Legacy of the Marauders

Chapter Eight Poetry and Marshmallows

"Let's race to the front door," recommended ever-competitive James.

"Okay, as long as it's a skipping race, not running," agreed Peter.

Sirius and James looked horrified. "A Marauder never skips!"

"We did at the Christmas feast," he reminded them.

"Then we broke rule number 119 of the Marauders' Code!" raged James. Until now he had been the only Marauder never to break a rule; Remus had fallen in love (James would, too, but he did not know it yet.), Peter had chickened out of a dare once in third year, and Sirius told Snape about Remus and the Whomping Willow. "I can NOT believe this happened!!! I swore to myself I would not ever disobey the Marauders' Code!" James got out of the car and ran into a tree. Repeatedly. For an hour.

He ceased when Sirius bellowed, "Idiot, it's dinner time!" from inside the cottage. Sirius and the others had entered the Lupin's dwelling without racing or skipping and were now seated in the blue-tiled kitchen around a circular, wooden table that was laden with Remus' favourites: Pickles&Chocolate, easy cheese, chocolate covered strawberries, and cereal with fun-shaped marshmallows.

All of the chairs were taken when the bespectacled boy with a large bruise on his head came in, so he picked up the chair Sapphire was sitting and tilted it so that she slid off into the individual's lap in the chair left of hers; Sirius Black.

Acting as though he had done nothing unnatural, James sat down and proceeded to eat the cereal.

Everyone was staring at him, too shocked to move or speak, except Sapphire, who leapt off of Sirius' lap as if it were a hot potato, and exclaimed, "How could you do that?!"

James looked at her. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that." He got up and Sapphire sat back down. James picked up the chair again and dropped her onto the lap of the one sitting to the right of her; Remus Lupin.

Sirius smiled. "That's the way it should have been done the first time," he commented approvingly.

"I know," replied James. "I was not thinking."

"Are you sure you were thinking this time?" questioned Remus, face flushed. He loved Sapphire, but this situation was rather awkward.

"I would say so, since she hasn't moved yet," James chortled.

That remark caused both Remus and Sapphire to turn as red as the strawberries on the table, though the strawberries did not look red because they were covered with chocolate.

(You sat at the computer thinking, "Well, duh!")

Sapphire got off of Remus, putting her hands on his shoulders for support and balance that she clearly did not need as she did so. If the room had been empty there is a strong possibility that she would have stayed there.

Remus tore his eyes away from Sapphire to look pleadingly at his mother. "Could you conjure up another chair?"

Obligingly, Gloria reached into her robes to pull out her wand, but John gently placed his hand on her arm and shook his head. She looked at him quizzically.

"It would simply solve everything if you made another chair, and watching this is a lot more fun," explained John with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes that Remus often had.

Remus did not have it now, though. He looked genuinely annoyed. "Fine then. I'll just set up the sleeping bags and Sapphire can have my seat," Remus declared and he stalked off to his bedchamber.

Sapphire stated, "I will go help him; I am full anyway." She followed Remus to his room and shut the door behind her.

"Should we worry?" asked John instantly.

"I don't think so," Gloria answered. "You are the one that watches porn, not Remus."

Thinking about the safari elephants, John nodded.

But perhaps they should have been nervous...

After they laid two sleeping bags on the floor Sapphire gestured to Remus' bunk bed and inquired, "Which one of your friends gets to use your bottom bed? You know they are all going to want to."

Remus shrugged. "They can compete for it."

"How?"

"Hula-hooping."

She laughed, "Lucky for them I am sleeping on the couch because I'm great at hula-hooping."

Remus enveloped her in her arms. "You are great at everything."

Her heart began to beat faster. "Thanks, Remmy."

"You're welcome, my precious gem," answered Remus softly, holding her tighter and staring into her eyes. She had amazing eyes; everything about her was beautiful to him. Sometimes it hurt how much he loved her.

Sapphire could feel his affection as he held her. She wanted him to know that she returned his feeling without question, so she pressed her body against him and after planting a gentle kiss on his lips she whispered, "Speaking of everything, you are absolutely everything to me."

He beamed at her warmly and got an idea. "You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course. Why?"

"I want to try something with you."

"Okay, what do you want to try?"

Remus gave her a meaningful look.

"Oh." She blushed, but smiled. "Whatever pleases you, my love."

Happily, Remus guided her over to his bed...

"You have more heart-shaped marshmallows than I do!" Sirius told Peter, outraged.

"Well, you have more star marshmallows than I do," he retorted.

"Let's trade some," suggested Sirius.

Obediently, Peter took a few heart marshmallows out of his bowl and exchanged them for some of Sirius' stars.

"Hey, all I have are clovers," complained James. "Someone trade with me."

"No one likes clovers," Sirius informed.

"Sure they do," returned James casually. "Peter, trade some with me."

Sirius instructed, "No, don't. Clovers are useless."

Peter looked between Sirius and James in bewilderment; he knew not who to agree with. "Uh, I'm not hungry anymore." He pushed his unfinished bowl away from him (a rare phenomenon) and hastily excused himself from the table to go assist the logical couple in Remus' room. Once he opened the door, however, he wished he had remained in the kitchen.

He screamed as shrilly as a five-year old girl and tried to run out of the cottage. James caught him before he reached the exit. "What's the matter?"

Peter whimpered fearfully, "Remus and Sapphire were doing..." He lowered his voice to almost below a whisper, "the unthinkable."

James raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"They were on Remus' bottom bed and they were...they were..." It seemed too painful for him to go on.

This captured Sirius' interest as well. "Spit it out!"

"They were reciting romantic poems!" Peter broke into sobs.

"Not poetry!" wailed James. "Anything but that!" He began weeping also, and Sirius had to hold him because he was shaking so violently.

Gloria attempted to soothe them. "It is all right. I mean, they are old enough and they love each other. Just because they like poetry does not change who they are."

Now, all three of them were crying.

John asked, "Do you want to sign my cast?"

Immediately, their tears were replaced with grins. "YES!"

While they were decourating John's cast Remus and Sapphire came out. "Is something going on?" questioned Remus.

"Yep," responded his fellow Marauders.

"What?"

"You."

"Did I do something wrong?"

Peter cried, "You ruined my innocence!"

"How?" Remus asked, perplexed.

"I saw and heard you saying sappy poems."

"Is that all?"

"You don't care?!"

"I do not think poetry is evil."

"I do. I don't want to sleep on that bed because you recited poetry on it."

"Suit yourself. I guess James and Sirius can compete for it then."

Sirius finished dotting the "i" in his name with a heart and asked, "Can we have the contest now?"

"If you want to," the werewolf said.

"I'll get the hula-hoops!" announced Gloria. She left and returned with neon pink, plastic hoops.

James and Sirius eagerly took them, slipped them around their waists, and commenced rotating.

Forty-five minutes later they were still going. "Are you done yet?" whined Peter.

"Nope," they said in unison.

"Will you be done soon?"

"Nope."

Peter sighed.

John brightened. "I know, I'll distract you and see if you can keep going." Without awaiting anyone's reply he provided the best distraction ever. Have you ever seen a man with a broken leg dance the robot while singing "Superfreak?" Well, they did.

Everyone broke into guffaws of laughter and James and Sirius' concentration abated, but Sirius' hoop clattered to the floor first.

"No!" he exclaimed. "I'm rich; I can't sleep on a floor! I'll die! Do you hear me? Die! I'll be 100% not living, okay? That means dead, perished, deceased, passed on, gone to the light at the end of the tunnel, kicked the bucket, gone to Davey Jone's locker, lost my favourite bottle cap!!! UNDERSTAND? If I die then I won't breathe, my heart won't beat, and I won't look sexy anymore! Don't you all know I'm too sexy to die?"

All the occupants of the room took a few steps back from Sirius and remained silent and fearful.

Eventually, Sapphire said carefully, "I do not know if you're sexy, but I do know that 'lost my favourite bottle cap' is not an expression used to describe death."

"It's not?"

"No."

"Oh, well, in that case I can sleep on the floor."

When the four Marauders retreated to Remus' "den" to either go to bed or go to floor three of them edged as far away from a certain dog animagus as possible.