Work Text:
“Welcome to The Order, what can I get you?”
“Can we please get two large hazelnut iced lattes with three extra shots of espresso in each?”
“Uhm, of course,” Remus laughed looking at the two teenagers in front of him. “Long day ahead?”
“Kind of, we are-” the boy began to explain before his friend cut him off.
“No, just a regular day. Just need some coffee first.”
“Right,” Remus replied slowly, turning away from the teenagers to make their drinks while they argued quietly.
“We can tell him, Josh,” the first friend whispered. “He works here, maybe he knows about it.”
“Thomas, if we tell him, he’ll think we’re crazy!”
“But what if he can help us? There’s always a townsperson that gives the missing piece of the puzzle so that we can find what we’re looking for!”
“But at what cost?!”
“Josh, we don’t know what to do… we’ve been here for five hours and we’re no closer than we were yesterday.”
“We will find it out on our own.”
“Trust me,” the friend pleaded, a look of desperation in his eyes. “Please?”
“Fine,” Josh whispered as the two friends turned to see Remus approaching them with their drinks.
“Here you boys go,” Remus smiled as he placed the drinks on the counter. “Anything else for you two?”
“We… we have a question for you if you have a couple of minutes?”
“Well, I’m actually due to take my break right about now,” Remus shrugged as he motioned Sirius over to him. “If you give me a couple of minutes to make my drink, I can meet you at one of the tables outside if that works?”
“That would be great,” the boy smiled. “I’m Thomas by the way and this is Josh.”
“Nice to meet you both, I’m Remus. I’ll be out in just a moment.”
As the two boys left the café, Sirius strode over to Remus and gave his friend the usual drink he made on breaks.
“Everything okay, Moons?”
“I think so? Those two boys want to talk to me so I’m going to take my break now and should be back within 15 minutes.”
“Do you know what they want? Is it safe? Are you sure-”
“Woah, slow down, Pads,” Remus laughed. “It’s two teenage boys, no need to get protective of me. I’m sure I’ll be able to handle whatever they have to ask.”
“I’ll always try to protect you, you’re one of my best friends… plus Lily would murder me if something happened to you while she’s on bed rest because of the baby and her fall last week.”
“I will be fine, and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’ll try not to burn down the café then,” Sirius smirked, laughing when Remus threw his apron at his face. “I’ll be here if you need anything, just a bloody murder scream away.”
“How sweet of you.”
With an eye roll and a small chuckle, Remus took his drink and walked out to the table where the two boys were. As he approached, he saw notebooks, pens, a map, a compass, and anything you would need on an adventure piling out of one of their backpacks onto the table. Josh and Thomas seemed to be focused on their conversation tracing the maps with their fingers, muttering to each other, and covering the map when someone would walk by.
As Remus approached, Thomas and Josh shoved their items into the backpack and waved at him.
“Hey Remus,” Thomas greeted. “Sorry about this, I hope we’re not bothering you too much.”
“You’re not bothering me at all. What can I do for you both?”
“Well… it’s just… we had a question-”
“A total hypothetical question!” Josh added, elbowing Thomas in the ribs with a glare.
“Yes, a totally hypothetical question,” Thomas continued. “Uhm, do you believe in ghosts?”
Thrown off guard by the question and the images that came to mind, Remus couldn’t stop the laugh that came out. It was funny, he never thought that would be the question the two boys seemed beyond nervous to ask. He quickly realized the matching frowns that Thomas and Josh wore, so attempting to cover up his laughter with a cough, he replied.
“I do, actually. I believe in ghosts and ghost armies; I even believe that there is magic in the universe that is uncommon and unknown to the majority of people and is a well-kept secret among those who know and practice.”
“Really?”
“Really, Josh,” Remus smiled. “In fact, I accidentally became a leader of a creepy ghost army for a short time when I was younger.”
“I’m sorry, but how does one become a leader of a ghost army?”
“Especially when you’re not a ghost,” Thomas added.
“Well, it’s a bit of a long story…”
“We have time!”
“Let me text my family and I will see if I can switch a shift,” Remus said, pulling out his phone and pretending not to see the excited looks the two friends shared with each other.
( Remus / Lily / Sirius / James )
11:22 am: James, are you able to come in and cover me for about 25 minutes after my break ends? I’ve gotten tangled up in a story time with some teenagers and I can’t ruin their excitement and say I can’t stay to tell the story.
11:23 am: Oh? What story?
11:23 am: They get story time with Moony and we don’t?! You never tell us stories! Why do those kids get stories?:(
11:23 am: As long as Lily is okay on her own, yep. I’ll leave in a couple of minutes.
11:24 am: Perfect, thanks. And it’s just a story about the ghost army I was a leader of back when I was in the hospital. Thanks, guys! Also, I’ll bring the pizza over tonight to the Potter-Black household for supper if that’s still the plan.
11:25 am: I’m sorry, THE WHAT story?! Excuse me, Moons, why haven’t I heard this story?!
11:25 am: Ohhh, okay. I think you mentioned that briefly at some point but I don’t think you told me everything. Finish the story tonight when the boys play Mario Kart? And yes, pizza is still the plan!
11:25 am: THE WHAT STORY?! REMUS?!
11:26 am: Alright, sounds good. Talk to you guys tonight, thanks again.
11:27 am: You can’t not tell us! We wanna know too!
11:27 am: You can’t just tell Lily! Sharing is caring!
11:30 am: Remus?.... Hello?...
“Alright,” Remus began as he put his phone on silent and looked at Josh and Thomas. “It started when a group of friends and I were all hanging out in the hospital playground…”
(Flashback)
“It’s too hot,” Marlene complained as she lay stretched out on the picnic table. “We’re prisoners in this yard and we’re guarded by Satan’s mistress.”
“Be nice,” Dorcas replied, Frank sitting beside her on the bench and Remus sitting across from them on the other side. “Maybe she won’t be too bad today.”
“I beg to differ,” Frank grumbles as he sneaks a look at the nurse guarding the door.
“Then beg, Frank. We won’t stop you. But Umbridge is the worst and I bet even Satan wouldn’t want to think of her like that-”
“Mr Lupin,” Umbridge called out from across the yard in perfect timing as she cut his sentence short. “You have a visitor coming soon so get ready to go inside.”
“Yes, Ma’am-”
“Don’t interrupt me!”
“But I thought-” Remus tried to defend himself before he was interrupted yet again by Umbridge.
“Don’t argue with me! You know what, maybe you and your friends will learn if you lose ice cream privileges tonight.”
“I take it back,” Dorcas sighs. “The hottest day and we lose ice cream because she won’t remove the stick from her-”
“Wait, who’s visiting you today? Do you think your parents are finally coming?”
“I have no idea, Frank, but I hope not. I think it’ll either be Mrs McGonagall or my grandparents.”
The gang considered themselves lucky to be able to spend some of the day outside. It was hard to earn outside time while being in the Mental Hospital and it was harder when nurse Umbridge was around, but they still tried their best to enjoy the time they had.
The yard for the Mental Hospital was on the ground level of the children’s hospital. It was a large fenced-in area attached to the side of the hospital that towerd above the ground, sometimes providing a small amount of shade from the sun. On certain occasions, kids in the yard could look up and see people in the windows and wave at them. Today, however, most of the windows we cracked open to try and let in a cool breeze on the hot summer day.
A small chuckle left Remus’ mouth as he let his imagination run, his four friends giving him a very concerned look.
“Remus?...” Marlene whispered, shooting a glance at Umbridge who hadn’t seemed to have noticed the moment of joy Remus was experiencing to try and take it away. “What are you thinking about?”
“Yeah, and stop it before you get anything else taken away from us. Come on, man… save Dorcus, Marlene, and I from whatever trouble you’re going to get in.”
“I was just thinking how hot it is,” Remus shrugged. “And how hot Umbridge must be in those giant pink scrubs.”
“What else are you thinking of?...”
“Well, dearest Frank, I was thinking of how funny it would be if water was thrown on her to cool her off-”
“Are you crazy?!” Marlene yelled as quietly as she could. “Do you want to die-”
“Yes!”
“Okay,” she sighed at her three friends’ answers. “Not what I meant. I mean, that is a crazy idea and not a good idea!”
“As much as I want to die,” Dorcas began, “she’s right. You can’t do something like that.”
“I wasn’t going to do it! I was just thinking about how it would cheer us up to see that.”
“Uh huh, and how’re you going to make that happen? Marlene, Frank, and I won’t help you do that.”
“I don’t know,” Remus shrugged. “Maybe I’ll offer some snacks to some ghosts or something as a form of payment.”
“That wouldn’t work and you know it-”
Before the comment could be finished, a scream erupted from the doorway. Jumping up from the picnic table, the gang looked toward the direction the scream came from and were speechless at the sight.
In front of the door stood Umbridge, soaking wet with the remnants of broken water balloons surrounding her.
Security and two other nurses ran out the door, followed by none other than Minerva McGonagall, to figure out the source of the scream.
“Dolores, what happened?!”
“Water balloons!” she shrieked loudly, her body still seeming to be frozen in place. “They fell from the sky and hit me!”
“Oh no,” one of the nurses replied sympathetically, everyone seeming to try to hide their smiles and laughter except for Umbridge (who was nowhere close to laughing or smiling). “Did you see anyone who did it?”
“No! But you have to go find them and… and… do something about it,” she stomped and pointed at the security guard.
“Why don’t you go change, Dolores, I’ll watch the kids. Security will go… look for a water balloon-dropping person I guess?”
“Fine. And keep an eye on the children, they’re sneaky and always up to no good. Mr Lupin has a visitor though-”
“Yes yes, I know the drill, I also work here almost every day,” the other nurse sighed and waved at the gang still standing at the picnic table. “Remus, dear! You have a visitor!”
Before Remus could make his way to the door, Marlene grabbed his arm and pulled the four friends into a circle.
“What… just happened?” Frank whispered in horror and awe.
“I think,” Dorcas quietly replied, “that Remus just became a leader of a ghost gang and they took his word of snack offerings to bring us some joy?”
“Make sure you feed them, Remus… I can’t lose the only source of entertainment we have found here... please!”
“I’ll keep giving them snacks,” Remus laughed, a genuine smile landing on all of their faces. “I’ll see you guys at supper.”
(Flashback Over)
“That was the start of things happening that I suggested but never did,” Remus explained, laughing at the jaw-dropped expressions in front of him. “Many people would say it was just a coincidence, but after more events like that happened, it was hard to deny.”
“Woah,” Thomas said in shock. “What else happened?”
“Umbridge tripped over nothing and fell into a birthday cake, she couldn’t open a pull door-”
“Almost like it was being held closed?!”
“Exactly. Her cans of soda would explode when she opened them even though no one was ever near them to shake them, so many other random things that I would say would be funny but no one ever makes happen would take place.”
“Did you keep leaving snacks and offerings for the ghosts?”
“Of course I did, Josh,” he smiled fondly. “There’s a lot of ghosts around the area, but I’m assuming you boys know that, don’t you?”
“There’s a legend,” Thomas began, pulling out the journals and maps. “We know there’s a place somewhere nearby where ghosts are. One in particular is called “Peeves.” There’s a strong magic pull where they are. We’ve made it this far but…”
“But you need the last piece of the puzzle, right?”
“Yeah… and you seemed nice and like you know stuff and you live here so we were wondering if you could help us?”
Remus looked at the two boys, he could see how much they believed in ghosts and magic. It reminded him of himself when he was younger, how could he not help? Reaching over the table and grabbing the red pen, Remus drew an ‘x’ in one of the forests beside a creek.
“You’ll find the key here,” he said quietly. “But remember, you can’t tell anyone about the secret treasure there. They only deserve to know if they find it themselves.”
It brought a bittersweet joy to Remus’ heart as he watched the boys run off after shouting their thanks back to him. Not everyone believes in magic or ghost tales, but he did and so did these boys. Besides, he didn’t think that the legend he and his gang spread around the hospital would still be alive and spreading to younger generations. He made the treasure come true when he left the hospital so the gang’s stories would live on, but he never expected to see the outcomes of the tales.