The Marauders: Year Two | #Wattys2016

Mutare Magus Animus

Mutare Magus Animus

They sat around a fire they'd lined with rocks and set ablaze with a whisper of incendio. The flames flickered and glowed in the little clearing, the trees casting long shadows through the woods, above, a wisp of cloud covered a bit of the moon. James poked the edge of the fire with a long stick as Peter used a stick to toast about the hundredth marshmallow he'd eaten. "This place is brilliant," Sirius said.

"My dad found it," James said, "The house used to be my grandparents and he found it when he was a kid, him and his friends used to camp out here. I think that's why he was so keen to let us come out, even with everything going on and how much my mum was going to worry. He's been trying to get me to camp out here with friends ever since I was small."

"Why didn't you?" Peter asked, "I would've every chance I got."

James shrugged, "I mean, I camped out here with him... I didn't really have any other friends. Well, maybe the Parish boy, but he was rather tedious because he's a muggle and he wouldn't have understood the extendable charm on the tent..." James smirked.

"I didn't really have any friends before you chaps either," Sirius said, "There was this one muggle boy that used to draw pictures in the square I watched from my bedroom window, but he didn't really seem interested in gettin' to know me when I tried to introduce myself."

Peter had just stuffed a marshmallow in his mouth, "Uh uhhwayshhh haahaa wott uff fehhhnz," he said around it, sounding like he did when he'd had the mandrake leaves in his mouth.

James and Sirius laughed.

James glanced down at his watch as Peter gulped his marshmallow down. "It's nearly midnight," he said, looking over at Sirius.

"Alright guys, it's about to get real," Sirius said, standing up.

James tossed his stick into the fire and Peter looked at the remaining marshmallows in the bag and sadly tossed his into the fire as well. "Hey, Peter, go get the potions while we put out the fire here," James said.

"Okay." Peter scurried off, carrying the bag of marshmallows and shoving two more uncooked ones into his mouth as he ducked through the tent flaps. He put the marshmallow bag down on the table and grabbed the three bottles, stuck them into the silk scarf James had bundled them in before, and hurried to get back to the other two. He paused at the door, having just swallowed the marshmallows, and hastened to go back and get some more. In his rush, his toe caught the edge of the carpet lining the floor of the tent and he fell forward with a squeak and a thump.

Peter lay there on the floor with his eyes screwed up tight, terrified to look in the little bundle of the potions. He'd heard them clink together when he landed. He sat up and put the bundle into his lap and opened it up very carefully, certain he'd see a bunch of shattered glass... Sirius was going to murder him if they were broken, he thought tremulously...

But luckily they were okay. All three - red, green, and blue - safe and sound in the folds of the flowery silk scarf.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

James's voice suddenly came from outside, "Bloody hell Peter, will you stop eating all the marshmallows and get back out here?"

Peter scurried out of the tent. "I wasn't eating marshmallows," he said - somewhat truthfully.

"Alright, sure," Sirius said, "We know better than to leave you alone with food too long - pretty soon it's just you and no food at all!"

The fire was out and smoking and the moon was pale and James had already illuminated his wand to lead them back through the trees to the field. Somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled and Peter clutched the bundle of potions, wishing that one of them would take them so he wasn't the one responsible for making sure they got to the clearing alright. There were too many leaves and roots and logs and rocks and things to trip on. He walked as carefully as he could, clutching the bottles to his chest as though he were carrying a baby.