Sorry about the long absence! No words can describe my utter laziness. I own nothing.
After nearly three hours of tormenting the locals, Sirius glanced at his watch and yelped. "It's 2:10. No way I'm letting Remus show up at my house unguarded."
"You're assuming he'll show up on time," Peter pointed out. Sirius ignored him. He looked slyly at James.
"You gotta carry him," he said, grinning. Then, without another word, he darted behind a tree and shifted. He quickly sprinted off in the direction of his house. James sighed and turned to Peter.
"I'm faster, don't worry. Well, speed it up! I'm not that fast." Peter nodded, shifted, and stood there expectantly. James lifted the rat up, placed him on his head, ran behind a house and shifted. Antlers grew out of the top of his head. His clothes seemed to become absorbed into his skin. His hands and feet turned into hooves. He started running.
And it all took two seconds. He sprinted after Sirius, who was, at this point, fifteen feet away. He lengthened his strides. Padfoot looked back, saw Prongs, and also sped up. He barked, suddenly coming to a screeching halt. James, stunned, was unable to slow down enough to stop without running over the dog, tripped over him. He quickly shifter back to human form in order to keep from breaking his neck. Peter just stayed a rat, but Sirius shifted back. He grinned at James.
"Really had you going there, didn't I, mate?" James rolled his eyes at his friend's antics.
"Yeesh, Pads, don't do that! I nearly wet myself; thought someone had seen us changing."
"Nah; I just knew you were gonna win and I figured that, as we are in my home territory, I shouldn't let that happen. It'd ruin my reputation with the locals, y'know."
"The girls," James whispered to Peter, who snickered. Sirius shot him a glare.
"Oh, come off it. C'mon, Moony'll be here any second."
"Right you are. Come, Wormy, Pads, let us nonchalantly walk slowly up to the front door in the hopes that if we pretend to be calm we shall not be questioned..." He opened the door for them as he spoke, looking behind him at his friends. Sirius suddenly butted in front of him.
"My house! Me is goner go inside first!" he pouted.
"Whatever," James said, rolling his eyes. "But anyways, if we look and act decent, we might get half a chance to- OHMAIGAWSH REMUS!" He suddenly pushed past Sirius and dived at his werewolf friend, who had suddenly appeared clutching the arm of an older woman. James recognized her as Marlene McKinnon, the woman who had adopted Remus in fourth year, after his parents died. Remus looked pale, and the circles under his eyes were darker than usual, but other than that he looked fine. His adoptive mother had managed to heal the injuries, and though he did look as though he was favoring his left leg a bit, he grinned widely when he saw them.
"James!" he laughed. "Don't kill me. Come off it." He tried feebly to push his friend away, but it was clear he was still regaining his strength. Sirius decided to be helpful and bodily lift James off of his werewolf friend.
"Gentlemen," Remus said and bowed perfectly, due to his many years of ballroom dancing. Waltz, specifically; whenever he tried salsa he started cracking up too hard. As those had been the only two types the center had offered, he had chosen waltz and happily stuck with it for seven years. Of course, now he only took during the summer, so practicing during the school year was difficult (at least, it was until he found out Alice danced).
Sirius, James, and Peter attempted to copy him, but all failed drastically. They all wound up laughing. Marlene McKinnon suddenly turned back to Remus.
"You stay safe, Remus," she instructed, "and don't overtax yourself. I don't want you to come home half-dead."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, Marlene, I know." The woman suddenly stood up un tiptoes, pecked him on the cheek, and backed away to Apparate. However, before she could, Remus caught her around the neck and bent down to kiss her back. "Love you," he breathed, and she grinned. Then she winked, whispered it back to him, stepped away, and Disapparated. He turned back to Marauders, a suddenly devilish gleam in his eyes. "Well, men, let us get down to business. Please inform me of any of your previous plans and doings, and I shall fill you in on all of my dastardly schemes and plots." He grinned, and they knew this was major; he wasn't using contractions.
James shoved him down on the sofa, wincing at the unexpected half-groan-half-exhale that elicited. "Sorry, mate. I..."
Remus just grinned, though he still looked a little winded. "No, no, not a problem. Of course, if you had half a brain..." James groaned.
"Don't bring that up again! I was high on Honeydukes, okay?"
Remus raised an eyebrow, then burst out laughing. The other three joined him, then Sirius suddenly frowned. "Hey, Remus, you don't mind if Mum and Dad have someone over, do you? I mean, they'll probably just ignore you, but this other guy... I don't know how he'll act around us. I've never met him before."
"Not a problem," Remus said, smiling slightly. "Do you know his name?" Sirius frowned.
"Eh, now that you mention it... no. Mum said it once, but I was sort of ignoring her at the time."
"Very well," Remus said with a grin. "Now it's business as usual?"
"Business as usual."