Fandoms Are A Lifestyle

To killing Vecna. Slash Henry. Slash 001.

Lily Potter sat on her bed with a piece of folded up parchmentin front of her. She had finally nicked the map from her where her brother,James, kept it hidden. Lily had spent an entire summer looking and she’d almostgiven up until she realized the Halloween feast tonight would keep everyonebusy for a few hours. As much as she hadn’t wanted to skip the feast, shecouldn’t pass up the opportunity to nick the map. It was a good thing too.James, probably less concerned than usual about the map’s safety now that hewas busy snogging his new girlfriend all the time. Either that, or he’d rushedoff to stuff his face at the Halloween feast and not bothered to hide itproperly. Lily snickered, his knickers drawer, really? 

She’d known about the map, of course, since James firstnicked it from their Dad’s office during his first Christmas break home fromHogwarts. They had overheard their Uncle George talking to Dad about it, although Lily had a sneaking suspicion that maybe Uncle George had wanted them to learn about it because she was quite sure his eyes had flickered towards their hiding spot on the stairs. James was the only one at Hogwarts then, so she hadn’t minded much when he’d been the one to find it. It wasn’t of any use to her. Now, though, she felt she deserved a chance to pull some pranks of her own without the worry of being caught. Not to mention the secret passage ways to Hogsmeade would be great to have access to. 

Now, if only she could remember how James had accessed it. He’d certainly bragged about figuring it out enough. Lily swore at herself for deciding to ignore his bragging, she could only remember how to close the map. That wasn’t helpful at the moment though. She hesitated, holding her wand above the old parchment, then tried the first thing that came to mind.

“Open,” Nothing. Lily mentally rolled her eyes at herself, that had been a stupid guess. Who in their right mind would make it that easy to get in?

“Please show me Hogwarts?” Again, nothing.

“I have things to manage?” That was a stupid variation on how to close the map, but Lily didn’t know what else to do but try anything that popped into her head. She was not going to give this back to James after finally getting ahold of it.

Thirty minutes later Lily was running out of ways to try and open the map. What was the point of going to the trouble of getting the map if she couldn’t use it? She was mindlessly tapping her wand on the parchment out of irritation.

“Oh come on, I just want to pull a few pranks without getting caught–Oh!” 

To her surprise words started to form on the page. 

Mr. Moony offers his compliments to whoever is wanting to create some mischief, but must sadly inform them that unless you swear we can’t share.

Mr. Wormtail solemnly agrees, it’s such a shame they won’t be able to manage.

Mr. Padfoot would like to point out that even if they were up to no good, they couldn’t out-prank the Marauders. We are the Kings at this school.

Mr. Prongs agrees and wonders who might possibly be trying to swear they are up to no good? 

Lily was stunned, this was the oddest map ever. The words started to fade and she quickly tapped the map again, deciding to just go with it.

“Lily, my name is Lily.”

Lily?

The writing seemed to almost hesitate, then started up again as her name faded away.

Mr. Moony is wondering why Lily would be pulling a prank?

Mr. Wormtail thinks Mr. Prongs is sharing things he aught not to be

Mr. Padfoot thinks Mr. Prongs is trying to impress Miss Prongs and deserves a detention cleaning bedpans in the Hospital Wing, the prat.

Mr. Prongs thinks Mr. Padfoot is a git and is sure Lily could pull a prank if she was serious.

Mr. Padfoot thinks there’s a strong possibility that Miss Prongs is, in fact, not serious.

Mr. Moony would like to share his disapproval in Mr. Padfoot’s poor taste in jokes.

Now she was really confused. She felt like she was being discussed by people–not even people, but a map!– as if she weren’t in the room! Lily tried not to feel insulted, she could pull a prank better than almost anyone. Kings? She may as well call herself Queen then. After all, everyone knows who really runs things in a kingdom. She’d learned from James, after all, and watched out all the ways he got caught. Lily almost never got caught, not to mention that she’d perfected the art of talking her way out of trouble. And if she could just figure out how to open this map, there would be no more obstacles to trying to out-do James.

“I pull amazing pranks!” she said indignantly while tapping the map again, before reminding herself she was getting huffy with a map.

Mr. Padfoot is sure Miss Prongs can pull pranks now since apparently Mr. Prongs wants to assist her with our secrets.

Mr. Moony wonders if Miss Prongs should focus on her homework instead?

Mr. Wormtail wonders if Mr. Prongs is thinking with his head?

Mr. Prongs would like to inform everyone he has no idea what they are talking about.

Mr. Padfoot would like to kindly ask his best mate to come off it, and thinks Mr. Prongs is trying to hard to win Miss Prongs over.

Miss Prongs? Win her over? What the actual hell was going on? Lily was starting to think maybe the magic on the map was starting to wear off. After all, it had been her dad’s while he was at school, and her Uncle’s before that. And it sounded like these people had made the map, and who knows how long ago that was. She looked down to see three different handwritings that all seemed very busy picking on the one called Mr. Prongs while continuously referring to her as Miss Prongs, which seemed to be a running joke. She signed, if he was being singled out then she guessed she should probably use that to her advantage. Boys were always so obvious. 

“Mr. Prongs, I, Lily, request assistance opening the map,” she made herself sound as confident as possible. The written argument between the four of them stopped mid scroll and faded.

Mr. Padfoot wants Mr. Prongs to know he’s going to break his broomstick the next time he sees him.

Mr. Prongs would like Lily to know she can always ask him for help.

Mr. Moony would like to inform Mr. Prongs that he’s pathetic.

Mr. Wormtail agrees that Mr. Prongs is…up to no good.

Mr. Padfoot thinks Mr. Wormtail should shut his fat mouth

Lily grinned, “I swear I am!” only the handwriting from Mr. Prongs appeared after that.

Do you solemnly swear?

“I solemnly swear! I solemnly swear I’m up to no good!” Lily almost yelled, laughing triumphantly as the map blossomed over the pages like watercolor with hundreds of labels in the Great Hall. It was obvious why James was so keen to keep this nearby.

“Bloody hell, this is fantastic!” She wanted to jump up and down like a five year old at Christmas. Once she had calmed herself down she watched the map until the giant mass of students in the Great Hall began to disperse towards the four Common Rooms.

Reluctantly tapped the paper and whispered “Mischief managed.”

Of course she would be sharing this with her friends tomorrow, but for tonight she just wanted to keep the victory to herself. There was something about the map that she felt almost drawn to. It was silly, she thought, to be affectionate towards a map, but here she was, grinning like she just made a new friend. Climbing into her bed, she drew her wand one last time for the night, and tapped the map.

“Thanks Mr. Prongs, you’re the best.”

Lily felt a bit stupid, but she did owe him. Whoever he was. However this charm worked, the person who cast it trusted her for some reason. She wondered vaguely why as tucked the map away where she was sure her brother wouldn’t look. Not that it mattered much, she thought. As far as she knew, there was no way for him to get up to the girls’ dormitories. She smiled into her pillow, all the while missing the last message scrawled across the paper, fading into nothing.

Main Characters: James Potter, Remus Lupin

Other Characters: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew

Title: Moon-Boy

Summary: He was a twelve year old boy, and yet his eyes screamed of a torturous life, and his body was broken beyond repair and James wondered what the hell had happened to his little friend, because anguish should never be seen on youth, and it should definitely never have even touched someone as caring and innocent as Remus Lupin.

The library was dark. Visibility escaped through the tall windows, in fractured rays of moonlight and he shuffled a little in his seat, careful not to make any noise.

His eyes stung with tiredness and he longed to call it a day and traipse back to his dormitory to sleep, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

The book he had open was a rubbish one; that, he could admit. It didn’t have the information he needed. Sighing, he flung the book aside and rubbed his eyes, starting on the next pile.

He didn’t want to stop looking. If he did, then he knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly anyway; the heavy weight would keep him up. His best friend of a year and a half had no idea how much effort he was putting into this, he thought with a bitter laugh. But then his laugh softened as he remembered the day, just earlier that week, when Remus had been sleeping in the Hospital Wing, and they had all gone to visit.

He’d looked so drained, and damaged and although he was only eleven (nearly twelve), he had seemed much, much younger.

“Once a month,” he murmured to himself, trying so hard to recollect everything that he had found suspicious about Remus’ disappearances. “Once a month, he says he goes to visit his Mother. But the next morning, he’s in the Hospital Wing with Merlin knows how many bruises…” He let his hand fall onto the book in front of him, wincing at the sound. Holding his breath, he froze, waiting to see if someone had heard him before he carried on talking to himself. “What the heck are you doing, Lupin?”

He came up blank.

He slammed his head on the desk. Although, his forehead never made contact with the wooden surface; instead, it met paper.

Curious, he frowned. He lifted his head and allowed his eyes to scan the page. His frown only deepened.

‘Werewolf

The werewolf is found worldwide, though it is believed to have originated in northern Europe. Humans turn into werewolves only when bitten. There is no known cure, although Ministry Officials claim to be working on developments in potion-making that alleviate the worst symptoms. Once a month, at the full moon, the otherwise sane and normal wizard or Muggle afflicted transforms into a murderous beast. After the transformation, the werewolf whilst in human form can be affected by the inner temptations and there are rare cases of a split-personality disorder deriving from this small fact. The human infected only remembers snippets of their escapade after the night of the full moon, and it can therefore be argued that the werewolf is not to be held fully responsible for its actions, when it is in human form.

It is also important to note that werewolves are fundamentally different from Animagi. Lycanthropy is caused by a blood infection transmitted through the bite of a werewolf, whereas the Animagus skill is learned and attained from actual magic. The werewolves cannot keep their minds during a transformation nor can they control themselves when they transform, while Animagi can do both. However, as werewolves only harm humans, Animagi, while in their animal forms, are safe to be in the company of werewolves.’

“Oh my god… Oh my god…” James Potter said aloud, momentarily forgetting where he was.

There was a creak outside the library and he swore under his breath, hearing the caretaker getting closer and closer, and seeing the swinging lamp moving through the aisles to where he sat.

“Shit.”

James draped his cloak over his body, whispering the incantation “Nox” to distinguish his wand’s light and started to move towards the exit. His eyes widened when he saw the open book, still lying there and he grabbed hold of it, almost dropping it in his haste.

He ran all the way back to the dormitory, not looking back once.

When he got there, he was careful to be as quiet as possible, although James’ eyes were drawn to his friend, sleeping in the bed on the very end.

Remus had been let out of the Hospital Wing just that morning, and James couldn’t help but pity his friend. He faltered in his footing and he willed his legs to move, but he couldn’t.

“Remus… What on earth happened to you?” He whispered sadly.

His twelve year old friend stirred in his sleep. From the large window, the light cascaded over his paralysed form and the moon watched its child from the sky.

James crept closer to him, praying that he wouldn’t wake up and smiled. Remus’ face looked soft and youth-splashed, and his chest rose deeply.

James smiled. “You don’t need to hide from us, Moon-Boy. Not anymore.”

And he tip-toed back across the room to his own bed, where he collapsed, exhausted mentally and physically, vowing that he would do whatever he could to help his Remus.

*

“What’s biting your arse, Potter?” Sirius asked him at the Gryffindor table the next day. James rubbed at his eyes, cursing the bags that adorned his face.

“Nothing. I-” he stopped talking when Remus sat down opposite. Sirius noticed and shot him a curious glance.

“What are you two talking about?” Remus asked, covering his mouth with his hand to stifle a yawn.

James knew that it was now or never.

“Where do you go once a month?” He asked, his face precariously blank. Remus bristled.

“I-I told you. M-my Mother is ill. I have to go visit her every month, just to see if she’s alright-“

“Then why do you always end up in the Hospital Wing? It isn’t something contagious, is it?”

“James,” Sirius said warningly, but he didn’t stop.

“I-no-it’s just-“

“You don’t have to lie to us, Remus. We’re your best friends. We’ve known you for almost two years now,” James assured, and his friend paled considerably. Remus looked down at his hands before standing up.

“I have to go. Um, I-I have to ask Professor Slughorn about the essay he assigned. I-I-I’ll see you.”

As soon as he was gone, Sirius turned to James. His face was contorted.

“What the hell was that?” He growled angrily. “You know what Remus is like. You can’t just go and do that, for fucks sake.”

“Sirius-“

“No, James. I can’t even believe you.”

“Sirius, please-“

“That was toeing the line, and you know it!”

“Remus is lying to us.”

This stopped his friend’s tirade. Sirius blinked.

“What?”

“Remus is lying to us,” James repeated patiently and Sirius actually recoiled.

“What are you talking about? Is this some sort of game to you?”

James leaned closer.

“Sirius, please. I need you to believe me. I’m your best friend and Remus is ours. I would never do anything to ruin that. Please,” he pleaded. Sirius considered this for a few moments before he said:

“You’re mad, Potter,” and James’ face dropped. Sirius then smiled slightly, and nudged his shoulder. “But hey, so am I. Now, what’s behind your madness this time?”

James grinned and jumped up from his seat. Sirius followed warily. “All in good time, my dear friend! But first, we need to find Pete!”

*

And so, that was how the three Second Years found themselves sat in their dormitory when they should have been in History of Magic, discussing their fourth friend.

James relayed all the information he knew; where he had been every night, and how, showing them the cloak that Sirius had touched with big eyes, and told them the truth.

They both were silent for a long time until…

“You’re not pulling our legs, are you?” Sirius asked, arms folded across his chest.

James shook his head earnestly, his glasses slipping down his nose a little. “I swear. I promise, Sirius, Peter. Look!” He cried suddenly, remembering the book under his pillow. “It’s here, look.”

As the other two’s eyes scanned the page, James bit his finger nail timidly. When they were done, they looked up at him carefully.

“James…”

“I know! I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Think about it, Sirius, please! He disappears once a month, and he always acts funny in the days leading up it-“

“Yeah,” Peter interrupted. “Because his Mum is dying.”

“Yes! I mean, no! If that’s true, then why does he always end up in the Hospital Wing? It doesn’t make sense! Just-“ he sighed, covering his face. “Just think about it.”

“Think about what?” Remus asked from the doorway, walking in to deposit his books on his bed. He laughed, stopping to swoop down and pick up his cloak (which was just lying on the floor, on a pile of dirty clothes which he had neglected to tidy away for about a week). “You three are extremely lucky to have me as your friend, I happen to be a professional signature-forger, so hopefully Ol’ Binns won’t have realised that you weren’t actually there, despite the fact that the register was signed. I-“

He stopped, noticing his friend’s unusual quietness. Suspicious, he squinted at them.

“Well, this is highly abnormal. Why are you so tame?” He asked, a sarcastic twinge to his voice. “Having your annual ‘Remus Lupin is a Weirdo’ meeting?”

“It’s biannual,” Sirius managed to get out, but Peter nudged him in the ribs. James’ eyes were wide behind his glasses.

“Guys?” Remus frowned when they didn’t reply. “Seriously, has something happened? Are you all alright?”

Sirius looked at James, who couldn’t meet his gaze in return. James swallowed, stepping forward to stand right in front of his bewildered friend.

“James… What’s going on?”

“We know what you are, Remus.”

Remus froze. It looked like he had forgotten how to breathe and his lower lip trembled.

“I-how?” He asked faintly, his entire body shaking like a leaf in a storm. “How?”

“Your story,” James said softly. “It didn’t make sense. If you were going to visit your Mum, then how come you always ended up hurt in some way? I didn’t believe it, I’m sorry.

“So, every night when you fell asleep, I’d sneak out to the library and I’d look through all the books I could to try and figure it out… and then, I did…”

Remus didn’t speak, he couldn’t even open his mouth or move. He just slid onto the floor looking as though he’d been drained of all his blood. The blood in his adolescent body had frozen, and his eyes dropped close of their own accord. Internally, he knew this day would come. He knew they would find out, being as intelligent and nosy and caring as they were. And of course it would have been James.

James couldn’t sleep if he knew someone he loved was suffering. It was like a sixth sense; this maternal instinct to take care of everyone and everything he held dear.

“You can leave. It’s okay. They all do –leave, I mean—when they find out.” Remus said quietly and Sirius and James dropped onto his floor, to sit next to him; Peter sat on the opposite pile of clothes to face them all.

“Have you heard this wackjob, Peter?” Sirius asked lightly, but his voice had an undercurrent of sadness. “Leave, he says. Leave! As if we’re capable of leaving him alone, after everything we’ve been through together!”

“I know, Sirius! He’s acting as though we’re just some silly twelve year old boys! Really, I feel distraught that he would ever think so lowly of us,” Peter added in the same tone.

Sirius and Peter’s facades dropped then and James turned to put his arm around Remus.

“I am not leaving, Remus. Nor is James. Or Peter. You are our friend and no matter what, we stick together,” Sirius said solemnly. “Am I pissed you didn’t tell us? Yes. Am I even more pissed that you thought so lowly of us? Slightly. But what you need to understand is that even if you do have a… furry little problem; we love you just as much…”

Then, Peter said, “Possibly even more, cause… y’know, how many guys can really say they have a werewolf as a best friend?”

Remus let out a small, pathetic laugh and pretended that he wasn’t crying.

“What Sirius and Peter are stupidly failing to say, is that we don’t care who you are or what you are. And even though you’re a werewolf, you’re our friend first,” James explained gently. “Nothing could ever change that. Nothing could ever break us up.”

Remus stood up then, rubbing at his face harshly and went to stand a little away from his friends as he absorbed everything.

“Are you sure?” He said shakily. His voice was broken and his eyes were wet and red. “Are you sure you want to stay? I wouldn’t mind- I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you-“

Remus sighed, resignedly.

“If you wanted me kicked out of Hogwarts-“

“Kicked out?” Peter asked, his voice high pitch from incredulity. “Why would we do that?”

“Because- Because I’m a monster…”

“You’re being dramatic,” James said good-humouredly. “I mean, sure you are unforgivably messy (seriously, look at this place! Your laundry makes mountains!), but you fold your socks, Remus, and then organise them in terms of colour. Forgive me if I’m not trembling at the sight of you!”

“So you’re not- you’re not afraid of me?” Remus asked carefully, looking at them all intensely with a pained yet unreadable expression on his face, as if he was judging their seriousness. “You don’t… but…but, I mean… werewolves, they’re not exactly… popular… or safe. For all you know, I could be dangerous!”

Sirius grinned, letting out a bark of a laughter. “Really, Lupin, what part of ‘you fold your socks’ isn’t getting through?”

Remus finally allowed himself to smile, and he hadn’t noticed but more tears were slowly but surely falling down his cheeks. He took one step towards them before collapsing on the floor.

“Remus!” James shouted, jumping up to go and help his friend. The other two copied his movement. Putting one hand under his friend’s arm to try and lift him, with Sirius doing the same, he said, “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I- I just,” Remus faltered. Then he laughed. Loudly. Peter looked shocked, glancing fearfully at Sirius, who looked just as disconcerted. “I just feel so lucky to have you all as my friends.”

And then the young werewolf started crying, on the floor of his dormitory, surrounded by his three best friends, who had just accepted him for what he was, in a world that practically screamed it’s animosity for his kind. And he thought that maybe, just maybe, he would be okay. Maybe, just maybe, he would finally be able to be happy.