Disclaimer: I am NOT JK Rowling. I am not the copyright or trademark owner of ANYTHING to do with the Harry Potter Books (Bought to us through Scholastic) or the Movies (thanks to Warner Brothers). I am borrowing Ms. Rowlings genius for my own amusement and (I hope) yours.
AN: Hi everyone. This is the second and last chapter of Meeting Their Heroes. I hope you like my take on it and ANY resemblance to ANYONE elses take on Gred and Forge finding out that Sirius and Remus were Padfoot and Moony is NOT intentional and is because their idea inspired me to try this. I hope to have made it original however.
Meeting Their Heroes Chapter Two: Moony and Padfoots' Prank and an eaves dropper.
This chapter takes place about a week after Moony and Padfoot find out that the Twins want to know who the Marauders are.
Fred and George Weasley sat at the table in the Kitchen in Grimmauld Place (the adults having decided NOT to use it for a meeting for once, as so few were able to make it they were in the drawing room that had been cleaned out the day before), glumly reflecting that no one they had asked in the last week knew anything about their idols the Marauders. "Who else can we ask?" sighed George "I dunno Forge" Fred replied sadly. "It's like they never existed; no one has ever heard of them!" "They made the map though, they must have been trouble makers!" Fred exclaimed, frustrated with the lack of information. "Well" George mused "we know they graduated between 10 and 15 years ago since McGonogall told us. Who do we KNOW was at Hogwarts then that we haven't asked?" Fred got a look of wild excitement on his face as he realied what George has realised "BRILLIANT FORGE! There is NO WAY that Dumbledore didn't know what the Marauders got up to! Next time we see him, we will ask him!" Both twins were beaming at the idea that they would soon know more about their idols.
-Meanwhile, just outside the kitchen door-
Remus and Sirius could have cracked ribs, they were trying SO hard to keep themselves from laughing hearing how desperate the twins were to meet THEM. In the end they managed to control themselves and walked into the kitchen
-At the table-
"Hello Sirius and Remus" The twins greeted cheerfully "Hi boys" the marauders returned. "We heard you thinking out loud before, how did you hear about the marauders? They were well before your time"
"Well we noticed this old bit of parchment in"
"Filchs office in first year and
"knicked it. It's the Map they made of"
"Hogwarts and its really helped our pranking"
The twins began in their usual ping-ponging speech, taking it in turns and finishing each-others' sentences and causing the two to grin inwardly as they had hoped the map would help their successors as the Hogwarts Trouble Makers
"And we know that they called each other Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs but we can't find out who they were, and we've asked everyone" Fred finished dejected. "You never asked us" Remus said, feigning surprise "I had no idea you wanted to know about them so badly" "You mean" "You knew" "THE MARAUDERS!" Fred and George yelled in excitement "Yes, we did. We were at Hogwarts when they were around." Sirius smiled. What do you want to know?" "Who are they?" "Did they prank much?" "What were they like?"
"Slow down!" Remus laughed. Sirius began "While we were at school, we played a lot of innocent pranks to give EVERYONE (Including the person we pranked) a laught. But Prongs and Padfoot were arrogant jerks. They were very gifted students and it went to their heads. They thought they were superior to the rest of us and they pranked people, especially an intelligent Slytherin in our year, cruelly but no one stood up to them. Moony was the voice of reason in the group and tried to stop them. Wormtail" which was spat with unmistakable anger "Was a coward who hung around so he wouldn't be bullied".
Remus, seeing the crestfallen look on the twins faces, picked up the story "Towards the end of school, Prongs started to grow up and started dating the women he loved. They got married and were very happy before they were killed" "We're sorry" The twins said at the unmistakable pain on Remus' face "Wormtail turned traitor and Padfoot here" pointing at Sirius "got framed and sent to Azkaban. The twins jaw dropped "leaving Moony here all alone" Sirius finished sadly.
The twins were speechless with shock. 5 minutes later when it had sunk in they said "If you are Moony and Padfoot" they asked quietly then Wormtail.." "Was Peter Pettigrew" Sirius spat venomously "Who faked his death to frame me for murder and then spent 12 years as a rat, most of which we was scabbers" The twins looked disgusted that they had harboured such a criminal. Seeking to move the conversation onto lighter topics they asked "And Prongs, who married the women he loved" "Was James Potter, who married Lily" The twins jaws dropped again, realising that they had indeed choosen wisely to give Harry the map as he was the Son of a MARAUDER! "So Harry.." "Is the son of a Marauder, yes" Moony smiled "Why?" "We gave him the map in his third year so he could sneak into Hogsmeade. The bastards he lived with" Which caused a stirring of unease in the man standing just outside the kitchen "refused to sign the form or do anything that didn't make him miserable or damage his self-esteem" which caused the man outside to start kicking himself that he had never noticed any of this before, which he of all people should have, Remus and Sirius to growl in anger and the twins to remember when they had found out:
After seeing how Harry had been caged when they had rescued him in second year, they had flooed to Dumbledores office in the middle of the night to borrow his Pensieve off him without their mother knowing and then confronted Harry, who had reluctantly shown them his memories of his whole life with those animals. They had sworn to say nothing but were encouraging him to show Dumbledore or their father, anyone who could bring the Dursleys to justice. Seeking to move the topic away from this they asked "What was the cruellest prank you ever pulled?"
At this, Sirius went pale before managing to speak "you know Moony is a werewolf, right?" The twins rolled their eyes "of course we do!" Well the shrieking shack, a tunnel from there to near the green houses and the Whomping Willow were all planted and put in place to give him somewhere to transform were he and others were safe. In our 5th year, after we all became animgi, we figured out how to still the tree so we could follow Remus to be with him in out animal forms because it made it easier for him. Severus Snape, who was in our year in Slytherin and who, I regret to say we regularly tormented. At the time we thought we were pranksters but really we were bullies" The twins felt horrible that they had idolised some men but realised that the mans words and actions lately meant he had become a good person so they accepted his words and motioned him to continue. "Severus was very curious about where Remus went every month and kept pestering us about it. Eventuallly, in a fit of temper at him asking again when I was already running late to meet James and the Rat to go be with him and freaked we would miss the worst bit for him, I told him how to stop the tree and that the answer was at the end of the tunnel" The twins glared; they couldn't believe that they had idolised someone so thoughtless and cruel. Sirius, seeing the looks on their faces, sighed.
"I immediately regretted what I had said and I chased after him as he ran to do as I had suggested. He didn't respond to my yells, not trusting me now I wasn't blurting things out in anger. I passed James and told him what I had done. He punched me in the face and put the full body bind on me before he ran after Snape and managed to pull him away from Remus just in time. I thought I had ruined everything, in a fit of temper I had almost turned my best friend into the murderer he was always so scared he would be and gotten him condemned for it. I didn't see how they could ever forgive me but what was worse is that even feeling so guilty and knowing full well that he never deserved any of what we did to him, least of all what I did, I never even worked up the nerve to apologise to Severus."
The man standing outside couldn't take it any more and walked into the kitchen, making them all jump. He paid no heed as he looked deeply into Sirius' eyes "Do you mean that, Black? Do you really regret what you did, did you really mean that I never deserved it?" Severus asked, attempting to legimize Sirius to determine the truth of his answer. Sirius completely released his barriers, and let Severus in before he answerd "Yes, Severus. I did. I am so incredibly sorry, I know this is way to late and I doubt you ever could but I really hope you can forgive me and we could work on maybe being friends one day" Severus was surprised at the sincerity of the mans words and at his new found maturity (as was Remus, the twins had run as soon as Snape had revealed himself). "I can see you mean it black and I acknowledge your apology. As for accepting it and being friends, I think I would like that - it would make my life much nicer. But it will take time, I have hated and blamed you and thought little of you for so long, it may be a while before I can move past it to who you are now" "I understand, Severus. I am glad you have seen I have changed and I hope to continue proving that to you" the two men shook hands and then departed for their homes (in Severus' case) and beds (In the marauders case).
AN: I know this seems a little OOC for Sirius but imagine what 12 years reliving the worst things that you have ever done or have ever happened to you would do? I think it would have forced him to grow up and realise the things I have him realising. As for Severus, I know he isn't such an open or forgiving person, but I like to think he would respond to such sincerity and as it caught him off guard, I think he would (understandably) relax his control a little and reveal a little of his pain, loneliness and desperation to be accepted and to have friends. I know this turned out kind of depressing but I hope you enjoyed it. I know these are OOC but I will usually write them this way for the reasons above and because it helps my stories. I also think that Severus has suffered enough, so most of my stories will have things like this happen to give him what he so desperately needs and deserves: The loyalty and friendship the Marauders (For I do NOT consider Peter worthy of the title) could show him. I also like to think that Sirius did/will grow up after his school days and realise how terribly he acted.
Thanks for reading! Reviews are most welcome!