DISCLAIMER: Original characters and the plot are mine, as are the song lyrics. The rest is the creation of J.K. Rowling and as such belongs to her. ::sobs::
What I would do if Sirius and Remus were mine is another matter entirely…
WARNING: This is the sequel to my fic Hogwarts: the True Story, twisted out of a fit of irritation and my several-month-long writer's block on said story. It does contain multiple spoilers but can be read as a stand-alone.
The 'old crowd'… ten old best friends summoned to Dumbledore's aid by Sirius when the Dark Lord returns to power. Together they must unlock their troubled pasts to be given any chance of saving their future…
The Marauders' Return by Rubii Firestorm
Part 1: Meetings
In the street just outside the smart front gate of 29 Acacia Avenue, Arabella Figg tut-tutted at her reflection in the rear-view mirror of her bright red Volkswagen New Beetle, noting that her always flyaway light brown tresses looked, quite simply, as though she had been 'dragged through a hedge backwards', as her mother kept informing her in pointed tones.
"Oh well," the plump thirty-three year old sighed to herself as she put the car into gear. "At least Mum's house is convenient for keeping an eye on Harry, even though it's so close to my place that I haven't got an excuse for not visiting her so often! And she really does need to do something about those cats. And they say I'm cat mad! At least I can cope with a couple of moggies, but she's got at least half a dozen -if not more- running wild about the place!"
She took her wand out of her pocket and flicked it at the car's radio to start it playing at a wizard channel, MagicMusic 101, and also at her hair to regain it some semblance of order, before pressing her foot on the accelerator and easily backing out of her parking space to the sound of Cassandra Warbuck warbling her way through nearly five minutes of over-emoted tragedy interspersed with clichés.
Cruising through the streets, she was about to turn to a different frequency when she heard the DJ announce something that made her heart stand still.
"And now it's time for a blast from the past! It's 'Devil's Touch'- the massively popular all-girl band of 1977-81 with the ever-changing name. 'Devil's Touch' split up in November '81 after the death of their lead singer and co- songwriter, Lily Evans, protecting her young son from You-Know-Who. Her son was Harry Potter, whose father James Potter was an International Chaser for England, and, well, we all know what happened to Harry. Their last ever single, in at number one in a record six countries at once, was Call Me, Beep Me, a cover of a muggle tune by a singer called Christina Milian, but we're not playing that today! Instead, we've unearthed the demo tape of a little-known song that was to be recorded the day after Lily's death, and so never made it to release: The Path of Emerald Green. Have a listen!"
My baby went and died today
Was just blown away
In a flash of emerald green
Wish I'd whispered 'I love you' just once more
Wish I'd said 'You're the one that I adore'.
And I can't say that now, that's for sure
Now he's walked down that path of em'rald green
That old, sweet music: Lily's pure voice, Monique on drums, Erin and Artemis on guitar, Minerva playing the keyboard and herself on the clarinet. A single tear coursed unnoticed down Arabella's face as she remembered the six of them, the best friends playing for the world to hear and spreading instructions from Dumbledore to the international Ministries of Magic at the same time. Somehow they'd never had time to feel afraid as they dashed through the countries and battled Death Eaters in their spare fragments of time. Lily had written this, she recalled, just after Milo Bones' parents had been killed and Milo had been about to go into hiding with his wife and daughter Susan. The 'emerald green' had come from the Avada Kedavra curse being that colour, and Arabella remembered old Luisa Dumbledore commenting how sad it was that nineteen-year-olds knew what the curse was like. Monique, she recalled, had collaborated with Artemis to write the melodies and Erin alone had written the bass part.
Don't know
Where I should go
Should I retrace everywhere we've ever been?
Don't know
Where I should go
Or should I follow his path of emerald green?
Now the group, not just Devil's Touch but their entire friendship group, the Marauders as they had become known, was sundered: Remus Lupin had spent eleven years as an outcast before returning to Hogwarts as a teacher and to help protect Harry Potter when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban; Monique James, unable to cope with life in a Britain that condemned her for loving a mass-murderer, had fled to America and changed her surname; Artemis Westhaven and her twin Apollo now worked for the Department of Mysteries, doing God-alone-knew-what with little or no contact with their old friends, or anybody for that matter; and Milo Bones, his wife Cara murdered five years ago by Death Eaters, had become virtually a recluse in an effort to keep his young daughter Susan safe. Meanwhile Minerva McGonagall had turned, according to popular report, into a stern, solitary old martinet at Hogwarts and had registered as an Animagus in order to follow her long-dead father in teaching Transfiguration classes; Erin Seanderson wrote songs professionally with barely a month going by in which one of her creations or co-creations did not reach the Wizarding Top Forty Charts and Mundungus Fletcher, who had never been the brightest brain of their group, had done a good few decidedly 'dodgy' dealings with various miscreants and had several times almost landed himself in severely hot water, Albus Dumbledore having to use his own reputation to get him out of trouble. Arabella herself had thrown herself into her old, Muggle life, popping back to the Wizarding world only at very occasional intervals, though she held a subscription of several years standing to the Daily Prophet and had taken some trouble to get wizarding radio channels on her home and car radios and also to get her house connected to the Floo network 'in case of emergency' as she put it.
The abrupt blaring of a car horn behind Arabella jolted her out of her reverie and she shook herself mentally, accelerating sharply to just touch the speed limit. Suddenly a large black dog dashed out in front of her and she yelled in surprise, jamming on the brakes with all the power she had, magic included. She barely stopped in time.
There's something mighty familiar about that dog, she thought suspiciously, slipping her wand out of her pocket and up her sleeve, just in case, as she got out of the car.
"I knew it!" she shrieked irately, when the dog looked up at her with far too familiar, chocolate, puppy-dog eyes. Arabella backed hastily away, pointing her wand at the dog. "Sirius Black! It's no good looking at me like that, Sirius, even Monique's accepted you're no good!" At her words there was a soft 'poof' and the dog transformed back into a man, holding up his hands to show he was unarmed.
"No, Arabella, she hasn't," he said softly. "She got me out, you see, and… oh, that's not important, but you have to believe me on this: I'm innocent!" Arabella snorted disbelievingly and Sirius continued, his voice honeyed, persuasive.
"Look, it was Peter, he and I switched places at the last moment, I was far too obvious and Voldemort's got far too many ways of controlling werewolves; it had to be him! But then he betrayed them… he betrayed Lily and James. I'll admit that I wanted to kill Peter that night, but I wasn't quick enough… he cut his own finger off, then fled into the sewers, blowing up the whole street with his wand behind his back. Then he became the pet of the boy who is best friends with Harry, and I knew he'd strike as soon as his Master gained enough strength. I tried to kill him again, but he escaped- last year. And I got cornered by Dementors in the Hogwarts grounds. Harry, who'd found out all this from me and Remus, saved my life, then he and his other friend Hermione helped me escape when I was imprisoned in the school. I'm not sure how, but they persuaded Dumbledore to believe me…" In spite of herself, Arabella was intrigued; the whole story was so hugely improbable that she felt it almost had to be true.
"But, why have you come to find me?" she asked. "Wouldn't your best bet have been just to stay sheltered by Remus and Monique?" Sirius sighed.
"What do you think I did? I had to be careful, though: Remus nearly got the Dementor's Kiss himself when Snape tried to convince Fudge he'd been sheltering me (he hadn't, by the way: until he saw Peter come up on the Marauder's Map he was as convinced of my guilt as the rest of you). But you see, I've come from Dumbledore: Lord Voldemort's returned, and Albus needs help. I'm to round up all the rest too- all the old Marauders and old supporters of our cause. Look: I've got a letter from him." He took a sheaf of yellowed parchment envelopes out of his robes and sorted through till he found the one with Arabella's name, which he threw to her. She caught it mechanically, her brain still moving sluggishly with all the unbelievable information. Automatically she slit it open and pulled out the contents, a single sheet of parchment. She read:
Dear Arabella,
I am writing to you now of a matter of the utmost importance, rumours of which you may or may not already be hearing: Lord Voldemort has returned, at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, which was reinstated at Hogwarts this term. Four competitors took part: Viktor Krum for Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour for Beauxbatons, and two competitors for Hogwarts: Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter. The latter was added by Bartemius Crouch Jr., long thought to be dead but masquerading undercover at Hogwarts as a teacher, by way of a complicated plan to deliver Harry to Voldemort in order to restore the Dark Lord to his body. The plan worked, although Cedric Diggory was murdered when he got in the way. Lord Voldemort has been restored to a body. However, the Minister for Magic refuses to believe me, and so I was forced to send Sirius to round up your old group of friends as fighters to help me. You will need a new name however: 'The Marauders' is too well known as your title. I hope that you will assist me: we need all the friends we can get in these troubled times.
Please apparate to Hogsmeade as soon as is possible. Enquire for a joke shop named 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', run by (as long as you call on the weekend) identical red-headed twins named Fred and George Weasley. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THEY MAY OFFER YOU. I cannot answer for the consequences if you do, but those who got off lightest were turned into giant canaries. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. However, (and keep your wits about you whilst you are in that shop, those twins are lethal) the two will show you into the back room where you will meet your friends.
Once more, I hope that you will assist,
Prof. Albus Dumbledore
She eyed Sirius critically through her spectacles, then drew her wand once more.
"Verifium!" she muttered, twirling her wand in a complicated little pattern. A silver tick shimmered in the air over the letter for a moment before forming, in loopy joined-up writing: Albus Dumbledore.
The critical look faded, and she smiled at Sirius before hugging him.
"Then I apologise, old friend," she said, smiling. "Am I the last?"
"Just about," Sirius told her, grinning. "And thanks for not telling about the whole 'Animagi' thing… would have made it a whole lot harder otherwise."
"I was saving my own skin, as much as yours," she told him firmly, hiding a smile. "Do you have any idea what Dumbledore would have done to us? And then there was that Oath we took… I didn't like to break that. I mean, you hear so many stories…"
Sirius shook his head. "Wormtail got there before you, Ara, by telling Voldemort. And by the way, as far as everyone except Dumbledore is concerned, there are only four Marauders- me, James, Remus and
Peter. I thought it was safer- not even Harry knows. He found our map by the way- got given it by the Weasley twins mentioned in your letter, who pinched it from Filch. They're rather brilliant, those two."
"How the hell did Filch get hold of the Marauder's Map?" asked Arabella, startled. "He never found out to work it, did he?"
"Not as far as I'm aware," Sirius told her. "Dear old Snapie-poos got insulted by it though… according to Harry his face had to be seen to be believed." He chuckled evilly. "Just as well Moony thought to put in that extra protection system."
"Are we going to use our old nicknames?" enquired Arabella. "I always rather liked mine."
"I don't see why not, if we're careful," replied Sirius, considering. "Not all the time though, Feli. And by the way, I got my bike back!"
Arabella laughed. "Where'd you park it?" she asked. "I hope you remembered to lock it properly this time- d'you remember what happened when those Muggle kids tried to nick it?" Sirius sniggered.
"Yeah- I've never done so many Memory Charms in my life!" he grinned. "Can you imagine what would've happened if the Ministry had found out?"
"We'd have been dead meat, Sirius, that's what would have happened," Arabella informed him as sternly as she could while smiling. "Which is precisely what we will be if we stand around here gabbing. I'll just park the car and then I'll follow you, deal?"
"Deal," Sirius laughed before Disapparating.