1977

In July before their sixth year, the Marauders went to the Potters' summer home near Dover. Remus had never even imagined having one house as nice as his friend's—much less two. Yet here he was, being whisked off on some sort of adventure. His parents had given him a little envelope of galleons to give to the Potters as a thank you for hosting. Remus hadn't the heart to tell them that James had absolutely refused to give it to his parents, and instead told Remus to use it for extra spending money. As James had explained, his family wouldn't accept it, and the Lupin's wouldn't accept it back, so the only options were to throw the money into the ocean or to keep it for himself. Remus opted for the latter, if rather begrudgingly.

The boys decided they would be lounging on the beach for the first day of their adventure. Something like this would have normally given Remus shivers down his spine, but ever since his friends had become animagi, the transformations had gotten so much better to the point where Remus hardly hurt himself at all. As a result, there were no new scars, and the old had faded tremendously. For the first time since he was four years old, Remus was excited to go to the seaside.

"Think any birds will be there?" Sirius asked as Remus was packing their bag for the day. The young werewolf rolled his eyes.

"Gee, mate, I don't know. I'm pretty sure only lads are allowed on the beach," Remus quipped. James laughed.

"Of course, Padfoot. Only thinking of the birds. As for me, I couldn't care less," James beamed. "I'm saving myself for Evans." Remus snorted.

"Yeah, a bit late to be saving yourself mate. I'm fairly certain that ship has sailed." James fumed mildly. "Still, a romantic sentiment. I, on the other hand," Remus said rather morosely. "Am single as can be."

"Things with Marlene are officially over?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Remus replied, "Turns out you can only stand a girl up so many times before she calls it quits. Word to the wise, ditching a girl to 'visit your mum' is not an attractive quality."

"Sorry Moony," Peter said rather sadly. Remus shrugged.

"It's alright. I would've had to break things off eventually anyways."

"Such a cad, Moony," James chuckled. Something like that, Remus thought rather darkly. To be honest, he had rather liked Marlene. But who would want to be in a serious relationship with someone like him? It was hard enough on his parents. Remus wouldn't put anyone else in that sort of situation. He grabbed the sandwiches he had made earlier and added them to the beach bag, as well as some extra sunblock.

"Moony, we aren't going to live on the beach. Think you've packed enough?" James asked. Remus rolled his eyes.

"If you hadn't noticed, Prongs, we're British. If you want to burn your skin off you can, but I finally got skin I can actually show off and I'd like to keep it that way," Remus snapped.

"Got your beach body, Moony! I love the confidence," Sirius grinned, poking Remus in the chest.

"Alright, let's go. I'm getting sick of you lot," Remus said with a teasing smile.

The four boys left the house and strutted down to the seaside. Remus carried the supply bag, Sirius the chairs, and James the towels—Peter waddled behind them. They eventually came to a nice clearing on the beach, and Sirius dropped the chairs on the sand.

"This is it, boys. The best spot on the beach," He said with a grin. Of course, Sirius had picked a spot just downwind of a gaggle of girls. Remus rolled his eyes, but gave in—after all, these were just some muggle girls. If Sirius wanted to flirt, so be it. The boys laid out in the sun and tanned for a bit: Remus tried to read the book he had brought, but determined that no such thing would take place when Sirius was doing his best to distract him, claiming that reading was for school and beaching was no time for such things. Remus tried to explain that tons of people brought books to the beach, but his floppy-haired friend wasn't having it. At last, Remus decided to bring out something he had packed: a muggle football. His mum's brother Alfred had gotten it for him, and he figured that there was no better time to teach his restless friends to play than the present. Besides—They had never seen a football. Remus actually believed that, for once, he would have the athletic advantage here.

"So, you play…on land?" James asked, a bit confused.

"Yes, Prongs," Remus explained. "It's a muggle sport. They don't fly."

"And the goal is to get the ball into a net?" Sirius asked, a bit unsure how this was even a sport. "That doesn't seem too hard."

"Well, they're muggles, right?" Peter quipped. "I wouldn't expect them to have a complex game."

Remus couldn't wait to prove his mates wrong. Sure enough, the three other boys were horrible. They had never in their lives thought to ever kick a ball with their feet. Remus started them off with passing, which he had assumed would be simple enough, but it proved very challenging for the boys—perhaps the most so for Sirius. The only upside was that occasionally the ball would roll over near the girls, and Sirius would be the first to volunteer to retrieve it.

"I'm horrible at this," he spat. "The girls aren't going to be impressed."

"It's not about the girls," Remus explained calmly. "It's about learning something new, and spending quality time with your lads," he said, passing the ball to James who—miraculously—seemed to get the hang of it.

"So what if you aren't good? It's not like we're ever gonna play this," James said. "It's Quidditch that's important."

"I think Padfoot is just annoyed that Remus is more athletic than him," Peter suggested. He had opted out of the game and was content laying on the sand.

"Am not!" Sirius protested, as he readied himself for James' pass. "I'll give this thing a grand kick—you'll see," He said, preparing his stance.

"You ready mate?" James called out.

"Absolutely, Prongs," Sirius replied. Sure enough, James passed him the ball and Sirius kicked it immediately and without control. The ball flew through the air and hit Remus smack in the face.

"OW!" He yelped, clutching at his nose and falling onto the sand. "Pads, what the hell?" Remus said, muffled by his hands. As soon as he peeled them from his face, he looked down and saw the familiar sight of blood. Sirius' eyes widened.

"Remus! Oh, Remus, I knew nothing good would come of this blasted game," Sirius exclaimed. But before he could run to his friend, the gaggle of girls had been alerted and were already on the move.

"You poor thing!" The blonde of the group cooed. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Your nose," Said the brunette, racing to kneel down next to Remus. "Here," She began, taking off her bandana, "Use this. I have loads at home." Remus took the bandana gladly, and she held it up to his nose.

"Thank you," He said, muffled. "I'm Remus," He said.

"Remus!" Cooed a third girl with raven-colored hair. "What an adorable name. I'm Lissa, that's Eve with the bandana, and that's Amber." Lissa knelt down next to Eve, placing a hand on Remus' shoulder, gasping slightly. "You poor thing! You're scarred!"

In any other situation, Remus would've shrunk away from the accusation. But these were muggle girls—they had no idea that was he was could even exist. He could tell them anything he wanted to. But before he could open his mouth:

"How could you hurt him when he's already recovering from some other accident?" Demanded Amber, glaring right at Sirius.

"Who, me?" The Marauder responded. "No, it was an accident! I didn't mean to kick the ball into his face!"

"Yeah," James said, rushing to his friend's defense. "It wasn't on purpose, and besides, Remus isn't recovering from anything," James insisted, giving Remus a meaningful glance.

"No, no I am," Remus insisted. He had quite enjoyed the attention from the girls. "These scars? Yeah, I was attacked by a wild animal," He explained. Sirius' eyes widened.

"Mate, what are you—"

"—It happened when we went camping in America. I was attacked by this huge bear, but Sirius here," Remus pointed to his friend, "Saved me in the nick of time. If he hadn't gotten there when he did, I doubt I'd be alive." Instantly, the three girls turned their attention to Sirius.

"You saved him?" Asked Lissa. "So, you're a right hero then?"

Sirius puffed out his chest. "Yeah, yeah I guess you could call me that. I only did what anyone would do, but I did save his life," Sirius admitted. Remus rolled his eyes, pulling the bandana from his nose so he could speak more clearly. The bleeding had subsided.

"He's just being modest. He had this whole plan to fight off the bear—got my lads James and Peter to help as well," Remus added.

"So this cute little teddy helped save your life?" Amber asked Remus, though her eyes were on Peter, who turned a light shade of pink. Sirius snorted, but James elbowed him.

"Oh yes," James insisted. "He's a bit quiet but that came quite in handy—he could sneak up on the bear and spook it."

"Oh wow," Amber said, clearly in awe. The Marauders were getting the feeling that these might not be the sharpest girls on the beach.

"And what did you do, James?" Asked Eve, flashing him a look. James cleared his throat.

"Er, I…"

"He called the park ranger's office," Remus quickly interjected, standing up. "That's how he met his girlfriend—she was working for the park and took the call and was so impressed with his bravery."

"Oh, a girlfriend," Eve said, a bit dejected. "And I suppose the rest of you all have ladies—I mean, brave as you all were…"

"Oh no," Peter piped up. "We're actually single."

"It's hard to find girls who don't take advantage of us—you see, after the whole ordeal, girls just wanted to get with us to say they could," Sirius said, pretending to look a bit sad.

"Indeed," Remus added. "I mean, sure, we're brave, but no one ever really got to know how great of a listener Pete here was while I was in the hospital, nor did they appreciate how kind Sirius was to the nurses—dreadfully underpaid, they are—"

"I'm in nursing school!" Exclaimed Eve. Remus feigned surprise. In fact, he had deduced that the bandana she had handed him was from a hospital, and the way she had pressed it up to his face reminded him so much of Madame Pomfrey that he would've been shocked if at least one person in her family wasn't in the medical profession. Sirius grinned.

"Well, it's Remus who's the bravest of all—going through what he did…it's challenging. Took a lot out of him. The fact that he's with us at the beach, finally able to enjoy himself…" Sirius drifted off. Whether the girls knew it or not, his words weren't far from the actual truth. "Well, it's spectacular. He ought to be proud of his scars, they're a sign of everything he's been through and survived," Sirius finished, giving Remus a meaningful look. The young werewolf turned a bit red.

"Oh, sweet boy…" Lissa cooed. "Say, we're having a little party at our place," She began, glancing at her friends. It became clear to the Marauders that said party had not existed up until a few moments ago. "You should come. Is there a phone we could ring?"

"Actually," Remus interrupted, the only one of his friends to really know what a phone was, "The line's off at our place. If you can just give us a time and a place, that's easiest." Lissa nodded, and Remus pulled a pen and paper out of the large beach bag he had packed—James and Sirius looking stunned that Remus would think to bring muggle equipment with.

"9PM. Don't be late," Lissa said, blowing Remus a kiss as she and her friends walked back to their site, giggling. James, Sirius, and Peter all looked at Moony incredulously. After the girls were out of earshot, they swarmed around him.

"Moony!" James cheered. "That was brilliant!"