"I've decided that I'm going to start a band."
James could tell that this topic had not yet been brought up at home because even Remus looked at Sirius with an expression of confused questioning, eyes narrowed.
"A band?" James asked.
"Yes, a band," Sirius said, his air lofty and gratuitous, as though he were giving them a great favor by announcing this to the dinner party at large first.
Harry was trying to keep a straight face and not laugh as he watched his Uncle Moony react to the announcement.
"And pray, do tell, what are you going to call yourself? Sirius and the Padfoots?" James asked.
"The K-9s," Remus suggested.
"The Yappers," James said.
"The Rolling Bones."
"Ha - good one," said Harry, grinning.
Sirius stared at them as Harry, Remus, and James laughed and shared high-fives at the terrible band names, and when they'd had their fun at it, he said, "I haven't come up with a band name yet as that is a sacred moment between the band members once they've all been assembled."
"Okay, I'll bite - " Remus started, but he was interrupted by James giggling.
"The Bark and Bites."
"Do you have members?" Remus finished his question.
Sirius looked at James.
James raised an eyebrow.
"You're looking for a hobby," Sirius explained, "And it appears I am now looking for members of my band."
James guffawed, "You've heard me sing. Sirius, that's a hard no."
"Sing! Please. Merlin knows I can sing - Nah, we don't need a singer, but we could use some other instrumentals besides my own glorious lungs. We need the Brian, Roger, and John to my Freddie."
Remus bit his lips and kept his eyes diverted downward. He knew if he met James's eyes at that moment he'd laugh and never, ever stop.
James said, "Well, good luck with it."
"C'mon, I could teach you guitar or drums or kazoo! I know you can play a killer kazoo."
"No."
"I mean nobody shreds on the kazoo like Sirius Black, of course, but I'll be busy singing so I can't kazoo and sing at the same time."
Harry asked, "How does one shred on a kazoo?"
"I'll show you later, Hazzah," Sirius said, then turned back to James.
"Sirius and the Marauders," Remus said suddenly.
Sirius pointed at Remus, "See, there we have it, excellent band name."
"No," James said again, and he turned back to his dinner, cutting a piece of roast from the lump of it on his plate.
Sirius looked at Remus pleadingly. Remus shook his head and Sirius frowned, then turned to James again with determination on his face. "I think it's a grand idea, James. We said once we were going to start a band like the Broomstick Boys..."
"We were eleven."
"And like wine we've only become finer with age."
"Even your spawn could be in the band. You wanna be in my band, Harry?"
"Sure," Harry said, shrugging.
"See? Even Harry wants to be in the band."
"Grand, then you pair be in the band."
"Prongs."
"Nope."
"We could call it Sirius and the Prongses... Prongsi? Prongsettes?"
"I like that actually," Harry said.
"The plural would be just Prongs," Remus said.
"What?"
"The plural of Prongs is Prongs," Remus said, "It is it's own plural."
"Sort of like James is?"
"Precisely like James is."
Sirius grinned. "See? You're meant to be in the band. Multiple Jame with his Multiple Prong."
James cut a potato and bit into it, chewing it as he stared benignly at Sirius.
"And the Prongslet, of course."
"Yeah!" Harry agreed.
"We'll put a tie 'round your head, and some eyeliner on your eyes... Get you a couple of wizarding tattoos..."
"You're not tattooing my son."
Harry was laughing, smiling widely.
"A nice rock and roll electric guitar - metallic gold, it'll be. You need a good stand-out, recognizable instrument these days. The guitar is part of the celebrity, it becomes it's own personality in the band, practically. Remus, if you join the band, you could grow out your hair, get a permanent, make those curls of yours work for a living."
Remus looked up, "Since when am I in this band?"
"Since now," Sirius said, "I've just decided."
Remus shook his head, "Well that's definitely out." He got up and went to the kitchen for seconds. It was that time of the moon cycle when his appetite was positively insatiable and James had done him the favor of leaving part of the roast underdone and perfectly pink in the middle.
"You're all bummers," Sirius called out.
"Look, I agreed to think about a hobby or something to take up once Harry goes to Hogwarts, but I've got a month left with my son and I'd rather spend that month with him and explore my options starting after the first, alright? Can you respect that? And also my hobbies are not going to involve golden electric guitars or McKenna," James added pointedly, looking at Sirius.
Sirius was eyeballing James like a hungry animal, clearly thinking what sort of things he could rope James into doing.
"Well you're welcome to come and take your raincheck wander about the college anytime," Remus said. "Though if you want to take a class, you ought to think about coming sooner than later as they start the first week of September and you'll want to have time to get your supplies and get enrolled and such. You'll have no trouble at it, it's just you won't want to start late. There are a good deal of options. It isn't all arts."
James smiled, "Thank you, Remus." He looked at Sirius, "See, Remus is doing this respectfully, you could learn something from him."
"Sirius could learn a great deal from me," Remus intoned quietly.
"See Remus is doing this respectfully you could learn something," Sirius parroted James, tossing his head back and forth as he mimicked in a high tone. "You're such a wet sock."
"I hate wet socks," Harry supplied.
"The worst," said Remus as he returned and set himself into his seat again, a pile of pink roast on his plate, and stared eating eagerly again.
"So just to settle everyone's worried little minds, I'll go 'round the college this week and have a look and maybe - MAYBE! -" he added emphatically as Sirius lit up, "I will look into signing up for something."
Remus said, "Sounds great, James, a very good step. Don't you think so, Sirius?"
Sirius looked at Remus. Remus raised an eyebrow and when the eyebrow raise didn't incite a response, he kicked Sirius in the ankle under the table. "Ouch! Mean Moony! Merlin's fanny. I mean a BETTER step would be to sign up for lessons to become the Brian Mays to my Freddie Mercury, but sure, I s'pose some other kind of a class will do."
"Dad doesn't have the hair to be Brian Mays, Uncle Padfoot," Harry said pragmatically.
Sirius looked at Harry and let out a loud barking laugh. "I don't know if I'm betrayed or amused, Prongslet."
"If you come 'round about half two tomorrow, I'll have some open time," Remus piped up to James.
"Done," James said. "Now everyone shut up about bands and classes and can we please have a bit of peace now?"
Remus smiled and nodded.
Sirius sighed, throwing himself back into a slouching position very dramatically, "Yeah-yeah-yeah."
Silence fell over them.
"Ron's brothers gave him a spell to turn his rat yellow," Harry said, "But it sounds fake to me."
"What is it?" Sirius asked, sitting up.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow," Harry said.
"Definitely not real," Remus muttered.
"Who the hell would want to have a pet rat? Nasty things, rats..." Sirius scowled and looked at James.
James frowned. "I didn't know Ron had a rat."
"Yeah, it used to be his brother Percy's."
"Tell him he ought to throw it out and get himself a real pet," Sirius grumbled. "Rats are disgusting. They aren't faithful at all... He ought to squash it, throw it in a hole, set it on fire, or drown it in marmalade."
Harry looked at Sirius with wide eyes.
"Why's he want to turn it yellow for?" James asked.
Harry shrugged.
"If he used orange marmalade, perhaps that would dye the fucker yellow," Sirius said darkly. "I mean it would be dead, then, but that's the best way for rats to be, isn't it?"
"Flavus Mausius," Remus said, interrupting Sirius.
They all looked at Remus.
"That's the spell he would need," Remus said, "To turn the rat yellow."
"Remcyclopedia!" James said accusatory.
Remius Lupin, the mastermind, sat at his desk in his office, sipping a cup of Yorkshire Gold, quite amused with himself.
At two twenty, Daisy Fuentes knocked on his door.
The good thing about a person being reliably late is that one can plan for it so long as the lateness is consistent.
"Come in," he called, putting the cup aside.
"I'm so sorry I'm late," Daisy said, hurrying through the door, out of breath, "The bus line was slow today and I had to drop off --"
"Your daughter, yes," Remus nodded. He waved a palm to the chairs in front of his desk. "Have a seat. I'll get your finished pieces... They're just over here..." And Remus went and collected the short stack of canvases, wrapped in brown paper and tied nicely with a string so that they would be easier to carry. It was all of the pieces that Daisy had painted over the term. "You did really excellent work the whole class, Miss. Fuentes," Remus remarked, "I really ought to be giving you a higher grade than this, but I think you'll be pleased." He held out an envelope that contained her final grade.
Daisy opened the envelope nervously and peeked inside. She was happy. She looked up, tears in her eyes.
"As I said, it should've been better," Remus said. He paused, then asked, "Why don't I see your name on any of my Autumn classes?"
"I'm studying business," she explained, "I treated myself for the one, but I really have to focus on my degree."
Remus said, "Have you considered just... switching to art?"
"I wish I could," Daisy answered, "But I have to care for my daughter. I'm lucky I'm able to get away long enough to do what I'm doing, honestly. Like tonight, I have a class starting at three and it was murder to get my nanny to agree to stay on 'til half six. As is, she charges me double for the last hour and a half!"
"I think you really could have a future in arts," Remus said.
"Well, I s'pose I'll never know," Daisy said, shrugging. "If it was just me... I might be able to take the risk, but with her, too -- I have to have something that I can rely on to pay me back once I graduate, you know? Something I can count on."
"I understand. I can't say I'm not disappointed that I won't be seeing more of your work, but... I do think it's noble, your cause."
"Thank you, Professor."
There was a knock at the door and Remus glanced at his watch, a smile crawling over his mouth as he got up and walked across the room to answer it. "Sorry - my half two's a bit early..."
Daisy was still tucking her canvases into a zippered bag she used to transport them to and from the college. "Sorry, I'll hurry and be off quickly."
"Oh it's alright," Remus said. "No worries..."
Daisy looked up as Remus opened the door and James came in, "Sorry, I'm a wee early... Harry and I were off at the Odairs - Oliver was 'round with Colin and you know Harry goes nuts over Colin, they've just popped off to --" he stopped short, eyes widening as he spotted Daisy.
"James!" Remus said in surprise. "Bloody hell. I forgot all about our meeting." Remus clapped his hand to his forehead. Then, after a pause, "You remember Daisy, don't you?"
James nodded, "I do... How are you?"
Daisy smiled, "I'm alright. How are you?"
"Good," James said, "And you?"
"You - you already asked me," Daisy said gently, smiling as James flushed. "I'm still alright."
Remus looked from one of them to the other, a smirk on his face. Then, he said, "As I was saying, I've completely forgotten our meeting and booked another for half two. Damn." He frowned. Then, as though inspired, he said lightly, "Miss. Fuentes?"
"Yes?" Daisy turned to Remus.
"Your class doesn't start until three you said?"
"Yes?" she said, confused.
Remus said, "Well... and I'm sorry if I'm imposing, but - I was supposed to give James here a tour 'round campus. He's thinking about taking a class of some sort. I've totally forgotten he was coming 'round and I've double booked. Perhaps if you're not doing anything before your class - I mean, I could take over in about twenty minutes so you don't miss your class... Maybe a bit of time with a student would be a benefit? I'd be very biased, of course.... but you could give him a real student's perspective."
Daisy looked at James, eyes wide.
James flushed. "Godric, what a way to put her on the spot, Rey."
"No, no!" Daisy said quickly, "I mean, it's alright. I'm not doing anything before my class. I'd love to show you 'round. I mean, if you want to."
"Sure," James said, nodding, "Sure. Yes. I mean, I agree it might beneficial. Student perspective."
Remus nodded, then glanced at his watch, "Yes. Precisely." He paused and turned, grabbing his briefcase from the desk. "I have to pop to meet my appointment, but - James, if you just lock up when you lot leave, I'll catch you up in about twenty minutes, alright? Maybe finish off at the library?"
Daisy nodded, and Remus threw the keys to his office to James, and rushed out the door.
Remus had no idea what he was going to do for twenty minutes, but he reckoned even if all he did was take a walk 'round the block it would be utterly worth the invested time. He grinned to himself - perhaps he'd disapparate 'round Sirius's shop and brag.
After all, Sirius really could learn a great deal of things from him.