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The Start of Term Feast


James nudged Sirius. “There’s two empty seats.”

“Huh?” Sirius had been staring down the table, where Remus was sitting with Lily, greeting the new Gryffindor first years as the Sorting Hat sent them along to their houses. He looked at James in confusion, saw his mate was looking up at the staff table, and turned on the bench. Beyond the first years trying on the hat, the long staff table stretched across the front of the Great Hall, and behind it sat the usual members of staff they’d always known - Flitwick, Kettleburn, Slughorn, Zosma, Viridi, Kotes, Dumbledore… McGonagall, of course, but she was overseeing the Sorting. But there was a new face, a woman with long black hair and deeply tanned skin. Beside her, were two empty seats.

“Who do you reckon..?” James asked.

“Well, Dumbledore must’ve hired a new Defense teacher and a new Divination teacher,” Sirius suggested, leaning back to talk to James, “Dunno who the third seat is.”

“Wonder why whoever it is is late?” James asked.

Sirius shrugged. “Not a very good start to a new job.”

James laughed, “That’d be us. Get a job and we’re late on the first day.”

“Shh,” said Peter, and he pointed to the Sorting and turned back around.

Sirius made a face, “Bloody hell - not you, too. Isn’t it enough that Moony’s a prefect and gone all uptight on us, but not you too, Pete?”

Peter ignored Sirius’s words.

When all the first years had been sorted (Gryffindor picked up an impressive 7 new students - five boys and two girls), Dumbledore stood and announced, “I am sure you’re quite hungry, and we’re waiting on some of our new staff members, so I say - let’s wait on the announcements until we’ve put something grand in our bellies!” He clapped his hands and food magically appeared.

Sirius heard a first year shout, “WHOA!” at the end of the table and Remus laughed and bent over to talk to the boy, smiling brightly. He stared at Remus, at the way his blonde hair fell over his forehead as he turned to look at the boy, at the way his lips moved as he spoke… Sirius sighed and picked up his fork.

“He’s good with them,” James said, nodding at Remus and the boy.

Sirius looked over at James and then turned back to his dinner, “Yeah, he is. Brilliant.” His voice was drier than it should’ve been. He didn’t know why he was being so sour about it. It was actually kind of adorable the way Remus was glowing with happiness down there, thriving at it, doing amazingly. It was the sort of thing that Remus would be the very best at - being as nurturing as he was and all, it wasn’t a surprise to Sirius that Remus was good at it. If he hadn’t been, that would’ve been the shock, really… And, he supposed, deep down he was happy for Remus, really. He couldn’t help but think what a brilliant teacher Remus Lupin would be one day, looking at him down there across the table, talking to one of the younger boys. That was Remus’s dream, after all, Sirius recalled, remembering Remus’s words the year before, the night they were at the Leaky Cauldron talking about their dreams for their futures… This prefect business was Remus’s first step toward that dream being realized… But Sirius still couldn’t stop acting like he was.

James shrugged and turned to talk to Peter.




“So there are loads and loads of house elves down in the kitchens and they prepare all this amazing food and send it up to the tables with elfish magic,” Remus was telling the First Year, a muggle-born boy named Dexter Cardwall whose shout was the one Sirius had overheard. The boy had sandy brown hair and a spray of freckles across his nose.

“What are house elves like?” Dexter asked, and two other First Years - Oliver Kent, and Darcy McIntire - looked over with wide eyes.

Remus said, “They’re short, usually around three feet or so, and they usually have long skinny noses and big flappy ears… They’re the nicest creatures ever!”

“Do you have a house elf, Remus Lupin?” asked Vivian Warshaw from where she sat beside Lily Evans toward the end of the table.

Remus thought of Tizzy and a small pang of hurt went through him, but he shook his head. “No. It’s usually high-status families that have them… My -- my friend, his family has one,” he said. He’d been about to say boyfriend, but caught himself at the last second.

Lily gave Remus a funny look.

Remus flushed slightly, but quickly barrelled on talking to the first years before Lily could ask any awkward questions, “They’re sort of like… like servants, honestly. But they’re grand. They work here at Hogwarts, doing things like cleaning the common rooms and making the beds in the dorms while you’re at classes all day! You lot might spot one sometime, but it’s really rare to do it. They’re excellent at staying out of sight until they want to be seen.”

“They sound wonderful,” said Vivian dreamily.

“I think my aunt has one of those,” said Liam Harding, the only non-muggle-born Gryffindor first year. “But I’ve never met it.”

“Calling him or her an it is very rude,” pointed out Macy Struthers, the second girl first year.

“Well I dunno if it’s a he or a she,” said Liam, shrugging. “As I’ve never met it.”

“So you say him or her,” Macy said, “That’s the proper way to do it.”

“Don’t be such a know it all,” said Walter (who prefered to be called Wally) Grant, looking over at Macy Struthers.

Lily cleared her throat, “Let’s not name call,” she said, “Bullying is never a good idea! Is it, Remus?”

“No, never a good idea,” Remus agreed, though Wally sort of reminded him of Sirius Black on that very first night when they’d been newly sorted. He could still hear Sirius’s tiny eleven-year-old voice echoing in his head, pointing Severus Snape out in the crowd of students…

Remus looked down the table and saw Sirius was turned away, talking to James. He wished he’d been a bit nicer to Sirius earlier, a little less short with him. I’ll make it up to him, he promised himself.




When dinner was ended, the plates disappeared and their bellies were all full, Dumbledore got up with a groan, a smile on his face as he walked to the podium slowly, then leaned against it, pretending to be exhausted and pointed his wand to his throat, “Sonorus,” he said quietly, a smile on his face, and he said, voice echoing about the Great Hall, “I always forget, when I’m eating, to pace myself for the pudding so that by the time it comes I’ve already overstuffed myself. But who is going to say no to pudding?” he groaned with fullness and his eyes twinkled as the students all laughed heartily and a Hufflepuff boy yelled, “HEAR HEAR!”

“Who’s that?” whispered Wally Grant into Remus’s ear.

“That’s Albus Dumbledore,” Remus replied. “He’s the headmaster. Best Headmaster ever.”

“How do you not know who Albus Dumbledore is?” demanded Liam Harding. “He’s Albus Dumbledore!” he looked at Wally with wide eyes. Wally only shrugged.

“I like his beard,” said Dexter Cardwall.

Dumbledore waited for the laughter throughout the hall to subside, and once it was quiet again, he said, “Just a few announcements, I promise they won’t take too long. First is our usual reminder that the Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits to all students, and all students would be quite smart to listen to this warning.”

James wasn’t certain, but he felt like maybe the emphasis was for the Marauders’ benefit. Sirius looked over at him and smirked.

“Next, Filch has posted his customary list of untolerated items that could land you in a detention - please see the twelve feet of scroll hanging on Filch’s office door. Please be sure to roll the scroll back up when you are finished perusing it, as Madam Pomfrey will be busy enough without correcting any twisted ankles caused by Mr. Filch’s thorough and exhaustive list.”

“Think a single bloody person will look at that scroll?” Sirius asked.

“Mr. Zonko’s looking for his inventory summary,” answered James.

Sirius snorted.

“Shhh,” hissed Peter.

Sirius made a face at the back of Peter’s head.

“And now, the matter of new teacher assignments. As you know, we’ve lost dear Professor Mopsus since last term…” he paused, but nobody reacted, and he turned to wave at the black haired woman sitting behind him. “This is Professor Clearwater, our new Divinations teacher.”

Several people clapped awkwardly as Professor Clearwater stood up and waved her hand, palm-out, in an east-to-west salute, like the sun rising and falling over her face. Sirius looked over at James. “Shall we cast our bets now? Good or evil? Good or evil?”

“She looks alright.”

Professor Clearwater sat down again next to the two empty seats.

“And, finally, the appointment of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Unfortunately Professor Shacklebolt has resigned in lieu of being promoted at the ministry following elections for the new Minister. His day job, of course, took precedence over the appointment of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We’ll miss him. But I have found you excellent replacements --”

“Replacements? Plural?” James sounded confused.

And that was when, as though on cue, the doors of the Great Hall burst open and there they were - Gideon and Fabian Prewett - running down the center of the room, breathless, the both of them. “Sorry Dumbledore,” panted Fabian as they reached the front of the room.

“Called away, Ministry business,” added a breathless Gideon.

“Had to save the world,” they both said in unison, “Made us a bit late.”

Dumbledore chuckled, “You’ve had excellent timing, on the contrary. These are Gideon and Fabian Prewett,” he announced to the room at whole, “They are aurors for the Ministry and therefore shall be taking it in turn to be teaching you. They shall prove to be… very entertaining, I expect, as well as quite educational.”

“Yeah we’ll keep your defenses sharp,” Fabian said, grinning.

“Against laughter as well as darkness,” Gideon added.

Down the table from the Marauders, Dexter Cardwall was whispering, “What’s an auror?” to Remus.

“Dark wizard catcher,” answered Remus lowly, “Sort of like a policeman.”

Darcy McIntire’s eyes were wide, “Whoa, they’re policemen? I’ve always wanted to be a policeman when I grew up - ‘til I found out I was a wizard, I mean. Do you reckon, then, that I could be both? My dad’s a policeman!”

“You could,” Remus nodded.

“Whoaaa,” Dexter whispered, looking at Darcy with excitement for him. “You can do it all!”

“Everything!” said Darcy with excitement.

“We’re invincible!” added Wally, turning to grin at his friends.

Remus smiled. He remembered feeling that hopeful in first year, too, looking around the castle with the feeling of invincibility. He missed that feeling... It had slowly melted away as they took the hits, one attack after another, and had such narrow escapes… At some point, it had become harder to believe that they were gods and easier to see the mortal side of one another. Even the unbreakable Sirius Black had cracked, and Remus wished that hopeful feeling could return… but, he reckoned, it was probably among the things that the Dark Lord had stolen forever. It had been replaced by the knowledge of the inevitability of death, and the knowledge that the prospect loomed over them at all times, constantly ticking like a bomb.

Most people had no idea who these wild-eyed identicals were standing before them - few had had the pleasure of meeting them the way that James and the other Marauders had. They’d heard the names in stories from the Daily Prophet, but a good number of people had never realized that they were twins - perfectly identical in every way - or that they were so young. Several of the seventh year girls were swooning over the twins long, dark auburn hair (probably a fair amount of Sleakeazy up in those locks, thought James) and their smart Ministry suits and ties in complimentary dark jewel tone colours.

Sirius had his eyebrows raised.

“Easiest. Defense class. Ever.” James smirked.

Sirius nodded.

Dumbledore waved the twins up to the staff table and James saw them pause on the way to their seats to hug Professor Viridi, the head of Hufflepuff house, who was looking at them with a teary sort of pride about her face and she gently clapped her palm against their cheeks and smiled at the double hug she’d received.

“Hufflepuff?” Sirius said, “No fucking way are the bloody Prewett twins from Hufflepuff!”

“They are,” said Peter.

“But they’re so ruddy brave,” Sirius said.

“Hufflepuffs can be brave, too, you dolt,” Peter said, “Just like Gryffindors can be kind.”

“But… bloody hell,” Sirius said, “Usually you see someone like them and you just assume they’re Gryffindors!” He looked to James, who nodded solemnly.

“Not always,” Peter replied.

Sirius rolled his eyes at Peter, then turned back to look up at Dumbledore.