All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

Second Year : December Moon

On December 16th, James, Sirius, and Remus waved goodbye to a glum-looking Peter as he boarded the Hogwarts Express by himself. He’d wanted to stay back with them, but he couldn’t exactly tell his parents that their werewolf friend needed to wait for the full moon to pass. According to Remus, McGonagall had already given him a stern lecture about sharing his secret with anyone else.

Since the other three boys were all going to the Potters’, James had decided that it was best for them to stay together. This worked fine for Sirius—if Narcissa and Regulus thought he was staying at Hogwarts, it was less likely that his parents would find out about his true plans. He made sure to catch their eye as they boarded the train, daring either of them to try and make him leave with them.

They didn’t.

It was decided that the three marauders would use the floo network in McGonagall’s office to get to the Potters once the full moon had passed. In the meantime, they had free reign of the castle and spent a lot of time exploring, adding to Remus’s map. The Gryffindor common room was almost empty (only two seventh-years had stayed behind, and they spent all their time in the library revising for NEWTs) which meant they could play music whenever they wanted and didn’t have to worry about getting too rowdy during games of exploding snap.

There was another reason to be thankful that Gryffindor tower was sparsely populated: every single morning after the 16th, Sirius received a howler from his mother. He threw them all into the fire, and Walpurga’s voice screamed demands that he return home into the chimney.

It made James uneasy and irritated Remus, creating tension that grew like a tumour into what should have been a delightful Christmas break with his friends. Remus got more irritable as it got closer to the full moon, and Sirius grew angrier with every letter his mother sent, and neither of them knew when to back down from a fight—James had to step in more than once to stop their bickering.

On the morning of the 20th, things came to head. Sirius had just thrown another howler into the fire, but he couldn’t stop it from screaming and waking his friends. Remus groaned from his bed.

“Just write back to her for god’s sake.” He threw a pillow at Sirius, a bit too hard to pass off as playful.

“IF YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE YOUR BIRTH RIGHT IN THIS COWARDLY FASHION THEN YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!” Walpurga Black’s voice wailed from inside the chimney, echoing. Sirius’s stomach was a twisted knot.

“Stay out of it, Lupin,” He snapped, flinging the pillow back at his friend.

“How am I supposed to stay out of it when it’s in our bloody bedroom every morning?!” Remus growled, getting up now.

“I’m so sorry to inconvenience you!” his voice dripped with sarcasm as he spoke. Remus was being completely unfair—it wasn’t as if he could force his mother to stop! Why couldn’t his friend understand the amount of pressure he was under?

“How about not acting like a spoilt brat for five minutes?!” Remus said, raising his voice, “You’re so bloody selfish.”

Sirius felt like he’d been slapped. He didn’t think, just lashed out, wanting to hurt his friend, wanting to make Remus feel just as awful as he himself was feeling.

“I’m not asking her to send them! At least I actually get post, at least people care enough about me to—”