The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

June 1978

James Potter sat at the kitchen table in a small flat on the East side of London, reading a copy of the Daily Prophet. From the pages, Harold Minchum's lined face stared, his jaw taught and fist balled and shaking threateningly at the cameras that flashed and popped at him, the ink of the paper lightening and then darkening as the photo moved. Above his head, in thick block letters, read the headline MINISTER CALLS FOR SUPPORT FROM THE HALFBREED COMMUNITY, CENTAURS AND MERPEOPLE REFUSE ASSISTANCE.

James turned the pages, not reading the headline stories - those he'd read later, he had to get to the important news first - turning instead to find the Quidditch scores in the latest match of the international leagues. Ireland was up against Scotland, and Spain would be competing against Greece, as Bulgaria faced Egypt over the next week. He started reading a piece about rising star Gwenog Jones, a Ravenclaw who he had played with at Hogwarts, who had made team and was quickly becoming one of the best players in the league.

Remus Lupin came into the kitchen then, a beat expression on his face, and he sighed as he turned to the cupboard, got out a large mug, and openened the fridge. James lowered his paper to watch, eyebrow raised, as Remus pulled out the carton of milk and a plastic bottle of chocolate syrup, pour both into the mug - more chocolate than was strictly necessary - and stir quickly with a spoon he drew from the drawer. The spoon clanked loudly against the inside of the glass, and when the milk had turned a dark chocolate color, Remus gulped down the entire mug in one go, his throat glug-glug-glugging as he swallowed it down. He gasped in satisfaction when it was gone, putting down the mug with a thud, and set about refilling it.

"Wow," James said, "A two chocolate milk morning. He must be really getting batty for you to chug that much of the hard stuff so early."

Remus sat down with his second mug of chocolate milk and stared across the table at James. "He's driving me INSANE."

James smirked. "And you didn't even have far to go..."

"I'm serious."

"You're Remus, actually."

"Not you, too," Remus groaned, "Who's side are you on?"

"Well, I was his first husband after all."

"You want him back, then?"

"Not at all."

Remus sighed and put his forehead down against his forearm with a groan. "When will this madness end?"

"I'd like to tell you that it'll end after the wedding, but it is Sirius, after all." James folded the paper. "You're sort of marrying the madness, aren't you?"

Remus groaned.

"GOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!" Sirius's voice carried ahead of him into the kitchen and a moment later he stepped through, arms spread wide as though he were opening a West End show as he waltzed into the room.

James laughed as Remus gently banged his forehead against the table. "Morning, Padfoot," James said, and he shook open the newspaper and disappeared behind it to hide the smirking laughter that was dancing on his mouth.

Sirius sat next to Remus with a flourish and drew a loud, deep breath through his nose, letting it out with a satisfied "AHHHH" sound. He grinned at Remus, who turned his head to look at Sirius, cheek smushed against the table top. Sirius's mouth widened. "What a great day," Sirius announced.

Remus murmured something that sounded like "too early to be great" but when Sirius asked him to repeat it, Remus shook his head and reburied his face in the crook of his arm.

James flipped a few more pages in the Daily Prophet. "Here you are, Padfoot," he said, folding it down and pushing it over to Sirius across the table. "The help wanted advertisments. Seems there's quite a lot seeking."