Note: Hi there, this is Meet the Marauders, the third story in the "Meet the..." series, the first being Meet the Lupins and the second being Meet the Muggles! That's right, as promised Carrie and Teddy are back again!

Thank you very much to everybody who voted in the poll to name this 'fic! I hope that those of you who are Marauder fans will enjoy this story, though I have not attempted to write about MWPP in any real capacity at all before now! So...wish me luck! Oh, and this won't be your average Marauder era 'fic, either. After all, that wouldn't be terribly original, would it?

This story can stand alone, all you need to know is that this 'ficverse is AU in that Remus and Tonks survived the final battle, and Caroline "Carrie" Winters is a muggle girl who befriended Teddy and found out about the Wizarding World.

Quite naturally, this story is dedicated to the wonderful reviewers of Meet the Muggles, what a lovely bunch you all are! XD

Oh, and please note, those of you living outside of the UK, the "college" referred to in this chapter is NOT University! It is where Bowie, Timothy and Thomas are studying for their A levels/whatever other qualification they chose, which usually take two years to complete, by which time the average student is 18 years old.

And so here goes! We rejoin Teddy and Carrie three years after the events of Meet the Muggles, and it's Carrie's favorite time of the year again...

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing. I do, however, own Caroline "Carrie" Winters and Cleopatra "Cleo" Clancy.

1: Some Good Advice

It was a gloriously sunny afternoon in the small town of Eddington, and within the old redbrick confines of Oakhurst Manor Secondary School, Headmistress Mrs. Basilton was about to unleash chaos upon the unsuspecting world beyond the school's gates.

The students of form 10CM had been waiting impatiently for the Big Moment for weeks, and as the last few minutes ticked away on the clock above their classroom door, the anticipation had left every single student perched on the edge of their seats.

As she sat, poised ready for escape, one hand already grasping hold of her school bag, Cleopatra Clancy's mouth curved into a broad grin as in the corner of the room, the school's crackly intercom came to life.

"Good Afternoon, everybody." Mrs. Basilton's voice greeted, causing an instant murmur of excitement to ripple throughout the room, despite the teacher's shhh. "I have just a few notices before you all leave today for the holidays. Firstly, I would like to say congratulations to the Year Eight football team for their brilliant performance last week again Eddington High, well done boys! You did Oakhurst proud! Secondly..."

A few of the students in the back row let out audible groans of irritation and Cleopatra slumped back in her chair and loudly declared:

"Oh just get on with it, you silly old bat!"

The rest of the class gave a collective snigger as their form tutor's gaze left the papers that were upon his desk so that he could fix the dark haired protester with an unimpressed look. Before he could say a word, however, a voice from behind Cleopatra loudly commented:

"Well you'd know all about bats, wouldn't you Clancy?"

Cleopatra immediately twisted in her chair to face the tall, lanky boy who was lounging in his chair in the row behind her.

"Piss off, Thompson!" she snapped, and the teacher interjected:

"That's quite enough, thank you Cleo!"

Cleo's expression was instantly outraged, but rather than argue with him she turned to the girl beside her, folding her arms moodily across her chest as she asked:

"Aren't you going to stick up for me or something?"

When the girl merely continued to study the small strip of chewing gum that she had in her hands, fingers toying thoughtfully with the wrapper as a strand of long, chestnut hair slipped down into her eyes, Cleo reached to tap her sharply upon the arm.

"Oi!" she cried, raised voice causing the teacher to frown in her direction once again. "Earth to Carrie!"

At the sound of her name, Caroline Winters reluctantly dragged her gaze away from the shiny foil wrapped object to glance sideways at her friend questioningly.

"Hmm?" she said, reaching to brush the wayward piece of hair from her eyes, only for the teacher to call:

"Is that chewing gum, Caroline?"

"Um..." Carrie glanced down at the foil again for a brief moment before hurriedly reaching to shove it into the pocket of her maroon school blazer, deciding: "No Sir, it isn't."

"...and so," Mrs. Basilton's voice went on, "all there remains for me to say is this: have a wonderful summer holiday, and don't forget: be sensible!"

And with that, the school bell signaled the official end of the school year, only to be drowned out by the sudden stampede of students jumping to their feet and rushing for the classroom door.

As they made their way out of the classroom and towards the nearest exit, Cleo barging a path through the swarm of Year Eight students who were pouring out of the classroom next door, the scruffy teenager glanced over her shoulder at Carrie in order to ask:

"So, any awesome plans for the summer, Carrie? Other than the obvious."

As she hurried after her friend, one hand shoved into the pocket of her blazer, toying absentmindedly with the strip of gum, Carrie pursed her lips against an indigent response and instead decided:

"No, just the obvious."

As they headed out the doors and set off across the playground towards the school gates, Carrie was pretty sure that Cleo rolled her eyes. She knew full well that what she got up to during the holidays rather bemused her friend, but then again, since Cleo was a self proclaimed witch who spent the majority of her holidays looking at bizarre websites and mixing together supposed potions in her bathroom sink (much to Mrs. Clancy's repeated fury), Carrie found her choice of activities equally as strange.

"Don't they get sick of you?" Cleo wanted to know as Carrie quickened her pace until they were walking side by side. "Teddy's parents, I mean. Or Teddy, even..."

"Not really, no."

"Well...I think it's a bit weird..."

"So you keep telling me..."

"But don't you think I'm right? You spend more time round at the Lupins during the summer than you do at your own house!"

Carrie took a turn at rolling her eyes then, but if she were entirely honest with herself, which she rarely was, she would have to admit that Cleo possibly had a point. Maybe.

But not really. There was nothing wrong with the lengths of time that Carrie spent round at her neighbors' house during the holidays when their son Teddy was back from boarding school. There were two main reasons why this was. Firstly, Teddy Lupin was Carrie's very best friend in the world, and had been so ever since Carrie's family had moved to Eddington some four summers previously. Carrie missed Teddy terribly when he was away at school, despite his frequent letters, and so when he finally returned home for the holidays the pair were near on inseparable.

The second reason why Carrie's frequent visits next door were perfectly acceptable was simply this:

Carrie just couldn't help herself.

And she was pretty sure that if Cleo, or anybody else that matter, knew quite what she did about the Lupins, they would be equally as obsessed with them.

Not that Carrie was obsessed...she was sure she wasn't...not really...only a little.

Over the years that she had known them, what Carrie had come to know about the Lupins could possibly fill several books, but what she didn't know about them could probably fill a great many more. And that was what she loved about being around them. There was never a dull moment within those four walls as far as Carrie was concerned.

Because the Lupins were magical.

Not the boring, childish and fake sort of magical, like those awful clowns that your parents used to hire as entertainment at your birthday party, nor the sort of magical that meant they were very good at doing tricks with a pack of playing cards.

No, the Lupins were properly magical, as in real, proper, no tricks sort of magic. Carrie lived next door to a couple of wizards and a witch. And as if that wasn't quite exciting enough, she could also admit to having befriended a couple of shape shifters and a werewolf.

Not that she ever admitted anything of the sort. The truth about the Lupins was all one big secret, as was the existence of the entire Wizarding World. It was no wonder, Carrie supposed, that Cleo could not understand her preoccupation.

"Are you still fiddling with that gum?" Cleo asked as they passed through the gates and came to a halt, ready to go their separate ways home. "God Carrie! If you don't want to chew it, I bloody will!"

Carrie glanced down as she drew the offending object out of her pocket. The wrapping was beginning to look somewhat worse for wear after her persistent toying.

"He's a total loser, you know." Cleo announced, eying the gum with disgust and Carrie felt her cheeks warming as she mumbled:

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Of course you do! He's a right pretty boy, he walks around with a comb in his pocket and he checks his reflection whenever he walks past a window. He's more of a girl than I am!"

Carrie offered her friend a scowl as she reached to shove the gum back into her pocket.

"Well that's not very difficult though, is it Cleo?" she said as she adjusted the bag upon her shoulder in a distinctly irritable fashion. "You're about as feminine as a prime beef stake."

Cleo merely sniggered at this observation as she turned to head off up the road.

"D'you want to come over for fish and chips at the weekend?" she asked, grinning widely. "Bowie's mates from college are all coming over, I might suffocate from all the nail polish and hair dye fumes if you don't come and help open some extra windows."

Carrie failed to suppress a snigger of her own, her annoyance immediately forgotten.

"That sounds good to me!" she enthused, and with that both girls waved cheerfully and went their separate ways, only for Cleo to call over her shoulder:

"You don't actually like him, do you? Like...LIKE him? Because that would be unbelievably pathetic...not to mention bloody disgusting!"

Carrie let out an exaggerated snort of amusement and she called back:

"Of course I don't!"

"Thank God for that!" Cleo exclaimed, throwing her hands up in relief. "I was starting to think you were turning into my sister or something, you know, having stupid crushes on anything that moves!"

Carrie gave a rather uncertain chuckle.

"Well that'll never happen!" she shouted, and with that she waved one last time before turning to hurry on up the street.

It having been only a half day at school to mark the end of term, Carrie arrived home to an empty house; her brothers Timothy and Thomas were still at college, her father would not be home from the office until dinner time and her mother had gone out shopping with one of Carrie's aunts.

Carrie made a beeline for the kitchen to fetch herself a tall glass of lemonade, before wandering out into the back garden to soak up the sunshine. After taking a few sips of lemonade, she reached into her pocket again to retrieve the strip of chewing gum. As she observed the way the sunlight reflected off of the shiny surface, Carrie frowned deeply. It was typical, she mused, that she should have to come home to an empty house when she had spent the majority of the day dying to ask her mother one particular question...

As her gaze drifted up from the foil and came to rest upon the fence that separated her garden from that of the Lupins' next door, it occurred to Carrie that really, her mother might not be quite the person she wanted to pose this particular question to after all. The teenager found herself grinning broadly as she half skipped over to the fence, rising up upon the balls of her feet so that she could peer over into the Lupins' back garden. Upon inspection, she found both patio and lawn to be void of life, though the back door had been left open and Carrie was pretty sure that she could hear somebody moving around the kitchen. Squinting towards the back window, Carrie could just about make out a blurry mass of pink hovering just above the sink. And so the muggle drew in a deep breath and bellowed:

"DORA?"

There was only a slight pause before a voice shouted back:

"Alright, Carrie love?" And with that, Teddy's mother's head peered out into the garden, lips curving into a wide smile as she called: "How was school?"

"It was okay."

"Just okay?" Dora stepped out into the bright afternoon sun, reaching to wipe her damp hands upon the front of an artfully patched pair of denim jeans. "Well if that's how much you smile on an okay day, you better watch out for those good days, you might split your face."

Carrie sniggered, twirling the strip of gum absentmindedly around in her fingers.

"How's Remus?" she asked, and the pink haired witch glanced back towards the house, frowning ever so slightly before plastering another grin onto her face and announcing:

"He's alright."

Carrie followed her gaze towards the doorway, only to find that Eddington's resident werewolf was nowhere to be seen.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked, turning her attention back to Dora as the witch came to a halt before her, reaching to lean against the fence.

"What's that, then?" Dora asked, reaching to brush a short strand of vibrant hair from her eyes, and suddenly Carrie felt her cheeks flushing red self consciously. When offered an arched eyebrow, however, the girl swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and, staring at a random plant pot upon the Lupins' patio, asked:

"Well...the thing is...well, I was just wondering...like..." She trailed off into awkward silence when Dora simply chuckled in a non-too discrete way under her breath. Apparently noticing her young neighbor's embarrassment, the metamorphmagus stopped her amusement abruptly and observed:

"It's about boys, isn't it?"

Carrie simply gawped at her, face fast turning a similar shade to Dora's hair as the witch merely raised another eyebrow.

"How...how do you...?"

"It's magic, Carrie love!" Dora said with an innocent shrug, but when the girl seemed unconvinced she admitted: "Well, funnily enough, though it might be difficult to believe, I myself was a teenager once."

"I find it very difficult to believe." a voice commented from the kitchen doorway. "I always thought you got to about five and then stopped maturing."

As Carrie failed to smother a giggle, Dora glanced over at the figure who had appeared in the doorway in order to tell him:

"It's nice to see you've got your sense of humour back, Sweetheart, it'll help keep you in good cheer now you're going to finish the washing up for me."

"Hi Remus!" Carrie greeted, and as he let out a small sigh of resignation, Teddy's father called back:

"Hello Carrie." Gesturing back into the kitchen behind him, the werewolf told his wife: "I've got all the papers out, by the way."

"Great." Dora said, though Carrie couldn't help but think that she didn't think it was great in the slightest. "We'll make a start on that before we go and get Ted from the station."

Remus offered Carrie a vague wave before turning and disappearing back inside, and as she watched him go, Dora told the girl rather loudly:

"The first thing you need to know about boys, Carrie, is that they're all a bunch of smug gits, no matter how old they are. Even the nice ones."

Carrie smiled a little as she frowned down at the chewing gum once again.

"How can you tell..." she wondered as the witch turned back to face her. "...when a boy likes you? Like...properly likes you?"

The pink haired witch sucked in a deep, thoughtful breath, a deep frown creasing her brow.

"Well...that can be a bit tricky." she said, reaching to fiddle with a loose piece of ribbon upon her blouse. "I suppose it rather depends upon the boy."

"Well how did you know that Remus liked you?" Carrie asked her, surprised when she received a snort of amusement in response.

"How did I know that Remus liked me?" Dora said, shaking her head a little at the recollection. "Well...I didn't. Not for a long while. He's not the easiest of books to read, my husband. Especially when it comes to who he likes and who he doesn't. Remus likes everybody, pretty much, and if he doesn't like them he's still painfully polite. Which of course meant it took me a long time to figure out whether or not he liked me in the way that I liked him."

"So how did you figure it out?" Carrie asked eagerly, and Dora grinned broadly.

"I didn't." she said again, causing Carrie to frown. "I got suspicious, of course, when the rota for guard duty at the Department of Mysteries seemed to keep altering and people kept mysteriously canceling their joint shifts with me at the last minute leaving Remus to take their place...but of course I couldn't know for sure how he felt. It was likely enough that he just liked me as a friend."

"Then what did you do?"

"I just decided that I didn't want us to just be friends, I wanted us to be more than that. And then I told him what I had decided...and refused to take no for an answer. You shouldn't let anything stand in the way of happiness, Carrie. Especially where love is concerned. No matter who or what you are." Dora paused, seemingly lost in the memory for a long moment, before blinking hard and telling the girl: "Tell me all about him then. What's his name?"

"Alexander." Carrie mumbled, shifting her feet rather shyly.

"Okay. And what's Alexander like?"

Carrie's face contorted a little as she recalled:

"Cleo says he's a pretty boy, she says he's more girly than she is."

"Well that's not difficult."

"That's what I told her. She might be right, though, about Alexander. He does carry a comb around in his pocket, I've seen it...but he's very nice!"

"Yeah? How's that?"

"Well he holds doors open for me in the corridor...well...not just me, he doesn't it for everybody, but...but he did it for me once last week."

"Right..."

"And he doesn't call me a freak, like lots of the others. He even told Carl Thompson to shut up when he laughed at my poetry in English."

"He sounds like a decent sort of boy."

"I think he is. Oh! And he said he liked my bag! Yesterday, when I was in the library, he walked past and sort said...nice bag. And then he smiled at me!"

Dora nodded slowly, pursing her lips together thoughtfully as she decided:

"Well...we all like a boy who smiles, don't we?

"And then today in History he was sat in front of me and he...well he turned around in his chair and asked me if I would like a chewing gum."

"Did he give anybody else some chewing gum?"

"Well...maybe...a few people..."

"Hmm...well...have you ever spoken to him? Have you ever told him that you like him?"

Carrie's eyes widened in alarm.

"No!" she cried, utterly horrified. "Of course not!"

"Ah, well there lies the problem, Carrie love. They're a bit thick, boys, they don't do subtle..."

"But...but I've not even spoken to him properly before! We've not even had lunch together or...or anything like that!"

"Well have lunch with him then. Ask him what he likes to do at the weekend, and when he tells you he likes to go to go to the...you know, with the pictures..."

"The cinema?"

"That's the one. When he tells you he likes to go to the cinema, you tell him you like to go there too. Then ask him if he wants to go with you."

"And then I tell him I like him?"

"Well...I'd wait until after the trip to the cinema. After several trips to the cinema."

"What if he doesn't want to go to the cinema? What if he doesn't like me?"

"Well then you conclude that Cleo was right, he's just a pretty boy and you don't really want anything to do with him anyway. And then you find another boy, mess it up with him and then you find another one...you get the picture."

"But...but you said don't take no for an answer!"

Dora's dark eyes sobered somewhat as she reached to pat Carrie upon the arm before straightening up and setting off slowly towards the back door again.

"As long as you come and ask me about liking boys, you can accept as many nos as you like." she called back to the girl over her shoulder. "But the day you come and ask me about loving a man, that's the day you stop letting him say no."

Carrie had thought those words to be some of the wisest advice that she had ever heard, and at that very moment, as she unwrapped the chewing gum and stuffed it unceremoniously into her mouth, the young muggle vowed to remember the witch's words forever after.

But as she sat down the kitchen table beside her husband a moment later, Dora Lupin had absolutely no idea that her simple advice was about to bring her whole entire world crumbling down around her.