The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Lily sighed as she followed Remus through the common room and made sure that everyone was in, if not in bed. As she climbed the stairs to the girls' dormitories she found herself wondering how someone as pleasant as Remus Lupin could be friends with Potter and Black. Pettigrew she could understand – he was, and she hated herself for saying it, rather dim and a bit of a follower; all he seemed to contribute to their group was the hero-worship which Potter and Black so desperately loved while they, in return, protected him from being picked on and left as an outsider. Remus, however, was different – he was intelligent, kind and had no difficulty in making friends so how one of the quietest people she had ever met had fallen in with them would always remain a mystery to her. Even after a year of being a Prefect alongside him though she had very few answers – as if sensing that talking about them would rile her up, Remus – rather wisely – had clearly made the decision to leave any discussion about his choice of friends to times outside their duty hours. Still, now that she was faced with the prospect of having to spend time with the group and be civil to them she was tempted to ask him about them.

Her duties took her a while because many of the girls wanted to talk to her – another well known fact was that, even if you weren't in Gryffindor, you could always talk to Lily Evans and she would listen kindly, no matter what year you were in. It was another aspect of her personality which split the opinion of the school straight down the middle – on one hand it made it rather difficult for the girls who were jealous of her to fully hate her because there was always the knowledge that she was completely undeserving of it niggling in the backs of their minds while it spurred others on and made their hatred even more zealous. "She's so bloody righteous," some could be heard muttering in hallways on their ways to lessons, "like some kind of fallen angel." Another would say, "I just don't know how she does it or why. It's not like it makes us hate her any less."

When she returned to the common room she found Remus helping a third year with his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework, his worn frame enveloped by the cushions of the armchair which he was sitting in as he explained the ways to defeat a Kappa to the poor boy.

"I've finished," she mouthed to him before collapsing into the sofa opposite and sinking into its sagging back.

"How many inches have you got left Jack?" he asked kindly as the boy squinted at his parchment.

"About two," he estimated.

"Right well the stuff I just told you ought to cover that then – if not just start writing a bit bigger," he chuckled before moving to sit next to Lily so that they could chat without disturbing him. Before Remus had even managed to open his mouth something hit his lap, knocking all of the air out of him in a large "Ooompf!" This something had long legs and equally long arms which wrapped themselves around Lupin before draping themselves over the sofa. Beside the 'something' crashed another one, with wildly escaping curls bouncing around his head and a hacking laugh which approximated a bark, his even longer legs lying across the whole of the sofa. "Hello Moony my old friend!" he cried. "Long time-"

"No see!" Potter added with some particularly dramatic fake crying noises.

"It's been about an hour and a half," he replied, his voice sounding fairly odd as James' arm snaked itself around his windpipe.

"Oh but it was torture without you mate," Sirius whimpered. "We had no one, no one, to tell us to work at all. I felt absolutely lost without you."

"Is this really necessary?" Lily complained, wondering whether she would ever be able to escape them.

"Of course it is my fair Lily," James cried, rolling off the sofa and prostrating himself before her, laying his head on her lap and moaning. "We only want to talk to our dear friend Moony."