Chapter Text
REMUS
Well, you’re built like a car
You’ve got a hub cap diamond star halo
You’re built like car, oh yeah
Well, you’re an untamed youth
That’s the truth, with your cloak full of eagles
You’re dirty sweet and you’re my girl
Saturday 3rd November 1973
“Can I take this off yet, Pete? I can’t breathe properly,” Remus hissed, reaching his hand out from beneath the invisibility cloak and tapping Peter’s arm impatiently. Peter swatted his hand away and gave him an apologetic look,
“Sorry mate, James gave me strict orders to keep you hidden. Hang in there, they’ll be here soon.” Peter wrung his hands nervously as he watched the door to the boys dormitory, which remained firmly closed. Remus heaved a great sigh.
“I wish we had some sort of way to find out exactly where they are. They’re taking so long.”
“Yeah,” Peter agreed, “Like a moving map or something.”
Remus nodded thoughtfully. It was actually a rather ingenious idea. He opened his mouth to tell Peter so, but was abruptly interrupted by the dormitory door flying open.
Sirius stormed into the room in a rage.
“-does that Crouch kid think he is? Regulus is my brother and I’ll speak to him on my birthday if I so please!” Sirius threw his cloak off and flung it across the room, where it hit Peter squarely in the face. Peter huffed indignantly as James hurried into the room, his arms stretched out towards Sirius.
“Sirius, mate-”
“The absolute nerve of that filthy little snake!” Sirius pulled his jumper off and flung it onto Remus’ empty bed. Then he pitched up his voice so it was high and nasally, “‘Regulus doesn’t want to see you, Black. You’re a terrible brother. He knows you’re hiding things from him.’ Insipid vermin, that’s what Crouch is. How dare he speak to me like that? Someone needs to teach him his place.”
“Sirius!” James scolded, but Sirius ignored him. Peter scoffed,
“Oh here we go. If Lord Black’s going to make an appearance I’d rather not be here.” He muttered in Remus’ direction. Sirius, obviously having heard Peter, snapped his head in Peter’s direction looking positively venomous.
“I beg your finest pardon, Pettigrew?!” He seethed, his hand curling into a fist around his wand handle. Peter, although shaking terribly, drew himself up and looked Sirius dead in the eyes,
“I’d rather not be here for another one of your tantrums. You’re pompous enough as it is, but when you start acting like the proper pureblood Black your parents raised you to be, you’re horrible. I don’t want to be around you when you act like that.” Peter’s chin trembled as he spoke, and Remus found himself rather impressed with the boy’s bravery. It was very rare for Peter to stand up for himself.
“At least I’m a real wizard, Pettigrew,” Sirius spat, “You’re barely more than a squib.”
“Stop it! What would Remus say if he heard you saying th-”
“Don’t you talk about Remus! You don’t know anything, you foul little-”
“Sirius.”
Remus removed James’ invisibility cloak and stepped forward. Sirius’ mouth snapped shut, his eyes widening with shock. James sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
Remus reached out and took a hold of Sirius’ wrist. Wordlessly, he made his way to Sirius’ bed.
“Give us a minute,” He said softly to James and Peter, before pulling Sirius onto the mattress and drawing the curtains with his wand. Not looking at Sirius, Remus cast a silencing charm around them, then tucked his wand away.
Sirius had his head bowed and was picking at the skin around his nails. Remus reached out and gently took Sirius’ hands in his, stopping his movements.
“I’m sorry.” Sirius said shakily. “I know I’m horrible to Peter, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Why do you hate him so much?” Remus murmured, frowning softly as Sirius’ expression filled with shame.
“I don’t hate him. It’s just… he’s got the life I wish I had.” Sirius’ voice went very quiet at the end of his sentence and Remus had to strain to hear him properly. Remus didn’t respond, and so Sirius plowed on. “His parents dote on him constantly. And he bloody complains about it, which makes me so angry because I would give anything to have my parents love me like that.”
Sirius paused, chewing his lip, tears shining in his eyes. Remus gently ran his thumb over the back of Sirius’ hand.
“And he’s always had James. And I know it’s ridiculous, but I don’t want James to have been his first. It’s selfish, and cruel, but sometimes I just want James all to myself. He’s my brother, you know. He’s my best friend. And I’m his. Not Peter. I’m James’ best friend. I’m his brother. And Regulus is barely speaking to me, so I need James.”
“Oh, Sirius,” Remus sighed sadly. Then, wordlessly, he pulled Sirius into a hug. Sirius buried his face in Remus’ shoulder for a long moment. When they pulled apart, Sirius quickly wiped a few stray tears from his cheeks.
“And, it’s not like it is with you,” Sirius continued, his voice thick with upset, “I always had you first. So, in a way, it doesn’t matter if you and Peter are close, because it was you and me before you and him. But… but with James it’s not like that, and I’m… well, I s’pose I’m jealous.”
Remus gave Sirius a soft smile, then squeezed his arm comfortingly.
“Wait here,” Remus murmured, then he clambered out of Sirius’ bed, emerging on the other side of the curtains.. James and Peter were perched side by side on James’ bed, exchanging nervous glances.
“James,” Remus said softly, “You need to talk to him. Brother to brother.” He gave James a significant look and James’ eyes widened, then settled into a stoic determination. He got to his feet and swapped places with Remus, disappearing behind the curtains.
Remus sat down next to Peter with a large sigh.
“Alright?” Remus asked him. Peter huffed.
“Fine. I’m used to it.”
“He knows he shouldn’t treat you the way he does.” Remus said gently. Peter looked as if he were barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes.
“Knowing he shouldn’t and actually not doing it are two very different things.” Peter replied. Remus said nothing, knowing full well that Peter was right.
They sat in silence for a while. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the curtains around Sirius’ bed were yanked open and Sirius and James emerged, arms around each other. Sirius looked a lot happier and James was beaming.
“I’m really sorry for being so horrible to you, Pete.” Sirius announced, looking straight at Peter, who straightened up in shock.
“Oh,” He breathed, “Er, thanks.”
Sirius and James both settled on the floor opposite Remus and Peter, leaning their backs against Sirius’ bedframe.
“Happy birthday, Sirius,” Remus piped up after a moment. Sirius laughed wetly, his eyes still shiny from crying.
“Cheers, Remus,” He smiled. “You came all this way and all I’ve done is throw a fit.”
“It’s okay. We just need to do something fun, now, to make up for it,” Remus said decidedly, “Start acting like proper friends.”
“Yeah, alright,” James grinned, “What d’you have in mind?”
✴︎ ☾ ✴︎
“We’re going to get expelled!” Peter whisper-shouted as the four Marauder’s made their way across the Hogwarts grounds in the afternoon sunshine. Students were milling about, huddled in the sparse shade beneath trees, all enjoying their Saturday.
“Relax, Pete, it’ll be fine,” James patted Peter’s shoulder in a gesture clearly meant to be reassuring.
“I agree with Peter,” Remus murmured, “When I suggested this prank, I didn’t mean we should do it right now. And without practicing first.”
“No time like the present, Wolf Boy.” Sirius smirked.
“Shut up,” Remus rammed his shoulder into Sirius’, “If you keep calling me that, someone’s going to figure out my secret.”
“Remus,” James said, very slowly, “I hate to break it to you, but Pete and I already know.” Sirius and Peter both laughed while Remus threw them all a dirty look.
“I know that.” He snapped, “I meant Lily. Or the other girls.”
“Alright, alright,” Sirius waved a hand, “I’ll come up with something else.”
“I’d rather you didn’t come up with anything at all,” Remus muttered petulantly.
“Now, where would be the fun in that? We need a nickname so no one finds out we’re sneaking you into the school, Moon Man.”
“That’s a terrible-”
“Oi! Be quiet, it’s time,” James cut in, abruptly putting an end to Remus’ retort.
The four of them fell silent as they stopped at the edge of the Black Lake. Remus plunged his hand into Peter’s school bag and extracted his pristine copy of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he flipped through the pages to the chapter on Grindylows.
“Here,” He whispered, jabbing his finger at the last section, which carried the subheading ‘Enclosed Care’. Remus ran his finger along the text, his eyes scanning for the spell they would need.
“Should we, you know, get in the water? Or will it work from here?” James asked, craning his neck to get a good look at the book. Remus frowned,
“No idea. I didn’t think about that.”
“I say we stand in the water, just to be sure.” Sirius said. “We can dry off easily enough with magic.”
“Yeah,” Peter agreed, “We can’t risk it not working first try.”
“We really should have practiced this beforehand.” Remus muttered, “Something could go terribly wrong.”
“Ah, where’s your sense of adventure Howly?” Sirius grinned.
“Absolutely not. Never call me that again.” Remus shot Sirius a nasty look, but Sirius just smirked in return.
“Right. Stop bickering you two, let’s get down to business.” James clapped his hands together. Remus and Sirius fell silent, but Remus stuck his tongue out at Sirius, who bit back a smile and responded with a very rude two-fingered gesture.
The four Marauders shuffled awkwardly down into the shallow water lapping against the bank. The water was icy cold and Remus barely suppressed a shiver as he felt his socks and shoes become drenched.
“Okay, wands out,” James whispered. They all reached for their wands and raised them. “On my count.”
Remus held his breath and fought the urge to close his eyes.
“One… two…”
Peter sucked in a sharp breath.
“Three!”
In unison, they all shouted the spell.
For a long, terrible moment, nothing happened.
A few people were looking in their direction, looks of confusion on their faces as they tried to find where their loud voices had come from.
Then, in a huge tidal wave of water, massive spheres began to emerge from the Black Lake. Inside each of the water-spheres was one or two creatures, looking extremely disgruntled and angry.
Remus spotted an outraged Merman shaking his pointed trident in fury. A bubble containing a pair of Grindylows floated dangerously close to the Marauders and they all stumbled backwards, out of the water.
All around the lake, people were shouting with shock and getting to their feet to get a better look at the strange disruption.
Peter, Remus, Sirius and James grinned at each other, all feeling immensely pleased with themselves.
Their excitement only doubled when a loud rumbling began beneath the rippling surface of the lake and a huge bubble containing the ever elusive Giant Squid emerged and began to float right towards the castle.
As if directed by the squid, the other bubbles followed suit. Hogwarts students watched on in disbelief as a parade of lake creatures, all encased in water bubbles courtesy of Mr Newt Scammander, all headed straight for the school.
“Wicked,” Remus breathed, grinning.
“We did it!” Peter cried, “We actually did it!”
They all cheered and grabbed ahold of each other, overcome with adrenaline and excitement. They stumbled backwards and Remus felt his whole body tilt sideways as they all began to topple towards the ground.
Laughing hysterically, they collapsed in a heap on the grassy bank of the lake. The invisibility cloak was still half covering Remus, but had slipped off the other three, revealing them to the crowd of onlookers.
“POTTER! BLACK! PETTIGREW!”
Professor McGonagall was storming towards them, looking stony faced. Remus scrambled to cover his exposed legs with the cloak as the other three got to their feet, still grinning with victory.
“Hi, Professor,” James said casually, “Everything alright?”
“You three, in my office. Now.” Professor McGonagall gave them a sharp look.
Twenty minutes later, Sirius, James and Peter were standing opposite Professor McGonagall, who was seated at her desk, her hands folded on the tabletop. Remus stood beside Sirius, invisible.
Very slowly, making sure he was still fully covered with the cloak, Remus reached out and tapped Sirius’ hand, just to let him know that Remus was there. A tiny smile appeared at the corners of Sirius’ mouth and his eyes darted to the vicinity of where Remus stood.
“Take that smug smile off your face this instant, Mr Black.” Professor McGonagall snapped. Sirius’ face immediately went blank. Professor McGonagall let out a deep sigh, “Never in my years of teaching have I ever met a group of children so determined to make Mr Filch’s life difficult.”
James snorted a laugh. It was common knowledge that all of the Marauders were in a long standing battle with the Hogwarts caretaker. James in particular had an affinity for driving the man up the wall with his antics, and seemed to get a kick out of escaping both Filch and his creepy little kitten, Mrs Norris, who rode around in Filch’s pocket, only her lamp-like eyes visible.
“Mr Potter!” Professor McGonagall gave him a sharp look. Very slowly, she rose from her desk and moved to stand at the window, her back to the Marauders. She paused. And then, to Remus surprise and utter horror, her shoulder began to shake with what looked like sobs.
“Professor-” Sirius began, looking slightly worried.
Then, unbelievably, Professor McGonagall let out a laugh. She leaned on the windowsill as laughter spilled from her lips. James, Sirius and Peter exchanged incredulous glances.
“Um, are you alright, Professor?” Peter asked.
“There’s a giant squid floating outside my window!” McGonagall cried, looking as if she couldn’t decide whether or not the whole thing was deeply funny or deeply horrifying.
James and Sirius looked extremely pleased with themselves. The smug looks on their faces seemed to bring McGonagall back to her senses, because she straightened up, her face becoming serious once more.
“Five points from Gryffindor each. And you’ll all serve detention with Mr Filch tomorrow night.” She said, snappishly, looking extremely embarrassed by her momentary lapse in composure.
Sirius groaned but James shot him a sharp look.
“We’re really sorry, Professor.” He offered. Professor McGonagall levelled him with a look.
“Are you really?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Er- no.”
“Get out of my sight. All three of you.” McGonagall put a hand to her forehead.
Grinning, the Marauders bolted towards the exit. Just as they were slipping out the door, Sirius turned back and shouted over his shoulder,
“Until next time, Minnie!”
A moment later, McGonagall’s voice was echoing after them down the corridor, barely audible over their raucous laughter.
“Another five points from Gryffindor, Mr Black!”