Letters From Mum

Dear Harry,

Like I said before, your father wasn't the greatest at romance. He was excellent at a lot of other things, though, like his studies, and Quidditch, and pulling pranks. The Marauder's were in detention more than . Though, truth be told, they did more than they ever got caught for. Who didn't love them (except the Slytherins, of course)? They were funny, smart, charming, good-looking, and curious, to say the least. That first date was a disaster. Oh, yeah, it didn't go as planned at all. On the other hand, it was interesting...

James pulled a comb through his genetically unruly hair. It was no use. How could he be expected to look more presentable when his hair had a mind of his own? Sirius watched him with a light of laughter in his eyes.

"Hot date today, James?" he teased. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Lily, as you very well know," snapped James. "And you'd better-I mean it, too- you'd better just stay a good five hundred feet away from me, Padfoot. If you fuck this up-"

"Language, there, Prong," scolded Sirius mockingly. "Tsk, tsk, what will Lily think?"

"You know, Padfoot, you could lay off of him a bit," said Remus, coming back up into the dormitory.

"Nah, there'd be no fun in that."

"I'm heading down," said James.

"Wait-what? Now? It's ages before they let us go down to Hogsmeade," said Sirius, confused.

"Yes, I know," said James. "We're meeting beforehand to discuss our plans."

"Ooh, how very formal," teased Sirius. "Where's Peter? I expected him to be sliming around, offering to spit shine your shoes for your big day or something."

"No idea," said James vaguely. "Right, I'm off."

Remus and Sirius waited until they heard his footsteps die away.

"We aren't going to stay away from him, are we, Moony?" asked Sirius hopefully.

"Of course not," he said grimly. "And luckily for you I have a plan." Sirius perked up.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, you need to stop by Honeydukes, and I need to go to Zonko's. How about we walk down together, get what we need, and then meet up in the Three Broomsticks?" suggested James.

"That'd be fine," said Lily, slightly reserved.

"Right, then," said James. He blushed.

"You're blushing," accused Lily.

"No," said James. "Trick of the light."

"Hah! You only wish you were that lucky," said Lily.

"So, uh, who do you think is going to win in the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match?"

"Oh, I don't know," said Lily lightly. "Hufflepuff has a decent Keeper but the Slytherin Seeker is almost the best in the school."

James heart skipped a bit. Almost the best he thought. She said almost the best.

"Hah!" he said triumphantly. "You're right, they have a decent Seeker. Though, he's not even close to me."

"Who says I think you're better?" she said, tossing her hair.

"What?"

"I never said I thought you were the best."

"But you said almost the best Seeker," he said, confused.

"Well, yes, but that's just because I'm better," she confided.

"No, you aren't, I'm the best!" he said indignantly. "You've never even tried out for the team."

"That's just because I have better things to do," she said smugly.

"Like what?" he protested. "Charms club?"

"Well, yes, actually."

The banter continued on like this all the way down to Hogsmeade. Finally, they parted ways.

"What are they doing?" hissed Remus into a big, black dog's ear. The dog let out a low grumbling noise.

Remus sighed.

"We could go do the stuff we were going to do before we decided that spying on our best friend would be a good idea," he suggested lamely.

A glare from the dog hushed him up. They sat, uncomfortable, in some bushes for half an hour.

Finally, they watched James walking nervously into the Three Broomsticks.

"Right," said Remus. "Now, you sneak in back, and I'll go in and sit at that one table in the corner. You should be able to watch me from there. I'll keep you updated."

Padfoot trotted along to the back of the Three Broomsticks, where he knew Rosmerta would greet him with a dog biscuit and a scratch behind the ears. Remus strolled casually into the pub, heading for the table in the corner.

James and Lily were already sitting at it.

"Shit," said Remus out loud. He ducked over to a seat across the room and contemplated what to do. He could go get Sirius and think of another plan. He sat and listened for a minute.

"-so, anyway, Dumbledore says, 'I'm very disappointed in you, James,' and I go, 'But, sir, it's not like you never wanted to kick Mrs. Norris!'"

He heard the high, girly sound of Lily laughing.

On the other hand, he would miss some seriously important eavesdropping opportunity.

"So, what about you, Lily?" he heard James tease. "Haven't you ever gotten in trouble?"

"Well, I got detention once," she said thoughtfully. "And Flitwick scolded me once for talking in class."

James snorted. "What'd you get detention for?"

"I got caught trying to brew a, uh, questionable potion in the girls' bathrooms."

"What kind of questionable potion?" asked James, obviously intrigued.

"It's not what you think!" exclaimed Lily. "I was trying to brew Felix Felicis."

"Oh, that," said James offhandedly. "I doubt you'd do it right."

"I happen to be very good at potions," she said haughtily. "Just because you spend the period thinking of a thousand ways to annoy the teachers-"

"Oh, I know how good you are at potions," said James smugly. "Sluggy just adores Lily Evans and her absolutely marvelous ability in Potions."

"Oh, shut up!" said Lily laughing. "Hmm, where're your stalkers? I expected them to be sauntering by trying to eavesdrop or something."

James suddenly paled.

"You haven't seen them?"

"No, why?"

"Well, I haven't seen them, either!" said James. "They're up to something."

Remus choked on his Butterbeer when he heard this. Rosmerta eyed him curiously as he hastily dabbed as bits of liquid he had sprayed down his front.

"All right m'dear?" she asked him, wiggling her attractive hips as she walked over to see if he was okay.

"Just fine," he said. "Just fine."

She leaned in to whisper, her large bosoms quivering.

"There's that dog-you know the one, the big black one-in back," she whispered. He's looking for you, I think."

Shit, thought Remus. Then, Sorry, I mean, crap. Or, uh, oops? Yeah, oops is good.

"Oops," he said aloud. "Yeah, I told him I'd sit where he could see me. Sorry." Remus eyed the table in the corner where the couple sat talking and laughing and-

Remus's eyes went wide.

James Potter was snogging Lily Evans.

"Right, well, thanks, Rosmerta," he said, standing up hastily and knocking over his chair in the process. "Well, I ought to be going!"

He picked up the chair and walked backwards toward the door.

For the love of Merlin please let Sirius have the common sense for me to come- Remus thought.

Luckily, Sirius did wait, though it wasn't from common sense. He waited because the cook in the back was entertaining him with a plate of leftovers. The cook in the back had a soft spot for Sirius.

Thank you, thought Remus as he called Sirius from behind the building.

Unfortunately, just as he was heading back towards the road, he spotted James storming from the Three Broomsticks.

"The meddling idiots!" he was shouting. "They were spying on me!"

Shit, thought Remus again. He saw me.

"They are going to regret this when I get back to Hogwarts!"

James stormed down the road into-

Sirius had transformed and was standing next to Remus.

"No," said Sirius.

"Not-" said Remus.

"Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop!" they said together.

"I can't believe he went in there," said Remus, clearly in shock. "Right, well, you transform and go in there."

"I'm not going in there, you go in there," said Sirius. They argued and bit and then decided there was only one way to get away with it.

Sirius peeked in a high open window, peering in with the help of Remus.

"Oh, they're just arguing about classes," said Sirius dismissively. "That's no good."

"Are you sure that's them?"

"Oh, yes, that's them alright. Wait, the conversation is starting to get interesting. Pick me up a bit, I want to see in better."

Remus picked him up, clearly dying to know what they were talking about. Sirius grabbed onto the high window's ledge, hoisting himself up a bit. If he was really careful, he could probably crouch on the windowsill and have a perfect view. He leaned in, listening to all of the juicy details-

Do you know the noise a Sirius makes when falling onto a delicate glass table covered in a lace tablecloth with tea on it? No?

Well, it kind of sounds like an Eeek! and the Crunch! Shatter! Splat! and a Ka-BOOM! But not exactly.

This is exactly the sound that Sirius made when he fell into the window, fell onto the table, and revealed himself to be the eavesdropper that he was.

"I am going to kill you, Sirius," hissed James, before Madame Puddifoot herself came screeching at them to get out.

They left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I wouldn't change that first date for anything, even if it didn't go exactly as planned. Those friends became-and are-more important than you may ever know. You see, I wasn't scared off by those friends. I loved them. Not as much as I loved your Dad. But, after that first date, I was smart enough to give a run down of exactly what we had talked about. At least for the first part of our relationship. After that, though, they were on their own. But they never ceased to include me in their adventures. I remember the first time I ever broke the rules with them...

Love,

Mum