Marauders to the End: Year Two, Chapter Two
TITLE: All that I Love and All that I Need
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Narcissa Black, Andromeda Black, OCs
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: The boys go back to Hogwarts and meet more of Sirius's family.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY: My sister had all the really good ideas in this chapter. The rest is just filler.
September first came soon enough that Remus didn’t lose his head and actually attempt to kill his father. The last night in August was long, loud, and generally unpleasant for anyone who actually wanted to get any sleep. Luckily nobody else in the house noticed Remus.
He got up early in the morning, found a loaf of bread that wasn’t actively growing mold, which he swallowed quickly, then he grabbed his trunk, and left the house as quickly as possible, stepping over various people who were passed out on the floor and whom Remus was very glad not to know. The train didn’t leave for another five hours, but Remus wanted out. He needed to get back to Hogwarts.
Even as he closed the door and started walking, he could feel himself relax. He was going back. He would be all right now. His books and friends would protect him.
Peter was equally glad to be leaving the house. Polly had used her ability to whine, wail, and complain to be permitted to hold the one event that older brothers everywhere dread more than any other the second to last night of the holiday: a slumber party, involving no less than twelve giggling ten-year-old girls painting nails, trying on dresses, and giving make-overs. Peter wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t been “accidentally” put under a Full-Body-Bind curse, although it probably was accidental, and given the same treatment, even though the girls assured him that he looked much better now and sky blue was definitely his color.
Peter spent that last day of vacation trying to scrub the polish off his nails with limited success. Who knew that ten-year-old witches could “accidentally” put Permanent Sticking charms on nail polish? He desperately wanted to leave, but at the same time, he was worried about what his friends would think. The last time they’d heard about his sister, they’d laughed themselves sick.
His mother had concealed her own smile, and assured Peter that it would wear off eventually... when his nails grew out. Peter was not optimistic. The year was starting off badly.
James was eager to get back to school. His mother was too clever to be tricked by him anymore, and he was ready to get back to pranking, laughing, and generally having a good time.
September first dawned bright and early for James, who was awake by five o’clock, and in his excitement he couldn’t fall asleep again. After about half-an-hour of trying to get back to sleep, he gave up, got dressed, and went downstairs.
Somehow, Anna had beaten him. James wasn’t entirely sure what time she got up in the morning, but he reckoned it had to be around four o’clock. However she did it, she always had breakfast cooking no matter when James went down. He suspected magic was involved. (This should have been fairly obvious, since Anna was, after all, quite an accomplished witch.) She barely looked up from where she had everything laid out. “You’re up early,” she commented.
“I know,” James said. “So are you.”
“I know,” Anna answered. “Here’s your breakfast.”
James’s summer couldn’t end in disaster, and the year could only be more fun.
The only thing that kept Sirius alive through the last three days of summer was the fact that he could hide in his room and pretend he had James’s life for a few minutes every day at least..
That was balanced against the fact that his youngest cousin would be starting school this year. Narcissa was pretty much Bellatrix-in-training, only as a negative photo. Beautiful, blond, and bitchy, Cissy easily lived up to the Black legacy. Sirius was thankful that she was most likely to be in Slytherin and he wouldn’t have too many problems with her. Too many.
He constantly had to remind himself of this fact when he reached King’s Cross station with his mother. She immediately spotted her sister, who had Cissy and Anny in tow. Anny looked like Sirius felt, but Cissy just looked very haughty.
Anny smiled very slightly at Sirius, who smiled very slightly back, aware that their mothers were watching them. Before too long, both branches of the Black family had walked through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and Sirius could be at peace... or so he thought.
Remus arrived at King’s Cross Station, glad to be out of his house, and hoping that nothing too terribly exciting would happen this year. Last year had been about as interesting as he could stand.
His hopes were dashed approximately twenty-six seconds after he got into the station, as the first person he saw was James Potter, who tended to make exciting things happen just by talking.
“Hey, Remus!” James shouted, dashing over with the energy of a Jack Russell terrier on a sugar high.
Remus grinned in spite of himself. James was a hyper-active prankster, to be sure, but he was also kind-hearted and charming, and Remus couldn’t help but like him.
“Hey, James,” Remus said in his more low-key manner.
James was grinning ear to ear as he started babbling about something or another that Remus was sure was quite interesting, but didn’t quite understand, since the Jack Russell terrier energy tended to extend to James’s mouth, causing his voice to go about a mile per minute.
He broke off suddenly when his mother caught up with him. “James, really, you have to learn to slow down and wait,” she scolded.
“Sorry, Mum,” James said quickly. “This is Remus.”
“Oh, hello,” she said. “You’d better get to the platform. The train leaves in ten minutes.”
“Yes, Mum,” James said automatically. He and Remus walked together to Platforms nine and ten and were through the barrier quickly. Anna followed and helped them get their luggage on board. For a middle-aged woman, she was surprisingly strong.
“Now, James,” she said in a reproving voice. “Be good. Don’t cause trouble. If I get any owls this year, you’ll hear about it, and don’t think I’m joking.”
“Yes, Mum.” James embraced her and turned to get on the train.
By this time, Remus had spotted Peter boarding a few feet away. Remus and James started walking towards him. They barely reached the door when James collided with a small girl with blond hair and an uppity expression.
“OAF!” she shouted. “What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you see through those unusually thick glasses of yours? Don’t you know who I am?”
James looked at her amusedly. “Judging by your non-house-specific robes and unusually short stature, I’d say you’re a firstie.”
She looked appalled. “Firstie?” she shrieked. “I am Narcissa Black, and you’d do well to remember it!”
“Oh, you’re one of Sirius’s relatives,” James said casually. “Ah, yes, there he is.”
“DON’T INSULT ME LIKE THAT!” Narcissa shouted as Sirius ambled over to see why his best friend was talking to his bitch-in-training cousin.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“This buffoon almost ran me over!” Narcissa shrieked.
“Rather difficult not to,” James said. “Look, she’s so little...”
Before Narcissa could answer, Sirius grabbed James by the collar and dragged him onto the train, leaving a bemused Remus and a very angry Narcissa on the platform.
“I apologize for my colleague’s behavior, Miss Black...” Remus began.
“Don’t speak to me!” Narcissa snapped. “I do not speak to hoi polloi. Go away.”
Remus raised his eyebrows and boarded the train. It only took a few minutes to find the compartment where James and Sirius had found Peter. When Remus stepped in, Sirius was laughing uproariously while James gasped out, “You let your sister paint your nails?”
Remus glanced at Peter’s hands and choked back his own laughter at the sight of sparkly sky-blue nail polish.
“Shut up,” Peter snarled. “She put me in a full Body-Bind. I couldn’t stop her.”
“Yeah, sure,” Sirius said, regaining his composure. “I surprised you fought her off before she put lip-stick on you.”
Peter went furiously pink, causing the other three to laugh harder.
Finally, when the laughter subsided, Remus turned his mind back to other matters. “Narcissa’s quite nasty,” he commented. “How is she related to you?”
“Cousin,” Sirius answered. “Trixie’s sister.”
“Should have known,” James said. “She’s rather pompous for a first year.”
“She’s a Black,” Sirius said. “We’re all like that.”
The train ride wore on rather uneventfully. James and Sirius spent most of it making plans for their welcome-back “present,” although they couldn’t agree on all the details.
“We can’t do that,” Sirius argued. “There’s no way we could get the materials.”
“We just have to look,” James insisted. “There’s bound to be some sort of lizard at Hogwarts.”
“Lizards, yes,” Sirius responded. “But where are you going to get violet paint?”
“Why don’t you both forget it?” Remus cut in. “You don’t want to start the year off with a detention.”
“We don’t?” James and Sirius asked as one.
“Well, I don’t,” Remus answered. “You’re lucky we’re not starting out with one this year, considering our little end-of-the-year ‘present’ last year.”
“Ok, we’ll leave you out of it,” James agreed. “What about you, Peter?”
“I’ll do it!” Peter squeaked. He didn’t want to be called a coward.
“Brilliant!” Sirius said. “By the way, who do you think we’ll get as a new Defense teacher?”
“Who knows?” James said casually. “Maybe it’ll be an arrogant wind-bag who can’t actually do anything and leaves the school open to an attack by a giant snake controlled by some guy who’s supposedly been dead for about eleven years, and the Defense professor will be absolutely useless, causing me to have to go down way under the school and defeat the monster after the professor’s memory has been wiped.”
“James, you’re doing that thing again,” Remus said.
“What thing?” James asked.
“Spouting off nonsense that you think is part of the future but really isn’t,” Sirius answered.
“Oh. Sorry.”
Eventually, the journey was over. The boys got off the train and followed the older students to a fleet of carriages. To James, Sirius, and Peter, they appeared to have no horses. Remus saw that the carriages were pulled by thestrals, and he shuddered. Although he had looked them up last year and knew they were harmless creatures, they still looked creepy.
They rode up to the school, James and Sirius still animatedly discussing the pranks they would pull, but Remus wasn’t listening. As the carriages approached the castle, a calm washed over him. He was back at Hogwarts.
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Narcissa Black, Andromeda Black, OCs
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: The boys go back to Hogwarts and meet more of Sirius's family.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY: My sister had all the really good ideas in this chapter. The rest is just filler.
September first came soon enough that Remus didn’t lose his head and actually attempt to kill his father. The last night in August was long, loud, and generally unpleasant for anyone who actually wanted to get any sleep. Luckily nobody else in the house noticed Remus.
He got up early in the morning, found a loaf of bread that wasn’t actively growing mold, which he swallowed quickly, then he grabbed his trunk, and left the house as quickly as possible, stepping over various people who were passed out on the floor and whom Remus was very glad not to know. The train didn’t leave for another five hours, but Remus wanted out. He needed to get back to Hogwarts.
Even as he closed the door and started walking, he could feel himself relax. He was going back. He would be all right now. His books and friends would protect him.
Peter was equally glad to be leaving the house. Polly had used her ability to whine, wail, and complain to be permitted to hold the one event that older brothers everywhere dread more than any other the second to last night of the holiday: a slumber party, involving no less than twelve giggling ten-year-old girls painting nails, trying on dresses, and giving make-overs. Peter wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t been “accidentally” put under a Full-Body-Bind curse, although it probably was accidental, and given the same treatment, even though the girls assured him that he looked much better now and sky blue was definitely his color.
Peter spent that last day of vacation trying to scrub the polish off his nails with limited success. Who knew that ten-year-old witches could “accidentally” put Permanent Sticking charms on nail polish? He desperately wanted to leave, but at the same time, he was worried about what his friends would think. The last time they’d heard about his sister, they’d laughed themselves sick.
His mother had concealed her own smile, and assured Peter that it would wear off eventually... when his nails grew out. Peter was not optimistic. The year was starting off badly.
James was eager to get back to school. His mother was too clever to be tricked by him anymore, and he was ready to get back to pranking, laughing, and generally having a good time.
September first dawned bright and early for James, who was awake by five o’clock, and in his excitement he couldn’t fall asleep again. After about half-an-hour of trying to get back to sleep, he gave up, got dressed, and went downstairs.
Somehow, Anna had beaten him. James wasn’t entirely sure what time she got up in the morning, but he reckoned it had to be around four o’clock. However she did it, she always had breakfast cooking no matter when James went down. He suspected magic was involved. (This should have been fairly obvious, since Anna was, after all, quite an accomplished witch.) She barely looked up from where she had everything laid out. “You’re up early,” she commented.
“I know,” James said. “So are you.”
“I know,” Anna answered. “Here’s your breakfast.”
James’s summer couldn’t end in disaster, and the year could only be more fun.
The only thing that kept Sirius alive through the last three days of summer was the fact that he could hide in his room and pretend he had James’s life for a few minutes every day at least..
That was balanced against the fact that his youngest cousin would be starting school this year. Narcissa was pretty much Bellatrix-in-training, only as a negative photo. Beautiful, blond, and bitchy, Cissy easily lived up to the Black legacy. Sirius was thankful that she was most likely to be in Slytherin and he wouldn’t have too many problems with her. Too many.
He constantly had to remind himself of this fact when he reached King’s Cross station with his mother. She immediately spotted her sister, who had Cissy and Anny in tow. Anny looked like Sirius felt, but Cissy just looked very haughty.
Anny smiled very slightly at Sirius, who smiled very slightly back, aware that their mothers were watching them. Before too long, both branches of the Black family had walked through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and Sirius could be at peace... or so he thought.
Remus arrived at King’s Cross Station, glad to be out of his house, and hoping that nothing too terribly exciting would happen this year. Last year had been about as interesting as he could stand.
His hopes were dashed approximately twenty-six seconds after he got into the station, as the first person he saw was James Potter, who tended to make exciting things happen just by talking.
“Hey, Remus!” James shouted, dashing over with the energy of a Jack Russell terrier on a sugar high.
Remus grinned in spite of himself. James was a hyper-active prankster, to be sure, but he was also kind-hearted and charming, and Remus couldn’t help but like him.
“Hey, James,” Remus said in his more low-key manner.
James was grinning ear to ear as he started babbling about something or another that Remus was sure was quite interesting, but didn’t quite understand, since the Jack Russell terrier energy tended to extend to James’s mouth, causing his voice to go about a mile per minute.
He broke off suddenly when his mother caught up with him. “James, really, you have to learn to slow down and wait,” she scolded.
“Sorry, Mum,” James said quickly. “This is Remus.”
“Oh, hello,” she said. “You’d better get to the platform. The train leaves in ten minutes.”
“Yes, Mum,” James said automatically. He and Remus walked together to Platforms nine and ten and were through the barrier quickly. Anna followed and helped them get their luggage on board. For a middle-aged woman, she was surprisingly strong.
“Now, James,” she said in a reproving voice. “Be good. Don’t cause trouble. If I get any owls this year, you’ll hear about it, and don’t think I’m joking.”
“Yes, Mum.” James embraced her and turned to get on the train.
By this time, Remus had spotted Peter boarding a few feet away. Remus and James started walking towards him. They barely reached the door when James collided with a small girl with blond hair and an uppity expression.
“OAF!” she shouted. “What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you see through those unusually thick glasses of yours? Don’t you know who I am?”
James looked at her amusedly. “Judging by your non-house-specific robes and unusually short stature, I’d say you’re a firstie.”
She looked appalled. “Firstie?” she shrieked. “I am Narcissa Black, and you’d do well to remember it!”
“Oh, you’re one of Sirius’s relatives,” James said casually. “Ah, yes, there he is.”
“DON’T INSULT ME LIKE THAT!” Narcissa shouted as Sirius ambled over to see why his best friend was talking to his bitch-in-training cousin.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“This buffoon almost ran me over!” Narcissa shrieked.
“Rather difficult not to,” James said. “Look, she’s so little...”
Before Narcissa could answer, Sirius grabbed James by the collar and dragged him onto the train, leaving a bemused Remus and a very angry Narcissa on the platform.
“I apologize for my colleague’s behavior, Miss Black...” Remus began.
“Don’t speak to me!” Narcissa snapped. “I do not speak to hoi polloi. Go away.”
Remus raised his eyebrows and boarded the train. It only took a few minutes to find the compartment where James and Sirius had found Peter. When Remus stepped in, Sirius was laughing uproariously while James gasped out, “You let your sister paint your nails?”
Remus glanced at Peter’s hands and choked back his own laughter at the sight of sparkly sky-blue nail polish.
“Shut up,” Peter snarled. “She put me in a full Body-Bind. I couldn’t stop her.”
“Yeah, sure,” Sirius said, regaining his composure. “I surprised you fought her off before she put lip-stick on you.”
Peter went furiously pink, causing the other three to laugh harder.
Finally, when the laughter subsided, Remus turned his mind back to other matters. “Narcissa’s quite nasty,” he commented. “How is she related to you?”
“Cousin,” Sirius answered. “Trixie’s sister.”
“Should have known,” James said. “She’s rather pompous for a first year.”
“She’s a Black,” Sirius said. “We’re all like that.”
The train ride wore on rather uneventfully. James and Sirius spent most of it making plans for their welcome-back “present,” although they couldn’t agree on all the details.
“We can’t do that,” Sirius argued. “There’s no way we could get the materials.”
“We just have to look,” James insisted. “There’s bound to be some sort of lizard at Hogwarts.”
“Lizards, yes,” Sirius responded. “But where are you going to get violet paint?”
“Why don’t you both forget it?” Remus cut in. “You don’t want to start the year off with a detention.”
“We don’t?” James and Sirius asked as one.
“Well, I don’t,” Remus answered. “You’re lucky we’re not starting out with one this year, considering our little end-of-the-year ‘present’ last year.”
“Ok, we’ll leave you out of it,” James agreed. “What about you, Peter?”
“I’ll do it!” Peter squeaked. He didn’t want to be called a coward.
“Brilliant!” Sirius said. “By the way, who do you think we’ll get as a new Defense teacher?”
“Who knows?” James said casually. “Maybe it’ll be an arrogant wind-bag who can’t actually do anything and leaves the school open to an attack by a giant snake controlled by some guy who’s supposedly been dead for about eleven years, and the Defense professor will be absolutely useless, causing me to have to go down way under the school and defeat the monster after the professor’s memory has been wiped.”
“James, you’re doing that thing again,” Remus said.
“What thing?” James asked.
“Spouting off nonsense that you think is part of the future but really isn’t,” Sirius answered.
“Oh. Sorry.”
Eventually, the journey was over. The boys got off the train and followed the older students to a fleet of carriages. To James, Sirius, and Peter, they appeared to have no horses. Remus saw that the carriages were pulled by thestrals, and he shuddered. Although he had looked them up last year and knew they were harmless creatures, they still looked creepy.
They rode up to the school, James and Sirius still animatedly discussing the pranks they would pull, but Remus wasn’t listening. As the carriages approached the castle, a calm washed over him. He was back at Hogwarts.