Here Comes The Sun

Chapter 4: Rivalries

September 4th, 1975

Remus had been poorly sleeping in his bed, tossing and turning all night long. His eyes would flicker open and closed every little while, disrupting his sleep. By the time he had fallen asleep comfortably, it was past dawn, and he'd been woken yet again by the feeling of hot breath against his face. His eyes fluttered open, still drooping with exhaustion, and the first thing he saw was a pair of antlers.

His eyes widened in shock as he realised that he was facing a large brown stag.

"Holy fuck!" he yelped, sitting straight up in his bed and throwing the covers that were too short to cover fully his legs on top of the stag's head and antlers.

Suddenly, he noticed Sirius and Peter sitting on their beds, howling with laughter. Remus looked around confused for a moment before the great deer in front of him transformed into none other than James Potter, who had to remove the red blanket from his head. Remus blinked at the boy that had now begun to laugh hysterically along with his friends.

Remus let out an awkward chuckle. "Was that supposed to be funny? You nearly gave me a heart attack, for God's sake!"

"Aw, did Jamesie scare wittle Moony?" Sirius teased, fake-pouting at him.

"You are nearly sixteen, why are you still acting like this, Padfoot?" Remus asked, his tone sharp and laced with irritation.

"Not you too!" Sirius moaned, referring to the use of the new nickname. "I was hoping that wouldn't catch on!"

"Too bad," Remus snorted. "What're you gonna do? Cry? Call James 'Jamesie' again?"

"Okay, I admit that sounded stupid."

"Glad you acknowledged that," Remus grinned then continued, "but why did you think it was a good idea to wake me up with James as a fucking deer?"

Peter shrugged. "Figured it'd give us a good laugh and it did. So, thank you, I guess."

"You're welcome, Wormy," Remus replied, nodding at the boy.

"I will kill you in your sleep," Peter said, glaring at him.

"Lovely," Remus said. Peter only grinned in response.

"I need a nickname too, y'know," James said suddenly. "How about Handsome?" He gave the boys a smug smile.

"How about Bambi?" Sirius suggested, mimicking the same smile back as James' disappeared.

"I think I'd rather shove my wand in my eye., thank you very much," James responded with a sarcastic smile.

"What about Prongs?" Remus proposed.

"Like a bloody fork?" James asked, trying to figure out why Remus would suggest that.

"No, you idiot! Like antler points. 'Cause, you're a stag?"

"Oh."

"Prongs," Peter repeated the nickname. "I like it."

"You know what?" Sirius said. "I do too."

"Alright then, lads, it's settled," James announced. "From this day forward, we are Prongs, Moony, Wormtail, and Padfoot."

"You mean Padfoot, Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail," Sirius corrected, earning him confused looks from the others. "What? I didn't want to be last!"

"I don't either!" Peter argued. "I say we go Wormtail, Moony, Prongs, and Padfoot."

"Good Godric, why don't we just let Moony decide?" James suggested, fed up with the two.

Remus looked around, wondering why he was put on the spot like that. "Uh, er, why don't we just... shit, I don't know... order them based on when the nicknames were given?" he offered. "Nobody's going to see the order of them anyway."