Chapter 145
Surprises
James and Sirius had been acting strange all week, they were… good, no acting up in class, pranks on Slytherins they passed in the halls, nothing. They were like completely different people. At first, Peter thought it had something to do with James' quidditch practice, which he now had to have at least three times a week much to Remus' frustration, but that didn't make any sense. It didn't have anything to do with Sirius for one.
Even Remus had no idea what was going on, though it didn't make the werewolf as anxious as it did Peter.
"Whatever their plotting, as long as we don't get in trouble for it too, I couldn't care less." Remus had told him when he'd first mentioned it.
"But what if we do get in trouble for it?" Peter replied, jogging to catch up to the taller Marauder. It was a rare occurrence when the two found themselves alone together, and it was an opportunity that Peter had lept at. Remus had required a specific book that the Room of Requirement seemed unable to provide, not that it hadn't tried. It had smothered Moony on books on the same topic, written by the same author, or had similar titles, but it was a specific quote that Remus needed, sparking this impromptu trip to the library. And Peter (always willing to find an excuse to not be coerced by James to be his test rat for any random spell they were required to learn in class, animagi spells were too dangerous for test rats at least) had jumped at the chance to leave.
The opportunity to talk to his more intelligent friend had only been a bonus.
"Don't worry, Peter. McGonagall trusts me if I tell her we weren't in on it she'll believe me." Remus grinned at Peter, it was a bit more sinister looking than the rat would have appreciated.
"But…"
"Calm down, I'm a prefect, remember? We'll be fine."
But just as he said that an enraged Lily Evans came storming up to them.
"Where's Potter?" she demanded of them and Peter just stared at her. Her normally deep, dark red hair was now the most florescent orange Wormtail had ever seen. He vaguely wondered if it glowed in the dark.
"No idea," Remus lied, his face was perfectly straight, as if he saw nothing out of the ordinary out of her neon hair. "Is something wrong?"
"Is something… Look at me!" She spread her arms out as though it would help him get a better look.
"I can't see the problem." Remus looked her over, still straight-faced.
"You had something to do with this, didn't you! You let that cabbage into the prefect's bathroom, didn't you! So he could use his stupid hair dye spell over all the taps." She accused and Peter looked at Remus, knowing she was wrong. James would have never touched those taps, knowing Evans was now a prefect. To James, Evans' hair was almost sacred. He'd never have tarnished it like that, and Sirius wouldn't have kept it a secret. That only left one person. Not that this was much of a surprise to Peter, but he would have thought Evans would have been able to figure it out.
Remus gave her a look of convincingly genuine surprise, "hair dye? Is your hair not normally red?"
Peter tried his best to hold in laughter, not wanting her to punch him. Without a doubt using that line had been Remus' entire motivation for the prank, or at least the color of the dye.
Her face was closer to her natural hair color than her actual hair.
"You better do something about those friends of yours, or so help me God, I will." She warned, pointing at him and everything.
"Relax, Evans, it was just a joke." Remus dropped the act, smiling at her reassuringly. That same smile that made all the teachers assume everything was James and Sirius' fault. "Besides, I think I've been doing a pretty good job all things considering."
And Peter realized the schedules he imposed on them might not be there just to give them enough time to accomplish everything they needed to get done. For the first time, he realized that Remus had actually managed to, in Evan's words, 'do something' about his friends. It was impossible yet somehow Remus had actually gotten James to mind.
It was a shocking realization.
Evans, however, wasn't impressed. She appeared to be immune to Remus' innocent facade. "Is that what you call being gone from the Gryffindor tower all hours of the night? Or sneaking off between classes to God knows where?"
"How did you know that?" he said slowly, confused. Unless she'd been in their dorm in the middle of the night there is no way she should know they hadn't been there.
"Keth told Kathy it looked entirely unused, and Kathy asked Alice about it. I was right there." She answered with surprising honesty.
"How did Keth know?"
"I don't know! That's not the point," she whined more than scolded. Peter could see the fire starting to burn itself out.
"It is now. Thanks for letting me know," Remus smiled at her as though that had been her original intention.
"Wait, Lupin!" she called after them, but Remus continued walking.
"James'll get mad," Peter told him looking back at the frustrated red-head storming off in another direction.
"By the time James leaves the Room she'll have fixed it." Remus countered.
"I guess."
"Besides, it was worth it." Remus winked at him.
"You really have no idea what they're up to?" Peter asked again, returning to his earlier topic.
"I have no idea. Should be amusing, though, whatever it is." Remus shrugged it off and held the door open for the chubbier Marauder.
Remus could act like it was nothing to be concerned about, but Peter still wasn't convinced, James and Sirius were always at their most dangerous when they weren't being dangerous at all. He wasn't the only one who thought so either, the teachers were suspicious, Snape was glaring at them even more than usual, and they didn't appear to even notice.
They were perfectly good students and no one was happy about it.
It was kinda strange if they're bad everyone gets mad when they're good people also get mad. It's like they just can't win. Though he honestly doubted Sirius and James were trying to 'win'. At best they were probably trying to find an excuse for their misbehavior. He could find nothing good that could come from this.
He was going to get in trouble he just knew it.
It all culminated into the strangest thing they'd ever done in living memory. It was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year and James and Sirius were late meeting up with them in the three broomsticks. Peter found himself looking around like he was expecting an ambush, while Remus told him to calm down. It didn't do any good.
Peter looked out the door and back again at Remus, he sighed and smiled an understanding smile at me. That was one thing he appreciated about Remus, he didn't judge he just accepted.
When they finally came through the door it was loaded with bags upon bags of stuff that Peter couldn't even guess the purpose of.
"What on earth are you doing with all that stuff?" Remus asked them with a raised eyebrow.
"You'll see," Sirius replied winking at us. James half threw his bags at me and pulled out his wand, vanishing both his bags and Sirius' as well.
"So what do you guys wanna do today? I saw as we were exiting that Honeydukes has some new stuff." James sat down as Sirius went up to the counter to order them some drinks.
"I actually heard that a bookstore opened up over the summer, I was wanting to check it out." Remus just shook his head at their secretiveness with a grin.
"Boring." James sighed.
"It's not my fault you guys already did all your shopping."
"We didn't do our shopping, we did all of our shopping. Don't think you're getting out of this just because you're a prefect, Moony." Sirius argued, miraculously not spilling a drop of the four butterbeers he placed in front of them.
"Get out of… I don't even know what this is, Padfoot!" Remus didn't look all that concerned.
"So we're going to that bookstore?" James asked, where else?"
They wasted time in the village until James and Sirius insisted on leaving early. Peter followed staying closer to Remus then the other two.
When they returned they didn't go up to the room of requirement as Peter thought they would but rather made their way to the first floor where they stood staring at a wall Peter knew to be the door to McGonagall's office.
"You aren't serious. I thought we were trying to stay out of trouble?" Remus let out a sigh and shook his head.
"It'll be fun, shush."
James checked the map, ensuring that the transfiguration teacher wasn't, in fact, in her office, before knocking on the correct stone sequence and making the door open.
"Keep an eye on the map, Wormtail," James ordered handing Peter the magical map.
Wormtail was completely content with being a look out and they were happy to accommodate. His gaze glanced back in forth from the map to what his friends were doing.
It became abundantly clear what was going on, it didn't get more telling than James levitating a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner on the back wall.
"So this is what you've been up to." Remus laughed grabbing a handful of streamers.
"You thought we were plotting something didn't you." James teased.
"Technically you were plotting something."
"Technically, we're always plotting something," Sirius added enchanting the banner to flash scarlet and gold.
"No hidden pranks?" Remus asked just to make sure.
"Not a one. Thoughts it took me an hour to convince Sirius to not put a whoopee cushion on her chair."
"Just feels wrong, I tell you. Being in here and not doing anything." Sirius sighed, looking longingly back at the bag.
"No, bad dog." James scolded and Sirius whined.
Peter was surprised. It wasn't like the two troublemakers to pull something like this, especially without Remus' involvement. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"You, we didn't tell because you'd give it away," Sirius said honestly shrugging. "Remus because… why didn't we tell Remus again?"
"So that Pete wasn't the only one with no idea. He'd still give it away." James reminded him and Peter looked back down at the map.
"She's coming down the stairs, she's with Dumbledore." He warned. Sirius cursed.
"Tell us if she turns left."
"She stopped. Avery and someone who I don't recognize are in there too." His eyes were glued to McGonagall's labeled dot. "They're leaving and… she turned left."
"Let's go," James ordered grabbing the bag and throwing the door open. The Marauders piled out of the office, Peter exiting last his eyes still trained on the map.
"She stopped, still with Dumbledore." He paused to climb out and returned to the map. "She's walking again."
Sirius pushed a statue out from in front of a passageway and led the way inside magicking it back in place. James lit his wand so Peter could see the map.
"She's walking but slowly."
"I can hear them now," Remus added peeking out from the statue, there was only enough room for one of them to peek without moving the statue enough to be conspicuous.
It was a little while before Peter could hear them as well, it wasn't an interesting conversation but it sounded like she did intend to go to her office rather than just pass by it. He looked back at the map, they were right on top of the office and he could hear her tapping at the bricks. Remus pulled back and let James have the peephole. They kept quiet now, not wanting to be heard.
Remus jumped when he heard a loud clatter.
"Did she just drop her books? Why does she always do that?" Remus whispered and James chuckled under his breath.
"What the…" Peter heard her say, it was hard to determine what was going on just by sound, but he hadn't heard anything since the books dropped, so it sounded as though she was standing in the doorway.
"My, my. Someone is well informed aren't they." Dumbledore commented, sounding amused but genuinely happy.
"Who…" She paused, "those boys, this is why they've been so… tolerable all week."
"Hmm, it does seem something they'd do doesn't it," Dumbledore said in a thoughtful tone.
"How do they know it was us? Peter asked not as quietly as he should have.
"They don't, but they will if you don't shut up." Sirius nagged.
"They probably figure we're the only ones that could have found her office found out how to get in her office, Peter," Remus answered much more kindly.
"OH, that makes sense." Peter made sure to whisper this time.
"They should certainly know more then they should don't they."
"How in the world did they find out how?" McGonagall asked sounding frustrated, but Peter could hear a hint of softness in her voice.
"Oh, my dear I wouldn't be surprised if those boys know more of the secrets of this castle then I do. They always seem able to disappear entirely don't they."
"That they do, how they possibly could have figured out the code… I've even caught Pettigrew down in the basement with an unhealthy amount of food, now how in the world could they have found the kitchens of all places."
"Mmm, they are clever boys that's for sure." Dumbledore's words sounded less strict than hers did, Peter could hear a smile in it even. "Surprising how kind they can be also."
"When they're not terrorizing the younger students." She added with a heavy sigh.
"Everyone has their flaws. It is difficult rebelling against one's own upbringing."
Peter saw the James peek at Sirius, but the rat though Dumbledore was talking about both of them. Sirius' situation was more obvious, but James also was fighting the spoiled nature his parents had instilled in him from an early age. At least Sirius had made significant progress in his fight but James, if anything, was getting worse. His ego and his frustration that the animagus spells weren't as easy as he thought they would be were causing his flaws come out in the worst possible way. James was kind of nature and selfish by nurture. Both sides warred inside him, Peter could see it taking it's toll on him. He could also see the selfish, egotistical side was winning, but his nature was putting up a good fight.
He heard McGonagall heave a sigh. "Yes, I suppose." She agreed and there was even a laugh. "Now if I could just figure out how they knew when my birthday is."
"Wouldn't we all love to know how they get their information." Dumbledore laughed, "my isn't that pretty."
James stepped back, likely meaning they were in the office and out of sight. "Let's go," he whispered, Sirius and Remus nodded in unison and they made their way out taking care to be as quiet as possible.
"That was really considerate, you guys," Remus said when they were safely halfway across the castle. He looked impressed and more than a little proud.
"Yeah, it was wasn't it," James said, grinning like an idiot and nudging Sirius with his elbow. Sirius laughed punching him lightly in the shoulder.
"Way to be modest, mate."
"It's better than nothing, I suppose." Remus laughed shaking his head.
Peter followed them up the stairs, no doubt returning to that cage they called the Room of Requirement. He was starting to associate the room with danger and boredom. It wasn't very pleasant.
"I was kinda hoping she wouldn't figure it out, actually," James grumbled, pouting slightly.
"Eh, I figured it was inevitable." Sirius shrugged, "Everyone knows we've been weirdly good lately and we're probably the only ones with the gull to break in and pull a stunt like that."
"The strange behavior was slightly telling,to be honest," Remus agreed.
"But…" James continued to pout.
"I'm sure she appreciated it all the more because it was done by you guys." Remus tried to reassure him. It was interesting that James wanted it to remain incognito, it conflicted with everything Peter knew about his old friend. Even the kind side of him liked recognition.
"It didn't sound like it."
"She was just trying to be a teacher. That's all."
James continued to pout as they entered in The room of requirement. It looked exactly as it had when they left it.
"What first, animagi spells or Charms practice?" James asked them switching into determination mode.
"Animagi spells will take longer, let's go with charms." Remus moved over to the pile of charms resources that were all piled in one corner of the room. The place was something of an organized chaos. In each section of were books of a different subject, with the animagi books taking up the entire back wall and in the middle of the room were their sitting area, two couches three beanbag chairs. The couches were mainly used for sleeping on, though James preferred it over the beanbags so he stuck T There were four beanbag chairs circled in the middle of the room, and four surprisingly comfy couches circled around them. Which ones were for studying and which ones were for sleeping changed depending on the day. James preferred a couch nearly all the time while Remus liked to curl up in the beanbag to sleep more often than not. It made him look younger, curled up in a pile of fabric like a little kid. Peter never said this out loud but Sirius liked to tease him about it.
It was practically home by now, Peter wasn't too excited about this, but at least it was comfortable and Sirius and James had become significantly more productive as a result of the readily available literature. Which also meant that they could get this done and over with sooner, and maybe it would be marginally safer.
At least they were nearly done. When they managed to get through a day without the threat of exploding, Peter would cry, cry and sleep all day long. In his nice warm four-poster bed, he would sleep for hours and hours, feeling completely safe for the first time in years.
A/N) Who else loved Fantastic Beasts!
A/N) The actual URL for the facebook page is www. Facebook the maraudersfanfic/ (Remove the spaces) I guess a lot of people have been having trouble finding it for some reason.