𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 28 ✧

1976

That night at dinner Dumbledore addressed the entire school.

"Good evening students, unfortunately I do not have a musical number for you all this evening. Instead I have a few stern words and some unfortunate news." He began, earning a few sniggers from students as they remembered the events of the previous evening.

"Due to the unruly actions of a select few students who have yet to reveal themselves," his eyes twinkled as he glanced at the Gryffindor table, "I regret to inform you that the centuries old tradition of the All Hallows Eve Ball is hence with and forthwith suspended." This announcement was met with mixed reactions from all students. Some groaned and protested quietly that it wasn't fair. Some people let out small sighs of relief or quiet cheers that they no longer needed to waste money on extravagant robes or endure pretentious, stuffy balls.

"The ban on the ball can be lifted, however, should the students responsible for the chaos decide to step forward and give themselves up. Obviously, these students will be met with severe consequences for their disruptive actions. Should anyone have any evidence of who was responsible I encourage you to step forward, however I must stress that false accusations will also be met with severe consequences. At Hogwarts, we do not take this sort of thing lightly." With that, Dumbledore sat down and the evening feast materialised.

The girls were all staring wide eyed at the boys as they proceeded to pile their plates high with food.

"Are you lot not even the slightest bit concerned?" Lily hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was staring in their direction.

"Nope." Sirius replied with his mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"The Marauders have never been caught when it comes to our welcome back prank." James stated proudly, scooping a spoonful of peas and gravy onto his plate.

"The only people who know for sure it was us is you guys. Others may have their suspicions but there is no concrete evidence and Dumbledore won't expel us over hearsay. Unless one of you four turn us in I think we'll be fine." Remus reasoned, sipping on his pumpkin juice. Everyone else had more or less recovered from their debilitating hangovers, however Remus was still looking a bit worse for wear. If anything, he looked worse than he did that morning. The bags under his eyes had intensified, his skin was pale and slightly clammy and his usually perfect posture was lacking.

"Remus, are you okay? You look a bit ill." Aurora whispered to him, placing the back of her hand to his forehead to feel his temperature.

"I'm fine, still recovering from the Firewhiskey is all." Remus stiffened, moving slightly away from Aurora.

"Are you sure you didn't catch a cold in the lake? It was quite cold." Aurora persisted, concern clear in her eyes,

"Yes! That's it! I must be getting sick from being in the lake." Remus stated a little too enthusiastically, catching the attention of the other four boys who all looked at each other knowingly.

"We should have known something like this would happen! Remus has such a weak immune system." James added, nudging the other two to go along with it.

"Maybe we should take him to the hospital wing tomorrow?" Sirius asked the other boys, all of them acting rather strange. Marlene narrowed her eyes, scanning all four of the boys.

"You're all acting weird. Weirder than usual." She stated, pointing a finger at them all and narrowing her eyes further.

"No, nope, we're not acting weird. You're acting weird." Peter rushed out, fumbling about with his napkin.