In the corner of the morning in the past
I would sit and blame the master first and last
All the roads were straight and narrow
And the prayers were small and yellow
And the rumour spread that I was aging fast
Then I ran across a monster who was sleeping
By a tree
And I looked and frowned and the monster was me
Saturday 1st September 1973
After the first job, Craig and his gang had been so pleased with Remus that they'd taken him along on four more, to houses and small businesses in the surrounding towns. Even without an invisibility cloak, Remus found that he just had a natural gift for getting into places he shouldn't. That's what Craig said anyway; "Bloody natural, this kid."
Nature was a funny thing, Remus found himself thinking, on the way to King's Cross. He remembered James leaving a bag of coins behind every time they raided Honeyduke's. It was not in James's nature to steal, it seemed. But Remus didn't think this was a particularly fair assessment, when James had never needed to steal. He was the heir to an enormous fortune, just like Sirius. And the truth was, you just never knew what you were capable of until you tried it. It must be very easy to be good when you had no reason not to be.
Still, Remus had resolved never to tell the other marauders what he'd got up to that summer, and spent the rest of his journey daydreaming about all of the Christmas and birthday presents he would finally be able to buy his friends.
Remus's Hogwarts trunk this year was stuffed full of cigarette boxes and pouches of tobacco. Plenty to get a little business up and running - if he was savvy enough, he might be rid of most of it before Christmas. They were allowed to go to Hogsmeade this year, and Matron had signed his permission slip without a fuss - even Madam Pomfrey thought it was probably safe enough for him to go.
Matron, it seemed, had learnt her lesson. She accompanied Remus as far as King's Cross, then left him there, with a curt goodbye. Heart pounding as much as it had two years ago, Remus flew at the ticket barrier, and exhaled only once he arrived safely on the other side. He was home again.
It did not take him long to spy Sirius, who was slouching against a station pillar beside his family. Mrs Black was fussing over Regulus, who looked paler than usual and was standing with his back very straight as Walpurga combed his hair and hissed in his ear. She was obviously ignoring her eldest son, whose hair looked deliberately messy, and whose robes were artfully rumpled and out of place. Remus thought it best not to approach.
"Hiya Moony," he was clapped on the back and turned around to see James and Peter grinning at him. James had grown a few inches, and his face looked slightly thinner, but he had the same bright brown eyes and the same mop of black hair. Peter looked himself, though he seemed to be recovering from a rather painful sunburn.
"Hi," Remus grinned back at them, his heart leaping with excitement. Everything just as it should be.
The whistle blew, and they climbed onto the train to find an empty compartment and wait for Sirius. He was finally allowed to join them at what seemed like the very last minute, and entered the car muttering darkly to himself,
"Keeping up appearances my arse."
"No change there, then," James winked at Remus. Sirius looked at them all and his face split into a smile. That Sirius Black smile.
"I thought I'd never see you all again!"
"Godrick, you always have to be so dramatic." James punched him on the shoulder, as they all stood up to greet him.
"You don't know what she's like," Sirius whined, clasping James's hand in a warm, brotherly handshake. Then he saw Remus and smirked mischievously, "Is that you, Moony?!" He deliberately craned his neck, raising a hand as if to shield his eyes and peering up, "Can you hear me up there??"
