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The Tent in the Woods


Peter stood on the wizarding in front of the Leaky Cauldron, on the wizarding side, an hour early, clutching a bag full of chocolate, waiting patiently for his friends. He dawdled foot to foot and watched unusual people enter and exit through the brick walls of the passage into Diagon Alley, waiting for Severus, Remus, or James to come bounding out, looking for him. James arrived first, carrying a medium-sized cardboard box. He paused, looked around, spotted Peter, and a look of surprise crossed his face as he came over. “Hey Pete,” he said as he came over, his eyes sweeping head to toe of his mate. “You look… different.”

Peter looked down at himself. He hadn’t realized it, but James was right. Peter had lost a considerable amount of weight over the summer. Although this only kept him from being as round as he’d once been - he was still soft ‘round the midd - it did make his clothes quite baggy and now that he thought of it, he had been pulling his belt past the usual hole by almost three and tucking the tail in ‘round his side lately. Apparently, having to fix one’s meals made eating a bit more challenging than Peter was used to.

“Yeah, I s’pose I do,” Peter said, then, almost accusingly, “You look different, too, you know. You’ve gotten new glasses.”

It was true, James had gotten new glasses. Gone were the specky, wire frames he’d worn as a child. He now had thick black frames with square-ish lenses ‘bout his eyes. He grinned and nodded, “Yeah, I thought they looked a bit more my age. Going on fifteen this year, being 14 and a quarter years old, I figured it was time to do with a bit better of style.”

“You’re a bit taller, too,” Peter added.

James nodded. “Been working out, too, practicing my broom handling. Wait ‘til you see some of the tricks I learned to do. Mum and Dad got me a Cleansweep ‘75 - top of the line model, you know. It’s what Puddlemere’s flying this summer.”

“Wow, blimey, that’s grand,” Peter said, used to James’s bragging tone.

“Yeah, it’s pretty great. I can’t wait to go flying with Sirius!” James grinned, “I’ve packed my broom, it’s in my bag.” He paused, then, “Is that chocolate for Remus?”

“He asked for it,” nodded Peter. “Why is that what’s in your box, too?”

“There’s some in there,” James nodded. “Told my mum that I was in charge of food for the weekend and I think she got a bit confused and thought that by weekend I meant until the very ends of time. There’s enough food in here to feed a giant - an army of giants really. Oh and she’s made you a couple birthday cakes. Two different flavors because she didn’t believe me that you’d like any flavor cake. So you’ve now got a strawberry one in here as well as a butterbeer cake.”

“Butterbeer cake!” Peter looked famished at the thought of it. “Blimey, your mum’s fantastic!”

“Yeah. Sirius is going to be excited, too, she made a roast with cracked pepper and cut it up into sandwiches slathered with a horseradish sauce she made last year when he stayed with us over Christmas that he particularly fancied.”

“SHE MADE THE ROAST?!”

The words echoed down the street, making James and Peter look up (several other witches and wizards in the square before the Leaky Cauldron looked up, too, annoyed by the shouting) and there was Sirius and Remus, coming out through the crowd. Peter was surprised to see that Remus had grown so much his ankles showed a bit at the bottom his pants. His curly hair was shaggier than usual and his dark brown eyes were bright, cheeks pink, and shirt dirty and only half tucked in. This was a very different, more relaxed version of Remus Lupin.

Sirius looked different, too. His clothes fit the same as they had for the most part - Sirius hadn’t grown much taller, but he was a bit stockier than he’d been, his shoulders a bit broader, though that only filled out his frame nicer so that he looked less gangly than he had done before. His hair was longer, but still well kept for the most part. What had been oddest was that his voice was deeper, like it’d gotten when he’d been sleepy before almost, only now he was awake and it was just that he didn’t sound like a boy anymore. His purple t-shirt had holes in places and the collar was a bit chewed up (Sirius had an odd habit of chewing on the neckline of his t-shirts when he read books) and his jeans had tears that he’d inflicted upon them with a knife on purpose. He wore boots that weren’t tied properly so that the top third of them hung over a bit and the tongue flapped as he walked, hands in his back pockets so that his chest seemed broader than it was and the tight cotton of the t-shirt clung to show the definition of his muscles… which he actually had some of a bit.

“She made the roast,” James confirmed with a smile. “This box looks small, but it contains more food than you’d ever imagine it could.”

Sirius and Remus had reached the curb and Sirius said, “Bless your mother, she’s a bloody saint, mate.”

“Hey Pete, you look good,” Remus said with a friendly smile. “How’s your summer been? Are you doing alright?” A gentle concern, not too much, not like the people who pressed to hard, who brought things up when they ought not to, but enough to show he cared.

Peter nodded reluctantly, “It’s… it’s been alright, I s’pose. Very quiet. I missed you lot loads. You have no idea.”

“If it’s even a quarter as much as I’ve missed you lot, then I do,” Sirius answered. He grinned then and flung his arm ‘round Remus’s shoulders (though his arm now had to be angled up several degrees in order to do this and it was more like hooking his elbow ‘round Remus’s neck than anything else, given the difference in their height now) and Peter’s and he looked at James with a grin, “The Marauders, reunited! Seems longer than a month and a half now, doesn’t it? Not much longer and we’ll be back at school and driving everyone batty. I’ve got some brilliant plans for this year. Just wait. I’ve made notes ALL OVER the Jokers Spellbook. Loads of plans.”

“Excellent,” James said, eyes glinting with excitement.”

Remus turned to watch as a frizzy-haired witch walked by with a suspicious glance and he turned back to the other three, “We ought to get out of here, I feel like we’re attracting attention to ourselves and, given the current situation - well, it’s best that we don’t. Are you ready to come see our place?”

“Yeah!” Peter said with excitement.

“Alright, then, c’mon!” Sirius said and he dropped his arms from ‘round the two of them and hurried off through the Cauldron. “Oi, ‘lo Tom!” he called as he saluted the old barman, who looked up and, without answering, turned back to his counter-wiping. The Cauldron was mostly empty, save a couple lunch-eaters, a man who sat with tea reading a book, and a couple older men who were playing chess in the corner. “Tom hates me.”

“Well you did break that wash basin,” Remus reminded Sirius.

Sirius nodded, “True. It was the bloody tent’s fault.” He looked at James, “Apparently it does matter a bit which spigot you put the parts in. Part A simply must go in the A-hole or else it comes out too easily and goes wild. Shattered a wash basin like a javelin had gone through it.”

James smirked, “Sorry, I’m hung up on the term A-hole.”

Sirius snickered. “There are B-, C- and D-holes as well, did you know?”

“Sounds rather painful.”

Sirius’s eyes twinkled. He’d missed bantering with Potter.

It was quite the journey - including a gut-wrenching chunk of time on board the Knight Bus that had Remus in the loo for half of it so that Sirius had to go and collect him once they’d come to a stop in a village. Then they had to walk a mile from the village, over short but rolling hills so that the rooftops were eclipsed by them and through a sparse wood on a path. The trees were particularly tall, with white bark and light green leaves that seemed to glow with the sunlight. Finally they came to one tree that had been etched upon and Remus turned off the path here, bounding ahead with excitement, beckoning them onward. Peter sped up and James and Sirius hung back a bit, Sirius tossing his arm over James’s shoulder.

“So you’ve been in a tent all this time, ‘ey?” James asked, looking up at Sirius, “Why didn’t you come ‘round my place?”

“Remus,” Sirius answered. “Your mum wouldn’t understand when we’d left on the full moon, she would’ve been worried… and Rey… Rey’s been feeling really down. I’ve only just got his eyes back to chocolate.”

“What?”

“Long story,” Sirius replied. “His dad… it wasn’t very fair.”

“It didn’t sound it in your letter,” James admitted very quietly.

Sirius had written James telling him what had happened, though the letter was a bit of a secret. He’d promised Remus not to tell the others about what had happened at the Lupin house, and for the most part Sirius had kept the secret, not sharing a lot of details, but he’d had to talk to somebody about it - at least about what Lyall had said about him and his family - and so he’d given James just enough of an explanation so as to be able to get the weight of it off his chest.

“Mad to think someone as narrow-minded and stupid as Lyall Lupin is could bring something like Remus into this world,” Sirius watched Remus ahead of them, smiling and waving them on, nearly to the clearing where the tent was.

“Could say the same of your folks,” James agreed.

Sirius laughed.

The tent stood in the center of a clearing in the woods and the boys broke through to find that Remus and Sirius had quite the little get up going. They’d set protective charms over the clearing, for protection and concealment and the lot, as well as one Remus had found that made the whole area impenetrable by rain so that the water ran off an invisible dome hanging over the tent and the space Sirius had started calling their credenza, where he’d pulled up a log and cut it into circles to make seats they could push about around a fire. They’d strung up a clothesline and hanging from it were two of Sirius’s t-shirts and a pair of undershorts that fluttered in the slight breeze like flags. “It doesn’t look like much, but it’s not bad inside…” Remus said, ducking through the door flap of the tent.

Inside was a modest bit of room. The tent had come furnished with two rooms - a common area, including a cramped little kitchenette, and a bedroom off to one side with a curtain that was pulled back so the bed inside, unmade, could be seen. There were blankets and a pillow folded up on a short couch and Sirius had stacked some more on the floor beside it. There was a stack of books with bent up covers and a slightly musty smell in the corner by a bag chair, and in the place of honor on an otherwise empty display shelf leaned the Marauders Map.

They were truly roughing it, thought James.

Together, Sirius and James worked on shoving the stuff from Dora into an icebox in the kitchenette while Remus ducked outside to show Peter the lake just over the hill from the site. Sirius pulled out a bottle of firewhisky from the box and grinned, “No way did your mum pack this for you,” he accused.

“Knicked it from the cellar,” James replied. “Mum and Dad had quite a few bottles down there. I don’t think they’ll miss the ones I took. I packed a few in my trunk for Hogwarts, too.” His eyes glinted mischievously.

“Oh Mr. Potter, you really are up to no good,” Sirius said proudly in a voice resembling Peeves.

James laughed.

“We’ll be crackin’ this one open tonight,” Sirius promised. “I could do with getting a bit knockered.”

“Sounds brilliant,” James agreed.

When they’d finished putting the food away (save for a sandwich that Sirius eagerly scoffed down, marvelling over the roast and how bloody fantastic Dora Potter was for having made it), Sirius said they ought to get the fire started outside so it was hot enough by the time the sun went down, “It’s a bit chill at night,” Sirius admitted, “We’ll be wanting the fire. I hope you brought jumpers, I ought to have told you to… Rey didn’t really pack any clothes, he’s been wearing one of my jumpers. Luckily, Dromeda thinks I’m about ten stone more than I am and she made me a huge jumper for my birthday last year, so he’s been wearing that. Dunno what even made me pack it when I left Grimmauld. I sort of grabbed everything really.”

Sirius bent down and used his wand to light a log, “Incendio,” and he tossed some kindling about before sitting on one of the round wood ‘seats’ he’d made and poked at the fire with a long stick.

Watching the fire grow, James asked, “So… so this is working out alright then, you and Rey, here in the woods like this? You aren’t having any trouble at it?”

Sirius shrugged, “I mean, it’s rough, I’m not going to lie. I’d much prefer a flat, but neither of us are old enough for a job or rich enough to pay the rent on a flat. It’s only for the summer. We’ll be at Hogwarts before it gets cold. It’s convenient for the full moon, though. I just had to keep him away from the village, but there’s such a lot to explore it wasn’t too hard to herd him off. It was a pretty bad moon this month, took a bit to get him to come back from it. He looks alright now, though. I think you lot visiting helped.”

James nodded. “Yeah, he seems really happy.”

“He is. Did you see his eyes? Dark brown.”

James raised an eyebrow. “And what about… you know… Rey’s crush. How’s he doing with that?”

Sirius shrugged and he poked at the fire some more. “We don’t really talk about that.”

“Well you don’t want him getting the wrong idea about what’s going on here, do you?” James said, “Maybe you should.”

“He knows what’s going on here,” Sirius said.

“Alright, good,” James answered.

Though Sirius wasn’t positive even he knew what was going on there. It wasn’t really something he’d thought much on, he’d just done the first and best thing he could think of. He watched the way the first of the smouldering bits fell from the log. “James, do you think --- I mean, you know me, do you reckon --”

But before Sirius could say whatever it was he’d been about to say, Remus and Peter came up over the hill, both soaking wet from having jumped in the water and Remus was pulling off layers of clothes to hang on the line so the fire could dry them before it got dark and cold out. He was laughing, and so was Peter, and Sirius watched as Remus unbuttoned and threw his shirt over the line, keeping the clingy white under shirt on. It was soaked through and the scars on his back almost shone through it. He and Peter came over in their undershorts and shirts and gathered close to the fire, rubbing their hands together to feel the warmth and inching as close as they dared ot the roaring orange flames.

The boys swapped stories about their summer so far - Sirius told them about getting locked up at Grimmauld Place and James told them about Charlus’s dragon pox scales. Peter’s father’s condition and the fact that Maggie still hadn’t spoken a word hung heavy as the words fell from his mouth and Remus was in charge of telling them about his research and planning getting Sirius out of his family’s home. James talked about having seen Lily on the Knight Bus, whichp prompted Sirius telling them about Marlene McKinnon, her owl Jakob, and the lie he’d told about going to Costa Rica. “We have some oranges at home,” James said, “I’ll bring you one on the Express.”

“Best to pack it,” Sirius said, “We’ll be going back to Hogwarts early. Full moon’s on the first this year.”

“Blimey, you’re missing the Express?” James looked disappointed, “That’s no good.” He looked truly sad. Half the fun of the trip to Hogwarts was the four of them having crazy conversations in their compartment aboard the train. “You’re going early, too?” he asked, looking at Sirius, concerned, “Won’t Dumbledore notice you’re going out to the Shrieking Shack with a werewolf and wonder how?”

“Dumbledore won’t know I’m there,” Sirius replied. “See, Rey will be going by floo powder from the Leaky Cauldron to Dumbledore’s office. Once I see Rey off, I’ll take the Knight Bus to Hogsmeade and walk out to the Shack from there.”

James was still disappointed by the fact that half their group would be missing from the Express.

That night, they feasted on the food that Dora Potter had packed up, reheated in the flames. They roasted marshmallows and ate chocolate squares broken from the Honeydukes bars Peter had brought along and drank bottles of ice cold butterbeer. As the moon rose overhead and they were laughing and singing off-key, they broke out the bottle of Firewhiskey James had knicked from the Potter’s basement and that was when the true fun began…