A/N Yep, no self-control. My beta edits it, I post it, Can't stop myself XD
Sunday, 31st October 1971, 12:15 pm
The Marauders spent every spare moment of the two weeks following the potion disaster perfecting their plans, practising the spells and brewing a new potion which his friends had ordered Remus to stay away from. Something he had been more than happy to do. During the last week, they had taken it in turns to sneak down to the Great Hall in pairs during the night and cast the required spells. Remus had requested Sirius be his partner for the night missions, as he was more comfortable sharing the cloak with him than the others, leaving James to work with Peter.
The big day had finally arrived, and they were all feeling antsy and restless, anxious for everything to go off without a hitch. Remus, though, was suffering the effects of the coming moon on top. He'd woken that morning with a deep ache in his bones, and his senses were already heightened.
To make matters worse, his friends would not stop bugging him about being in the Great Hall for the feast.
'You have to be there, you put so much work into it,' Sirius pleaded.
'Yeah. You can sit at the end with Sirius next to you and us opposite. We'll make sure no one gets close to you,' Peter said.
Remus shook his head. 'I don't know, guys. It's going to be so crowded.'
'What if you come for lunch? Try it out and see how you feel?' James said.
That actually sounded like a reasonable idea. It wouldn't be as busy at lunch, especially on a Sunday. Everyone went at different times during the hour that food was made available. So he would be able to get an idea of whether it would be bearable without getting overwhelmed.
'Alright, I'll come for lunch, but I'm not making any promises about attending the feast.'
The three Marauders grinned at him in victory, and Sirius whooped for good measure.
Lunch went well. As promised, they sat at the far end of Gryffindor's table, furthest from the teachers and from the entrance, and Sirius sat on his right. Sirius was right-handed and Remus was left-handed, so that seating arrangement meant neither of them had to move the arm that was next to the other, minimising the chance of accidental touch. The hall was such a cavernous space that Remus even found the noise level bearable, and the food smells masked the scent of Sirius enough for him to focus.
Someone, probably Hagrid, had decorated the Hall for Halloween with fake spiderwebs, pumpkins, and orange and black streamers. Thankfully, none of the school's decorations would interfere with the Marauder's plans for the evening's entertainment, but they looked around with interest, making notes for the next year.
'We could definitely use those pumpkins for something,' James said, leaning over the table and pointing.
Sirius nodded. 'The streamers too. Even the spider webs have potential.'
At that moment, Remus spotted Lily approaching. 'Let's discuss this later. We have company,' he said, nodding at her.
'Hi, Remus. It's good to see you in the Hall for a change.'
'I thought it was about time. My friends promised to keep me safe,' he said, offering her a smile.
'Hmm,' she said, eyeing the other boys. 'Well, if you ever want a break from them, you're welcome to sit with me and my friends.'
'Why would he want a break from us, Evans?' Sirius asked. 'We're his best mates.'
'You can sit with us too if you want?' James said.
'Urgh, no, thank you. I'd rather sit alone.' She turned back to Remus. 'I'll talk to you in Defence tomorrow.' And with a toss of her hair, she returned to her friends.
'Yeah. Okay, bye then,' Remus muttered to her retreating back, wondering why she had such an issue with his friends but liked Snape of all people.
'So, after that rather rude interruption, what are we going to do for our Chief Artist's birthday on Wednesday?' James asked.
Sirius' birthday was on Wednesday? Oh, that just wasn't fair. The full moon was Tuesday night. He'd be stuck in the hospital wing all day and miss everything.
'I was thinking,' Sirius said, keeping his eyes on his plate and tearing apart his sandwich. 'I'd rather celebrate at the weekend. If we do it Wednesday, we'd only have the afternoon, and with Astronomy class at midnight, we might want to sleep. Saturday would be much better.'
James looked thoughtful. 'That makes sense. We definitely need an entire day to properly celebrate the birth of a Marauder. What do you want to do?'
Sirius glanced up and made eye contact with James briefly, before looking back at his mangled sandwich. 'Can we go to the beach room and make sandcastles? I've never made a sandcastle.'
James' smile dropped, and he swallowed, blinked rapidly, took a deep breath and plastered a fresh grin back on his face just in time for Sirius to look up at him. 'I think that sounds like a fantastic idea,' he said. 'We'll make the biggest, most outstanding Marauderly sandcastle that was ever built.'
Sirius grinned. Remus felt a thrill of excitement. He didn't remember ever making a sandcastle either, although he assumed he probably had been to the beach before he was bitten. And they were going to celebrate on Saturday when he'd be fully recovered and able to join in. He thanked Merlin for Sirius' vanity that made him want a whole day to celebrate.
'And after curfew, we can hole up in the dorm and play games. We can get snacks from the kitchen first,' Sirius said.
'Or we can sneak out and play games,' James said.
'Even better,' Sirius said, his grin getting impossibly wider.
The afternoon passed in a haze of motion. James would not stop pacing around the dorm room, muttering about all the things that might go wrong. Sirius alternated between lounging on his bed with an air of carelessness and rocketing around the room like he had a broomstick stuck up his butt, bothering everyone with his premonitions of doom. Peter sat on his bed with his knees curled up to his chest, rocking back and forth, while occasionally announcing how many detentions they would get if this all went horribly wrong.
Remus was the only Marauder who was calm. He knew everything had been set up perfectly. They had considered every potential thing that could go wrong and planned for it. The magic was perfect after the hours they had spent practising. There was nothing to worry about. Also, he was in a lot of pain and that was taking up most of his thoughts.
As the hour approached, the Marauder's excitement began to overtake their nerves. Not that that did anything to stop their continuous motion. James continued to pace, only his muttering changed to assertions of how brilliant it was going to be. Sirius went from lounging and rocketing to lounging and bouncing, and his declarations of doom switched to declarations of victory. Peter's rocking turned to jiggling and his announcements to giggles. Remus alone remained calm and quiet, enduring their restlessness in silence. Until he finally broke...
'Please!' he yelled, before taking a deep breath and continuing in a quieter voice, 'Will you all sit down and be quiet for a moment. You're driving me insane.'
'Sorry, Remus,' Sirius said, immediately sitting down on his bed and glaring at James and Peter until James also sat down and Peter stilled his jiggling.
'Thank you,' he said. 'You all need to calm down. If you go down to the feast like this, the teachers will know something's up.'
'He's right,' James said. 'If we want to remain anonymous, we have to act like nothing's wrong.'
'Deep breaths everyone,' Sirius said.
They spent a few minutes calming themselves down, and when they all felt ready, they made their way down to the Great Hall. Remus was a little worried about attending but talked himself into it. He really wanted to see the result of all their hard work and lunch hadn't been so bad.
By the time he realised his mistake, he was already inside the Great Hall and it was too late to turn back. He would have to grin and bear it. There were three times as many people present as there had been at lunch, and the noise was deafening. His head was aching before he even sat down.
They took the same seats they had earlier in the day, and they glanced around, waiting for the show to begin.
It only took a minute after the food had appeared for the first belch to sound close enough to their position for them to hear it. A few people in their proximity giggled, and the Marauders grinned at each other.
Sirius picked up his own fork and scooped up a large mouthful of mashed potatoes, one of the foods they'd added the belch powder to earlier, and winked at his friends as he put it in his mouth. The others followed suit, knowing if they wanted to avoid suspicion they had to be affected, and soon all four Marauders had joined the majority of the students, belching bubbles of various sizes which floated up to the ceiling. Remus glanced at the teachers. They all looked mystified.
Ten minutes later, the festivities kicked up a notch as all the bubbles simultaneously transformed into bright orange bats. A few of the younger students screamed, but the majority laughed as the bats flew around the hall, staying close to the ceiling and performing incredible feats of aerobatics, all while dropping orange and black glitter down over the tables. The glitter floated in the air, sparkling in the candlelight, but vanished before it reached the food.
After a couple more minutes had passed, and the air was sufficiently filled with sparkling glitter, the candles floating above the tables drifted higher and away, taking up positions evenly spaced around the circumference of the hall. Music started up, seeming to emanate from the walls themselves. That had been a nice little spell Remus had found quite by accident when looking for the shield charm for the candles. The candles began to sway to the tune before converging in the centre of the hall, high up in the air, creating a blast of flame that shot up towards the ceiling. The bats flew into the flame, each one hitting in time with a pulse of bass, and exploding in a fresh shower of glitter. When all the bats had vanished, the candles spread back out and carried out an intricate dance in time with the music.
The students craned their necks up throughout the display and oohed and aahed at appropriate moments. As the last notes came to an end, the candles returned to their original positions and a message blazed to life on the wall behind the teachers.
Happy Halloween!
We hope you enjoyed the entertainment
from the Hogwarts Marauders
All four house tables broke into applause and cheers. Dumbledore got to his feet and coughed to get everyone's attention.
'What a marvellous display of magic from some mystery benefactors. I'm going to assume that no school rules were broken in the process of setting this up,' he said, his eyes twinkling in the candlelight. 'And, as it would seem suitable safety precautions were taken to protect both the audience and the food, no investigation will be made to find the perpetrators.' With that, he sat back down and continued to eat.
'What the hell?' James asked. 'We got in so much trouble for the balloon thing, and they're not even going to investigate this?'
Remus rubbed his temples. He really wanted to go and lie down now the show was finished. 'Your balloon thing caused a lot of extra work for the teachers and inconvenienced the students. This did no harm. No one was hurt, there's no mess to clean up, and the food is all fine. No harm, no punishment.'
Remus excused himself a few minutes later and returned to the dorm to sleep. He'd enjoyed watching the results of their efforts, but he was paying for it in agonising pain. His head throbbed in time with his heartbeat, and his joints jolted with a sharp pain every time he moved them. It was nothing compared to the pain of his coming transformation, though.
That month, it was bad. Remus woke up for the first time late on Wednesday afternoon, and he was still injured. He could feel healing lacerations on his stomach, arms and legs and the ache of mending bones. Why hadn't he finished healing yet? Moonset was hours ago.
He lay there for ten minutes before Madam Pomfrey bustled in.
'Oh, good, you're awake at last. I was getting worried,' she said.
Remus tried to sit up, but it hurt too much so he gave up. 'What happened?'
Madam Pomfrey frowned. 'I'm not sure why, but your injuries were very bad this month. You're mostly healed up now, but I want to keep you in overnight, just to make sure.'
Remus nodded. It didn't even cross his mind to argue with her. He felt like shit. He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to carry him away from the pain.
The next time he woke, it was dark. He could see the night sky through the window, reflecting off the surface of the lake, including the moon, so close to full, its image marred by the ripples. He was feeling a lot better and the ridiculous amount of sleep he had had made him feel restless. He pulled himself to a sitting position and tried to decide what to do. Homework? No, it was already finished. And he had no research projects for the Marauders. They hadn't yet discussed what they were going to do for the end of term/Christmas feast. What he really wanted to do was make something for Sirius' birthday. He couldn't buy him a present as he had no money. So something made with his own personal magic would have to do. But what? An idea occurred to him, and he grabbed his bag, pulling out his wand, some parchment and a quill and got to work.
Sirius didn't sleep much the night before his birthday. He was far too worried about Remus. As much as he tried not to think about it, his mind kept conjuring the images from the werewolf books but with Remus' face, contorted in agony, ripping himself apart. It was horrible. And he knew it was even worse for Remus. Wherever he was.
As a result, when he woke at six o'clock, he felt like crap and he thanked Merlin that he only had to endure two lessons that morning, one of which was History and could easily be slept through. When James and Peter wished him a happy birthday, he merely grunted and asked them to save it for Saturday. He wasn't going to celebrate without Remus.
He was like a kneazle on hot coals all day, waiting for Remus to return. No matter what room he was in, he oriented himself towards the door so he could keep an eye out for him. When they got to Charms class, he was pleased to learn they were working on Alohomora, Sirius wouldn't have to try very hard. He had mastered this spell out of sheer desperation, trying to get to Remus in case he was hurt. Thinking of that night only reminded Sirius that Remus really was hurt, an unknown amount, lying in the hospital wing, and he had to stay away because he wasn't supposed to know. He scowled at the padlock on his desk and jabbed his wand at it. The padlock flew across the room and clattered to the floor at Professor Flitwick's feet. He merely floated it back to Sirius' desk and asked him to try again. Sirius scowled at Professor Flitwick when he turned away.
'Mate, what is up with you today?' James asked. 'It's your birthday, and you're acting like you've just been handed a life sentence in Azkaban. Is it because Remus had to go and see his mum?'
It seemed like as good an excuse as any. 'Yeah, I just wish he was here is all.'
'I'm sure he'll be back in time for Saturday, though,' James said, patting him on the shoulder.
Sirius offered him a smile. James was doing his best. How was he supposed to know Remus was holed up in the hospital wing, possibly gravely injured? 'Yeah, I hope so.'
It didn't even occur to him until well into the afternoon that he hadn't received so much as a letter from his parents, never mind a present. When he did realise, he told himself he didn't care, but deep down it stung. His parents couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge the day he was born. He meant that little to them now.
James wandered over to him sometime after dinner. 'You alright, mate? You've barely said a word all afternoon.'
Sirius rolled over to face him. 'Yeah. Parents didn't send me anything for my birthday. I know they're mad, but they've never just outright ignored my birthday before.'
James sat down on the edge of the bed, and Sirius shuffled over to make room for him. James laid back and put his arm around him, and he snuggled up, putting his head on James' chest.
'Damn, mate. I'm sorry, that totally sucks. Your parents are evil assholes, and they don't deserve an amazing person like you for a son,' he said, squeezing his arm around Sirius' shoulders in a hug.
'Thanks, James,' Sirius whispered. His eyes were burning, but warmth burst to life in his chest. Peter joined them on Sirius' other side, curling up behind him and wrapping an arm around his waist. Sirius lay there for an indeterminable amount of time, wrapped in the warmth of his friend's arms. He was thankful to have found friends that were so physical; their affection was welcome after eleven years of being starved of it. But he didn't feel like he deserved any of it.
He began to get really worried when curfew arrived and Remus still hadn't returned. The worst part was, he couldn't show how worried he really was because Remus had told them his mum was sick and he was going home to see her, and hadn't said when he'd be back other than a vague, 'It'll be a day or two.' So, as far as James and Peter knew, there was nothing wrong.
He was restless and agitated all through Astronomy and kept turning the telescope from the constellation of Cygnus which they were supposed to be studying, to look at the almost full moon and send it mental waves of hatred for hurting Remus so badly that he needed to spend such a long time in the hospital wing. He wished he could sneak down and see him, but he wasn't supposed to know he was there. If Remus would only trust him enough to tell him, then he could be there every month, but how could he get Remus to trust him? Maybe he could bring up the subject of werewolf rights somehow and let Remus know he wasn't anti-werewolf. But it might scare him if Sirius just randomly started talking about werewolf rights. Urgh, he didn't know what to do.
Despite his worry, sleep came easily to him that night, probably because he'd gotten so little the night before, and he slept soundly through until six o'clock when his internal alarm clock—named Walburga—told him it was time to get up. He opened his eyes and glanced over to Remus' bed. Still empty. Where was he?
By quarter to ten, Sirius was lounging on his bed, trying to think of an excuse to borrow James' cloak so he could sneak down to the hospital wing, when Remus finally walked through the door. Sirius tried to play it cool, not wanting Remus to notice his anxiety and worry if he knew something, but his relief at seeing he was alive and well was intense.
'You're back!' James said. 'How's your mum?'
Remus smiled and limped over to his bed to sit down.
Wait. Why was he limping?
'She's much better, thank you. The doctors are worried she might have a relapse, though, so I might have to go back again.'
'What's a doctor?' Sirius asked, and Remus and Peter both laughed.
'It's a muggle version of a medi-witch or wizard,' Remus said.
'Wouldn't a medi-witch be better?' James asked. 'Isn't there a magical cure?'
Remus shook his head. 'Most magical cures don't work on muggles. They don't have any innate magic for the magic in the cure to interact with.'
'Damn, that sucks,' James said.
'Muggle medicine is very advanced. The doctors are hopeful she'll be fine,' Remus said with a shrug.
Sirius couldn't hold back any longer. He needed to know. 'What happened to your leg?' he blurted.
Remus glanced at him. 'Fell down the stairs. I'll go ask Madam Pomfrey to look at it after Transfiguration.'
That confused Sirius for a moment. Hadn't he just left the hospital wing? But then he realised Remus must be expecting it to finish healing soon, and he needed an excuse for his limp to disappear. He must have been very badly injured to still be hurt now. From what Sirius had seen after the disastrous flying lesson, he healed really fast.
'I'm sorry I missed your birthday, Sirius,' Remus said. 'I really wanted to be here.'
Sirius waved his apology away. 'Don't worry about it. We're celebrating Saturday, anyway.'
'I know, I'm looking forward to it,' Remus said with a small smile.
Remus disappeared for the entire free period after Transfiguration, but he rejoined them for lunch, minus his limp, and ate with them in the Great Hall, which put Sirius in a fantastic mood for the rest of the day. He watched Remus during Potions and could tell he was struggling with the smells in the room, but with Peter's gentle guidance, he managed to produce a reasonable cough potion, and Sirius felt a rush of pride for his friend when Slughorn gave him an E.
After dinner, Remus announced he was going to the library to get his homework finished and wouldn't be able to make it to Art Club that evening. Sirius was disappointed. He enjoyed spending that hour alone with Remus every week, but he understood that the extended hospital stay would cause him to fall behind, so he tried not to show it and went alone. It was nowhere near as much fun without him.
Studying the gorgon in defence on Friday spawned a lot of Slytherin related snake-hair jokes, and Remus once again disappeared off to the library during the morning free period. But after dinner he announced he was all caught up with his work and spent the evening with them in the common room, eating the remainder of the post-moon chocolate Sirius had produced the day before and making plans for Saturday.
Sirius had no idea how they managed to wake before him, but at one minute to six on Saturday morning, he was awoken by his fellow Marauders standing around his bed and singing as loud as they possibly could.
Happy Sirius day to you
Happy Sirius day to you
Happy Sirius day dearest Sirius
Happy Sirius day to YOOOOOU!
The moment they finished singing, red and gold glitter showered down on him from his bed canopy.
Sirius sat up in bed, grinning so hard his jaw hurt. 'Sirius day? I like the sound of that.'
James grinned back at him. 'Today is all about you. Anything you want to do, we do. But first, presents!'
'You got me presents?' Sirius asked, shifting onto his knees on the bed and bouncing a little. 'Gimme!'
After running to their trunks, James and Peter climbed onto the foot of the bed and Remus perched at the head next to him, each of them holding a parcel wrapped in shiny red paper and tied with a gold ribbon. Sirius shifted over to make more room. James handed him the first gift and Sirius ripped it open.
It was a wizard art set in a beautiful mahogany case. There was an assortment of brushes and quills, all engraved with the words Chief Artist, a selection of paints and inks; some that changed between two colours; some that would shift on the page to simulate movement; and some that would flash between many colours or shades, as well as a packet of enchanted canvasses and a fold-up easel. Sirius adored it and couldn't wait to try it out.
'This is amazing, mate,' he said, pulling out a bottle of ink to examine it. He looked up to meet James' eyes. 'Thank you.'
James looked pleased with his response to the present. 'I expect an awesome painting from you soon. We need something good to decorate the dorm.'
'You'll get one,' Sirius said, closing the case and leaning over to put it on the floor by his bed, out of the way. 'Who's next?'
Peter handed him his gift. 'I couldn't afford anything as good as James, but I hope you like it.'
'It's from you. Of course, I'll like it,' Sirius said, tearing off the paper to reveal a selection of sweets from Honeydukes. 'Excellent! It's always nice to have a stash of sweets.' He immediately pulled out a packet of ice mice and offered them around. 'Thanks, Pete.'
Peter beamed at him and took one of the proffered sweets.
Remus held out his parcel. 'I didn't have any money, so I made you this myself.'
'Thanks, Remus,' Sirius said, taking the package and smiling at him. 'Knowing you, I bet this is going to be brilliant.'
Remus just shrugged. Sirius pulled the paper off to reveal a rough wooden box with a hinged lid and intricate patterns carved all across the surface.
He looked up. 'It's beautiful. Thank you. You made this?'
Remus nodded. 'The box is a transfigured stick, and I made the hinges from some old quills. Open it.'
Sirius did so and gasped. The inside of the lid was dotted with twinkling, pale green lights, and one bright-red light, on a background of jet black. Sirius pointed. 'That's Canis Major. And that,' he said, pointing at the single red light, 'is me.'
The only red star in a sea of Slytherin green, he thought.
Remus nodded. 'It's a small section of the night sky as seen from Hogwarts on the night you were born.'
'Are you serious?'
James opened his mouth, and Sirius pointed at him. 'Don't.' James shut his mouth again and Sirius turned back to Remus. 'Fucking hell, Remus. That must have taken you hours to figure out.'
'Just a few.' He smiled. 'If you channel some of your magic into it to activate the charm, then it will only open for you. I thought you could hide things in it.'
Sirius shook his head. 'I was wrong,' he said, his eyes burning. 'This isn't brilliant, it's incredible. Thank you, Remus. I want to give you a hug, but I know you'd hate that. So just have the sentiment. I love it.' He grinned.
James clapped his hands and chuckled. 'Well, way to over-shadow our presents without spending a knut. I can't wait for my birthday.'
'No one has overshadowed anyone,' Sirius said, crossing his arms. 'I love all my presents equally.'
'You're insane then,' James said, jumping off the bed. 'Remus' was obviously the best. Now come on, lazybones, we've got sandcastles to build.'
Sirius grinned and put his new box carefully on his bedside table. He'd only been awake half an hour and the day was already the best day of his life.
They arrived at the beach room an hour later after scoffing down as much food as they could in the Great Hall. There was no one else there so early on a Saturday morning, and they made the most of it. Using a little charm that Remus had looked up in preparation, they each built a sandcastle big enough to stand inside on different parts of the beach, and then they staged a war.
They transfigured grains of sand into projectiles and used depulso and wingardium leviosa to fling them at each other's castles and defend their own from attack. The rules were simple. When your castle was destroyed, you were out.
In reality, it didn't quite go that way. James' castle was taken out first by Peter using a sneak attack from behind, but Sirius—ever the noble hero—offered him refuge in his own fortress. Outraged at the blatant disregard for the rules, Remus and Peter teamed up to take them down. Sirius' castle fell quickly under the continuous barrage from two directions. Making a snap decision, Remus called for his now homeless friends to join him, and together the three of them combined forces to take down Peter's castle. With three against one, it didn't take long for Peter's castle to dissolve into a pile of sand, and Remus emerged victorious as the only Marauder with his castle still standing, albeit a little worse for wear after the battle.
By the time their game was over, they had a small audience of fellow students who asked them for the spell to make the giant sandcastles so they could play too. Remus was more than happy to teach it to them.
And so the year of the Hogwarts sand wars began.
When it was time for lunch, they left the noisy, crowded beach-room and headed to the entrance hall.
'Would you mind if we all ate in the kitchen today?' Remus asked.
Sirius gave him a sideways glance. His face was relaxed, and he didn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort. And the full moon was three nights ago. 'Sure, why not? It'll be cosier, anyway.'
Remus smiled and led the way down into the dungeons and to the painting of a bowl of fruit. He waved Sirius through the door first, and when he entered the kitchen, Breen scurried over, bowed low and said, 'Happy Birthday, Master Sirius. Please follows me.'
Sirius turned around and raised an eyebrow at his friends, who were all grinning like madmen, before following the house-elf through a door, down a maze of corridors and into a small room that was decked out in red and gold banners. There was a medium-sized table in the middle of the room, surrounded by four chairs and covered with plates of delicious smelling food. In the very centre was a small chocolate cake, just the right size for four growing boys, with twelve candles waiting to be lit.
'I don't know what to say,' Sirius said.
James whooped. 'We did it. He's lost the power of speech!'
Sirius smacked him around the back of the head. 'Shut up,' he said. Then he wrapped him in a hug, released him, hugged Peter, paused in front of Remus, not quite knowing how to show his appreciation, before deciding to just point at him. 'Thanks, you guys.'
Breen left them to it, and they crowded around the table and dug into the birthday feast. Twenty minutes later, Breen returned to light the candles, and they sang another rousing chorus of Happy Sirius Day before enjoying the mouth-watering cake.
Stuffed full to bursting, they returned to their dorm for an afternoon of exploding snap, chess and gobstones. All things considered, it was the best birthday of Sirius' life, and he was already looking forward to next year when he curled up in bed to sleep.
The next morning, Sirius was about ready to strangle James within fifteen minutes of waking up. It was the first game of the Quidditch season, and to make matters worse, it was the most important one of the season. Gryffindor vs Slytherin. James was being unbearable. He had forced them all to dress in Gryffindor colours. Originally, he had asked Remus to make them red lion robes to wear, but Remus had pointed out that would ruin their anonymity, so they settled for just wearing red and gold. He then made Peter paint all their faces, except for Remus who did his own, and they headed down to breakfast, with James' continuous chatter about the players filling their ears.
The Great Hall was deafening. The whole school seemed to be present, and with twice as much energy as normal. Remus took one look and announced he was eating in the kitchen. Sirius didn't blame him. As they entered the Hall, Sirius glanced up at the ceiling to check the weather. Clear and sunny, perfect conditions. He hoped to Merlin, Gryffindor would win. The idea of James if they lost didn't bear thinking about.
After breakfast, they met back up with Remus and made their way to the Gryffindor section of the stands. They took seats right at the back, but the end seat of the back row was already taken, so Remus sat between Sirius and James. Sirius stole glances at Remus throughout the match, and he could tell he was having a hard time with the noise level. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and he flinched every time the crowd roared with excitement or disappointment. There was nothing Sirius could do about it though, so he concentrated on the game and tried not to be too rowdy. It was hard, though, when the Gryffindor team scored over and over again. They were on fire!
When the two Seekers suddenly swept into a dive towards the Slytherin goal, Sirius leapt to his feet with everyone else, caught up in the excitement and screaming at the top of his lungs.
"AND KING HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" the commentator roared.
The crowd went crazy! Jumping up and down and screaming with joy. Suddenly the person next to Sirius shoved into him, hard. Sirius stumbled, and putting his arms out to save himself, fell into Remus. Remus crashed to the ground with Sirius on top of him and he screamed in absolute horror. Sirius had never heard a sound like it. It drilled into his soul and turned his blood to ice. He was frozen for a split second before he scrambled to get up. To get off of Remus, who was still screaming.
'No, no. Get off. Oh Gods, no.'
As he put his hands on the ground to push himself up, his left hand brushed up against Remus' hand ever so slightly, and he jerked it away quickly, hoping Remus was too out of it to feel the contact.
He managed to get to his feet and realised everyone in their vicinity was staring at them.
'Alright. Shows over,' he snapped. 'Bugger off and celebrate.'
James and Peter took over getting rid of the gawkers, and Sirius crouched down next to Remus, keeping his distance. Remus had curled up into a ball and was rocking back and forth, repeating the same words as before.
'No, no. Oh Gods, no. Please, no.'
'Remus?' Sirius said.
Remus' eyes snapped to his. 'Did you touch me? Did you touch my skin?' he asked, his voice desperate.
Sirius swallowed. Then he looked him right in the eye, and calling on his many years of experience, he lied his goddamned ass off. 'No, Remus. I swear, by some miracle I didn't. I promise.'
Remus relaxed slightly and breathed out a sigh of relief. 'Oh thank Merlin,' he whispered.
Extract from The Official Marauders Notebook
Notes passed between James and Remus during Transfiguration on Thursday morning, and later removed from the notebook and burned.
Remus, so glad you're back and your mum is okay. I was wondering if you could alter the glitter spell to rain from Sirius' bed canopy and make it Gryffindor colours? - James
Thanks, mate. I can probably do that, but why? - Remus
For his birthday! I want it to be really amazing. You know his parents didn't even send him a letter? - James
Gods, really? The bastards! I'll find a way to make it happen. Anything else I can do? - Remus
Can you find a spell that will let us make really huge sandcastles? Like, big enough to stand inside? I have an idea for a game we can play… - James
Sounds intriguing, I'll do my best - Remus
Also, do you think the house-elves would let us have a little dinner party in the kitchen at lunchtime? - James
I think they'd be delighted to set that up, I'll ask Breen. You're a really great friend, James. You know that? - Remus
I am, aren't I? - James.