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Remus was about half thankful they tested the prank out on themselves first. Probably best this didn’t happen to Snape because at least now they only had to get themselves out of this mess, but what a mess it was.
James had claimed that he was this close to finally ending his pursuit of Lily. She had just been so stressed with Potions lately that she didn’t have any time to go out with him. Naturally, James saw an opportunity to kill two bludgers with one bat: eliminate Lily’s closest competition for top of the class and humiliate Snape in the process.
They all knew that time travel was tricky business, but hey, they were the Marauders. They had mastered Animagus at the age of 14 and perfected the Map at 15. Surely 16-year-old time travel should be right up their alley.
“It’ll be fine, Moony,” Sirius assured him. “We’re only transporting him a week ahead. Just enough time for him to fall behind.”
Ultimately, it was Remus’s fault they ended up here. He was the one who suggested they try it out on themselves first after they’d worked out the incantation. The others knew they needed his research, so they relented.
“ Peregrinad Futurum,” they’d said in unison while clearly visualizing the date and time ten minutes into the future: June 1, 1976, 12:00. The sensation that followed was worse than the first time he apparated alongside his father; he struggled to keep his mind focused on the date at hand until finally, thud , they all fell to the Forbidden Forest floor.
“So, did we do it?” Peter asked as he dusted the dirt off his robes.
Sirius checked his pocket watch. “Looks like it’s a different time, but a few minutes back. About 11:06? Shit, did we go back in time?”
Remus felt odd. Something about the forest seemed different from the way it had when they did the spell. He looked around. The trees seemed thicker somehow. More moss on the rocks. He looked up at the moon, which had just passed a new moon when they left. Now it was nearly full.
“Er…” he said as he pointed at the moon.
They all stopped for a moment and stared at each other in silence. “ Fuck.”
***
“How the hell do radio stations even work in Scotland?” Dean groaned as he flipped through the stations. BBC this, and BBC that. What the hell is a Grimmy anyway?
“Just put in the tape, Dean.” Sam relented. They’d listened to the Kansas tape hundreds of times before, but it was a small comfort in an unfamiliar place.
The Scottish countryside had been beautiful along the way, even if it meant driving along dirt roads. He could almost even admire it through the light of his headlights if it weren’t for his apprehension around their next assignment. “Remind me again what this thing Sam saw is?”
“A Manticore. Nasty thing - the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tale of a scorpion. One sting and it’s the end. Lucifer really had a field day with that one.” Castiel shuddered.
“If it has a human head, is there any reasoning with it?” Sam asked.
Cas shook his head. “Mostly uses it for singing as it devours its prey.” It was Sam’s turn to shudder. “They’re usually found closer to Greece, so it’s odd there would be one in a Scottish forest. There’s a mysticism in the air, though. This is an odd place.”
Dean nodded, but smirked to himself. Cas always sensed something in the air. Good thing Dean had his feet planted firmly on the ground.
“Well, hopefully for an odd place it has some good food. I’m starving. I could kill for a salad,” Sam said.
Dean looked ahead and saw a village lit up in the distance. “Looks like something up there.”
Sam looked at the atlas. “Hogsmeade, I guess? These village names just keep getting weirder and weirder.”
Cas perked up. “Hog like ham? Do you think they have hamburgers?”
Dean started to steer closer to the village as he chuckled to himself. “Worth a shot.”
***
Remus was fully panicking now. They’d tried to get into the castle with no luck - it appeared however far into the future they’d traveled, it was summer break. Every entrance to the castle was sealed.
“When the bloody hell are we?” shouted James futilely as they walked towards Hogsmeade. At least there, they may happen upon a Daily Prophet with the date on it.
Remus sighed. “I know, I’m frustrated too. But we need to be careful. We don’t know how far into the future we are; what if we see someone we know?!”
“Or ourselves,” said Peter quietly. Shit, Remus hadn’t even considered that.
Sirius seemed to take that thought far less seriously than Remus was. “We’ll be able to see how hot I’ve become, at least.”
Remus rolled his eyes but this seemed to egg James on. “And maybe we’ll see Evans! And our giant family! I’d like 7 kids.”
“Shame poor Evans loses her mind in the future.” James gave Sirius a playful shrug. All this future talk lightened the mood for Sirius, James and Peter, who was now describing his pragmatically perfect future wife, but it only made Remus more apprehensive. He was a werewolf after all; what kind of prospects could he have? Would he run into himself destitute on the street after being turned away by every job he applied for? Sirius and James had always told him he could live with them, off their money, but how long could they really put up with him? And then there was the wife business...his best hope was a young woman who was also of his persuasion, maybe they could hide out together.
They finally reached the village. They decided to send Remus into Madam Pudifoot’s, as he had never entered the shop before and it was one of the few still open. He reached the counter and asked for a tea to go and if they had any Daily Prophets.
The old cashier eyed him oddly. “Those are quite the vintage robes you have there.”
Remus looked down. Shit, they must have gone quite far. “Oh, er, a bit of a joke. They were...my...dad’s?” He was not nearly as adept as the other Marauders in little white lies, perhaps a result of the energy it took to hide his larger secrets, furry or otherwise.
But the cashier seemed to accept this and handed him the tea and the Prophet.
Wide-eyed he brought the paper out to the other boys. He struggled to gather the words.
Sirius grabbed his shoulders. “When is it, Moony?”
“July 9.”
Peter sighed in relief. “Well, it’s a bit further than we thought…” He slowed down as Remus kept shaking his head.
“July 9...2016.”
***
They settled on a divey-looking pub. Despite it being called The Hog’s Head, hamburgers were not on the menu. Dean nursed an odd-tasting beer as Sam and Cas debated the pros and cons of meat pies vs bangers and mash.
He watched as a group of four teenage boys frantically walked into the pub and plopped down at a distant booth. “I thought the Scottish wore kilts, these kids are walking around in fancy bathrobes.”
Cas looked hurt. “I think an overcoat can add a certain flair to an outfit.”
The boys sounded like they were bickering and the teal-haired bartender seemed distracted enough by a cute blonde that Dean figured they could talk shop. “So...this Manticore. Cas, can you use any of your powers on it?”
“I can try. My energy hasn’t been at its best lately. And historically, Manticores seem to respond better to something a little more...brutal.”
Sam nodded carefully as he took a bite of his meat pie. “We have weapons in the car. You think we can drive it to this forest?”
Dean shrugged. “Don’t know many car-friendly forests. But don’t know how else we’re going to get out there.”
They considered which weapons to use as they ate. This Manticore seemed pretty substantial, but nothing worse than what they’d tackled before.
Once they finished their meal, Sam gestured towards the bartender. “We’d like to close out,” he said as he handed the bartender a credit card.
The teal-haired young man looked at him, confused. “Your meal is 2 galleons and 6 sickles, mate.”
Dean was confused. “Uh, we have Euros? Is that the same thing?”
The blonde elbowed the bartender. “ Muggles ,” she whispered, just loud enough for Dean to hear. What on earth was a Muggle?
“You think I know how Muggle money works?!” he whispered, not quite as able to keep himself quiet.
The blonde rolled her eyes. “So sorry, sir. This is a rather old pub...the...er...eleck-trocity doesn’t work very well. And we don’t have change for gyros. But my mum works for Gring...the bank so I we can just take your money and convert it later!”
Sam eyed them skeptically. “Uh...sure. 30 Euros cover it?”
The bartender shrugged, but the blonde, seemingly eager to keep up whatever weird charade they had going on nodded and took the money. “Thank you, gentlemen!”
Weird town , Dean thought to himself, and saw that Cas and Sam also seemed rather shaken by the whole thing. As they left, Dean swore he overheard more harsh whispers with this weird “Muggle” word thrown in.
***
Remus's head always hurt a little as the full moon approached, and the whole being trapped 40 years into the future certainly wasn’t helping matters. Nor was the incessant bickering. Peter reckoned they ought to find an adult they knew, but James reasoned that they might startle any adult that would recognize them from the past. Sirius thought that they should just try the spell again, maybe say it backwards or something, but Remus insisted they do more research before jumping back into the problem. At the very least, the boys settled on getting a night’s rest and stocking up on Hogsmeade supplies in the morning. The only trouble is, their nights’ rests usually happened in the castle.
“Er, excuse me, sir,” James said to the bartender, who looked oddly familiar to Remus. “Is there an inn somewhere in Hogsmeade?”
The young man smirked. “Hogwarts students, eh?” The boys nodded. “Well, the cheapest room would be right above this bar, if you don’t roughing it. You want something a bit more posh, try the Three Broomsticks.”
Remus interrupted him quickly - if Madam Rosmerta were still there, she’d instantly recognize Sirius from the incessant flirting. “We’ll take it.”
“Right. The name’s Teddy, and I suppose I’m your bellhop for the night.” All of them but Remus looked at him quizzically. “Muggle Studies. Anyway, you all got bags?” They shook their heads. “Strange lot, you all are. Well, I’ll show you to your room. Vic, I better lock up,” he said to the blonde girl as he kissed her good night.
As Teddy let them up the stairs, he took a closer look at James. “You know, you look just like my godfather.”
“Ah yeah, who’s that?”
“Well, I don’t mean to sound a braggart, but it’s Harry Potter.” If they’d had any bags, they would have instantly tumbled down the stairs. All four boys stopped in their tracks. Teddy seemed to take their shock in stride. “Yeah, I know he’s kind of a big deal, but he’s a really normal bloke. Practically raised me. Right, well here’s your room. If you need anything, I’m boarding down the hall.” He led them into a room with a double bed and a cot, small and a bit dusty, but with a certain charm to it.
Remus knew someone had to break the silence. “Well, thank you, Teddy. We’re awfully tired, see you in the morning?”
Teddy nodded. “The Hog’s Head cooks a mean, if a bit greasy, full English. See you all in the morning.” With that, he closed the door as Remus, Sirius, and Peter all stared at James.
“Harry is a family name,” James said, overwhelmed. “Sounds like he’s done some wicked things.”
Sirius clapped James on the back. With the utmost seriousness, he whispered “You’ve done well, daddy.”
Remus and Peter couldn’t contain their laughter. James elbowed Sirius as he joined in. They didn’t address James’s fatherhood further, instead deciding who would get what bed. They settled on James and Peter in the double, with Sirius on the cot. Remus relented to the floor easily; he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. He didn’t know exactly how long he had until the full moon, but it kept him up for the days leading into it.
Peter’s snoring began nearly instantly; poor thing did not do particularly well under pressure. James was also quickly asleep. Remus waited in the darkness for Sirius’s breathing to slow, but that never came. He inched a bit closer to the cot.
“Padfoot,” he whispered as quietly as he could. “You alright?”
Sirius scooched to the edge of the cot. “Yeah, just thinking.”
“About James’s son?”
Remus could just barely make out a nod. “What do you think we’re like these days? Do you think we have big families?”
“Not me,” Remus admitted. “Don’t know if I would, ya know, pass it down.”
Sirius reached for Remus’s hand and squeezed it. “You don’t know that. You’re always saying how limited werewolf research is. Hey, maybe you’re some fancy research scientist!” He yawned.
Remus smiled. “How about you then? What is Sirius Black like in the future?”
“10 kids. Smoking hot wife. Big old house.”
“You got room for me in that big house?”
Sirius was nearly asleep now. “Always room for Moony,” he whispered as his breaths finally became heavier.
Remus could feel his eyes drooping too, oddly enough. He imagined Sirius’s house - the Marauders together for Sunday dinners, a bunch of small tykes running around. He could settle on being a good uncle to them. Uncle Remus, he liked the sound of that. Slowly, Remus drifted off to sleep, too, with Sirius’s hand still in his.
***
Dean had slept in the Impala plenty of times, but sleep wasn’t coming quite as naturally to him tonight. The forest had a weird energy about it, almost like there were elements hiding from him. He liked to know his surroundings, so this was deeply unsettling.
Sam practically drooling in the opposite seat, Dean gingerly got out of the car, careful not to wake his brother. Castiel was standing guard, as he didn’t need sleep.
Cas whipped his head around when Dean exited the car, making sure it wasn’t something more sinister. His face relaxed when he saw it was Dean, but quickly switched itself to worry. “Why aren’t you sleeping, Dean?”
“Just couldn’t, man. Something weird about this forest.”
“Ah,” Cas nodded. “That would be the magic.”
“The...what?! This is a witch town?!” Dean really hated witches.
“I’ve seen something like this before. They call themselves witches and wizards, but it’s not like what we’re used to. It’s not demonic in nature - more similar to an angel’s powers, really. They’re human, they just have a certain sensitivity to harnessing energy in a way a typical human does not.”
Dean nodded. “So is this manticore some kind of Hell beast or a magic thing?”
“Somewhere in between these two worlds. Some demonic elements, but also shares some characteristics with magical creatures.” Cas’s worry about Dean’s lack of sleep had persisted, almost gotten worse.
“So we really have our work cut out for us, then.”
Castiel nodded solemnly. “You really should rest.”
As much as Dean wanted to, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. “I’ll just stand out here with you. You help calm me down, Cas.”
Something in Cas’s eye flickered, Dean couldn’t tell if it was another objection or something else. Finally, he gave Dean his way and gestured to the stump next to him. They sat in companionable silence until the sun came up.
***
Before the boys went down for breakfast, Remus called a small team meeting. “Look, it’s quite cool that Teddy knows James’s son. But we really shouldn’t be messing with time any further.”
Peter looked puzzled. “But we’re in the future. Anything we do here won’t mess with their past.”
James seemed to be catching on. “I suppose you’re right, Moony. Like if I knew more, when we go back I’d try too hard to make it happen and muck it up.”
Remus nodded. “Exactly. Minimal interference, we can’t learn too much or we risk it not happening.”
Sirius looked a bit put out. “I wanted to hear my future, too.” Remus’s glance must have been severe enough for him to follow up, “But I guess it’ll be more fun to just let it happen.”
“Should we do code names? It would be like we’re spies.” Sirius perked up at Peter’s idea, always up for an adventure.
“Maybe we can do middle names!”
“Well, that’s alright for you, Orion ! How about old Ignotus?” he said gesturing towards himself. “And we’ve got two Johns on our hands!”
“Well, Peter’s a fairly common name,” Remus said, “so I’ll be John.” Peter seemed rather put out by the fact he didn’t get a code name despite it being hsi idea. “You can be…”
“...Stan!” Sirius completed his sentence. “Stag man!”
James seemed rather pleased with that as they made their way down to breakfast, Peter grumbling the whole way about James being a common enough name too.
“Mornin’, boys!” The smell of meat wafted through the air, much to Remus’s excitement. He always did have more of an appetite around the full moon. Teddy set four places at their booth from the previous evening and brought out four full English breakfasts. As the boys settled in, Teddy began to put their new spy backstories to the test.
“Realized I never quite caught your names last night.”
Sirius, ever the performer, took the lead on this one. “I’m Orion. Orion White. This here is John, Pete, and Stan.”
“And you all are at Hogwarts?” They nodded. “I’d ask if you knew some of my cousins, but to be fair, there are too many of them to count at this point. Why do your robes look like that, anyway? They look like they’re from the 60s.”
“70s!” Sirius looked momentarily offended, forgetting himself. Remus panicked for a split second before Sirius, or Orion, recovered. “Er, they’re vintage. We’re...doing a History of Magic summer project. Hogwarts Fashion through the Ages - we’re here to interview the owner of Gladrags!”
Teddy looked surprised at this. “Ol’ Binns finally taking a step outside the box?”
“Just hoping for some extra credit. We’re quite eager to get back to the past.” The other three boys nodded vehemently.
Teddy didn’t pry further, which means that Sirius’s charade must have been successful enough. Now, Teddy eyed Remus’s already plate. “Oi, John, you need more?”
Remus could feel his cheeks redden. “Oh, er, maybe if you have some lying around. Must’ve been hungry I guess.”
Teddy smirked and handed off another few strips of bacon and links of sausage. “Quite okay. My appetite is always like this around the full moon.” Remus dropped his fork and Teddy chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not a werewolf. Or well, not all the way. My dad was.”
Remus desperately wanted to ask follow-up questions, but couldn’t figure out how to ask without tipping his hand. Luckily, Sirius came through yet again. “Wow, we’ve learned a bit about werewolves in Care of Magical Creatures but we never talked about what happens when they mate with humans.”
Teddy nodded. “I’m a pretty unique case - a lot of werewolves either don’t have kids or stick to their own kind. Don’t turn or anything, just get a bit wolfy around the full moon. Hungrier. Other senses a bit heightened. But nothing painful or anything. Reckon my monthly problem isn’t half as bad as what girls go through.”
Peter looked like he had follow-up questions at that one, but Remus couldn’t help from blurting out, “Is he a good dad? Despite...you know… his condition?”
Teddy gave a sort of sad smile. “I wouldn’t really know. My mum and dad died when I was just a baby. A noble death from what they tell me. And Harry has some great stories about dad and -”
James interrupted him there, clearly not wanting to delve too deep into the Harry subject. “That sounds lovely, glad you have those stories at least.” He sloppily changed the subject, “But speaking of stories, our interview starts in just a few minutes, we probably should be on our way.”
Teddy nodded. “Quite alright. You lot staying another night?”
“Hopefully we’ll accomplish our goals today, but if not, we’ll definitely stay here!” Sirius went to the bar register to settle up with Teddy, luckily having plenty of pocket change on him. As he did so, James, Peter and Remus decided that it would be best to start by retracing their steps in the forest. Remus hoped Sirius tipped Teddy well.
***
As it turned out, their stock of weapons was no match against the manticore.
They had tried everything - battle axes, crossbows, fists, but the damn thing was too powerful. Cas’s angel shield was only going to be able to hold it off for so long.
Suddenly, Dean heard more footsteps coming up from behind them. God, he hoped they were friendly. “If we just retrace our steps…” a young English voice started before apparently catching a glimpse of the action unfolding in front of them. Dean hated when kids got involved.
“Bloody hell, it’s a manticore!” one of the other boys shouted. There were four of them in all, and Dean recognized that they were the same kids stuffed into a booth at that pub.
“Go back!” yelled Sam. “Save yourselves!”
The one with the messy black hair and glasses did just the opposite. “You think a bunch of muggles can handle a manticore?!” With that he rolled up his sleeves, got a stick out of his pocket, and yelled, “Stupefy!” A ray of light emanated from the stick, but it bounced off Cas’s shield and knocked the kid right back to the ground.
“Is he doing wandless magic?!” the tallest asked curiously, but the short, stocky one quickly shut him up.
“Not the time, Moony!”
The manticore seemed to be closer than ever to puncturing the shield. Panicking, Dean looked to Sam. “Protect the kids!” he yelled. Sam looked like he was going to object for a moment, but then began rallying the boys.
“Come on, guys! In the Impala!” The boys followed Sam as Sam picked up the one with glasses, still woozy after getting knocked down by that laser.
Just then, the beast ripped through the shield and started running for the Impala. Shit. Dean lunged toward it with its crossbow, but was beaten to the punch. A bright light came flashing towards the manticore, nearly blinding it. He realized it was another car, this one a bright sky blue with its high beams blinding the monster. The beast seemed to be no match for the machine, as it cowered away.
Dean took a deep breath. It had happened so fast, but it seemed that the manticore had gone away, for now at least. He took stock and saw Castiel’s body slumped to the ground of the forest floor. “Cas!” he cried as he rushed to his side.
Thankfully, Cas was still stirring. “Dean? Did we stop it?”
Dean carefully patted his shoulder and smiled. “For now, buddy.” Cas smiled back, seemingly satisfied.
He heard the Impala car doors slam and remembered that there was a whole lot more to deal with. “Is he okay?” Sam asked, the four boys trailing behind him.
“Just need a few minutes to regain my strength,” Cas replied, content to lie on the forest floor. Dean gave him a final pat and approached Sam and the kids.
“Who are you guys anyway?” he asked.
The shaggy one with the cheekbones glowered at him. “We could ask you the same thing. You’re clearly not from around here.”
Dean had seen the weird laser trick, so figured at this point it was safe to share. “We’re monster hunters.”
“Are you muggles?” the short boy with the straw colored hair asked.
“Muggle?!” Sam looked as perplexed as Dean felt.
The tall gangly one took this one. “A non-magical person. Look, it seems that something at least slightly magical here is happening, so I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to you that we are wizards. Pete here is just wondering if you are, too.”
“We’re...normal?” Dean knew this was far from the truth, but it didn’t seem quite like they aligned with wizardry of all things.
“We’ do deal with the supernatural pretty often, though,” Sam continued. “Our buddy, Cas, here is an angel.”
“Fascinating! I thought that angels were myths!” The gangly one inched closer to Cas.
“...you’re a wizard ,” Dean replied. “Well wiz kids, you got names?”
“Are we using the real ones or the fake ones?” Pete whispered to the cheekbone boy.
“Cat’s bloody out of the bag, now, dimwit.” He rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s not like they’ll know us.” He addressed Dean and Sam. “I’m Sirius, this dummy is Peter, the nerd about to start prodding at your angel friend is Remus, and the sleepy one is James.” James was still passed out in the Impala.
Sam nodded. “Well, I’m Sam and this is my brother, Dean.”
Peter cocked his head to the side. “You’re from America?”
“Kansas to be exact.”
“There’s no place like home!” the tall one, Remus interjected, his face quickly falling at the lost stares from the other boys. “I swear, one of these days I’ll take you to the muggle cinema.”
“One of these days, Moony.” Sirius chuckled to himself as he tenderly patted Remus on the shoulder. “So, I suppose the monster in particular you’re hunting is that manticore.”
Sam nodded gravely. “It’s been disturbing some nearby villages, yes.”
“Maybe we can help,” said Remus. “I studied manticores a bit in Care of Magical Creatures. I bet the literature on them is way more advanced than it was in our time.”
“...your time ?”
Sirius took a deep breath. “So...there’s more….”
***
Once they successfully revived James and Cas, the boys and the Americans made their way back to the Hog’s Head. They conceded leaving the car in the forest, after the blue Ford kept revving its engines at them when they’d try to drive off. On the way over, they filled the Americans in on their situation. The Americans had a world-weary way about them, as though they knew they should be startled by what they were hearing but no longer could be because they had already amassed so much other knowledge of the world’s peculiarities.
As they would not have access to Hogwarts’ library, they decided the bookshop, Tomes and Scrolls, would be their best bet. Remus and Castiel made their way inside as the others dispersed; they couldn’t be sure that shop owners from their time wouldn’t recognize them, and figured they would be far more likely to do so if they came in as a set. Peter and Sam would buy some more supplies while Dean, James, and Sirius would begin strategizing at the Hog’s Head.
Remus was quite glad that he was paired with Castiel. It was fascinating to learn how their magic and powers differed. Cas was an interesting fellow who knew so much about the machinations of the universe, yet Remus could see he struggled with some of the finer points of human interaction, a burden Remus knew all too well.
“So you shapeshift, as well?” Cas asked, also intrigued by Remus.
“Well, me by accident. I was bitten by a werewolf when I was five. Sirius had the idea to become Animagi. I hated the idea at first, but he wouldn’t hear of not doing it. That’s how he is, he just...cares so fiercely.” Remus smiled to himself.
As they continued to peruse new publications in the Magical Creatures section, Cas looked Remus over carefully. “Your friend, Sirius. You care for him too, don’t you?”
Remus froze. “I care for all of my friends - they’re like my family.”
“But you have a deeper bond with Sirius.”
“I...yeah.” Remus did not elaborate and busied himself flipping through the index of Millennium Monsters: Beasts in the Twenty-First Century .
“Like me and Dean.” It was a statement more than a question. Remus looked back at Cas then, both of them searching and finding the same sentiment. Remus nodded carefully. Satisfied, Cas looked back to the books. “Find anything?”
Remembering himself, Remus scanned the M’s and there it was. “Oh, yes…this will be useful, I think!”
Cas nodded. “Arlight, let’s check the Temporal Magic section.” Remus followed Cas through the stacks as their search went on.
***
The bartender with the funny hair smirked when they walked in. “I see you boys are a bunch of social butterflies.”
Dean nodded curtly, while Sirius and James awkwardly laughed, apparently on better terms with the bartender. “You know us, Ted.” They chose seats as far from the bar and its other patrons as possible and as they sat, James muttered, “Muffliato” and stuck his stick in the air. Dean’s surprise must have shown on his face because James followed that up with, “It’s a silencing charm. They won’t be able to hear us chatting.”
Sirius leaned back in his seat. “Good thinking, mate. Lots of plotting to be done.” And plot, they did. Dean found that they gelled well together. The boys ( marauders, they called themselves) were apparently quite the troublemakers at school and plotting pranks served them well in plotting an attack.
“Alright, so this Remus kid and Cas will be able to fill in some of the blanks,” Dean said, “but I think we have enough of an idea to strike tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” James and Sirius eyed each other, looking worried.
“What, do you have other plans?”
The two boys looked at each other again, silently debating whether they wanted to tell Dean something or other. “Well,” James began. “It’s a full moon tomorrow, if our calculations are correct.”
“They’re correct,” Sirius confirmed sharply. “I saw the moon last night.”
“And, you see, our friend Remus has a bit of an...affliction.”
Dean rolled his eyes at whatever teen magic nonsense these kids were coming up with. “What, is he a werewolf or something?” James and Sirius both looked down at that. Oh, shit. “Wait...you’re best friends with a monster?!”
Sirius’ face snapped up at that. “What did you call him?!”
James grabbed Sirius’ arm as Dean saw him reach into his pocket. “Padfoot…”
“What did you call him?!”
Dean was perplexed, remembering the times he’d done battle with plenty of rather monstrous werewolves. He still had a scar on his leg from the last time. “Werewolves are monsters. What, are they not in your world?”
James continued to restrain Sirius, who continued to glare at Dean without blinking. “There’s certainly a...stigma. But really, people haven’t taken the time to study them enough, not really. Remus wouldn’t dream of hurting a fly when he’s human, which is most of the time. And when we transform with him, even the wolf calms down.”
“You’re werewolves, too?!”
Sirius, with his shoulders relaxed but eyes still fixed angrily on Dean, responded, “When we learned about Moony’s condition, we decided to help him. We weren’t a bunch of prats about it.”
“We’re what’s called Animagi,” James continued calmly. “We learned to transform into animals at will. I’m a stag, Pete’s a rat, and Sirius is a dog.” This made sense to Dean, who thought that Sirius could benefit from some sort of leash right now. Maybe a rabies shot too - the kid seemed like he could foam at the mouth at one point. “We keep our wits about us, but the wolf Remus won’t attack us. We can reel him in.”
“It’s not his fucking fault. We care about him - all of him.” Sirius said, it seemed half to Dean and half to the wizarding world as a whole. “It’s a bunch of bullshit. We just want to make it somewhat more bearable. He deserves the fucking world.”
Dean nodded. It was always a shame when they interacted with a werewolf, how they couldn’t help the person trapped in there. If these kids had figured out a solid plan to keep their friend at bay, more power to them. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he conceded.
“Yeah, it does,” Sirius replied, still geared up to fight.
***
“It’s just - we all know .”
Sam chuckled. “Oh, dude, don’t I know it.”
Peter walked a bit slower, delaying their time getting back to the Hog’s Head. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be part of the strategizing (quite rude he wasn’t invited in the first place, in fact), but he found that Sam was a sympathetic ear. “Do they do the whole googly-eyes-thinking-nobody-will-notice thing in front of you too?”
“ Totally. And you never know if they’re going to tense up or go completely lax whenever they make the slightest bit of contact with each other.”
“And lest we forget…”
“...the little moments where they completely forget you’re there!” they finished in unison.
“Ya know,” said Sam, “I never thought some British kid from the 1970s would be the one who finally got it, but, man, you get me.”
“Same here, my friend.” Peter smiled as they approached the door to the Hog’s Head.
***
By the time Remus and Cas returned to the Hog’s Head, the rest of the group was waiting for them. Remus slunk down in the chair next to Sirius, stack of new books in hand. “So,” Sirius said, “you bookworks find anything?”
“A few things, actually - some good, some bad.” Remus started by flipping through the time travel book. “‘Muggle-born entrepreneur Martin McFleigh took inspiration from muggle cinema in the mid-1980s in his study of temporal magic. He found that similar to being shrouded in a time turner necklace, wizards engulfed in a vessel that could accrue velocity upped their chances of achieving temporal deviation significantly.’”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Are you kidding?”
Remus raised his eyebrows. “I mean, that’s what the book says.”
“You have to Back to the Future your way into the past?!”
James eyed Sam, confused. “We’re going back to the past...we’re already in the future.”
“It’s a movie,” Sam explained. “The characters drive a car to get to the past.”
“Then why is it called Back to the Future?”
Sam rubbed his temples. “I liked it better when you guys were the ones doing the explaining to me.”
Sirius put an arm around Remus, which Remus couldn’t decide whether to tense up or relax into. “Well, it sounds like we have something to go off to get back to our own time! So how about that manticore?”
Remus slumped a bit. “That’s where we run into an issue.”
Castiel recited, “‘No man nor man made object can defeat a manticore.’”
Dean perked up at this. “Well, that’s perfect then. Remus, you’re only half a man.”
Sam looked at Dean incredulously. “What the hell, Dean - these kids have been through a lot and now you’re just…”
“No, Sammy,” Dean interrupted. “He’s a werewolf. I’ll explain later.” Remus could feel his cheeks turn red, but was ultimately grateful he didn’t have to divulge another secret to these men. Dean continued, “You all can turn into animals, right? So maybe you can defeat this thing.”
Remus looked to Sirius, who shrugged as if to say, up to you, mate. “I know werewolf me behaves with these lot. But I dunno if they could keep me at bay in front of actual humans - we typically try to avoid those.”
“Not a human,” Cas chimed in.
“And we’ve handled werewolves before,” Sam contributed, which earned him a death stare from Sirius. “I mean, we wouldn’t hurt you. But we could handle ourselves with you,” he amended. Sirius nodded approvingly.
“Okay, then. Let’s get cracking.”
***
Remus, Sirius, and James went upstairs to get some rest. They had invited Peter up with him, but now Peter and Sam were deeply embroiled in a conversation about food in the wizarding world. (“You guys just never have salad?!”) Dean, who had barely slept the night before, decided it was probably in their best interest for the attack tomorrow to get some rest. He arranged a room with Teddy, whose girlfriend was back to help them figure out exchange rates between their money and those weird coins. “Cas, you wanna come?” he asked, as he could see that Cas was utterly lost in the conversation between Sam and Peter, who had become fast friends.
He knew that Cas didn’t sleep, but was grateful for the company as he made his way up the stairs. “Ya know,” Dean said, “I really thought I’d seen everything at this point. But these kids keep surprising me.”
Cas nodded and plopped on the bed next to Dean. “I like the werewolf, Remus.”
Dean agreed, “Yeah, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. That Sirius kid...he’s a firecracker.”
“Have you noticed that there seems to be….something there?”
Dean hadn’t quite considered it, but it made Sirius’s outburst earlier make sense. “Yeah, I see what you mean. He’s very protective of Remus.”
“It’s nice to see. I don’t think it’s really widely accepted in their time.”
“Damn, not even among wizards? That freakin’ sucks.”
Cas nodded gravely. “These communities. So expansive in their power, but not in their thinking. Like the angels.” Dean could feel his pulse start to race, starting to get what Cas was saying. “Their world is very wide. It’s both a blessing and a curse when you find the one who can best go through it with you.”
Their shoulders were getting closer, but neither dared say a word. Dean was emotionally preparing himself to look at Cas, really look at him, when he heard. “Yeah, you too! Night, Pete!” booming outside the door. Cas quickly jumped off the bed, as if it had burned him.
“I’m beat,” Sam said as he plopped onto Cas’s exact spot. Dean was still rattled from whatever hung in the air, but he scooted over to make room for Sam. They promptly turned the lights off, ready for bed.
Dean did not get the sleep he was hoping for.
***
Remus was the first to wake up, nervous about how the night would unfold. Sure, the other Marauders could keep him at bay when he transformed, but that was outside of the presence of humans. Would Dean and Sam (maybe even Cas - did werewolves discern between humans and angels) be able to extract themselves if things got too serious? All these worries on an empty stomach was not doing him well, so he hoped Teddy had opened things up downstairs.
Luckily, the smell of sausage hit his nose the second he opened the door. He imagined that Teddy was feeling the effects of the approaching full moon as well. He tiptoed his way downstairs, careful not to wake any of the others.
Teddy was humming an unfamiliar tune to himself while wiping down to the opposite corner of the bar. “Morning,” Remus said to announce himself, which made Teddy jump.
“John! You scared me!” Teddy laughed as he regained his composure. “It’s proper early, you hungry?”
Remus nodded abashedly. “I have...er...a high metabolism.”
“You and me both, pal.” Teddy went to the kitchen to grab Remus a plate, as Remus sat down at the bar. He wondered about Teddy’s life - what his time was like at Hogwarts, who his friends were, what James’s son was like. There was something familiar about him, and he felt like they could’ve been friends if they weren’t separated by time.
“Here you are!” Teddy slid some sausage and toast to Remus, which he quickly devoured. “You lot just about done with your project?”
Between bites, Remus responded, “We’re hoping to wrap it up today.”
Teddy nodded. “Good on ya - it was quite nice to have some younger people around these parts for a couple of days! Make sure to pop back in during your Hogsmeade trips! I should still be here in the autumn! If you play your cards right, I could even hook you up with some firewhiskey…’
Remus resisted the urge to tut, having accepted that rule-breaking was an inevitable part of life as a Marauder. He was upset he wouldn’t be able to take Teddy up on his offer, but conceded a “Yeah, of course!” to keep his spirits up.
The others joined gradually, the air a bit heavier with the weight of an impending battle. Sirius, still tired, sleepily plopped himself into the stool next to Remus and laid his head on his shoulder. “It’s too early for this,” Sirius moaned, “they woke me up.”
“We have to get into formation,” Dean said, clearly not in the mood to mess around. “We have a finite amount of daylight.”
Sirius groaned and only buried his head deeper into Remus’s shoulder. Remus let him stay like that until Teddy brought out his breakfast.
***
Dean was going to miss these boys, he had to admit. They were a bunch of tricksters - they reminded him of how he and Sam used to prank each other on long car rides. But more importantly, they cared for each other like brothers (eh, maybe a little more than brothers when it came to that Sirius kid with Remus), and it was nice to see.
Dean hoped their talents for mischief carried over to practicality in battle. This manticore was serious business, based on all of their research. And as much as he liked Remus in human form, he wasn’t a particularly big fan of his species as a whole when they wolfed out.
The plan was simple: James, and Peter would lure the manticore over to Remus, who at that point would be transformed. Sirius would keep the wolf distracted until then. Sam, Dean, and Cas would be back-up; they may not be able to kill the thing but they could at least slow it down.
Dean was maybe a bit liberal when it came to budgeting for time. As they approached the clearing in the forest, it was still 2 hours away from sunset. They arrived at the clearing to an odd sight - the Ford from before was...nuzzling the Impala? It almost seemed startled as they approached and backed up slightly. Dean thought to himself that even his car had a better love life than he did.
“What are we supposed to do no-ow?” Sirius whined.
Dean shot him a glare. “We wait.”
The boys’ silence lasted all of five minutes before Remus unconsciously began to whistle. Dean didn’t blame him, and he was into the Doobie Brothers. It was no bother. However, he didn’t love when leading up to the chorus, Sirius began to belt out, “MISSISSIPPI MOON, WON’T YOU KEEP ON SHINING ON MEEEEE!”
“Okay, kid. You need to walk off whatever pent up nervous energy you got, ‘cause we’re not about to sabotage this whole ass plan so we can entertain you for an hour.”
“I’ll take him,” said James forlornly, as if he was used to this, and the two set off for a lap around the forest.
Dean smirked and turned to Sam, who returned the smile.
The others bided their time quietly, the only disturbance being Peter quietly showing Remus and Sam a particularly cool rock. After a time, James returned alone.
“Moony,” James sighed, exasperated, “he wants to talk to you. Alone.” Remus didn’t seem to know whether he should be annoyed or nervous, so settled on a perfect mixture of the two as he walked off towards the general direction James was beckoning towards.
Dean rolled his eyes, but saw Sam and Peter give each other a small eyebrow wiggle. It looked like his brother was also knee deep in this stupid teen drama.
“Am I the only adult around here?” Dean wondered aloud.
“I am thousands of years older than you,” Cas contributed. Dean smiled despite himself.
***
Remus had no fucking clue what Sirius had in store for their little chat, but came across Sirius pacing in a small clearing of the forest. “Padfoot...what’s wrong?”
Sirius stopped abruptly to look at Remus, then began pacing again. “Nothing. I mean. I just...walk with me?” Remus hesitantly followed Sirius through his pacing, bracing himself for whatever was coming. Sirius had once told him he hated to make eye contact during difficult conversations, which is why he and James would go for their walks whenever they had a row. Remus had assumed that their works usually spanned more than 10 feet, but he obliged nevertheless.
“It’s...I was talking to Prongs, okay? And he was trying to get me to chill out. But then he asked what was wrong, which made it worse?”
“Er...well, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“That’s just bloody it. I have to but I can’t.”
Trying to figure out how to navigate whatever emotional minefield Sirius had prepared, Remus tried to help. “Can you tell me what you told Prongs at least? Would that be helpful?”
“ Would that be... ARGH!” Sirius picked up his speed and Remus was worrying he was going to have to start jogging at a certain point. “I’m just so fucking worried . Will you be okay? Will the manticore hurt you? Will those demon hunter guys hurt you?”
Remus looked down, dismayed. “So you don’t think I can handle it? Haven’t I proved myself? I’m a Marauder, aren’t I?”
Sirius finally stopped in his tracks and faced Remus, grabbing his shoulders. “Don’t you see, Moony?! You’re more than that? You’re...you’re...”
“....I’m…?”
“Oh, fucking hell!” With that, Sirius grabbed Remus’s face and sloppily kissed him square on the lips. Remus practically tripped backwards, taking a moment to process. Sirius had just kissed him . Oh dear, had Remus forgotten to kiss him back? By the panicked look on his face, he had. Remus stepped forward timidly to rectify the situation, lacing his hands with Sirius’s and slowly going in for another kiss, Sirius meeting him in the middle.
After a minute or so, they parted, but kept their hands together. Sirius grinned and finished his earlier thought. “Moony, you’re mine .”
***
They were about 15 minutes away from sunset now, and those two little shits weren’t back yet. Dean went off to round them up, only to meet them a few steps away. They were holding hands. Ignoring the tinge of jealousy that he’d have to unpack later, he said, “Come on, lovebirds, time to fight a monster.” The boys giggled and followed after him.
As they approached the site, Sam and Peter gave each other a high-five upon seeing the boys’ hands. “You owe me a galleon!” Peter said excitedly to Sam.
“I have no idea what that is, but sure thing, bud!”
Dean shushed them and told everyone to get into formation. Immediately the giggles stopped - it was nearly showtime.
James and Peter were the first to transform. Dean had seen a lot of weird shit, but watching two teenagers become animals was certainly up there. James was now a fairly majestic deer, and it looked like Peter had completely disappeared, until he saw a rat scurry up the deer’s leg and onto its back. Dean nodded at Deer James and it looked like it nodded back before prancing off into the forest, the sun nearly set.
Remus was lying in the fetal position on the forest floor now, with Sirius tenderly stroking his back. It looked like the poor kid was in a lot of pain. Dean gestured at Cas and Sam to grab their weapons and get into their hiding places - the transformation was about to start.
Remus yelped in excruciating pain as Sirius backed away. He had presumably seen this before, and took a pained deep breath before transforming into a big, black, shaggy dog. He seemed like the type of dog Dean usually wasn’t a big fan of, but tonight the dog was quite somber. Dean and the others looked on in horror as Remus’s face and body contorted as his bones shifted into new sockets and he started to grow hair all over his body. When the wolf got up and howled, Dean could tell the sweet kid they’d been hanging out with the past couple days had left the building.
Wolf Remus began sniffing the air, and Dean hoped he wouldn’t smell them. To distract him, Dog Sirius began circling him and yapping. Their dynamic seemed playful, a couple of canine companions. The distraction seemed to work as now they were chasing each other’s tails.
Dean heard a great thumping approaching, and the deer skid towards them. That was the sign - the manticore was on its way. Dean clutched his crossbow instinctually, though he knew it was no match against this thing.
Wolf Remus began sniffing the air again, sensing the new presence. He snarled - this was not a scent he seemed to like. The manticore appeared from the brush, three times Wolf Remus’s size, which he seemed to care little about. The other Animal Boys ducked out of the way as the manticore and the wolf circled each other, each almost daring each other to make the first move.
Finally, Wolf Remus snapped at the manticore, and all bets were off. Wolf Remus was swift, but the manticore was big. It let out a nearly human laugh as Wolf Remus took a tumble. Dog Sirius lurched forward, but Deer James stepped in front of him.
From a nearby tree a bright light suddenly shone. Deer James stopped to stare at it, while Dog Sirius snuck past him. The light was emanating from Cas’s palms. Luckily, the manticore was also rather beholden to the light and Wolf Remus struck its legs. The manticore took a slow tumble to the ground now unconscious at the foot of the tree, Dean was hiding in. He remembered the knife in his pocket and began to saw a heavy branch. The branch struck the manticore in the head, only deepening its sleep. Wolf Remus finished the job with a fatal scratch to its throat. The manticore was dead.
Dean stifled his cheer, before realizing that Cas had inadvertently put a target on his tree by revealing himself. Wolf Remus remembered the bright light and began clawing his way up the tree. Dean wasn’t sure if wolves could climb, but he sure as shit wasn’t about to find out. He carefully aimed his crossbow, making sure to only take out one of the wolf’s paws.
Wolf Remus yelped in pain and tail between his legs, lept down. Dog Sirius immediately ran to Dean’s tree to bark and growl at him.
“Oh, shut up, will you!” Dean yelled back, assuming those barks were in the place of some choice words. “You protected your little boyfriend, I get to protect my….!” He trailed off but the insinuation was there. The dog stopped yapping as all of them looked at Dean wide-eyed. Oh, shit. “I mean. Ugh. I mean..Cas? You get what I mean, right?”
“I do, Dean.” Dean had avoided looking in Cas’s direction but spared a glance at that. Cas was glowing, mostly in a figurative sense but also maybe in an angel magic sense, too. Fuck, Dean finally allowed himself to think, he looked good .
Dean smiled shyly back at Cas before remembering himself. “Cool. Well, let’s maybe chat more about this when we’re not in a fucking magic forest.”
Cas nodded as they all grew quiet again, though Dean could very clearly hear Sam muttering to himself while stifling laughter. Finding a sturdy part of his tree to sit, Dean felt himself drift off to sleep in the peaceful quiet.
***
Though his friends were shit at healing charms, Sam was luckily quite good at Muggle first aid. Add a dash of some angelic healing energy from Castiel, and Remus’s hand was good as new the next day.
Remus was a bit sad to leave their new friends. Apparently, there had been some other sort of revelation during the night - when Remus finally had his wits about him post transformation, he noticed that Dean had a protective arm around Castiel’s waist. Remus raised an eyebrow to him, to which Castiel smiled and nodded.
The nice thing about having friends who were quite good at non-healing magic was that he was able to recover comfortably as the other Marauders began charming the Ford Anglia. “It’s all because of your research, dear!” Sirius had reassured him, trying out the pet name. James retched exaggeratedly, but swiftly gave them both a wide grin. Remus wasn’t sure it would stick, but he was happy to try as long as Sirius wanted.
After a bit, James announced, “I think we’re up and running.” He revved the engine of the car, which purred reassuringly.
All of the boys nodded and looked to Dean, Cas, and Sam. Sirius was the first to approach, gravely sticking his hand out to Dean. “Winchester,” he said.
Dean began to reach for Sirius’s hand, but dropped it at the last second. “Ah, come here, kid,” he said as he pulled Sirius into a short hug and ruffled his hair.
The rest exchanged their goodbyes, Sam and Peter trying to figure out what year it wouldn’t be weird for Peter to start hanging out with Sam in the future. Remus and Castiel gave each other a meaningful glance and hugged. James revved the engine again. “Nice to meet you guys, but we’re running out of time!” He laughed at his own stupid joke.
The boys piled into the car, Remus’s hand automatically searching for and finding Sirius’s. They gave a final wave as the car drove off into the past.