fic for cinnamon_sakaki: End of an Era (Marauders, PG)
Title: End of an Era
Recipient: cinnamon_sakaki
Rating: PG
Character(s): Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.
Warnings: None, really. Contains some swearing.
Author's Notes: Thank you to my betas, who did a lovely job, as usual.
--
In the summer before their seventh year, they went to Peter's place a lot. The house that Peter's parents lived in backed onto a small wooded area, not a massive one, but one large enough so that four boys who wanted to get out from under parental feet for a while could manage it quite easily. A river ran through the woods, which wasn't big enough to have any fun in until it got a fair way into the forest, where it widened out and the current slowed down. There it formed a swimming hole, perfect for whiling away the hot summer days.
They never saw anyone else there, but they weren't the first ones to discover it; dangling from a tree whose branches hung over the water was a rope with big thick knots tied in it at just the right height for hands and feet, and a long branch was propped up beside the tree that was perfect for snagging the rope and hauling it into the bank. From the day they discovered it, every chance they got they went down there, with towels lifted from Mrs Pettigrew's linen cupboard and food filched from her kitchen. They'd go down there early in the morning, strip off to their pants (or their swimming trunks, if they'd come prepared) and spend the day flinging themselves recklessly into the water, racing each other up and down the length of the little lake, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest underwater, magic not allowed. None of them ever said anything, but all of them thought that it was one of the best summers they'd ever had.
A week before school started, and it was hot again, and they were back at the swimming hole. Their book lists had arrived that morning, along with something rather unexpected: a Head Boy's badge for James. The others had ribbed him all the way through the woods, as was right and proper, and he took it, too dumbstruck to do anything else. But by the time they got to the clearing where the water hole was he'd gotten jack of it, shoving Peter and Remus into the water with their clothes still on, and punching Sirius in the nose. He and Sirius scuffled, ending up in the water themselves. They pulled each other under the water, and stayed there for a long time, so long that Remus dived back under too to see if they were dead; they'd churned up so much mud that he couldn't see a thing, but eventually they emerged, still grappling a little, but the best of friends again.
Later on, scuffles forgotten for the day, Remus was lying face down on the bank in a patch of sun, drying off and ignoring Sirius, who was hanging around in the shallows flicking water at him, seemingly every time he started to look relaxed. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore.
"Fuck off with you, you twat! I'm trying to get dry."
Sirius laughed. "I know, Moony. That's what makes it fun."
Remus glared at Sirius, then turned away, moving so that he was facing away from him. He heard Sirius chuckle, then the noise of the other boy getting out of the water. He ignored it, closing his eyes and resting his chin on his folded arms.
"Spoilsport," Sirius said lightly, dropping down onto the ground beside him and shaking his head, water droplets spraying everywhere, one last dig at Remus while he could. Remus ignored him.
Sirius was quiet a minute, then he poked Remus in the shoulder. "So...last year of school, huh?"
That made Remus open his eyes. He turned his head to look at Sirius. "Yeah. Weird, isn't it?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, it is."
"Do you think it'll be really different? Being seventh years?"
Sirius shrugged. "I don't know, but..."
Just then there was a commotion from the water; Peter, supposedly paddling aimlessly around the pool, had launched a surprise attack on James, who'd been floating very serenely on the surface of the water, his eyes closed. Peter had jumped on him, shoving him under the water. Shouting several very creative obscenities, James had retaliated by leaping out of the water and onto Peter, shoving him under as well.
Sirius and Remus stared. Sirius shook his head. "Can you believe that tosser is going to be Head Boy? What's the world coming to? As if he wasn't full of himself enough already. We're never going to fit in the dorm once he's in there with his gigantic, listen to me I'm Head Boy head. I think I'm going to have to find something really disgusting to put in his bed first night back."
Remus laughed. "You do that."
Sirius grinned. "Oh, I will, don't you worry." He laughed. "I will."
****
He did, too, and that certainly made the start of seventh year, at least, just the same as all their other years, with hexes flying left, right, and centre, the only difference being that most of it took place behind closed doors, James clearly not wanting to tarnish his Head Boy reputation. Eventually it died down, but not until Gryffindor was minus quite a few points and Sirius had spent a fair amount of time in Dumbledore's office, which was also just the same as other years. After that it got different though, with NEWTS that had seemed so far off now looming large, and talk of apparition lessons and Auror training and entry requirements suddenly seeming real, and very close, and not something that might maybe one day happen sometime in the future.
They still had time for kitchen raids, and for their annual Marauders v. the Rest of the World snowball fight at Christmas, but after that things got hectic. So hectic, in fact, that there was barely a stir when James finally, finally wore Lily Evans down enough so that she consented to go out with him, although Sirius was heard to say that it must mean the end of the world was coming.
On their last day of school, they went up to the Astronomy Tower and got drunk on sherry and twenty-eight-year-old port that James had nicked from his parents' liquor cabinet. Lily fell asleep with her head in James' lap, but it wasn't until Sirius almost pitched himself off the edge of the tower whilst making a particularly grand gesture that they decided to go to bed.
But the night wasn't over yet. Because the others didn't know it, but Sirius had plans.
****
Sneaking out under the invisibility cloak had been a lot easier when they were younger. And slightly less tipsy.
"Seriously, Remus, could your elbows be any more pointy?"
"Fuck off, Sirius, you're the one that's...Peter! That's my foot!"
"James pushed me!"
"Oy! I did not! I was just trying to set a pace. I wasn't made for taking up the rear."
"Oh, that's not what I've heard, Prongs, although admittedly it was more taking 'it' up the...OW!"
"You deserved that, Black."
"Oh, really, well let's see what you deserve, hmm?"
"OW! You bloody little..."
"Idiots! We're here. Off you go, Wormtail."
There was suddenly a lot more room under the cloak as Peter changed into the rat and ran through the hanging branches of the Whomping Willow to press the knot in the trunk. As soon as he did, Sirius transformed into Padfoot and ducked under the cloak to run full pelt across the grass and down into the tunnel leading to the Shack. Remus sighed.
"Do you think he's actually brought us out here for a reason? A proper reason, I mean?"
James stepped up beside him, scowling. "Who knows with him? Stupid bastard. But there's only one way to find out. Come on."
By the time they got up the stairs to the room that Remus usually transformed in, Sirius was waiting at the top with a scowl on his face, tapping his foot impatiently. "Could you be any slower? Come on! We've got things to do!"
He turned on his heel and marched into the room without a backward glance. Remus and James rolled their eyes at each other and followed him.
"What's this about, Sirius?" Remus asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I hope it's something good, since you woke us all up and made us come out here."
Sirius snorted. "Of course it's something good, Remus. It's a ceremony."
Remus, James and Peter stared at Sirius, saying all at once, "A ceremony?"
Sirius grinned. "Yep, a ceremony." He turned to Peter. "Here, Peter, help me pull these drawers out of the corner."
Over the years that Remus had been using the Shack, this room had acquired a few odds and ends to make his stay more comfortable; extra blankets, pillows, magazines, a few books, a deck of cards. A chest of drawers had been placed in a corner of the room to house these things, and to give Remus a safe place to put his clothes and wand out of the way of the wolf. It was that chest that Peter and Sirius moved now, away from the corner it had lived in for years.
"It's a marking ceremony," Sirius continued, turning back to them and brushing his hands together. "Since the invention of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Map-makers, Pranksters and all-round good blokes, we've had some of the best nights of our Hogwarts lives starting from here, right?"
The rest of them nodded. "Right."
"So, since it's our last night here, it's only fitting that we do something to mark the occasion. By making our mark."
The other three were silent, until James spoke up. "I'm not sure I get it."
Sirius frowned at him. "We're going to carve our initials into the wall, you utter plank." He pulled a knife from his pocket, ignoring Peter's startled, 'is that from the kitchen?' when he did. "Our initials: Moony," he pointed at Remus with the knife, then at each of them in turn, including himself as he said, "Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. M, W, P, P. Into that wall where the bookcase is." He pointed at the wall with the knife as well.
Peter frowned. "No one will see it there though."
Sirius nodded. "But we'll know it's there. That's the most important thing."
Peter wasn't sure about that. "Oh. OK."
"So," Sirius said, taking the knife by the blade and holding the handle out to Remus. "Mr Moony goes first."
Remus took the knife and went to carve his initial into the wall, as they all did, in the order that they'd been in on their map. After James had scraped his P into the wall and handed the knife back to Sirius, Sirius went back, scratching a paw print into the wood underneath his own P, before pushing the chest of drawers back into place. When he turned back to them, he was smiling.
"Right. That's done. And we know what it all means, right?"
James nodded, which was more than Remus or Peter could have done, since they didn't have the foggiest idea what it meant. "Yep," James said. "It means we'll be friends forever."
Sirius beamed. "Yes, exactly. Friends forever. No matter what happens." He stuck out his hand. "Shake on it. I'd make you all use blood, except I don't want anyone fainting."
Peter went pale at that, and Sirius rolled his eyes, but Remus squeezed his shoulder and whispered, "Don't worry, Pete. I wouldn't want to do blood either."
"Shake!" Sirius insisted. James put his hand on Sirius', then Remus put his on James', then Peter put his on Remus', and they shook. Once they'd finished, Sirius was smiling again. "Right," he said. "Good. Friends forever. Now we can go back to bed. Last one back has to snog McGonagall at breakfast!"
With that he took off, pounding down the stairs, the others hot on his heels, all of them laughing and shouting as they went.
Recipient: cinnamon_sakaki
Rating: PG
Character(s): Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.
Warnings: None, really. Contains some swearing.
Author's Notes: Thank you to my betas, who did a lovely job, as usual.
--
In the summer before their seventh year, they went to Peter's place a lot. The house that Peter's parents lived in backed onto a small wooded area, not a massive one, but one large enough so that four boys who wanted to get out from under parental feet for a while could manage it quite easily. A river ran through the woods, which wasn't big enough to have any fun in until it got a fair way into the forest, where it widened out and the current slowed down. There it formed a swimming hole, perfect for whiling away the hot summer days.
They never saw anyone else there, but they weren't the first ones to discover it; dangling from a tree whose branches hung over the water was a rope with big thick knots tied in it at just the right height for hands and feet, and a long branch was propped up beside the tree that was perfect for snagging the rope and hauling it into the bank. From the day they discovered it, every chance they got they went down there, with towels lifted from Mrs Pettigrew's linen cupboard and food filched from her kitchen. They'd go down there early in the morning, strip off to their pants (or their swimming trunks, if they'd come prepared) and spend the day flinging themselves recklessly into the water, racing each other up and down the length of the little lake, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest underwater, magic not allowed. None of them ever said anything, but all of them thought that it was one of the best summers they'd ever had.
A week before school started, and it was hot again, and they were back at the swimming hole. Their book lists had arrived that morning, along with something rather unexpected: a Head Boy's badge for James. The others had ribbed him all the way through the woods, as was right and proper, and he took it, too dumbstruck to do anything else. But by the time they got to the clearing where the water hole was he'd gotten jack of it, shoving Peter and Remus into the water with their clothes still on, and punching Sirius in the nose. He and Sirius scuffled, ending up in the water themselves. They pulled each other under the water, and stayed there for a long time, so long that Remus dived back under too to see if they were dead; they'd churned up so much mud that he couldn't see a thing, but eventually they emerged, still grappling a little, but the best of friends again.
Later on, scuffles forgotten for the day, Remus was lying face down on the bank in a patch of sun, drying off and ignoring Sirius, who was hanging around in the shallows flicking water at him, seemingly every time he started to look relaxed. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore.
"Fuck off with you, you twat! I'm trying to get dry."
Sirius laughed. "I know, Moony. That's what makes it fun."
Remus glared at Sirius, then turned away, moving so that he was facing away from him. He heard Sirius chuckle, then the noise of the other boy getting out of the water. He ignored it, closing his eyes and resting his chin on his folded arms.
"Spoilsport," Sirius said lightly, dropping down onto the ground beside him and shaking his head, water droplets spraying everywhere, one last dig at Remus while he could. Remus ignored him.
Sirius was quiet a minute, then he poked Remus in the shoulder. "So...last year of school, huh?"
That made Remus open his eyes. He turned his head to look at Sirius. "Yeah. Weird, isn't it?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, it is."
"Do you think it'll be really different? Being seventh years?"
Sirius shrugged. "I don't know, but..."
Just then there was a commotion from the water; Peter, supposedly paddling aimlessly around the pool, had launched a surprise attack on James, who'd been floating very serenely on the surface of the water, his eyes closed. Peter had jumped on him, shoving him under the water. Shouting several very creative obscenities, James had retaliated by leaping out of the water and onto Peter, shoving him under as well.
Sirius and Remus stared. Sirius shook his head. "Can you believe that tosser is going to be Head Boy? What's the world coming to? As if he wasn't full of himself enough already. We're never going to fit in the dorm once he's in there with his gigantic, listen to me I'm Head Boy head. I think I'm going to have to find something really disgusting to put in his bed first night back."
Remus laughed. "You do that."
Sirius grinned. "Oh, I will, don't you worry." He laughed. "I will."
****
He did, too, and that certainly made the start of seventh year, at least, just the same as all their other years, with hexes flying left, right, and centre, the only difference being that most of it took place behind closed doors, James clearly not wanting to tarnish his Head Boy reputation. Eventually it died down, but not until Gryffindor was minus quite a few points and Sirius had spent a fair amount of time in Dumbledore's office, which was also just the same as other years. After that it got different though, with NEWTS that had seemed so far off now looming large, and talk of apparition lessons and Auror training and entry requirements suddenly seeming real, and very close, and not something that might maybe one day happen sometime in the future.
They still had time for kitchen raids, and for their annual Marauders v. the Rest of the World snowball fight at Christmas, but after that things got hectic. So hectic, in fact, that there was barely a stir when James finally, finally wore Lily Evans down enough so that she consented to go out with him, although Sirius was heard to say that it must mean the end of the world was coming.
On their last day of school, they went up to the Astronomy Tower and got drunk on sherry and twenty-eight-year-old port that James had nicked from his parents' liquor cabinet. Lily fell asleep with her head in James' lap, but it wasn't until Sirius almost pitched himself off the edge of the tower whilst making a particularly grand gesture that they decided to go to bed.
But the night wasn't over yet. Because the others didn't know it, but Sirius had plans.
****
Sneaking out under the invisibility cloak had been a lot easier when they were younger. And slightly less tipsy.
"Seriously, Remus, could your elbows be any more pointy?"
"Fuck off, Sirius, you're the one that's...Peter! That's my foot!"
"James pushed me!"
"Oy! I did not! I was just trying to set a pace. I wasn't made for taking up the rear."
"Oh, that's not what I've heard, Prongs, although admittedly it was more taking 'it' up the...OW!"
"You deserved that, Black."
"Oh, really, well let's see what you deserve, hmm?"
"OW! You bloody little..."
"Idiots! We're here. Off you go, Wormtail."
There was suddenly a lot more room under the cloak as Peter changed into the rat and ran through the hanging branches of the Whomping Willow to press the knot in the trunk. As soon as he did, Sirius transformed into Padfoot and ducked under the cloak to run full pelt across the grass and down into the tunnel leading to the Shack. Remus sighed.
"Do you think he's actually brought us out here for a reason? A proper reason, I mean?"
James stepped up beside him, scowling. "Who knows with him? Stupid bastard. But there's only one way to find out. Come on."
By the time they got up the stairs to the room that Remus usually transformed in, Sirius was waiting at the top with a scowl on his face, tapping his foot impatiently. "Could you be any slower? Come on! We've got things to do!"
He turned on his heel and marched into the room without a backward glance. Remus and James rolled their eyes at each other and followed him.
"What's this about, Sirius?" Remus asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I hope it's something good, since you woke us all up and made us come out here."
Sirius snorted. "Of course it's something good, Remus. It's a ceremony."
Remus, James and Peter stared at Sirius, saying all at once, "A ceremony?"
Sirius grinned. "Yep, a ceremony." He turned to Peter. "Here, Peter, help me pull these drawers out of the corner."
Over the years that Remus had been using the Shack, this room had acquired a few odds and ends to make his stay more comfortable; extra blankets, pillows, magazines, a few books, a deck of cards. A chest of drawers had been placed in a corner of the room to house these things, and to give Remus a safe place to put his clothes and wand out of the way of the wolf. It was that chest that Peter and Sirius moved now, away from the corner it had lived in for years.
"It's a marking ceremony," Sirius continued, turning back to them and brushing his hands together. "Since the invention of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Map-makers, Pranksters and all-round good blokes, we've had some of the best nights of our Hogwarts lives starting from here, right?"
The rest of them nodded. "Right."
"So, since it's our last night here, it's only fitting that we do something to mark the occasion. By making our mark."
The other three were silent, until James spoke up. "I'm not sure I get it."
Sirius frowned at him. "We're going to carve our initials into the wall, you utter plank." He pulled a knife from his pocket, ignoring Peter's startled, 'is that from the kitchen?' when he did. "Our initials: Moony," he pointed at Remus with the knife, then at each of them in turn, including himself as he said, "Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. M, W, P, P. Into that wall where the bookcase is." He pointed at the wall with the knife as well.
Peter frowned. "No one will see it there though."
Sirius nodded. "But we'll know it's there. That's the most important thing."
Peter wasn't sure about that. "Oh. OK."
"So," Sirius said, taking the knife by the blade and holding the handle out to Remus. "Mr Moony goes first."
Remus took the knife and went to carve his initial into the wall, as they all did, in the order that they'd been in on their map. After James had scraped his P into the wall and handed the knife back to Sirius, Sirius went back, scratching a paw print into the wood underneath his own P, before pushing the chest of drawers back into place. When he turned back to them, he was smiling.
"Right. That's done. And we know what it all means, right?"
James nodded, which was more than Remus or Peter could have done, since they didn't have the foggiest idea what it meant. "Yep," James said. "It means we'll be friends forever."
Sirius beamed. "Yes, exactly. Friends forever. No matter what happens." He stuck out his hand. "Shake on it. I'd make you all use blood, except I don't want anyone fainting."
Peter went pale at that, and Sirius rolled his eyes, but Remus squeezed his shoulder and whispered, "Don't worry, Pete. I wouldn't want to do blood either."
"Shake!" Sirius insisted. James put his hand on Sirius', then Remus put his on James', then Peter put his on Remus', and they shook. Once they'd finished, Sirius was smiling again. "Right," he said. "Good. Friends forever. Now we can go back to bed. Last one back has to snog McGonagall at breakfast!"
With that he took off, pounding down the stairs, the others hot on his heels, all of them laughing and shouting as they went.