1975
Springtime was Remus' favorite season. Days got longer, nights got shorter, and the fair weather made for the best of weekend excursions with his friends. Like many Hogwarts students, on this particularly lovely Saturday, The Marauders made the trip to Hogsmeade. They always stopped in Honeyduke's first: the boys knew that Hogsmeade could be a rather bittersweet experience for Remus, who had to walk by the Shrieking Shack in order to get anywhere. Chocolate, as they all knew, helped with this. After Mr. Lupin was dragged out by his friends with as much chocolate as he could reasonably afford, they boys all went to Zonko's: a fan favorite. Much of their own pranking abilities stemmed from the store. They either bought supplies (James and Sirius), bought how-to books (Remus) or tagged along and pointed at things that looked interesting—Peter's job.
However, while James and Sirius had a seemingly infinite supply of funds, Remus and Peter could only spend so much time in shops, so the boys always spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and just talking.
"What do you reckon we should do tomorrow?" Sirius pondered, plopping a small piece of chocolate into his mouth.
"Study," Remus prompted. "We've slacked off all day today, we have to get our work done sometime—"
"Oh, Moony," James began, rolling his eyes. "You try so hard to make us upstanding citizens. When will you learn that's never going to happen?"
"I've got hope," Remus insisted, unwrapping a little chocolate broomstick to much on. "One of these days you lot will look back and think 'gee, maybe we should've listened to Remus more.'" This caused Sirius to snort.
"Yeah, right. Give it a rest. I say you can read up on how to use the exploding quills we got, Moony, and we'll work on the execution," the floppy-haired boy grinned. Remus rolled his eyes, but had to concede.
"That does sound more fun than reading," he admitted. "You've been a bad influence on me."
"Bad influence?" Peter quipped. "But Moony, half the idea are yours—"
"Only from your influence!" Remus pouted. "I was a good, mild-mannered boy before I met you people—"
"Mild-mannered?" James asked, brow raised. "You've got a bit of sass, Moony, I hardly think you're mild-mannered."
"Well," Remus huffed. "I got sassy because of you people. It's the only way to get your attention," he explained. None of the boys could argue with that—they required a bit more than a firm voice to be subdued. Close to the full moon, it took a great deal of strength for Remus to not think about hexing his friends. Luckily, that day was weeks away: for the time being, Remus felt like a normal teenage boy.
The four continued to walk through Hogsmeade, eating their chocolate, when Remus overheard a group of other fourth-years talking:
"I say we try it—I mean, what's the harm of going in?"
"It's haunted, Randolph—we don't know what's in there—"
"—well, I'm going to go—you can come with me but you aren't stopping me."
The werewolf froze, stopping in his tracks. James and Sirius kept walking, but Peter stayed back: it wasn't like Remus to freeze up like this.
"Remus," Peter whispered, "Are you alright?"
Remus turned to his friend and shook his head. "No—we've got to the Shack. I think Randolph Bones is about to do something stupid."
Missing half of their group, James and Sirius spun around to see a rather bewildered Remus and Peter.
"Eh, Moony, what's got your knickers in a bunch?" Sirius asked, but Peter shot him a look saying something like 'not now.' The two ringleaders of the group jogged back to their friends.
"Moony," James began, adjusting his spectacles, "What's wrong?"
"I overheard…Randolph Bones and another boy, I think from Ravenclaw, they're…I think they're trying to get into the shack," Remus whispered, concerned. "We have to stop them."
Sirius nodded instantly and looked like he was about to run off and find the two nimrods, but James grabbed his arm.
"Remus," James began quietly, "Even if they do get in…what's going to happen? It's not like you're transformed in there now," he reasoned. But Remus shook his head.
"They'll know—the shack, it's…I do quite a bit of damage in there. More than a ghost," he pointed out. "And they'll know it's not haunted. And if it isn't haunted…"
"Alright, you've convinced me," James stated, putting a hand on Remus' shoulder. "But you've got to think this through: we go up there and make a huge fuss, people ask questions." James smiled. "You've got a great brain, mate. Think: what can we do?"
Remus pursed his lips in thought before his eyes began to twinkle. He had an idea.
"You've got the cloak, yes?" He asked. James nodded—he carried it with him wherever he went. "Good," Remus continued. "Then, we run out behind Honeyduke's, put on the cloak, and position ourselves near the shack. Hidden, we can hex them a bit," Remus said, mischief in his eyes. "They'll have to believe it's haunted then."
Sirius grinned, as did James and Peter.
"A chance to hex and help our dear Moony?" The boy asked. "I'm game."
Following Remus' plan, the four Marauders snuck out behind Honeyduke's and, sure that no one was watching, slipped on the cloak, walking very carefully so as to not be seen—they were getting bigger and it was harder for them all to hide under the cloak.
"You're stepping on my foot, Peter," Remus grumbled.
"This was easier when we were eleven," Peter insisted.
Despite the bickering, the boys managed to remain unseen as they camped out behind a tree in plain sight of the shack. Sure enough, Randolph and some other boy—Sirius claimed his name was 'Stodgy McGit,' but no one believed him—began to approach the shack. Remus felt himself tense up. Not even his own friend knew what the inside looked like: blood, broken furniture, claw marks, an overall stench of death…he couldn't imagine what strangers would think was in there.
"It's alright, Remus," Sirius said, picking up on his friend's touchiness. "No one is getting in there—not even us," he added. "I promise."
"It's your secret," James insisted. "We're just here to help you protect it." Peter nodded, and Remus smiled softly.
"You guys are the best friends—"
"Shh! They're coming!" Sirius whispered. Sure enough, the two boys had begun to get close enough to touch the house. The four boys readied their wands, muttering under their breaths, and sure enough, a variety of different hexes and flashes of light sprung from their wands—most from Remus and Sirius. Randolph felt onto his arse, and 'Stodgy McGit' felt his body tense up as he began to dance uncontrollably. The Marauders did their best to not burst out laughing.
"Rand!" 'Stodgy' exclaimed. "I told—"
"It's not haunted," Randolph insisted. "These are…someone…" he looked around. There was no one to hex him.
"It's working," James began, "But we need more." Remus narrowed his eyes, stowed his wand, and cupped his hands around his mouth.
"AWWOOOOOOOO!" He howled eerily. "AAAWOOOOOOWOOOOO!" He cried out again. He saw Randolph's face constrict in fear from a distance, and Remus grabbed his wand once more and flicked it, causing the boy's nose to grow a bit. Sirius chuckled, though James elbowed him to get him to be quiet.
As soon as 'Stodgy's' dancing was done, the two intruders ran as fast as they could away from the shack. As soon as they were gone, the Marauder's ripped off the invisibility cloak.
"Brilliant, Moony," James said, causing the small werewolf to beam. "That was incredible—where'd you learn all that? You too, Sirius?"
Remus shot James a look. "The howling? I would've thought that'd be obvious—"
"Not the howling," James said, rolling his eyes. "No, those hexes—they're far beyond what we've learned in class—though I don't really pay attention..."
"Oi!" Sirius yelped. "You think anyone is going to teach us those? No, Remus here must be teaching them to himself—right Moony?" Sirius asked, giving the werewolf a meaningful look.
Sirius and Remus both knew why they knew the most hexes out of their friends. They had people to defend themselves against—prejudiced gits, either members of the Black family or those who could find out Remus' secret. They had discussed it in private once—the other boys had been sneaking off to the kitchen.
"Right," Moony said with a smile. "Because unlike you lot, I read," he joked. James rolled his eyes.
"Well, you lot will have to teach Peter and me a thing or to. Not that I think we'll need to defend the Shack again, but some of those hexes could come in handy for dealing with a particularly greasy Slytherin," he smiled. Sirius laughed.
"Of course, James. We'll teach you everything we know," he said, nudging Moony.
"Oh yes," Remus began, "But there will be some required reading."
That week in transfiguration class, the boys performed their exploding quill prank—they might have gotten away with it had they not been laughing the whole time. Professor McGonagall, of course, had to give them detention and asked them to stay a moment after class.
"Boys, a word?" She called out. The four Marauders lumbered to the front of the classroom.
"Now, I feel I must give you detention for this little prank," she began, "But I will also be giving Gryffindor ten points—unrelated, of course, but I now expect you all were in Hogsmeade this weekend—Zonko's new stock, yes?"
James grinned. "Ten points, Minnie, you can't go around giving people points for going to Hogsmeade!" He exclaimed. McGonagall's lips curled into a thin smile.
"No—but I can reward friendship. I heard Mr. Bones and Mr. McGammon had quite a scare,"
she said knowingly, looking right at Remus.
"Well," the boy began, smiling a bit. "The Shrieking Shack is quite haunted—I imagine the ghosts were out."
Minerva smiled. "Yes…the ghosts. Well, do tell the ghosts to be at my office at 8PM sharp if they know what's good for them."