Chapter 105

Alienation

Students from all houses gathered in the entrance hall, whispers echoed off the walls and making it seem as though it was only half its usual size. Half the room had no idea what the hold up was, and they were getting frustrated. They'd just had far too much food and were very ready to kip the stomach aches away, yet there they were standing attempting to peer over heads and hoping some of those whispers would reach them.

The Marauders were at the back of the crowd, in awe at their own brilliance. It was almost as memorable as McGonnagal's legendary boiled potato explosion last Christmas. The teachers were attempting to get everyone to continue to their common rooms but the cluster of confused, exasperated, and even a little bit amused students weren't cooperating very well. Dumbledore was more interested in interrogating all the pictures and ghosts that had been in the entrance hall during the feast, the look on his face told them it wasn't going well.

The one thing everyone could see, just above the castle doors, were the words:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The fire making up the two words flashed from red, to blue, to yellow, and then green, before starting the cycle over again. And everyone wanted to know what the Marauders had done this year.

Alice in front of them stepped forward listening in on the conversation of a few sixth year Hufflepuffs who seemed to know what was going on and Frank watched with interest.

She turned back to them and everyone who had noticed that she had an opportunity to figure out what happened, her eyes were wide and her mouth in an open smile.

"What?" James insisted.

"The House hourglasses are gone." She said in a hushed sense of awe. The group who could hear her went quiet.

"That's not possible, they're built right into the building!" Sirius exclaimed attempting to peer over heads, but he wasn't quite tall enough to see anything significant.

"Zoe said that the mascots are there, it's just the hourglasses." The Hufflepuff in front of Alice said turning back to Sirius, as though she thought being the first to answer his question would win his undying love and devotion. It really was pathetic.

Sirius let out a whistle, not even looking in her direction. Remus actually felt a little sorry for her, but only as much as he did for James whenever he crash and burned his his pursuit of Evans, which wasn't all that much.

"How does somebody do that?" Frank asked about the same time that the teachers started threatening extra homework to anyone who was still in the area in the next five minutes.

It's amazing how fast a crowd can move when properly motivated. It didn't prevent the congestion in the common rooms themselves, everyone seemed to be swapping rumors or theories. Sirius and James stuck around for a while, they loved hearing what people thought of the latest project, while Peter and Remus just retreated to their dorm.

"How did he do it?" Peter asked when the door was safely closed, but Remus just shook his head with a laugh.

"I have no idea." Remus told him honestly, falling onto his bed. "But that's Sirius, isn't it. He just has this way of doing the impossible, without thinking anything of it. They both do it."

"Mum told me once that genus is not knowing the definition of impossible." Peter sat down on his own bed after pulling his pajamas out of his trunk but didn't put them on quite yet.

"It's not fair." Remus mumbled.

"I'm just glad they're on my side." Peter shuddered remembering the last 'prank' they'd pulled on a Ravenclaw third year just before Christmas. She hadn't even done anything to them, she just had the nerve to be an easy target. It was funny when it had been people who bullied him or the Slytherins in general, but by the time they were done with the poor girl she couldn't show her face in front of the student body for three days without bursting out crying.

Remus sat up he looked sadly down at his lap, Peter was a little surprised to see that there were a pair of hoops in his ears. He must have managed to convince his parents somehow.

"I don't understand... not any of it. Not what they do to the first year or the seventh. Ravenclaw or Slytherin. I just don't get it." Remus sighed, his eyes closing. It had been weighing on him, ever since that fight between James and Snape at the beginning of the year it had opened some kind of flood gate for them. They stopped putting up with anyone who even slightly annoyed them, and even some who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. For the first time in the the last three and a half years he actually felt sorry for Snape. He was a jerk, sure, but Sirius and James seemed to take it upon themselves to make him miserable. They took it too far, every single time. One of these days someone would get hurt, Remus felt bad for hoping it was Snape.

"Well the Slytherins are mean..." Peter tried to justify his hero's imperfections.

"And I'm a werewolf." Remus retaliated and Peter cringed looking away. He knew Remus had just as much experience with bullying as he did, but instead of hating the bullies, like he did, Remus hated the act of bullying itself.

"Why don't you say something? They listen to you." Peter asked turning to look back at Remus, he was sitting on the edge of his bed still staring into his lap, his hands clutching the comforter and his legs stretched out in front of him crossed at the ankles. He looked tense and guilty.

Remus gave a light chuckle, "Yeah, right. That'll be the day."

"You're scared of driving them off too?" Peter asked quietly and Remus looked up, there was hessitation and regret in his eyes.

"I'm a coward." He admitted, unable to look up for too long.

"At least they like you." Peter sighed, crossing his legs and resting his arms in his lap. "I'm only around because James' and my mum were friends growing up."

"That's not true, Sirius get's upset with everyone, not just you." Remus tried, but knew it was no use. It wasn't just Sirius, James seemed to get more and more irritated with Peter as time went on. It scared Remus, their friends were changing, but he wasn't sure he liked the people they were becoming.

But they liked him…

And that was worth it all.

The door opened with a laughing James and Sirius yelling something at someone downstairs. The door closed behind them and they were still laughing.

"Some people are so stupid." Sirius chuckled flopping down on his bed. "Someone actually thinks we got transported into an alternate dimension. I mean really?"

"How'd you do it?" Peter asked excitedly bouncing around as though he's been waiting for the answer all night.

"Oh you wouldn't understand, Wormtail. It was a really complex bit of magic." Sirius waved the question off like he didn't love the hero worship.

"Okay, so how did you really do it?" James crossed his arms and ignoring how easily Peter responded to the brag.

"There's a switch on the back, I saw Filtch use it once to clean it. Once it's disconnected from the base it was as simple as a vanishing charm."

"Ingenious." James shook his head, "and all it'll take is a flick of the wand to put it right back."

"Until then…" Sirius bounced up and moved to his trunk, "I'm going to bed."

"That sounds like a good idea." Remus agreed, yawning as a natural reaction to the suggestion.

James and Peter agreed and before long the lights were out and Remus could hear the even breathing surrounding the room that he'd grown so used too.

"it's not like they're bad people or anything." He whispered to himself, though in his heart he knew it was an excuse. His heart was also telling him they were hiding things from him because they hated him.

He ignored his heart.

A/N) Happy April Fools Day! And happy birthday to Fred and George. ^_^ Putting out two chapters on this most terrifying day of the year (yes that includes Halloween). And that's not an April Fools. ^_^ Might as well have something real in the midst of all the chaos yeah?

Normally I don't put much stock in April Fools day, my family doesn't have many pranksters in the lot, but this year April Fools day rests on a Wednesday... a church day. And the people at my church are... let's just say you can trust them with your money or your car, but you can't trust them to not hide your purse or swipe your car keys and put them in a place you can't reach them. They're troublemakers, the lot of them. (Yeah, I just wrote 'the lot of them' and it was the first phrase to pop in my head, I've been listening to British people on youtube and maybe I watched the first four Harry Potter movies yesterday. So my brain is working in fakey British speaking patterns mode. So what?)