Chapter Twenty-Six: Celebrations
The next day, Remus emerged from his room, very hungry and willing to act like nothing had happened. He didn't mention the fight and neither did his parents. The next day, Remus got a letter back from James, commiserating with Remus, and a few days later it was time to go back to school.
Remus' dad dropped him off at the train station, reminding Remus that he could send them an owl about anything, whenever he needed to.
"Thanks, dad," Remus said, giving his father a big hug before getting on the train with Austin and Peter. They found James, Lily and Sirius in a compartment on the end and joined them.
After dinner that night, Remus had a desire to seek out Arabella Figg and play a game of chess with her. What he really wanted to do was to tell her about the debate he was having with his parents. He had a feeling she would know what to do, but in order for her to help, he would have to tell her everything. He wasn't ready to do that, so he sought her out in the common room and challenged her to a game of chess.
"Sure," she happily replied, leaving her circle of older friends. "How was your Easter holiday?" she asked as they set up the game.
"Pretty good," Remus answered. "Lily, James, Sirius, Peter and Austin spent a couple of days at my house and that was fun."
Arabella smiled. "I wish I could have gone home, but I had to start preparing for finals." Her smile grew mischievous as she continued. "You mentioned Lily. How are things with her?"
Blushing slightly, Remus concentrated intently on his chess pieces. "We're good friends," was his only response.
Letting the half answer go, Arabella began the game.
April rushed past Remus as the workload increased and the pressure of finals was starting to mount. Every once in awhile, the Marauders had managed to pull off another noteworthy prank, but they hadn't had much time for anything else. Remus and his parents continued to avoid their touchy subject in the owls they sent back and forth; he didn't mention to them that his scratching had gotten worse at the last transformation.
May began and spring had "sprung," giving all Hogwarts students huge cases of cabin fever, considering they had no time to spend outside. The quidditch finals between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were held the first week of May, providing a very welcome break. Of course, there were breaks of other kinds, which weren't so welcome. Lily refused to sit with the boys at the game, because, of course, she would be cheering for Ravenclaw. For a few days prior to the match, she spent most of her time with her Ravenclaw friends, not wanting to be a traitor to her house.
The match promised to be exciting, and the crowd positively roared with excitement as the players took the field. That is, most of the crowd. The Slytherin section was strangely quiet because most of the students were still sulking about their loss to Hufflepuff a few weeks before. The rest of the student body was charged with the excited energy that a good match provided.
As the teams took a warm up lap around the field, James was taking a few last bets on how badly Gryffindor was going to beat Ravenclaw while Peter kept an eye out for approaching faculty.
"Welcome to the Quidditch Finals between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw," the announcer began. "Captains Johnson and Bagman are shaking hands, and now Madame Hooch is tossing the quaffle. Ravenclaw takes possession as the bludgers and the snitch fly off."
Both teams played spectacularly and the game remained close for hours as the snitch buzzed around undetected. As twilight was beginning to fall, the seekers both saw the golden snitch at the same moment. It was hovering over the Slytherin student section as both seekers sped towards it. Their hands both touched the small ball as their bodies slammed into each other. Falling off of their brooms, they leveled a group of students beneath them. Mesdames Hooch and Pomfrey rushed to the scene, one through the air, the other through crowds of students.
Suddenly the Gryffindor seeker stood up shakily. She shoved her fist in the air and smiled triumphantly as the tiny snitch beat its wings against her fingers. Then, she bent back down to help her worthy opponent and several Slytherins back to their feet. The Gryffindor section exploded in cheers, while the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students applauded both seekers' efforts.
Ten students, including the seekers, were taken to the hospital wing for the night. None of the injuries were serious, but Madame Pomfrey was dogged in her determination that every scratch should be treated immediately. The Marauders didn't see Lily that night, which was probably just as well. Instead, they rushed to their common room where party trimmings were already being conjured up. The party lasted all night, with the six quidditch players present acting like celebrities. Halfway through, a few older students left to retrieve their seeker from the hospital wing. After a half an hour of pleading, they got Madame Pomfrey to release her. The party renewed itself then, as the real star arrived. She wasn't hurt, and she was enjoying the attention, but Remus could tell that she couldn't wait to get to bed.
Early the next morning, the Gryffindor students headed to bed, anxious to sleep away their entire Sunday.
Unfortunately, Remus' room didn't get the chance to sleep the whole day away. Around nine, a rapping at the window woke all five boys up.
"Stop it," Remus mumbled, as he turned over in bed.
When the noise didn't stop, he finally got out of his warm bed to see what was making the racket. The other boys sat up sleepily and watched Remus. Outside the window was a school owl, tapping incessantly at the window. Tied to its leg was a note.
"It's an owl," Remus announced, opening the window and letting the bird in.
"Who on earth is it from?" James asked.
"Let me read it," Remus answered testily. "It says: 'Good morning, boys! Meet me in the library in ten minutes, or your window will be pelted with more owls than you can imagine. Just because you were up all night partying doesn't mean you get out of studying today. Affectionately, Lily.'"
Sirius fell back into his bed. "That girl has to get her way no matter what! I say we sleep in."
"Ditto!" James, Peter and Austin echoed, also curling back up in bed.
Remus couldn't help but be relieved; he really wanted to sleep, too. He lay back down and closed his eyes. Ten minutes later the rapping at the window began again, but at five times the volume. This time, James jumped out of bed and ran to the window, letting five owls in. One had a note that James read aloud to his groggy friends.
"'This is your last warning before a plague of owls befalls your house. Yours, Lily.'" He groaned and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "I guess she means business, guys. Get up, let's go to the library."
Two minutes later, the boys joined Lily at a table in the library.
"Good morning, boys," she said cheerfully.
They mumbled replies and set down their heavy pile of books.
"Let's break into groups. Sirius and Remus, you stay here with me and we'll study History of Magic. James and Austin, you move over there and go over Defense Against the Dark Arts," Lily suggested, ignoring the looks she was getting.
James and Austin moved, but Peter stared blankly at Lily. "What about me, Lily?" he asked.
"Oh, Peter, I'm sorry. I thought I mentioned you. Which subject do you need the most help with?"
"It's hard to tell," he managed to reply, trying to smile.
Lily smiled back. "James is doing well in DADA, so why don't you go with him and Austin so he can help you?"
"Alright." Peter picked up his books and sat with James and Austin.
The study session would have been more helpful if the boys hadn't been falling asleep by the time it was over. They managed to get themselves down to lunch, and the food revived them a little bit. After lunch, Lily suggested a visit to Hagrid. No one had been to see him in awhile, so they all agreed and spent an enjoyable afternoon in his hut. After dinner, the boys finally got leave of Lily and they went straight back to Gryffindor Tower to sleep. As they climbed the stairs to their room, Arthur Weasely and a few of his friends were just coming down the stairs. Their hair was still rumpled from the good, long sleep they had had, and Remus was insanely jealous. He wasn't in his room a minute before he fell fast asleep.
They survived their classes the next day, unexpectedly, but were exhausted when they met Lily in the library to work on some Charms homework. This, of course, she was delighted to see and only drove them this hard to see them squirm. If only they hadn't been so cocky about their quidditch team...
As the week dragged on, Remus found himself looking longingly out the window more and more each day. His workload simply did not permit it, but school was getting to be ridiculous. Even Defense Against the Dark Arts was getting to be tedious. Finally, Remus decided to do something about it. What he really wanted to do was to be outside, with some friends without any school worries. Of course, he couldn't take away the school worries, but he could plan an event to take place outside with his friends.
Remus enlisted James and Sirius' help in planning a blow out picnic down by the lake. They immediately agreed and began brainstorming for a picnic no one would forget. James consulted the house elves about a menu for the event, Sirius tried to find some entertainment and Remus was in charge of supplies and secrecy.
The day of the picnic, the three friends spent the morning setting up. The whole school became curious as to what was going on down by the lake, so they went out to investigate. The party was just beginning when Severus Snape came strutting down with Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. The look of smug satisfaction on Snape's face made Remus want to hit him before a word was even spoken.
"Who is in charge of this celebration?" Dumbledore inquired.
James spoke up immediately. "Myself, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, but I don't see how we are breaking any school rules by having this picnic."
"The picnic itself is not in violation," Professor McGonagall remarked. "It is the food we are concerned with."
"The food?" Remus involuntarily asked aloud.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin, the food," Dumbledore said, nodding. "It has come to our attention," Snape grinned evilly at this, "that the food being served here was taken from Hogwarts kitchens without permission. We cannot allow this to continue, for fear of the kitchens constantly being overrun with students looking for free food."
The crowd of students slowly dispersed, leaving only the two professors, Remus and his friends, the band (who was packing up) and the tattletale Slytherin.
"We're sorry, Professor," Remus said quietly. "We were just trying to lighten up the end of term atmosphere, and it didn't seem like stealing..."
"Because the house elves are quite generous with their food," Dumbledore finished. "I quite understand, but that doesn't make it right to take advantage of them. You will not be punished for this, but you must stay away from the kitchens in the future."
Snape's face fell as if Christmas had been canceled. He looked at Professor Dumbledore in amazement, but wisely held his tongue as the two teachers returned to the castle.
"You've got some nerve, Severus, breaking up the party like that," Lily spat.
Snape laughed, almost cackling. "No, it doesn't take nerve to get revenge; just time, waiting for the right moment."
"We'll see who has the last laugh in this, Snape," James declared. "I wouldn't bet against us."
With that, five Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw walked up to the castle together, leaving Snape alone; still laughing, but alone.
The next day, Remus emerged from his room, very hungry and willing to act like nothing had happened. He didn't mention the fight and neither did his parents. The next day, Remus got a letter back from James, commiserating with Remus, and a few days later it was time to go back to school.
Remus' dad dropped him off at the train station, reminding Remus that he could send them an owl about anything, whenever he needed to.
"Thanks, dad," Remus said, giving his father a big hug before getting on the train with Austin and Peter. They found James, Lily and Sirius in a compartment on the end and joined them.
After dinner that night, Remus had a desire to seek out Arabella Figg and play a game of chess with her. What he really wanted to do was to tell her about the debate he was having with his parents. He had a feeling she would know what to do, but in order for her to help, he would have to tell her everything. He wasn't ready to do that, so he sought her out in the common room and challenged her to a game of chess.
"Sure," she happily replied, leaving her circle of older friends. "How was your Easter holiday?" she asked as they set up the game.
"Pretty good," Remus answered. "Lily, James, Sirius, Peter and Austin spent a couple of days at my house and that was fun."
Arabella smiled. "I wish I could have gone home, but I had to start preparing for finals." Her smile grew mischievous as she continued. "You mentioned Lily. How are things with her?"
Blushing slightly, Remus concentrated intently on his chess pieces. "We're good friends," was his only response.
Letting the half answer go, Arabella began the game.
April rushed past Remus as the workload increased and the pressure of finals was starting to mount. Every once in awhile, the Marauders had managed to pull off another noteworthy prank, but they hadn't had much time for anything else. Remus and his parents continued to avoid their touchy subject in the owls they sent back and forth; he didn't mention to them that his scratching had gotten worse at the last transformation.
May began and spring had "sprung," giving all Hogwarts students huge cases of cabin fever, considering they had no time to spend outside. The quidditch finals between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were held the first week of May, providing a very welcome break. Of course, there were breaks of other kinds, which weren't so welcome. Lily refused to sit with the boys at the game, because, of course, she would be cheering for Ravenclaw. For a few days prior to the match, she spent most of her time with her Ravenclaw friends, not wanting to be a traitor to her house.
The match promised to be exciting, and the crowd positively roared with excitement as the players took the field. That is, most of the crowd. The Slytherin section was strangely quiet because most of the students were still sulking about their loss to Hufflepuff a few weeks before. The rest of the student body was charged with the excited energy that a good match provided.
As the teams took a warm up lap around the field, James was taking a few last bets on how badly Gryffindor was going to beat Ravenclaw while Peter kept an eye out for approaching faculty.
"Welcome to the Quidditch Finals between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw," the announcer began. "Captains Johnson and Bagman are shaking hands, and now Madame Hooch is tossing the quaffle. Ravenclaw takes possession as the bludgers and the snitch fly off."
Both teams played spectacularly and the game remained close for hours as the snitch buzzed around undetected. As twilight was beginning to fall, the seekers both saw the golden snitch at the same moment. It was hovering over the Slytherin student section as both seekers sped towards it. Their hands both touched the small ball as their bodies slammed into each other. Falling off of their brooms, they leveled a group of students beneath them. Mesdames Hooch and Pomfrey rushed to the scene, one through the air, the other through crowds of students.
Suddenly the Gryffindor seeker stood up shakily. She shoved her fist in the air and smiled triumphantly as the tiny snitch beat its wings against her fingers. Then, she bent back down to help her worthy opponent and several Slytherins back to their feet. The Gryffindor section exploded in cheers, while the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students applauded both seekers' efforts.
Ten students, including the seekers, were taken to the hospital wing for the night. None of the injuries were serious, but Madame Pomfrey was dogged in her determination that every scratch should be treated immediately. The Marauders didn't see Lily that night, which was probably just as well. Instead, they rushed to their common room where party trimmings were already being conjured up. The party lasted all night, with the six quidditch players present acting like celebrities. Halfway through, a few older students left to retrieve their seeker from the hospital wing. After a half an hour of pleading, they got Madame Pomfrey to release her. The party renewed itself then, as the real star arrived. She wasn't hurt, and she was enjoying the attention, but Remus could tell that she couldn't wait to get to bed.
Early the next morning, the Gryffindor students headed to bed, anxious to sleep away their entire Sunday.
Unfortunately, Remus' room didn't get the chance to sleep the whole day away. Around nine, a rapping at the window woke all five boys up.
"Stop it," Remus mumbled, as he turned over in bed.
When the noise didn't stop, he finally got out of his warm bed to see what was making the racket. The other boys sat up sleepily and watched Remus. Outside the window was a school owl, tapping incessantly at the window. Tied to its leg was a note.
"It's an owl," Remus announced, opening the window and letting the bird in.
"Who on earth is it from?" James asked.
"Let me read it," Remus answered testily. "It says: 'Good morning, boys! Meet me in the library in ten minutes, or your window will be pelted with more owls than you can imagine. Just because you were up all night partying doesn't mean you get out of studying today. Affectionately, Lily.'"
Sirius fell back into his bed. "That girl has to get her way no matter what! I say we sleep in."
"Ditto!" James, Peter and Austin echoed, also curling back up in bed.
Remus couldn't help but be relieved; he really wanted to sleep, too. He lay back down and closed his eyes. Ten minutes later the rapping at the window began again, but at five times the volume. This time, James jumped out of bed and ran to the window, letting five owls in. One had a note that James read aloud to his groggy friends.
"'This is your last warning before a plague of owls befalls your house. Yours, Lily.'" He groaned and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "I guess she means business, guys. Get up, let's go to the library."
Two minutes later, the boys joined Lily at a table in the library.
"Good morning, boys," she said cheerfully.
They mumbled replies and set down their heavy pile of books.
"Let's break into groups. Sirius and Remus, you stay here with me and we'll study History of Magic. James and Austin, you move over there and go over Defense Against the Dark Arts," Lily suggested, ignoring the looks she was getting.
James and Austin moved, but Peter stared blankly at Lily. "What about me, Lily?" he asked.
"Oh, Peter, I'm sorry. I thought I mentioned you. Which subject do you need the most help with?"
"It's hard to tell," he managed to reply, trying to smile.
Lily smiled back. "James is doing well in DADA, so why don't you go with him and Austin so he can help you?"
"Alright." Peter picked up his books and sat with James and Austin.
The study session would have been more helpful if the boys hadn't been falling asleep by the time it was over. They managed to get themselves down to lunch, and the food revived them a little bit. After lunch, Lily suggested a visit to Hagrid. No one had been to see him in awhile, so they all agreed and spent an enjoyable afternoon in his hut. After dinner, the boys finally got leave of Lily and they went straight back to Gryffindor Tower to sleep. As they climbed the stairs to their room, Arthur Weasely and a few of his friends were just coming down the stairs. Their hair was still rumpled from the good, long sleep they had had, and Remus was insanely jealous. He wasn't in his room a minute before he fell fast asleep.
They survived their classes the next day, unexpectedly, but were exhausted when they met Lily in the library to work on some Charms homework. This, of course, she was delighted to see and only drove them this hard to see them squirm. If only they hadn't been so cocky about their quidditch team...
As the week dragged on, Remus found himself looking longingly out the window more and more each day. His workload simply did not permit it, but school was getting to be ridiculous. Even Defense Against the Dark Arts was getting to be tedious. Finally, Remus decided to do something about it. What he really wanted to do was to be outside, with some friends without any school worries. Of course, he couldn't take away the school worries, but he could plan an event to take place outside with his friends.
Remus enlisted James and Sirius' help in planning a blow out picnic down by the lake. They immediately agreed and began brainstorming for a picnic no one would forget. James consulted the house elves about a menu for the event, Sirius tried to find some entertainment and Remus was in charge of supplies and secrecy.
The day of the picnic, the three friends spent the morning setting up. The whole school became curious as to what was going on down by the lake, so they went out to investigate. The party was just beginning when Severus Snape came strutting down with Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. The look of smug satisfaction on Snape's face made Remus want to hit him before a word was even spoken.
"Who is in charge of this celebration?" Dumbledore inquired.
James spoke up immediately. "Myself, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, but I don't see how we are breaking any school rules by having this picnic."
"The picnic itself is not in violation," Professor McGonagall remarked. "It is the food we are concerned with."
"The food?" Remus involuntarily asked aloud.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin, the food," Dumbledore said, nodding. "It has come to our attention," Snape grinned evilly at this, "that the food being served here was taken from Hogwarts kitchens without permission. We cannot allow this to continue, for fear of the kitchens constantly being overrun with students looking for free food."
The crowd of students slowly dispersed, leaving only the two professors, Remus and his friends, the band (who was packing up) and the tattletale Slytherin.
"We're sorry, Professor," Remus said quietly. "We were just trying to lighten up the end of term atmosphere, and it didn't seem like stealing..."
"Because the house elves are quite generous with their food," Dumbledore finished. "I quite understand, but that doesn't make it right to take advantage of them. You will not be punished for this, but you must stay away from the kitchens in the future."
Snape's face fell as if Christmas had been canceled. He looked at Professor Dumbledore in amazement, but wisely held his tongue as the two teachers returned to the castle.
"You've got some nerve, Severus, breaking up the party like that," Lily spat.
Snape laughed, almost cackling. "No, it doesn't take nerve to get revenge; just time, waiting for the right moment."
"We'll see who has the last laugh in this, Snape," James declared. "I wouldn't bet against us."
With that, five Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw walked up to the castle together, leaving Snape alone; still laughing, but alone.