Before || A Marauders Era Story

Chapter Fourteen: Remus

"Guys," Remus said from where he was standing in the doorframe, looking into their dormitory. "We have to go. We have detention with Filch now."

Sirius lifted his Potions textbook from where it had been lying half-open on his face and groaned, rolling off his four-poster and crashing dramatically to the ground. "Whyyy do we have to go?"

"Yeah, he can't make us," James agreed, pushing his glasses into place with the heel of his hand. 

Remus sighed, letting his head fall against the door frame for a second before lifting it back up. "If we don't go, we'll get into more trouble, get more detention, and lose more house points. And we need house points. You want to win the house cup, right?"

"Alriiight." James mumbled, getting to his feet and heading towards the door. "But we better not get caught next time we prank someone."

Sirius huffed but got to his feet, following James to the door. "Good luck waking Peter up."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding." Remus said when Sirius pointed at Peter, who was lying on his bed buried in a mountain of pillows, fast asleep. "Why is he already sleeping-- Nevermind." Remus strode over to his dorm-mates bed and grabbed one of the pillows, using it to wack Peter repeatedly. "He's not waking up!"

Sirius scrambled over to join Remus, tugging a pillow out from under Peter's head and hitting in the face with it. Peter rolled over but didn't wake. 

"Ha! I've got an idea!" James grinned, running into the bathroom. Remus heard the sink turn and Sirius brightened, rushing after James. They returned with a cauldron full of water, looking proud.

"Rise and shine!" Sirius yelled as James dumped the water on Peter's head. They boy gasped and sat up, his eyes wide. 

"Hey," he complained. "That's not nice."

"You're welcome we woke you up," Sirius smiled, pulling Peter to his feet. "Because we're gonna go make Filch have the worst detention of his life."

"H-huh?" Peter asked, scrambling after them as they headed through the common room. 

"You'll see," said James, pushing the portrait hole open so he could pass. 

"Ah, there you are," Filch sneered as the four boys entered his office. "You're almost late."

Remus glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall of the office, which clearly showed that they'd arrived three minutes early. 

"We're not--" Peter began, but Filch interrupted him.

"Now," he said. "Black, you'll be in here reorganizing those files--" Filch waved at a huge mound of papers on his desk. Sirius groaned. "and Potter, I'm sending you to walk through the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid." James' shoulders slumped in relief and Sirius gave him an envious stare.  "Don't think yer gettin' off easy, boy. You'll have some nasty work to do. Pettigrew, you're going to be reorganizing potions ingredients for Professor Slughorn. Lupin, you're coming with me to polish the trophies in the trophy room."

Filch left with James and Peter to bring them to their punishments and left Remus and Sirius sitting locked in his office.

"James gets to in the forest, the lucky bastard." Sirius complained as he eyed the pile of papers on Filch's desk unhappily.

"I'm sure whatever Filch has planned for him isn't going to be fun." Remus told him. "Besides, organizing some papers isn't so bad."

Sirius groaned. "Are you kidding? It's so boring!" 

"Hmm," Remus nodded in agreement, picking up one of the files. "Might want to get started."

"No way." 

"Suit yourself." 

When Filch returned, he took Remus by the arm and pulled him out of the office. He locked the door behind him, telling Sirius that if he didn't finish with the files he wouldn't be able to leave,  and led Remus to the trophy room. He handed Remus a bucket of water, soap, and an old rag, and Remus got to scrubbing.

"I'm finished, sir," he told Filch when he'd scrubbed every trophy in the room clean. (And there were a lot of them). 

"Hmph." Filch crossed his arms. "They're not shiny enough yet, boy. Better do 'em all again."

Remus opened his mouth to argue, but then thought better of it and quickly scrubbed them all a second time. He turned to Filch. "I believe I'm done, sir." 

Filch looked around at the gleaming trophies in disdain, wrinkling his nose at the fact that there was no more work for Remus to be done. "Alright. Get back to your common room now, boy." 

Remus nodded and wasted no time in rushing back up to Gryffindor common room, where he stood waiting for the other's to come back. Peter came back first, a couple minutes after Remus arrived, trudging into the common room unhappily.

"That was disgusting," he whined. "I've got some slime all over my fingers now, Remus. It smells horrible. Here, wanna--" 

"Nope," Remus interrupted, grabbing Peter by the wrist as he lifted his slimy hand towards Remus' face. "Keep the slime to yourself please, mate." 

"Alright," Peter shrugged, dropping his hand to his side. 

"I...hate...papers..." Sirius mumbled, coming towards them with his shoulders sagging tiredly. "Paper is evil." He held up his hands, which were covered in paper cuts.

"Good job, Sirius." Remus said sarcastically, patting his shoulder.

"Well, actually," Sirius suddenly brightened. "Guess what?"

"What?" Remus and Peter asked simultaneously. 

"I--never mind, let's wait 'til James get here." Sirius said, bouncing up and down slightly in anticipation. "Aha!" He exclaimed when James walked in. "Guess what, guess what, guess whaaat?"

"What?" James asked, amused. 

"I talked to Peeves, and--" Sirius began. 

"Who?" Peter interrupted. 

"The poltergeist." Sirius elaborated. "And, anyway, I convinced him to bother Filch for the whole night! And he promised not to tell I was the one who convinced him!"

"Wait, are you serious?" James asked, excited. Remus knew what Sirius was going to say before he even said it.

"Why of course I'm Sirius, James! I always am. That's my name. Would you like to see the official papers?" Sirius gave a loud, barking laugh at James's expression. Remus sighed. Peter burst out laughing.

"That's not what I meant," James said, chuckling. "I mean, did you really convince Peeves t--?"

He was interrupted by a loud crash and many yells somewhere on the other side of the portrait hole. 

"Ah, yes I did!" Sirius exclaimed, bouncing merrily up the steps to the dormitory. "Ooh, Filch is going to looove this!"

"Watch your friend, there," a seventh year who was coming down the stairs told Remus, patting his arm as he passed.