Marauders - Always - Part One

Educational Reading

Remus dropped the thick book onto the coffee table unceremoniously with a loud thud that made both Lily and Sirius jump.

The cover was dark purple, accented with a dark silver foiling that curled in thin calligraphic embellishments around the corner so of the book, all meeting and twisting, weaving together to form the title across the top. Below that, a silver stamped image of the easily recognizable face of Gellert Grindelwald stared up at them, blinking in a bored sort of manner, pausing to inspect his finger nails every few moments.

Sirius stared at the book - as did Lily, James, and Remus - and then he looked up, eyes darting between James and Remus, who had come out from down the hallway together just the moment before. Finally, his stare landed on Remus. "What the fuck is that?" he asked, pointing to it.

"Now I know you don't read very often, but I did hope you'd at least recognize a book when it's presented to you," Remus quipped gently, hoping to break the already electrifying tension that was crackling around the room.

"I know it's a fucking book," Sirius said, then clarified, "Why is that particular fucking book on our coffee table?"

"That is a question which we will need to ask Peter," Remus said flatly.

Sirius's eyes widened and he looked at the book again, then back up at Remus, "Excuse me?"

"This came from Peter's room," Remus said. "Just now."

Lily, who was still staring at the book, murmured, "Why would he be reading Gellert Grindelwald's writing?"

"That," said James, "Is the question that I think we all need to settle down and discuss to get to the end of."

Sirius reached forward and flipped the book over, trying to cover up Grindelwald's face, only to find that there was another photo of him on the back by a little blurb about the author. Sirius scowled. "Why are bad guys so notoriously good looking? Like what is that? Is there some kind of like Bad Guy Hotness requirement I don't know about? You must be this hot to be certified evil. Like that fucking stupid wooden giraffe which measures your height to see you reach the minimum meter requirement at that muggle amusement park by the sea."

"You're still so bitter about that thing?" James intoned, looking at Sirius. "It isn't the giraffe's fault you're a bleeding smurf."

"First of all, I passed the test every time, and second -"

"Just bitter you had to prove you could, though, 'ey?" James smirked.

"Plenty of ugly people have been evil," Remus cut in.

"Thank you Rey, keeping us on task," Lily nodded.

"I'm on task!" James, who was not at all on task, said quickly. "I agree with Remus. There's loads of ugly evil blokes. Why... Just consider Sn----" James stopped mid sentence when Lily looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "...some of the death eaters," he said, twisting the Ssss into another word as quickly as he could.

"Smooth," Sirius teased. "None of us know what you were going to say." He smirked up at James.

James fought back a smirk.

"Besides, Grindelwald is ugly on account of his attitudes and beliefs," Lily said. "I think evil shows through the skin." She lifted the book up and turned it back over to the front cover, staring with distaste at the pale face of Gellert Grindelwald, who stared coldly right back up at her. "He caused so much pain and suffering for so many people for so many years... You can see it in his eyes."

James nodded, "I agree."

Sirius said, "Okay his eyes are kinda..." he made a face and waved his hands, then, "But look at his jawline, Merlin's third nipple!" Remus cleared his throat and Sirius said, "Don't worry Moony, I'm not really looking - at Grindy's jaw OR Merlin's nubbins."