Chapter Text
Remus came into semi-awareness as he sensed someone moving directly beside his bed, struggling to clear the fog of sleep from his mind even though the presence was familiar.
"Are you awake?" The hopefulness in Sirius' voice made Remus try a little harder to wake up and he finally succeeded in forcing his eyes open.
"Hmm, why?" He stretched, yawning unashamed.
"It's Easter and if you are awake, we can go hunt eggs."
"Hunting...at seven in the morning? Go back to sleep," he groaned as he caught sight of the time, letting himself fall back onto the bed.
"I can't. James said it is important to be up early on Easter Sunday," Sirius dropped himself down onto Remus' bed.
"James is insane," Remus mumbled into his pillow, although he had already resigned himself to getting out of bed as despite the darkness, he could see Sirius was already dressed. "Why would you want to be up so early?"
"To find eggs," the way Sirius spoke made it sound like it was supposed to be completely obvious and Remus just knew James was behind that mindset.
"And those eggs cannot wait for a little more reasonable time? Why is James up anyway?"
"I woke him at four this morning and he decided that since it was unlikely that I was going back to sleep, we could just as well go hide eggs already."
"You had another nightmare? Why didn't you wake me up?" Remus' heart dropped at Sirius' simple shrug, he had hoped that after running away from Grimmauld Place, the nightmares would have stopped.
But instead they had only increasingly gotten worse and he and James had begun taking turns to sleep at their friend's side every night, aware their close presence brought comfort to Sirius when he was distressed.
And from the way Sirius was turned into himself, Remus knew it had been a heavy nightmare and suddenly understood why James had gotten up so incredibly early despite being rather lazy on holidays.
"You need your rest, you only just got well again," Sirius quietly explained.
"I'm fine, Siri," Remus sat up properly. "You made sure of that. I'll get up so that we can go hunt eggs."
"Are you sure? If you would prefer to sleep longer I can distract James for a few hours, let him play Quidditch or so."
"I'm sure," Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius' waist. "Are you sure you don't want to sleep a bit more?"
"Yes, although I am sure James will want me to take a nap this afternoon."
"He's not the only one," Remus yawned, nuzzling Sirius' stomach before getting up. "I might just join you."
"Maybe we can get James to take a nap as well, he's bound to get a sugar rush with all the chocolate he'll eat today," Sirius teased, quickly making Remus' bed magically as he went to wash up.
"How are you feeling?" He asked once Remus returned to get dressed, leaving the light off as Peter was still asleep.
"I'm a bit sore, but that is nothing new. I'm feeling a whole lot better than I used to four days after the full moon," Remus glanced at Sirius. "Are you?"
"Why wouldn't I be fine? Transforming into Padfoot doesn't hurt at all."
"I more meant your feet. If James dragged you all over the castle..." he trailed off.
"He didn't. We took it slow and took plenty of breaks. My feet are just throbbing a little bit."
"That's a sign you have already done too much walking. Has James renewed your ban...yeah, stupid question," Remus bit back a laugh as Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course he did. I must have been really out of it if you both took a shower and left the dorm without me noticing."
"You slept rather steadily, but we were really quiet and he re-bandaged my feet in the Common Room so we'd not disturb you after all."
"How did they look?"
"A little better than last week. Soft pink skin is finally covering the entire left foot as well now," James answered, strolling inside. "Added a thick layer of salve and got him new woollen socks that are even softer than what he had so far. Morning."
"Morning, that is great news," Remus beamed. "For a while there I thought new skin would never begin to grow on your heel."
"You're not getting your old shoes back, though," Sirius hummed, leaning into James' side as he wrapped an arm around him.
"After the way you manhandled me out of them? I'd not dare to even try," Remus laughed. "Besides, my old shoes will be much too big for you once the bandages aren't necessary any more."
"We'll get him a new pair," James poked Sirius' side. "And you better not try to refuse them or you'll make Mum sad."
"I'll try," Sirius chuckled. "Say, did you know we've got the whole castle to ourselves?"
"Really? I thought there were some students staying behind?"
"No, after the Jones' were attacked parents wanted their children back at home for Easter so even the seventh year Ravenclaws returned home despite the upcoming exams," James ran a hand through his hair. "Did anyone try to wake Pete yet?"
"No, I figured he'd be more easily persuaded if he saw Remus was already up as well, has to if he's to teach us how to paint eggs like he promised. I've got forty hard-boiled eggs from Tiffy, do you think that will be enough?" Sirius' frown was so honestly unsure that Remus couldn't find it in himself to disillusion him.
"You are so utterly adorable sometimes!" James squealed as he threw his arms around a confused Sirius and pulled him close.
"I'm pretty sure we'll manage," Remus failed miserably not to smile at James' antics. "Do you plan to eat them all?"
"No, I think I'll leave them for Pete and maybe give a few to the House-elves if they turn out nicely," Sirius patted James' arms, utterly too used to James' behaviour to still be thrown by it.
"I'm sure they'll love that," James released Sirius again. "I retrieved markers from your art class; they were right where the Professor promised they'd be."
"It will be fun to watch the two of you paint eggs," Remus located a comb to try and untangle his messy hair. "Maybe next year we can ask Peeves to hide the eggs so we can all look together."
"He hid most of them," Sirius revealed. "We ran into him and he and Tiffy were very eager to help us out so we could all hunt together as well."
"Better," Remus stretched a little. "I don't suppose breakfast will be in order before the hunt?"
"Do you really think Pete will move a muscle if he doesn't get something to eat first?" James laughed, having made his way over to Peter's bed. "There's a bunch of sandwiches on your night-stand. Cover your ears."
He tapped Peter's alarm, quickly stepping aside before it went off and Peter squeaked, falling out of bed as the horn blazed into his ear.
"Good morning, Pete," Sirius grinned, uncovering his ears.
"There's got to be a less violent way to wake me up," Peter grumbled, climbing to his feet.
"Want me to bang two drum plates together again?"
"No! And don't let James put itchy powder into my bed again either."
"That was a complete accident! I tripped over your bag," James protested as Sirius dropped a bundle of clothes into Peter's hands. "If you woke up like a normal person, we'd not have to take drastic measures in doing so."
"Why are we up so early? It's a holiday."
"We're hunting eggs, chocolate ones."
Sirius' words were enough to make Peter hurry and Remus, too, was quick to pull on his sweater as well, stuffing a sandwich into his mouth as James handed it to him.
"You do realise chewing would prevent you from choking, right?" Sirius cheerfully slapped him on the back as he promptly began coughing.
"Aren't you a little smart-ass today," Remus managed to bring out, making both of his dark-haired boys laugh.
"James and your bad influences."
"No doubt," it was probably the truth as Sirius was actually very well behaved, polite and thoughtful before he spoke, even if he had grown much more relaxed over the years. Most of his bad habits and brashness could be traced back to James, himself and even Peter a little.
James grinned unashamed, slinging an arm around Sirius' shoulders. "I'm corrupting you as brothers should do."
"You are not seriously saying this is breakfast, are you?" Peter had gotten dressed in the meantime and stared at the few sandwiches in horror.
"Breakfast is at ten in the Great Hall, this is just to make sure you won't faint before that time," James assured him and Remus eyed the pile.
"Have you eaten yet, Siri?"
"I had one on the way here."
"Then have another one now," Remus picked up the last sandwich before Peter could stuff himself with his fifth.
"Rem...honestly, you are just as bad as James is when it comes to feeding me," accepting the sandwich Sirius broke it into half.
"We wouldn't keep on feeding you if you weren't so thin," James poked Sirius in his side, as Peter accepted half the sandwich held out to him.
"Maybe I should seek out some rope this summer," Remus teased.
"Don't you dare," Sirius laughed as James wrapped his arms around him from behind and picked him up. "James!"
"As long as you are light enough to be picked up like this, I'm siding with Remus," James nuzzled his nose into Sirius' shoulder blade as he let him down again.
"Pete?"
"Staying out of this one, far, far out of it," Peter laughed. "But I thought we were going to hunt eggs?"
"Six each. Peeves hid more in the west; we hid yours in the north."
"Peeves? Why would Peeves hide eggs? Did he stuff grenades into them?" Peter asked suspiciously.
"What are grenades?" James frowned confused.
"Hand-sized explosives," Remus explained. "And he wouldn't hurt us, Sirius is his friend."
"But do expect some pranks to be woven into the eggs even if Tiffy helped him hide them, you know Peeves," Sirius grinned, pulling something out of his back pocket, handing it over to Remus.
"What do I need the map for?"
"X marks the spot, doesn't it?" James turned on the light and it was only then that Remus realised they were both dressed in what could only be described as pirate clothing.
"Where on earth did you get that?" Peter laughed, taking in the attire.
"I asked Tiffy if she knew where to get them after you gave us Treasure Island and Peter Pan to read," Sirius revealed. "Do we pass as pirates?"
"You're missing either a hat or bandanna," Remus pointed out, unable to hide his grin as James produced both items, handing the bandanna to Sirius.
"Okay, now you both look like pirates, but what does that make us?" Making them turn in a circle so he could truly take in their attire, Remus couldn't help but admit they both looked good.
The overcoat James had managed to get his hands on finished the picture of a captain as it was accompanied with a crumpled white shirt, wide breeches, high boots and the hat.
Sirius very appropriately looked like a first mate, dressed in a red shirt with a sleeveless overcoat, the same brown breeches and high boots, though he had tied a black scarf around his waist to keep the overcoat closed. The black bandanna around his hair, combined with his collar finished the picture perfectly.
"Our prisoners," the grin on Sirius' face was infectious and slightly feral, adding to the image even more.
"What are you going to do with us?" Peter sounded frightened, clearly getting into the game as he folded his hands together in a silent plea.
"You are going to hunt the treasure for us!" James exclaimed.
"The treasure being the eggs?" Remus laughed. "You'll need swords if you're going to threaten us."
"I couldn't find a decent picture of them," Sirius sounded rueful so Remus quickly conjured two fake swords from his memory of pirate movies, handing them over.
"It wouldn't do for us wizards to have been captured by unarmed pirates."
"Ohh, I like this one," James picked up the sabre, examining it for a moment before sliding it into his belt, Sirius doing the same with the cutlass.
"Now you are complete," Remus grinned, looking down at the map Sirius had given him.
"What have you done to the map?" He eyed the worn look of their brand new map, taking in the yellowish parchment and slightly scorched edges.
"Don't worry; I can undo the charm that makes it look old and worn. Just thought it was fitting for the occasion," Sirius reassured him.
"It kind of looks good," Remus admitted, tracing a finger over the discoloured paper. "Adds something mysterious to it, like a treasure."
"That was the general idea," Sirius grinned and nodding, Remus looked down again to see several X's spread over the map. "I thought you said you hid six eggs?"
"We did, but I added a trace to the ones Peeves and Tiffy hid so they would be added to the map as well."
"It's not really hunting for eggs if we've got the map to locate them, is it?" Peter mused.
"It will only show you the general area, you'll have to do the actual finding yourself," James almost knocked the hat from his head as he ran a hand through his hair.
"This should be fun," Remus smiled. "Shall we go?"
"Aye," both dark-haired boys said in unison and James slipped a hand in Sirius' as they left the dorm.
"You're cold...again!"
"Maybe instead of making him socks, it would be wise to make him a pair of gloves," Remus suggested.
"What in Merlin's name are you boys up to now?" The Fat Lady laughed as they stepped out of the entrance and she swung shut again.
"Me mate and I are off to a treasure hunt," Sirius confided to her.
"We shall bring ye some back, me beauty," James took off his hat as he bowed to her.
"Or better, me prisoners will get the booty fer us," Sirius finished his sentence.
"I see, then I shall not keep you, my scruffy scoundrels," The Fat Lady said, clearly enjoying herself. "Find me some fine treasure and bring it back to your treasure room."
"Aye Aye," Sirius laughed while James pulled a face that clearly had to pass for evil, but just made him look funny. "Arrr."
"You are both addled," Remus choked out between laughter as Peter stared at them in utter awe and the Fat Lady laughed.
"Move along ye scurfy landlubber, or yeh getting the rope's end!" James pushed them forth, leaving behind a madly cackling Fat Lady and Remus stumbled as he couldn't stop laughing.
"Stop...please stop talking like that," he managed to choke out, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm never giving you guys another pirate book again."
"But pirates are cool," James protested.
"Technically they were a murdering and plundering bunch of lunatics," Sirius corrected him. "But they are indeed a rather cool bunch."
"They are, but please...just talk normally," Remus pleased. "Where on earth did you learn to talk like that?"
"We picked up some terms from the books and decided that Hagrid sounded like a pirate so we copied his speech pattern to form our pirate talk," Sirius stuck out his tongue. "Don't knock it; it got you all laughing, didn't it?"
"It did," Remus acknowledged. "You're the only two people I know who can act like scoundrels and still walk hand in hand without looking ridiculous."
"We try," James grinned. "But let's find ourselves some treasure, shall we? Where to, map reader?"
"We will start with the ones you hid," Remus decided as he looked down to the map. "This way."
He led them through the castle. "This is the first area marked with a x."
"Well, go find us some chocolate eggs," Sirius pulled himself up onto the window sill so he could rest his feet a little, James joining him.
"Yes, sir," Peter saluted him, immediately beginning to look around the corridor. "Found it!"
"That's fast," Remus blinked surprised as Peter pointed to an egg, half hidden behind a lose stone and he reached down to pick it up, only to yelp. "What's wrong?"
"It stung me!" Peter complained.
"There's a stinging curse on it," Remus examined the egg with his wand, realisation drawing and he turned to their friends.
"Did you really think we'd leave our treasure without protection?" James grinned. "Go on Pete; undo our charms so you can retrieve the treasure."
"Things are never easy with you guys around," Peter muttered, but did as he was told and undid the enchantment, retrieving the egg without a problem.
"Your turn, Rem," Sirius said, sliding down from the wall so Remus pulled out the map again, seeing the X they had just located disappear from the map.
"That's handy."
"What is?" Peter peered over his arm at the map as well.
"They charmed the eggs so that if we've located one, it will disappear from the map. It will tell us if we've missed one," Remus said. "The next one is on the next floor."
"Lead the way," James gestured and Remus did just that.
The other eggs were hidden in similar fashion, forcing Remus and Peter to be creative in capturing them.
All in all Remus marvelled at his friend's ability to always combine training with fun, especially as Peter didn't even seem to realise it was just that.
"I think I might have missed one of yours," Remus looked at the map. "The next one is clearly in the west so must be one of Peeves' and Tiffy's."
"We'll get it on our way back," Sirius shrugged.
"Fine by me, but the two of you are taking the next two eggs, let's see how well you fare against pranked eggs," Remus grinned.
"Fair enough," James stopped when indicated and started looking around when Sirius spoke up.
"Found it."
"That's rather quickly," joining his brother, James looked up as Sirius pointed to an egg floating in the air, seemingly harmless.
"Well, get it!" Peter bounced on the back of his heels in excitement.
"Not so fast, Pete. I might not believe he'd use a grenade, but it is still Peevsie," Sirius kept his distance, simply examining the egg for a moment. "Well, that's not very nice."
A few waves of his wand cancelled charms Remus hadn't even noticed.
"I thought Peeves didn't have magic?"
"Sure he does, he is a poltergeist, it is in his very essence, Rem," Sirius collected the egg and put it away. "Where do you think all the surplus magic produced by learning students happens to go? He absorbs it, feeds off it and also uses it to boost the castle's natural defences."
"I just thought it was lost," Remus admitted, seeing the logic in his friend's words as it certainly explained how no one had ever managed to get rid of the poltergeist.
"No, he just doesn't like using it as he'd be drawing it from the castle."
"But he used it to hide eggs now?"
"A little bit for some innocent fun isn't bad, or so he told me," Sirius led them to the next location. "The castle doesn't have a problem with him having some fun, as long as it's not harmful to the students like Peeves sometimes is. And Tiffy can use magic as well to help him out."
"I'll say," Peter muttered, but Sirius either didn't hear or ignored him as he stopped.
"Your turn, Jamesie."
"Right," grinning James passed them to search, finding his egg rather quickly and sidestepping a spray of water that came down as he picked up his egg.
"He hid those rather close together," Sirius remarked as James tossed the egg into the basket floating behind Sirius as the other handed the map over to Peter. "The two of you are up next again."
Following the map, Pete didn't take long to find his next egg, nervously scanning the area for traps before he reached for it.
"Ah, Pete…." Sirius' warning came a moment too late as Peter stepped onto the seemingly innocent rope laying discarded on the ground and with a loud squeak the mousy-haired boy was pulled upside down into the air, dangling from the rope that had magically tied itself around his ankle.
"It's not funny!" Peter whined as all three of them laughed.
"You scan the entire area for traps, but don't pay any attention to the rope lying at your feet? It kind of is funny, Wormy," Sirius bit his lip as James and Remus helped Peter down. "And at least you've got the egg."
"I don't think that really helps, Siri," Remus laughed.
"Look at it from the bright side, Petey, it could've been much worse and it'll teach you to watch your feet as well," James patted Peter on his back. "Remus' turn!"
Wincing, Remus took the map again to lead them to the next egg and forty minutes later they were all rather dusty, their clothes wrinkled and James and Peter were covered in paint splatters from a memorable egg that exploded upon touch and neither boy had managed to avoid.
"I hate to be the one ruining the fun, but are there many eggs left?" Sirius called from where he was duelling the statue he'd been crossing swords with for the last few minutes; at first the others had been alarmed to see the statue come to life and draw a sword.
But it had become clear almost immediately that Peeves had taken into account Sirius' disadvantage of his injured feet and the fact none of them knew how to sword-fight as the statue, although sturdy, didn't move as fluently as it could've and its blows were slow so there was more than enough time to parry even without the experience they all lacked.
Even so, Sirius somehow managed to look both professional and graceful as he duelled with the statue, finally managing to disarm the statue.
"Only one," James grinned as the statue saluted, offering up the egg he'd been holding in his other hand. "It's the one we missed earlier."
"Good, because my feet are killing me," Sirius tossed the egg into the full basket as James looked up the last egg.
"It's moved to the first floor," he noted surprised.
"How did it get there?"
"Maybe an animal got its paws on it?" Remus suggested.
"No, I charmed it to be undetected to animals," Sirius frowned. "And I confined it to the seventh floor so unless it stumbled through a secret passage we do not know about, it should have stayed there."
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" James' grin turned mischievous and Remus just knew the other was going to want to check it out.
"If it's after breakfast, I'm in," Sirius said, quickly cleaning them all up.
"And if your feet allow for it," James immediately added. "We don't know what we'll find so unless you're up to it, we're leaving it for tomorrow and no faking feeling fine when you're not."
"I wouldn't dare," Sirius smiled. "I'll be honest."
"Good, do you want me to give you a piggy back ride to the last egg?"
"Not quite yet, but I'll remember the offer," Sirius took James' hand in his. "Let's hunt down that egg."
"Our slaves can hunt down their last egg and then we can go feed our rumbling tummies."
"How long shall we be your slaves, my Masters?" Remus tried his very best to appear innocent as near identical grins split over his friend's faces.
"What do you think; shall we let them free after we've found the last of the treasure, Mate?"
"Aye, Capt'n," Sirius sounded eerily like the pirates Remus had adored on the television as a child and he had to squash down the part of him that still found puppies adorable so he'd not show just how cute and adorable he found his friends right then.
"Shall we set sail then, my Lords?" He grinned as playful grey eyes met his.
"I wonder if we could build a ship," James mused as they began to head to the first floor.
"By hand or with magic?" Sirius inquired.
"Magic. It would be fun to go sailing on the lake."
"You don't know how to sail," Peter pointed out, but James scoffed.
"We're wizards, how hard can it be?"
"The Squid would probably be willing to create some small waves so it'll seem as if we're truly at sea," Sirius mused, amusing Remus with how easily he latched onto the idea. "We'll need to arrange outfits for these two, but I have no doubt that between the four of us, we can transfigure a seaworthy vessel in no time."
"I guess we're going sailing this afternoon," Remus shared a bemused look with Peter as James and Sirius held an entire silent conversation with their gazes for a long moment.
"It's settled. After breakfast we'll paint eggs and after lunch we'll go sailing at the lake," James cheered. "Maybe we could even make a pirate flag to mark our ship with."
"I think I can arrange something after breakfast," Sirius patted his arm. "But let's first focus on finding that egg, shall we?"
"I like your plan," James squeezed his hand, glancing down at the map in his other hand again. "It should be around here somewhere. Mischief Managed."
He handed the blank map over to Sirius, who pocketed it. "Right, go ahead you two."
"Any pointers for this one?" Remus asked.
"It's got legs," Sirius revealed, smiling a little embarrassed as both Peter and Remus stared at him in disbelief. "Seemed like a fun idea, I didn't know it would manage to leave the confined area."
"So we're looking for an egg on legs," Remus cleared his throat. "If you look left, I'll look right."
"Sure," splitting up, they checked every crock before Remus saw something red out of the corner of his eye that scurried away.
"Found it," the egg however proved to be quicker than he'd expected and he ended up chasing after it, diving after it when it tried to disappear through a crack in the wall.
"Mister Lupin, what in Merlin's name are you doing?"
Remus' hand closed around the egg before he looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing half a feet away. "Hunting eggs, Professor."
"Hunting eggs?" Confusion spread over her face before she shook her head. "You know what, I do not want to know. Plea...what are you wearing?"
She stared at Sirius and James gob-smacked for a long moment.
"Pirate clothes," James spread out his arms to show off his attire. "What do you think, Professor M? Looks good, doesn't it?"
"While it is not in the protocol to wear robes during the holidays, I strongly suggest you at least wear something proper," McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"Aw come on, Prof, you can tell us what you think," James pouted. "We're the only students here and we know we are secretly your favourites."
"Teachers do not have favourites, Mister Potter."
"Say that to Professor Slughorn," Sirius muttered and McGonagall turned to him.
"All right, most Professors do not have favourites," McGonagall corrected herself. "Why were you hunting eggs?"
"Because it's Easter, of course," James rolled his eyes. "Oh, happy Easter, Professor M."
"Happy Easter to you as well, Mister Potter. I hope you've found all the eggs in time for breakfast?"
"This was the last one," Remus tossed the egg into the basket and McGonagall eyed it warily.
"I should hope you will not eat that all in one go?"
"Of course not, Professor," Sirius easily promised.
"Good, one candy related incident is enough for a lifetime," Peter flushed at her words and Remus laughed as he remembered the gummy bear event of their third year.
"I think we all quite agree on that," James patted Peter's shoulder. "Will you be at breakfast, Professor?"
"Yes, and I expect the four of you to be there as well so make sure you've freshened up in time," she let her gaze take in their crumpled clothes. "I suppose it will be too much to expect you to be dressed normally by then?"
"Definitely, we've still got pirate plans," Sirius grinned. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like?"
"I think I shall pass, but thank you for the offer, Mister Black," McGonagall shook her head. "I shall see you at breakfast."
They all nodded, stepping aside so she could pass freely.
"Oh, and Mister Potter and Mister Black, you both look quite dashing, though please stick to your normal attire when the other students return before you unleash an unwanted hype."
James cheered as she gave them a small wave, high fiving Sirius while Remus shook his head in disbelief.
"I can't believe this; you're corrupting even Professor McGonagall."
"Surely you should know better by now than to be surprised," James laughed, slinging an arm around Sirius' neck. "Let's get freshened up and make our way to breakfast."
"So much activity and it is not even ten o'clock yet," Peter groaned.
"That only means the day is still long and we've got much left to do," James steered them back towards their dorm. "Don't complain, it will be the best Easter ever!"
And it was, after a pleasant breakfast, they painted eggs, deciding to leave the search for a new secret passageway until a day McGonagall wasn't keeping an eye on them.
As they sailed over the Black Lake several hours later, happily aided by the Giant Squid, Remus couldn't help but completely agree with James as it truly was the best Easter ever.
And not even McGonagall yelling at them from the shore could dampen their spirits as they sailed on their pirate ship, complete with home-made pirate flag, waving at her from afar as they had the time of their life.