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Prefect Duties


“Come along, first years!” Lily Evans called, taking Vivian Warshaw’s hand in hers. Vivian wore an expression of anticipation and fear, and Macy Struthers quickly grabbed onto Lily’s other hand as the boys clustered about Remus Lupin and the procession toward the door began. Remus looked over his shoulder at Sirius as he and James passed, followed by Peter, talking excitedly about the Prewetts. Only Peter noticed Remus, and he paused in the door to give him a thumbs up before turning and scurrying to keep up with the other two on the stairs. “This way, this way to Gryffindor!” Lily called proudly.

They made their way up the staircases, Remus catching onto the hood of Wally Grant’s robes just before he ran up over one of the disappearing steps recklessly. “Careful on the stairs,” Remus instructed him and he tapped the step with his foot and it vanished. “Things aren’t always what they seem at Hogwarts.” Wally’s eyes were wide.

“WHOA,” Dexter Cardwall yelled, “LOOK, THAT PICTURE’S MOVING!”

Liam Harding stared at Dexter, “Well of course it is, what’d you expect them to do, sit about all day? Blimey.”

“Well, yeah, sort of!” Dexter said, “What’s it moving for? Is it a picture show?”

“The portraits move, yeah,” Remus said, “Just like wizarding photographs do.”

Darcy McIntire’s eyes were wide, “Photographs move here, too?”

Remus reached in his pocket and held out a photo of himself with Sirius, toward the end of summer by Mr. Potter. Sirius had his arm ‘round Remus’s waist in the photo and they both had wide grins across their faces. They shuffled a bit and photo Remus blinked and laughed as photo Sirius made silly faces and bumped their shoulders together, hugging photo Remus tighter about the waist.

“Whoa,” said Dexter.

“Brilliant,” whispered Darcy.

Macy and Vivian pulled Lily over to look too and both of them had wide eyes.

“That’s a nice picture of the two of you,” Lily commented.

They continued up the stairs, pointing out particularly interesting things and landmarks that might help the first years navigate about in the future, and finally they reached the Fat Lady. Lily looked at Remus, “You want to do the honors, Rey?” she offered.

“Absolutely,” Remus reached in his pocket, where he’d put the bit of parchment bearing the password, and he stepped between the cluster of firsties, “This is the Fat Lady,” he announced. In his mind, he heard the echo of Bilius Weasley telling them in their first year this very same thing…

The Fat Lady was blinking at Remus, “Well,” she said, “I suppose it had to be one of you, didn’t it?” Remus smiled. The Fat Lady shook her head, “At least it isn’t Sirius Black!”

Remus chuckled, “I reckon Dumbledore fancies the castle stays standing.”

“Wise of him,” the Fat Lady answered. She cast her eyes over the first years. “You lot look like trouble.”

“It’s my middle name, Trouble,” Wally announced.

“Oh-ho!” The Fat Lady said at the cheek from Wally. She looked at Remus, “You and the other Marauders will have a fair bit of competition, it sounds.”

“What’s the Marauders?” asked Vivian Warshaw.

Lily looked at Remus, then smirked, “Yes, Remus, do explain what the Marauders are.”

Seven pairs of eyes turned to Remus Lupin.

He cleared his throat, then said, “Bunch of tossers, really,” and turned to the Fat Lady, “Bezoars.”

“Very well…” the Fat Lady swung open to give them admission and they crawled on through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Remus breathed in relief, like coming home from a very, very long journey. The crushed velvet couches and chairs were already full of students lying about. Sirius, James, and Peter were hogging the couch, James at one end, Sirius laying across it, his feet up on the arm of the couch, head in James’s lap, while Peter sat on the floor fretting over the new class schedule, moaning to himself.

Remus turned to the first years, “Alright, boys with me - girls with Lily. We’ll show you where your dorms are.”

Dexter Cardwall was staring about with wide, excited eyes as he followed Remus along up the stairwell. There was just so much to look at, it was hard to take it all in.

Remus showed the boys up to the dorms, pointing out the Marauders’ dorm on the way by, “My friend, Sirius, etched it a long time ago… but don’t do that, he really shouldn’t have, I’m sure McGonagall’s going to get really angry when she finds it eventually…” but even as he said it, Wally’s eyes were aglow with mischief. “If you ever need me, though, you can knock on the door and I’ll be there for you. I’m sure my friends would be happy to help you out, too, they’re great.”

When he got them to their dorms, the boys marvelled that their trunks were there and Wally Grant ran and jumped on the four poster bed with excitement as Oliver Kent laughed and Dexter Cardwall looked out the window at the grounds stretching off in the distance. Darcy McIntire and Liam Harding were looking over their class schedules already and getting excited about having Defense Against the Dark Arts class the next morning with the “policemen”. Remus smiled - they’d do alright, he thought, these five. Because there was hope. Harold Minchum had won the election, and he was going to defeat the Dark Lord and with a bit of luck and a lot of prayers perhaps none of these boys would ever need to use the things they would learn in Defense Against the Dark Arts because by the time they were old enough, Minchum would have ended Voldemort’s reign of terror at last.

“Alright you lot,” Remus said, “I’m going to leave you all to it…” he paused, then reached into his book bag and took out a large package of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans that he’d bought in Diagon Alley to give to his first years. “My mates and I had loads of fun with these when we were getting to know each other…” he handed them to Liam. “I trust you’ll explain what they are?” he smirked.

Liam grinned.

Downstairs, the common room had largely cleared out already. It was just the three other Marauders snoozing by the fire and Lily Evans, who was clearing up a few bottles of butterbeer from the table. Peter’s head leaned against James’s knee as he slept and Sirius was snoring quietly, snuggled into James’s side.

“You know, a more jealous man might not take this so well,” Remus commented.

James smirked, looking up as Remus leaned over the back of the couch beside his head, looking down at Sirius. “He’s all yours loverboy, don’t worry. I have no plans at taking him away from you whatsoever.” He laughed. “How’d prefect duties go?”

“Oi that was tiring, but amazing, too. They’re so hopeful. Remember when we were that tiny and hopeful?” Remus asked.

“Long time ago,” James murmured.

“One of the firsties reminds me of Sirius,” Remus murmured, “He’s got that same wild look in his eyes. Wally, his name is.”

James laughed, “Good luck with that one, then.”

The floorboards behind them creaked and Remus turned to see Lily Evans by the portrait hole. “Where are you going, Evans?” called James warily, “Sneaking out without us?”

Lily turned red, “None of your business, Potter.”

“As prefect, it’s sort of mine,” Remus pointed out. “It’s nearly curfew.”

Lily said, “Yes, well. There’s something important I need to do.”

James asked, “Where?”

Lily eyed him.

“I know, I know - bugger off, Potter,” he said for her, and he turned back around.

Remus, however, wasn’t about to cede the fight so easily. He followed after her as she went through the portrait hole, out into the corridor. “You don’t need to be escorting me, Rey,” she said, looking over at him, though the way she said it was clear she sort of liked that he was. “You should be up there paying attention to your poor slighted boyfriend. I’m sure he feels quite forgotten.”

“He was asleep anyway,” Remus said. “Let him sleep. I’ll make it up to him later. Where are we going, though?” he asked.

Lily said, “I am going to visit… a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Yes.”

“What friend? Marlene McKinnon?” Remus asked, thinking they were maybe going to visit Ravenclaw tower.

Lily shook her head. They were down a couple flights of the stairs by now, but the next case had moved and so they were stuck on the landing, waiting for it to return so they could continue on their way.

“Who then?” Remus asked.

Lily took a deep breath. “You have to promise not to tell anyone and not to make fun of me if I tell you.”

“I solemnly swear,” Remus replied.

Lily drew a deep breath, “Two years ago, at the end of third year, I went out to the woods after the End of Term Party and I was really upset because I’d had a fight with Severus and I was in this clearing and I was crying --” (Remus’s heart rate picked up. He’d heard this story. From a different perspective, of course. He hoped very much the slight panic in his chest wasn’t visible from his eyes.) “-- And as I sat there in the clearing, feeling very sorry for myself… I saw…” she hesitated. This was the part where she’d start to sound mad if she wasn’t careful about it. “I saw… a stag.”

“A stag?” Remus squeaked.

Lily nodded solemnly, “With antlers and these beautiful brown eyes… It was a most spectacular stag… and he… he comforted me.”

“The stag did?”

“Yes,” she said. “I know it sounds mental. But he did. He… he let me hug him about his neck and he sort of… he sort of hugged me back. I don’t know how to describe it, what happened. I’d do anything to see him again, though, even just once. So… well...” she hesitated and opened her bookbag and pulled out a small sack of deer feed she’d purchased at a farming supply shop.

Remus felt a lump rise up in his throat, an excitement coursed through him. “You bought deer feed. For the stag in the woods that comforted you.”

“You think I’m mental,” Lily said.

Remus shook his head, “I think you’re very sweet and you must like that stag quite a lot to have bought him feed.” He thought of how James would react when he found out about this…

“I’ve dreamed about that stag everyday since. I’d dreamed of him before it happened, too.” Lily stared up at Remus solemnly. “It sounds… so stupid, but that stag has given me hope in the hardest times. I think of him every time I’m sad and he… he makes me smile.” Lily looked down at the little sack of feed. “I don’t know. I didn’t know what else to do to pay him back.”

Remus said, “I’m sure the stag will appreciate it very much.”

Lily smiled, appreciative of the warmth in Remus’s voice. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I know it.”

Lily hugged Remus, “This is why I tell you things. You’re always so kind to me, and I know when I tell you stuff that you won’t go blabbing it about - especially to, like, James Potter or something.”

Remus hugged her back, though he made a nervous face over her shoulder at the mention of him not telling James Potter about things…