Selenophile // Marauders

|10| Howler, Second Year

10th of January, 1973

Sirius slammed the door as if Snape was standing in the middle of it.

"Leave me alone James!" he shouted with a muffled voice. Riley walked in on James pounding on the door and Remus just leaning against the wall. Peter was sitting on the floor looking at the locked door.

"Wh—What's going on here?" Riley asked. Sirius Black was very joyful normally, pulling pranks with his school tie tied around his head, Filch running after him with the infamous frown of his. Who could've possibly gotten him so mad that he was yelling at his best friend, James Potter?

"Sirius' mum sent him a howler. I was there and it wasn't a nice letter..." James informed Riley.

"Well, what did it say?" Riley asked. The three boys looked at each other with worried eyes.

"What? Why won't you tell me?" Riley asked.

"It was about — uh... well," Peter started but Remus interrupted.

"It was about how Sirius was friends with muggle-borns and 'blood-traitors', as her mum said. She sounded mad and told him how he was disappointed," Remus said bluntly. James nudged him.

"What? She has the right to know!" Remus protested.

"Yes she does but—" James started.

"But I'm a muggle-born? It's fine why would I be angry at him?" Riley said as she looked down. She spoke very fast and this couldn't mean good. "Sirius! Open the door!" she punched the door.

"Don't make us open the door!" she yelled again.

"All right lads, open the way, we will be breaking the door," James said. Riley grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Or, we may also use a very simple charm taught to us in our first year?" Riley said. "Merlin, all of you are idiots."

She flicked her wand out. "Alohomora."

"Oi! I'm trying to have a breakdown in peace here and you just open the door like the potions ingredient cupboard?!" Sirius said with tears in his eyes.

"We are here to make you feel better," Remus said softly. "Come on, let's go down to the lake."

"Yeah! It will be fun," Peter said.

"And... I am bringing Zonko's products I stole from my sister last year," Riley said with a huge smile. The five friends walked to the Great Lake. The weather was very cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked Riley. She was taking her shoes off and about to put her feet in the lake.

"Taking my shoes off?" Riley said as she touched the water with her hand to see if it was cold. "I love water and I love the cold."

"Sunny weather is the best!" James said. "Perfect for quidditch, no wind, no clouds. The only down side is that the sun may be too bright that it could get in your eyes, distracting you from the game. If you calculate the speed—"

"No, too bright. Rainy weather is the best, but morning, not night. I don't like the dark, you know, obvious reasons..." Remus said.

"I like all kinds of weather, but I like the wind," Sirius said.

"I like the sun," Peter said shortly. "This is a dumb conversation."

"But the freezing weather! The best part is going to the beach when it's freezing outside, my sister actually dug something out onto Beach Avalon, for my 19th birthday. Right after when I graduate from Hogwarts. She told me to go there and find it, like a treasure hunt," Riley said. She took her shoes off and put her feet into the freezing water.

"So when are we trying the animagi thing?" Sirius asked.

"How do you even become animagi?" James asked.

"I heard there was a potion we have to brew something..." Riley said.

"That's no problem, we have you!" Peter said. Riley smiled.

"We will look at the library for more information," James said.

"Am I hearing this right? You are talking about going to the library?" Riley said as she laughed.

"Guys, stop. I don't want you to turn into animals every full moon and it's so hard to become animagi anyways. It's not safe," Remus said.

"Don't be such a goody-goody!" Sirius said.

"I'm not being a 'goody-goody'. I'm the only responsible one around here and I'm telling you it's not safe."

"Why are you scared for us?" James asked.

"Because you are my friends and I'm scared of hurting you!" Remus snapped. He looked sad.

"Mate, you won't hurt us..." James said. "And even if you do, we take full responsibility for it. We will be the ones purposely running around you."

"It's perfectly safe, you won't hurt animals," Riley said.

"No proof on that..." Remus said. He looked down to the cold ground. The grass was very short and dark-colored. The wind blew into their faces and Riley laid back on the cold floor. She only had a zip-up hoodie on and she looked like she enjoyed her time.

"Can you choose which animal you turn into?" Peter asked.

"Is this seriously the only thing you're concerned about?" Riley asked as she rolled her eyes. She liked Peter but he could be a bit too naive or aloof sometimes.

"Siriusly," added Sirius. Remus let out an annoyed groan, he rolled his eyes.

"No, but I still wanna know."

"I don't think you can..." Sirius said.

"That's unfair! Maybe I want to be a lion, who knows? I don't want to turn into a dung beatle!" James complained.

"Try turning into a wolf every full moon," Remus said flatly.

"Sorry, mate, didn't mean to say that..."

"We have a quidditch match next week, against Ravenclaw," Riley said.

"Yeah, we will beat them! Easy," James said.

"If no one brings their wands this time, sure," Riley said as she put her hand in the water. 

"What happened to Mulciber after that?" James asked.

"He got a ban from quidditch for the rest of the term. So it's already over now. So pathetic, they couldn't even win, even though they cheated. If you're gonna cheat, do it in a way you won't lose in any condition, right?" Riley said.

"Or, an easier option, just don't cheat at all?" Peter said.

"I heard Reggie is gonna try for seeker next year, I've seen him play, he's really good. Beware of him," Sirius said.

"Davis is good too. Greene wouldn't have spotted the snitch if it wasn't for him. But Greene graduates next year."

They left the lake and Riley was walking bare feet to the castle. Remus was shooting weird looks at her. They got up to the Gryffindor tower and sat at their usual spot.

"Do we have Potions tomorrow?" Riley asked.

"Yes, I hope Slughorn doesn't partner us up like last time..." Sirius said.