Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Ninety - An Idea For Theodore

The Marauders spent the entire weekend in the storage room; exploring, finding things, playing games... and while Sirius was more cautious, James and Peter kept putting their hands on whatever they could find. Remus wasn't much better with the books until he found a journal from the eighteenth century, and spent hours reading the young witch's account of student life two centuries ago. The only time Remus wasn't with them in the storage room was Saturday night, when he had Magical Theory.

They even went early Sunday morning as James's Quidditch practice had been exchanged for a Ravenclaw one, since Ravenclaw's game against Slytherin was later in the month. By that afternoon, James's interest in the storage room was waning a little and they left before supper and didn't go back that day; James wanted to pull some pranks since he hadn't done anything that weekend. Exploration was fun, pranks were better.

Plus, he wanted to get a plan ready for Valentine's Day. No dessert this year, which a lot of students were annoyed about. Even a lot of the Prefects—who were in charge of things like that—were annoyed. However the Head Boy and Girl both vetoed it, saying there were more important things to deal with. Apparently three of the Prefects had even gone to Professor McGonagall to see if they could put together the dessert, but McGonagall said without the permission from either the Head Boy or Girl... there was nothing she could do. It seemed vastly unfair, but that's how the rules were set, since the Head Boy and Girl were in charge of it.

"Remus, when you're Head Boy make sure we have dances and desserts and stuff to go to," James complained on Monday after lunch.

"First of all, I won't ever be Head Boy, and second of all..." Remus tilted his head. "You never seemed interested in that sort of thing before." A tiny stab of fear went into him at the thought of James finally turning into Sirius and Peter when it came to wanting to go after girls.

James paused, soup spoon frozen part way to his mouth. "Are you joking? The Valentine's dessert is one of the most fun things we could prank!" Remus tried not to slump in relief, glad he wouldn't feel too left out yet. "Ditto for dances. We should have pranked the winter dance last year when we had the chance. I don't know what we were thinking in our second year."

"I was too busy thinking about the fact I was actually going to the dance," Sirius pointed out. "You're right, though; the dance would have been terrific to prank. Maybe next year we'll have one."

"Then we can all go," Peter piped up. "Since it's for fourth years and up. We won't need to hafta get an older girl to ask us out!"

"I am not going to a dance," Remus spat out, but they all ignored him.

"Considering how much the Prefects want that stuff, we'll probably get one next year," James said excitedly. "We'll get to see the results firsthand!" He began giggling like a demented squirrel at the idea.

"In the meantime we need to focus on Valentine's," Sirius said with a nod.

"Beard potion, right?" Pete whispered, making sure nobody could hear them.

"Yes," confirmed James. "What day is Valentine's?" He began counting on his fingers.

"Thursday," Remus told him.

"Thursday. Good, I won't have practice."

Remus tuned them out as they whispered their plans, mostly thinking about this coming Thursday—and Wednesday. Full moon again, already. Only two nights again, which was a huge relief; hopefully they'd go okay. The previous moon went fairly well, so as long as nothing happened between now and Wednesday—

He quickly stopped himself there, not wanting to jinx it. Instead, he shook his head and focused on something else. "We shouldn't talk about this at lunch when there's hundreds of people around us," he said, breaking into their conversation.