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Twelve

Jack-o-lanterns cloud over the Great Hall accompanied by the massive spiderwebs covering the paintings in the corridors. Halloween is right around the corner, leaving students excited for the three day weekend Dumbledore had granted them.

Laughter drowns behind the loud whistle blowing from the small black kettle. Hagrid shifts over, removing the kettle from the open fire and refills the three teacups on the table. The fire heats the small hut, keeping the draft at bay. 

"Hagrid," Sirius continues, "Where would you even get a hippogriff?"

"Same place yeh get yer dragons," Hagrid answers as if it were obvious. 

"Of course," James says nodding cluelessly. "Honestly Sirius, it's like you don't know anything about magical creatures!"

Sirius laughs, setting aside his cup of tea. "Right because I'm the one who got a P in Kettleburn's class."

James rolls his eyes lazily, "At least I passed the class. You barely made it through Flitwick's class awake yesterday!"

Hagrid follows their banter, when his laugh shakes the hut causing both James and Sirius to bounce in their seats. "Reckon yeh were brothers yer 'ole lives!" he bellows. 

"We're practically best mates," James says slinging an arm over Sirius' shoulder. 

"Only since last week," Sirius adds, taking a playful swing at James' stomach. 

Hagrid smiles, "Could'a fooled me." A clap of thunder breaks in the air, silencing the outside world for a split second. Hagrid peers through his window and shakes his head. "Gettin' late boys. Yeh should go back soon."

Sirius slides off the large chair and offers a hand to James.

"We'll see you later, Hagrid," James says opening the door. Sirius glances up at the sky, noticing the darkening grey clouds moving against the pearly blue sky. "I'll race you back to the castle."

"Loser kisses McGonagall," Sirius shouts taking off.

The boys race up the hill at lightening speed as the clouds grow heavier above. A light drizzle begins to fall just as they make it back to the wooden bridge. The boys entertain themselves by attempting to duel each other with various jinxes and hexes. By the time they make it back to the castle, James is running in slow motion and Sirius has grown an extra foot taller. 

James catches a glimpse of Peter's well recognizable blue shoes rounding the corner and shouts, "Oi Peter!" 

Peter's smile widens upon seeing the two boys and hurries over to meet them. "I was looking for you all over! Remus was going to make me do my homework!"

The more comfortable James became with Sirius, Peter had also let his guard down. He even went as far as sharing his food with Sirius in the dorms during the late hours of the night when they were too lazy to sneak out. 

"Come on, we'll go show Moony how to have a good time," James says leading the way. "Should've told you where we were, Pete."

"We'd need a bloody map to find each other in this place," Peter comments.

James nods in agreement, the idea sticking to the back of his mind. "You know, you need a nickname Sirius. So you'll officially be a part of our group. I'm Prongs, Pete's Wormtail, and Remus is Moony."

"What the hell kind of nicknames are those?" Sirius questions.

Peter gives James a look out of the corner of his eye and innocently shrugs as James answers, "Just kind of happened last year. One of those three am ideas."

"The kind of ideas that happen when you haven't slept for days and you're going off of two biscuits and a jellybean," Peter explains. 

"Right," Sirius drawls. "Well I'm game for any ideas."

The three bounce ideas off each other the rest of the way up to the Gryffindor Tower, though none seem to hit the mark just quite right. The odd stares given to the group fly over their heads as they are consumed by their own laughter. Peter was doing an impression of Snape on a broom with his nose on fire as they enter through the portrait leaving James and Sirius gasping for air. 

Remus and Lily turn at the sound of wheezing, and James quickly straightens his posture. "Hey Evans," he says charmingly. 

"Potter," Lily replies automatically. 

"Hello to you too, Prongs," Remus says waving a hand in the air. 

James snaps out of his Lily daze, grabbing Remus' arm and hauling him up. "Come on big boy, we've got something to do."

Remus objects, reaching for his wand when Sirius swipes it from the couch. "Afraid not, Lupin," he says putting it in his back pocket. 

"We're on official Marauder duty," Peter says. 

Lily furrows her eyebrows at the odd name. "Marauder?" she repeats for clarity. 

"Thought of it myself," James boasts as he attempts to drag Remus up the stairs. "Clever, eh?" He grunts when Remus pulls away and snatches him around the waist. "Moony stop fighting me!"

"Hey, we thought of it too," Peter protests alongside Sirius. 

"Fine, we all thought of it." James rolls his eyes and pushes Remus up the stairs when he finally gives in. "Kind of rolls of the tongue, right Evans?"

"Come on Pothead," Sirius mutters, turning James around by the shoulders and leading him up the stairs. 

"Bye Lily!" Peter calls, as he's the last to ascend up the stairs. 

Remus sits on his trunk at the end of his bed with his arms crossed. "What was that about?" he asks for the third time. 

James and Sirius are whispering in the corner over a piece of parchment as Peter happily unloads a fresh set of quills and ink. After another ignored question, Remus lets out a long sigh to gain their attention. 

"Kidnapping is a crime, you know," Remus announces. Nobody flinches. "I'm running away." He drums his fingers against his arms. "Oh no. I'm at the door! I'm opening the handle..." 

"Moony please," James snaps, "The adults are talking here." He motions between himself and Sirius, receiving the sassiest eye roll in the history of Remus. "I don't like that attitude."

"And I don't like being kidnapped. But here we are."

"Technically you live here," Peter logically assesses. "It was more of a...hostile takeover."

Sirius and James walk over to Remus while Peter spreads his materials on the floor. Both Sirius and James share the same mischievous glint in their eyes, simultaneously intriguing and scaring Remus.

Remus groans, rubbing his temples when James rolls out a large piece of parchment before him. "What is that?" he asks.  

"Moony," James says looking around at the three surrounding him. "You're looking at the Marauder's Map."

*

*

*

Remus lowers his wand while trailing behind the boys. James leads far ahead with Peter, marking things down on a notepad for the map. Flashes of lightning strike outside illuminating the corridors briefly before the darkness takes over again. Sirius dawdles beside him, his hand trailing along the walls as they walk. Every now and then when neither were paying attention their hands would brush against each other, only to be pulled apart without any acknowledgement.

It'd been a few days since Sirius' remark in the Great Hall, and Remus desperately tried to ignore it. Except every time he saw Sirius, it was hard to forget. But what was he supposed to do with that information? Part of him wanted to address it again, though he wasn't entirely sure how. The silence wasn't unusual between the pair. Though Remus could sense that Sirius was elsewhere.

"I know what you mean," Sirius says in a daze. Remus picks his head up from watching his feet walk, and looks to Sirius. "When you want to forget who you are sometimes."

Remus silently listens, eyeing James as turns the corner down the next corridor excitedly with Peter.

Sirius lets out a long breath, staring at his hand moving along the wall, in thought.

"It was Christmas break in first year," Sirius begins, "I was sorted into Gryffindor and the news traveled faster than I could stop it. When I got home, I knew what was going to happen. But a part of me hoped that maybe they would see differently."

Remus reaches out and grabs Sirius' hanging hand, intertwining it with his own. The touch doesn't startle Sirius, and his body relaxes.

"I never thought...I knew what my parents were doing to people while Regulus and I stayed at home after a while. They're terrible, terrible people. But I never thought that they'd...do it to me too." A light squeeze pulses through Sirius' hand and he clears his throat. "I got the Cruciatus curse at least three times a day just for disgracing the family name. The more time I spent at home, for the past years, my father would just cast it when ever he felt like it, sometimes just for fun I suspect. And my mother...she just stands by him and watches. At times I thought she would stop him, but when he was done she would just send me up to my room without any food. Sometimes she would beat me worse than my father could ever.

"I could catch a break occasionally, usually only early in the morning - sunrise. I would sneak out of my room early and draw what I saw. Those times I could just be in the moment and imagine what it would be like to see the sunrise from anywhere else than my parent's house. So I lied." He lets out a wry chuckle, masquerading the sadness behind his eyes. "I don't really draw because I like to. I draw things that make me forget about the pain."

Remus stops in his tracks, his hand still holding Sirius'.

"Sirius," Remus whispers, blinking away the tears forming on his waterline.

Sirius takes a few deep, shaky breaths. "Sorry, I don't know why I just told you all of that."

Remus reaches his hand over, tilting Sirius' face up to properly look at him. A flash of lightning highlights the darkness in his eyes that are brimming with tears. "Thank you for telling me."

"OI!" Remus drops Sirius' hand when James pops his head around the corner. "Filch's bloody cat is coming! Run!"


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