A Garden Variety Day

Warning: Set within TDKWWS (midway through "Branching" if I am to be specific on timelines).

FranticRealm: Getting a look at the Marauders' friendship and how it is now in TDKWWS.

-o-O-o-

Book of jinxes in hand, James grins delightedly at his mates as he comes into their dorm room. "Look what I found in the library!"

Remus looks up from reviewing Sirius's notes on his bed while Peter, in the middle of changing robes, turns around to face James. "What's that?" asks Remus.

"It's that jinxes book the Pettigrews were talking about last week! They said there are some really wicked ones in here. Like one that wraps someone's head in a pumpkin," babbles James excitedly.

Remus's eyes drift back to his notes. "Hmmm."

He pouts. Surely a book of funny spells should be more interesting than class notes! "Aw, come on, Remus. This could be a lot of fun! We can find some firsties to test the really wicked ones on for a laugh."

Remus reaches for his preferred Muggle pen and scratches out something on the parchment he's reviewing. "No thanks," he says. "I've got to catch up on Transfiguration. I missed class on Monday, you know."

James's shoulders slump. He does know. He always feels bad when he forgets too. It must be dreadful having to go home so often because your mum is so ill you are worried she is about to die. "Oh yeah. How is your mum by the way?"

Remus's hunches in on himself and mumbles, "Better than she was."

He nods. It's obvious Remus doesn't want to talk about it (he never has, either), so James turns his sights on Peter who's finished dressing and appears to be now looking for his wand. "What about you, Pete? Up for some mischief?"

"Got Gobstones," he calls out from under his bed. A moment later a muffled sound of victory resounds around the room and Peter reappears from underneath the bed, hair askew. He waves his wand happily and says, "I told you I'd find it in time!"

Remus picks up his Transfiguration book and cracks it open. "You haven't in the past," he mutters. "Maybe you should think about using a sticking charm to hold it in one place when you aren't using it."

"Maybe," Peter agrees. Though, Remus and James are both well aware that it's probably the last thing Peter will do. He has a bit of a lazy streak in him. The less wand-waving he has to do the happier he is the most of the time.

Feeling far less excited than he did only five minutes ago, James squints his eyes and looks around the rest of the dorm. "Where's Sirius?"

"With Severus and Lily, I reckon."

James puffs out his cheeks in annoyance. Honestly, what do Lily and Sirius see in that dreary know-it-all? However, he doesn't complain other than to grunt, "Ugh!" Neither Peter or Remus are sympathetic to his whinging about Snape. They, like Sirius, appear to admire the sour git.

Remus raises an eyebrow at him. "So what now? Are you going to experiment on your own?"

He shakes his head and walks over to his bed. "No. It's not half as fun pranking them when you do it alone."

Remus sighs and buries his face a little deeper into the textbook he holds in his grip. "If you give me another twenty minutes to study we can go out and explore the castle for the map."

Bouncing up and down where he sits on his bed, James grins. "That'd be wicked, Remus! Thanks!"

Peter who's in the middle of tying his shoes, frowns at them in a sulky way. "I want to explore the castle too."

"We can stop by the Gobstones club toward the end to get you so we can all go exploring together," suggests James. A new vision for the day coming to him, he continues, "Then we can see if Sirius is in the library with Lily and Snape and if he wants to come with us. The four of us can go on an adventure together!"

"What if he's not there?"

James waves away the concern with a hand, he's determined that his plan will go exactly as he envisions it now. But if it doesn't, or can't… "It'll be too bad," he replies. Then, seriously, James tells his mates. "And more proof we need the map done sooner rather than later so we can find each other easily in the future."

This is met with agreement from both Peter and Remus. They talk a few minute more about what part of the castle they want to explore today. They end up deciding on the dungeons – even if it's slimy Slytherin territory for the most part. There's bound to be something of interest down there that they've yet to see. Who knows, perhaps it's something even the Slytherins don't know about.

As he goes, Peter insists they promise once more not to explore too much without him before he leaves for Gobstones club. When he's gone, James gets up from his bed (leaving the book of jinxes behind forgotten) and asks if Remus would like him to quiz him on stuff. Remus hands over the notes gladly and asks for him to start on the equations and work away from there.

Amicably, James does so.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the Marauders life in the TDKWWS 'verse FanaticRealm. They get up to a lot less trouble than they do in canon thanks to activities and friendships outside of their little group pulling them apart on the regular.

Thanks for reading :)