11 pm: Fall asleep despite snoring.
Sirius –
7:20 am: Wake up and have to pee. Decide to wait until Remus tries to escape from the bed so can pounce on him and demand a) snuggling, b) shagging, or c) pancakes.
7:35 am: Remus resists. Use best puppy dog face and fluttery eyelashes. Resistance is futile.
7:40 am: Revel in victory.
8:15 am: Attempt to get into bathroom to surprise Remus. Remus is however both clever and resourceful and has remembered to lock the door. Debate getting wand and decide it's too much effort.
8:30 am: Go back to sleep only to be woken up by Remus informing you he's leaving. Ignore him and listen to him moving around the house and kitchen. Secretly feel guilty you didn't say goodbye when he finally leaves. Fall back asleep.
10 am: Wake up to the sounds of Lax Lenny and his Siren Songtresses coming from upstairs. Spend ten minutes thinking up every insult in existence for bad neighbor who insists on playing his wireless while some people are trying to sleep. Wonder if music is on to hide a massive orgy and why weren't you invited. Wonder what Remus would do, then realize that would be boring.
11:30 am: Get dressed and leave apartment for Diagon Alley.
12 pm: Have coffee and donut at Leaky Cauldron. Flirt with waitress until she gives out phone number or threatens to hex you, which ever comes first. Watch people going to and fro.
1 pm: Return home a few minutes before Remus, change into underwear and bathrobe so he thinks you've been lazing about all day. Jump on him as soon as he walks in the door wanting food and other base desires.
1:30 pm: Eat, then nap.
4 pm: Wake up, find Remus sleeping in his chair, decide to let him sleep. Conclude that Remus looks handsome while sleeping, especially curled up around a book as though it were a teddy bear. Sit on chair and watch him.
5 pm: Finally get bored and wake Remus up, wanting to be entertained. Give Remus look when Remus suggests reading for entertainment. Snog him until boredom eases, then talk about inane events. Know Remus isn't telling you everything about his day, but don't ask.
6 pm: Once again, demand food. Show off expert hand-to-eye coordination in use of chopsticks to consume beef and broccoli. Eat Remus' water chestnuts. Mock Remus' lack of hand-to-eye coordination. Duck as small unidentifiable green vegetable is thrown at head.
7 pm: Visit James. Chat about war, the Order, St. Mungo's, and latest events. Remus and Lily have girl talk. Peter is talking about his day at work. Ignore him because you are watching Remus' mouth move and remembering how good it tastes. Resist urge to find small linen closet to snog in.
9 pm: Stop resisting urge to snog once are at home again. Remus gives in quite easily. Revel in victory a second time.
10 pm: Fall asleep.
12 am: Wake up as Remus stirs feeling paranoid. Sneak out of bed and lock all doors and check all windows and add more defensive spells to apartment. Return to bed and remain awake for several hours listening to nighttime sounds and to the sound of Remus' breathing.
Lily –
5:30 am: Wake up and disentangle self from bed. James does not even move. Try to resist urge to wake him up anyway, barely succeed. Shower, get dressed, eat breakfast.
6 am: Make tea and read Daily Prophet. Congratulate self on not pursuing journalism as a career.
6:30 am: James appears from bedroom wondering where you are. Complains you didn't make him tea. Glare at until he makes his own tea.
6:45 am: Apparate to St. Mungo's. Greet witch at front desk who still doesn't know your name. Determinedly introduce yourself again, and then head for the ground floor.
7:30 am: Spend thirty minutes trying to treat a serious burn on a three year old who will not sit still nor stop screaming. Congratulate self on deciding not to have kids for a while.
9 am: Finish shift on ground floor and head for Potion Brewing. Find self wishing that Severus was there to help brew the burn salve, then correct self quickly. Feel guilty for several minutes afterward.
11 am: Finish shift in Potion Brewing and head for Third Floor. Assaulted by man speaking nonsensical French and covered in purple spots. Spend next thirty minutes soothing man and trying to figure out his ailment. Eventually shooed away by senior Healer who seems to already know and fixes man in about a minute. Feel rather stupid for a while.
12:30 pm: Eat lunch. Are interrupted half-way through lunch by screaming from the ground floor, end up spending remainder of lunch hour reattaching a man's leg.
1:30 pm: Take small nap in spare room on fourth floor, hoping no one finds you.
2:30 pm: Are assigned to First Floor. Spend hours helping elder Healer remove 6 Doxies from man's arm.
4 pm: Request break. Are granted it only to end up spending it helping a mother and her children find her husband on the Second Floor. Avoid giving her any information about her husband's condition. Feel guilty again.
5 pm: Finally are off-shift. Walk out of door only to race back in as two young men arrive bleeding all over the place.
6 pm: Apparate home. James has dinner prepared and a glass of hot tea waiting for you. Resist urge to cry and instead eat voraciously. Cry a little bit afterward while James fills up the bathtub for you.
7 pm: Feel significantly better for usual after-dinner chat with Remus, Sirius and Peter. Even laugh at Sirius' very bad joke about witch with two heads. Have talk with Remus about day at work, Remus consoles. Assure Peter that working at Ministry is very important. Feel bored as listens to Peter's day.
9 pm: Curl up on couch with James, who rubs your feet even though you didn't ask him to. Feel guilty for being away all day, decide to make it up to him.
10 pm: Fall asleep after making it up to him.
James –
6:30 am: Wake up realizing that is alone in bed. Leave room with desire for tea, find Lily drinking. Complain. Earn glare and make own tea. Kiss Lily good-bye.
7 am: Read Daily Prophet and feel angrier than should at news.
8 am: Make breakfast. In the middle of making breakfast, remember to read the news section on Quidditch. Destroy frying pan by leaving eggs in it for thirty minutes. Throw away breakfast and get dressed.
9 am: Eat breakfast at Muggle cafe. Scan Muggle newspaper for any suspicious events. Circle with pen said suspicious deaths, disappearances, etc.
10 am: Meet with Moody at Ministry. Share Muggle newspaper. Talk about next meeting, Dumbledore, etc. Once again refuse to sign up for Auror training until war is over. Spend moment chatting with Frank and Alice on way out, argue about Quidditch.
12 pm: Return home, eat lunch, and clean up house so Lily won't have to. Try Flooing Sirius, but he's out as usual. Consider visiting Lily but decide against when remembers how busy she is. Lay around house listening to wireless and being incredibly bored. Seriously consider returning to Ministry and signing up for Auror training.
3 pm: Take broom out just so has something to do. Find open field and practice defensive and offensive spells on local wildlife. Are attacked by squirrel after Stunning Spell wears off. Wonder if Order could recruit local squirrel population for war. Wonder if just gave self rabies. Feel paranoid for next several hours.
5:30 pm: Make dinner. Actually focus on dinner instead of reading newspaper and so only messes up recipe slightly. Hopes Lily will forgive such a small mistake.
6 pm: Greet Lily and serve dinner. Try not to ask about her day since that tends to make her cry. She cries anyway. Console and ignore desire to ask her about symptoms of rabies. Make her a bath so she can relax a bit before visit with Remus, Sirius and Peter.
7 pm: Make fun of Peter for being late. Serve tea and make sure Lily is feeling better. Tell old/new stories and jokes with Sirius and Remus. Cut off Peter's too-long story about his day. Argue with Sirius about which team is looking to hire Ludo Bagman. Brag about getting twice as many contract offers.
9 pm: Turn on music and curl up with Lily. Pretend to be flipping through latest broom catalog but aren't really paying attention. Massage Lily's feet because she looks tired. Are thanked profusely by Lily.
10 pm: Curl up in bed after profuse thanks from Lily and watch her sleep. Wonder how got so lucky. Reassure self that Ludo Bagman has no one like Lily. Sit in dark even though is not tired so that Lily can get her sleep.
11 pm: Finally fall asleep against Lily.
Peter –
7 am: Are woken up by Mother who reminds you of work in 30 minutes. Get up, dressed, and hurry through breakfast. Try to avoid conversation. End up getting lectured at for fifteen minutes because only one sock ended up in the washer. Have to hunt down sock before is able to leave.
7:40 am: Arrive at Ministry ten minutes late. Are lectured minutes by uncle who reminds you that you only got this job because you are family.
8 am: Start cleaning a half-hour late. Scourgify has not improved despite practice. Have to do most cleaning by hand, including large green stain outside elevator on third level. Do not want to know what it is.
10 am: Take a secret break in washroom on fifth level. Go back to work after official finds you and informs you of Dungbomb explosion.
11 am: Another secret break, this time discovered by uncle who demands you work through lunch to make up for all the breaks.
12:30 pm: Take lunch break anyway.
2 pm: See Adrian bustling down hall. He stops to say hello, but not much more. Accept invitation to go out for drinks. Afterwards realize you really don't have anything to talk about him with, and feel growing sense of anxiety.
4 pm: Finally get off work and head for usual bar. Adrian is there. Talk for a while about things that might be important, but sense Adrian is growing annoyed and impatient by lack of news. Wonder once again why Adrian likes talking about the war so much. Avoid asking.
5 pm: Finally get home. Mother is upset about something. Try to listen but end up ignoring her until she sets up dinner. End up telling her about your day. She doesn't listen.
7 pm: Go to James and Lily's for usual get-together. Arrive a few minutes late and listen to James make fun. Try to listen to all the conversations and speak when possible but find self unable to say much of anything. Feel stupid and start talking about day. James tells to shut up. Lily looks slightly relieved.
8 pm: Leave early. Try to floo Adrian to see if he wants to do anything. No answer. Play chess with self and give up. Play Exploding Snap with self and give up. Have to ask Mother to regrow eyebrows. Get another lecture about toying with explosives.
9 pm: Look for open jobs in the Daily Prophet classifieds. Consider salesperson position at Madam Malkin's but realizes knows nothing about robes or tailoring. All other positions require experience or N.E.W.T.s. Remember N.E.W.T. scores and feel sorry for self. Put away newspaper.
9:30 pm: Mother shows up and yells at for ten minutes about how you folded up the newspaper wrong. Apologize and lock door to room.
10 pm: Go to bed because have nothing else to do. Lay awake for a while listening to owls outside. Wonder what it would be like to be a rat forever. Laugh at self because James would probably do so and fall asleep.
[][][][][][]
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay so I'm not sure how but I have come down with a serious flu-type bug. The chapter I was planning on is way too intense for me to be able to write right now. To make it up to you guys I wrote this tiny little filler chapter, in between drug-induced stupors. Even this very small chapter (the shortest I've ever written) took me the entire day. It was fun though. I hope you guys like it and you'll forgive me while I recover from whatever illness has possessed me.
Also it occurs to me that this filler chapter is a perfect little way to celebrate 50 chapters! wooooooo!
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK:
hotpinkfleur: in every single chapter, because she is, as always, my ever-present writing advisor and friend *hug*
My reviewers, new and old: Your reviews perk me up. I'm sure if I get lots and lots of them I'll get better really fast! *wink wink*
