Remus
It was the second week of December. Despite my tiny bit of dread and Sirius' obvious-even-though-he-tried-to-hide-it anxiety about going home, the nearness of Christmas was nice.
It was obvious that we were popular, or really, Sirius and James were popular and me and Peter were sort of popular by extension. James, always hung up on Lily, noticed the attention but didn't care. Sirius on the other hand.. we are still 11 but I can tell he's going to be a heartthrob when he's older. Everyone thought they were so cool, and Sirius basked in that warmth.
We all gave each other our Christmas gifts early since we wouldn't be together for the real thing. Sirius and James got an older gryffindor to get chocolate for them from Hogsmeade as a gift for me, as well as payment for the first prank idea I got them, of course. I got an older gryffindor to get me prank supplies for them. Peter got me a map that a teacher enchanted so that the stairs moved because I kept getting lost. I got Peter an enchanted quill that never runs out of ink.
"Why can't we just use pens, seriously!" I had asked while writing to my dad to order Peter's gift
"What are pens?" James asked
"It's like an advanced quill, it's a muggle thing. It has ink built in. Being a half-blood I get the advantages of both sometimes."
"You should bring one to school so we can see!" Peter said
And of course I promised to bring one. I feel like they might break the parchment they have so I brought paper too.
"Woah" Peter said, the first to say anything after I showed them my pen.
"It's interesting how muggles adapt without magic." Sirius said
"They've invented a bunch of things that we rely on magic for. Cars and planes for travel. Pens and this kind of paper. Actually I once bought waterproof muggle paper."
"How'd they make it waterproof without magic?"peter asked
"It's made of stone."
James said, "Stone? Wow, we definitely underestimate muggles sometimes"
Lily, Marlene and Mary came into the common room, where we were.
"What are you all looking at?" Mary sat beside me. The others assured me that Mary had a crush on me. I didn't care either way.
James perked up, hoping to catch Lily's attention. "Remus brought us some pens. They are a muggle device that has ink built in. Remus said that muggles have made waterproof parchment without magic. Isn't that cool, Evans?"
Lily rolled her eyes at James' weak attempt at interesting her. "I've bought some of that before. It's really not that big a deal."
"Really? Bloody hell, what kinds of things have muggles invented if that's not cool!?"
"Potter, they just aren't you. It's not hard to impress you."
Even though Lily barely said anything to him, James was a blushing mess all day. "She talked to me, Sirius, she talked to me."
"I talk to you all the time. You're already blessed with my presence, calm down."
To be fair, that was the longest Lily has talked to him so far.
***
Finally the cold was gone and quidditch started up again. James was watching it almost religiously despite him never being able to join this young. I didn't like it. It was boring and my injuries didn't help. Sirius and James were definitely going to try out. I only went to the games if they were in it. So definitely not this year. Peter shared my view on this.
Lily's friend Marlene had similar interest in the sport to my best friends. Mary and Lily sometimes went with her to watch. Of course, James took these opportunities to flirt.
***
Sirius
Cw implied abuse
We were eleven and we had exams. It didn't seem fair to me but not like I had a choice. Remus started studying a month before, like the nerd he is.
I, however, decided that I was smart enough to pass and to focus my attention on the end of year prank. The last prank. The biggest one. Leave this year, and my friends and all the good things, with a bang. I remembered my favourite pranks.
Remus' first idea, the long hair, kept growing into their feet and would grow back every time they cut it. The grow back part was kind of an accident but it added to the prank anyway. The teachers only helped them the next day.
Peter's first idea was about making the stairs giggle. We thought it was a little strange but it sure freaked people out, especially the little hufflepuffs. At night, we made ourselves immune so no one but us could sneak around at night. We had to keep casting it because the teachers got annoyed. We only stopped once we got a lot of detention.
For James' birthday we made the floors bouncy and the teachers didn't do the counter charm until a kid broke his leg jumping.
I had an idea one time to make the classes upside down. We couldn't figure out a simple spell so it took a lot of sneaking and time to do it and we only got to do one class but the sticking that made the desks go on the ceiling canceled history so I think it was a win.
I was interrupted from my thoughts with Remus saying, "don't wizards have shorts or something?"
"What?" I responded.
"Shorts. Like aren't you dying of heat? Are shorts a muggle thing? Like half pants. Pants that go to your knees."
"Why would your pants go to your knees? That's ridiculous."
"I'm going to start wearing muggle clothes on weekends. This heat is bloody ridiculous. Do you want to borrow some of mine?"
"What? Why?"
"You look like you are boiling in your robes."
"I'm fine."
"Is it because they are muggle clothes or because they are mine?"
"It's because I'm fine." I avoided his gaze and pretended to study
"Sirius.."
"What?" i didn't look up from my blank page.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I got to study, so sod off." He frowned at me and went to our room.
Remus
Cw talk of bad family stuff
"James!"
"Hey moony."
"Do you know what's up with Sirius? He's literally bloody boiling but won't let me lend him some clothes."
"Why are you giving him clothes?"
"Because wizards don't have cool enough clothes. I personally am boiling. You should borrow some of mine too." I brought out some muggle clothes and showed him. He jumped at the opportunity to wear something that isn't black and long.
"I get what you mean now. But.." he hesitated. "I think I do know why he won't wear them" he then looked at my body with a strange expression. I looked and realized why. I had been living with people who knew about my condition for so long that I forgot I had to cover up my scars for a minute.
"Oh." I said instinctively. I silently changed and we didn't mention it. I stopped bothering Sirius about it even though I was curious of his reason, I didn't bring it up.
A few days later, I was coming down to the common room and saw it was only James and Sirius.
".. I don't know if it's like you. I don't know if there's a difference but his are less neat than yours." James said quietly. "Also if someone did it, it's not his parents. Maybe it's that weird illness that makes him miss class?" They were talking about me and my scars. So it was true, Sirius had scars. And someone was hurting him. His parents. I felt sick and I sat on the stairs. They still hadn't seen me.
"What kind of illness gives you scars? Why are we talking about him without him anyway? Should we ask him about it?" Sirius was pacing
"I don't know. He didn't seem comfortable talking about it. He might ask about yours too."
"If we ask, it's only fair." Commented Sirius.
"Are you comfortable with that though Sirius?"
".. I think I should tell him. And maybe Peter. But first Remus."
I decided that my name was a good time to enter. "Tell me what?"
"Remus! How much did you hear?" James asked nervously.
"Tell me what?" I repeated.
"I think you should sit." Sirius said sitting
I sat beside him on the couch. James sat in a chair on Sirius' side.
"I know it probably wasn't James' place," he started solemnly (no I'm not saying serious 😤 ) "but he told me about your scars. Are you comfortable telling me about them?"
"I heard a bit of your conversation." I said instead of an answer. Sirius waited silently. James looked unsure and nervous. "It's complicated. But I guess I can at least say you are right. They are from my 'mysterious illness'"
"Hmm." Sirius said thoughtfully. "You heard so you know about mine?"
"I can infer where they are from." I said. It was tense. I can tell that James felt awkward.
Some of Sirius' seemingly natural confidence slipped for a half second. He was as anxious or maybe more so than James. "It's your choice whether or not to tell any of us anything about your illness or you. We- I am here for you. Anything you say to me is between us. I won't even tell James." James gave a mock offended gasp. Sirius ignored him. "Us for life, whatever we end up being called."
"Marauders." I said.
Sirius' laughed a bit at the seemingly random thing I said. "What?"
"I think we should be called Marauders. I think it means people who look for trouble or something, but I heard a teacher call us that once."
"You and your brain." James said fondly.
"That's amazing. We should- wait, let's finish this first."
I smiled. "Marauders for life. I'm here for you too, Sirius. If you want to talk about your parents or anything. Marauders, all hours for almost anything."
"Almost?" Sirius said amused
"We can't have you abusing this power. I need my beauty sleep."
"Of course." We ran upstairs, serious (😉) talk done. Peter was startled by the sight (and sound) of three marauders running top speed at him.
And from that day on, we were marauders.
Sirius didn't get his end of first year big prank but he wasn't too grumpy about it. Well, no he was a huge prat in the train home.
AN: hey! It's longer woooo