A Wolf and his Star

4, first year: Pens and Marauders

Remus 

It was the second week of December. Despite my tiny bit of dread and Sirius' obvious-even-though-he-tried-to-hide-it anxiety about going home, the nearness of Christmas was nice.

It was obvious that we were popular, or really, Sirius and James were popular and me and Peter were sort of popular by extension. James, always hung up on Lily, noticed the attention but didn't care. Sirius on the other hand.. we are still 11 but I can tell he's going to be a heartthrob when he's older. Everyone thought they were so cool, and Sirius basked in that warmth.

We all gave each other our Christmas gifts early since we wouldn't be together for the real thing. Sirius and James got an older gryffindor to get chocolate for them from Hogsmeade as a gift for me, as well as payment for the first prank idea I got them, of course. I got an older gryffindor to get me prank supplies for them. Peter got me a map that a teacher enchanted so that the stairs moved because I kept getting lost. I got Peter an enchanted quill that never runs out of ink.

 "Why can't we just use pens, seriously!" I had asked while writing to my dad to order Peter's gift

"What are pens?" James asked

"It's like an advanced quill, it's a muggle thing. It has ink built in. Being a half-blood I get the advantages of both sometimes."

"You should bring one to school so we can see!" Peter said

And of course I promised to bring one. I feel like they might break the parchment they have so I brought paper too.

"Woah" Peter said, the first to say anything after I showed them my pen.

"It's interesting how muggles adapt without magic." Sirius said

"They've invented a bunch of things that we rely on magic for. Cars and planes for travel. Pens and this kind of paper. Actually I once bought waterproof muggle paper."

"How'd they make it waterproof without magic?"peter asked

"It's made of stone."

James said, "Stone? Wow, we definitely underestimate muggles sometimes"

Lily, Marlene and Mary came into the common room, where we were.

"What are you all looking at?" Mary sat beside me. The others assured me that Mary had a crush on me. I didn't care either way.

James perked up, hoping to catch Lily's attention. "Remus brought us some pens. They are a muggle device that has ink built in. Remus said that muggles have made waterproof parchment without magic. Isn't that cool, Evans?"

Lily rolled her eyes at James' weak attempt at interesting her. "I've bought some of that before. It's really not that big a deal."

"Really? Bloody hell, what kinds of things have muggles invented if that's not cool!?"

"Potter, they just aren't you. It's not hard to impress you."

Even though Lily barely said anything to him, James was a blushing mess all day. "She talked to me, Sirius, she talked to me."

"I talk to you all the time. You're already blessed with my presence, calm down."

To be fair, that was the longest Lily has talked to him so far.

***

 Finally the cold was gone and quidditch started up again. James was watching it almost religiously despite him never being able to join this young. I didn't like it. It was boring and my injuries didn't help. Sirius and James were definitely going to try out. I only went to the games if they were in it. So definitely not this year. Peter shared my view on this.