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butterflyslinkyTITLE: F My Wizarding Life
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, OCs
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: The boys are home for the summer and wishing they were back at Hogwarts.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY: There was a break between the first year and second, but I want to get this done. Also, the second year is incomplete because I lost interest. This chapter is mostly catch-up, and it's really depressing.
For all four of the “Marauders” as they called themselves, the summer wasn’t nearly as fun as school. No magic for three months. Parents fussing or yelling. The people they hadn’t had to deal with for a year all back at once. It was all really too much.
Of course, too much meant something different to each boy.
Peter Pettigrew was trying to decide if this summer was good or bad.
On the one hand, the Wizarding Academy of the Dramatic Arts summer program was excellent, and presented Muggle musicals, which were semi-interesting. On the other hand, it meant being with his sister Polly all the time.
Not that his sister was bad, but really, after his first year of Hogwarts in the company of the two coolest guys in the year and a registered werewolf, his modest life seemed really tame. He hadn’t mentioned the registered werewolf part to his parents, but he was eager to get back to school, especially when the cast list for Annie came back. While putting a rat down Miss Hannagan’s blouse was fun, it still meant playing a girl, which Peter did as enthusiastically as he could, but really. Could it get any worse?
He soon found out, it could. His sister had somehow, over the last year, become a fashion-bitch-in-training. It was apparent that she would be very beautiful when she was older, but right now, the constant discussions of makeup and hair products with her fashion-bitch-in-training friends coming from her room, coupled with the fact that she had several untrue suspicions about her brother, made living with Polly the worst thing in the world... for Peter at least.
Sirius Black still lived in Hell.
For a year, he’d forgotten. Sirius Black had just spent ten months in Heaven. Unfortunately, he’d had to leave and go back. That’s when he discovered that finding a good place and not being able to stay was worse than living in a bad place forever.
This observation was made approximately seventy-two seconds after Sirius had arrived home from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had had a successful year of pranking, laughing, and getting in trouble with his three best friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The four of them had established themselves as the evil mastermind geniuses of Gryffindor House. That was the problem. His family could live with the “evil mastermind genius” part. In fact, there was another up-and-coming evil mastermind genius who they wholeheartedly supported. The problem was Gryffindor.
Sirius had broken family tradition. For centuries, the Blacks had all been in Slytherin. Then Sirius’s cousin Anny had defied them by being in Gryffindor, and Sirius was quite happy to follow her lead. Everyone else in the family called them “blood-traitors,” as Sirius’s mother did the moment he walked in the door. This was followed by several more insults, which then evolved into curses. Sirius didn’t draw his wand, made no move to defend himself. In the span of a few minutes, he was Petrified on the floor, and knew he would be left there for several hours, maybe even a few days. Actually, this was probably the best thing that could happen to him now.
It was amazing how he’d managed to forget how brutal the world was while he was kept away from it.
Remus Lupin hadn’t forgotten.
He hadn’t forgotten that he had no one to take care of him or that he was a monster or that he was a million miles from civilization. The isolation had always driven him crazy, but now it was worse. He’d grown used to people. He knew what it was like to have friends now. He knew how it felt to have a strong support network.
But now he was home, if it could really be called that, and his father wasn’t there. Of course his father wasn’t there. His father was never there. Remus doubted that the old man even knew he was home. In fact, not for the first time, Remus wondered if his father even remembered that Remus was his son and not just some kid who wandered in and out randomly.
Actually, it was Alan Lupin who wandered in and out randomly. Remus could usually be depended on to stay home and not get into trouble. Getting into trouble was a task he always left to his father, although considering the last year at Hogwarts, Remus knew that he could start causing trouble here too. After all, he was technically the master of the house, and even at the age of twelve, he wasn’t going to put up with an old drunk telling him what to do. Remus Lupin was becoming a rebel.
It was wonderful to be back on a broom. A whole year at Hogwarts with a few flying classes was all well and good, but James Potter didn’t just want to do the elementary lessons designed for people like his friends Remus and Peter. He wanted to go fast, feel the wind on his face, the exhilaration of the height, and not give a damn about the world.
As he flew over the countryside, James reflected on the past year. That last prank on Professor Fenris had been priceless, and was going to be difficult to top. He had a few ideas already, but they were almost completely useless without the valued second opinion of his best friend and partner-in-crime, Sirius Black. James considered writing them down and sending them by owl, but from what he knew of Mrs. Black, those letters would never reach their intended recipient.
That was another problem. Sirius’s life. Why couldn’t everyone be happy? Why couldn’t everyone live like James Potter, footloose, flighty, free? Why couldn’t everyone love the world and be loved back?
James did love everyone... well, almost. It was impossible for him to love people like Severus Snape from his year, or the man who garnered ever-increasing whispers, this Voldemort or whatever his name was. James had heard his parents discussing that last night when he was supposed to be asleep in bed. People pushing pure-blood extremism to the maximum limit, killing, burning, destroying, consuming everything they could reach in darkness.
Or at least, those were the rumors. There didn’t seem to be any organization to it, a murder here, a disappearance there. There was no word as to whether this was a serious dark wizard or a random madman... or both. Either way, James wasn’t scared. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t get to him.
Despite this summer not being particularly good, it seemed to go by rather quickly. Well, sort of. “Good” doesn’t necessarily mean “eventful.” Eventful could be bad, too. Bad as in being teased by young sisters, being beaten by relatives, killing things every month, and generally worrying about the world. Life, in a word, sucked.
It was therefore quite a surprise when Sirius was allowed to go to Diagon Ally in the last week of the holidays to buy his school things. He was sent alone.
He could only suppose it was because his mother was sick of him, but he was willing to take any chance he got. He’d spent the first week in Full-Body Bind, the rest of June locked in his bedroom most of the day, all of July fighting with his parents, and most of August wandering around London so as to avoid being killed. Unfortunately, he had to return at night, at which point his mother would start in on him and make sure he was physically unable to go anywhere the next day.
Today, however, she not only allowed him to go, she made sure of it. She handed him a bag with enough money for fare on the Knight Bus and the cash to buy books. Only books, “And don’t take all day about it!”
Really, for a woman who hated him so much, Sirius got the impression that his mother liked having him around so she could scream at someone nonstop.
As it happened, James was going on a similar day trip. His mother and father insisted on accompanying him since they had some things to pick up as well, and so they could buy James a broom.
To a twelve-year-old, this was as exciting as life got.
It took maybe thirty-five seconds to buy the books. The list that the teachers assembled every year made sure of that. It took half-an-hour to find the right broomstick.
It wasn’t just the make of the broom, although that was important. James wouldn’t have just any old Cleansweep. It was also about the feel of the broom, the vibes, so to speak. After all, this broom had to last for at least six years before James could get a job and replace it. His mother, Anna had been very clear on that point. His father, Robert had given her a baleful look, since he believed that a good Quidditch game was one where at least one person smashed into something, which tended to be hard on the broom, but had let her have her way. After all, it was his money.
Finally, James selected a Silver Arrow, and was told by the tearful manager that it was the last one that would ever be sold. James felt that that fact made it special. The last of its kind. The final, alone, but brilliant.
It was almost poetic.
Not taking all day about buying books wasn’t that difficult. After all, Sirius had barely read the books he had bought last year. He was thinking about selling them used to earn more money, but knew his mother would throw a fit about it.
He went to Flourish and Blotts, walking as slowly as humanly possible, which is very slow indeed, as anyone who has been at a large school during a passing period can testify. He selected and bought his books with equal slowness, and started walking slowly down the street, savoring his freedom.
“HEY! SIRIUS!”
Sirius turned to see James, his face brilliant, running towards him. The care and unhappiness that had consumed Sirius over the summer was suddenly lifted.
“Hey!” he greeted his friend.
“So how’s it going?” James asked.
Sirius started to answer when he noticed James’s parents coming. “Er...”
James glanced over his shoulder. “Oh. Mum, Dad, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, these are my parents.”
“How do you do?” Sirius said politely. The House of Black wasn’t lacking for etiquette.
“Good to meet you, Sirius,” Anna said. “Had a good summer?”
“It’s been all right,” Sirius said uneasily. The Potters were high-class purebloods and would surely know of his family, yet they had not mentioned it.
Anna looked at him with a calculating expression, taking in his slightly disheveled appearance and the half-healed bruise on his cheek. This was a boy who would need a lot of care. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about it then. “We’ll let you boys catch up,” she said, turning away.
“That’s all right,” Sirius said. “I need to get home soon.”
“Are you alone?” Robert asked.
“I’m fine,” Sirius lied quickly. “See you at school, James.” Sirius turned and left.
Anna looked at James. “Is he all right at home?” she asked.
James looked uneasy. He knew that Sirius didn’t want anyone else to know what went on, but it wasn’t something James could hold onto. “I don’t think so,” he whispered. “I’ll explain later.”
Sirius was apparently three minutes late. That meant three whacks to the head and no dinner. As if he cared. Dinner with his family was about as much fun as History of Magic.
It wasn’t the punishments that bothered him. It was the fact that James’s parents seemed so... loving. The fact that they seemed to care about him, despite the fact that they’d spoken perhaps a dozen words to each other. Sirius began to envy James’s life.
James did tell his parents what he knew that night.. Anna listened passively, but Robert, as a lawyer, took notes over everything that James said. “Thank you, James,” Robert said at the end. “Go to bed and I’ll see what I can do.”
James went, relieved that his father was going to try to help Sirius.
“Can we do anything?” Anna asked as soon as James was gone. “Can we help him?”
“Not unless you want to get Magical Law Enforcement involved,” Robert answered. “And since the only evidence we have right now is a bruised cheek and James’s word, there’s not enough probable cause to send someone. The only other way to get Sirius out of there would be to kidnap him, and then our lovely Madame Black would probably haul us into court and pay the judge.”
“There’s no way?” Anna asked.
“Relax,” Robert answered. “They go back to Hogwarts in two weeks. He’ll be safe there.”
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHARACTERS: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, OCs
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: The boys are home for the summer and wishing they were back at Hogwarts.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY: There was a break between the first year and second, but I want to get this done. Also, the second year is incomplete because I lost interest. This chapter is mostly catch-up, and it's really depressing.
For all four of the “Marauders” as they called themselves, the summer wasn’t nearly as fun as school. No magic for three months. Parents fussing or yelling. The people they hadn’t had to deal with for a year all back at once. It was all really too much.
Of course, too much meant something different to each boy.
Peter Pettigrew was trying to decide if this summer was good or bad.
On the one hand, the Wizarding Academy of the Dramatic Arts summer program was excellent, and presented Muggle musicals, which were semi-interesting. On the other hand, it meant being with his sister Polly all the time.
Not that his sister was bad, but really, after his first year of Hogwarts in the company of the two coolest guys in the year and a registered werewolf, his modest life seemed really tame. He hadn’t mentioned the registered werewolf part to his parents, but he was eager to get back to school, especially when the cast list for Annie came back. While putting a rat down Miss Hannagan’s blouse was fun, it still meant playing a girl, which Peter did as enthusiastically as he could, but really. Could it get any worse?
He soon found out, it could. His sister had somehow, over the last year, become a fashion-bitch-in-training. It was apparent that she would be very beautiful when she was older, but right now, the constant discussions of makeup and hair products with her fashion-bitch-in-training friends coming from her room, coupled with the fact that she had several untrue suspicions about her brother, made living with Polly the worst thing in the world... for Peter at least.
Sirius Black still lived in Hell.
For a year, he’d forgotten. Sirius Black had just spent ten months in Heaven. Unfortunately, he’d had to leave and go back. That’s when he discovered that finding a good place and not being able to stay was worse than living in a bad place forever.
This observation was made approximately seventy-two seconds after Sirius had arrived home from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had had a successful year of pranking, laughing, and getting in trouble with his three best friends, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The four of them had established themselves as the evil mastermind geniuses of Gryffindor House. That was the problem. His family could live with the “evil mastermind genius” part. In fact, there was another up-and-coming evil mastermind genius who they wholeheartedly supported. The problem was Gryffindor.
Sirius had broken family tradition. For centuries, the Blacks had all been in Slytherin. Then Sirius’s cousin Anny had defied them by being in Gryffindor, and Sirius was quite happy to follow her lead. Everyone else in the family called them “blood-traitors,” as Sirius’s mother did the moment he walked in the door. This was followed by several more insults, which then evolved into curses. Sirius didn’t draw his wand, made no move to defend himself. In the span of a few minutes, he was Petrified on the floor, and knew he would be left there for several hours, maybe even a few days. Actually, this was probably the best thing that could happen to him now.
It was amazing how he’d managed to forget how brutal the world was while he was kept away from it.
Remus Lupin hadn’t forgotten.
He hadn’t forgotten that he had no one to take care of him or that he was a monster or that he was a million miles from civilization. The isolation had always driven him crazy, but now it was worse. He’d grown used to people. He knew what it was like to have friends now. He knew how it felt to have a strong support network.
But now he was home, if it could really be called that, and his father wasn’t there. Of course his father wasn’t there. His father was never there. Remus doubted that the old man even knew he was home. In fact, not for the first time, Remus wondered if his father even remembered that Remus was his son and not just some kid who wandered in and out randomly.
Actually, it was Alan Lupin who wandered in and out randomly. Remus could usually be depended on to stay home and not get into trouble. Getting into trouble was a task he always left to his father, although considering the last year at Hogwarts, Remus knew that he could start causing trouble here too. After all, he was technically the master of the house, and even at the age of twelve, he wasn’t going to put up with an old drunk telling him what to do. Remus Lupin was becoming a rebel.
It was wonderful to be back on a broom. A whole year at Hogwarts with a few flying classes was all well and good, but James Potter didn’t just want to do the elementary lessons designed for people like his friends Remus and Peter. He wanted to go fast, feel the wind on his face, the exhilaration of the height, and not give a damn about the world.
As he flew over the countryside, James reflected on the past year. That last prank on Professor Fenris had been priceless, and was going to be difficult to top. He had a few ideas already, but they were almost completely useless without the valued second opinion of his best friend and partner-in-crime, Sirius Black. James considered writing them down and sending them by owl, but from what he knew of Mrs. Black, those letters would never reach their intended recipient.
That was another problem. Sirius’s life. Why couldn’t everyone be happy? Why couldn’t everyone live like James Potter, footloose, flighty, free? Why couldn’t everyone love the world and be loved back?
James did love everyone... well, almost. It was impossible for him to love people like Severus Snape from his year, or the man who garnered ever-increasing whispers, this Voldemort or whatever his name was. James had heard his parents discussing that last night when he was supposed to be asleep in bed. People pushing pure-blood extremism to the maximum limit, killing, burning, destroying, consuming everything they could reach in darkness.
Or at least, those were the rumors. There didn’t seem to be any organization to it, a murder here, a disappearance there. There was no word as to whether this was a serious dark wizard or a random madman... or both. Either way, James wasn’t scared. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t get to him.
Despite this summer not being particularly good, it seemed to go by rather quickly. Well, sort of. “Good” doesn’t necessarily mean “eventful.” Eventful could be bad, too. Bad as in being teased by young sisters, being beaten by relatives, killing things every month, and generally worrying about the world. Life, in a word, sucked.
It was therefore quite a surprise when Sirius was allowed to go to Diagon Ally in the last week of the holidays to buy his school things. He was sent alone.
He could only suppose it was because his mother was sick of him, but he was willing to take any chance he got. He’d spent the first week in Full-Body Bind, the rest of June locked in his bedroom most of the day, all of July fighting with his parents, and most of August wandering around London so as to avoid being killed. Unfortunately, he had to return at night, at which point his mother would start in on him and make sure he was physically unable to go anywhere the next day.
Today, however, she not only allowed him to go, she made sure of it. She handed him a bag with enough money for fare on the Knight Bus and the cash to buy books. Only books, “And don’t take all day about it!”
Really, for a woman who hated him so much, Sirius got the impression that his mother liked having him around so she could scream at someone nonstop.
As it happened, James was going on a similar day trip. His mother and father insisted on accompanying him since they had some things to pick up as well, and so they could buy James a broom.
To a twelve-year-old, this was as exciting as life got.
It took maybe thirty-five seconds to buy the books. The list that the teachers assembled every year made sure of that. It took half-an-hour to find the right broomstick.
It wasn’t just the make of the broom, although that was important. James wouldn’t have just any old Cleansweep. It was also about the feel of the broom, the vibes, so to speak. After all, this broom had to last for at least six years before James could get a job and replace it. His mother, Anna had been very clear on that point. His father, Robert had given her a baleful look, since he believed that a good Quidditch game was one where at least one person smashed into something, which tended to be hard on the broom, but had let her have her way. After all, it was his money.
Finally, James selected a Silver Arrow, and was told by the tearful manager that it was the last one that would ever be sold. James felt that that fact made it special. The last of its kind. The final, alone, but brilliant.
It was almost poetic.
Not taking all day about buying books wasn’t that difficult. After all, Sirius had barely read the books he had bought last year. He was thinking about selling them used to earn more money, but knew his mother would throw a fit about it.
He went to Flourish and Blotts, walking as slowly as humanly possible, which is very slow indeed, as anyone who has been at a large school during a passing period can testify. He selected and bought his books with equal slowness, and started walking slowly down the street, savoring his freedom.
“HEY! SIRIUS!”
Sirius turned to see James, his face brilliant, running towards him. The care and unhappiness that had consumed Sirius over the summer was suddenly lifted.
“Hey!” he greeted his friend.
“So how’s it going?” James asked.
Sirius started to answer when he noticed James’s parents coming. “Er...”
James glanced over his shoulder. “Oh. Mum, Dad, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, these are my parents.”
“How do you do?” Sirius said politely. The House of Black wasn’t lacking for etiquette.
“Good to meet you, Sirius,” Anna said. “Had a good summer?”
“It’s been all right,” Sirius said uneasily. The Potters were high-class purebloods and would surely know of his family, yet they had not mentioned it.
Anna looked at him with a calculating expression, taking in his slightly disheveled appearance and the half-healed bruise on his cheek. This was a boy who would need a lot of care. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about it then. “We’ll let you boys catch up,” she said, turning away.
“That’s all right,” Sirius said. “I need to get home soon.”
“Are you alone?” Robert asked.
“I’m fine,” Sirius lied quickly. “See you at school, James.” Sirius turned and left.
Anna looked at James. “Is he all right at home?” she asked.
James looked uneasy. He knew that Sirius didn’t want anyone else to know what went on, but it wasn’t something James could hold onto. “I don’t think so,” he whispered. “I’ll explain later.”
Sirius was apparently three minutes late. That meant three whacks to the head and no dinner. As if he cared. Dinner with his family was about as much fun as History of Magic.
It wasn’t the punishments that bothered him. It was the fact that James’s parents seemed so... loving. The fact that they seemed to care about him, despite the fact that they’d spoken perhaps a dozen words to each other. Sirius began to envy James’s life.
James did tell his parents what he knew that night.. Anna listened passively, but Robert, as a lawyer, took notes over everything that James said. “Thank you, James,” Robert said at the end. “Go to bed and I’ll see what I can do.”
James went, relieved that his father was going to try to help Sirius.
“Can we do anything?” Anna asked as soon as James was gone. “Can we help him?”
“Not unless you want to get Magical Law Enforcement involved,” Robert answered. “And since the only evidence we have right now is a bruised cheek and James’s word, there’s not enough probable cause to send someone. The only other way to get Sirius out of there would be to kidnap him, and then our lovely Madame Black would probably haul us into court and pay the judge.”
“There’s no way?” Anna asked.
“Relax,” Robert answered. “They go back to Hogwarts in two weeks. He’ll be safe there.”
