"Are you mad?!"
"Shhhh, Evans, keep it down," Sirius said, rolling his eyes and swatting his palm in Lily's direction. His eyes swiveled to the front of the Potions classroom, where Horace Slughorn let out a great gasping snort and sank even further to the left in his chair behind his great big desk. Sirius dramatically swept his fist across his brow, as though they'd had a near escape of it, and smirkingly turned back to Lily. "Don't need to be broadcasting our business to the entire sixth year class of Slytherins, now do you?"
Lily was staring at Sirius incredulously. She leaned closer, their elbows bumping, "Still, you're absolutely bonkers if you think it's even something close to resembling a good idea to go gallavanting about out in those woods with Potter still so --" she paused, but there really was no word for what Potter was.
Sirius said, "All the more reason why we've got to." He glanced at the empty seat where Potter ought to be, Lily's cauldron bubbling away, untended, as she'd stepped over to stand at the edge of Sirius and Remus's desk. She held a thick splatter of frogspawn in one palm and a little jar in the other that looked to have tentacles sticking out of it. Sirius eyed the jar warily, then sweeped his palms over the cauldron, dusting tiny flecks of leaves he'd just chopped up over the liquid inside.
Remus's eyes watched the dusting fall, his eyes going nearly crossed as they fell into the cauldron. "Sirius, you weren't supposed to -- oh bloody hell, now you've created about twelve more steps for me..."
Sirius didn't even pay attention, he was focused on Lily so hard, "It'll take his mind off the rubbish. Going about with the three of us is bound to raise his spirits."
"Or else shatter them completely," Lily muttered, but she took her jar of tentacles back to her own table - and only just in time, too, thought Sirius, as they stretched to try at catching the edge of the table as she went. The tentacles stretched behind her, keeping their grip, until Sirius whapped them with his wand and they recoiled. He watched them go, then shuddered and turned back to Remus and the cauldron, which had turned a peculiar shade of orange.
"Is it supposed to be that color, mate?" Sirius asked.
"No," answered Remus dolefully.
"GET UP POTTER, GET UP!!!"
James groaned and pulled his duvet tighter 'round himself.
It did no good to ignore Sirius Black, however, and soon he felt the weight of Sirius thump on top of him, and the blankets were tugged off. He opened his eyes and looked blearily up at Sirius's vague form looming over him in the fading afternoon sunlight coming through the windows.
"Oi, what the bloody hell're you doin' asleep at this hour anyway?" Sirius demanded, raising an eyebrow, "You know it's barely after lunch?" He reached for James's glasses on the end table, unfolding them, and ramming the thick plastic frames onto his mate's face. "Here, you specky git. Put ya eyes on, then."
James adjusted how the frames set on his nose as the world came into focus and Sirius rolled off the bed gracefully. Remus was packing a couple jumpers for them each into a bag and Peter was counting out rations from the Marauder's stash of sweets. "What's all this, then?" he asked.
In reply, Sirius held up his wrist and James saw the magical tattoo over his pulse point was the dark silhouette of a forest, a little werewolf seated at the spot where Sirius's wrist met his palm, howling up at the growing yellow-white disc of the full moon. "You know what it's about," Sirius said, his voice low. He grinned a manic sort of smile that parted his lips wide and showed his teeth and made his grey eyes glint. He leaned closer and his hair, long and loose, hung wildly around his face as he said, "The woods beckon us, Potter."
Remus rolled his eyes at the drama that was Sirius Black as he tugged on a pair of thick woolen socks. Peter even looked up to see the crazy look on his face and a funny shiver went through him.
James raised an eyebrow, "You've got madness within you, Black," he said in a flat tone.
Sirius grinned.
"He really does, though, doesn't he?" Remus said.
Sirius turned about and pointed at Remus, "You'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Moony?" he smirked.
"Oi, let's keep it clean," Peter said quietly.
And all three of the others burst out laughing. "Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius hollered, grabbing Pete about the shoulders from behind, tugging him squeaking and squealing into his torso and messing up his hair with the knuckles of his free arm, "I didn't know you had it in you, mate!"
Peter struggled to get away.
Twenty minutes later and the Marauders had hung their bags upon Peter like a Christmas tree and tossed the invisibility cloak over his head. They guided him along, walking in a little knot around him down the stairs to the common room. Peter had complained that it was him what had to cover the luggage, but they'd countered he was the only one short enough to fit under there with all the bags and still be completely covered. Nobody needed to see all the things they'd packed, after all. Suspicions might arise.
Frank Longbottom sat before the fireplace, a book of Quidditch plays open on his knees as Ali sat beside him, a pair of knitting needles clicking at her side as she wrote on a long scroll of parchment that flopped over her knees and across the floor at her feet. Lily sat before them on the floor, and it was her eyes that caught the Marauders first. She stared up at them as seemingly only three of them ventured toward the Fat Lady's entrance. Lily pushed herself up from the floor, abandoning the pile of colorful threads she'd been tying into knotted bracelets, and hurried over just as Sirius was opening the door.
"Where are you lot going?" she asked in an important tone.
Remus noticed she'd not only put on her Prefect badge but she'd shined the bloody thing, and a twinge of guilt went through his stomach. He wasn't even sure where his badge was.
Sirius said, "You know perfectly well where we're going, Evans."
"Without Pete?"
"Here's here," Remus answered lowly.
As though to emphasize Remus's claim, Sirius shoved Peter through the open portrait hole door with both hands pushing on Peter's bottom. Peter oomphed as he landed on the carpet outside in the hall.
Lily scowled, then leaned closer, "I told you this was a bad idea, Sirius. In Potions."
"And I told you, in a slightly different wording, that I didn't give a fuck what you thought, Evans," Sirius said, smirking.
Lily looked ruffled.
"Look, it isn't as though it's any of your business what we get up to," James pointed out. He stared at her. Instead of yelling at us, maybe you could ask to come along, if you really gave a damn, he thought.
"I'm a prefect," she said haughtily. "It is my business."
"And do you want a werewolf in the common room, then?" Sirius hissed.
"No, Remus can go. And so can you and Pete for all I care," Lily replied. "But Potter is still recovering from the trauma of the things he experienced over holiday and --"
"I am not still recovering from the trauma," James said heatedly, his face going a bit red. "Bloody hell, you make it sound as though I'm broken and incapable of having fun with my mates. Like I'm invalid or --"
"Well you've been very much unlike yourself lately, and I thought that --"
"You thought wrong, alright, Evans?" James said, and he quickly hopped through the portrait hole after Peter.
Lily looked distressed.
Sirius turned to her, "Don't worry Lilith Willomena," he said airily, "Your wee bonny Potter is in good hands." And he gave her that same wildly manic grin he'd pulled in the dormitory, which was very much the opposite of comforting, and tossed himself ungracefully out into the corridor.
Lily whipped about to look at Remus, "You bloody better take care of him," she said, her fingers tightening about in his shirt.
Remus looked down at her little fists tangled in the cloth, then back up at her. He carefully pulled her hands away to free himself and stepped toward the door, "Well," he said, "I'll do what I can. I may be a bit preoccupied, you know."
Lily flushed. "Yes, well..."
Remus smiled. "Really, Evans. He'll be alright." Then he joined the other three in the hallway.
"...keep her nose out of everybody's business, she should," James was saying hotly, looking rather irritated as he grabbed his bag up from Peter, who was checking that none of the bottles of butterbeer he'd packed had smashed in his bag when Sirius had shoved him though. James threw his bag over his shoulder and started down the hall, Sirius grinning at his back.
Remus reached out a hand to help Peter up from the floor.
"What a couple those two are," Sirius snickered, "Potter and Evans. The lot of them. They're the worst fit pair in all of history, I swear." He looked 'round at Remus as he pulled Peter up from the floor, "They're like two forces... just... forcing each other apart." Sirius held out his hands to demonstrate the forces pushing against one another, miming his palms to be separated by them.
"Polar opposite magnets," Remus said as they started walking after James.
"What the bloody hell is a magnet?" Sirius demanded, looking at Remus as though he had several heads growing out of his shoulders.
Remus said, "Muggle invention. They use them mostly to hold papers onto refrigerators. Usually shape them like letters, though I don't know why. My mum had one shaped like a chicken once, with a dangly leg I liked to play with when I was small."
Sirius said, "How the bloody hell is that like James and Lily?"
Remus sighed, "You know what, just... nevermind, Sirius, it's not funny any longer if I have to explain it."
Sirius asked, "But what's funny about it anyway?"
"Because magnets are attracted to each other unless you turn them the wrong way, and then they're polar opposites of each other, and their force pushes them apart like you're saying Lily and James are," Remus explained patiently as they reached the stairs. James was waiting on the first landing.
"Why do they do that for?" Sirius asked, "And why do you know that?"
"It's science, Padfoot," Remus groaned, "Alright? It's just science."
"Science!"
"And I read it in a book," Remus clarified.
Sirius shook his head, "You and those bloody books you're always reading!" and he let out a guffaw and jumped down the steps to where James was waiting for them.
Peter looked up at Remus, "I think science sounds very interesting."
"It's sort of like muggle magic," Remus said, "Which was why I was reading about it. For muggle studies."
Peter nodded, "It sounds very interesting, Remus."
"COME ON YOU LOT!" Sirius cried, "We haven't got all bleedin' afternoon!"
Remus rolled his eyes, "I haven't any idea what you're so impatient for. It isn't your hide on the line if we don't make it out in time, is it?"
Sirius said, "No, but it's my hide that's craving a bit of the firewhiskey I've knicked!" And he grinned and charged ahead on the stairs, whooping and calling for Potter to catch up.
"This is going to be an interesting night," Remus murmured.
Peter nodded, though he seemed rather more eager than Remus sounded.
"People try to put us d-dowwwn... talkin' 'bout my g-gen-ner-a-tion... just because we g-get a-rooooound... talkin' 'bout my g-gen-ner-a-tion...." Sirius's voice carried through the trees of the woods, across the lake from Hogwarts. The light was starting to fade, the clouds rolling in over the dark purple sky. James was singing, too, harmonizing with Sirius. "Things - they do look awful c-c-cooold... talkin' 'bout my g-gen-ner-a-tion.... I hope I die before I get old..."
Remus came to a stop as the boys reached the smushy mud by the edge of the water, the trees overhanging the stoney beach. Sirius and James had shucked their clothes and shoes and were splashing at the very edge of the water, having dropped their rucksacks. Sirius's leather jacket lay, flung over a thick bush. Peter shivered and looked up at Remus, "Can't imagine splashing in that water in this cold," he murmured.
"Nor can I," Remus replied.
They watched the other two splash around, Sirius shrieking loudly that his balls were ice lollies ("IF THIS WAS SUMMER, YOU'D BE ALL OVER 'EM, MOONSHINE!" Sirius cried loudly as Remus turned quite red), and James crowing wildly. When they'd finally had enough, they raced across the rocks on the beach, and shouted how cold they were until finally Sirius popped into his dog form. The fur felt good and warm, and he barked merrily as he raced after James, snapping his jaw at James's heels until finally there was a great crack and James rolled to the ground, getting back up a stag with his tall antlers.
It was good, James realized, to be a stag. The heavy memories of Voldemort's torture seemed lighter and further away, as though the woes of a boy could not oppress the heart of a stag. And as he raced along, hooves digging the stand as he chased Sirius, who had turned tail, he felt at peace for the first time since before the holiday.
"BUFFOONS!" shouted Remus, "Utter buffoons!" Laughter shook him as he wiped his eyes from mirth and he glanced up at the sky as the very last rays of sunlight were fading off behind the horizon line and then looked to Peter, who was stuffing bites of tart into his mouth from the stash in his sack. "Better go rat, Pete," Remus warned, "Any second now I'll --" He never finished the sentence, for a cloud shifted and just like that the moonlight cascaded over the beach and the Remus's body went stiff as his eyes glazed over...
Sirius stopped his playing and ran back toward Remus, barking at Peter, who hurried to toss down his sack and there was little Wormtail, running over the dips and notches in the sand that the dog and stag had made in their running. Peter's rat form's feet scrabbled over the rocks, his little paws too tiny to grip well on the wet stones. Prongs lowered his long antlered head to the sand as Wormtail reached him, and Wormtail ran right up Prongs's snout to his head, his tail twisting around the tall antler.
Sirius had meanwhile resumed his human form and he ran up to Remus and wrapped his arms around Remus's torso, staring into the rolled-back eyes. "Stay with us, Moony," Sirius said, his voice firm. "Your heart is yours, whatever form your body takes." He ran his hands over Remus's shoulders, hurriedly pushing away Rey's jumper and tossing it onto the pile of things he and James had already shed. "It's going to be a grand evening, Moonykins, once you've come around..." he smiled up at Remus, even as his teeth lengthened and sharpened, as his nose pushed out from his face, extending to a thick muzzle, and his jaw and knees and elbows cracked and crunched as they altered their shapes, the vertebrae of his spine crunching into their new places...
As Remus fell onto his fours, Sirius changed back to Padfoot, and he stood beside his wolf, waiting for the transformation to complete as Moony stood, breathlessly panting, his muzzle turned to the ground as he caught his breath, as the moonlight singed and tingled along his skin. Finally, the transformation finished, the scraggly werewolf lifted his head, eyes to the moon, and let out the long, low guttural howl that vibrated in the very muscles of the other three Marauders - even in their animal forms.