an: Hey, look you guys, I'm back! lol. it is the middle of august, like I promised, right? good. I'm a bit later than I expected, but I kind of forgot about the paper I had to write over the summer for one of my classes. But I'm back now, so its ok.
summary: alrighty, this is basically my interpretation of the marauder's years at Hogwarts, and they're lives after school, and whatnot. i'm starting with year five, and going up until Lily and James's death. There'll be some romance, and comedy, and action, and all that jazz. So this is just a melting pot of genres.something for everyone!lol.
spoilers: slight HBP spoilers...nothing about the plot though, just some characters. Also, there are some spoilers from my previous fic "Shadowed Veil". But technically, all this happened before shadowed veil did, so those who have read that will know a little bit more than the rest of you, I suppose. Go and check it out if you would like, however
disclaimer: its been a couple months, but I'm still not Jo...I don't think that I ever will be either. i'm just taking some of her characters out for a brisk jog.
dedication: ok. This story is dedicated to two people who are very special to me. Jordan and Kris (you know who you are). They are two of my dearest friends, and they both recently moved away. This story is dedicated to them and to what they have brought into my life. I love you guys!
real quick note on the rating:right now, the rating is k+ (stupid new ratings...they're rather confusing), but throughout the story it is likely to turn into a T rating...at some point, I might altogether just change the rating, but until then, I'll let you know in the beginning if its a "T chapter". lol. Just remember,throughout this story, the main characters are teenagers and young adults. There might be some issues with language and some crude humor. Also, towards the end of this story, there is kind of this war going on, so be prepared for some violence.
ok...enough of an author's ramblings...ENJOI
Remus and Athena stood amongst the wreckage of the house. It was the second, maybe third, time he had been to the small home in Godric's Hallow since . . . since the murders. The majority of the house was still intact, but most of furniture had been destroyed, windows were shattered, it looked as though an interior wall had been blown out, the staircase looked like it wouldn't support anyone's weight, and most of the personal possessions of Lily and James Potter had been destroyed. Athena was already walking around, taking it all in one last time, but Remus couldn't seem to move. He had been very reluctant when Athena had approached him after the funeral, and asked him to accompany her back to the house, just one last time. He didn't want to, but the pleading look in Athena's eyes had convinced him too.
He didn't want to be back here. If anyone but Athena had asked him to, he would have refused point-blank. But Athena was going through the same thing he was, and he knew that he wouldn't want to be alone in this house if it had been his wish to come back one last time. His heart tore as he looked around the room, but, by now, he was almost used to the feeling. This was Lily and James's sitting room. He had spent last Christmas in here, with Athena, and Lily and James, and their son Harry, the sole survivor from the attack, and Peter, and . . . Sirius. Yes, Sirius, the one who had betrayed his best friends, had been present. Christmas had been a moment of happiness in the midst of a war that was full of death and destruction. No one could have imagined what was going to happen in only ten months. No one could have imagined that Sirius would betray James to his death, then kill Peter. No one could have imagined that only two members of that Christmas party would be able to walk free. No one could have imagined . . .
Athena had somehow gotten upstairs when Remus brought himself to walk around the house. The broken remnants of the house only served to remind Remus of what had happened. As he walked through the wreckage, he could see James fighting, in one last desperate attempt to save his wife and son, only to finally fall. He refused to go upstairs. He didn't want to see the haunting image of Lily sacrificing herself for her child. He ran his hand along the mantle over the fireplace. His hand ran over a picture frame that he picked up. The glass on the frame had been shattered, but the photograph remained intact. Remus's heart tore once more as he looked at a picture of James and Lily on their wedding day, Sirius standing next to James, looking, for all the world to see, like an innocent man. He dropped the picture as if it had burned him. If someone had told him, even two weeks ago, that Sirius would be responsible for the death of James and Lily, and that he would then murder, in cold blood, Peter and twelve other muggles, he would have laughed. Nothing could have seemed more preposterous. He blinked past the tears that had flooded his eyes and moved into another part of the house.
He refused to go in the kitchen. It was the one part of the house that remained completely intact. He didn't want to go in that room, only to be flooded with memories of nights he spent in there, playing card games with James and the rest of his friends. He didn't want to be reminded of the times when the war outside didn't seem to touch them. He wouldn't be able to take it. He stood at the base of the stairs, looking up into the hallway above. Why had he let Athena take him back here? Hadn't the funeral service an hour ago been painful enough? Hadn't watching James and Lily's bodies being brought out from the house been enough to scar him for life? Hadn't watching Sirius laugh as mangled bodies lay dead around him been enough? Couldn't he just leave this all behind him, and try to move on? It seemed so wrong to him, that, as the rest of the wizarding world was rejoicing the destruction of Lord Voldemort, he had only pain and sorrow. Yes, the darkest wizard of the time had been destroyed, but at what cost? The cost of the lives of his friends. James, one of the few people who had never turned his back on him, was dead. Lily, who had helped him through times of despair and helplessness, was dead. Peter, who had always shed a humorous light on the darkest of situations, who had seemed so innocent and naive, was dead. Sirius, one of the people who Remus had considered a true friend, who, despite being reckless and often tactless, had never ceased to stick up for those he was loyal too, who had, on multiple occasions, given him advice, had treated him like family, had helped make the darkest times in his life bearable, was a traitor. A murderer. A criminal, who was now locked up in Azkaban for life.
Remus sat down on one of the steps, his head cradled in his arms. In one night, he had lost virtually everything. He and Athena both. In the back of his mind, the part that he often tried to ignore, he was reminded though, that Athena was able to escape this. She had a job, a home, friends who were still alive. She would be able to move on. Remus, on the other hand, had lost everything. True, he had a house, not that it meant much, and he would possibly get a job a sooner or later, but he had lost his friends. His friends who had been like family to him. His friends who had never turned on him. His friends had meant everything to him since he met them when he was 11 years old. He had been petrified that they would one day abandon him, and that he would be alone again, like he had been as a child. And here he was. His friends had abandoned him, but only because one had made the choice to betray them. For the first time in over 10 years, Remus Lupin felt alone.
Athena came down and sat next to Remus, running her hand up and down his back comfortingly. In her other hand, she held a picture album that had not been destroyed, and a few other items that help personal value to her. "Are you going to be okay, Remus?" she asked quietly.
Remus turned and looked at her. She looked about as bad as he felt. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her skin pale. Her overall appearance was disheveled. It looked as though one good gust of wind would knock her over. He couldn't bring himself to say that he doubted if he would ever be okay again. So, instead he nodded.
"I've got to go now, okay?"
"Yeah."
"Be sure to write, okay?" she requested.
"Of course."
"We can get together again at Christmas, okay? You can come over to my place," she said.
"Yeah."
"Are you going to be okay here, or would you like me to wait til you're done to leave?"
"I'll be fine," he said hoarsley. His voice sounded dead to his ears. "You can go. I just want to look around for a bit longer."
Athena nodded. "I'll write," she promised, and disapparated.
Remus was left alone in the house. Still fighting back tears that threatened to overcome him, he walked into James's study. The room had been one of James's favorites, and it had been decorated in a way that seemed to reflect him. This was the room where they found his body. Remus thought it fitting, in a very odd way, that James died in this room. He ran his hand over the mahogany desk, and looked around sadly at the pictures that hung on the wall. He choked back a sob as he looked at a rather pointless picture of a rubber duck. A small caption under the photo read "The Killer Rubber Ducky, as photographed by Sirius Orion Black". He could almost see James standing in the room, laughing and cursing the duck for his bad luck.
There were several books that had fell on the floor, after the bookshelf had been hit with a mis-aimed curse, Remus supposed. He wasn't sure why, but he felt drawn to put the books back on the shelf. Once again, he almost heard James laugh at him, telling him teasingly that he was much too organized for his own good. He knelt down on the ground, and started putting the books on the shelf. His hand grasped a thin, leather-bound volume. There was a hole on the back; It looked as though someone had held it over an open flame. It was obvious that a good chunk of the pages were missing. He flipped the book over, to see what it was, when a sharp voice behind him said, "Sir, I'm afraid you can't be in here."
Remus turned around and stood up, the book still clutched in his hand. A woman, a muggle by her attire, stood in the doorway. "Excuse me?" he said, his voice very quiet.
"This house belongs to the village of Godric's Hallow," the woman said. "You're trespassing right now, unless you wish to buy this house, that is." Remus identified the skeptical look in her eye. She doubted if he had enough money to buy this house.
"I'm afraid you must be mistaken," Remus said, his voice trembling ever so slightly. "This house belongs to James Potter and his wife, who happened to be good friends of mine. I think I have every right to be here."
The expression on the woman's face changed slightly. It was pity. Remus knew the look well. "I'm terribly sorry for you loss, sir," the woman said kindly. "But I still cannot permit you to be in here. It belongs to–"
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Remus flinched as he cried the words. Pete. The Pete he knew was dead now. "Just give me a moment, will you? Just give me a goddamned moment!"
The woman paused and looked at the man who stood across from her. He couldn't be any older that 25, but he seemed much older than that. Bits of grey flecked his hair, and there were bags under his eyes. He was thin, and he looked very distressed. The woman doubted if the man was in his right mind at the moment. She decided to give the man his space, for fear that she might provoke him to do something stupid if she continued. "I'll be back in five minutes, sir," she said. "I expect you to be gone by then."
Remus watched the woman leave, then turned his attention back to the book in his hand. His eyes went wide as he looked at the cover in the book. Embellished across the front in a gold script were the words: The Marauder Memoirs: The Life and Times of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Remus's jaw dropped. He took several steps backwards and sank into the desk chair. He flipped the book open. Almost every page was defected, but the first one, it was whole.
James, Remus, and Peter wanted me to write this, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. James said it was because I failed to come up with a Best Man speech at his wedding reception earlier today. But I swear the man has ulterior motives. They decided, without me, that there should be an introduction to our Memoirs, so that future generations know what they're getting themselves into when they open this book. So, here I am, writing an introduction. And, Merlin, I have no clue what to write.
You see, this book you hold in your hands is aptly named The Marauder Memoirs: The Life and Times of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. It is an account of our lives, our trials, our failures, our triumphs, our exploits, our successes, and most importantly, our friendship. I remain convinced that friendship's like ours are extremely rare. That they only happen once in a century. I think it is so deep, so pure, that the threat of Lord Voldemort seems insignificant compared to it. While Voldemort and his Death Eaters are wreaking havoc, and tearing lives, families, and friendships apart, I declare that ours will only grow closer together.
On the rare chance that whoever might be reading this doesn't know who we are, I shall elaborate. We are the Marauders. A bunch of misfits who banned together at school, and who rarely leave each other alone now that we are out of school. There are four of us, and we sign all of our work under our nicknames: Prongs, Moony, Wormtail, and Padfoot. That's me. Padfoot. My real name isn't Padfoot (praise the heavens), and my friends' real names aren't those either. That's why we call them nicknames, you see. My real name is Sirius Orion Black. Likewise, my friends' names are James Kael Potter, Remus John Lupin, and Peter Paul Pettigrew.
James's nickname is Prongs because he is an illegal animagus, and his form is that of a stag. James, despite what some may say, is an extraordinary person. He's immensely brave, and can be quite intelligent, when he wants to be, at least. James is a lot of things in general, and a small paragraph about him can hardly sum it all up. He's dedicated to what matters to him, and he's bloody persistent (his dear new wife will tell you that if you ask). James is passionate, understanding as hell, and he gives off this, I don't know, air that he is in control of himself. Now, some may question whether being able to control yourself is all that big of a deal, but if your James Kael Potter it is. I swear, he has so many crazy and absurd ideas running through his head, constantly, it's a wonder that he can manage at all. If your mind were constantly as jumbled as his, you'd be proud if you were in control of yourself too. But, you know, along with that is the simple fact that James knows who he is. He always had. He has never doubted who he is, or what he wanted to become. He knew right from the get-go, and has gone after it ever since. He sets goals, and then he reaches them. And when he reaches them, he keeps going passed them. He's absobloodylutely determined to live life the way he wants to, he won't let anything stop him. He chooses to just run through all the rough stuff in life, and keep going. If that isn't an admirable quality, I don't know what is. James isn't perfect. Far from it. He likes to pretend he is, occasionally, but he's not. He's got fears and insecurities just like the rest of us. The one thing, I think, that bugs most people about him is the way he can get carried away with himself at times. It's improved a lot, now that we're older, but I assure you, in our, uh, youth, we were both a right pain in the arse. James, you see, was always taught to be self-confident. To walk tall, and look the world in the eye. To be proud of who he was. Somewhere along the line, I think that was misinterpreted as being arrogant for a good 5 or 6 years. He still does have his arrogant streak If you look hard enough, you can find it. And don't tell him I said this, but he can be a bit over-zealous at times. It's hard to keep up with.
Moony is really Remus John Lupin (also known as 'Lupin John Remus', 'Reemy' (he hates that one, so don't try calling him it), 'Loony Lupin', and occasionally 'that stark-raving-mad lunatic, Lupin'). We call him Moony because he is a werewolf. Has been since he was about four. And if you can't figure out why we call him Moony, now, then go kill yourself and rid the world of your stupidity. I also have to say that Remus is immensely brave. Every month, Remus turns into a, well, a monster. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the time he's completely normal (or as normal as he's getting, leastways). But he turns into this beast, and often wreaks havoc upon himself. He knows very well that he could be a potential murderer, and there's not much he can do about it. Yet, in spite of all of this, Remus wakes up every morning, determined to be a good person. He's a better person than most, you'll find. He knows what pain feels like, and he is empathetic because of it. He's compassionate and I'm convinced he can read minds. He's forgiving. I mean, seriously, the number of times I've screwed up, it's amazing he still talks to me. But he does, because he's willing to forgive me, even when he shouldn't. Remus has been through a lot, and he still has the courage to stand tall, and proud. How many werewolves do you know that can do that? Still, Remus does have a bad side. He can be incredibly . . . well, he can be incredibly a lot of things. Stubborn. Private. Shy. Annoying. Violent. Paranoid. You take your pick. There's nothing more annoying than when you can tell something is bugging him, and he refuses to tell you what's wrong. Its annoying when you want to help him, but he won't let you. He can also be a bit, oh, what's the term? Know-it-all-ish, at times. But Remus comes in one big package, so you take it, or leave. I'd suggest taking it.
Peter Pettigrew is Wormtail. He's a rat. Not literally, genius. That's his animagus form. The tail looks like a worm, you know. Pete is an interesting fellow. I think that he may be an unintentional genius. Almost all our breakthroughs as kids (ie, Remus is a werewolf . . . I still can't believe he tried to hide that one from us), some how originate from Pete. He was the first one to notice that Remus always disappeared when the moon was full. He was the one to realize that werewolf-Remus couldn't hurt us if we could turn into animals. It may be that he realizes all this on accident, I don't know. I mean (and I mean no offence, Peter) but he is rather bumbling in everyday situations. You all know what I mean, don't you? He's often shy, and has a tendency to be a bit tongue-tied at times. But he's great for a lot of things. He has an excellent memory, and a keen eye for detail. He can also be really smart when he wants to be. I mean, how many people (other than James and I) can become an illegal animagus at the young age of 15? Very few, that's how many. You know, I guess I'm a bit harder on Pete than I am on most people, but he's always there when we need him. He also has this really cool way of making things not seem so bad. And he always talks without thinking, first. Some people may call that stupidity or tactlessness. I call it honesty.
Last of the group is me. Padfoot. My animagus form is this great, black dog. I'm quite fond of it, really. But that's about all I can really say about myself. I don't know what they were thinking when they told me they wanted me to write something about all of us, including me. I'm horrid at talking about myself.
We never expected you to write about yourself, Padfoot. (Sorry, mates. This is James speaking. I had to steal this from him for a minute). He's right. He is rather dismal when it comes to talking about himself. (I personally blame it on his parents. They really screwed him up as a child. They pretty much taught him that his feelings, thoughts, and emotions were unimportant, and that they should be ignored. It's no wonder that he doesn't like talking about himself, if he had that drilled into his head as a kid). Anyway, I'm here to talk about him for him.
Sirius Orion Black (his initials are S.O.B. Did anyone else realize that? Son. Of a. B . . .well, I'll let you fill that one in. I've always thought it was rather amusing.) is my best friend. Always has been, always will be. I know that now that I'm married (it's been a whole glorious 5 hours) I should say my wife is my best friend, but that would be lying, and we all know it. So what makes Sirius such a good friend? Everything. For crying out loud, he's more like a brother to me. Sirius is astonishingly loyal. I mean it. I've done some pretty terrible stuff in my time, and he's never left my side. Ever. Even for a moment. Not even to go to the bathroom(ha ha . . . I'm not being "sirius" you guys . . .that was a joke). He told me it was because he thinks I can't manage on my own. Glory, I love the bloke. Sirius loves to have fun, and it makes him a bit reckless, but it's a riot having him around. He's very random, but it keeps you aware of what's going on. Sirius has had a rough life, to say the least. His family was never all that supportive of him, to say the least. It took him sixteen years, but eventually he got fed up and ran away to my place, where we sort of illegally adopted him. His biological parents have yet to be informed. Sirius would do anything for any of us. He will put his life out on the line, if he likes you enough. There have been times when someone would say something offensive to someone he cares about, and Sirius would pretty much hex them into next year. Sirius does have a tendency to be a bit over the top. After living with his family for so long, I think that he kept everything locked inside of him for too long, and it all just sort of falls out at times. It's sort of like a nervous breakdown, only a bit more controlled. Sirius is a rebel, no doubt about it. He likes rebelling against everything, even if he shouldn't. He tries things just to be able to say he has, and it gets him in trouble. A lot. My parents think that it might get him killed one day. But I love him. My parents love him. My wife loves him (just not as much as me, I hope). His girlfriend loves him. We all love him. And that, my dear friends, is the complexity of Sirius Black in a nut shell.
Ok, it's me, Sirius, again. James has forbidden me to read what he wrote, but I will later. Now that you know who we are, this book should make a bit more sense to you. We have taken the great pleasure in chronicling virtually everything that has happened to us since we were thirteen, when we started the Memoirs. We have written things that we never had courage to say out loud. We have written things about ourselves that I hope no one but us knows. We've written about the good and the bad. And we will continue writing, because I swear, our lives are far from over. We're writing this so that, in the end, our names will last longer than our lives. We're writing this so that people can understand what real friendship is, because I don't think enough people understand. I want people to be able to read this, and walk away knowing who we are, and what we stand for. This is no mere book you hold in your hands. This is the story of our lives.
final an: ok, for those of you who haven't read "Shadowed Veil", Athena is an OC of mine who will be properly introduced later. She was a good friend of Lily's however (just to clear that up). Secondly, in the next chapter, there will be an author's note simply about the Memoirs and a brief explanation of that... I should be back in about two weeks with my next chapter
please review...it would be nice
Delano