Suspicion - 1 Sept 1976 - Marauders

[Remus Lupin]

He hadn’t remembered the meeting being this boring last year, but maybe that was because he already had a year under his belt with how things worked. Or it was because his mind was thinking about other things, most of them involving Sirius and himself snogging each other. He was still a tad foggy on what exactly they were, but he knew he was enjoying it. Truth or dare had been a wonderful choice of a game to play while drinking, and every second since they that they had snuck off was tempting to drag his focus away from the meeting. James and Peter hadn’t caught on to what exactly was happening between the two of them, but he wasn’t nearly as good as coming up for excuses for why he and Sirius were both nowhere to be found at the same time.

He felt an elbow into his ribs and looked to Lily, doing his best to wipe the idiotic grin off his face as he turned to her. Oh, she knew something was up but he couldn’t exactly tell her. He didn’t even know what to tell her, but he wasn’t about to blurt the truth out while the new Head Boy and Head Girl were in the middle of discussing round schedules for the train ride. At least he’d get his done early, that was better than being stuck doing one of the last rounds.

“I swear Lily, I’m just tired from staying up all night. I was at the Potters so you know, not much sleep,” he said with a shrug as it ended, backing towards the door with a smirk. “Okay yep that’s nothing else to tell you. Catch you later yeah?”

He should have stayed to talk the other prefects, and to at least talk to Lily. But he could only think about gray eyes and black hair, and everything amazing that went along with Sirius Black. Their compartment wasn’t hard to find, and he opened the door and climbed over legs into the compartment, making himself comfortable on the same side as Sirius, forcing himself to not just stare. “I’ve got rounds in an hour...”

[James Potter]

They'd finished the crossword and games in the Prophet, purchased enough sweets to nourish a small army, and Remus still wasn't back from that blasted meeting with the prefects and Head Students. James knew he should be checking in on Doe, seeing as they'd recently become an item and all, but he had plans for this trek, and would find her once there was news to share! He idly picked at the ceiling above him where someone had left evidence of what he hoped was Droobles. "Merlin's baggy Y-fronts, what's taking them so long?" He couldn't place it, but something was off with the vibe of their group lately, and James was hopeful that returning to Hogwarts would mean returning to normal. Well, things were hardly going to be normal this year for him, seeing as he'd finally gotten his go at being Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain, but, y'know...normal among the four of them, at the very least.

Hours later, Remus stumbled into their compartment, legs across the middle a maze for him to sort through before falling into the seat beside Sirius. "Sweet, that gives us another hour to get things going" James exclaimed, re-energized and patting his full pack as he looked to the others with a broad grin. Nothing like the beginning-of-year train ride to get things off on the right foot. And for James, that meant striking against the Medusas before they could take a snap at the Marauders. He rubbed his hands together excitedly before shoving aside a few knees to make space for the pack as he opened it up. "What should we start with? The obvious - dungbomb their compartment. The fake gift - love potion-laced cauldron cakes. Oh!" He exclaimed, pulling out a few small vials of "perfume." "Shite, what did we lace this with again?"

[Deleted]

Sirius kicked his legs up on the seat across from him, slightly nudging Pete and James at the same time. He was trying to play everything cool these days, but in his effort to act normal, he was very much acting the opposite. James thought things were off within their group - something he’d shared with him the night before - but it wasn’t like he could just come out and say that he had started snogging Remus whenever they got a second alone together! He’d been head over heels for his mate since last year, and the past couple days had been a dream. The Gryffindor didn’t know if his mate wanted to continue while they were at school, or just leave it to be a summer fling - Sirius shut down the ache in his gut at the thought of that possibility - and he didn’t want his brothers to start looking at him differently once they knew the truth. He was out and openly into anyone with lips to kiss, so that wouldn’t be shocking to them, but the fact that it was Remus...would they be okay with that? He grinned as he threw his arms behind his head, ”If you want to go see Doe then you don’t need to wait for the Prefects to get out.”

Finally, after an eternity of waiting, the most attractive bloke in Hogwarts - besides himself - joined them in their compartment and sat down next to him. Sirius eyes followed him with a well disguised look of indifference but inside he was going mad. ”Yeah?” He asked, voice low. They shared a look that made his heart beat fast, and he had to force himself to look at James again. Did this mean that Remus thought their summer activities could have a place at Hogwarts too? Sirius took his legs down and leaned forward to start conspiring. Sirius nodded toward the perfume, ”Alihotsy leaves - would be hilarious if they used it on the first day of classes.” Seeing the Medusa’s breaking down into uncontrollable laughter and getting in trouble during their lessons would be fantastic.