chapter title: "what is and what should never be" by led zeppelin

The next morning, Remus was thankful that he was feeling a lot better as Gryffindor had a match against Slytherin, and Remus, despite not being an avid quidditch fan, knew that it was his duty to attend the game. He knew James would probably be furious with Sirius for spending the whole day in the hospital wing with Remus the day before and not out practising, but if he was then he didn't say anything.

Peter helped Remus make the slow descent down to the quidditch pitch early that morning as Sirius and James were already down getting in a few last minutes practise. Remus had to admit he still wasn't feeling himself just yet, but yesterday's rest had done him a lot of good, and with Sirius curled up on the bed beside him as he had fallen asleep had somehow managed to instil in him a strange sort of peace.

Peter and Remus took their seats in the stands which were slowly starting to fill up, the crowds decorated with supporting colours of green and red, chattering excitedly about the forthcoming game. 

It wasn't long before the fourteen players were out on the pitch and the quaffle thrown up into the air, signifying the game's beginning.

***

"WE WON!" 

Remus grinned as a loopy James Potter flung his arms around him. They had indeed won and Peter and Remus had been waiting patiently outside the quidditch locker rooms for James and Sirius to reappear after a quick shower before James had come hurtling out and attacking Remus with a hug from behind.

"Congratulations," Remus smiled as he patted James on the back.

"We need to celebrate!" James cried, doing a happy little jig on the spot as he let go of Remus.

Sirius appeared from behind James, an identical grin plastered to his face. "Did I just hear that we're celebrating?" He asked as he stood beside James, ignoring his stupid little dance.

"We should sneak into Hogsmeade and get butterbeer." James suggested as he danced around Sirius in circles.

"Excellent idea, Mr Prongs." Sirius said, patting his friend on the back as he spun around, delightedly.

"Just stop it, you're making me tired just watching you." Remus groaned.

***

James and Sirius did, indeed, sneak out through the passage to Honeydukes to nab some butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks as Remus wasn't feeling quite up to a trip down the long, dingy, narrow passage, and so stayed with Peter in the common room who kept him company.

It must have only been about an hour or so before the portrait hole burst open again and James and Sirius emerged, arms cradling several bottles of butterbeer and excited grins lighting up their faces.

"EMERGENCY MARAUDERS MEETING!" James called out to Peter and Remus, who raised an eyebrow in question as Sirius and James threw themselves in the armchairs around the fireplace beside them.

"What's up?" Remus asked, sceptically.

"We've been invited to play a gig!" Sirius bounced excitedly.

"What?"

"Basically," James started, opening the bottles of butterbeer he had been holding and handing them out to Remus and Peter, "We were in the Three Broomsticks to get the beer when there was this guy sitting at the counter talking to Rosmerta. He must have been about nineteen, twenty or something." James took a swig of his beer. "And when we came in, Rosmerta greeted us and the guy must have heard of our names somehow cause he turned round and was like "are you guys the ones that do the cover band?""  Remus perked up a little as he listened to James recall the recent events.

"So we told him yeah and he explained that he worked in the Hog's Head and they're a little tight down there at the moment but old Aberforth won't admit it or do anything about it 'cause he's got too much pride, see. So this guy asked us if we might be able to come down to the pub sometime to play a gig. Might attract some more customers."

"Plus he was wearing a Sex Pistols t-shirt so obviously we said yes." Sirius chipped in as if this was an important factor.

Remus grinned, nonetheless.

"But of course we said we'd have to come and discuss it with you guys first." James added, hastily.

Remus nodded. "It sounds great! When was this guy thinking we could come down?" He asked eagerly. The idea of playing a real gig in a pub rather than just in front of their fellow students sent a thrill though Remus, they'd almost be like a real band. Like a real, really cool punk rock band.

"He said we should come down to see him whenever we're next in Hogsmeade so we can discuss dates." Sirius informed him.

"When is our next trip to Hogsmeade?" Peter asked.

"Oh Pete, as if we ever use that as a deciding factor of whether or not we might happen to find ourselves off school premises." James said with a grin.

***

Conveniently, the Marauders did find themselves in Hogsmeade after curfew the very next night because they had all simply been too excited to wait for the next Hogsmeade weekend to swing around. It must have been only about eleven o'clock when the four of them tumbled into the Hog's Head, the older, dingier and less well known pub situated in Hogsmeade.

The bar was empty and the small tables dotted around were occupied with but two customers sitting together and playing a game of cards with their large tankards of firewhisky drained beside them.

James strode confidently up to the bar where an old man, Aberforth, was quietly cleaning a large mirror.

James cleared his throat as the other three Marauders clustered around him. The old man turned to look James in the eye before discarding the dirty cloth he had been using to clean the mirror with on the side of the bar.

"What can I get for you four?" He asked. His voice was gruff and low, and his eyes never stayed in one place for very long.

"Actually we were wondering if Henry was here?" Asked James, flashing Aberforth a smile. It hadn't occurred to Remus that he wasn't aware of what the boy's name who had offered James and Sirius the gig was, but he presumed it must be this Henry fellow.

Aberforth grunted before shuffling away and calling down to a flight of stone steps behind the bar. "Henry! Some kids here to see you!"

Within seconds, a tall boy, only a few years older than the Marauders appeared from behind the counter. He had dark hair closely shaven to his head, warm, tanned skin and large dark eyes that squinted when he smiled, fringed by thick dark brows. He had several gold rings and studs in each of his ears and a small tattoo of what looked like treble cleff behind his ear. He was indeed also wearing a Sex Pistols t-shirt. Remus thought he was also extremely cool.

"James! Sirius!" The boy said with a smile. A very big smile, the kind that lit up his whole face and showed off pearly white teeth, and Remus could have sworn he saw the flash of a tongue piercing in the boy's mouth. "And you two must be Peter and Remus?" The boy asked, turning to look Remus in the eye.

Remus smiled pleasantly before holding his hand out to the older boy who took it with a sincere smile. "Nice to meet you." Remus smiled.

"You too." Henry smiled back. "I've heard great things about you lot." He said it to the four of them but his dark eyes never left Remus'.

"What kind o f things?" Peter asked inquisitively as Henry dropped his hand from Remus', quickly. "Well considering there isn't much good music or entertainment round here, word travels fast when there's rumours of some sort of rock and roll group at Hogwarts."

James grinned "That's us." He said proudly.

Henry smiled. "So, if you're on board, I'd like to talk dates. I would check my diary but I can tell you now it's absolutely dead in here at all times so to be honest, any day that works for you works for us."

"Could you give us a few weeks?" Remus suggested. "That will give us enough time to practise some new songs for the gig and for you guys to advertise so that you have a lot of customers on the night."

Henry nodded. "Good idea. How about the fourth of March? That gives us enough time and it'll be a Friday which is usually a little busier than the rest of the week.

"Awesome," James said, excitedly. "What time should we arrive?"

"If we advertise that you'll be starting at about nine, what time would you want to get here to set up and stuff?"

"By the time we've finished lessons and got ready for the show it'll probably be about six-ish." Said Sirius.

"Pads do you really need two hours to get ready?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius gave him a look. "It takes effort to look this fabulous, Prongsie. Not that you would know, of course."

Henry watched, amused, as James whacked Sirius in the side, who then doubled over with a playful grin.

Remus ignored them before continuing the discussion with Henry. "So, if we say it takes about an hour to get here from Hogwarts, that allows us time if we're running a little late. You can imagine what these two are like." He jabbed his thumb at Sirius and James. "We could be here about seven? Gives us a couple hours to set up everything."

Henry nodded with a grin. "Sounds good to me. So I'll see you at seven on the fourth, gig at nine and you guys are called the Marauders, right?" 

Remus nodded with a smile. "Right."

"Wicked. Well it was nice meeting you, Remus." Henry smiled softly at him. "I'll look forward to it."

"Me too." Remus smiled back before the four of them turned to leave, thanking Henry and Aberforth as they did so.

Once they were back out into the open air and the door was shut behind the four Marauders, Sirius let out a huff.

"What's up, Siri?" James asked, linking his arm through his best friend's. 

"Nothing."

"Sure sounds like it."

"I'm just not sure about that guy."

"What? You seemed to like him enough last night." James sounded confused.

"It's cause he was hitting on Remus." Peter said with a snicker.

Remus flushed a bright shade of red despite the cold temperature outside. "No he wasn't!"

"Oh he so was." Peter sniggered.

Sirius scowled. "Why would I have a  problem with that?" He asked, grumpily.

"Cause he's our Moony and that guy is way too old for him." James said cheerfully.

"He was only like twenty." Remus defended suddenly.

"Yeah well, we're sick of you getting all the girls swooning after you, Moony." James said, flinging his free arm around Remus' shoulders. "We can't have all the boys after you too, can we? Save some for the rest of won't you?" He joked.

Remus smiled weakly. "Careful or you'll be falling for me too next." 

James gasped in mock horror. "And betray my dear Lily. Never! Not even for you, my darling Remus." 

Remus rolled his eyes as the four of them crept back through Honeydukes and down through the trap door in the stock room. Sirius kept very quiet for the remainder of the journey.