The Marauders: Year Six Part 2 #Wattys2017

When Did You Get to Be So Bleedin' Stupid?

April was rainy.

It seemed to rain every single day, even on the night of the full moon, so that the Marauders spent their afternoon in the Shrieking Shack playing muggle board games that Sirius stole from the Muggle Studies classroom.

"Bloody hell, I fucking hate this game!" Sirius cried, flipping the board over with a flick of his wand - sending plastic hotels and little metal game pieces (a dog, a car, a thimble, and a hat) flying across the room. "Bloody fuck muggle money! The math of it makes no sense at all!"

Remus watched the thimble roll under the table, "Temper, Sirius. Really." Remus was quite irritable, thanks to the moon.

Peter was especially sad because he had been winning.

Sirius had paced about for some time from end to end of the room until Patti Pig started choking, having eaten the little metal hat and he and James had to spend the next hour trying to accio the thing out of the piglet's throat. "Blast you, pig," Sirius grumbled as the pig tried to squeal around the piece, "Hold still. Accio game piece!"

Peter looked nervous, "She isn't going to die is she?"

"SHE CAN'T DIE!" Sirius cried.

"She isn't going to die," Remus groaned.

"Can she die?" James asked, "After all, she isn't a proper pig. Technically, she's a lamp."

"Maybe we should turn her back into a lamp," Remus suggested in a grumpy tone.

"Maybe we should turn you into a lamp," James said.

Sirius spun about, "Don't even try it."

"I wouldn't," James said.

"Good. I'd bloody pulverize you, mate," Sirius said. "Nobody touches my Moony."

"Even your other boyfriend?" Remus asked snarkily.

"He's only my boyfriend on Tuesdays and Bank Holidays," James supplied.

Luckily, Remus Lupin's mood steadily improved after the Full Moon was passed, and despite the gloomy weather outside - rain and winds that stirred up a smell of seaweed and mildew from the lake - the Marauders wasted no time in bringing cheer about the castle. They pranked the younger kids and set spells on the books to annoy the fifth years studying for their O.W.L.s, which kept Filch running with his broom as they set off confetti every time they were opened. They were still serving detentions for using a brew similar in nature to Polyjuice on the breakfast on April Fool's Day (though even Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle every time the offense was mentioned and McGonagall looked the other way when all four of them simply didn't show up for their detention assignment).

James was feeling a bit better, too, as April came on because the teachers were finally expecting the same of him as they did the others. He was actually happy about it when Slughorn scolded him in front of the class for having shirked on an essay he was to write that was shorter than anyone else in the class and had entirely erroneous information contained within. Lily shook her head as James beamed proudly over the fact that he had received a Troll.

"You should be really worried about that," Lily scolded him, "Trying out for the auror program next year, aren't you? They're going to care whether you received Troll grades."

James waved his palm, "They don't give a blast about one little essay way back in sixth year, Evans."

"They might," she warned.

James rolled his eyes - but she did notice that he was taking better notes and working harder on assignments after that, and she had a feeling perhaps her warning had been heard.