"I was planning on having it outside, so all the houses could attend. Don’t really want the Room of Requirement to become too known, y’know? Even though parties there are insane." Sirius laughed, fondly remembering his first Room of Requirement party. They were usually fairly small, seeing as how everyone knowing about the room would cause it to loose it’s usefulness, but they were ragers. Night of, an entrance to the Hog’s Head for food would open, night after, you would wake up on a pile of cushions with a book on hangover cures next to you.
"Prongs already knows I wanted a party, so I’ll just leave a note for him and Wormtail." Sirius flicked his wand at his trunk and an inked quill and scrap of parchment flew out, scrawling a quick letter. He magicked it onto James’ bed and shoved his wand in his pocket.
Remus’ remark about fangirls had Sirius laughing, though he was somewhat put off by the fact it wasn’t completely a joke. They were like a boyband to some girls here, though without talent and twice the good looks. Mostly thanks to him. “I hope they can live through it. Don’t want o disturb their studying." Sirius put on face of exaggerated concern for a moment, before laughing at his own joke. “But really, mate, I missed you this summer. Have a good one?" He knew the answer already; neither of them ever had good summers. It wasn’t something they often talked about, the marauders usually maintained a happy air, not because they thought they should ignore their problems, but because they needed somewhere happy to go to.
"Cheers," Remus grinned. "I like the outside idea, and insane is a bit of an understatement for a Room of Requirement party." Remus usually didn't attend those, because they got out of hand rather quickly and easily, but when he did, it was always ... a special brand of fun. They were smaller though, which Remus liked, as he wasn't a particular fan of crowds. And the fact that the Room provided cushions and hangover cures was a nice touch, too. "You've got a point, Pads. There's too many people who wouldn't use it the right way, and it'd be a lost cause at that point."
Remus watched as Sirius set the note for Prongs and Wormtail. He hoped the other Marauders got it on time, which he expected that they would. They wouldn't have any trouble spreading the word either way. Bloody gossips they were, and they'd have nearly the entirety of Gryffindor house to help them out. People loved a good party, particularly one hosted by a Marauder.
Remus snickered, just shy of a full laugh. "I don't think we have to worry about disrupting their studies - it's not like they were getting done in the first place," he pointed out. "All the same, I'm sure it'll be a difficult time for them." He shook his head, still grinning. He would laugh more, if it wasn't something that truly had to be concerned about. His grin shrunk into a smaller smile then. "I missed you too, Padfoot," he said. Then he looked down, and started messing with the hem of his shirt. "Eh, it was... you know. It was summer."
Summer for Remus was never completely awful, as he usually had a lot of extra reading time and there wasn't much homework that he had to do, so he could pretty much spend his time doing whatever he wanted. But home wasn't particularly welcoming, with his mother. His dad had come around, and would at least give Remus a hug and sneak him chocolate when his mum wasn't looking, but that was happening less and less as he got older. He suspected that his mother was getting more and more scared of him as he wasn't a little kid anymore. Not to mention that his transformations at home were considerably worse than at school, since there he had even less space to transform in than he did at the Shrieking Shack. He sighed, then looked back up.
"Can't complain too much, I suppose. How was your summer? Your family didn't terrorize you too much, did they?" he asked.
Luckily no. I mean, it would have been heavier if I would have continued with Divinations, but apparently I am hopeless at the study of “looking on to the next worlds and beyond".
But we have nearly no double lessons (except for DADA and Potions on Wednesday) and that’s as light as it will get, I guess…
I am gathering you will be nearly invisible, due to studying for O.W.L.s this year?
That doesn't sound so bad. Divination isn't all that great of a subject anyway in my opinion, so I wouldn't be upset for having to drop. I'm actually continuing it, but probably not passed the OWL level.
Your schedule is certainly lighter than mine! I hope I won't disappear completely, and I think the other Marauders aren't going to let me either way, but I will have a lot of studying to do. OWL year is an important one.
Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus’s knowing voice. “It’s not like that, mate. Marlene is cool, y’know? I actually like talking to her." Not like the girls who’s skirts he did get under, who only told pointless stories of clothes, make up or tiffs with their daft friends. Then kind Sirius would undoubtedly flirt with at the party, and undoubtedly have hooked up with by the end. Sometimes it was tiring to deal with. “I was thinking this Friday, maybe Saturday. First weekend back, we’ve gotta do something exciting. Two days is more than enough time, if we get the word out tonight. You know how quickly news spreads at Hogwarts."
A grin grew on Sirius’s face at Remus’s apparent surprise. He would’ve expected Remus to be a bit more conscientious, but there was no harm done. If any of the boys in their dorm had found out, they would congratulate Remus on a good prank rather than turn him in. “So, can I tell James and Peter? And the Prewett’s, they were pretty impressed." That was the highest form of flattery for a prank, if the infamous Prewett brother’s approved, and Sirius could tell by his friend’s reluctant smirk that he was proud of his work.
"Told you it’d be good," Sirius bragged, though he was quite pleased Remus approved. “I was thinking we could do it tonight after curfew, so no one can see us. Sans Prongs and Wormy, the spell is powerful enough that we only need two people. Besides, MoonStar hasn’t gone out alone in a while." Sirius laughed his barking laughter and slug an arm around Remus. Though he rarely said it aloud, during the summer he missed simply joking around with his friends.
Remus had to resist a "Mhmm," at Sirius and his talk of Marlene. He was rather curious about how this was going to develop, though. Marlene wasn't the normal kind of girl that Sirius went for, but that was probably a good thing. Remus thought she was cool and nice, too, and she was one of the few girls who would be able to handle Sirius. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the two of them.
He nodded when Sirius told him more about the party. "Yeah, that should be plenty of time. We can start spreading the word now, get Prongs and Wormtail to help us in that respect. Are you thinking it would be contained enough for the common room, or would the Room of Requirement be better?" Remus personally thought that the Room of Requirement would be a better bet, but at the same time, it was harder to smuggle people in an out of there. There were pros and cons of each location, however. "We could always have it outside too, but that would require more prep."
"Yeah sure, I don't mind if they know," Remus answered. He didn't like keeping things from his fellow Marauders anyway, and really had no idea why he had for this long. He supposed it just slipped his mind when the lake went back to its normal color and no longer was relevant. He sputtered a bit, and his eyes went wide. "Really?" he asked. He had no idea that the Prewetts had said anything in particular about his prank. Obviously it would be hard for them to not notice that the entire lake changed color, but still. "Yeah, if you want. Merlin," he chuckled a bit. Remus didn't pull pranks on his own very often, preferring to let the other Marauders help, but he was very glad that this one had been so successful.
"Tonight sounds fine," he agreed. Remus was caught up on school work (a little bit ahead, even, thankfully) so he could afford to take the night off. He rolled his eyes though, at the mention of MoonStar. The things the obsessive girls came up with left him baffled most of the time. He laughed with Sirius. "It has been a while, admittedly. Summer break gets in the way." Part of Remus wanted to ask how Sirius's summer went, but he knew that if he did, the lighthearted mood would be ruined. "I'm sure the fan clubs will have a field day - a MoonStar outing, a prank, and a party. Hopefully they won't spontaneously combust from it all," he joked.
I wrote a little drabble in honor of last night's supermoon.
If he were being honest with himself, Remus would say that he didn't want them to come along with him. If he were being even more honest, he would say that he actually really did want them there, but he was worrying himself sick over it. Remus was worried that they would end up getting hurt, at his hand (or claw, rather), and that he would have no recollection of it or any way to stop himself from doing it. He wasn't him when he was the wolf - he was a wolf, a completely different being. A monster. A monster who was lonely and wanted someone there to help ease his transformation, but who definitely didn't want his friends to get hurt.
Remus sighed, as the sun began to sink in earnest. He got up, and started to make his way to the path that led to the castle doors. There, he would meet Madam Pomfrey and she would escort him down to the Whomping Willow and through to the Shreiking Shack before the moon rose. Now that he was 15 (would be 16 this March even), Remus had started to make mild protests against being escorted every month, but Madam Pomfrey refused his pleas. Remus never pushed it too hard though, because he knew she was just worried about her most frequent ward.
It didn't take him long to reach their rendevous point, and Remus chose a nice rock to perch on while he waited. He knew she wouldn't be long - they were on a strict time restriction, after all, and Madam Pomfrey was even more rigid about it than he was. Lo and behold, he looked up not 5 minutes later to see the school nurse making her way down the path. He stood, and flashed an empty smile at her as she approached.
"Good evening, Madam Pomfrey," he greeted, ever polite. She patted his arm and asked him how he was. He answered in the affirmative, though he was far from that, and she knew it. This was their normal routine, and breaking it now would just be wrong. Remus took the proffered arm as they walked across the grounds, the Whomping Willow already looming ahead.
Once there, Remus let go of Madam Pomfrey's arm as she Immobulus'd the tree. "Ready?" she asked, holding out her arm so Remus could go through the tunnel first. He sighed and nodded, climbing through.
Walking into the Shreiking Shack was never a pleasant experience, no matter how many times he did it. It filled him with cold and dread, all the scratches and bite marks on the walls doing nothing to calm his shot nerves. He was the one who made those marks, and it scared him. "You've got about 15 minutes before the moon rises. I'll be back to tend to your wounds in the morning." Remus could barely make out her words, but nodded as Madam Pomfrey left the room to make her way back to the warmth and comfort of the castle.
He sank down on the bed, not registering the loud squeak that accompanied the movement. His body was weary, as if it could anticipate what was going to happen here very soon, and was dreading it as it had all day, and the week prior. His head dropped to his hands, and as such, he didn't hear his friends' arrival until Peter stepped on a squeaky floorboard. Remus looked up so sharply that he heard his neck crack, and knew that would be hurting tomorrow. "You came," he said, disbelief coloring his tone. They had told him that they would, but seeing them here, in the flesh, was vastly different. It was more real.
"'Course we did, mate," Sirius said, flouncing over to the beaten up couch and making himself comfortable.
"We said we would, didn't we? We don't go back on our word, it's in the Marauder code. You should know that, Moony," James said, coming over to sit on the bed next to Remus. Peter just nodded a lot and smiled at Remus, and he couldn't help but to smile back, even if it was a weak grin. He looked all around at his friends, so thankful for them. He had no idea what he did to deserve them, but he was grateful all the same.
"I know, just...," Remus had no way to put his feelings into words, so he just shrugged and looked down. "Thanks." The single word felt inadequate, but it was as good as he could come up with right then. He looked up at them again, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the night rapidly falling. He only had a few minutes.
"Okay look the moon's about to rise so either you guys need to transform or get out until I've changed - but don't come back in as humans, that'd be very bad - but I'm not too keen on you seeing the change but if you really want to... You've got to act fast." Remus could see the moon rising and his consciousness was slipping as the wolf prepared to take over. He barely had the sense to pull his shirt over his head before he was a goner. Remus could vaguely hear the other Marauders shuffling around the room - it sounded as ifit was coming through a tunnel, as opposed to in the room with him - as his transformation started.
-
The act of transforming into a werewolf was not a pretty one. He roared, a half-human half-wolf sound ripping from his throat as his bones split and grew, as his muscles stretched, a snout growing on his face and his hands and feet morphing into paws and claws. He grew his tuft of a tail, and his ears moved from the side of his head to the top, and fur sprouted all over his body, a mix of grey and the color of his natural hair. His insides shifted, a transformation that could only be felt and not seen.
While it seemed like hours of pain, the transformation was over rather quickly, and the wolf was left halfstanding in the middle of the room, panting as if he'd just ran a long distance. The stag and the dog stood, watching the wolf warily; the rat was on the arm of the chair, watching its three companions. The wolf finally seemed to get his bearings, and turned its head towards the lone window, to the moon, and howled, instincts ruling its actions. Then it turned, taking in the fact that it had company.
The wolf padded over, and sniffed the dog first - the one that looked most like himself. The dog stood completely still, watching the wolf with eyes that were more than animalistic. The wolf growled, and the dog butted it with his head, and the wolf backed off a bit. It didn't expect a reaction. Moving on to the stag, the wolf sniffed again a bit more wary of this one with its big antlers. It smelled friendly, so the wolf did what it saw as playful, and flicked the stag's nose with his tail as he walked past. He looked at the rat that was on the couch, and licked his lips, seeing the rat as more of a snack than a friend. He advanced towards it, sinking low on his haunches in a prowling stance, when the large stag clopped over and blocked the wolf. Growling, he bared his teeth. The stag didn't back down, and the dog even came over, acting as a double barrier.
The wolf sat back growling and pacing, and he settled for watching his companions for most of the night. Though he didn't realize it then, it was the first night that the wolf didn't spend biting and scratching at itself. It growled on occasion, and made a swipe at the dog when it came too close, but respected their space as long as they respected his. He only resorted to gnawing at a clump of fur on his side when the others fell asleep in the early morning as sleep was something that always evaded the wolf.
It didn't seem to be much longer before the sun was rising and the transformation back into a human was beginning. The bones once again elongated and shortened accordingly, and his insides shifted to where they should be. He growled and roared as the pain ripped through his body, and Remus was left lying on the floor, naked and breathing heavily. He looked around, blinking as the light hurt his eyes, and saw the other Marauders stirring awake as a result of his growls and shouts. He army crawled over to the bed and retrieved one of his spare pairs of boxers and pulled them on before collapsing onto the bed.
"Moony!" he heard them call, but he just waved in their direction before closing his eyes, utterly exhausted.
-
"You're barely even hurt, Remus! This is a first."
Remus heard the voice, but he could barely register to whom it belonged and what it was talking about. It took some effort, but he finally found the strength to pry open an eye. "Hm?" he hummed his question.
"You've only got one raw spot, on your side. The rest of you is practically fine. What happened last night?" Madam Pomfrey talked as she bustled around his room in the Shreiking Shack, preparing him for the walk back to the castle. Remus shoved himself up and looked down, and saw that she was right - his side was raw and bloody, but it was the only source of injury.
"I don't remember," he said truthfully. It was always really hard for him to remember his time as a wolf, either because he was that good at blocking it out of his memory, or because the difference in mindsets one.
She looked skeptical, but didn't press it too much. "Well come on, let's get you up to the castle then. Do you think you'll be able to go to classes today?"
Remus stood up, his entire body screaming in protest as he pulled on a shirt and trousers. "Maybe. I want to sleep some though, if I can."
Madam Pomfrey nodded and they set on their trek back to Hogwarts.
-
"Moony!"
"How are you feeling Moons?"
"You tried to eat me!"
"What?" Remus asked, blinking his eyes open and seeing his bed surrounded by the other Marauders. He rubbed his eyes and his temple, sore and disoriented. "What are you talking about, Wormtail? And I'm okay, I guess. Sore." His voice was hoarse, so he cleared his throat.
"You tried to eat me! It's a good thing Sirius and James were there to help make you back off."
"Yeah, Moony, you seemed to be scared of me - guess it's the antlers." James laughed, and held his hands up to his head and pointed like he had his antlers even though he was very much a human right then.
"You growled at me and I headbutted you - I didn't know werewolves could look so surprised," Sirius laughed.
"You tried to eat me," Peter repeated, sinking back in his spot on the bed, looking a bit embarrassed.
Remus looked between his friends, a smile on his face. "I can't remember hardly anything from last night. I'm not hurt though, except one spot on my side, so I figure it was a good night. Though I'm sorry for apparently trying to eat you, Peter," he said, a wry look on his face. He wasn't sure what happened there, but Peter was obviously still intact, so no lasting harm done.
"Yeah, we'd say so too." James looked around at everyone. "Next month will probably be even better."
Remus smiled, and looked down at his pajamas (when did he change into pajamas? he wondered vaguely) and smiled. His friends were the best. And not just because they were his closest friends, which was the normal definition of 'best friends' but because they risked nearly everything for him. They broke the law (unregistered animagi, and underage to boot - who knows how much trouble they would get into if they were found out) and sneaked out of the castle in the dead of night to make their way to Hogsmeade and to the Shreiking Shack to spend time with a werewolf. Not many people would do that. Remus was incredibly lucky.
"Thank you," he said simply, looking back up, interrupting the quiet chatter between the other Marauders that had broken out as he took the moment to himself. "I mean it."
James and Sirius exchanged a knowing glace, then both of them turned and beamed at him. Peter grinned.
"No problem, mate," James said simply, patting Remus's leg in his own reassuring way.
"We're Marauders, Moony - we stick together. Even if one has a badly misbehaving rabbit," Sirius winked at him before reaching over to ruffle Remus's hair as he slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Just try not to eat me next time, that'd be nice," Peter said timidly.
Remus chuckled a bit, and felt his side ache for the first time. Wrinkling his nose, he said, "Sorry about that, Pete. Don't take it personally."
It was then that Madam Pomfrey came over to check up on Remus and shoo the other Marauders out. "He should be fine to join you for lunch, but I think he would appreciate a bit of piece and quiet while he can get it!"
"It's alright Madam Pomfrey," Remus defended. "I feel much better now that I've slept some."
"How's your side?"
"Achy, but that's to be expected."
She nodded, and turned to James, Sirius, and Peter. "Wait for him outside then, while I do a final check up and so he can change."
They left relunctantly, calling out "See you"s and a "There's chocolate pie at lunch even!" from Sirius. Remus smiled as he pulled the curtains around his bed for some privacy and got up, letting Madam Pomfrey give him the all clear so he could go rejoin his friends.
“Yes, I think I was more focused,” Charity agreed. “More motivated as well, maybe? ‘The proper pressure does wonders for the mind, Miss Burbage’,” she intoned with the air of someone quoting a well drilled in lesson.
Pulling the at this point rather sorry-looking Transfiguration book towards her, Charity flicked through the pages to 214, and then rooted around in her bag for a quill out of habit. Absently nibbling on one feathery end of it, Charity studied the passage for a moment, nodding as Remus spoke.
“Your confidence that I will get this is encouraging,” she offered after a few beats, moving the quill away from her mouth and glancing up at him with an embarrassed sort of grin. “Thanks. But yep, Potions or Defence sounds good.”
“’The process of transforming one inanimate object to another is, as we have seen, relatively simple,’ Charity read aloud. “Yeah, right, simple, way to motivate a girl here—“ she checked the cover, “—Emeric Switch. ‘The undertaking of creating sentience out of an essentially ignorant object is vastly more difficult’, wonderful, ‘Though not as challenging as forcing the mind of an animate creature to adopt another shape’, which is something I should look forward too, probably.”
Charity wondered if anyone had ever tried transfiguring their own mind. She’d definitely do it, probably, if it meant trading in the brain she had for one that wouldn’t immediately drip out of her ears at the slightest inkling of academic study.
“Oh hey, Circe’s mentioned here, she’s in Muggle myths too. She transfigured people into pigs, apparently, that seems mean,” said Charity around the quill. “Okay, this is the important bit…”
She trailed off, forcing herself to concentrate. Basically, it was the three P thing that the muggle-born girl in her dorm always used to tell her, before she quit at being Charity’s impromptu tutor. Charity was too challenging a project, she said. Charity didn’t mind, because she rather agreed with her.
“Picture, pronounce, practice,” Charity droned, flicking her quill to each word before putting it down. “I got it.”
She picked up her wand, pointed it at the misused textbook and repeated the spell, Remus’ successful, sweet little hamster featuring strongly in her mind’s eye.
"Well I'm glad I can encourage! That's part of why I'm here," Remus smiled at Charity, watched as she read through the passage. He wasn't sure which subject would be better to move on to next, but he was more willing to switch to something that could cause less accidents. Defense wasn't very easy to teach theoretically, Remus thought, but Potions had potential. It was a right sight easier to teach out of a book, at any rate.
"It is a bit simpler than you realize, I think," Remus replied with a chuckle. Charity seemed to be good at making things harder for herself than they needed to be. From wanting to educate pureblood elitists to transfiguring her textbook, it was a common theme. Not that there's anything wrong with that, he thought. She's just eager.
"You know a lot about Muggles," he observed, when she mentioned the Muggle myth. Remus had read a few Greek mythology books when he was younger. Of course, they were the "watered down" versions as it were, since he was rather young at the time. He couldn't quite recall if he'd read about this Circe in regards to Muggle culture though. He knew her importance in Transfiguration itself, but that was all he could remember right then.
He nodded, smiling in encouragement again as she recited the three P's. They were very important for transfiguration, and he was glad that she'd already memorized them. "Alright, now try the spell again," he instructed.
He watched with a bit of apprehension as she repeated the spell. In truth, he wasn't sure how this was going to end up, but he hoped that she was successful. Keeping a close eye on the book, he watched as it slowly transformed - or transfigured, rather - from a book into a fury little hamster. He grinned at her as it started scurrying around the table. "Very good, Charity!" he congratulated. "All it takes is good concentration. I'm glad you've got it!"
It had all happened so fast, that Bertram hadn’t even had time to think, let alone react to it all. The two boys were now standing face to face, a couple feet apart. Lupin had his wand pointed directly at Bertram, and Bertram’s wand was nowhere to be found. Well this certainly changes things, Bertram thought sourly. His heart was beating quickly now, as he had absolutely no idea what to do. Bertram might have been poking fun at how much of a prat this kid was, but he knew that he wasn’t stupid. The Marauders, no matter how stupid and self-righteous they were, knew their magic. And especially now that Bertram didn’t have the upper hand anymore because of his no-wand situation, he wasn’t sure what to do.
An eternity passed with the two just staring at each other. Bertram’s brain was extremely fuzzy now, from both his alcohol content and his recent stressful situation. He could literally think of nothing to do to get himself out of this predicament. He couldn’t just leave without doing anything, though, because then he would be an even bigger prat than this damned Lupin fuck.
Acting on impulse with no forethought whatsoever, Bertram lunged at the boy, trying to knock him down and take his wand from him. If this fucker thought that he could take Bertram’s wand without any consequences, he had another thing coming to him.
Remus had made his move in this altercation, and stood back and watched warily as he waited for Aubrey to decide what to do. The Slytherin seemed conflicted, and for the first time since running into him, Remus was beginning to question Aubrey's sobriety. If he was drunk, that changed things a lot. Remus didn't want to fight with someone who wasn't completely in control of themselves really, but at the same time, he couldn't see a peaceful way out of the fight either. He pursed his lips a bit, and that's when Aubrey lunged.
"Hey!" Remus exclaimed, stumbling back with the added weight. It took him a moment to realize what Aubrey was going for - his wand - and once he made the connection, Remus held his wand back and above his head as far as he could, and did his best to block Aubrey with his other arm. He was at a bit of a disadvantage, as Remus was slightly shorter that Aubrey, but he still did his best.
"Would you just back off?" Remus asked, knowing it was futile as he said the words. He couldn't properly point his wand in this position, so it was practically useless to have one. He sighed, and gave Aubrey one last shove (which Remus figured would be rather weak, at that angle) and stepped back, hoping Aubrey would be knocked off balance at the very least.
Sirius grinned widely and ruffled Remus’ hair. “I knew you’d go for it. Oh, Marlene and I put together a bit of a party today, instead of going to potions. She’s pretty good at that kind of stuff, saved me a trip to Muggle London.” Sirius said, a certain fondness in his words. He got up and walked to their window overlooking the lake. The sun was beginning to set, rays peeping through the trees of the Forbidden Forest and casting streams of light onto the glittering lake. The beauty was astonishing, but Sirius was more focused on how it would look orange. Probably disgusting, but hilarious.
The day they woke up to a pink lake was one of the proudest days of Sirius’ life. Remus had never done anything so big by himself before that, and it he was obviously very pleased with himself, and all of the attention he was indirectly getting. Remus didn’t like being the immediate center of attention, so Sirius hadn’t ratted him out, to anyone. “You were so pleased with yourself the entire day, and I was still awake when you got into bed. So you had to have been up to something.” Sirius sat on the window sill, once again facing Remus. The werewolf had, as Sirius had expected, pointed out an obvious flaw in his plan.
“I don’t think the pumpkin juice is especially dangerous for fish. And I doubt it’ll reach all the way down to the merpeople, but if you want to be careful, we can alter the charm. Because I have created the charm.” Sirius smiled and poured water from the pitcher always on the windowsill into a cup. He pushed his hair out of his face and grabbed his wand, gave a flourish and said, “Stagnos Citrouilles” The water turned orange and Sirius took a sip, then offered the glass to Remus. “Come on, Moony. I bet the fish would love to swim in pumpkin juice. And if it’s dangerous or something, we can just charm a layer of ice so the fish can’t reach the pumpkin juice. Won’t be as cool, though.”
He scrunched up his nose when Sirius ruffled his hair. "You and Marlene, eh?" Remus asked, a knowing lilt to his voice. He knew of Sirius's many womanizing efforts of course, but he hadn't heard Sirius talk of Marlene in this manner before. He made an effort to fix his hair as Sirius got up, but had a sinking feeling that he was just making it worse. So he shook his head, letting it fall however it wanted to. He couldn't help but be a bit curious though, as to what was up with this impromptu party planning. "When's this party going to be, anyway?" he asked, picking at a loose thread in his sheets. As a prefect, he shouldn't approve of parties anymore, but as a Marauder, he found them fun (most of the time), so he decided he just wouldn't object or encourage either way.
"You were?" Remus asked with a slight frown. He hadn't realized anyone else in the dorm was awake. He knew for a fact that Peter had been fast asleep - his snoring gave him away. James had had his curtains drawn which was a telltale sign of sleeping for him, and Sirius's curtains were drawn, so Remus had just assumed... But he supposed he shouldn't assume, as that never really ended up well for anyone. It didn't matter much because it was just Sirius. So Remus let the smirk take over his face. He was rather pleased with the way that prank had gone.
He walked over and took the offered cup of water-turned-pumpkin juice, and took a dubious sip. When it tasted fine and everything, he smiled. "Brilliant, Padfoot," he praised. He thought about the logistics of the pranks. "I don't think it'll be particularly harmful for the fish either to be completely honest. And it'll only be temporary anyway, right?" Sirius had said something about it lasting until the aforementioned party on Friday. Surely the fish would be okay between now and then. "When do you want to implement said prank, by the way? Are we going to have Prongs or Wormy help?"
Marlene smiled warmly at Remus as they locked pinkies, “That’s the spirit. Thank you.” Marlene smiled before quickly punching him in the shoulder, “Now let’s stop with the silly stuff and head into that forest!” she took his hand when he offered it to her and hoisted herself up. The smaller girl bounced forward “Adventure is out there!” She shouted as she made her way towards the forest. “Don’t be so silly Remus, there aren’t any ‘unsavory beings’ here. It’s broad daylight!”
For a while the forest seemed to let in a perfect amount of light. The way the beams flickered through the multiple fluttering tree leaves left an ethereal light among the forest floor below. However, soon the forest became darker- whether this was because it was getting later or the two were getting in deeper was unknown- and Marlene slowed down a tad.
The girl was often known for her bravery and spirit, however that didn’t mean that she wasn’t uneasy in the darker forest. Nevertheless, She forced herself onward. ‘Don’t be a baby Marls, it’s just the forest. No ‘unsavory beings’ here just forest.’ The brunette told herself as she stepped forward.
She looked back at Remus. “You know where we are don’t you? I mean— I do, I’m just making sure you do.” That was a lie of course.
For a moment Marlene gazed about the darker forest, flinching slightly at any noise. She felt a strong will to run and hide behind Remus or to grab him and speed back towards the castle— but that was not the Gryffindor thing to do or the tough girl thing to do. After all, Marlene was a tough girl wasn’t she? She had to stay to prove something to herself.
“Oh well, let’s see what cool stuff we can find around here Remus!” She said finally and began looking around the forest.
Just because it's broad daylight doesn't mean there's not darker things in the Forest depths, Remus thought. He didn't want to scare Marlene though, so he kept it to himself. Hopefully the worst that they'd run into were the centaurs, or the thestrals. But Remus wasn't sure if Marlene could see the thestrals (he couldn't himself, but he knew the signs of how to tell if one was near; and he'd been in the forest enough to observe where they seemed to like to spend the majority of their time) and if she couldn't then that was a moot point anyway.
"Well this will be an adventure either way, you're right about that," he said as he stepped over a fallen branch. As long as they followed the path, Remus thought that they would be okay. Marlene did have a point, with it being daylight - as long as they did stay on the path, they shouldn't run into anything too bad. He made sure that he was as aware of their surroundings as he could be: on the look out for any landmarks, particular trees, patterns on the moss or the leaves, that sort of thing. If he kept up with where they were, there was less of a chance of getting lost or meeting anything that could be a potential problem.
"Hm?" he made a noise when Marlene talked again. He hadn't been paying much attention to her, other than looking over every now and again to make sure she hadn't run off. He'd been too busy making sure they were on the path and such. "Oh, yeah," he said, after what she'd said made it to his brain. "We're still on the path, not too far in. As long as we stay on this path, we should be fine. Finding our way out won't be too hard either." He had a knowing look on his face, though. She looked far too lost to know where they are.
"What are you looking to find exactly?" he asked, stopping and watching as she started to poke around the forest. "There's not much in here, actually, except plants and bugs and trees." That was something Remus ardently believed. Perhaps it was because he did spend so much time in here, but he didn't really find the Forest all that exciting anymore. It was just a place - a place with some good memories and some bad ones too. He could tell that Marlene didn't think the same way as he did though, and wanted to at least indulge his friend.
As he waited for her answer, Remus walked a little bit of a ways off the path, to the nearest tree with overhanging branches. He reached up, and pulled on the branch he could reach, to make sure it could hold his weight. Once he was sure of that, he jumped up a bit, and hung from the branch, swinging his legs back and forth before falling back to the earth, and looking over at Marlene.
because marauders are obviously the best characters. peter doesn’t count Now we reached the point where I wonder why is that all my favourite characters are DEAD.
Doe knew what he meant about being unable to imagine yourself in another house. Last year after she’d bested an older student in a practice duel, he had said that she would fit better in Slytherin since she was so ambitious and driven to be the best. That logic hadn’t made any sense to her, partly because she didn’t consider herself especially ambitious. She just liked the process of learning and knowing. The other reason that logic hadn’t made any sense was because every house was too complicated to be boiled down to one or two traits, so even if she had been ambitious that wouldn’t necessarily have made her a good candidate for that house. Trying to simplify the issue was why they had problems with house rivalry in the first place. Besides, she wasn’t too comfortable underground so a life in either Slytherin’s dorm of Hufflepuff’s dorm didn’t appeal to her in the slightest. All of the houses had wonderful attributes. Doe just knew herself well enough to recognize that she wouldn’t fit well outside of her blue and bronze tower.
“Oh, a secret Ravenclaw? What, do they think Professor McGonagall never studied either? And what about Lily? Even I have to work to keep up with her in classes sometimes.” Doe teased lightly. Everyone knew about James’s fascination with Lily so she seemed like a fun example to bring up. She wasn’t exactly sure what Remus and Lily’s relationship was like, but it couldn’t be nearly as tumultuous as James and Lily. Even with her nose stuck in a book she had heard of a few of their fights, and not only from Emmeline. She was a little curious what he thought about the whole situation, but she knew that part of that came from simple desire to hear the story from another perspective.
She blinked at him for a moment, thinking over what he’d said, which was honestly not what she’d been expecting. Years of John making comments about how she needed to relax and be more like his angels, or Emmeline storming off after Doe had yelled at her for letting fireworks off in the dorm had left their mark. And yet, it only took a moment for him to understand. “Exactly. I don’t think surprises are inherently bad, and some of them are really sweet.” In theory at least, or surprises she had seen given to other people. “It’s just generally explosions or something of that nature that tends to get me.”
She rested her chin on her hand, absorbing the answers he gave her. “Oh, yes Fahrenheit 451 is an excellent book. It really makes you look at how important books and independent thought are to a culture. Personally, I prefer Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, but that could just be a reaction to any book that forces me to think about book burnings in any focused manner. It’s such a painful concept to imagine. Bradbury does have a wonderfully lyric style though, even as what he’s writing devastates you. Fascinating man. I haven’t read any of those other titles though, so I might have to look into them.” To Kill a Mockingbird was an especially intriguing title. Perhaps the Hogwarts library had them. If not, she was sure that she could ask around and borrow them, or find a way to buy them. New books were always a pleasure.
She sat up straighter. Right, it made sense that he would return the question. Although she was never any good at answering this question herself, there were just too many interesting options to choose from. “Somehow I’m never prepared for this question. I really enjoy almost anything, it just depends what I’m reading at the time. I finished Jane Eyre a few days ago and had a wonderful time with that, but Merlin’s biography was brilliant as well. Any book that introduces me to a new way of thinking or seeing the world I suppose. And I never say no to a good fairy tale book.” Wizards had some interesting folktales, but the sheer volume of muggle folktales and fairy tales had always impressed her. They had so much imagination and they taught so many interesting lessons. Maybe she would unpack Perrault’s book from her trunk.
Remus had to laugh a bit at Doe's comment. She had a point - just because a person was a Gryffindor didn't mean they weren't smart and didn't study at all. He surreptitiously glanced around though, hoping he hadn't disrupted anyone with his laughter. A few 7th years from the next table over had looked up, but they soon went back to their work. Remus was glad that Madame Pince hadn't come over, as that would just open a whole can of worms that he didn't particularly care for cleaning up.
"You're right, though," he said. "Lily gives us all a run for our money. James and Sirius would too, if they just studied or cared in the slightest." He shook his head there. "I just try to stay on top of things, and make at least decent grades in all my subjects." He shrugged a bit. Remus knew he wasn't the top of the year, and he didn't even try to be, but he did put a lot of stock in his studies. He had to. If Remus didn't do well in school, then his chances for a job decreased more and more by the day. It would already be hard enough, what with his lycanthropy. He did his best not to think about it too much though, and settle for just living in the moment when he could. As long as he did well in school, then he'd be okay.
"Can't blame you for that one," he nodded. "I suppose I've only gotten used to explosions and the like mainly because I've kind of had to, what with being a Gryffindor and a Marauder. It makes for good conditions for explosions." Remus was also a fairly easy going person, he liked to think, and that probably had an effect on how easily he was able to take things in stride. Explosions weren't always pleasant, but at this point, he was happy as long as no one got hurt or nothing was caught on fire. Or no one on fire, for that matter. He remembered having to take a poor second year to the hospital one time after an incident in a homework revision group. That wasn't good.
He thought over what she said about Bradbury. He found that he agreed, and started nodding, a small smile appearing on his face. "I haven't read the Martian Chronicles yet, but I'll definitely have to now. Though I agree - the thought of book burnings nearly makes me sick. But I think it's a good illustrative, because it makes you realize how important books are to the society on the whole. So far, Fahrenheit 451 is the only book by him I've read, but I wouldn't be adverse to looking through his other titles either." He smiled, happy that they seemed to agree on this topic. It was rare that he could find someone with whom he could talk books.
"Merlin's biography?" he asked, intrigued. "I might have to look into that." Remus was always fascinated with the entire wizarding culture, even though he grew up half immersed in the wizarding world. Merlin was a particularly interesting individual to learn about, though, as he was so famous and advanced magic so far. Remus would like to know more about him. "Fairy tales always make for good books, I agree. I recently found a copy of Beedle the Bard's stories, and have skimmed over those in my free time. I also have a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, you know, the muggle ones. They're actually more interesting, if you ask me." He chuckled a bit. Remus started to wonder if he left it at home or if he'd brought it to school with him, and made a note to check for it in his dorm later.
Sirius slammed the dormitory door shut and locked it with a flick of his wand. He dropped Remus’ bag onto the floor, plopped onto the werewolf’s bed and leaned back, his hands behind his head.
“Y’know, it’s only the first week of school. You don’t need to start on all of this,” Sirius motioned to the parchment and book Remus was currently fussing with. “So soon.”
“Besides, you have more important things to do.” He smirked widely and took the marauder’s map out of his back pocket. Curiosity, though well hidden, could be seen on Remus’ face, so Sirius continued. “We’ve got to lighten things up, all of this talk of war and Muggle slander.” Sirius waved his hand in a few small circles. “I was thinking we could start the year off with something nice, not to scary. Keep the first years from freaking out?”
Sirius unfolded the map, muttered, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” He pointed to the shore of the lake surrounded by forest. “I’m thinking we could turn the lake into pumpkin juice. Like when you turned it pink, but delicious. And it might last until the party I’m planning Friday night.” Sirius looked back to Remus, sure he would agree to it. A prank that didn’t hurt anyone was something he, as a responsible prefect, would have to condone.
Remus had to admit to being a bit wary when Sirius went so far as locking the door, but he did his best to just shake it off, figuring that Sirius really didn't want anyone to hear his plan. He rolled his eyes, however, when Sirius mentioned his school work. "I might not have to, but I don't want to risk getting behind early in the term - in fact, I want to be a bit ahead, so whenever my furry little problem rears its head I don't have to worry about school too much." He normally wouldn't say anything like that, but this was Sirius, and he would understand. It was just a bit of self preservation for the future.
He had to admit that Sirius had a point - the year had started off on a rather dark note. Apparently there was a powerful dark wizard on the rise, and he was gathering more and more followers by the day. Remus tried not to think about it too much, though. It wasn't up to him to worry about quite yet. After all, he was just a 5th year, and had miles to go before he can fight enough to be any use in a war. And Sirius was right on another account; it'd be more important for Remus to stick around and enjoy what little bit of childhood he had. "I like the sound of that," he acquiesced.
Remus looked over Sirius's shoulder at the map. He almost rolled his eyes when Sirius pointed out the lake, almost as if Remus didn't know where it was. It was rather hard to miss, a giant body of water on the grounds. Not only that, but it also had a giant squid in it, after all. "Party?" Remus asked, focusing in on that rather than the whole pumpkin juice lake prank. "When did you start planning a party?" He was completely baffled. "And how'd you know it was me that turned the lake pink?" This was a lot for Remus to take in, but he just sighed. "I do like the sound of having a pumpkin juice lake, though. But," he paused, "we'd have to be sure that it isn't affected by all the fish and the squid. Do you have the spell for it?" he asked as he took a seat on his bed next to Sirius.
