A Busy Year Full of Surprises

Author's Note: From now and on, Chapter Two is called 'Violent Shopping' instead of 'The Last, or the Second to Last, Chool-Book Shopping Tour.'

Disclaimer; Harry Potter, all places and characters (except those I have made up), the names etcetera belongs to Mrs J.K Rowling, her publishers (there are so much of them, so, well ...), and Warner Brothers™. All rights reserved. This is not meant as theft or insult - I wrote it for fun.

Chapter Three

Holiday Concerns

Sirius, Peter, Remus, James and James' parents formed a small queue in front of the fire at the Leaky Cauldron, waiting to Floo themselves home to James' house. They - Remus, Peter and Sirius - had decided to spend the remaining days of the summer holidays there; the four friends would be together ... Sirius was especially happy to spend the end of the summer holidays with some company, and not just any company - his three best and only friends.

'So, who's first? James? Fine.' James took a handful of Floo powder, stepped into the fire, cleared his throat, and said, 'Godric's Hollow!' as he opened his clenched fist and let the powder inside slowly float down, colouring the flames emerald green. The flames took James body, and he disappeared.

Remus was now first in the short queue. He stepped in, and repeated what James had just done. He, too, vanished.

Sirius now stepped in. He took a fistful of Floo powder, stepped inside, cleared his throat again and finally said, 'Godric's Hollow' very clearly. He suddenly felt himself rotate slightly and he squeezed his elbows against his midriff. He spun faster and faster, and saw glimpses of different fireplaces. He continued to spin until he saw the kitchen of James' parents' house in Godric's Hollow. Remus and James were sitting at the kitchen table.

'Hello, Padfoot,' James greeted. 'The Floo isn't the best way to travel, is it? At least I don't think it is ...'

'Neither do I,' said Remus quietly as he shuddered. 'Remember the first time I used the Floo? Didn't press my elbows to my body, you know. Ouch. It hurt. A lot.'

They all laughed as Peter stumbled out of the fireplace and ended up in a big heap. 'Laughing at me?' he asked, wounded.

'No,' Remus began, panicked, 'absolutely not! We were laughing about the first time I travelled by Floo. I am sorry if you thought we were laughing at you!'

'What happened?' asked Peter quietly.

'I forgot to press my elbows against my waist,' laughed Remus. Peter laughed anxiously. 'Well, I do that, too. Almost always. I'm a bit absent minded, you know. I forget almost everything.'

'We're aware of that. You always forget names, homework, times for lessons -'

'Oh, James,' Remus sighed. 'You and Sirius don't remember homework, tests or times either; I remember them for you all. It's very lucky you've got me -'

'Yeah, who else could we copy off of?' Sirius joked. 'No, mate,' he said a little later. 'We don't copy from you ... Well, only if you don't help us.'

'Yes, mate,' said James, 'thanks to you, we didn't fail all of our O.W.L.s - just two of them.'

'James, that's not "just"!' James' mother had just stepped out of the fireplace.

'Of course it is! It could've been worse!'

'Well, you've got a point there ... It's a wonder you did fail in "just" two classes. Thank you, Remus,' said James' father. 'James, I hope you'll get better grades in your N.E.W.T.s,' he added, 'but I don't believe that you will since you said that you "revised very well" for the O.W.L.s.'

Remus snorted.

Oh, for God's sake, Remus! We did revise well for the O.W.L.s ...Or, at least, better than we normally do. Sirius rolled his eyes up toward heaven. Remus had always loved revising.

Sirius was worried about Remus, and slightly suspected that he, Remus, had a serious form of performance anxiety, but Remus did not agree. Remus had told them he was just a very nervous person, and indeed he was. But he did suffer from performance anxiety, and it did not matter how much he denied it. Sirius was worried about his best friend ... More than James and Peter, he thought; it was bound to be like that in Sirius' condition ...

'Sirius!'

'What?'

'We've been trying to speak to you for the last five minutes, and you haven't answered!'

'Oh, sorry! Lost myself in my own thoughts. What did you say, Prongs?'

'Moony, Wormtail and I are going to go to the beach soon. Will you join us?'

'Of course; I came here to spend time with you.'

- - - - -

Sirius sat on the beach, looking at his three friends. He did not join them in the water. Sirius was always cold; he preferred the sun instead of the water. They were on the beach of a lake not far from James' house. The lake was called 'Godric's Bath'. Everything in the village seemed to be named after the mysterious Godric. Sirius had always been nonplussed when it came to the name Godric in Godric's Hollow. He assumed that the founder of the village was named Godric, and he had often thought that the founder of Gryffindor House had to have been the same Godric who had built the village.

The entire Potter family had been Gryffindors as long as anybody could remember. Sirius had been told as a child that that Potters and Blacks were two well-known 'pure blood' families. He had not mentioned that to Remus, though. Nor had he told his parents about Remus. He knew that a werewolf friend in the family would not be popular. Sirius snorted at the 'fact' that werewolves were 'half-bloods' ... It was more likely that his family did not like the werewolves on Dumbledore's side since there was some werewolves in Voldemort's army, and his parents seemed to like them.

Lord Voldemort was the biggest source of fear and threats in the United Kingdom's wizarding community these days. Once or twice and sometimes thrice a week, Sirius read in the Daily Prophet, or, more correctly, Remus read in the paper about attacks and passed his summary of the information to the others, who did not read the paper very often. The others didn't have the energy to read the whole paper, so Remus did. He enjoyed all kinds of reading, so he read the paper from the front page to the last. That was one of the things Sirius liked about him ...

Today, according to Remus, a squib female had been brutally murdered by an unknown Death Eater. Sirius was so interested that he had read the article over Remus' shoulder. It had been a middle-aged Squib female and her Muggle husband and children that had been brutally killed.

The Squib (the Daily Prophet did not mention any name) had not had any connection with the wizarding world since her father had died six years ago. Sirius thought it must have been horrible for her; she had not seen a wizard in nearly six years, and then, a servant of the most evil wizard in the United Kingdom suddenly appeared in her home, killing her, her husband and their children ... Sirius shivered. It must have felt awful. Sirius could not understand how his parents and the bigger part of his family thought that Voldemort and his Death Eaters' doings were good, and that 'half-bloods', 'Mudbloods' and Muggles were worthless. Sirius did not.

Remus' friend, Lily, was Muggle-born, and Remus was a werewolf. Remus had been a werewolf for nearly twelve years now. Sirius did not know when in 1965 Remus had been attacked, but he assumed it had happened during the spring or summer, or maybe early autumn. Sirius assumed that it had not happened during the winter, though. He could not believe that a five-year-old would be allowed to stroll about in the middle of the winter. Sirius assumed that Remus had been alone, or with another child; no adult would be so irresponsible as to not intervene if a werewolf was attacking his child - especially not with an impending war ...

Sirius sighed and looked at his three friends in the water. Sirius did not quite understand how his friends could enjoy swimming in that freezing water. You only got cold, according to Sirius, who mostly basked in the sunshine.

'Food!' Sirius heard Mrs Potter's voice, and the three boys in the water ran up to the house in their towels, drying themselves, arriving before Sirius had even got to his feet. He took his towel and followed his friends.

- - - - -

'The dinner was delicious, Mrs Potter,' said Remus, who looked tired after his third helping of pork chops and potatoes. Sirius had just finished eating; James looked as if he had eaten way too much. Peter, though, was still scarfing up the food. That person could easily eat himself to death, thought Sirius. It's a miracle he hasn't blown up yet; he crams so much food into himself. Oh, yes, poor boy ...

'Sirius!'

'What, Remus?'

'I've tried talking to you for nearly two minutes. What's wrong with you?' said Peter. 'You've been out of it almost all day ... Are you alright?'

'Fine ... Well, I've got a little headache. What did you say?'

'Could you please pass me the sauce?'

'Oh, sure!' said Sirius, and he did so.

'Hurry up, Peter,' Mrs Potter smiled. 'It's almost time for pudding, and you don't want to miss that, do you? If you have not changed since last summer, it would be a sacrilege for you to not want pudding.'

'Oh, great,' said Peter, who had just swallowed a big chunk of meat. 'Good!' Sirius did not know anybody who was as gluttonous as Peter.

'It's wonderful that you love my food so much,' said James' mother happily. Peter nodded. Sirius did not have the heart to tell her that it was not that Peter loved her food especially. Peter would eat anything! But Sirius kept quiet, knowing that she would be pleased with the thought that Peter loved her food the best.

'Finished!' Peter stroked his belly. He almost lay on his chair.

'Good. Time for pudding,' said Mrs Potter. 'I need to take care of the finishing touches first, so you boys can go out and walk or something. And I think it would be good if you, Peter, walked a little so your stomach starts to work. Otherwise, you might be sick, and we don't want that, do we?'

- - - - -

The 'walk' was to Godric's bath again. Sirius sighed; his friends wanted him to swim with them, so Sirius kindly stepped into the cold water. The other three immediately started to splash him.

'OK, if you've taken me out here just to splash me, I'm going back to the beach, because I don't want to be splattered on.'

'Sorry, Padfoot,' said James. 'We'll stop, won't we? Since we've forced him into this "cold" water, we should be nice to him, and not tease him. It's a big sacrifice for him to come into this "cold" water.'

'You're right,' said Remus. 'Sirius, when you don't want to bathe anymore, tell us. It's not fun to bathe if you don't enjoy it, you know. And it's not fun for us either, if you're sacrificing yourself for our sake.'

'Ok ... I'm going to get out now. I'm really freezing, you know.'

'I'll accompany you,' said Remus, 'I'm starting to shiver ... James and Peter can entertain themselves, I'm pretty sure ... Can't you?'

'Of course we can, can't we, Wormtail? We can ... Hmm ... We can do whatever you want.'

'OK,' said Peter as Remus and Sirius got out of the freezing water. Sirius took his towel and returned to reading the Daily Prophet. During the summer, he actually read the paper often.

'I'm glad to see that you're finally reading the papers,' Remus smiled. 'Then, I'm only reading for three: James, Peter and myself.'

'Mhm ...'

'Oh, I won't disturb you since you're reading the paper.'

'Nah, I want to talk to somebody, and the paper can wait.'

'Uhm ... What is it that you're so eager to talk about?' laughed Remus. 'That you don't seem to really know what you're talking about?'

'I don't know; I'm just longing for company or something. Got tired of the papers.'

'Hm ... Can I choose a subject to talk about, then?'

'Feel free!'

'OK ... Maybe we can discuss revising for the N.E.W.T.s.'

'Sure. I'm taking ... Uhm ... Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Charms, Muggle Studies and Transfiguration.'

'OK ... That's seven classes. Myself, I'm taking all the ones you are taking and Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Which subject do you think you'll need to practise the most on?'

'Remus - no offence, but I don't think I want to think about it right now; can we do it at school?'

'Right ... What else do you want to talk about? It's your turn to figure out a topic now.' Sirius did not have to think much because James and Peter appeared.

'Oy, Moony and Padfoot! I think it has been half an hour since we came down here. Shall we go home and see if the pudding is ready?'

- - - - -

Sirius lay in James' room in a camp bed. Three such beds had been placed there during the day, making it possible for the Marauders to sleep under the same ceiling, have some privacy and have a place to consider possible mischief. Sirius smiled; James' parents knew their son and his old friends.

The room was totally dark. Totally. The only things he could see were the silhouettes of his friends, their beds, and the rest of the furniture of the room. It was quiet - one could hear if a little Knut fell on the floor.

Sirius liked the quiet darkness, and he had always done so. The fact that the rest of the house was asleep made Sirius fairly happy since there was nobody to interrupt his thoughts. He thought about his 'home', or the place Sirius had been forced to call his 'home' for about sixteen years. He had left it - escaped it in his opinion - about twenty-four months ago. Sirius did not regret leaving at all. If anything, he was very pleased with himself for making that decision. The Black family was not exactly well-known for welcoming Muggle-borns and others whose lineage was not 'pure'. Sirius' parents were not Death Eaters, yet they did unofficially support Voldemort.

As a little child Sirius was told that wizards with one magical parent and one non-magical parent were 'half-bloods.' 'Mudbloods', or Muggle-born wizards, were not worth anything at all. Sirius had always snorted at this belief. He did not think that wizards should be labelled like horses.

He snorted, but hastily covered the lower part of his face so as not to wake up the others in the room. His 'family' did not like werewolves either, just like the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself hated them if the werewolves in question were not on their side. If a werewolf was on their side, like Fenrir Greyback and most of the other werewolves, they were accepted by Lord Voldemort's followers - maybe not like equals, but still accepted. But if a werewolf happened to be on the 'good side', he was considered to be vastly inferior. Sirius thought that this summed up the Death Eaters in a nutshell. Voldemort considers them beneath his notice if they're not on his side, he thought. Consequently, they did not like werewolves like Remus.

Remus. Sirius had thought a lot about this special boy for a while. Actually, he had thought about him for the entire summer so far - a little more than a month. He could not stop thinking about him. Sirius Black was in love - in love with Remus Lupin.

- - - - -

'Morning, Sirius!'

'Mmm?' Sirius groggily woke up. 'Oh, morning. Had a bad night; I couldn't sleep.'

'That's a shame,' said Remus. 'Should we go downstairs to the kitchen now? James and Peter are waiting. Peter's starving, according to him. He says that he suspects he will soon die from hunger because he doesn't get enough food.'

'Isn't he always hungry?' asked Sirius very quietly. Remus smirked. He and the others had already dressed. 'What time is it?' Sirius looked in confusion at Remus.

'Half past eight!' said Peter. 'When are we going to go down to breakfast? I'm starving!'

'Why don't you, James and Remus go down to breakfast now, and I'll come when I've dressed. Does that sound OK?'

'We'll see you there, then,' said Remus. 'But do not dare go back to sleep!' he added to Sirius. Sirius rolled his eyes while the others went down to breakfast. He finally rolled out of bed, and got dressed quickly. Five minutes later, he appeared in the kitchen and was immediately greeted by Mrs Potter. 'Good Morning!'

- - - - -

August went on. Not a single cloud had been seen in the sky during the whole month. The weather was as perfect as it was in July, and the sky was amazingly blue. There was barely any humidity and the sun shone almost all the time. The Marauders were outdoors more than indoors.

James' parents never accompanied them to Godric's bath. Instead, they stayed up in the garden, sunbathing, while their son and his friends were at the beach. When the Marauders stayed in the garden, Mr and Mrs Potter went down to the beach. Sirius now read the Daily Prophet every day, and he planned to continue at school, borrowing Remus' copies after Remus had read them. It felt good to try to be at the same level Remus was on, but it was a heavy task.

- - - - -

The end of August appeared far too fast. The first of September meant that they would all go to King's Cross Station in London and get on the Hogwarts Express, the train that would take them to their last year at Hogwarts. Sirius would only twice again sit in one of its compartments, joke with his friends, and buy sweets from the witch with the trolley. Then, after a ride in the horse-less carriages, he would watch the final Sorting Banquet. Everyone would eat, listen to Dumbledore's speech, and then he and the Marauders would join their House, go to the Gryffindor Tower, get the password, and then, go to bed. Even though the time at the Potter home was very nice, Sirius could not stop himself from daydreaming about Hogwarts.

At the end of August, there was a full moon. The Marauders now explored an unknown, at least to them, side street of Hogsmeade where they found some abandoned shops. The shop names were written in old English and among the shops they found 'Madam Rouge's Expensive Necklaces' and 'Monsieur Braveur's Weapon Store'.

Author's Notes; I told you that the chapters are not going to be longer and longer for every chapter, and here you have the proof. If Sirius' sexual orientation in this story is bothering you, no one is forcing you to read more in the story. And - I did warn you over the Prologue. Ass a friend of mine said once - 'It is just foolish to expect something of Axel!'
And yes, you should expect gaps between the chapters. The next gap will not be five months I hope but you need to remain patient. I have as goal to make the drafts finished by the end of this year, 2007, but the story in 2008.