Lily gave Remus a happy look when he came into class with an arm around James, James's arm around him. He grinned back at her, sliding into his seat. Once the final student came in, Professor Flitwick cleared his throat for attention, then waved his wand. Half a dozen little footstools floated in from the other room along with a large dining chair. The footstools came to land on the shared desks, the chair in the middle of the room.
Flitwick flourished his wand. "Tarantallegra!"
The chair began to spasm, its legs flailing every which way as it began to do a very odd sort of dance. It tapped around, going one way before going the other. The class laughed, watching it do this, then Flitwick waved his wand again to stop it.
"Can anyone tell me about the origin of this spell?" he asked as he drew the wand movement on the blackboard. He didn't even turn around when he said, "Mr. Lupin?"
Remus lowered his hand. "The tarantella is a dance from Italy. Th-that provides the base of the spell. The—the 'leg' part is probably due to the fact the sp—spell needs its victim to have legs."
Flitwick nodded. "Very good, two points to Gryffindor. As Lupin said, the victim needs to have legs in order to be charmed. You also need to be able to see the victim clearly. The spell is tarantallegra. Say it with me!"
"Tarantallegra!" everyone chorused.
"Excellent! Now, pair up and start trying to get these stools to dance!"
Sirius and James grabbed Remus at the same time while Peter complained about being on James's other side and unable to reach Remus. Of course Remus had to go with James who gloated while Sirius sulked. James elbowed Remus a few times cheerfully then they readjusted their positions so Sirius and Peter could sit together.
"Go on," James said.
Remus cleared his throat, focused hard, and flourished his wand. "Tarantallegra!" he said clearly, staring at the little footstool. It twitched then the legs jerked a little, very slowly and lazily... but they moved. Flitwick awarded them with five more points. James gave Remus a high five then James began attempting after Remus removed his spell. One leg began kicking quite wildly though the other three remained still. Next to them Sirius and Peter were arguing vehemently as theirs had rolled onto its back with its legs somehow appearing stiffer. They kept trying to put it upright but for some reason it kept rolling into its back which made Remus wonder what the heck they had done with it. Then he jumped at a crashing sound across the room, and a squeal from Lily.
"Miss Evans!" Flitwick said as her footstool was galloping around the room bucking and kicking, more like a wild horse than a dance.
"Sorry! Finite incantatum! F—finite incantatum!"
The footstool kept rearing back then ran to the door, kicking it open and running out. The entire class except for Remus and Lily began laughing, though Remus had to fight hard not to. Lily's face was deep red.
"BRILLIANT WORK THERE, EVANS!" James shouted, giving her a thumbs up.
"Sh-shall I go get it?" Lily asked, getting to her feet.
Flitwick eyed the door then slowly shook his head. "No." He gave a cough. "I think we'll let someone else take care of it." He got another footstool from the storage room, giving it to Lily and Colgate. The rest of class passed without much incident then Flitwick assigned homework, sending the kids in their way.
James pushed through everyone to reach Lily, congratulating her again on her attempt, inquiring as to what went wrong.
"Stop it," Lily growled, still red.
"No, no!" James's eyes went big. "You misunderstand me! I'm impressed! I'd like to do that!"
Lily eyed him suspiciously then looked at Remus who shrugged. It certainly sounded like something James would want. "I don't know how I managed, I said the spell perfectly fine and did the wand movement. You'll have to figure it out yourself." She flounced off.
James immediately turned to Remus who let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I'll try to figure it out." James grinned and threw his arm around Remus once more as they walked to lunch, Remus gently leaning into James feeling happy.
/\/\/\/\/\
That evening several owls flew through the Great Hall, depositing fancy looking envelopes in front of a variety of students. One was given to James, another to Remus; down the table he noticed Lily got one too.
"What's this?" James held up the envelope, squinting at his name on the front.
"Probably a letter saying you're a git," Sirius replied as he carefully drizzled gravy over a flattened section of mashed potatoes, making something artistic.
"That make me one too?" Remus inquired. Sirius just pulled a face, not responding. Remus opened up his envelope and then pulled a similar face to the one Sirius made. It was an invitation, to a Slug Club dinner. Not a party, merely an informal dinner for the second and third years. It also included a notice saying that after this dinner party the official invitations would go out, and that Remus was a definite candidate.
I believe you would be a invaluable addition to the Club! Slughorn had written.
"What's yours say?" he asked James. It was pretty much the same except where Remus's said 'invaluable', James's said 'wonderful'. Remus crinkled his nose a little at that. "Are you going?"
"Might," James said, returning to his food and almost immediately dropping some gravy on the letter. "Whoops."
"I'm not," Remus said, folding the invitation up to slide into his satchel.
"Why not?" Pete asked. "I'd go, if I was invited."
Remus didn't really answer, just remembered how he felt the previous year when Slughorn invited him to the Christmas dinner. Slughorn insisted it was because of his grades however Remus suspected it was because he was a werewolf. It made him very uncomfortable. James was invited due to his money. At least Lily's was because of her brains. That was different. The other stuff felt a little dirty to Remus, like... weird. He supposed the money thing did make sense, since the Slug Club seemed to be about connections. Famous people. Witches and wizards who did things; but why a werewolf? It made no sense. All he was connected with was being inhuman and despised by society.
Remus glanced up at the High Table. Slughorn was chatting away with Professor Sprout. Why? He finally began eating again, deciding he wouldn't worry about it. He wasn't going, after the dinner Slughorn would see he had no interest in the Club, and he hoped that would be that.
/\/\/\/\/\
Now that they were the Marauders once more, the days went by wonderfully. They played pranks, joked around, stayed up way too late most nights, and took another trip out to Fort Dragon on the last day of September. It was a gloriously golden sort of day, fairly warm with a chilly breeze. They hung about the lake until they felt sure nobody was watching then snuck into the forest, making their way through the underbrush. Once at Fort Dragon they began working again, Remus back to trying to figure out a door. This time he managed somewhat of one and they stuck the wall up. Four walls and a crooked roof. It was a fort.
Sirius pulled open the door and the entire thing crashed to the ground.
"Well. Shit," he said, still holding the bit of wood that had been the handle. Remus and Peter were laughing so hard they couldn't breathe, and James stalked back and forth with a pout. Remus and Peter clung to each other to stay upright.
"I thought you were good at sticking spells!" James complained bitterly, glaring at Sirius.
"Wasn't my fault! It was Remus's door!" Sirius accused.
"M-my door?" Remus wheezed. "It wouldn't have caused the entire fort to fold! I think it was the roof."
"Oi!" James whirled around, pointing. "The roof is the best bit remaining!" Indeed, half the roof was still intact, laying on top of the entire pile. "Not. My. Fault."
Sirius, James, and Remus all began arguing about whose fault it was. Or rather, whose fault it wasn't. Normally Remus would have just stood back in silence but how dare they insist his door had caused all of that?! They continued arguing, voices getting louder. Peter watched in silence, arms tight across his chest, occasionally kicking at a piece of wood.
"My sticking spells were COMPLETELY FINE until that door!"
"My door could not have feasibly dismantled the entire building! That is not only completely preposterous but wholly improbable! The roof altered the entire structure and knocked it off balance!"
"Don't go blaming my roof, it was perfect! It was the spells."
"Not my spells!"
"Not my door."
"Not my roof!"
They stared at one another then spun around to face Peter who squeaked, shrinking back.
"Whose fault, Pete?" James asked.
"Yeah, which part was it?" Sirius demanded.
Pete looked at each of them then gulped. "I—I... um... I-I think it was the ground?" He poked at the ground with his foot. "It's kinda muddy still from the rain yesterday."
They all now looked down. Remus prodded his toe into the squelchy mud. "He's got a point," he admitted. "Faulty foundation." He looked at the pile of sticks, tilting his head. "We did... push the sticks into the ground, right?" Silence. "Right?"
"Um." Sirius scratched his head.
"Errrr..." James rubbed the back of his neck.
Peter put his hands out in a helpless manner. Remus pressed his fingertips against his temples. "We just... balanced the fort on the ground without any sort of support?"
"Mayyyyybe?" Sirius said, squinting. "I mean... well. Yeah, kinda. If you wanna get facts-y about it."
Remus let out a soft swear and dropped his head into his hands while Pete began laughing again.
James grinned. "Told you it wasn't my roof."
/\/\/\/\/\
The four of them had just plopped down for brunch on Sunday, having slept in after staying up until three in the morning playing cards, when James announced that they needed costumes. Remus was still really tired and James's proclamation only tired him out even more.
"For what?" Peter asked, looking around as if suspecting other people were dressed in costumes that very moment.
"Halloween!" James pointed his fork at Pete. "None of us dressed up last year. I say we have a group costume this year."
"Like what?" Sirius asked, looking quite intrigued. He snaked a hand over, stealing a sausage from Remus's plate.
"Halloween is thirty days away," Remus yawned, trying to smack Sirius's hand away and failing. He scowled, getting another sausage from the platter that was right in front of Sirius.
"So?" James dumped food on his plate, shaking his head. "We need loads of time to sort out what we're going as, and to get them! I'll buy whatever we need, by the way, so don't worry about that. I just want to go as a group thing. You know."
"We should go as pranks," Pete mused. "You know, whizzing worms, fanged frisbees, frog spawn soap—that sort of thing."
"Have a load of worms on top of my head!" James laughed, slapping the table. "We could go as sweets. Chocolate frog, powdered porcupine..."
They all began trying to come up with ideas except for Remus who just sleepily slathered marmalade onto some toast and on his hand, by accident. He frowned, grabbing for a napkin, then freezing when he heard them discussing possibly going as beasts. James was keen on going as a griffin, throwing out other creatures as ideas for everyone else. He didn't say 'werewolf' but he was progressively getting more into the class 4 and 5 X beasts so it wouldn't be long.
"What about the Muskateers?" Remus blurted out, seizing on the first thing that came into his mind which was the book he had been reading, cutting James off. "We could have fake swords!" he added, figuring that would sweeten the pot. "And fancy capes."
"Aren't there only three of them?" Peter asked.
"There's d'Artagnan too," Remus said encouragingly.
"Swords would be fun," James said, rubbing his chin.
Sirius leaned across the table, waggling his eyebrows as he asked Remus, "You really want to see us with swords?"
"Fake swords," Remus said, lifting a marmalade-covered finger.
James began waving a knife around. "En garde! That's what they say, right? En garde!" He poked towards Peter who yelped and dropped a scone which plopped to the floor. "Have at ye!"
"Is that a Muskateer or a pirate?" Peter asked, grabbing for another scone then groaned when James skewered it with the knife, yanking it away. "Oh come on, that was mine!"
"Um." James shrugged then waved his knife (and Peter's scone) at Remus. "Tell us about the Muskateers!"
Remus explained as best he could, going over the very basic plot lightly. Mostly describing the Muskateers themselves. It didn't take long for them to figure out who would be who. James latched immediately onto d'Artagnan which didn't surprise Remus one bit. Sirius decided he had to be Aramis, Peter chose Porthos, so Remus was Athos. Remus didn't think he'd be a very good Athos, but he doubted he'd make much of any of the others and his friends were happy with their roles, so Athos it was.
"I'll write to my parents and ask them to get us some good Muskateer costumes," James said, patting his pockets then making a face when he came up with nothing. Remus, who had his satchel with him, gave him some paper and ink. "I'll need your sizes."
"You don't need to buy our costumes," Remus said quickly, "I'm sure we can come up with so—"
"No. We need this to be spectacular!" James threw his hands out. "Absolutely spectacular! I'm buying the costumes. Fake swords too, super cool fake swords. What else do we need? What would they wear exactly? Now, sizes?"
/\/\/\/\/\
It wasn't until later that day that Remus realized a week prior the other Marauders had snuck into Hogsmeade to get potion ingredients, but he didn't know what that was actually about. He inquired about this, a little surprised it hadn't been mentioned during the week. James admitted his fight and make up with Remus had wiped it from his mind. Apparently they wanted something Big for the Halloween feast.
"Fireworks won't cut it!" Sirius complained, referring to the previous year when their 'prank' was fireworks which everyone had assumed was part of the feast.
"What does this potion do?" Remus asked.
"Babbling Brew!" James said with a grin. "It takes a couple weeks to make so we thought we'd start early on."
"Causes the victim to start babbling nonsense," giggled Peter. "We're gonna put it in something so it won't be too powerful. James reckons it won't last long."
"Nah, it'll be so diluted anyone who takes it will only be babbling for five or ten minutes," James said, tossing a Quaffle against the wall and catching it.
Remus folded his arms. "This is a potion we won't be learning for a couple years..."
Sirius flung an arm around him, yanking him close. "Annnnd half the stuff we do also won't be learned for a couple years, what's your point?"
Remus wriggled free, smoothing his hair down since it was stuck up everywhere from Sirius's hold. "I guess I don't really have one. I won't help, though, so—"
"Thank Merlin for that!" Sirius teased, prodding him in the ribs. Remus yelped, jumping away, wondering why Sirius was being such a brat today with him.
James started complaining about Remus being a stick in the mud but Remus interrupted him. "What Sirius meant is precisely why I shan't be helping!" Remus flapped his hand. "If I could help, I would, however my hand would merely result in the potion being an utter failure. I'm not opposed to the prank. Actually, I imagine it will be very funny."
"Oh." James looked rather sheepish. "Okay then. You can help, though, with something very important."
Remus was quite confused. What could he possibly help with involving a potion? Besides just reading from the book which wasn't particularly needed in this case. "What is that?"
"We need a place to brew the potion," Peter said. "We're thinking about one of the secret passages but we need one that is absolutely secret, as in nobody goes in."
"How can I help with that?" Remus asked.
"Your ghost friends probably know of areas no living being goes," Sirius said, sidling over to poke Remus again.
"St—stop it!" Remus glared, skittering away from him which caused him to laugh. "All right, um, I'll ask."
"I'll go with you," Sirius offered.
Remus narrowed his eyes. "Not if you're going to continue to poke me."
"Promise I won't."
Remus sighed then put his shoes on, trying to figure out which ghost would be best to ask. Probably Theodore, he decided as they left the tower. Sir Nicholas wouldn't mind helping out and had been around longer, but he wasn't too sure Sir Nicholas wouldn't tell someone once he realized they were brewing a secret potion. Possibly—
His thoughts were broken as Sirius poked him again. He hopped away with a squeak, nearly tripping. "You said you wouldn't! You promised!"
"Whoops, it was an accident," Sirius said, brushing hair from his face.
Remus glowered. "Was not! What is your problem?"
"Nothing." Sirius shrugged. "I'll stop."
Remus continued walking, trying to keep a decent distance from Sirius. He had to pick up his pace as he realized Sirius was walking faster then he began running. "NO! STOP!" he yelled as Sirius chased him through the halls. "GO AWAY!"
"What's wrong, Lupin?" Sirius laughed. "Come on, then! Come here, coward!"
"Noooo!" he squealed, laughing as well. He turned a corner then came to a halt, seeing a teacher down the corridor. Sirius ran smack into him, nearly knocking the two of them over.
"Whatcha stopping f—" Sirius broke off, seeing the teacher. "Oh."
Remus coughed then began walking casually, as did Sirius. They both nodded at the teacher then kept going, pattering down the stairs, going down another hallway, then turning. Remus immediately spun around, pointing at Sirius. "You poke me one more time I won't ask anyone for help," he threatened then started walking again, knowing perfectly well which ghost to ask.
They chattered about various things as Remus led him down to the second floor, heading straight for the bathroom door. "Wait, why are we going in here?" Sirius asked, hesitating before following him. "Remy, I don't want to see—"
"Myrtle!" Remus called out cheerfully after the door swung shut.
"Leave me alone," Myrtle sniffled from her stall. "I want to cry."
"It's Remus. I brought some company."
"Why are we here?" Sirius hissed in his ear then stiffened as Myrtle appeared, glum expression fading into a happy one as soon as she saw Sirius.
"Why, hello again!" she giggled, flying over to float in front of him. "It's so good to see you. Not green this time."
Sirius swallowed. "Yeah, uh... yeah..."
"Myrtle, we need some help," Remus said, stepping forward. "We need to find a place where nobody else goes."
"How come?" Myrtle floated closer to Sirius, fingers brushing his shoulder; he shivered, shooting a quick glare over at Remus.
Remus ignored the glare. "We need to brew a potion. Privately."
Myrtle tilted her head to one side. "What sort of potion? Are you being naughty again?"
Remus elbowed Sirius who gave a grunt. "Ah... yeah, uh, could you perhaps help us?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Myrtle giggled, face close to Sirius's. "For you? Anything." Her fingers touched his hair then she floated back, spreading her arms. "You can use my bathroom."
"Here?" Remus asked.
"Uh-huh. Nobody ever comes in here." She was suddenly in Sirius's face again. "You're welcome to make a potion in my toilet."
Sirius reeled back, going pale. "I—I don't think toilet's really what we're g—"
"Thanks, Myrtle!" Remus kicked at Sirius's ankle. "We really appreciate that, and will keep it in mind. See you soon!" He grabbed Sirius's sleeve, pulling him out of the bathroom.
"Why did you do that?!" Sirius growled, stumbling after him. "I don't want anything to do with her!"
"You wanted a private spot, I can't think of anywhere more private than that," Remus said, still pulling him.
"I can think of a dozen! The fourth floor passage with the pits, for one. We use James's broom to get over the pits." Remus hesitated, as that would be a pretty decent place. Sirius pulled his arm free, brushing his clothes off, fixing his hair. "I don't know why we didn't think of that sooner. It would work perfectly well," he bent his head in close, hissing into Remus's ear: "and no creepy ghost girl!"
Remus folded his arms. "Fine, but you tell Myrtle."
"No way! I am never going back there aga—" Sirius stopped then narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute, you took me to Myrtle on purpose, didn't you?" Remus fought back a smile, beginning to walk again, lips quirking a little at the corners. "You did!" Sirius hurried after him. "You little brat!"
Remus smirked. "That's what you get for poking me."