Author's Note: Thanks to my friend Ander for helping me come up with an Italian wizarding community name! HollowNightmare on AO3. Also, the new Sirius side story is posted! It's called Blackened Sky and you can find it via my profile!
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Of course the school was getting excited about the upcoming Quidditch game, and when Remus joined his friends at lunch on Sunday afternoon it was all James could talk about. He pointed out the Ravenclaw team members while rambling on about how excited he was to play them. Since the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game had barely lasted long at all, it made it a bit difficult to make plans on how to fight against them. They couldn't tell what sort of strategy the Ravenclaws might be going for. They had to be prepared for anything.
The afternoon was spent with Sirius and Inkwood, doing more work on their project. Sirius had finished the art (which looked amazing), and he and Inkwood were almost done with the scale. Inkwood had done more research into myths and stories, giving them to Remus who collected everything together with the plan of writing the entire essay over the next day or so, and polishing it as the week went on.
That went out the window pretty quickly when he read the second story that Inkwood copied down. It was about a variant of the Swedish Short-Snout called the Frankish Short-Snout which looked identical to the Swedish Short-Snout… only it was red. It had died out well before the end of the first century. Some people said it was only a myth, others insisted it was real. Nobody knew for sure.
Remus bolted down to the library as fast as he could, searching up the book Inkwood had read the story in. She had copied most of it down word for word so there wasn't much new, just that the Frankish Short-Snout had lived in the kingdom of Francia.
Francia, that was… France… Germany…? Remus struggled to remember, and went looking for a history book. It took him a while but finally he found one that gave information about various countries and their border changes. He sat down right in the aisle, flipping through the pages. Yes, France, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg. He shut the book, deep in thought. Interesting. The painting was not an imagined dragon, but a real one? Was it painted that long ago? Surely not. It couldn't be that old.
Remus wandered back to the dragon section, looking through indexes to find anything else about the Frankish Short-Snout. He supposed it didn't matter at this point since they could get past it (if the others ever wanted to go back, which Remus suspected they would) but it was interesting. Very interesting.
No way that painting is a thousand years old! he thought, shaking his head. The Frankish Short-Snouts (if they existed) would have died out before Hogwarts was even founded. No. It was impossible for the painting to be that old! So, how old was it?
Remus checked two books out about Frankish Short-Snouts and headed to the passage, feeling rather prickly with excitement and fear. He'd probably have to duck some fireballs. But he wanted another look at the painting.
Shoot. He stood at the first pit, feeling stupid. No LiftAways, no broom. Sighing, he returned to the common room. He'd have to look later, probably whenever the others decided to go since he didn't have anymore LiftAways. James did, but Remus didn't really want to steal more of them.
He settled down at his desk to try to work on the essay, though his mind was definitely far, far away.
/\/\/\/\/\
To Remus's great surprise, none of the others mentioned the Pits Passage. Remus had kinda expected that once James was fully healed up and after Remus's birthday celebration they'd want to, but Monday morning came with no mention of it. Remus decided not to mention it either. If they didn't make any indication of going back before the Easter holidays, Remus figured he'd at least go by himself.
Oof, he thought as he worked on his potion in the morning. Easter holidays. He didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay and do homework; the teachers seemed to like dumping loads of assignments for the Easter holidays. I'll write to them and ask if I can stay, he decided, knowing perfectly well they wouldn't agree.
Remus drifted through the day, not really paying much attention to anything aside from visiting Arthur at lunchtime. Arthur seemed to be doing all right. Maybe a little better? It was hard to tell so soon. At least he seemed okay.
"I'm sorry, Arthur," he said, giving his owl a nuzzle. "I have a letter to send later, and I can't use you. You need to get better. Okay?"
Arthur hooted miserably in response.
Remus wanted to send the letter now, but didn't want to harass any of the school owls. He hoped one of the other Marauders would help out. When he returned to the Great Hall and asked if one of them could attach a letter for him, they all said they'd help. Peter then volunteered Cocoa's services which Remus unfortunately had to turn down, as much as he appreciated the offer.
"Hogwarts' owls are almost always barn owls," he explained. "If I use a tawny owl they may get suspicious."
"Oh," Peter said, nodding. "Yeah, that's understandable."
Curious about their plans, Remus asked them what they were all doing for the Easter holidays, wondering if any of them were planning on staying. Last year Sirius and Peter had stayed, and James had gone home for a few days then returned.
"I'm going on holiday," James replied right away. "Mum and Dad have planned a trip to Torre Strego for my birthday! But it's only for a week, so I might come back for the last week."
"Toh what?" Peter asked, staring.
"Strego," James repeated. "Italy. We're going to Italy! I am very excited. Molto bene! I think that's right, I don't really know Italian. I probably accidentally called you a toilet head. I haven't been to Italy since I was six."
Peter snorted. "The farthest I've ever been from home is ummmmm… here."
Remus couldn't help but giggle. "Don't worry, same for me."
"We've been to France a few times, that's about it," Sirius remarked. "Unfortunately I think I will be going home for the holidays. I think my parents have some big thing planned and want Reg and I both there." He made a face at that, looking quite disgusted. "I'd rather jump in the Black Lake."
"Am I gonna be the only one to stay, then?" Peter asked, sounding horrified.
"I—I doubt my parents will let me stay, though that is the contents of the letter I wish to send," replied Remus. "I'm hoping they let me stay. There is going to be a lot of homework, or so I assume."
Peter gave a groaning sort of sound, throwing his napkin down. "Ugh! Well, if you have to go home too I might as well go home, I'm not staying here by myself."
"I wish you could all come with me to Italy," said James rather sadly. "That'd be absolutely brilliant."
"Even staying here would be brilliant," muttered Sirius, angrily ripping apart some of his food.
Remus silently agreed with him on that, already dreading going down into the cellar.
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus got the letter out after Transfiguration, with Sirius attaching the letter to one of the school owls while Arthur watched with disdain. Remus made sure to give Arthur loads of love before leaving the owlery, and Sirius said he thought Arthur looked a bit perkier already. Remus didn't think so at all, but appreciated the support.
After Study Group Bones pulled Remus aside, curious about when the prank would happen. Remus promised very soon, insisting it would be before Friday.
"You are pulling a prank, right?" he asked, rather dubiously.
"Y-yes! We have—have everything ready, we're wait—waiting for wh-when they all have c-c—class," Remus promised. "Even the—the ones who are—are not in th-their dorm, we need to b-be careful since it—it has a lot of s-setup."
Bones nodded as Remus spoke and when he finished Bones said, "Okay, yeah, sorry if I seem doubtful it's…"
"It's f-f-fine," Remus said when Bones remained silent. "I understa—stand."
He really hoped Operation Arsehole Party was a good enough payoff for Bones. What if Bones thought it was a dumb prank? Not worth it? Well, either way the Hufflepuffs would be pranked and that was worth it in itself. Though he also didn't want another Study Group member annoyed at him. Er, or whatever Twycross and Craft's problems were.
When Remus returned to the dorm, his friends wanted to play some games with the girls however Remus flat out refused, saying he needed to do work on the project due Thursday.
"We can work on it tomorrow," suggested Sirius. "Come on, come have fun with us."
"This is Remus, writing essays is fun for him," muttered Peter, then flashed an innocent smile when Remus glared. "Am I wrong?"
He couldn't deny what Pete said. "N—no," he admitted. "All right, so I do find working on homework to be loads of fun. But that is beside the point. The point is I have a lot of work, it needs to be done, and I wish to have time to make edits if need be. I don't want to hand in the first draft on such an important project!"
"First what?" asked James.
"First draft?" Remus looked at him, rather confused. "The first version of an essay? Then you rewrite it, polish it up—"
Sirius punched his arm lightly. "Mate, you're the only one here who rewrites essays."
"Yeah I scribble stuff down and throw it at the professors hoping for the best," laughed James.
"That's not true though!" piped up Peter. "Remy helps us rewrite essays all the time! He helps us with our homework. It's not always scribble and throw."
"True, true," James relented. "Right well, are you going to have fun with us or are you going to disappear into your homework?"
"Disappear into homework," Remus replied with a shrug. "I ought've done this over the weekend, really, but I didn't have everything until yesterday and—"
"Oh come on!" Sirius tugged at Remus's arm. "It'll be no fun without you!"
It was tempting, but Remus refused. The project was too important. The Marauders gave up trying to convince him and left the dorm. Remus put some music on and sat at the desk, getting out his new quill (which was amazing), new bottle of ink, pile of parchment, and went to work.
/\/\/\/\/\
When Remus's alarm went off a little earlier than usual, he was a little confused. He turned the alarm off and rolled over, intending to get another twenty minutes or so of sleep until—
Arthur!
Remus sprang out of bed, rushing to get ready. Sirius was the only one up at that point, getting dressed, and looking up in surprise when Remus fell out of bed.
"I need to give Arthur his medicine," he explained, rushing to the bathroom to get ready.
Once dressed he grabbed his school things and Arthur's medicine before hurrying out as quickly as he could. He knew he wasn't on a timer or anything, there was no set time of when to give Arthur the medicine, however he didn't want to risk not having enough time between finishing breakfast and needing to go to Herbology.
"No running in the halls."
He had reached the owlery and was sprinting to the door when a deep, vaguely familiar voice interrupted him. "Oh!" It was the Ravenclaw prefect who had helped him when he ran into the wall back in January. Shacklebolt? Very tall. Broad shoulders. Soothing voice. He was standing in the doorway to the owlery, a letter in his hand.
"S—sorry, wasn't—wasn't p-paying attention."
"It's all right, I won't take points off this time," replied Shacklebolt with a smile. "You seem in a hurry."
"Ah, y-yes, my owl—he—he needs medicine."
"Well then, I understand the rush." Shacklebolt stepped aside, letting Remus pass. "I hope your owl is all right?"
"The—the v—vet said—um, yeah, I think he w-will be…" Remus went over to Arthur who woke up at the voices. Sirius's words from the evening before repeated in Remus's head but he still wasn't sure if Arthur looked any better or not. "Hey." Carefully he stroked Arthur's head, and Arthur nuzzled back. "How you doing today? Any better?" He put three drops of the potion on the treat, holding it out. Arthur poked at it then snapped it up. "There's a good boy."
After Arthur finished the treat, Remus picked him up to take him over to one of the benches. There he sat with Arthur in his lap for a bit, petting and snuggling with him.
Shacklebolt finished tying his letter to a school owl, sending it off. "Lupin, right?" he asked, turning towards Remus.
"Hmm? Y—yes…"
"You're friends with ahh… Potter? And Black? The two troublemakers, right?"
Remus ducked his head, feeling awkward. "Er, r—right," he mumbled, hoping they hadn't done anything to Shacklebolt. They wouldn't attack a Prefect, would th—what was he thinking, of course they would.
Shacklebolt laughed, a strong sort of laugh that filled up Remus's chest. "They're quite a duo. Caught them a couple of days ago trying to transfigure doorknobs into potatoes. When I asked them why, they replied with why not. I couldn't really argue that one."
"I—I t-try to stop them—stop—stop them from doing t-too much. It's d-difficult," Remus whispered, feeling like the prefect was too much for the room.
"I imagine it is. I doubt there's anything that could stop them. Well, I must be off. I hope your owl recovers soon, Lupin. Have a good day."
"Yours too—I—I mean, you t-t-too."
Urgh, yours too? Why had he said that? It was embarrassing. The whole encounter felt a little embarrassing though. Kinda like the only reason it happened was because they were, by chance, in the same room. Or maybe Shacklebolt actually enjoyed making small talk? He supposed people did do that… for some reason. Talking to strangers. Which seemed very odd to him.
Either way, Remus felt a little better when he was left alone with Arthur, and he went back to cuddling his owl.
/\/\/\/\/\
Remus was worried when he went down to breakfast and didn't see Lily anywhere; usually she was there early. She didn't show up before it was time to go to class, nor was she at Herbology when they went. Worry for his friend wiped away any excitement for OAP. Alice Colgate did hand a note to Professor Sprout, and when she walked down Remus gathered his courage to stop her, asking her about Lily.
Colgate looked very awkward. "She's—she's fine. She'll… be back before long."
"B-back?"
"Er, in class." Colgate didn't say anything else, she just dove into her seat next to Inkwood, whispering, "What was I supposed to say?!"
Inkwood gave Remus a slight glare and he shrank back. "It's none of his business," Inkwood whispered back to Colgate.
Remus twisted around to face the front of the greenhouse, more worried than ever. And then confused when Lily showed up halfway through class. She whispered an apology and hurried to her seat. As she passed Remus he suddenly realized—or suspected—what the problem might be, and realized Inkwood was right. It wasn't any of his business. It was…
That.
When it happened to his mother he tried his best to pretend he couldn't sense the hormone changes, pretend that he didn't know. She knew he knew, because he had asked when he was younger why she smelled so different sometimes, and she had gotten very upset about it. He had been told at first he was too young to know, but overheard things as he grew up to piece together what was going on.
Some of the girls in their year had that happen already and when they did, Remus just pushed it into the abyss in his mind. But now Lily—the girl he actually spent time with. What was he supposed to do?! Obviously do his best to ignore it, but would he be able to act normal if she sat with him and chatted? Or would the awkwardness—and embarrassment of knowing—take over?
Oh, stupid wolf senses, damned wolf senses, why, why, why?! It took a lot of effort to resist banging his head against the desk.
He was still a bundle of uncomfortable nerves when class ended and forgot about OAP. When they got to their dorms he almost went to get a shower until James asked him what he was doing. Remus blinked a few times before noticing the bag of balloons in Peter's hands, and the banner in Sirius's.
"R—right, sorry."
He dumped his stuff onto his bed and helped pack away the party decorations. Hopefully Filch didn't try to search through any of their bags on the way!
Down the hall from the Hufflepuff entrance was a storage room which the four of them ducked into to put the cloak on. James was quite giggly, having to cover his mouth when they left. Remus felt on edge from a mixture of what happened in Herbology, and the fact they were about to do this prank. It was like tingles of electricity all over, excitement and nerves mixed together filling his body.
"You remember what Bones told us?" Peter asked anxiously.
"Mmmrrrph!" snickered James.
"I remember," said Sirius, though sounded rather nervous.
"Don't get my cloak covered in vinegar!" James whispered.
"Yes, please," said Remus, shuddering as he remembered a particular vinegar-y incident from his first days of school!
Sirius took in a deep breath and knocked on one of the barrels in the rhythm Bones had shown them. When he got to the final tap all four boys braced themselves in case Bones had lied about the pattern—
But the round door swung open. It reminded Remus a lot like a hobbit hole if he had to be honest. Which seemed to suit the stereotypes of Hufflepuffs.
Next up was all four of them trying to get through the hole without being seen. It was extremely difficult, and Remus knew for a fact if anyone had been paying attention they would have seen glimpses of feet and legs. Finally, the four stood on the other side, the door swinging shut behind them as they took in the sight of the Hufflepuff common room.
It was round, very round, and full of warmth. Remus had thought the Gryffindor common room was cozy but this had it beat. Every single place to sit looked comfortable. Even the wooden chairs had loads of squashy cushions on them! There were plants everywhere too, making it feel very fresh. Round windows looked out at almost ground level though right now there was mostly just-past-winter grass and mud to look at.
The ceiling was low which added to the coziness, in Remus's opinion, and the whole place felt warm without being hot. Hufflepuffs were sprawled out everywhere—not just on couches and chairs but on blankets spread across the floor. There was pleasant music playing from a radio, and a lot of laughter.
James tugged at Sirius who tugged at Remus who tugged at Peter, and the four shuffled along towards the stairs Bones had said belonged to the boys. This was the second test: had Bones been telling the truth? Would an alarm go off? They stood at the bottom until James put his foot down on the stairs.
Nothing happened.
Quietly—very quietly—sighing in relief, they made their way up the low staircase. Instead of a winding staircase with rooms set in a tower like the Gryffindor dorm, or even similar to the Slytherin dorms minus the tower part, at the top of the stairs was a long hallway with other hallways branching off. Bones had told them to turn left at the first intersection, and the third year boys dorms would be there.
Indeed, there were a few doors down that hall. There were three dorms for the fourth year boys (quite a large class!) and two dorms for the third year boys. The victims were the last door on the left.
The dorm was round, like the Gryffindor dorms, and full of earthy colors as well as lots of yellow and black. There were clothes everywhere (very stinky) and a poster of a half-naked girl pinned up by one of the beds.
"Right." James whipped the cloak off and pushed the bundle into Remus's hands. "You go keep a lookout, right?"
Oh. Remus felt a little dejected, realizing he wouldn't be helping with the prank. "Yeah," he said, pulling the cloak back on. "I'll tap if anyone is coming."
"We need him for some of the spells," Sirius reminded James.
"Yes but not till later, then Pete can take over," James replied.
Remus went back into the hall, feeling irritated although he should have known. He did have the best hearing, and should be lookout… but it was still very disappointing. He leaned against the wall, watching down at the intersection. The others were hard at work in the dorm, he could hear faint sounds and giggles, and spells being used.
I want to help so bad! He tried not to sigh, did his best not to make any noise. No, it makes sense, it makes the most sense. They're not doing anything complicated until the very end.
It didn't help. He still felt left out.
After a minute or two he heard footsteps, and straightened up, staring down the corridor intently. Bones and Rivers appeared at the intersection, talking—well, complaining really—about some girls. Rivers was doing most of the complaining, while Bones nodded a lot; Rivers seemed to be doing a lot better. They went down the other hall, disappearing into a dorm.
Remus settled back against the wall again, kicking his foot against the floor, trying hard not to feel bitter. After a couple more minutes, more boys appeared. Older ones. They came down that hallway, and Remus was ready to tap at the door. However these boys were fourth years, and went into one of the other dorms. Still safe.
After what felt like an eternity, he heard Sirius whispering to get in. Once inside he gave Peter the cloak, and helped put enchantments on the noisemakers to get them to float. They would be activated by strings being pulled, and all the strings were connected to another string which James was setting up at the door so when one of the Hufflepuffs opened the door, the noisemakers should go off.
Everything hinged on the door, really. By opening the door the Hufflepuffs should set off the noisemakers, the glitter confetti, and the fireworks. The glitter confetti waited in small air cannons which were hooked up to similar strings as the noisemakers, while the wet-start fireworks had a string leading to a cup of water which should knock over. The Marauders had tested it out in an unused classroom twice (sorta; they hadn't put the glitter confetti in the air cannons, only a few ripped up bits of parchment) and it worked. Hopefully it worked this time.
Banner? Check. Balloons rigged to dump stink potion on whoever tried to pull them down? Check. Glitter confetti, fireworks, noisemakers? Check. Trumpet that Remus enchanted to hover in the air? Check. Small cake with note underneath? Check.
They surveyed the room once more before calling Peter back in so they could get under the cloak. They left, closing the door almost all the way with James's nimble fingers tying the main string to the handle before cautiously closing the door. No sounds went off, so it seemed it was good to go.
Trying not to giggle, the four of them hurried out of the Hufflepuff common room, hoping that Operation Arsehole Party would be good enough for Bones and River. Even if it wasn't, they were very proud of the big event and that was rewarding enough in itself.
