Disclaimer: See Prologue

The next photograph, Harry noticed, was altogether more ordinary; three Marauders with baguettes, sitting in a park, drenched to the skin. Although considerably less shabby than he appeared to be these days, in the rain, eating slightly damp crisps, Lupin looked like a tramp.

"How do you do it?" Harry asked Sirius, envious beyond words that his godfather's hair hung in his eyes, dripping slightly but still shining blue-black without the slightest trace of sunlight.

Sirius grinned. "Good genes. They had serious personality problems but it has to be said, my parents were exceptionally good looking and so am I."

Lupin bit back his smile and met Harry's eyes. Harry grinned back at him. However frustrating and ambiguous he was at least eight-five percent of the time, it was impossible not to like Lupin and wish he had grown up knowing him.

"Oh, and er..sorry about the quality," said Lupin. "It was raining really hard so you can barely see anything."

Sirius laughed. "No, Remus, you can barely see anything because you forgot to zoom in."

1981

Sirius sighed irritably. Peter had made his excuses - something about an Miss Marple convention in Norfolk - James was antsy and Remus was late; very late. He was tempted to panic with James, after all, Remus would show up for his own execution twenty minutes early just to be on the safe side, but James was twitchy enough for both of them and kept glancing over his shoulder as though he expected Voldemort to materialise behind him at any second.

"Will you stop it," Sirius hissed. "You're making me nervous."

They were standing in Muggle London, under a canopy of a hotel not even James could afford to spend the night in, waiting to 'do lunch' as Sirius had previously suggested. Though Lupin's language teacher salary, coupled with the need for James to blend in, had rather struck out some of the more appealing options. They had decided to grab a sandwich and sit in Hyde Park. All well and good if the weather had stayed fine. Still, James hardly ever plucked up the necessary nerve to leave his wife and child at home despite Sirius' reliability as his Secret Keeper, and Lupin rarely had a free weekend. He needed to learn German in order to teach it to privately educated children who strongly disapproved of his taste in ties. So they decided to keep their arrangement. And now they were regretting it.

James glanced behind him once more. "Sorry." Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's all right, isn't he, Padfoot?"

"What do you think I am. A seer?" He didn't want to answer this question. He had no idea what had happened to his best friend and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. "He can take care of himself, Prongs. He's a big lad."

If James had been feeling more secure, he would have laughed. "Remus is the only man I know who could inadvertently start a fight with Gandhi. He's been in Mungo's more times than half the bloody Healers. They've got a filing system these days that goes A-Z and Remus Lupin at eye level for easier access. Christ, Sirius, if something's happened to him-"

But James never finished that sentence as Lupin turned the corner, holding an umbrella and reading German Verbs - Simple not even when you know how. Without looking up from his page, he avoided a cyclist and reached into his pocket with the hand that wasn't delicately balancing the book and the umbrella, to pull something out and pop it into his mouth.

James stared in horrified awe. "Remus, if I have stood here imagining you bleeding in a back alley because you were held up buying sweets, I'll make sure you're bleeding in a back alley very shortly."

Lupin grinned at him and closed his book. "No, the sweet buying process took up two minutes of your valuable time, Mr. Potter."

James frowned. "So what happened during the other twenty-three?"

Lupin smiled to himself, a funny glint in his eyes. "Nothing much."

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day our Remus sold out his friends for an afternoon fumble."

Lupin smiled sarcastically. "Padfoot, I am not you." He grinned wickedly. "So what are we doing then?"

"Going for lunch," said James. "There's a really nice baguette place round the corner and they do some really obscure fillings. I thought that was right up your alley."

Lupin nodded. "Perfect. You wouldn't mind testing me on these, would you?" He indicated the book he still held. "They're impossible. I had to learn German practically overnight." He frowned slightly. "Where's Pete?"

Sirius smirked. "Dressing up as an elderly female detective for some perverts in Norfolk as far as I can understand it."

Lupin nodded. "An average weekend for Peter then."

The more time James spent with them, the more convinced he was that he was in no real danger. After all, he and Sirius were like brothers and he would let Electra date Snape on the side before he allowed any harm to come to him. Visibly relaxing, James ordered what was almost a chicken curry trapped in a stick of bread. "And what are you having?" he asked Lupin.

"You don't have to keep me like a pet," said Lupin, smiling warmly. "I'm earning now."

"Yes," said Sirius, "and it only took donning a pair of lederhosen and pretending to be German to get you the job this time."

"Sirius-"

"Ich bin ein Berliner."

Lupin laughed. "Shut up. You're impossible." He turned to James. "Sure you're still paying?"

James clicked his tongue. "I told you I'd sort you out. It's a promise I have every intention of keeping."

Lupin shrugged. "All right, but I'm buying your drinks later. Brie, bacon and cranberry please. No butter."

Before James handed over his exchanged note Sirius chipped in. "And I'll have smoked salmon and cream cheese and have you got any Jalapeños? Thanks." James gawped. "Well," said Sirius, "what else would you spend your money on? It's not real money anyway."

Lupin rolled his eyes and assured the cashier that neither James nor himself and Sirius were in the possession of counterfeit notes. "He's foreign and a bit confused." He bit back his smile at Sirius' expression of indignation. "His parents are related," he added, as though this settled the matter.

James sighed. "And a monstrosity then," he said, wondering how on earth Sirius hadn't been poisoned by his strange food choices.

The rain had stopped. Sirius led the way to a little spot Electra had found a week previously, picking out chili peppers and eating them as he went, much to Lupin's disgust.

And as soon as they sat down, the heavens opened. Lupin sighed, "You couldn't make this up."

"That's it," muttered James. "I know that look. Smile!"

Lupin smiled sarcastically. "We all have hobbies."

"Yeah, yours is just embarrassing evidence." Sirius grinned. "Put the timer on."

"And balance my camera on what?" asked Lupin. "We're in the middle of Hyde Park. I can't just levitate it and hope for the best."

James hummed. "Put it on the bench."

"That's miles away!" Lupin cried, outraged. "And the lighting will be appalling in this weather. It's a travesty."

"Remus, it's ten yards."

Lupin sighed. "In photography, ten yards is miles."

"What happened to your precious zoom button?" Sirius asked. "You loved that button and now you've cast it away like an old glove."

Lupin busied himself pressing a selection of buttons and backing away slowly as a young mother might do when leaving her baby for the first time. "Okay, get in. We've got ten seconds." He picked up the bag of crisps he and Sirius were 'sharing'. And 'sharing' really ought to be 'fighting over' as when faced with sharing food, eating with Sirius was like feeding time in the shark tank.

Evidently they did not have ten seconds as just as James tried to flatten his hair, Sirius plucked out another chili pepper and Lupin reached into the bag, the flash went off and James rolled his eyes.

CLICK!

"You couldn't make this up," Lupin repeated, realising he had neither zoomed in nor made the appropriate lighting effects.

"What the hell were you fiddling with?" asked James.

Lupin mumbled and shrugged. "I don't know…I thought I was changing the flash to super-bright."

"Let me have a go," said Sirius, reaching for it.

Lupin grabbed the camera and pulled it to his chest where he almost seemed to cradle it. "Not on your life, mate. You'll kill it."

"No more than you will."

"Oh really?"

"Not as much as your mother would."

"What is it with you and my mother?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

James was frankly very frightened that he had begun to wish he was with Peter, wearing a tea cosy and trying to solve murders with perverts in Norfolk.