Author's Note: Big thanks to my friend Tsu (M_Tsu on AO3) for coming up with the idea for the treasure chest additions for Wild Adventures in the amazing concept art he did of the game! I don't know if he's posting the image anywhere else, but it is posted in the SL discord server if you want to hop on over and hang out with us too! :) Link info is in my profile!

Also, Happy New Year!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The next few days rushed by in a whirl of homework and Wild Adventures. Pretty much all of their free time found the Marauders playing the addictive game. In Study Group Wednesday night, Buckling asked Remus if it was true that James had a copy of the game. When he confirmed it, jealousy swept through pretty much everyone there. That's when Remus discovered just how expensive it was. Apparently the mega deluxe version (named so for the bigger map with more landscape options whenever you opened it, as well as more tokens) was 'new broom' sort of expensive. Not a high end broom, like both of James's brooms—no, more like the common brooms for everyday riders. Which was still pretty pricey. The regular version of the game was still fairly pricey. Like, expensive cauldron sort of pricey. In addition, there had only been one batch released and since it wasn't mass-produced there was a limited amount which had been snapped up within twenty-four hours of its release. At the moment only twenty-five copies of the regular edition existed, along with five of the deluxe version, and three of the mega deluxe.

Of course James Potter was one of the owners of the mega deluxe version.

"Maybe you could convince him to play a game or two somewhere public?" Pierce asked, eyes wide. "I'd like to see it. I mean, I know that's a big request…"

"Man, even if I could see it, that would be amazing," Bones sighed.

Thursday afternoon James brought the game to the Great Hall where there was a huge crowd watching them play. Remus sat those games out, sitting a little ways away to read. James, Sirius, Peter, along with Kim, Charmer, and Litten from the Quidditch team played for the group of students. Pierce, Bones, Buckling, and Craft were all watching with excitement. James even let some of the students examine the beautifully crafted tokens.

"You know what would be fun to watch?" James asked. "The bookworms play."

"The… what?" Peter asked.

"Remus!" James shouted. "You and your group should play a round! It'd be fun to see how the brainiacs play."

"Us?" Pierce asked, in absolute disbelief.

Remus stiffened, his heart pounding hard at the thought of being in that crowd, being watched so closely. "I'm—"

But his Study Group was staring at him like puppy dogs. While James hadn't explicitly said he would only let them play if Remus joined, it was clearly insinuated.

"I d-don't…" He swore Bones was practically whimpering, and knew it would be a huge disappointment to them if he said no. Sighing, he closed his book. "A-a—all—all right."

"YES!" Pierce shrieked, tackle-hugging Remus the second he was close enough. "You're the best!"

Aegis was in the crowd too, so Remus made sure he came over to the table to play. Lily sat down as well. The only one not there was Twycross, who made it clear she thought the game was silly and childish.

"I bet Lupin destroys everyone," he heard a Hufflepuff whisper.

"Naw, I watched him last night, he plays way too cautious," replied a Gryffindor.

Remus tried to play more aggressively but with everyone watching he was too nervous, and besides Aegis pretty much swept the board. The Slytherins all cheered when Aegis put his token past the finish line, and he looked a little stunned at his house being happy he did something.

"Way to show'em who's the best house, Silverlocke!" a Slytherin shouted.

Aegis glanced wide-eyed at Remus who smiled back, happy Aegis was getting encouragement from his house.

Despite losing spectacularly, Pierce, Buckling, and Bones were all very happy to have been given the chance to play, and they all thanked James profusely. Craft muttered to himself, scowling at Aegis, walking off without even thanking James. Aegis thanked James too.

"No problem, that was fun!" James said. "It's really neat to see how different people play."

Aegis was still taken aback by what happened the next morning in Potions class. He and Remus partnered up, and Aegis admitted how nice it was to have positive attention like that from his fellow Slytherins.

"It got me thinking… perhaps I should try more," he said, slowly stirring the cauldron.

"Try more?" Remus asked.

Aegis shrugged. "Perhaps I should try out for the Quidditch team next year."

Remus nearly dropped the potions book. "I thought you didn't like the Slytherin team."

"I don't. However… perhaps if I try to… integrate myself more I would not be as much of an outcast." Aegis peered into the cauldron, adding some knarl quills into the potion.

Remus had a queasy sort of feeling in his stomach about that. "If it makes you happy I say go for it. But if you're only doing it to make others happy… or feel like it's the only way to fit in…"

"I don't know. It was just nice being cheered for and not insulted for once."

He stirred the potion again, a little too fast. Some of the bubbling liquid spilled over the edge and into the fire, causing a large poof of smoke to explode in their faces. There was a lot of coughing and Slughorn cast a wind spell to clear the smoke. When it did, Aegis and Remus found themselves looking at each others' blue-dyed faces. They both began laughing, along with the rest of the class, but since the color wasn't hurting them Slughorn made them finish out the class like that.

/\/\/\/\/\

That evening Lily was quite annoyed that most of the Study Group seemed more intent on talking about James and Wild Adventures than they were their assignments.

"'James Potter is so great'," she mimicked as she and Remus headed back to the tower. "'James Potter is so cool'! For Christ's sake, all he did was let them play a board game!"

Remus chuckled. "A very expensive and currently impossible to get board game."

Lily groaned. "Fine, yes, a very expensive and impossible to get board game but come on." She walked a few quick steps so she was in front of him, walking backwards to face him. "It's a bit much. Acting as though he's so magnanimous for doing what we all learned in early primary school!"

"I didn't go to primary school," Remus couldn't help say, trying not to grin.

Lily gave him a dirty look. "Ooh, you're being very particular tonight."

"I'm sorry—"

"It's fine," she giggled, returning to walking next to him. "I'm only teasing. Do you want to do something tomorrow, by the way? I feel as though we haven't done much together lately. I miss you."

Remus clutched his books to his chest, feeling guilty. "Ahh, well, we—we have plans for James's birthday."

"So what was Tuesday, then?"

"More plans," he clarified. "Big celebratory plans. We should be finished before too late, so you and I could do something in the evening when I ge—when we finish?" He almost said 'get back'.

"Yes, sounds good. Maybe the great James Potter will grace us with the gift of his board game again."

They both giggled at that, and Remus shook his head.

/\/\/\/\/\

Saturday started out grey and a little drizzly to James's dismay, but the clouds parted and it was clear by eleven-thirty. Cold, but clear. Remus tucked a jacket into his satchel just in case it got colder, though for now his thick jumper over a lighter one seemed to suffice.

"Ol' Hengist of Woodcroft got outta town on the double, for those Muggles were hell bent on causing some trouble," James sang as they made their way through the passage past the mirror. "He jumped on his broom and he flew through the sky, all account on the fact…"

"HE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE!" the others joined in.

"He flew all day, he flew all night, he flew until he was all outta flight! He flew all the way to his old school, but there he found he was now a fool! There was no where to live, and there was the rub. What could a guy do?"

"BUT GO TO THE PUB!"

They sang the old silly song of the founding of Hogsmeade, marching to the odd beat with much laughter. They sang it several times getting faster and faster each time until they got to the stump.

The first place they went to in Hogsmeade was the clothing shop. James wanted some new clothes, or so he claimed; what actually happened was he urged his friends to try on clothes too. Just for fun, he insisted, giving them each a pile of clothes.

Remus uncomfortably stripped off, pulling on the brown trousers and the brown and tan paisley shirt. It was very silky, and felt nice against his skin. It looked decent on him, but definitely James's style and not his own. Well, it was like James's style with Remus's preferred colors.

"Looking damn GOOD, Brains!" James said when Remus nervously left the changing room. James put his fingers in his mouth and gave a piercing wolf whistle. Remus ducked his head, wrapping his arms around himself "Come on, Blithe, I know you're done."

Peter crept out in similar trousers and a mustard yellow shirt with a super pointy collar.

James cheered and gave another whistle. "Yes, look at you, so sexy! All right, Beauty, let's see you."

Sirius flung open the curtain, posing in the doorway in white trousers and a blue silk shirt with bright purple flower print. He tossed his hair back, doing another pose.

"Eh," James said, tilting his hand back and forth.

Sirius blew a loud raspberry. "Wanker," he said, laughing. "You do look good," he added, gazing at Peter. "Very good," he finished, eyes on Remus, though at that moment his voice went squeaky and he turned away, pretending not to be embarrassed. Though he had nothing to be embarrassed about, his voice had been fluctuating since the Christmas holidays, it wasn't anything new.

Remus just tried to ignore the squirmy feelings inside of him. It wasn't fair Sirius's compliment made him feel this way while James's hadn't.

James scrambled into a dressing room and emerged with new clothes on too. Red and yellow wavy print top, so bright it didn't seem possible. He flung arms around Peter and Sirius, dragging them to the mirror. Peter grabbed Remus, pulling him too. "We look fantastic," James said, grinning at their reflection.

"I look idiotic," Remus grumbled, tugging at the pointy collar. "I look ridiculous. I'm changing back—"

"Oh no, we're wearing this out," James said, grabbing Remus's wrist.

Remus stared at him in horror. "What? No—"

"James," Peter whined. "I can't afford this."

"No." James turned to him, adjusting Pete's too-pointy collar. "But I can. Aw, come on, lads! Consider it a birthday present for me."

"What, you buying us clothes is your birthday present?" Peter demanded.

James pat his cheek. "You bet your grandmother's cauldron it is." He whirled around, arms spread out. "Siri, you're on my side, right?"

"If you really want to," Sirius said, peering at his reflection. "It's your decision. It's your money."

James gave two thumbs up. "I'll take that as a yes. Petey? C'mon, Captain Pete."

Peter gave a moan. "I don't—well—I mean, it is your money, Sirius is right."

"Two down, one to go. Remy?"

"No."

"Aw, come on."

Remus shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. I—I can't accept this." He tugged at the sleeve, fingers sliding along the smooth surface of the fabric. It felt so good. "It's too much. Far too much. Besides, you're going to try to insist on buying us food at the Three Broomsticks too, aren't you?"

"Pfft, of course I am," he laughed, putting his arm around Remus's neck. "I want to. Please? You look good. You deserve to have some clothes that fit."

Remus knew he didn't mean it as an insult, but it still hurt having it pointed out to him how poor he was. "James, birthday presents should be something given to you, not something you give others."

"Says who? You got me presents, wonderful presents. And I got loads of birthday money from my family." He grabbed Remus's shoulders. "Don't think of this as me buying you something, think of this as hah now cousin Bore-My-Arse has less money. This is money from Uncle Charlus and Aunt Dorea. Look how good you look." He spun Remus around to face the mirror again. Behind them, Sirius was posing again, looking very

Er, very nothing, Remus thought quickly, switching his gaze from Sirius's reflection to his own.

"The autumnal colors make you look a little less sick," James said, hands on Remus's shoulders again.

Remus swallowed, wanting to say no, needing to say no. It was too much money, too much! He'd never be able to make up anything like this to James.

"Brings out your eyes," James whispered.

Remus grit his teeth, knowing James was going to just cause problems if he said no, knowing James was not going to give up. Even if he did, he'd simply whinge on about it for days. Hating himself, Remus said, "Well, it is your money—"

"YES!" James hugged him from behind. "Yes! Perfect! Hey, miss? Ring us up, please! We're wearing these out! Ooh, we need some bags for our old clothes."

James strut out of the shop, very proud of himself. Sirius and Peter cheerfully followed, with Remus trudging in the rear, tugging continually at his shirt. It felt so light. He sort've felt naked, almost as though anyone could see his vicious scar on his arm. He kept looking down, making sure it couldn't be seen through the fabric even though he knew it couldn't. Plus he was rather cold… but he also didn't really want to put his jacket on. Not yet.

The next shop they went to was a new one, only recently opened. The one James had been talking about. Finch & Wild Games and Wonders. Games of both wizarding and Muggle kind, and it was where the Potters bought Wild Adventures. A bell jangled as they went through the door, and a plump elderly witch came out from a back room to greet them.

"James!" she said, holding her arms out.

"Aunt Flossie!" James said, hugging her tightly and revealing how he managed to be one of three people to get the mega deluxe version. "Guys, this is Flossie Wildwand. She's not really my aunt, only really good friends with my mother."

"These must be the boys Effie's told me about," she said, beaming at the three of them. "Such handsome young men. May!" A very willowy witch, a little younger than Flossie, emerged from the back room, sitting in a Muggle wheelchair. She had a Wild Adventures token in her lap. "May, dear, it's young James."

"Last time I saw you, you were a toddler," she said, eyes crinkling. "Do you remember me?"

"No, Miss," James said.

"May Finch is my dearest companion, my closest friend," Flossie said, reaching down to take May's hand. "She's the one who came up with Wild Adventures. I'm guessing that's why you're here."

"That was you?" Peter gasped.

"That's me," May laughed. "Partially named after Flossie." She put her other hand over Flossie's hand still holding hers. "Wild."

Peter's mouth formed a big O while Sirius looked very impressed.

"Now." Flossie clapped her hands. "How are you enjoying the game?"

James, Sirius, and Peter exclaimed happily about how much they loved the game and how exciting it was. May showed them the newest token she was working on: a runespoor. Then Flossie showed them a new addition map May was working on, one that had a couple new areas such as swamps and canyons. There was also the rough idea to add treasure chests scattered around the maps with items to help them, or hinder them. People who already owned the game could bring their old map in and get it upgraded for a very small fee, though they told James his would naturally be free.

Then they wandered around the store, looking at other games. Several of them James and Sirius never heard of and Flossie explained they were Muggle games, since May was a Muggleborn. They were fascinated by some of the Muggle game concepts, and James wound up buying a copy of Snakes and Ladders with the insistence of buying other Muggle games next time.

Finally they left, May promising to send the runespoor to James when she finished, as a present. Flossie gave James another tight hug before stepping back, hand on May's shoulder as they watched the four of them leave, May whispering what nice young men they were, and Flossie whispering she was glad James had such good friends.

They went to Honeydukes, of course, and Zonko's. James seemed to have a never-ending purse, constantly pulling out galleon after galleon. By the time they were headed to the Three Broomsticks for supper it was very cold, and Remus pulled his jacket on.

"When and where are we meeting Miss Fawley?" James asked as they walked.

"Five-thirty, at the edge of town in the direction of—of the stump," Remus said.

"Plenty of time for food," Sirius laughed.

"Yes, I am starving," Peter said, rubbing his stomach. "I can't wait to have some of Madame Rosmerta's chips."

James put Pete in a headlock. "And get an eyeful of Madame Rosmerta too, right Petey!" He gave Peter a noogie, the two of them laughing.

Only Remus noticed Sirius had stopped walking.

"Oh, shit," Sirius whispered.

Remus stopped in his tracks, following Sirius's eyes to see three hooded figures coming in their direction. Two men, and a woman who was staring at Sirius in astonishment.

"Sirius!" she said when they got close enough. She pulled off her hood to reveal long black curls, and her brilliant red lips twisted into a smirk. "What a surprise to see you here." Her heavy-lidded eyes took in the other three. "There's not a Hogsmeade trip, is there?"

"You know there's not," muttered one of the men.

She gave a high-pitched giggled, fingers twitching across her lips. "Right, and you're only twelve anyway—"

"I'm thirteen."

She shrugged, eyes twinkling. "So what are you doing here? Sneaking in?" She looked him up and down. "And in such… horrible…" She reached out, tugging at the pointy collar. "What in Merlin's name are you wearing?"

"Clothes," Sirius forced out through gritted teeth.

"Mm. You must be the Potter heir." She gave a vaguely pleasant look towards James but when she turned her face to Peter and Remus there was obvious disgust in her face. "And the two dirty half-bloods. I heard you were spending time with rubbish. I hate to see it's true. Oh, Sirius, you always did have trouble knowing what was best."

"I know perfectly well what's best," Sirius hissed out.

Peter took a step closer to Remus, the two clutching hands nervously. James stepped closer too, but standing partially in front of them, as if to protect them. Remus wondered if they needed protection with the way she addressed them, with venom dripping in her voice.

The woman giggled again. "You know, you really do have the making of a truly great wizard in you. There are plenty of Gryffindors that have made something of themselves." She stroked his cheek, her long red nails on the verge of scratching his face. Remus shuddered, suddenly seeing those nails as blood-soaked claws. "I'm always here for you, you know. Always glad to help you."

"I don't need help," he said.

She smiled, fingers twitching, and a faint scratch did appear across Sirius's cheek. Remus jerked as the wolf rose up quickly inside of him at the sight of the very light red line on Sirius's face. Somehow, he managed to push it down before he did something stupid. Something insanely stupid.

"You do," she whispered. "You should be on the right side, dear cousin."

"The… what?"

She continued speaking, ignoring his question. "You're the Black heir. You really need to learn to act like one." Her fingers were touching his hair now, and twisted into it a little bit. "Stop being such a disgrace. You know, it's never too late." Then suddenly her hands were back on his shirt, tugging at the collar again as if fixing it. "Now. Tell you what. If you do me a favor, I'll do you a favor."

"What would that be?" Sirius asked, voice cracking slightly.

She smiled broadly. "I won't tell Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion you've snuck into Hogsmeade. Not in those clothes. Not with…" Her eyes snapped briefly to Peter and Remus before returning to Sirius, "…that company."

"And what could I ever possibly do to return such a generous favor," Sirius asked, every last syllable full of sarcasm.

She put a finger to her lips. "You don't tell anyone you've seen me here either. Deal?"

Sirius frowned, brow furrowed. "Yes, well—I suppose. Yes."

"Perfect." She pat his chest. "I'll see you in a couple weeks." She stepped aside, giving James a smile then giving Peter and Remus a frighteningly murderous look as she walked past them. "Come on, we best get going." The two men followed after her, both of them purposely banging into Peter and Remus, the bigger one sending Remus to the ground. The wolf was raging inside, and a slight growl slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it. Thankfully, nobody seemed to hear.

"Oh yeah, big strong men knocking kids down!" James shouted after them as Sirius helped Remus up. "Pathetic twat!"

"You all right?" he asked, brushing the dust off of Remus's clothes. He gave Remus a rather worried look, as Remus's entire body was shaking. "Remus?"

"F-fine," he forced out through gritted teeth. "I'm fine. Are you okay?" He looked up at the scratch, and Sirius touched the spot, though promised he was fine.

"Who—or should I say, what was that?!" James demanded.

Sirius clenched his teeth. "My cousin, Bellatrix."

"The crazy one?" Peter asked.

"The crazy one," Sirius affirmed.

Remus looked over his shoulder. She was also looking over her shoulder, dark eyes locked on Remus. She was smirking again, but not a smirk of smugness. More like a you'll regret it one day sort of smirk. She twisted back around, pulling her hood up over her black curls before she and the two men whisked around a corner.

"I don't care if she's crazy, he hurt Remus!" James snapped.

"Trust me, I'd like to hex him to next week," Sirius said, hand still holding Remus's arm. "But when I say crazy, I mean crazy. I don't want to cross them. She really hates anyone not pureblood. It wouldn't surprise me if she tried to hospitalize Remy or Petey."

"With the look she gave us, I'd say worse," Remus snarled, and Peter gave him a scared look.

Sirius nodded, pulling Remus close to give him a half-hug. "Don't worry about it, though. She won't bother us again. Come on, let's get food."

Pretty soon the hot butterbeer, salty chips, and gravy-filled pies warmed away the ice Bellatrix Black left inside of them, and calmed the wolf down. They were laughing, joking, and Sirius was unashamedly flirting with Madame Rosmerta every time he went to get more drinks or food.

"I swear, James, you made his ego ten times bigger putting him in that outfit," Peter said as they watched Sirius lean across the counter to whisper something at Rosmerta. She laughed, shaking her head as she pushed four glasses of water towards him.

"She's cut us off," Sirius said when he came back. "No more butterbeer."

"I wonder why," James teased, prodding Remus.

"Don't blame me, I'm not giggly this time," he protested.

"I thought it was happy," Peter asked and Remus kicked him. Peter laughed and threw a chip at him. Remus squealed and ducked, but the chip smacked his hair. Remus threw it back, and it actually hit Peter's chest. Peter lobbed it back and it missed Remus, flying over his shoulder.

"Boys, stop throwing food!" Rosmerta called out in a good-natured way.

Sirius stood up, waving across the pub. "Sorry, Madame Rosmerta!"

Ten minutes later they left the pub, Remus carrying the bags of leftover food, Peter carrying the bag with four bottles of butterbeer—the most Rosmerta allowed them to buy. Not long after they were hanging out at the entrance of a park, though they didn't need to wait long. Miss Fawley showed up only a moment later, her cane sweeping ahead of her.

"Miss Fawley!" Remus called out.

"Hello boys," she said, reaching their bench. "First of all, I have to say… it is very wrong of you to sneak in. Understand?"

"Yes, Miss Fawley," all four of them chorused.

"Good." She sat down. "Have you been having fun?"

"Loads of fun," James said and proceeded to tell her everything, describing the shirts he bought for everyone in detail. Fawley took Remus's arm, feeling the sleeve, saying how comfortable it felt. James babbled about the games store, and Honeydukes, and Hogsmeade. He offered her one of their bottles of butterbeer, but she shook her head, saying she'd get one of her own after their meeting.

Fawley's talk with James was the only one Remus didn't get to listen in on. Sirius, Peter, and Remus went into the park to muck about until the discussion was done. They messed around on the playground, going straight to the hover-circle, teetering it wildly back and forth until Remus with his poor balance went flying, crashing into the ground. His weight being flung off messed up the balance and Peter went head over heels, and that caused Sirius to go tumbling too. All three of them laughed, getting to their feet.

Near the entrance they saw James jumping up and down, punching the air, kicking at nothing, and obviously getting very wound up over whatever they were talking about. However, he was grinning and Fawley was smiling so it couldn't be too bad.

The three of them settled on the swings. Remus had never been on a swing before, and the others taught him how to pump his legs to get it going if he didn't want to use the button to make the swing go by himself (which apparently only very little kids did, according to Sirius, since the swings wouldn't go too far). Sirius was soon sailing through the air, his hair streaming first behind him then all over his face. Remus managed to get his swing going pretty well but not as good as Sirius. Peter was just spinning his swing one direction then letting it spin back.

Finally they returned to James, and Fawley thanked them all for coming in. "I'll talk to you on Tuesday, Remus," she said. "Goodnight boys, be safe getting back to the school."

Soon they were back in the tunnel, Sirius wanting to know what James and Fawley talked about. It sounded like much the same as the others. His dedication to helping Remus, that sort of thing. Peter asked about all the punches and James laughed, saying he had been trying to explain his most recent game to her. Sirius and Remus exchanged amused looks at that, while Peter tried to disguise his snort as a cough.