Chapter Text
Remus was proud to say that in the past six years he had been attending Hogwarts, he had compiled a nearly perfect study group. The only thing holding the group back from being truly perfect was the occasional bickering between Dorcas and some of the younger Gryffindor students, who had yet to learn that Slytherin stereotypes did not apply to all of the house members. Because of this, he found himself wishing more often than not that people could be more like himself, and just realize that your house did not determine your worth, and move past all the foolish stereotypes.
However, he was definitely not a complete saint when it came out moving past house stereotypes, especially when you compared the amount of pranks he and the other marauders had pulled on the Slytherins to the number of pranks they had pulled on all the other houses combined. As a group, they tended to dislike the Slytherin house members the most, so pranking them was just what made sense to them. It also helped him sleep though, to know that as long as he gave Doras a warning before any pranks were pulled, she would be able to avoid suffering through the consequences of her housemates.
Besides Dorcas, none of the other Slytherins had shown much of an interest in his study group, so while plotting mischievous pranks Remus was able to comfort himself with the idea that if any other Slytherins made an effort to be friends with him and proved that they were a good person, he could simply tell them what was going to happen.
Today was a Monday, otherwise known as the first day of the school week, and Remus’ second favorite day of the week. Remus’ strange love for Mondays was caused by the excitement of being able to lead his study group into their battle against never ending piles of homework and exams that needed to be prepared for, (second favorite only because he also held sessions on Fridays, so Fridays sessions would obviously top Mondays.) It was a fun day in his world.
Most Mondays began at what the majority of people would consider to be a normal time, but not today. On this crisp fall morning Remus awoke far too early to the sound of Sirius and James dancing around their red and gold dormitory to the beat of Killer Queen.
"Quiet down would you? I'm trying to rest here." Remus groaned angrily, throwing a pillow over his head.
"Aw look, little Moony's too tired to wake up after all his late night reading." Sirius taunted back at him. That certainly woke Remus up, as he immediately sat up in his bed, glaring at the dark haired man standing across the room from him.
"How did you know I was reading last night?" Sirius paused at this, then opened his mouth to say something, but not before James could join in the conversation.
"Moony, you're not as discrete as you think you are, the rest of us can hear your pages rustling all night long."
“Yeah what were you even reading that was so good anyways?” Peter asked, clearly having just woken up as a result of the other marauders early morning activities.
“Just school stuff y’know.” Remus replied hastily, knowing full well that if any of his friends thought to hard about his excuse they would realize that none of them had been given enough work yet for studying to be necessary, but no matter what they thought, it would still be unlikely that any of them realized the true reason he was up so late.
“That’s our Moony, always likes to stay on top of things” James smiled over at him from where he was still dancing slightly with Sirius. Remus nodded slowly, because even as smart as he was, the one thing he had never been able to master was staying on top of things. He couldn’t help it, ever since his first year of Hogwarts, he had been a chronic procrastinator, although in more recent years he’d learned how to manage his procrastinating habits and still get everything that he needed to done on time.
Shaking off the feeling that he was lying to his friends by not telling them what he was reading, Remus let out a wolf-like yawn and stretched, letting his pajama shirt ride up on his stomach and exposing the lower part of his torso.
“I’m starved, so now that you two have woken us up with your nonsense, would anyone like to come down and get some food with me?” he asked, staring at his friends who were beginning to put their robes on. Sirius shook his head, as if coming out of a trace, and while pulling on his left sock replied to his question with a slight nod. “Alright so besides Freddie Mercury over here, will anyone else be joining us for some breakfast?” Remus asked again.
“Yeah I’ll be there a few minutes after you guys though” James said while pulling his jumper over his head. “I want to read another chapter or two of that muggle novel Lily was talking about last week.”
“Pride and Prejudice?” Remus asked curiously, as he knew that's what she had been reading because they talked about it quite a bit.
“Yeah, it’s actually pretty good, I’ve been really liking it so far.” Jams stated as if he was just talking about something he did all the time, rather than something Remus had never thought he would do. James was a smart person, and usually came in around top 20 for most of his classes, but when it came to out of class stuff he tended to love things like quidditch and running, not “moony things” like reading or studying.
Sirius, apparently equally shocked by this phenomenon, looked over at his best friend with an expression of bewilderment on his face and said “Mate you are so whipped. Following her around like a puppy was one thing, but now you’re reading books for her? You don’t even read books for class.”
“You wouldn’t understand.” James sighed with a dreamy look on his face. “None of you would, because you’ve never experienced what it’s like to be in love with someone as perfect as Lily Evans.”
“I don’t know, Aralia is pretty perfect” Peter added in, once again reminding the group of his presence.
“No.” James stated matter of factly. “Aralia is perfect in the cookie cutter blonde, sweet, and skinny type of way. Lily is a completely original type of perfect, with the best personality you’ve ever seen and a body to match it.”
“She’s not like a cookie cutter in any way.” Peter declared, defending his girlfriend from James who could see no farther than the girl he had loved ever since third year when she whispered the answer to him in transfiguration class after he was called on.
“Yeah James, you know it’s okay to appreciate other girls too, right?” Remus questioned his friend, “You should probably try to date someone else this year, seeing as it’s been years and you still haven't made any progress with Lily.” He continued.
“He’s right mate, I love you, but maybe Lily’s just not meant for you.” Sirius added bluntly.
“Oi, just shut up all of you!” James exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “She IS perfect for me, we ARE meant to be together and I AM going to marry her someday!” he continued with a renewed sense of purpose.
“Ok, ok,” Sirius said with his hands up in the air as if to surrender, “Just give it some thought, all right?”
James stormed into the bathroom dragging his robes along behind him, slamming the door as soon as he exited their dormitory. The remaining three of them exchanged sheepish glances, knowing that they probably shouldn’t have spoken about Lily Evans so early in the morning, as it was a sore topic for James. Sirius was first to break the silence.
“Hey Pete, do you mind checking in on him if me and Moony go to breakfast, I think he’ll be the least mad at you right now.”
“Yeah sure, just make sure next time the two of you want to wake us all up early on a Monday morning not to start any fights about his future wife before it gets to seven”
“Yeah of course Pete, thanks so much!” Sirius yelled as he started running down the stairs, flashing his signature grin behind him.
Remus hadn’t even gotten out of his bed yet, and was hoping to stay under the warmth of the blankets he had just pulled back up a bit longer, but he supposed Sirius might not be thrilled if he wasn’t down in the common room and ready to leave soon.
Sighing and throwing his blankets over the edge of the four poster bed, Remus clambered to his feet slowly, seeing stars for a few seconds until he could blink them away. Wandering over to his trunk, he pulled out a pair of robes that he had yet to unpack and shook them out, hoping to remove as many wrinkles as possible with that motion. Once he had finished changing his pants, and began to remove his shirt, Remus felt an odd sensation, as though he was being watched.
Turning away from the window, his suspicion was confirmed when he saw Sirius Black standing at the top of the staircase with his mouth hanging slightly open. Upon realizing that Remus was aware of his presence, Sirius quickly closed his mouth and turned away, muttering something about “eyeliner” and how he forgot to apply it.
Remus, now feeling a little self conscious about his naked chest, quickly put on the top half of his outfit and turned back to Sirius, who was now using his favorite eyeliner pencil to add color around his eyes.
“You ready to go now?” Remus asked the back of Sirius’ head
“Yeah just give me a second '' Sirius mumbled, concentrating all of his energy into getting the perfect smudged eyeliner. Remus, not being the most patient person, began tapping his foot against the floor in an annoyed manner until Sirius finally looked away from his mirror and said “Fine, fine, I’m coming, all right, Jesus Moons, you’d think for someone as slow as yourself, you’d have some patience for those who like to take their time getting ready.”
“The world doesn't work like that Padfoot, people are hypocrites, and there's nothing you can do about it.” Remus remarked as he made his way past Sirius and to the staircase.
“Hey, hey, wait for me Moony!” Sirius yelled as Remus descended the stairs alone.
“Maybe I’m not the slow one after all!” Remus called back up the stairs. Even so, he still waited for Sirius to come sauntering down the stairs a few seconds later before they began their journey to the Great Hall for breakfast together.