Disclaimers: NOT MINE!
Rating: K
Based on a challenge issued by Rhya Stormbringer (found on her page on ffnet)
Please read and review? Home-made chocolate truffles to the first person… well cyber-truffles, anyway…
Remus looked up at his companion and sighed. "Remember the good old days? When James was here, and we didn't know about that little… RAT Wormtail? Just the four of us, without a care in the world. The Marauders…"
Sirius lifted his head from the book that he had been buried in, and smiled at his old friend. "Remember them? Those memories are all that keep me going somedays. The thought that Harry might make memories like that, the thought that we can prevent the world from feeling the way we do now." He paused briefly, his way of showing respect to those that has passed. Then, suddenly, a thought came to him. "Remus? Do you still have it? Last I can remember, it was your turn…"
Lupin looked at Sirius, his face blank, and then as realisation sank in, his features suddenly lit up, and a wide toothy grin formed. "I'll be right back!" And he dashed out of the room, only to appear momentarily holding a large, well-worn, leather bound book with the words 'Remember Us' embossed in gold upon the front. Sitting next to Sirius, he carefully opened the book, to reveal a photograph of four smiling teenagers with the words 'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs' written in flowing script underneath. The boys in the photograph were rough-housing, tumbling around and messing up each other's hair and clothes, but with three of them it was obvious they were the closest of friends. The fourth stood off to one side slightly, and while at first glance he appeared to be joining in with his friends, after closer inspection one could determine that in fact he was only helping whoever appeared to be winning the 'fight'.
"Look at him Lupin. How could we not have known? We never should have let James trust him with the Secret."
"No, Sirius, you're right. But let's focus on the happier memories, for the moment. It's what James would have wanted, it's the reason we made this book in the first place."
They turned the pages, looking at written entries and photographs, trinkets pressed between the pages. Sirius conjured some Bloody Marys, and they sat for hours reminiscing about the days gone by, their adolescent worries that paled into insignificance now, but seemed so important then. Which girls liked them, how to get away with as many pranks as possible during lessons, how to torment Snape… It was all there, seven years of Hogwarts and then years more afterwards preserved in the pages of the book. There was even a recipe for Lupin's mother's famous 'Lollipop Soup', a sweet concoction that she would make for 'her boys' whenever they visited. And anyone walking past in the corridor heard odd snippets of conversation, like "We transfigured Wormtail into a blue-and pink teddy bear?" Or "And the frogs all exploded into confetti!" Perhaps the oddest occurred when Mrs Weasley walked past, and all she heard was Lupin yelling "And after we were attacked by an army of squirrels, the biscuits did the can-can!"
Hours later, Tonks wandered in. She took in the scene in front of her: both men fast asleep on the table, five empty (LARGE) pitchers of Bloody Mary strewn about the room, and for some unexplainable purpose, a cloud in the corner that was raining hundreds and thousands, and shook her bright pink locks in humour. Wrinkling her nose in glee, she smiled at the realisation that the two most important men in her life had finally healed some old wounds. She wove her wand around, trying to clean up some of the mess (although she only succeeded in making the cloud rain pink glitter), and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. As she walked off to bed, she thought she heard Lupin muttering in her sleep. She shook it off, however – it sounded like he said "It's the invading squirrels again!" But that didn't make any sense…