Four To The End Book Two (Marauders Era)

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Five - A Big Surprise!

Author's note: Mom is still in the hospital and we're not sure when she'll be back, so while I did manage to get today's chapter out I cannot promise I'll manage on Tuesday, it's still a... wait and see sort of thing.

Also trigger warning for abuse in this chapter; mostly emotional.

~*~

James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus all slept in the next morning, the latter of which waking up to shrieks and chaos at around ten-thirty in the morning. He sat up, watching sleepily as his friends ran around throwing things into their bags.

"DON'T! SAY! IT!" James yelled when he saw Remus watching. "We know, we know. You told us so."

"I did," Remus yawned, slithering out of bed. "I can help."

He sat in the middle of the room between three suitcases, catching things as they were thrown and putting them in the proper suitcase. Well, 'catching', more like being smacked by bits of clothing because he missed. Once they were all done, Remus went to get ready for the day, forgoing his usual shower since he slept in so late.

They barely had time to get food, mostly wrapping stuff up and shoving it in their pockets. Remus found Aegis for a quick goodbye, since he wasn't going away for the holiday. Lily was, so he'd be able to say goodbye to her properly on the train.

"Urgh," James moaned when they hurried to the carriages. There weren't very many left, and the thestrals attached to them seemed a little impatient. Remus silently agreed with James, though he was beginning to think the thestrals weren't as horrifying as he initially thought they were. He was getting a little more used to them.

Soon, they were settled in a compartment as the train rolled down south. James brought a radio to play and since Remus had his earplugs, the music could be blasted at the loud level the others liked. They ate their stolen food while playing cards, getting crumbs and bits of food all over the compartment until James and Sirius scarpered off to pull pranks. Remus and Peter stayed behind, chattering about various things. Peter spent a lot of time complaining about his Muggle cousins, telling Remus that they tended to make fun of him.

"Call me stupid and stuff," sighed Peter. "Plus they make fun of me for going to a boarding school. They think it's some fancy, rich thing, and say that's the only way I could stay in school, if my parents paid for it."

"They're the idiots," Remus said.

"They're not completely wrong." Peter slumped down in his seat, tugging at his lip. "I mean, they talk 'bout what they've gotten from school, and what can I say? They talk about—about chemistry and I can't talk about Potions. That's why they say I'm dumb, cause when they talk about that stuff I... can't."

Remus reached over, giving his arm a little squeeze. Before he could say anything to try and help, the door burst open and James and Sirius stormed in.

"What happened?" Pete asked.

"Oh, we got snitched on," Sirius grumbled, throwing himself back into his seat next to Remus, knocking into him.

"That fourth year girl who's always poking her nose into everything?" James growled. "Jorkins? She caught us before we could transfigure the pebbles into bugs, and got a prefect."

"I say we prank her when we get back," Sirius said as he swung around to sit sideways in the seat, his legs across Remus's lap; James gave him a thumbs up. Presumably for what he said and not for taking over Remus's personal space.

After several uncomfortable, flustery moments, Remus excused himself to go find Lily. They spent a good forty minutes together before he returned to the guys. A little bit later Lily showed up with Magpie in tow, suggesting they play some games together to pass the time. They paired up for the games and Remus somehow wound up with Magpie like before; at least James was with Sirius so there wasn't any screaming between James and Lily.