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Marauders Extraordinaire


Sirius pulled Lily up through the trapdoor and into the Shrieking Shack and as he let her go and she got to her feet, he spun about the living room, waving his arms, “Welcome, one and all, to this fine production of Full Moon Night by Sirius Orion Black, starring The Marauders of Hogwarts and Lily Kimblery Evans!”

“My middle name is Jane, actually,” Lily said.

This didn’t slow Sirius down for even a minute. He was already springing toward the door excitedly, his boots clopping on the dusty old floor, “Prepare yourselves for the rush of the wind between your furs - or your hair, as the case is, Evans, unless you’re holding out on us about your abilities… Prepare for the smell of the bracken and the leaves and the stars overhead, shining, calling out -- CARPE DIEM, mother fuckers, SEIZE THE DAY!”

“I don’t think the stars are saying that,” Peter said.

“Yes, the stars would say CARPE NOCTIS, mother fuckers, SEIZE THE NIGHT!” James said, smirking as Peter and Lily both shook their heads.

“WE SHALL CARPE THIS NOCTIS,” Sirius shouted, simply accepting what James had said without any comment or argument, “We shall carpe the fuck out of this noctis!”

Lily asked, “So what exactly is it that we’re going to do?”

“Lily Veronica Evans!” Sirius cried, “Asking questions is strictly prohibited.”

“It’s Jane,” she corrected him again. “And why can’t I ask questions?”

“That’s a question, Evans.”

“Honestly!” She shook her head.

“THIS NIGHT WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE MOST EPIC ADVENTURES OF MARAUDER HISTORY!” Sirius shouted, and he stomped his feet to make a great drumming against the floorboards that kicked up a huge amount of dust, causing Peter to sneeze several times in a row. James waved his palm before him and Lily Evans to knock the dust out of the air. “Gents… Lady… Let us begin.” He turned and opened the front door with a flourish.

They all poured out into the front yard, the moon shining brightly across the grounds. Sirius pulled tight the front door of the shack and locked it with a wave of his wand. He bound over the steps to where the other three were gathered, thinking fleetingly of Remus, wondering whether he was alright. His stomach squirmed because Remus should’ve been there... but it was Remus’s own fault he wasn’t... Sirius’s eyes swept the yard for dementors because at the thought of Remus not being there, he’d heard his voice telling him to go and be kissed by a dementor echoing about in there and his fists balled and he had to work real hard to shove the thought out of himself.

He shoved it out by getting even louder and more hyperactive.

“ALRIGHT!” he cried, “We all know where we are going?”

The other two Marauders nodded - Lily shook her head no.

“Excellent.” Sirius said, “In that case…
The night is young and so are we,
It’s time to have some fun -
Out on the grounds of Hogwarts, the school we all attend…
Run Marauders over bracken under thickest tree,
The moon shines down upon us instead of the sun -
That moon, our pale blue adventure-friend!
Living life without a care
‘Tis time to run and leap and play…
For doing nothing - nothing - that we should…
Pledging ourselves, Marauders extraordinaire,
We’ll do this night the wrongest right way: For we solemnly swear that we are up to no good.”


“Did you just make that up?” Lily asked, blinking at him.

Sirius’s eyes twinkled, and he turned to Peter, who was clapping excitedly, and James, who knew how Sirius had agonized over writing that poem for some time during History of Magic earlier in the week, rather than even trying to pay attention to Binns. (Sirius had turned to James and pointed to the second staza and asked for a word that rhymed with care that sounded exciting.)

As Sirius and Peter popped into their animagi forms, James turned to Lily. “Evans… you get to ride me.”

Lily stared at him, “Excuse me?” she asked as Sirius’s barks filled the night and he bounced about on his four legs, rushing through the dusting of snow that covered the ground.

“We’re going quite a way and Sirius wants to run… so… you’re not transforming into anything. If you’ll want to keep up, you’ll be needing to ride on my back,” James explained.

“Is that.. Is it safe?”

“Remus has done it before,” James answered. “And I mean, sure you probably weigh a bit more than he does --”

“Excuse me?” Lily looked flabbergasted.

James continued without pausing, “-- but I’ll be fine to carry you just the same. So when I change, I’ll kneel down so you can get on. And you hold on tight. Just - just don’t use my antlers to hold onto, they’re sensitive.”

Lily nodded, “Alright.” She suddenly felt quite nervous - despite knowing they could do this, it was still weird - still strange. She looked at the merrily barking dog, whose paw prints were scattered all over the place in the snow now, his tongue lolling about his mouth, and looked down as the rat squealed by her trainers. She bent and lifted the rat up and he curled in her palm, “Here, in my pocket,” she said, feeling him tremble from cold, and she slipped Peter into her wool coat’s pocket and he curled up happily in there. When she looked back up - it was no longer James Potter standing before her, it was that majestic stag… Her heart rate picked up.

The stag honked and nodded his head for her to climb on as he knelt down. Lily tremulously took a few steps forward and carefully straddled the back of the deer, her arms slipping ‘round it’s neck. She clenched her knees to his sides and the stag stood, wobbly at first, then gaining confidence as he took a few trembling steps and figured out exactly how it was to move… Lily closed her eyes, clutching on, her fingers tightly woven together at the front of the stag’s neck, right above his chest, her cheek pressed to his fur…

And then they were off.

The dog led the way, dashing along, ducking through trees, under branches and over logs… the stag following, striking away branches from Lily’s face with his antlers, using them as a shield for her. She pressed tight against him, and he could feel her shaking with excitement and nervousness and he honked comfortingly as he dashed along, his feet moving so fast that he seemed to only barely touch the ground, like flashes of contact, bounding after the dog. They wove through the forest, and Lily peeked to see the trees - trunk by trunk by trunk - flashing by.

Sirius led them off, further and further away from Hogwarts, the glow of the school and the village away off behind them, miles and miles and miles, to the perfect spot. He came to a stop at a cliff edge overlooking more forest far below. A sea of dark green trees as far as the eye could see, and a clear view of the star-lit sky, the full moon hanging, a huge orb, seeming to smile down around them with it’s pale light.

Sirius came to a stop at the crest of this cliff, mere meters away from the edge, and with a pop, he was a boy again and he stood there puffing out his chest and breathing deeply the smell of evergreen and cold, his balled fists slamming against his chest like he was a gorilla or something as he let out a howl of excitement over the trees.

James knelt to allow Lily to climb off and the moment she had he, too, changed back, and Peter scrambled out of her pocket before changing back as well. Lily, James, and Peter joined Sirius at the edge of the cliff, where he was now dangerously close, looking over. “Oh don’t be so close,” Lily begged, grabbing the back of Sirius’s jumper and pulling him away. “What if you fell?”

“Then James would arresto momentum my arse,” Sirius replied. He smirked, “Wouldn’t you, mate?”

James smirked, “Dunno. The splat sound you made at the bottom might be amusing too.”

“You’d trade all of this for a splat sound?” Sirius asked, waving his palms at himself, “All this majestic beauty?”

Lily rolled her eyes.

James grinned, “Eh. I could do better.”

“BETTER!” Sirius said, “Better! Better than me? Ferfucksakes, Potter, a magnificent beast such as myself only comes along once, perhaps twice a generation…”

“Thank Merlin for that,” teased Peter.

Sirius grinned at Peter. “I ought to hex all of you. But luckily, I have better things to do.” He reached into his bag, taking something out that he waved his wand at, and chucked over the side of the cliff.

James’s grin widened.

“What’re you doing? What was that?” Lily demanded, but the moment he words were out of her mouth, she heard it. A loud hiss - and a whistling…. And suddenly there went a streak of smoke, straight up from where Sirius had chucked it, flying up - up - up - up - higher and higher ‘til it reached the apex of the sky and with a deafening BOOM that echoed over the trees below and practically shook the ground they stood upon - a flash of light filled the air and sizzling colourful fireworks exploded across the dark of the sky, raining sparks of brightest pink and blue.

“Oh!” Lily gasped, eyes wide, mesmerized.

Sirius reached in his bag and drew out another one, igniting it and sending it over the edge too, and another and another -- BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! - the fireworks lit up the sky and the colourful light reflected over their faces as they stared up and Peter clapped, loudly shouting, “Oh that one’s my favorite! No that one! I love that one!” as they burst - great streamers of colours and light, and shapes, too - fizzing whirlygigs and a big orange lion with a hissing red mane…

James looked over at Lily, watching the light reflecting in her eyes and over her cheeks more than he was the fireworks themselves, and he smiled, his lips curving upward, admiring her in the flashing colours. She didn’t even notice him looking, too enraptured by the fireworks to. Oh what he wouldn’t have done to be able to kiss her right there, right there in the freedom and the chill of the winter night, under the stars and the moon and the coloured sparks.

But he didn’t even dare to take her hand, afraid she might get upset and then the moment would be lost forever.

LIly stared up at the explosives, at the trails of smoke that filled the sky, ghosts of the fireworks themselves as Sirius ignited the next and the next and the next… His laughter and crowing excitement echoing over the edge as he let out loud bleats of joy each time he dropped the next Filibuster over the side of the cliff…

Out of the corner of her eyes, Lily could see James staring at her. She had to force herself not to look, to keep her eyes trained skyward… her fingers twitched, thinking of reaching out to him but when she finally went to, her bracelet shifted and she felt the little dangling teacup hit her skin. She closed her eyes and stopped herself from grabbing for Potter’s hand. She was spoken for, after all, and yes, Jasper was currently fawning over Albus Dumbledore, one of the many students still stuck waiting for an antidote…

But…

“Last one!” Sirius announced, drawing an extra large, extra powerful firework from his bag. “Here we go!” he lit it and chucked it and there came the loudest hissing yet, the thickest stream of smoke blasting it upwards…

Lily tilted her head back as it reached the apex…and then, unable to resist it, she turned to look at James.

James turned to look, too…

BOOOOOOOOM!

The whole sky seemed to light up like daylight… golden stars showered from the explosion point, flickering dust singing as it went down, the stars spinning and falling, twirling as they fizzed and streamed wide, across the entire sky… before falling and hissing, fading away…

James leaned closer… and Lily caught the smell of his aftershave, mixing with the trees… and the warmth of his breath… and she flushed and turned away, her face red, her eyes diverting to the ground, and James stood upright again, facing forward as the very last of the sars disappeared.

“Brilliant! Ey? Wasn’t that positively brilliant?” Sirius cried, applauding himself for his masterwork. Peter grinned and frantically clapped along.

Lily smiled and nodded, “Brilliant,” she choked. James clapped half-heartedly.