Disclaimer: No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Furthermore, this was written in accordance to the Ministry of Magick's Public Fiction Code Article X and brings no harm or hex to the reader before, after or during the reading of the piece. However, it was not written in accordance with the Ministry of Magick's Public Fiction Code ILII which states that, beyond holding hands, relationships between two men or two women are strictly forbidden.

Pairings: sbxrl, rianxquin, jp(plus)le, jp(plus)ss, jp(plus)pp

Summary: Remus proves that, yes, he can be a "normal" teenager and just relax with his friends.

Okay, ummmm yeah. i've had issues more so than normal recently. And i've not been sleeping. Uh, 24 does have new material in it, i suggest that you read that first. Um, enjoy? i hope it's not too horrible. Or something.

Chapter Twenty-Five

In which there is male bonding.

I stifled another yawn as I climbed up the Slytherin Quidditch Tower. My notes, paper and charcoal hung in a bag off my shoulder and I carried two Thermoses of tea. It was chilly and I had this horrible nice streak and, being Scotland, it was a tad bit chilly. Snape, as I had expected, was already there, making preliminary notes and sketches and grumbling to himself. He didn't hear me approach. I sat down, quietly, and set one of the Thermoses down next to him and coughed lightly. His head turned to me and he looked suspiciously at the Thermos.

'It's safe, I promise,' I assured him.

'Says a Gryffindor,' he snorted.

'The two are the same,' I switched the Thermoses, I wasn't about to argue, Merlin knew he had enough reason to doubt me. 'It's just some tea, it's cold out tonight.'

'Thank you,' he whispered as if the words were completely foreign to him. He took a cautious sip.

We worked for a few hours until, rubbing our eyes, we packed up. Together we climbed down the stairs and headed for the castle. He went to the dungeon and I went to the Tower. The whole night had been frightfully void of conversation. Granted it was Snape, but I really hadn't wanted to spend that much time saying that little. The fire in the common room was down to its final embers and the silence in Gryffindor Tower was deafening. Sighing I finished my hike up and didn't even bother to put my things away. I dropped my bag unceremoniously on the floor, slipped out of my uniform and crawled into my bed. My strangely occupied bed. It appeared as if Sirius didn't bother to wait for me that night. He was snuggled, peacefully, under the covers. Smiling, I scrambled next to him and he adjusted to my presence.

I feel asleep feeling warm, loved and content.

Morning came, and I found Sirius had caged me. As I had no plans, I allowed myself to practice the Art of Sloth. Amazing how easy it was.

'Mmmm, Remus?' he stretched, partially and yawned as if trying to convince himself that waking up was a decent idea.

''Morning, Paddy,' I grinned.

''Running away again?'

'Not today. I don't think.'

'That's good,' he agreed, nodding his head. He slouched back down, his head heavily hitting the pillow. Not willing to argue with his… logic, I, too, lay back down in the circle of his arms.

All too sudden for my liking or Sirius', my curtains were yanked open and a stream of light blinded us. James and Peter stood glaring at the two of us with unreadable looks on their faces.

'At least they're not snogging,' Peter mumbled.

James rolled his eyes, 'at least it's not some random bloke.'

'Because I have a habit of letting random blokes sleeping in my bed, right, Prongs?'

Sirius just glared at the otherwise non-canine Marauders.

'So,' James ignored Sirius' glare, 'Wormtail and I were thinking – '

'Did it hurt?' Sirius asked.

Unfazed, James continued, 'that the Slytherins have been too full of themselves recently and we might need to remind them that there's no way they can beat our Quidditch team.'

'And this was important enough to wake us up at this ungodly hour?'

'It's well past noon.'

'On a Sunday, Jimmy, on a bloody Sunday!'

'Anyway, Wormtail pointed out that, in their burst of confidence they might have, er, forgotten to check up on their practise equipment and we might need to help them along with that.' Sirius laughed, most likely torn between 'fixing' the problem and leaving bed. 'Besides, I did promise to help Wormtail with his Transfiguration,' he shrugged as if that were a deciding factor.

'Well,' I began as I extracted myself from Sirius' arms, 'let's discuss this over lunch, shall we?'

Sundays at Hogwarts are very lax. Lunch is defined as the period of time in-between 11.30 and 14.30, available to those who skipped breakfast or just woke up as well as those who actually did have breakfast. Dinner was more formal, but that was to be expected. Soon after we sat in the nearly-empty Hall, Quin's owl paid me a visit bearing a letter and a box from my guardian(s):

Remus,

We're heading down to France for a short time. Remember the French werewolf pack from a few years back? The Alpha, Frédéric, has invited us down to see the village. Remy, imagine! Frédéric has been working with Vincent, the Master Vampyre in the area. The pack and the kiss have worked together, Remy, and their village a haven for such "dark creatures", the first of its kind. Vampyres and werewolves living together. I never thought the day would come.

I know that I can trust Sirius, James and Peter to help you with the moons – no matter how much you may be confused about Sirius' actions at this time, I can assure you that he does care about you. (I smiled; Quin and Rian had spent the summer telling me this. And it turns out that they were right – they had a habit of being so.) So, stop 'mooning' over him and do something about it. I raised you better than that!

You're welcome to owl us during our stay ('though expect delays, Doyler1 may have problems reading the French road signs. That's a joke, Remy!) Perhaps we can visit again during the summer, if only to keep your French fresh.

Be well, take care and don't study too hard (because I know that you will).

Love always,

Quin and Rian

I folded up the letter quickly, lest anyone read over my shoulder. The writing was Quin's, although I have no idea how he managed to keep his hand steady enough to write it. The village was his dream-child. No, seriously er, you know what I mean. Not only did he have to press for the legislation to get a village set up with Muggle Obscuring Guards, but he had to coax the vampyres and werewolves to live together in harmony. I knew there were other "dark creatures" living there, but those two were the main ones. A whole pack and a whole kiss agreed to live together. It was, indeed, a landmark victory. I had clippings from L'oracle Quotidien, the French version of the Prophet, detailing the successes. Most often, the entire project was called 'foolish' or 'dangerous', yet Vincent and Frédéric kept their followers lobbying with Quin finally the results were in.

I welled with pride and I explained the implications to my three British friends. Forgoing the planning momentarily, I began a response to them in French, not because I was writing anything secret, but because I hate when people read over my shoulder. Besides Quin's French was pretty bad (and Rian's was worse). I summarised the past few days and let them divine what they could about Sirius and me. I handed the letter to Doyler and, after I told him firmly to take his time, he was off.

'What's that game, Wormsy?' Sirius was asking, 'the Muggle one.'

Peter brightened up, 'football.'

'Right,' Sirius nodded triumphantly, 'hows about we Transfigure them some footballs.'

'They don't know what… footballs are, though,' James pointed out.

'If it's a lesson for Peter,' I considered, 'all that matters is that he knows what a football looks like. And he has four chances: two Bludgers, the Snitch and the Quaffle.'

They grinned. The Marauders had a plan.

Nonchalantly we headed down to the pitch, As expected, others saw us and came to their own conclusions as to what we were doing. The Map showed that the pitch was empty. James knew, though, that the Slytherins had it book for practise at three. (That was, I suspected, the reason for the prank. He had mentioned something about Conrad wanting to get in another practise that weekend.)

Sirius and I took guard outside the Slytherin's equipment area as James walked Peter through the Transformation. The first Bludger was rather flattened, but the other three turned out to be decent footballs, well, according to Peter they were.

'Brilliant!' James patted Peter on the back. 'See, I knew you could do it!'

'Only 'cause you're there,' Peter whined. 'Having different classes isn't a'tall fair.'

'It builds character,' Sirius laughed. 'I don't think it's fair of us to let you skip out on the practice,' he gestured to a stack of spare broomsticks. They were older models, like the ones First Years learn on, but they were functional enough.

'Cricket bats!' Peter laughed. 'Alright then, here goes.' He proceeded to Transfigure each of the brooms into a short, flat bat just as I saw some movement on the map;

'It's time to get out of here.'

'Right then.'

We ran and laughed like children all the way back to Gryffindor Tower. Once there I forced James and Sirius to get some studying done so that I could do the same. Peter read and reread his notes, the three of us eventually succumbing to helping him out. It was just like it had been before; it was just like we had wanted it to remain. We were the Marauders and it would take more than suspicions and dating to separate us.

1 i  Jamie O'Niell. Therefore, every time i need an owl's name, i shall choose Doyler from At Swim, Two Boys.