Remus was nervous.
Today was the release date of his book "History of the Marauders" and it would be celebrated at Wealsey's Wizard Wheezes where it would be sold on its own or in several packs that included Marauders maps or Marauder inspired items. Rose would be working full time today, as would all the employees because the twins predicted a lot of people and Remus would be busy signing his books for the people who asked him to and answering questions for the few journalists scheduled to interview him.
Rose had already read the book of course, her godfather had given one to her the moment he received the first copies. He signed it for her, telling her that he wanted her to be one of the first people to read it. She loved it, how could she not? This book was poart of her history, part of a history that had almost been hidden from her by her kidnapper.
They had advertised the release of the book for the past few weeks in the Daily Prophet and a few other magasines and newspapers and, much to Remus's surprised, a lot of people had already paid for a book, to make sure they would get it.
He had spent so long, so many years, counting every little bit of money, he was surprised to find out that he was about to become a best selling author.
The book covered the start of the Marauder's friendship, how they discovered Remus was a werewolf and how they became animagus to help him. It covered their school years, James marrying Lily and even Peter's betrayal, which was discovered later. Remus figured that most of them were curious about that last part though he had included a few incidents that happened at school that he was sure would amuse Albus and Minerva, like the moment when, walking back from the three Broomsticks in the middle of the night, a large black dog had run over Albus before it ran right back in the shadows of the Forbidden Forest. Or the time James, in his animagus form, ran into Hagrid who washed him because he was muddy and fed him by the fire. James was so comfortable that he had fallen asleep and woke up the next morning, late for class.
Why did Remus suddenly picture himself as Gilderoy Lockhard? Probably because Harry had joked about it the previous night and Sirius had enjoyed teasing him about the comparison. Was his family right, would people really buy his book even though he's a werewolf? Apparently they would. Maybe the fact that he was a werewolf made them curious.
Already he had been asked to work on a second book, about werewolves only, because his editor and publisher believed that the one chapter about his werewolf status wouldn't be enough. Of course he had started on it and the book was basically writing itself and they were thinking of publishing his second book, if everything went fine, before next Easter. Who knew he'd become a writer some day?
He was surprised by this but he was now able to provide for his family and even put some gold in his goddaughter's vault. A few years ago, he thought he was done, that nothing would ever change for him, that he's stay a poor werewolf, living aside from society, until he died and now he was working, changing things for werewolves all over the country, fighting Voldemort and publishing popular books.
"You're ready Remus?" His wife asked him.
"Not really, kind of nervous." He replied.
"Don't be, they'll love you, I just know it." She smiled.
"Maybe nobody will care about the Marauders." He replied nervously.
"Of course they'll care. At first they'll be curious, then they'll realize what a great story it is and it'll be even more popular. I'm sure it's a future best seller. You did spend the past couple of days signing the books that had been owl ordered. That's already quite a lot." Tonks replied.
"Let's hope you're right." he smiled, taking her hand and letting her guide him outside.
She was right of course. He had been surprised by the boxes of books Fred had dropped off, along with a list of clients who had already owl ordered theirs and would be the first to receive it. Hermione was one of them, of course. She couldn't pass up the opportunity to read a book before everyone else and to have it signed by the author. She couldn't come to pick it up herself, so she had owl ordered it.
A few of his old school friends and teachers had ordered it, along with Dumbledore and almost every Order members. He had been surprised when he saw an order from Snape too.
Maybe it truly was a new start for him. A new life.
.
When Remus arrived at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, an hour before it was scheduled to open, by using the Chimney, he was surprised to hear a lot of noise outside.
"What's going on? Surely not another attack?" He asked the twins.
Tonks was with him for the day, she had been assigned as extra security, set to patrol in front of the shop all day because of the extra number of people that would come.
"No, that's the clients, waiting outside for opening hour so they can get your book before anyone else." George replied with a smile.
"We might not have enough for everyone. I've started bringing the closed boxes we've kept in the back room. We'll need every book we have, and probably more." Rose replied, carrying a box while Fred followed with three boxes.
"I think we should open early, we'll sell more." Fred commented as he walked by.
"I agree. And even if we run out of books, they'll be able to reserve one for later and buy something else. Win-win for us." George nodded.
"Alright then, where do I settle?" Remus asked and Rose showed him a small table that had been set for him near the cash register, with a large picture of his book behind him and piles upon piles of books all around him.
They opened the shop half an hour earlier than initially planned and Remus spent the rest of the day signing books and answering questions. A few journalists came, bought the book and interviewed Remus while he signed books for his readers.
At first, he had expected to find a majority of students, but he was surprised to see a lot of his old schoolmates and other adults coming in. Since the book was mainly about teenagers, he thought a majority of teenagers would buy it and nobody else, but all sorts of people were waiting in line for the book. Even a few Goblins and other magical creatures. A known vampire had owl ordered a copy.
At some point, Professor McGonagall had come and bought one of the books. She had already bought a deluxe map, probably to watch over the school with more ease and she seemed to be tempted by other items, though not too comfortable buying them in front of students.
"I'm going to learn things I don't want to know, am I?" She asked Remus with a small smile.
"Probably, but the good news is that you can't put us in detention for it anymore." Remus smiled back, making her chuckle.
"Has Albus come to get a book yet? I know he was eager to read it. It was all he could speak about for days. He's eager to find out everything you boys managed to do behind his back." She asked.
"Oh, everything isn't in this book or it would have been double the size. A few more anecdotes will be in my next book, which is supposed to concentrate on my werewolf status but I still have plenty of Marauder's adventures written down that didn't make the cut for this book. Maybe a third book later. Anyway, Albus owl ordered his, along with most of the teachers. I guess they didn't want students to see them buy not only this book but the maps and other... items... He got 4 other books for the library too." Remus replied with a little smile.
"Albus bought a lot here, didn't he?" She sighted.
"Oh yes. Almost the entire Marauder branch of product and a large portion of our other products." George replied with a bright smile as he walked by them.
"We're thinking of having his picture placed here, with a 'best customer' sign under it." Fred added jokingly.
"Well, you have to accept the things you can't change, right?" Minerva sighted before she paid and left the store, trying to ignore the students she crossed on her way out and who looked at her like she was about to give them detention.
She chuckled when one of them, who had in his hand a Skiving Snackbox, put it back on the shelf when he saw her. He did, however, picked it back up the moment she was out of the store and unable to see him anymore.
.
By the end of the day, they were completely sold out on the books and the Marauder branch of products had been very successful too. A lot of maps had been sold, along with the tiny dolls of the four teenage boys that turned into their respective animals. It had been a very busy day and everyone was very happy by how successful it had been.
Remus had a hard time believing this was true. For so long he had been an outcast for the wizarding world and now he was a successful author, already bestseller of the month on the first day out.
They had had to turn away some people because they were out of books, though the people still paid to make sure they got them as soon as they were available again and they used this opportunity to buy other things in this wonderful shop.
There was a moment, a little past noon, that had been a bit tense. Percy, who had been trying hard to ignore his family for a while, had walked into his brothers's store and bought one of Remus' book along with a small sample of his brother's items. It had been tense and a bit awkward, mainly because they didn't expect Percy to use any of those items, but he had made the effort of coming, and buying those things was probably a peace offering. The twins were mature enough to recognize it for what it was: an attempt to make peace, to be friendly and so they were on their best behavior and even officially introduced him to Rose, Fred's girlfriend and probably a future Weasley, according to what George had whispered to his big brother.
.
Draco was nervous.
The time to go back to school was coming closer and by now, everyone knew he and his mother had left the Death Eaters, that he had betrayed the Dark Lord. No matter how hard he tried to hide it from everyone, he was worried about what his house mate's reactions would be.
He didn't care if he wasn't at the top of Slytherin's social ladder anymore, he just didn't want to be bullied and to fall all the way to the bottom.
Would they attack him? Would they simply ignore him? He didn't know and it's the not knowing that worried him the most, though he did his best to hide it from his mother. The discussion he had had with Astoria Greengrass at the Creevey's funeral did give him hope. Maybe some Slytherins would stand up for him.
"You're okay, Draco?" Luna asked him as they once again all hung out at the Marauder's lair, enjoying the swimming pool while they could.
"Yes, just a bit worried." He replied honestly.
"I get it but don't worry, people can surprise you when you give them the chance." She replied with a smile.
"I hope you're right." he smiled back.
"Your mother seems to get along well with my dad. He smiles a lot lately. I think he likes her. She makes him happy." Luna informed Draco.
"Mom is happier too. I don't know if they're just friend or if they'll be more eventually, but she's happy and that's all I want for her." Draco nodded.
"Do you think they'll get married eventually?" She asked him.
"Well, she'd have to wait until her divorce with dad is official and since he's on the run and with the war and everything, it's a bit harder, it takes longer. But I wouldn't mind having you as a sister." he smiled at her.
"I've never had a brother before, but Ginny seems to enjoy having brothers." Luna replied and Draco laughed, simply because he, on his own, was being compared with the 6 Weasley brothers.
.
"So Harry, what are you going to do while Hermione, Ginny, Luna and I have our girls night here in three days?" Rose asked her brother a week after Remus' book was released.
They were coming back from the Weasley's on foot, enjoying a good walk while they still could. Sirius was with them, walking a bit behind them. even though they had placed protections on this path, he was vigilent, paying attention to every detail.
"I'll probably hang out with Ron and Draco. I've invited Neville. I'll see if he can come or not. We wanted to hang out at Ron's but his brother Percy might visit so we've decided to do it at Grimmault place." He replied.
"Hey, what was that?" Rose asked suddenly, pointing to the woods on the right and taking a step to closer to it.
"What did you see?" Harry asked.
"I think it was something small and furry." She replied.
"Could be anything." Sirius replied.
"Let's look for it!" Rose decided and, sighting, the boys followed her.
It didn't take them long to find a young cat rolled on the ground.
"It looks like he's injured." Harry noticed.
"It's a female." Rose corrected him after checking things out.
"She seems to have been starving for quite a while. Definitely in bad shape. She won't survive out here on her own." Sirius frowned.
"Doesn't she look familiar to you?" Harry asked Sirius.
"I was thinking the same thing. She looks like an exact replica of McGonagall's animagus form. If I hadn't seen her last night at the Order's meeting, I would have thought it was Minerva." Sirius nodded.
"We should take her home and heal her for now. If she recovers, I have an idea." Rose replied.
"With that smirk of yours, it can't be good." Harry smiled.
"Well, if she can be trained, wouldn't it be fun to give her to professor McGonagall? She could let her wonder around the school and students would assume it's Professor McGonagall and get all nervous when in fact it's just a cat..." Rose explained her idea.
"I know there's a special book on how to train cats. I'll ask Remus to get it for us before he gets home tonight. I love your idea kid!" Sirius exclaimed, taking the cat in his arms and walking home, slightly faster than before.
Once they got home, Sirius called Remus, asking him to get the book he was thinking about on training and raising cats, then he got some tuna out for the cat. Thinking she hadn't eaten for a while, he got some milk out and offered both. Maybe she'd drink the milk first. He also asked Remus to drop by the animal store to buy some special vitamines for the cat, explaining her state.
"Maybe we should contact Professor McGonagall now. If she wants it, it would help them bond faster if she helped her recover." Rose declared.
"I think we should call her MacKitty." Sirius suggested.
"I was thinking Mini McGonagall." Harry replied.
"Why don't we let Professor McGonagall choose?" Rose added and they both nodded.
Sirius got his mirror out and called the professor, asking her to drop by whenever she had time, that it wasn't urgent or war related, but that she'd like the surprise.
Harry and Rose took the time to wash and feed the cat, who seemed to understand that they didn't mean her any harm and let them take care of her. Remus had sent them what Sirius had asked through Kreacher and had gone back to work. Sirius was reading a magasin while supervising from a distance, when the doorbell rang, about an hour before they ate dinner. He went to open it, leaving the twins in the kitchen with the cat, which didn't seem to like him much, probably because of his canine animagus.
"Sirius, I'm intrigued by your message so I came as fast as I could." Minerva spoke as she walked in.
"Like I said, it's nothing too urgent or nothing bad. Come and see in the kitchen. Kids, Professor McGonagall is here." Sirius warned.
When they walked in, Rose and Harry were covered in soapy water and laughing while the cat sat straight on the table, looking proud.
"I don't think she liked our idea to bathe her too much." Harry declared, making Sirius laugh.
"Oh by Merlin! She looks just like me!" Minerva exclaimed.
"We know, that's why we thought you'd like to keep her. You know, train her and then let her wonder the castle when you're somewhere else, let people think it's you." Rose replied with a smile while Sirius used his wand to dry them both.
"And maybe trick them a few times. Or let her sit in your place at some teacher's meetings..." Harry added.
"She'll need care though, we found her a few hours ago and she obviously had been starving for a while." Sirius told the professor.
The cat and professor McGonagall were looking at each other, eyes to eyes and it seemed they were having an entire conversation there.
"Who knows about this?" She asked them seriously.
"Just Remus who got us the training book and this emergency food for cats in distress." Sirius replied.
"Alright, I'll take her in, but I want your word that you won't speak a word of this to anyone, not your friends, especially not Albus." Minerva declared, making them smile widely.
"I swear it!" They all answered at the same time.
"I like your idea, but it'll only work if this is a complete surprise for everyone. Did you name her?" She asked.
"Not yet." Rose shook her head.
"But she's definitely a mini you." Sirius added.
"I like Mini McKitty." Harry suggested.
"Minnie, I think it'll fit her. And I'll train her to answer to my name as well." She smirked.
"Well, now that you've got a full fun year to look forward to, do you want to join us for dinner?" Sirius asked and the Transfiguration teacher agreed.
I hope you liked it, this is the first chapter I managed to write in a while...
Please don't forget to review!
Lorelei Candice Black