Summary of the Story so far: Remus has, after a long time of pining, gathered up the courage to ask McGonagall for help in courting the girl he likes.
Lily, who helped him find McGonagall, has in her impatience tried to find out what he was up to, and feels guilty afterwards; she can’t convince herself completely that her Prefect’s responsibilities were the only reason, and that Severus’s accusations that Remus is keeping a dangerous secret had nothing to do with it.
After a row with James, Sirius was out for the same thing, but he used a more direct approach... Poor Remus didn’t know what was coming to him, and was, considering his earlier insecurities, easily coaxed, bribed and harassed into telling Sirius about his plan, and Sirius later relays the story to James. However, the two of them make the big mistake of laughing at Remus for it. So while Peter is in the Hospital Wing recovering from a skewed decoy plot, Sirius and James, too, are now sporting black eyes.
Remus’s foul mood is lifted somewhat when Lily (trying to make up for her earlier lack of faith in him) offers to help him tackle his shyness.
Meanwhile, Sirius has taken it upon himself to find out what the suspicious new rumour that is going around Hogwarts is about. He is shocked when he hears it, and confronts Remus with it - or rather, accuses him of trying to seduce Lily. This finally pushes Remus over the edge. Harsh words are exchanged between them, leaving both unsettled. James, too, hears the rumour, and his reaction outmatches even Remus’s anger.
When Sirius and James, both shaken mentally, meet up again, they decide to find out what’s really going on between Remus and Lily by letting Peter spy on them.
The newly recovered Peter, however, runs into Remus before Sirius and James can get to him, and finds out what happened... and just how miserable it’s making Remus. Remus makes him promise not to tell James or Sirius about it, which forces Peter to take on the job of spying on him to prove that he is really not after Lily.
He succeeds, and James, upon hearing the truth, is relieved enough to apologize to Remus. But Remus refuses his offer to bury the hatchet, and when James suggests to the other Marauders that they make it up to him by "preparing" Shara for Remus’s planned courting, Sirius, too, refuses and turns out to have finally decided on a response to Remus’s harsh words; anger.
However, upon remembering that Shara has two older brothers (bulky seventh year Beaters), James becomes desperate to find a way to help Remus. He comes up with the most unlikely of strategies; enlisting Lily’s help. But when he manages to convince her to cooperate (she still feels guilty and is trying to make up for what she did, though James doesn’t know that), his plan is ruined when Remus finds out about it and forbids him to come near Shara.
The Marauders are stuck in something like a cold war as the days pass and Halloween approaches. The tension is high, and one day, Peter just can’t take it anymore...
( Halloween Mayhem - Chapter Ten )
Halloween Mayhem
Chapter One; Take Your Positions!
Chapter Two; And Lose Them Again...
Chapter Three; Regroup ASAP
Chapter Four; This Is Called A Collision
Chapter Five; I Did Warn You Guys - That Hurts
Chapter Six; We'll Be Playing Blind Today
Chapter Seven; Bet You Didn't See That Coming
Chapter Eight; Somebody Tell Me I'm Dreaming
Chapter Nine; Please Play Nicely
Chapter Ten; Surprise, Surprise
[Written for the 2006 Halloween Fanfic Exchange.] Remus goes for the girl and involuntarily causes wide-spread chaos. He’s not pleased. Neither are his friends. Tempers flare, and flare... Will there be a last one to laugh?![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
