Marauders & Marauderettes- Complete

11. Back To School

It had been quite some time now, and it was nearly the end of the summer holidays. The Marauders and Marauderettes had a lot of fun at the Lupin Mansion. They played different games every day and went swimming in the huge pool they had. But perhaps the thing that awed them the most was Rose's magnificent art room.

It was only hers, and no one was allowed to go in there without her permission. It was huge room, with supplies scattered here and there. There were brushes, squeezed paint tubes, easels and rags used for cleaning up thrown randomly around the room. There were also paintings hung everywhere, some finished and some incomplete. The most beautiful thing, however was the huge window that covered the whole wall and looked out to the countryside. It was a breath- taking view. All of them were very surprised to see the room, because it was rather messy and Rose was the opposite of messy. However, Remus explained that she could be quite a scatter brain when it came to art. She would forget to eat, and if you let her, she would stay locked up in that room for hours, just painting. At this point Rose chimed in that even though it was messy, she knew exactly where every single thing was.

Another thing which was very fascinating was the horse stables they had. There were horses in every color as well as unicorns, and though no one could see them, threstals. The stables were Roxanne's favorite place to be. She would spend hours grooming them and of course, every morning she would take her horse, Chestnut to the village, take the grocery list from the maids and go buy them on her own. On the way back she would come through the plains, where she rode as fast as she could, enjoying the cool wind on her face and taking in the scenic beauty. Every one found out, much to their amusement, that Sirius was actually terrified of horses. Sylvia told them that when he was little, like maybe 5 years old, he was kicked by horse in the face. Ever since, he didn't come near them. Of course, until Roxanne forced him to sit on one while threatening him that she would never talk to him again if he didn't. To Sirius' surprise, he learned riding really easily, and within a few days, he would join Roxanne on her daily morning excursions, surprising Sylvia, because she said he hated waking up early.

Remus's favorite place in the whole house, was actually the special room his parents had designed for him for his transformations every month. It was secure room, with all sort of stuff for him to bite on, so that he doesn't hurt himself. It was pretty roomy and it was decorated to look like a jungle. Remus, had however, added a few cushions there, and some of his favorite novels and it became his hideout sanctuary, a place where he resided when he felt hurt, upset or just sad. Sylvia accidently stumbled upon this room when she got lost on her first day of her visit. She thought it was an abandoned room and started coming there often, when she felt she couldn't control her feelings anymore. One day, Remus found her and he realized that they were alike in many ways.

Another thing the Marauders and Marauderettes did was discover their talents. A lot. Lily and Remus were exceptionally good at chess, so they spent hours trying to defeat each other. James who liked chess, but wasn't as good at it, watched them and tried to help Lily whenever he could, with the result that she always lost. Rose and Sirius discovered another talent they had: archery. They would go to the woods every day and practice, until they could shoot a bulls- eye with their backs turned, while on a galloping horse. Roxanne and James, were fabulous horse- riders and raced each other every day, usually followed by Sirius. In a game of Solve the Mystery, Rose found out that she'd make a pretty good detective, while Roxanne found out that she would make an impressive writer after they decided to put on a skit for fun and Roxanne was given the job of writing the script. In a game of Quidditch (girls' vs boys) James discovered his hidden talent; flying while Sylvia discovered hers: coaching, as she had to teach Lily how to fly. The result was that Lily scored 6 goals her first time. But Lily knew she wasn't meant for flying. She was meant to be in a lab. Hope was actually a potion- brewer for St Mungo's and she let Lily explore her lab once. Hope had to drag Lily out of there, for she loved it too much. Robert knew he had a talent for playing the guitar, but a game of truth and dare helped him discover his talent: singing, when he was dared to sing If You Are Happy and You Know It to Hope while acting as if he was dying. Remus found out that he would do an amazing job as a teacher, when he taught Marianne - who visited them once for a whole day as she missed her brother- about Arithmancy. Everyone was shocked when she showed them that she could calculate the percentage of a substance in a potion using a simple formula and credited it to Remus' teaching skills.