CURSES AND CANDIES - REMUS LUPIN

𝑠𝑖𝑥𝑡𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑒.

"Why are there so many?" Hollis groaned, slamming her head down on the Marauder's Corner table. "Why did we take so many?"

"Shots or pictures?" Peter replied holding his head as if that would get rid of the piercing hangover. "Because I think both."

The Marauders had decided that Sirius's last birthday party at Hogwarts would be one that would go down in history and the gaps in their memories were being alarmingly filled by the dozen pictures taken by various students the previous night.

Hollis's scrapbook was wide open to the picture of the five of them piled on top of one another with the simple caption The Marauders - 1977

After that memory, though, the rest of the day was a haze of laughter and jinxes and lights.

Remus picked up a picture of him and Peter flipping off the camera with squinted eyes and a small grin. The tall boy's arm was wrapped around the blonde's stumbling shoulders, both of them slightly leaning on the other for support while in mid laugh.

"I don't remember doing this," he laughed and then handed it to Hollis, who glued the moving frame into the book and wrote They Don't Remember Doing This - 1977

"Yea, well I have this mark on me," James said with a yawn as he rolled up his shirt to show an enormous, purple bruise that made Lily slap her hand over her mouth. "And I'm pretty sure Hollis punched me."

"Nuh uh," Hollis said, shaking her head and holding up her tightly wrapped finger. "Not with this. I think the worst thing I could have done was hex one of you, which I am ninety percent sure I did at some point."

Remus frowned slightly as he only focused on her finger, still not knowing how Hollis had gotten the injury.

"Okay, but the larger question here," Sirius declared as he pointed at one picture in particular. "How do we make this ten times larger and then hang it everywhere?"

Hollis looked down at the picture he was pointing at with a smile.

In it, Remus was kissing her on the cheek while she held a cigarette with two fingers in the hand that wasn't in his light hair. Next to them, Sirius was in the process of picking up Peter from the ground, while James and Lily were each taking a firewhiskey shot. The six of them were in what looked like a spare Transfiguration classroom usually used to tutor.

Happy Eighteenth Sirius - 1977

"Do you know what I'm glad about?" Lily asked, grinning at Sirius. "That we didn't let you get on that motorcycle yet when you were drunk."

"I'll admit, that was most likely a good decision," Sirius said with a shrug as he took a long sip of mint tea Hollis and Peter had brought from the kitchens to soothe their headaches. "Otherwise I might have crashed."

"Or we might have spooked that poor neighborhood again," Remus said with grin as he recalled Halloween a few days ago. "I still cannot believe we just apparated in front of all those people, Merlin. It's a miracle we didn't get in trouble with the Ministry."

"What's life without a little risk?" Hollis asked wisely, smiling at Remus and giving him a quick kiss.

Sirius stared at the Rosier for a few seconds after she said this, processing those words he was sure not to ever forget.

"You alright, Pads?" Hollis questioned, seeing his contemplative expression with vague concern.

Sirius blinked a few times, realizing he had zoned out on her words.

"Yea, I just agree," he said with a genuine smile. "What's life without a little risk?"

"To that," James said, holding up his cup of pumpkin juice for a toast in the middle of the six of them.