Disclaimer: Harry Potter is property of Jk. Rowling. I hate wasting my readers time with the disclaimer, but hey it beats prison.
Author's Note: Without further a due it's chapter 13. Please kindly leave me a review. Also please feel free to vote in my pool. Remus and Sirius are still in the lead. Enjoy the chap!
Ch. 13 Get Back Up
For days it was all Sirius could think about. It wasn't even about the fact that he might go to Azkaban that disturbed him, it was the idea that his best mate might die. Images appeared in his mind of James bloody and mangled. James was freaked out about it. For a whole week, James was really jumpy. It was as if he thought he would drop dead at any moment.
"Sirius Black, earth to Sirius" A bossy voice said. Sirius snapped out of his musing. It was only then that he noticed a hand in front of him.
"What?" He asked.
"I'm worried about James. He's been in this state since we talked Amber." Remus said with a little frustration in his voice.
"I know. To be honest with you it's been bothering me too" Sirius said. They were the only ones in their dorm. James was at practice and Peter went with him.
"What do you think?" Remus asked.
"About James?" Sirius asked.
"No about all of it. Do you really think that everything Amber said is going to happen?" Remus asked. Sirius looked at him trying to decide how to explain it.
"I'm not sure. Predicting the future is pretty tricky. Predictions are also very vague. My dad once told me about how some witch who went mad because another witch told her that horrible things were going to happen to her and her family. The other witch turned out to be a fraud" Sirius with a slight tone of distaste. He's father has taught him a lot of history. It was because he was a Pureblood that History of Magic happened to be his best subject.
"What happened to the witch?" Remus asked.
"No one's really sure. Some say it might have been suicide because she was found dead in her home weeks after the witch told her fortune." Sirius told him. Remus looked horrified at that.
"You don't think it will come to that with James?" Remus said worriedly.
"James is obviously upset but not enough to do that" Sirius said throat tightening up.
"What do you think she meant by our prediction?" Sirius asked after a few minutes of silence
"Well Peter's I'm not so sure. Yours, well let's be honest one of us need to go into Wizard law so we can get you out of Azkaban" Remus joked. Sirius frowned.
"What about yours" Sirius asked. Sirius noticed Remus was avoiding talking about his fortune.
"I think I might attack someone. If I bite anyone I'll never forgive myself." Remus voice cracking. Sirius realized that James wasn't the only Marauder dwelling on his card.
''You won't. Maybe you should stop worrying about that" Sirius seriously. Being a werewolf was always a sore spot for Remus. It was as if he thought someone could catch his condition.
"How can I? I'm a monster" Remus said miserable.
"You're not!" Sirius said raising his voice. Remus looked at him shocked.
"Look you're a werewolf. You have to come to terms with that. None of us care. Why should we? We know that you wouldn't hurt us on purpose." Sirius told him firmly.
"Not everyone is like you guys. I don't even know why I'm even attending Hogwarts. It's not like I'm going to get a job after school" He said looking really miserable.
"Talk like that again Remus Lupin and I'll curse you so bad you'll be in the hospital wing for weeks, I'm sure you want to have kids one day, right?" Sirius said looking at Remus threateningly.
"Oh stop. Who would ever marry a werewolf? Beside I might pass my condition" Remus said wincing.
"Ah just you wait. You're going to get married and it will be to a girl, in Hufflepuff, I bet anything. You are going to name your first son Sirius Jr." Remus glared at him. He was probably glaring at the idea of marrying a girl in Hufflepuff. Sirius knew how Remus felt about Hufflepuff. Sirius laughed.
"I am not naming my kid after you, prat." He said smirking.
"Come on let's go find Prongs and Wormtail" Sirius suggested.
James's mood during the next week did not improve, in fact it got worse. Even the teachers noticed that the usually spirited second year change in behavior. On Wednesday, Lily Evans even came to ask Sirius and Remus if James was ok. After that Remus told Sirius they needed to talk to James.
"James come on you been like this for two weeks. She wasn't even a real seer" Sirius said catching up to him in the corridor.
"You guys aren't going to die" James said dramatically.
"James everyone dies, it was a pretty vague prediction" Remus argued.
"But obviously the way I die is pretty out of the ordinary" James said taking the card out and showing them.
"This is why I hate divination. No one should be able to tell the future. It makes you freak out over events that may not even happen" Remus said bitterly.
"Mate, Remus has a point. It's just cards. No way do they tell are future. Besides who else is going to harass Remus with me" Sirius asked. James smiled. It was James main goal in life to harass Remus.
"Aren't you freaked out about your predictions?" He asked.
"It means nothing. No need to get upset over it" Remus shrugged. Sirius nodded.
"Besides, my aunt Bellatrix is more likely to go to Azkaban than me" Sirius said.
"All right, promise I won't die" James said seriously.
"I promise you'll be as old as Professor Dumbledore when you die" Remus said smiling. James sighed in relief. Needless to say, the boys burned the cards that night.
The Marauders got back to important matters, like the bet. There seemed no end to the bet in sight. None of the boys seemed to be breaking. That is until one morning. James was not in his bed.
"Where's James?" Remus asked.
"Dunno" Sirius said sleepily.
"Hey guys" James said. His hair was wet.
"JAMES!" Sirius said looking at him horrified.
"What?" James asked.
"Did you take a shower?" Sirius croaked.
"Yeah, Lily told me I stuck. So I took a shower" James said as if this was a perfectly good reason to take a shower. Sirius was too much in shock to speak.
"Ha, we won the bet" Peter said practically jumping up and down. Remus looked at him with mock disapproval.
"Now Peter, be mature about it." Remus said smirking. "HAHA we won, we won and you lost hahahahahah" Remus said very maturely of course.
"Fine you guys won" Sirius said defeated. There was a knock at the door. It was Lily.
"Hey Remus. Did he fall for it?" Lily asked. Sirius and James looked at her.
"Like taking candy from a baby." Remus smirked.
"Thanks for helping us Lily" Peter said.
"Not a problem" Lily said. Remus handed her 10 gallons.
"Wait what?" James asked confused.
"We paid Lily to tell you that you stink" Remus told him.
"You know he would if she told him that" Sirius said realizing. Remus was truly evil. He was also mad he didn't think of doing this. It probably wouldn't have worked though. There was no girl at Hogwarts that Remus and Peter were crazy about like James was with Lily.
"You know. I feel really bad. Oh well guess I will have to think about what I've done wrong over a nice hot shower. Or maybe not" Remus smirked.
"Lily tricked me" James said as if the idea of Lily doing that was a difficult spell that was far to advance for a second year to master.
"Yep" Remus said getting a towel out of his drawer. James just looked on dreamy.
"She's awesome" James said with a goofy grin on his face. Sirius huffed. Lily was James's Achilles heel that's for sure.
"Well boys you have a room to clean up" Peter said. James and Sirius sighed.
"Very well" Sirius said.
"Have you every cleaned before?" James asked as the two "other" Marauders left.
"Well no. Our house elf does all the work" Sirius admitted blushing slightly. He didn't want James to think he was lazy. He would clean the whole room if he thought that.
"There's a first time for everything" James shrugged. It was a magic trick within itself. For the first time in his life, Sirius cleaned up after himself. After the room was done, Sirius took a long well overdue shower.
Next Chapter: Christmas time with the Marauders. The boys learn something interesting about James's family history. Sirius spends time with his favorite cousin. Remus learns of a new treatment for his condition.