Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine.
The next morning he is late for breakfast and, as a result, Remus not only goes hungry, but he is also almost late for Charms. The corridor of the Charms classroom comes into view and Remus runs down it—then skids to a halt as he hears a loud ripping noise, and the contents of his bag scatter across the hallway, quills clattering and skittering, sheaves of parchment fluttering, and books thudding to the ground. With a quiet, very mild oath, Remus kneels and tries to gather his things. Professor Flitwick is going to kill him, he decides, if the tiny teacher can get off his pile of books without falling. He also decides that he really really really hates cloth bags.
Finally, everything is back in the bag—whole again thanks to a Repairing Charm. Remus scrambles back to his feet as a Slytherin prefect enters the hallway and stalks toward him with a self-satisfied smirk on his snaky face.
"Well, well, a Gryffindor not in class? That'll be, let's see…twenty points from Gryffindor." He says as Remus gapes at him. "Now run along, wee Gryffindork, before I give you a detention too."
Remus does so, running into the classroom as fast as his 'wee Gryffindork' legs can carry him. Inside the classroom, he receives a shocked but mild reprimand from Flitwick and a round of applause from Sirius and James. The class resumes practicing their Shielding Charms and Remus pulls out his wand in a state of shock. In one day he's managed to do more unRemus-like things than he's ever done in the last four and a half years:
1. He was late
2. He lost points (twenty!)
3. He almost got a detention
4. He was reprimanded by a teacher
He is about to punish himself by taking a leaf out of the house elves' book when Sirius and James ambush him, each swinging an arm around his sholders.
Sirius wipes an imaginary tear from his eye. "Today, Moony, mate o' mine, I'm so proud of you I could just kiss you!"
"Er." Stutters Remus, red faced.
"Believe you me, mate," Sirius is telling James, "When I met this little blighter—" he ruffles Remus's hair, "—I never imagined him to be such a rebel! Late for class, the lad is—can you imagine? And then—no that's not all, my dear," he sips from an imaginary teacup and James gasps—they are the perfect image of mothers speaking fondly of troublemaking children. "And then, a reprimand by a teacher. Unbelievable, my dear. His father and I were ever so shocked!" Sirius keeps his face serious, but his eyes glint with laughter.
"Oh yes, I can imagine! You poor dear!" James twitters sympathetically, the two boys glance at each other for a moment, and then collapse into roaring bouts of laughter. Remus watches them, embarrassed, and then joins in. Professor Flitwick gives them a pained look and the three boys pick themselves up off the floor and resume practice. James goes first, putting up a shield while Sirius bombards him with curses and hexes and Remus times it. They rotate, Sirius shields himself, Remus hexes, and James times. After another fifteen minutes, they switch again, then go record their times with the professor. James and Sirius get in a little tussle over who really had the longest time, which results in an exasperated detention each, a look of disdain from Lily Evans, and Sirius as the victor. It doesn't bother them that Remus and Lily beat them both by a good five minutes; they're used to it.
Class ends a few minutes later and the three Marauders head for their next class, soon to be joined by Peter, who takes Remedial Charms during that period. James bounds ahead to "talk" to Lily—although Remus has never seen a form of talking that involves so much strutting and purposeful hair messing, or cold replies, come to that. Students press all around them; Peter gives a cry and is lost. Sirius and Remus exchange a look and then shake their heads. There is no going back for him now, so they press onward through the hordes of hurrying pupils. Sirius, being bigger, links arms with Remus and pushes forward, allowing the werewolf to pass in his wake. Now that the two other boys are gone, the tone of the conversations around them changes. Whispers are exchanged from behind hands, and some third year Hufflepuffs that Remus remembers as being the co-founders of the Sirius Black Fanclub: Hogwarts Division A, give him dirty looks. There is a sinking feeling in Remus's stomach, but he's not sure quiet why. They reach their Transfiguration room seconds before Professor McGonagall arrives to let them in.