alwaysimpure | Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

After the full moon, Remus always got exhausted. The sheer toll of it tended to be a lot for him, he couldn't keep up with Sirius and James - too much energy required and he wasn't able to pull it off. It was easier to be with Peter around this time, he was a lot less intense, a lot less active and he could doze off against him and not be disturbed.

Which is what he'd done during lunch that day while waiting for Sirius and James to come, just nodded off against Peter quite content.

When he woke up, he was drooling on Peter's shoulder and swiftly pulled his head away. Whoops. "Er, sorry. Did I do it again?"

"Yup," Peter said, evidently in a good mood. For good reason, he was chewing happily and pointed at Remus' plate, "Ate your taters."

He loved himself some taters. Looking at his friend and not even noticing the drool on his robes, Peter frowned anyway. "You doing all right there, Moony?"

There was concern now. "I could get us more taters."

Seemed like the obvious solution here.

"I think I can live without them. Everything is making me feel sick lately." Hence why he left them exposed. When he was actually hungry, he didn't let Peter around his food at all. God forbid! He'd bloody eat everything if he could. He kept all his chocolate locked away under his bed and charmed to hell.

"I'm all right, didn't sleep much."

He always took a few days to get back into things and it was the new year, that always threw him a little. New pattern and all. Frowning, he looked about. "Where are Pads and Prongs?"

"Dunno, mate, they said they'd go down to Hogsmeade. Maybe Lily has a date." Peter looked around, trying to see if he could spot the familiar shade of red anywhere, but no such luck. However, that was no guarantee, maybe Lily was in the library and the only reason their two friends were in Hogsmeade was to stock up on prank material. Who knew? "I didn't wanna bother keeping up with them."

Some days, it was just fine. Especially when Remus was there too. But if it was just the three of them, then there was nothing to stop the steady flow of energy between the two of them, often to the point where it almost got manic and, honestly, sometimes dangerous. "'s cold. Didn't wanna walk outside."

There was that too.

"Yeah, I feel you, mate. I feel you."

Remus smiled at Peter and dropped his head against his shoulder again, happy that his friend was as lazy as he was today. Sometimes Peter's sheer laziness was a point of frustration but today, it was very much loved.

"It's fine, we don't need that energy today. We can just chill and eat." Well, Peter could eat. He sighed and yawned, closing his eyes again. "You wanna go get more taters?"

"Nah. They have a bowl over there, so it will wander here eventually." Peter didn't feel like extending any more effort toward that. Anyway, he still had some veggie and sausage, so he was occupied. "Do you ever wonder, Moony, what they talk about when we are not there?"

Peter did. He wondered a lot. He frowned, chasing a pea across his plate. "Damn it, hold still."

Finally he managed to get it onto his spoon, smiling as he got it into his mouth. Ha. Showed that pea! Anyway, where were they? "I just wonder... You reckon they talk about us?"

"I dunno, I doubt they do much. I've seen them from afar and they're just like... in their own world. When it's just them, it's just them. They're best friends, ain't they?" Well, they both knew it. What James and Sirius had was special, they were brothers and best friends. All of them were close friends but it always seemed like Sirius and James were besties.

He wasn't jealous, it just felt that way.

"I assume they talk about girls and pranks. I doubt they're wondering what we're up to." Cause it was kind of boring. Just him watching Peter trying to eat his weight in food.

Edited 2019-12-05 22:12 (UTC)

"I guess. Does it bother you?" Shouldn't it bother them? James didn't look back at him when he left. He always looked back at Sirius. It wasn't as if he didn't like Sirius. Sirius was brilliant, Sirius was a great friend most the time. But it did sting a little, knowing that he couldn't be him. "I reckon we have at least as much fun as them though."

Probably not. Buuuut he had just finally gotten his bowl of taters, so he was happy ultimately anyway. "We could talk about girls and pranks! You start."

"I guess not." Remus was used to not being a favourite, he never expected friends so this was all amazing in his books. Besides, when he saw Sirius and James, he just felt so happy. Sirius had such a miserable life, he just wanted him to find some happiness and he was glad James was it for him. It wasn't like he did love the rest of them either.

"Uhhh... dunno much about girls, honestly. None take my fancy. You?" Did Peter look a girls the way he looked at potatoes or was that look of pure love saved for potatoes only?

"Er. Lizzy is pretty." Peter looked at his plate, heat rising in his cheek. He really was no good at talking about girls either. "She went to the winter ball with me, you know?"

And, yes, unfortunately he realised that she had likely only said yes because James had asked for him and she had wanted to sit at the Marauder's table, but hey. He was a Marauder! And she had given him a peck on the cheek that he had told James was a lot more than just a peck. "We snogged."

There, now his reputation could grow further. He pierced a potato and happily ate it.

"That's really cool, wormtail. You're a proper player these days, ain't you? You'll be giving James a run for his money soon." He found it kind of funny, he supposed. He loved the way Peter smiled when he talked about it and so he wanted to encourage him. He knew neither one of them was getting as much action as the other boys so any victory was a big victory.

"I suppose my date to the winter ball was Sirius."

Given their whole dance routine and the fact that literally sat together all night. He blushed and then gave Peter a grin. "He's a bleeding pillock, that one. Dunno what he's thinking half the time."

"Who knows? Guess he likes attention." Peter frowned as he thought about that. "You know, Moony, I don't like everyone looking at me. But I guess if I was Prongs or Pads, I wouldn't mind it either."

Because when everyone looked at Peter, it was usually because he'd stumbled over his own legs or something like that. No, he preferred when people made fun of others instead. But when people looked at James and Sirius, even if they were making fools of themselves? People never laughed at them, they just laughed with them. Peter wished he could be more like them, which was why he was currently trying to grow out his hair. It wasn't going well. He was waiting for the day it would look cool, like with Sirius.

"Maybe Sirius just didn't wanna have a date for the ball so you wouldn't be alone. That's pretty decent of him." He nodded his approval. He did love his friends, he admired them, if James more openly than Sirius.

"Nah, I get it. I hate when people look, you know? I never know what they see and I don't wanna know either." With a smile, he turned to Peter and ruffled his badly grown out hair. It really needed washing. "Trust me, mate. It could always be worse. We're the lucky ones, you know? Might not seem it but when we're older, we'll grow into our looks and by then, James and Sirius will be married so we'll have our pick."

Well, a boy could dream, couldn't he? He grinned and then decided he had to do something for Peter to cheer him up. He knew his friend worried.

"Mate, your hair is looking amazing lately. I couldn't pull that look off in a million years. I'd look like a hobo."

"Yeah?" Peter looked at Remus, preening a little, clearly feeling encouraged. "It's not looking that great yet, but I'm getting there. I just wanna try, y'know? Look less boring. I want to do that Pads thing where he sits and reads something and his hair falls into his face."

Peter wasn't attracted to Sirius, mind, but he could appreciate the sheer aesthetic value. Besides, he remembered a particular occasion where he had been sitting just like that and then reached up to brush his hair back and at least five girls in class had sighed simultaneously. Very powerful experience, that. "I guess every bloke wants to look like Sirius, right?"

Well. "Or James." He couldn't leave out his bestie.

"You'll get there." Remus supposed he didn't want to look like Sirius, he didn't really want to be Sirius at all. He got the frustration of how beautiful he was but he didn't ever envy it... not really. He got a weird feeling he couldn't place but he was sure it wasn't jealous cause he knew that one. He just wasn't sure what he felt about Sirius these days.

"If they don't wanna look like Sirius, they wanna look like James. It's just easier to make the Sirius style look good." Few blokes could pull off messy hair and round glasses, frankly.

"James is difficult. You'd have to work out too." And Peter was all in favour of less working out and more eating of the taters. "I mean, I reckon Sirius is strong too, but you can see it more with James?"

Or maybe he was just biased toward James, either was a strong possibility. "We are lucky they are friends with us," he concluded. He wasn't always the most introspective, but it was easy enough to imagine the 'what if' of any life where James and Sirius hadn't decided to be friends with him. "But they are lucky too, right? Cause we are putting up with them."

They could be a lot.

"Sirius is pretty strong. Being against his chest is kinda firm and hard, you know? Bit like nuzzling concrete... in a good way." Was that weird to say? Probably. He felt weird about saying it. He felt weird in general. Sirius was nice to lie against, nice to dance with, nice to be hugged by... generally just nice to be close to a bloke like Sirius.

"I think they need us to balance out their worse sides."

Or he hoped so because otherwise, why were they needed around? Wasn't worth overthinking. "They love us, wormtail. No doubt there."

"I love you too," Peter declared, mostly looking at his taters. But hey, he meant it. Very heartfelt. He really did like Remus, because he felt more real than his other friends. In a weird way. There wasn't any barrier with Remus. Remus and him were on the same level, he didn't feel as if he had to struggle just to keep up or watch out so he wouldn't get made fun of for something.

"OY! MOONY!" There really was no need for Sirius to yell loudly as soon as him and James entered the great hall, but he rarely needed much of a reason to do anything like that. "DID YOU MISS ME?!"

He was now approximately ten feet from him. Didn't keep him from yelling.

"You're hurting my ears, you loud dick." Rolling his eyes, he shoved Sirius once he got close, just to make a point. "You don't have to yell. Me and Wormtail were sitting all nicely and you punks come over, making a mess."

"It's our job." James sat down next to Peter, wrapped an arm around him and grinned. "I'm hungry, feed me." And then he opened his mouth, hoping for some of his potatoes. A longshot but he knew how beloved he was.

"You done making mischief?"

"How dare you!? I've never in my life made any mischie-- Well, all right." Sirius stopped his protests mid-way and sat down next to Remus, casually slinging an arm around him. "But, Moony. Mate. Darling boy. Nothing could have been further from my thoughts today. I was all atwitter with worry instead!"

He looked over to James, who was indeed being fed potatoes. Aw. True love. "Prongs! Was I not atwitter?"

"What's a twitter?" Peter felt he'd missed something. Nothing new there.

"He was atwitter with worry." James agreed through a mouthful of food, nodding wisely. He ruffled Peter's hair and grinned at him. "Aghast. Mournful. He was a flurry of concern. We were only doing what the goodest of boys would do in such a situation."

Remus gave two very doubtful looks at both boys. What were they up to?

"Why worry?" Remus wasn't sure how he felt at being called darling boy. Oddly endeared and a feeling of love? God, he sucked. He gave Sirius a pointed look. "Well?"

"Dunno, you looked sleepy." Sirius said it almost dismissively, as if the initial reason for concern had, by now, been far outgrown by the response. Which, admittedly, it had. "You see, Moony, at Christmas the uncle who doesn't despise me gave me some money. In case I needed it."

For hard times, Alphard had said, and most certainly not meant a random time when he felt a little bad for his friend. However, Sirius was certain he wouldn't begrudge it. "And so, on a beautiful winter day, Prongs and I walked into Honeyduke's..."

"...how much chocolate did you buy?" Peter had arrived at the logical conclusion. This was about food.

"You got chocolate."

He perked up almost instantly, looking fascinated, interested and starving all at once. Well, he hadn't actually eaten today. Peter had eaten his lunch. And his breakfast. He didn't mind, he hadn't wanted it. The concept of potatoes or oatmeal made him want to barf.

Chocolate did not. He hoped he was going to get some, he smiled wistfully.

"Aww, if he was a dog, his tail would be wagging. Poor Moony, give him his treat." It looked so cute, it was hard not to tease him.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

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