The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

Exposed

It was much, much later, during the meteor shower, as nearly the entire school was out on the grounds, taking it in turn to look through the telescopes they'd spent all afternoon setting up. The skies were dark and speckled with starlight, punctuated now and then by a couple of meteors streaking across the sky. Professor Zosma was walking among the students, huddled about on blankets across the grass, talking with a magically magnified voice about the meaning of what they were seeing.

Sirius, James, and Peter sat on a blanket at the foot of Remus's wheelchair, Sirius leaning against Remus's good leg with his head on his mate's knee. Peter was digging through his bag from Honeydukes, which he'd brought along to the shower so that he wouldn't go hungry. James was staring away across the grass to where Lily was lying on a blanket with her friends. He was using his wand to grow and shrink a snail that had wandered onto the blanket from the grass as he watched her.

"Orion, the great hunter, was honored by the god Zeus by having his image placed in the sky, along with the scorpion that killed him," Zosma was saying. "The scorpion bit him on his heel, which is represented by the star Sirius, the brightest star in the sky..."

"You're the brightest star, mate, you hear that?" Remus said in a teasing voice, pausing in taking notes.

Sirius snorted. "Dunno about that."

Zosma continued on, "...Sirius alternately represents the hunting dog of Orion, who would be sent into battles ahead of the great hunter to lead him to his prey... Orion's arrow aims the direction that Sirius points so as to hit his mark."

James yawned, looking away from Lily for the first time in hours, "Bloody hell, they seriously brought us all out here just to stare up at a bunch of shooting stars?" He let the snail, slightly larger than he'd been before, escape at last. "This is boring. I thought this was supposed to be important or something."

"I'm bored, too," Peter replied around a mouthful of chocolate cauldrons.

Remus said, "It is important. The shower comes from the comet Halley, and the debris is hundreds of thousands of years old and --"

"Blah, blah, blah," muttered James. He looked about for Zosma, then turned to look at the other three, "She'll never notice if we nip off."

Sirius looked over, "Nip off and do what?"

"Dunno, anything," James said, "Anything but sit here and stare at the bloody boring sky."

Remus looked disapprovingly at him, "You can't sneak off during class!"

"I could..." James said and he slowly stood up, grinning devilishly at Remus.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh I would," said James.

Remus eyed him, "You shouldn't," he amended.

James's eyes sparkled. "Mate, the best things are things we shouldn't do, haven't you realized that yet?"

Sirius grinned.

Remus shook his head, "You go. I want to hear this."

Peter was still rustling about in his bag of treats.

James nudged him, "Pete. C'mon. We're going to nip off and do something. You coming?"

Peter looked at Zosma, then back up at James, "But she'll notice we're gone..."

"Fine then." James turned to Sirius, "You're in, aren't you?"

"Of course," Sirius replied, standing up and dusting off, "If I hear one more story about bloody Orion and his bloody dog, I'll blast myself. Let's go."

Remus looked up at him pleadingly, "You of all people should be interested in this!" he said, "They originate from the center of the constellation that nearly all your family is named from! Each one of these meteors, according to Vablatsky, could represent some major life event for your family."

Sirius laughed, "Unless one of those ruddy meteors falls from the sky and knocks Father's head off his shoulders it won't matter to me. When have I ever given a damn about my family?" And before Remus could reply or try to talk them out of it, James and Sirius hurried off into the shadows that lined the foot of the castle, following the perimeter away.

Remus sighed.

"Could a meteor really fall from the sky and knock somebody's head off their shoulders?" Peter asked, worriedly looking up to see how close the meteors were coming.

"I suppose a meteorite could," Remus answered, "But it's very improbable."

Still, Peter kept a closer eye on the shower after that.