The Marauders: Year 2

"Look at this Remus, look at this," Peter crowed happily.

Remus rushed over and glanced down at the parchment. "Is that a whole area there? The kitchens and the Hufflepuff Common Room?"

"Yeah, but if we want to really map the inside of their Common Room, someone'll need to figure out a way to get in there," Peter said.

"I'd say we leave the other Common Rooms for last, they'll be harder to get to," Remus said, sitting down and examining the parchment more closely.

"But harder is part of the fun," a familiar voice declared loudly. "Isn't it Jamesy boy?"

"I hate that, Sirius. You know I hate that," another familiar voice replied quietly. "Nice job, Peter."

"Thanks, James," Peter said, turning around to eye his friend. "Er..." A silence fell among them and Remus let out a loud sigh.

Remus narrowed his gaze, "Look, I'm fine. Okay? I'll deal. Don't go all mad on me..."

"Like Tessa and Alice!" Sirius crowed. "The two of them pulled him into one hell of a hug and started fawning over the poor lad."

Remus turned slightly red. "Exactly. Don't do that."

James and Sirius exchanged one brief glance before they both jumped up and grabbed Remus in a tight hug.

"Oh, poor Remmykins."

"Are you okay Remmy? Need anything?"

"Like a shoulder to cry on?" Peter pulled back and batted his eyelashes suggestively, causing all four boys to burst into laughter.

"Thanks," Remus said, in between bursts of laughter. "I needed that."

~~*~~

"What are you doing?" The two voices clashed loudly in the quiet of the library.

Lily Evans stood at one end of the long table with her hands planted firmly on her lips, standing next to her was Alice Smith and behind them were Tessa Maris and Becca Longbottom, all three of whom were looking warily at Lily.

At the other end stood James Potter in a very similar stance, with Sirius Black on one side of him and Peter Pettigrew on the other, the former looking as annoyed as James, the latter wearing a similarly wary look to the girls.

Sitting at the table in question were Melissa Watts and Remus Lupin. Melissa was balancing her feet up on the table, paging through a book that she still hadn't closed, despite the disturbance. Remus was hunched over stack of books, clutching a quill, but looking from both Lily to James as though they were mad.

"What does it appear that we're doing?" Melissa asked calmly as she turned another page.

"Fraternizing with the enemy," Lily spit out.

"I thought that we had cleared up over the holiday that James is the only enemy, and at that, he's only an enemy to you, dear," Melissa waved her hand dismissively. "Now, I know you've already got some sort of deranged study schedule to stick to. Go on. You know there's only eight weeks until exams."

"Mel..." Lily growled warningly.

"Don't Mel me," she replied tersely. "I have a right to sit where and with whomever I want."

"But... Mel, its-" Lily began.

"Remus. You know, that boy who you were friends with last year until all this insanity? He's still the same nice guy, who is kind enough to let me sit with him when you start to go studying crazy," she said hotly.

"Come on Remus. You know I don't care if you want to hang out with them... but she's here," James muttered.

"I happen to be studying with my friend, James," Remus replied calmly. "You are, of course, welcome to join us. As are you Lily." He gestured to the many open seats around them.

"No thanks, Remus," James said quickly. "You know where to find us later." He turned quickly and was followed out by Sirius and Peter.

"You're unbelievable, Mel. Don't you know where your loyalties lie?" Lily moaned and then rushed out of the library, followed by the other three Gryffindor girls.

"Sorry about that, Mel," Remus apologized looking down at his books. Now she's going to leave and we'll never study together again, he thought despondently.

"No problem, Remus. Lily and James are the nutters, not us. I know exactly where my loyalties lie. You said you were working on the moons of Saturn for your Astronomy project?" she asked. He nodded. "Here," she tossed him a magazine. "There's an interesting article about one of them in there."

He nodded, pulled the magazine closer to him and went back to work.

~~*~~

It was late by the time Remus reached his destination. He settled next to a tree and gazed out at the still, black lake. He'd been back to school for nearly three weeks and his parents had been dead for a month and two days, when he drew several little circles in the dirt with his finger.

History of Magic essay due on Monday, bloody ogres and plinkopaths, who cares, really? he seethed. All the Ogre Battles in the world won't bring back my mother. Or him. He sighed and looked up at the crescent moon. He hated me because of the moon. He hated me for being a stupid little kid and getting bit. He hated me for so many things that weren't my fault and I spent my entire life trying to make him proud of me... never really did succeed at that one.

He sighed and brushed his hand over his drawings, trying to erase both them and the pain he felt. He won't be there for when I'm older and out of Hogwarts and able to sit at the kitchen table and really tell him about the stuff I get up to here and have a laugh with him. He'll never share a butterbeer with me either... He won't be there to add post scripts to mum's letters telling me I'd better shape up or they'll put me in a Muggle military school. What a laugh, as though they'd ever take me out of Hogwarts and put me in a Muggle school much less. Ever since I got accepted here things were getting... better.

He felt the tears forming in his eyes and the lumps grow in his throat. And none of them have any idea what this feels like! James, Peter, even Sirius, they all have their parents... they'll still be there to yell at them for misbehaving when we get off the Hogwarts Express in June and then to hug them because even though they're annoyed at them... they love them.

He shook himself, trying to clear his head as he gazed out at the Giant Squid's tentacles that were flopping out of the water. That's not fair, Remus. Don't think like that. James's dad is working the same job as yours did. It could be him next, getting a horrible message from McGonagall. His life isn't exactly peachy either and you don't see him getting all teary eyed and running off in the middle of the night.

No, he runs off to Quidditch practice and tortures Snape into in to oblivion instead. He just hides his fear and ignores what could happen.

"Great, now the voices in my head are fighting with one another," he sighed aloud to himself, rolling his eyes in the direction of the squid.

Well, fine... but James has a good reason to be depressed. First the McGonagall's, then... Mum and Dad... his parents are part of this too. At least I don't have to worry, they're gone and I know it.

Remus Lupin, they're still there though! They'll be there to hug him and tell him they love him when he gets off the train and to send him owls when we come back next year. .

Still, there's Sirius... at least my mum loved me. His only cares about that horrid brat of a brother he has. Especially since he was sorted into Gryffindor.

But they're there.

You know, voice. I don't think I like you much. The point is to stop feeling sorry for myself.

I think you're entitled to feeling a bit sorry for yourself. Your parents are dead. They're never coming back and they'll never get to see any of the important things that happen in your life... or even the unimportant ones, the point is, they'll never see you again.

NO! Dumbledore said 'to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure' and my mum and dad loved adventures and they both certainly had well organized minds so that's where they are... on an adventure. And someday I'll catch up with them.

Yes, all that is true. None the less, odds are that it will be quite some time before you catch up with them.

I can be patient.

That's a laugh.

Shut up, you.

I say, just give in to it. Cry it off, get it off your chest, rant and rave about how horrid it is to be Remus Lupin right now... and then move on as best you can.

I don't like your plan.

Of course you don't. You're a thirteen year old boy and I just suggested that you cry and rave. None the less, I'd say put your stupid ideas of how you should behave aside and deal with this. You've been ignoring it since you went back to Ad Levo to stay with your grandparents and it's been building up.

I don't know how to just cry and rave, alright? If I did... I'd consider taking you up on it, if it would help this bloody horrid feeling.

Well, you could think about how your mum will never tell you another story of what she was like when she was at Hogwarts, that she'll never give you another hug good-night, that she'll never tell you that she loves you again, that she'll never kiss you good-bye at Platform Nine and Three Quarters with a kiss that you have to wriggle away from and wipe away but secretly love, that you'll never know that she's just downstairs should anything happen in the night, that you'll never have another one of her Sweet Potato Pies. Ever.

Oh bloody hell... I really did like those pies.

You pick the pies to concentrate on?

Does it matter exactly what it is that finally makes me cry?

But the pies?

The bloody p-p-p-pies...

Remus curled up on the ground, crying so hard he couldn't even breathe over all the never-weres and never-will-bes.

~~*~~

Peter sat quietly on the step. He'd been there for nearly two hours and was beginning to doze off when he heard the main door to the castle creak open and saw a small boy with windswept brown hair creep in through the crack, tightly clutching a book he was carrying.

Peter watched as the boy wiped furtively at his eyes, and tried to bite back a sniffle and calm his hitching shoulders.

"Remus?" he called out softly.

The boy spun around and glared at his friend, straightening his appearance and trying to paste a happy look on his face. "Peter! Ah... I didn't see you there."

The blonde haired boy shrugged, "I blend well with shadows, I suppose. I heard you leave, I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm fine. I'm just fine," Remus replied quickly, trying to make it sound true and wishing desperately that it was.

Peter snorted. "That's exactly what I say right after you guys find me when some dumb Slytherin's just finished hexing me and it's never true."

Remus let out the breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding, "Well... I suppose I could be better."

Peter raised an eyebrow.

"What do you expect, Peter?" Remus asked, sighing and sitting down. Then he grinned wryly. "I think I sigh too much nowadays. That can't be a good thing for one of the best pranksters to ever grace the Hogwarts grounds to be doing, can it?"

Peter chuckled quietly. "It is a definite possibility that you could be destroying the Marauder reputations we all worked so hard to achieve."

Remus snorted softly, "Well... we've still got five full years to rebuild them then."

"Yeah... we do."

The two boys sat in silence for a long moment.

"They're gone."

"I know."

"My mum made really great pies..."

"I remember her Peppermint Humbug Pie. You owled me part of it this summer when my parents put me on that bloody diet. It was good."

"Yeah... it was."

"I'm moving in with my grandparents."

"I know."

Remus sighed deeply. "They're alright though, I reckon."

"That's good."

"I'm going to get him."

Peter looked to his friend, startled by the fierceness in his voice. "Who?"

"Voldemort."

They sat in silence for a long time, the sun began to rise and both boys could see it filtering in through the windows in the entrance hall.

"I'll help."

Remus turned to look at Peter, who just repeated with even more conviction, "I'll help".

~~*~~

"Have I told you how bloody not brilliant you are lately, Black?" Remus groaned as he scrubbed at his twentieth trophy in as many minutes.

"Oi, both of you prats just shut it," Frank Lonbottom grumbled and then continued more to himself. "Of all that days for Rob to be absent... I don't know what possessed me to work with you two gits... Mum's going to kill me, I've never had an owl home yet..."

"You both know you were laughing as hard as the rest of the class when Fortescue and Neder's cauldrons explode. It was brilliant," he said cheerily as he began to polish the Head Boy plaque.

"Fine, it was brilliant, but it was also you. Frank and I were minding our own business." Remus stood up for a moment, stretching out his back. "I bloody well hate this room." He scowled at all the trophies.

"Becca's the one who gets detention all the time... A Howler, I'm going to get a Howler, Becca got one after her first detention... and then when I get home dad's going to give me a bloody responsibility lecture, dunno how Becca tunes them out... bloody Dungbombs... bloody Black and Lupin..."

"This is not my fault, Longbottom," Remus growled, reaching for a new trophy. "The Bloody Baron? The Bloody Baron has a trophy for being the bloodiest bloodless member of the faculty? Bloody hell! I knew this room was just designed for punishment." He scowled down at the trophy. "I'm not polishing that one." Placing it back on the shelf, he grabbed the one next to it.

They continued to polish in silence for nearly an hour before Remus broke the silence with an exasperated sigh. "So what was in that letter you got today, Sirius?"

"In the mood for civil conversation now, are we, Lupin?" Sirius retorted before breaking out into a wide grin. "I'm a cousin!"

"And there's something new about that?" Frank asked averting his eyes from the plaque he was rubbing to Sirius.

"Yes, I've a new cousin. Andie and Ted had a baby girl two days ago." Sirius jumped up from where he's been sitting and began to walk around the room, gesturing madly, attempting to describe her. "She's about this big, isn't that so small? I can't believe it! Andie said she's bald and her eyes are a bit murky, but they'll clear up in a few more days and she's a very calm baby."

"A calm baby in the Black family? Is that even possible?" Frank quipped with a smirk.

Sirius tried to glare, but he was too excited to finally get the story out. His letter had arrived late during breakfast and they'd had to rush off to class before he even had a chance to open it.

"Well," Remus prompted. "Does she have a name?"

"Nymphadora Tonks," Sirius declared proudly as Remus and Frank both exchanged looks.

"Nymphadora?" Frank managed to ask before the two boys dissolved into giggles.

A quick look from Sirius caused them both to stop, "Yes, Nymphadora. I think it's a perfect name."

"Right, Sirius," Remus snorted and picked up his rag to finish polishing. "Have you lot given any thought to which classes you're going to take next year?"

"I was thinking of picking up Care of Magical Creatures again. I heard it's being offered now to Third Years and up. I suppose they figure it's safer that way," Frank said.

"It would be a lot safer if they just fired Kettleburn," Sirius replied, his expression darkening. "I still can't believe that git-"

"-Yes, well, I was thinking Arithmancy," Remus cut in before Sirius could begin yet another tirade on the incompetence of the Care of Magical Creatures professor.

"You won't catch me within ten yards of that class. Pete and I were discussing taking Muggle Studies together. James didn't seem too interested," Sirius commented, settling himself back down to finish up his polishing.

"But Peter's a Muggle born, isn't he?" Frank asked and then shook his head, "Nevermind, Lily's a Muggle born too, and I know she's dying to take it. Lunatics if you ask me."

"Brilliant, if you ask me," Sirius cut it. "Can you imagine how easy that class will be for the two of them?"

Frank paused to contemplate that and then grinned, "Spot on, Black. Wish I were a Muggle born." Then he paused and shook his head a bit. "Well, perhaps not."

"Especially with Voldemort running around. Now there's a real lunatic for you," Sirius replied.

"Well, I'm done with my section. See you lot back in the Tower," Remus said quickly, placing the last trophy he'd polished back in its spot and exiting the room.

"You really are an idiot sometimes, you know that Black?" Frank said, chucking one of the smaller plaques towards Sirius.

"Oh," Sirius's face fell as he realized what he'd just said. "Well, you know, we can't exactly ignore the bugger anymore, can we? They found a bunch of Muggles dead the other day, Muggles, mind you, with that bloody thing floating above it, the Dark Mark, they're calling it. Seems as though he had more than just legislation in mind."