Chapter8 Lupin's Return
In the days to come before Remus's return, James and Sirius made it their life's' mission to make thing difficult for the Slytherins (the Hufflepuffs too but they mostly laughed along with them.) Peter helped at first but after they got their first detention he was in such a nervous state Sirius felt compelled to tell James what he saw between Peter and his mother on the platform. James no longer urged Peter to aid in their fun after he was informed.
There were other consequences James and Sirius worried about besides detention. James had secretly hoped that he would be able to reconcile with Lily after what happened on the train. It seemed to have worked at first. The morning after the incident Lily greeted him with a small smile and a less than harsh "Morning, Potter." The friendliness went away only hours later when he decided to interrupt a conversation between her and Snape. He played the scene on repeat in his head every night trying to find where he had made his mistake. They were in the Great Hall having breakfast and discussing their new schedules. James and Sirius were arguing about who would change their schedule so they could have the same classes.
"Why do you wanna take Muggle Studies anyway?" James pouted. "It's useless. Unless you were a squib I suppose."
"I personally enjoy not being an uncultured swine. Besides, it'll upset mummy and I've got a personal vendetta against her." Sirius answered cutting up his breakfast sausage.
"For your hair?" James teased batting his eyes in a girlish way.
"Yes." Sirius hissed with a look of warning.
"How bout we ask Maggie about magical hair growth? That way your hair will be down to the floor by summer and we don't have to hear you whine about how boring Muggle Studies is." James countered.
"What makes you think Ancient Runes will be any better?" Sirius defended.
"Because Remus will be there, and were Remus goes entertainment follows," James answered.
"I thought Remus was taking Divinations?" Peter asked jumping into the conversation.
"Why would Remus be interested in a shoddy class like Divinations?" James huffed irritably. "Anyways, we agreed last term that we would all take Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes."
"I didn't agree to anything. You wanted to take Ancient Runes." Sirius argued.
"No, Remus wanted to take it. And we agreed to take it so we could help him keep up when he's dealing with his … furry little problem." James muttered.
"Who wanted to take Care of Magical Creatures? Peter questioned.
"Sirius," James answered crossing his arms.
"We all wanted it!" Sirius returned.
"Not me! I don't want to get bit, or scratched, or slobbered on, or-" Peter admitted nervously.
"Great! You can take Ancient Runes with me and Remus." James said shooting a look at Sirius.
"He'd be in a different period. Just drop it, keep Divinations, and take Muggle Studies with me." Sirius smirked.
"Or do the same, but take Ancient Runes." James countered. By this time James and Sirius were at each other's throats, hardly aware of what was going on around them. Peter, however, was fully aware and spotted a fellow Gryffindor crossing into dangerous territory.
"Guys!" Peter said taking hold of Sirius's arm.
"What?" Sirius yelled shaking him off.
"The ginger! Evans. She's with the Slytherins." Peter stuttered.
"Probably going to talk to her boyfriend, Snively," James said bitterly
"Well, he happens to be talking to our Death Eater friend," Peter muttered. James and Sirius looked up to confirm and saw their greasy haired nemesis talking avidly with Rosier. Lily Evans skipped over to them and greeted them warmly. Rosier responded with a scowl and turned in the opposite direction. Snape decided to ignore both his rude friend and Lily's disappointed face. He moved over offering Lily a seat as he glanced over her schedule. What neither Lily nor Severus noticed was that the other Slytherins were looking at Lily with as much disdain as Rosier had portrayed upon her greeting. James and Sirius, however, did notice and were on their feet in a matter of seconds with Peter trailing distantly behind.
"Good morning. You're looking disgusting as usual," James smirked as he approached the two from behind. Severus turned around with a perfectly distinguished insult on his lips but Lily placed a hand on his shoulder holding him back.
"James, I think you're mistaken. His hair is definitely dirtier than usual." Sirius added with a complimentary air. Lily got to her feet and stood between the boys.
"Evans! You, on the other hand, are looking lovelier than ever." James smiled as he tousled his hair. Lily dramatically rolled her eyes.
"You, Potter, should get a hair brush." Lily huffed.
"Those things are useless." He responded waving her off. He took a seat next to Severus earning a deadly look from him. "Much like shampoo has no effect on, Snivelly."
"Which is why, Evans, you should come sit with people who have equally fantastic hair." Sirius grinned tossing his head, which would usually have a better effect had he not cut his hair.
"Why on earth do you think she would want to sit with idiots like you? At least here she can have an intellectual conversation." Severus scoffed, gathering his books in his arms. "Come on Lily, I'll walk you to your first class."
"Thank you, Sev," Lily said, tossing her head in the air and marching off with Severus.
"I'll see you in defence, Evans," James yelled after her. Lily turned to glare at him before returning to her previous conversation tarnishing James's hope for gaining Lily as a friend.
Sirius, on the other hand, had family matters to worry about. Though he made it unnecessarily clear that his brother was to be excluded from their schemes, Regulus seemed to take it personally when James and Sirius attacked the Slytherins. At least that's what he gathered from Regulus's use of the silent treatment. Sirius tried to explain to his brother what was going on but he refused to listen. It didn't help that his cousin, Narcissa who was married to Malfoy, had taken him under her wing. Sirius and James tried to console each other in the best way they knew how. Sirius made playful jokes at Lily's expense, earning him a halfhearted chuckle. James continually reminded Sirius that both Malfoy and Narcissa would be gone by year's end, Sirius would only nod in response and continue sulking.
Remus returned a week later. James, who was, unfortunately, the only morning person in the group, woke to find Remus's trunk sitting at the foot of his still empty bed. In his excitement, James jumped out of bed and ran across the room to shake Peter awake. Sirius, hearing the commotion, jolted awake and fell out of bed scrambling for his wand.
"James, the sun isn't even up yet!" Sirius said his voice muffled by his fallen blankets.
"Lupin's back!" James answered pointing to their absent friend's trunk. Peter and Sirius groggily stared at Remus's empty bed. James squinted at them trying to see their reactions in a dimly lit room with no glasses.
"Potter, this isn't funny. Don't mess with my sleep schedule." Peter said pointing his finger at his friend then fell back onto his pillow. Sirius wordlessly climbed back into bed and cocooned himself in his blankets.
"Okay, he isn't physically here but his trunk is," James said shoving his glasses back on his face and reached into his trunk for his robes. "That means he's wandering around the castle somewhere." James turned facing two dead lumps in the beds across the room. "Guys, we need to go find him."
"Sleeeep," moaned the deep sleepy voice of Sirius Black. Peter groan his agreement.
"If you don't get up, I'll aguamenti the both of you." James threatened. Peter huffed and rolled over. Sirius threw his arm off the bed to show that he already had his wand in hand. James paused for a moment to see if either of them would suddenly decide to do as he asked but neither of them moved. He marched over to Peter's bed first, ripped off his covers, and said "aguamenti" causing a stream of water to shoot out of the tip of his wand. Peter shrieked from the sudden wetness. He curled up into a ball, putting his hand in front of the wand trying to stop the stream of water exuding from it.
"Alright! Alright!" Peter yelled spitting out water. Sirius watched the affair with his eyes peeking through a crack in his cocoon. He laughed silently trying to give the impression that he was asleep.
"Sirius?" James threatened, turning to him with his wand raised.
"I'm up." He conceded still laughing. He rolled onto his back, throwing the blankets off of him. He stretched but fell back onto his bed still tired.
"Up means that your out of bed, not just awake," James said slightly annoyed. Sirius groaned dramatically then threw himself off his bed and stalked off towards the bathroom. "Don't take a bath now! We're only trying to find Remus!" James yelled after him. Sirius rudely told him off. "He's such a grump in the morning."
"Well, maybe if you hadn't given us such a rude awakening, and perhaps waited until the sun came up, he wouldn't be," Peter said bitterly as he dressed into his school robes.
"It's only 6:30, we'd have to get up in a bit anyway," James said shrugging him off. As they waited for Sirius's return James complained about how much he missed quidditch. Peter suggested that they could play two on two when they had the spare time. James told him it was a rubbish idea because he and Remus were terrible at quidditch and Sirius still hadn't gotten his broom back from his mother. When finally the door swung open James and Peter were at the window watching the Hufflepuffs practice quidditch.
"Took you long enough," James said not bothering to turn around.
"I thought you'd be upset that I took so long to get back but still, that was not the greeting I was expecting," spoke a sarcastic voice that definitely did not belong to Sirius. Peter and James both jumped to their feet at the sound of his voice. Remus Lupin was standing in the doorway looking travel worn but well enough. James and Peter charged at him and enveloped him in a breathtaking hug causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor.
"Guy. Still. Sore." Remus was crushed between the floor and two overly excited friends who rambled on and on unintelligibly about everything he missed that week. Sirius entered the room with nothing but a towel around his waist to find Remus still pinned to the floor under his talkative friends. "Sirius, be a mate and get them off of me."
"Can't, unless you want to see another full moon." Sirius winked stepping around him to put on his robes.
"Oh! Shut it Peter! You will not believe what Sirius said to me just before you came." James told him.
"He used aguamenti to wake us up again!" Sirius defended.
"You used offensive terms again!" James yelled back.
"I didn't call you anything. I just swore, which you can have my apologies for if you apologise for waking me up the way you did!" Sirius returned. James got to his feet before disdainfully refusing to apologise.
"They've been fighting like this all week, about everything," Peter muttered helping Remus into a sitting position. Remus picked up his wand and pointed it at his friends. Peter bit his lip not sure what was to come out of attacking James and Sirius but was excited to see what Remus would come up with. Remus muttered a spell that Peter could not hear but moments after James and Sirius collapsed to the floor in a fit of laughter.
"What the hell is going on?" Sirius managed to get out.
"Remus!" James laughed. Remus released them from his charm leaving James and Sirius red in the face on their hands and knees gasping for breath.
"What did we do to deserve that torture?" Sirius asked dramatically. Peter was already laughing at his friends but this question sent him over the edge. Remus grinned at him before returning his attention back to James and Sirius.
"Doesn't matter, he'll pay for it either way!" James said grabbing his wand. He shot a spell at him before ducking behind a nearby bed. Remus shot a spell at him but missed by seconds. Sirius grinned wildly before joining them. Peter ducked around their sparking wands and hid behind his bed knowing he would never have an equal match between the three of them. With all the commotion they barely heard the seven o'clock alarm. They called a truce and agreed to go down for breakfast. Over their meal, they told Remus about everything that happened on the train and them finding out about the Death Eaters and all the events that followed. Remus listened shocked by both the news about the Death Eater and their hand in Hogwarts newly found chaos. He agreed to help as they expected but under the conditioned that they no longer attacked Slytherins and Hufflepuffs at random but only those that had substantial evidence against them.
*****Questions, comments, concerns you're just dying to get off your chest? There's a depressingly empty rectangular box bellow begging you to write it out.****