Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Eleven - A Griffin-Door

When he got to the common room he found a bit of chaos as several people were standing on furniture while loads of other students were running around. Remus watched as a mouse ran by followed by an older student.

"Accio mouse!" someone else said and the mouse went flying and was promptly stuffed into a cage.

"Wh--what's g-g-going on?" Remus asked one of the first-year girls who was trying to study, her feet up off the floor.

"Someone nicked a couple cages of animals McGonagall was using for Transfiguration classes and let them loose," Alice Colgate replied, giving him an annoyed look. "Three guesses as to who. Mice, toads, and--ah yes, rabbits," she added as a bunny bolted past them.

Remus sighed and went up to his dorm to find the culprits sitting on Potter's bed, laughing their heads off. Pettigrew's hair was at least mostly back to normal though the ends were still a little sticky-uppy. All three of them grinned as Remus came in, asking if there were still loose animals. "Y--yes... q--quite a bit," Remus replied, dropping his bag onto his bed. "Th-there aren't any up h-h-here are there?"

"Nah, just in the common room," Black promised. "Afraid of rabbits, are you?"

"D-deathly so," Remus said as he took his shoes off and then glanced up to see all three of them giving him anxious looks. "Th--that was--was s--sarcasm."

"Oh, whew," Potter breathed out. "Hey, wanna play cards? Peter's gonna teach us some Muggle card games."

Remus shook his head and then debated going down back to the common room, but didn't want to deal with the animals and chasing. Then he debated just going under his bed but he didn't want to seem any weirder than he already was, so finally he tucked his feet under him on his bed and went back to figuring out how to stop the scents being so strong in Potions. Almost right away static blasted and he glanced over to see Potter adjusting the dial on a fancy radio until he got to a rock station. Then Potter actually asked Remus if he minded the music, and Remus shook his head again.

It was actually rather nice, sitting there reading while the other three played cards and laughed. Remus had to bite his tongue to stop from laughing at some of the jokes they shared with each other. One particular word-pun-play one he couldn't help but laugh and then began blushing when they looked at him. He mumbled an apology and considered shutting his curtains but...

"Hey Lupin, what did the athlete use to cure his rash?" Potter asked and Remus frowned. "Quit-itch."

Remus snorted and covered his mouth. "Th--that's t-t-terrible!" he choked out between giggles.

"Lupin, which part of a centaur has more hair?" Black asked.

"Th--the equine ha--"

"The outside," Black cut him off and Remus began giggling even more.

"What do you call two Quidditch players who share a room?" Potter asked and Remus gave a helpless shrug, waiting for the pun. "Broom-mates." That set him off into more giggles.

"Hey Lupin, how do you get a fantastic beast into the house?" Black said and Remus just waited. "Through the... Griffin-door."

He slumped down, covering his face with his book, trying to stop from laughing. "Th-th--these are awful!"

"You tell one," Potter said.

"N--no, I--I--I d-don't know any," Remus protested.

"Oh come on, you've got to know at least one joke," Black begged.

"Come on, tell us one!" Pettigrew added.

Remus wracked his brain trying to figure out a joke that wasn't too stupid or weird. Nothing really came to his mind, nothing as simplistically punny as the ones they told. They were all waiting though and looking at him and it was too much.