Marauders AU

[firsttogo]

Characters: Mingle
Warnings: Gen to mature, smut warning?
Timeline: Fluid, this is an AU post, anything from Hogwarts to distant future
Preferences: AU'd characters. Feel free to use this as a mingle, post your top levels. And if someone out there plays James, I'd love to see you in this post too! Multiple versions of characters welcome and pile-up threads encouraged. So don't be shy to thread jack or start your own things.

WHAT IF JAMES AND LILY HAD LIVED
It's as simple as that. Maybe they picked Remus as their secret keeper after all and managed to mount an attack against Voldemort otherwise. This is just a silly what if scenario, go as wild with it as you like. I'll give some prompt suggestions below but feel free to invent your own, too.

1. ALL FAMILY FUN - PARTY AT THE POTTERS
Spending together family holidays or Harry's first day in Hogwarts. Maybe James and Lily didn't have time to take him to the train and instead the duty fell onto the godfather, or maybe Remus will help Lily to organize a birthday party, the whole million of Weasley kids are of course invited. What if Harry and Ron knew each other since they were babies? What about life changing things like first girlfriends or oh no, potions teacher who Harry can't stand? Sirius practically lives at the Potters, surely, is he begging treats from the breakfast table or teaching Harry how to cast jellylegs jinx even before he's allowed to use spells on his own?

2. SERIOUS BUSINESS - THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
Now, what really happened? Did they change the secret keeper? Was Peter not the traitor after all? Maybe he deserted Voldemort's ranks before taking the dark mark. Maybe they're fighting a long, long war against Voldemort still years later and the kids will grow up to be warriors at childhood. Maybe they are on a run and Voldemort has taken over the wizarding world. Or maybe they managed to defeat him together. Have your own horcrux hunt?

3. WILD CARD - YOUR SCENARIO
????? Be the change!

Comments

[lupine314]

Remus watches him quietly, studying. Of course, Regulus had been at home with his parents when Sirius was at school for the first year. Must have been hard. But hard things happened to a lot of people.

He wasn't Sirius, though, and so he could see how Sirius' decisions and his way of living would affect Regulus' as well.

"You know or you think you know about Horcruxes being destroyed by dying?" Remus repeats his question because it sounds that Regulus is talking about something else. About the Death Eaters, perhaps.

He doesn't really need much more under the influence of Veritaserum. He's confirmed the facts and the rest is about Regulus.

And they know where to go for more information. The Black library.

"You said you left a fake one. So, currently nothing has happened yet, as far as Voldemort knows. We'll figure it out tomorrow."

[grayblack]

"...I don't know. I think." The weight in his limbs is oppressive now and he shifts, slumping in the chair, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling and closes his eyes.

"Tomorrow," he repeats faintly. "I'll...I don't know where I'll be tomorrow." The potion is shifting, he thinks, beginning to roll out of his mind, leaving only exhaustion behind, and the creeping thirst beginning to return. It takes him a few moments to open his eyes again, and straighten slowly as if he aches, and take a sip of the tea Remus has left him, then a longer drink.

[lupine314]

"That's enough," Remus says surprisingly gently when he thinks he's gotten everything he really needs to get an affirmation for. He waits for Regulus to finish his tea and then stands up, crouching beside him to pull him up by his arm. An arm he pulls around his shoulders and wraps his own arm around Regulus' waist.

"Tomorrow you'll be right here with me," he says softly and starts to help Regulus towards the bedroom. "But right now you need to sleep. I'll give you something for it. Don't worry. The Veritaserum will be out of your system when you wake up."

Remus only has one bedroom, so Regulus is going to be sleeping in his bed. He also has only one pair of sheets, so they're not going to be changed either. But he will spill Regulus into the bed and then bow over to help him out of his shoes at first.

[grayblack]

By the time he finishes the cup of tea, he's feeling steadier. The Veritaserum might already be working its way out of his system. Either way, he doesn't resist when he's urged to stand, and he leans into the support as Remus walks him toward the bedroom.

"I came here because I didn't know who else would listen to me," he says as he sits at the edge of the bed, and automatically leans over to untie and kick off his shoes, but Remus is already there, so he straightens again and sits quietly. "I thought even if you didn't agree with me, you'd at least let me talk. And you did. Thank you, Remus." There's a smile, unexpected in the exhausted face, a glimmer of the brilliant smile he'd once had, and then he shifts to lie back.

[lupine314]

"Oh no you don't," Remus murmurs and stands up to grab Regulus by the front of his robes, dragging him back up. "This goes too. You're not taking dusty robes into my bed."

He smiles, though, answering that curve with one of his own. "And you're welcome. You said you like me the best, what did you mean by that?"

Maybe he's pushing it a little bit at the tail end of the veritaserum effect. He refuses to feel guilty for it, though. It's so very innocent.

[grayblack]

There's a little surprised noise when Remus yanks him up again, but Regulus doesn't put up a fight, just absently starts shrugging out of the dusty robes to a simple black shirt and trousers beneath. "You were the best," he says, a bit cryptically, but suddenly earnest in that particularly serious mood that people sometimes find when they've had too much to drink.

"You were the best to me. You knew what I was. How I thought. But you still tried. You were kind to me, you never needed to be but you were, and I know Sirius didn't always like it, but you still kept..."

He runs out of words and takes a slow breath, shaking his head as if waking up. The veritaserum is losing its hold on him, and it's getting easier to stop talking. "That's what I meant."

[lupine314]

Remus helps him undress, effortless and quick, throwing away the robes towards a chair beside the bed. Then he reaches for the covers and nudges them, helping them away from under Regulus.

"Sirius is not my task master," he says quietly while helping Regulus to lay down. "I'm still trying, you know." He's trying to do this right this time. Because obviously he hadn't the first time. Regulus ended up taking the mark and now they're here.

"I think you both deserve better than your family," he continues, even quieter now, helping the covers on top of him. "And someone should have been patient with you too." The way they had been with Sirius. Sirius should have been patient, but of course Sirius never is...

"For my part, I'm sorry." If there is a quick hand smoothing down Regulus' hair, you shouldn't judge Remus for it. He knows it's too little, too late.

[grayblack]

Regulus' eyes are already closed as he lays back, sleep swimming at the corners of his mind. He can hear Remus talking, hear everything he's saying, but it seems more like it's a dream. Deserving better? Deserving patience?

At the touch of Remus' fingers, he forces his eyes open again, and the half-lidded look is possibly fiercer than expected due to his sheer stubbornness. "Don't be," he says clearly, and closes his eyes again. "I wouldn't have listened. Not even to you. That isn't your fault, Remus."

If Remus says anything after that, it's lost as Regulus finally gives up the fight and falls into a deep sleep. It's been the longest day he's ever experienced, and he'll sleep for hours if nightmares don't wake him.

[lupine314]

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