Disclaimer: you know the drill by now…sadly, the Marauders' magical world belongs to its creator, JK Rowling.
Their rage supplies them with weapons.
(Virgil)
REMUS:
Remus was almost bowled over the second he climbed through the portrait hole, having spent most of the early afternoon working in the library. Remus blinked up at Frank who had him pinned to the frame of the portrait hole.
"You've got to go up there and deal with them," Frank said, his expression urgent. There was an explosion from upstairs that made the windows rattle and dust to shower down from the ceiling. Remus glanced upwards in alarm.
"What on earth was that?" he demanded.
"We dunno," Michael said, from where he was standing with a cluster of other Gryffindor students at the foot of the staircase leading to the boys' dorms. "James went up there earlier, and then Sirius and Peter went up a little while ago. That was when all the screaming and explosions started."
Remus groaned. It was the full moon tonight and he was irritable and in pain, and was definitely not in the mood to deal with Marauder squabbles. "I'll go on up and see what I can do."
"D'you think you should?" Alice asked. She sidled over to Frank and gripped his hand when another explosion rocked sounded from upstairs. "You might get hurt."
"They wouldn't hurt me," Remus told her confidently. "Don't worry about it."
"You don't look well, mate," Frank said, seeming to notice Remus's drawn face for the first time. "Maybe we should just call McGonagall."
"No don't do that," Remus said hurriedly. "It's fine. I'll see to it. Don't worry."
Pushing his way through the throng of nosy Gryffindors, he made his way upstairs to their dorm. He winced when there was another loud bang on the other side of the door, and reached out to open it warily. Thankfully, his heightened senses warned him to duck as half a potions book and a pair of James's underpants flew over his head and hit the wall behind him. He glanced down at the torn book and felt his stomach clench.
"…Dare he!" James was shrieking, his voice as high pitched as it had been before it had broken. "And how could she WANT to be his bloody FRIEND. I HATE him! I HATE him!"
Remus stared, open-mouthed, at the chaos that was now their dormitory. It looked as though someone had attached a small, but highly explosive device to the base of all four of their trunks then detonated it.
Sirius and Peter were crouching for cover behind Remus's bed, and James was standing in the middle of the room, flinging their belongings around in a fit of fury with the help of his uncontrollable magic.
Remus didn't stop to think. The sight of his neatly ordered trunk that contained practically everything he owned, now overturned and empty, spurred his already-ragged temper into action. He strode into the room, grabbed James by the front of his robes and easily pinned the taller boy to the wall. Remus's arms were stretched above his head so that James's feet dangled off the floor.
James was so shocked he just hung there gaping at Remus, the fury slowly unclouding his eyes. There were a series of loud thumps as flying objects fell to the floor around them. Sirius and Peter crept out from behind the bed.
"Moony, mate," Peter said hesitantly. "Let him down. He can't breathe."
Remus ignored him, his stomach still churning with anger. "Those are my things!" he spat at James. "They're my things! I don't own much, and I know none of it's very impressive, but now you have ruined everything!" He shook James for effect.
Sirius stepped forward and tried to pry Remus's fingers from James's robes. The bespectacled Marauder could only wheeze ineffectually. "Remus, Moony, let go. You're hurting him!"
"That was my mother's book!" Remus said, his own voice cracking now. "My mother's potions book that's now lying in pieces in the corridor! Are you happy now? Are you HAPPY?"
Warm arms wound around his waist and tugged. Lips pressed to the back of his neck. "Let him go, Moony. You're hurting him. Look, he's turning purple. I'll fix your book. He didn't mean to break it." Sirius pressed another kiss to the skin just below his ear.
Remus looked up at James's face which was, indeed, verging on a shade of violet-puce. In a rush, he came back to himself, guilt washing over him in a wave. He opened his hands, backing away into Sirius's hold. "Oh, Merlin! James, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry."
James slid to the floor, his chest heaving in breaths of air, his glasses crooked on his nose. Oddly, he looked equally sorry, in spite of the face that Remus had just tried to strangle him with his own robes. "I'm sorry, too, Moony. I didn't mean to break your book. I really didn't. I lost control."
Remus pressed a frustrated palm to his face. "Just…what the hell is going on here?"
"Did you know that Lily Evans – my Lily Evans – is friends with bloody Snivellus of all people?"
Remus felt everything click into place and he let out a groan as he pulled out of Sirius's embrace. "How do you know that?"
"Padfoot and Wormtail saw them in the…hang on! How do you know that?"
"They sit together in the library quite often," Remus said. "Near the back so most people don't see them." He shot an incredulous glance at Peter and Sirius. "You told him?"
Both of them had the grace to look embarrassed, but James only looked furious again. "You knew? Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you would react like this!" Remus snapped. "I knew you would just make life miserable for everyone. Why should I have told you?"
"Because that's what friends do." James stood up and glared down at Remus. "And I had a right to know!"
"A right to know?" Remus laughed, unable to help himself. Moony howled happily in his mind, loving the way his usually-reserved human counterpart was losing control and letting his anger free. "What right do you have? Lily doesn't even like you, and I can see why if you believe that you have a right to choose and control who her friends are!"
"Remus!" Sirius took a step away from him and staring in shock.
James was shaking with anger. "Some friend you are," he spat, and stormed from the dorm and down to the common room.
Remus, Sirius and Peter stood in silence for a few long moments, before Remus suddenly remembered his mother's potions book. Running over to the doorway, he knelt down to scoop up the torn pages into his lap. He bent over them and hated himself for the fact he was fighting back tears. The book was broken, and what was worse was that he thought he might just have broken his friendship with the other Marauders as well. James had looked furious, and Sirius and Peter angry and disbelieving.
"I told you, you just need to cast reparo on it," Sirius said, his voice frosty as he stood beside Remus. "Here, I'll do it; rep –"
"No!" Remus bent forward, covering the half-a-book he had cradled in his lap. "Don't you dare!"
Sirius stared at him, looking nonplussed. "Why?"
"Sh-she wrote in it," Remus explained. "It was her favourite book – really rare. Written in the fifteenth century. She wrote notes in it, and some of the pages are smudged with her potions and her fingerprints. If you cast reparo on it, those might go away."
Sirius's mouth formed a small 'o' of understanding. Neither he nor Peter said anything for a few seconds, then Peter walked over to Sirius's bed and picked up something that was lying on the floor by Sirius's trunk. He brought it over to Remus.
"Here's the rest of it, Moony," he offered, holding out the ragged leather cover that still contained a fair chunk of the pages. It was an awkward attempt at apology, but Remus was so glad to hear it. It was his worst fear in the world that he would lose his friends.
The moment didn't last very long, because there was an infuriated girlish shriek from downstairs followed by the crash of something delicate being thrown against a stone wall. "How DARE you, Potter! How DARE you lecture me on HOUSE LOYALTY!" It didn't take long for them to recognise the rage-filled tones of Lily Evans. "HOUSE LOYALTY! You damn HYPOCRITE! The amount of points you and your bunch of MISCREANTS lose shows more loyalty to SLYTHERIN than Gryffindor!"
There was another crash as Lily threw something. Presumably at James. Remus, Sirius and Peter shared a horrified glance, before sprinting downstairs to try and avert disaster. They arrived in the common room just in time to see James duck the ornamental bellows from the fireplace which rebounded off the wall behind him. Lily spun on her heel and stormed out of the common room, slamming the portrait behind her, apparently oblivious to the Fat Lady's muffled yells of protest.
Remus took one quick glance around the room of gob-smacked Gryffindors, then hurried over to the portrait hole to follow Lily.
"Where are you going, traitor?" James yelled after him.
Remus swung around to scowl at him. James's black hair was even wilder than usual, and his glasses were hanging crookedly off the end of his nose. "I'm going after her to try and fix this before you ruin any chance of ever getting some kind of date with the girl." Remus slammed the portrait behind him.
Lily had disappeared from sight, but this close to the full moon, his senses were even more heightened than normal, and he could easily follow her scent as it trailed away from the common room. He set off at a trot and it didn't take him long to reach the library.
It was late afternoon, and the desks were filled mainly with Ravenclaws; a few Hufflepuffs dotted in-between. Remus hurried right to the back by the potions text books, where he knew Lily and Snape often studied together. Why the hell had Sirius and Peter told James? It hadn't ever even occurred to Remus to do something so stupid. Didn't they know how he would react?
"…And then he just –" Lily broke off from her teary explanation to a worried-looking Snape when Remus rounded the corner.
"What the hell do you want, Lupin?" Snape demanded, standing up from the table he was seated at and moving in front of Lily protectively. Lily gave a little sob and wrung her hands.
Remus hesitated, oddly touched by the protective gesture from the Slytherin. "I just came to apologise."
"Apologise?" Snape repeated incredulously.
"You didn't do anything, Remus," Lily said, peering over Snape's shoulder and sniffing wetly.
Remus gathered his Gryffindor courage. He had to make it up to James. He couldn't live with himself if his friend hated him forever. "James didn't mean to be c-cruel," he said, hating the childish stutter that plagued him when he was nervous. "He just r-really likes you, Lily."
"W-w-well, y-y-you c-c-can j-j-just tell him t-t-to make his own damned apologies and not send his silly little s-s-s-stuttering lackeys to do it," Snape said, his voice deliberately mocking and cruel.
Remus ducked his head, a humiliated blush spreading across his face.
"Oh, don't, Severus," Lily protested. "Why are you always so mean? Remus didn't do anything." She stepped around the Slytherin and put a hand on Remus's arm.
"He didn't s-send me," Remus said. "I came on my own."
Snape snorted and crossed his arms. "You're such a lapdog, Lupin. It's nauseating."
"Don't you dare call him that, you bastard!"
Remus jumped and turned to see Sirius emerging from behind the bookshelves. He had been concentrating so hard on Lily and Snape he hadn't even smelled the other boy approaching.
"Sirius, don't," he started, but was cut off when Sirius sent a hex flying at Snape, causing the Slytherin to stagger back, clutching his face with a mewl of pain. When he pulled his hands away, Remus saw his large, hooked nose was covered with expanding boils. He only had time to register this much before Snape sent two spells in quick succession in Sirius's direction. Two deep cuts opened over Sirius's eyebrows before he had a change to react, then he was hoisted up into the air by his left ankle and dangled there for a few seconds before Snape waved his wand again and dropped him with a crack on his head.
"Severus, STOP!" Lily begged, clutching his arm.
Snape spared her a glance, hesitated, then stalked over to Sirius who was stirring sluggishly on the floor. He aimed a kick at Sirius's side. "This isn't over, Black." He stalked out of sight, muttering the counter-charm on his nose.
Remus fell to his knees beside Sirius, who was struggling to sit up, blinking blood from his eyes.
"Do you need help?" Lily asked, her voice rather cold.
Remus glanced up and shook his head. Her expression softened a bit, but she said nothing as she, too, left the scene, picking up the book that Snape had left on the table as she went.
"James is right, you are a traitor," Sirius mumbled, his voice muffled by the hands that were trying to staunch the flow of blood. He was swaying slightly and Remus guessed it had something to do with the blow to his head.
"You cast the first hex," Remus said, lifting his wand to heal the cuts over Sirius's eyebrows. "It was your own duel."
"You just stood by and watched him hurt me!"
Remus cast a short spell that siphoned off the blood dripping from Sirius's face and hands. "I was trying to make amends for James," he said, trying to keep the tremble from his voice. "You came in and ruined it."
"I was standing up for you. Snape was bullying you."
"He said nothing that wasn't true," Remus said bitterly. He moved his hands into Sirius's hair and felt for the bump, wondering if he had concussion. "I am a lapdog. You know perfectly well that you and James and Pete can make me do whatever you want. Look at me now. I'm bloody furious with you, and I'm still sitting here helping you."
"I'm sorry, Moony. I'm sorry." Sirius tried to catch his hands, and dipped his head to kiss Remus's unresponsive lips. "I really am. You know I didn't mean it. I'm sorry I called you a traitor."
Remus closed his eyes, telling himself sternly not to give in. He had to stand up for himself sometimes. Snape was right. He was a lapdog. He couldn't let the others have this kind of control over him.
He turned his head away, breaking the kiss. "I'm not in the mood right now, Sirius. I'm not feeling well. I'm going to the Hospital Wing. Don't even think about following me." He stood up and moved to walk away.
"Remus, don't you love me?" Sirius called after him, his voice cracking. Remus glanced back and Sirius looked so pitiful and heartbroken sitting there on the floor with his hair ruffled and his clothes crumpled and blood-splatterd, that his meagre attempt at righteous anger shrivelled in his chest.
"You know I do, Padfoot. I'm just a bit upset at the moment. I want some time to myself."
Sirius nodded, watching as Remus turned and walked away.
Neither of them noticed the wide, black eyes that stared at them with shock through a gap in the one of the bookshelves.
