Chapter 28: Marauders

"You don't have to do this," said Remus nervously.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Of course we don't have to. We want to."

"Sirius…"

"Relax, Moony." James flashed a reassuring grin as he tucked a few more dungbombs into his pocket. "It'll be brilliant."

Sighing, Remus set his Potions book aside to glower at his friends. Exams were the week after next, and Remus was deep in the throes of revision. Peter, who had spent most of the last week holed up with Remus in the library or a quiet corner of the common room, ducked behind his Charms book to hide his grin.

"You could just not go."

Sirius reeled back, clutching his chest as though he'd just been hit by a Heart-Stopping Hex. "Skive off?" he gasped. "Moony, are you ill? Have you been Imperiused?"

"No," said Remus with a lopsided grin. "I've just finally gone round the twist from spending too much time with the two of you."

James laughed. "Good to know."

"But honestly," said Sirius, leaning against the post of Remus' bed. "Back in September, you practically dragged us down to Slughorn's office, and now you're telling us not to go?"

"Considering the prank you're going to pull?" Remus raised his eyebrow. "Yes."

"We've got a message to send," James said. "We don't associate with bigots."

At the uncomfortable look on Remus' face, Sirius added, "We won't say anything about you, Moony. Or anything that anyone could link back to you. He'll know why we're doing it."

"If he already knows, then you don't have to do it."

"Yes, Moony, we do." James shoved his hands into his overflowing pockets. "There's only one reason he never invited you, and it's not right. We can't let him get away with it."

Remus groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Besides," said Sirius devilishly. "Half the Slug Club's in Slytherin. How can we pass up the opportunity to wish Malfoy and his lot a happy summer?"

Laughing, Remus lobbed a rubber halfheartedly at Sirius, who ducked out of the way. "Even so, your time is much better spent revising— have you even started yet?"

"Nope." Sirius grinned. "We'll ace all our exams anyhow. What's the point revising?"

Remus' grin faltered, and Peter looked up suddenly from his book. "Your idea of acing an exam is two points above failing," Peter said wryly. "By that definition, Remus could've aced all his exams in October."

James laughed. "Fair point."

Blushing, Remus fiddled with his notes, but he flashed Peter a small, shy smile.

"Maybe we'd get better grades if we tried harder," Sirius admitted with a shrug, "but what's the point? Until our OWLs, we only need two points above passing. And Remus and Evans are always going to be top of our year, anyhow."

"We're only getting out of your hair," said James cheerily. "You two care more about classes than we do, and we'd only distract you, so it's better for all of us if we leave."

"And we're both very grateful for your kind consideration, James," Remus said, rolling his eyes. He looked up and frowned. "I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?"

Sirius beamed. "Not a chance."

Sighing, Remus waved them away. "Then have fun. Don't kill Snape."

-.-.-

They had agreed that it would be best to wait until the party was in full swing. It wouldn't do to strike while half the Slug Club was still arriving. And James could tell the moment he and Sirius trudged through the door that Slughorn was expecting something from them. To begin then would have been far too predictable and not at all as funny as a prank this important ought to be. So they waited.

The original plan called for a full hour of biding their time, playing the role of slightly-disruptive, but not-quite-havoc-wreaking, students. They would complain and joke and pull a few minor tricks to appease Slughorn's suspicions and then, just when he began to relax and believe he would get off with nothing worse than Gryffindor banners suddenly appearing on his office walls… all hell would break loose.

That was the plan. The reality was somewhat different.

"Let's just do it now," Sirius hissed as he filled his goblet for the fifth time in twenty minutes. "Please, James, we don't have to suffer this for another half hour!"

James frowned, glancing around at the other students. The fifth and seventh years, some of whom had arrived a few minutes late, claiming they'd lost track of time as they prepared for their exams, seemed to all be there at last, and the usual inane chatter filled the room. James had forgotten how dull these gatherings were.

His eyes found the handful of members that really mattered. First, Severus Snape, who stood at Lily Evans' side among a group of Ravenclaws. Lily and the Ravenclaws were engaged in some sort of debate, leaving Snape standing awkwardly just outside their circle, his face scrunched into a perpetual grimace. Lucius Malfoy headed up a cluster of Slytherins in the center of the room, looking for all the world like a king at court. And Slughorn, as usual, wound his way among the students, laughing jovially and clapping many a student on the shoulder. He didn't spare James and Sirius a glance and seemed to have pushed his wariness aside, at least for now.

"Alright," said James. "Anything to get out of here sooner."

"Sneaking off without me are you?" came the voice of Marlene McKinnon. Shoving a whole roll into her mouth, Marlene grinned and muttered what James supposed was an insult, though he couldn't quite make it out.

Sirius shrugged diffidently as he reached into his pocket. "You're welcome to leave with us, McKinnon. In fact, I'd recommend you do." He pulled a packet of quick-launch fireworks from his pocket. "I've already set up Part Two, James."

"One second," said James, setting the last of his dungbombs under the rim of the pastry platter. "Alright, I'm finished, too." He fished out his own fireworks and drew his wand. "On three?"

Grinning, Sirius shook back his sleeve and pointed his wand at the fireworks. "One."

"Two," said James.

"THREE!" they bellowed in unison. "Incendio!"

Several dozen eyes turned toward the shout – just in time to see an explosion of multicolored light that sent sparks whizzing around the room. The first firework crashed against the ceiling, leaving a starburst of vivid red paint. The next fell between Snape's feet, turning the bottom of his robes yellow.

The students began to scream (or laugh, in Marlene's case) and run for cover – tables, chairs, even other students – in a futile attempt to avoid turning colors. About half the fireworks had been charmed to hone in on Slughorn, Malfoy, and Snape, leaving all three – and anyone unfortunate enough to be standing near them, including Lily – looking like a rainbow had sicked up on them. The rest of the fireworks flew at random, dyeing walls and furniture and students indiscriminately.

James and Sirius stood calmly in the midst of it all, laughing whenever a stray firework exploded close enough to shower them with color-changing sparks. After a few deafening moments, the fireworks died down, giving the students a chance to escape.

To James' delight, very few took advantage of this lull in the excitement; all of the Slytherins stayed put. Snape, Malfoy, and Lily fixed the pair with glares that promised severe pain. James and Sirius grinned back at them, then turned to Slughorn, who was trying to change his robes back to their usual black color, with no success.

"Don't bother, Professor," Sirius said, a bit of a sneer escaping on the last word. "The charm will wear off in a day or so. You can't remove it before then."

Lily, whose hair looked remarkably like a fire with the new splashes of red and orange, began to splutter. "A day?" she demanded.

James grinned. "It's not permanent. Don't be such a girl."

"James," Slughorn said sternly before Lily could retort. "Sirius. What is this all about?"

"You know exactly what it's about," said Sirius, grinning wickedly. "We're done with you and your stupid club." He gestured out the door, to the Potions Corridor, where a few special fireworks had painted a message in a shade of orange that hurt James' eyes and would catch the attention of every student who passed that way.

To those who weren't invited:

Slughorn's a smelly git.
You aren't missing anything.

—J.P. & S.B.
Former Slug Club Members

Behind him, James heard Marlene stifle her giggles. No one else made a sound. Slughorn's face had gone still, his mouth set into a thin line. It was nothing to McGonagall's scowl, of course, but it was proof that the message had hit home: Don't mess with our friends.

Sirius laced his hands behind his head. "You ought to be able to get that down before the holidays are over."

"Maybe," said James, smirking. "But look on the bright side! You won't have to deal with us again – except, you know, in class and such."

"And detention," said Slughorn, his voice devoid of its usual cheer. "Tomorrow. Eight o'clock."

James raised a hand in salute. "Wouldn't dream of missing it. Though I do wonder…" He grinned at Sirius. "Think we ought to really earn that detention?"

"I think we'd be mad not to," said Sirius, who then turned to Marlene. "Get ready to run. Exordio!"

At once, the two-dozen dungbombs they'd hidden throughout the room detonated, releasing copious amounts of a thick, noxious cloud. James, Sirius, and Marlene made it through the door before the odor reached them, but they caught the first whiffs of dung-smell that seeped out into the corridor. Laughing, James and Sirius bid Marlene farewell and took off running, angry shouts and loud coughs chasing them up the stairs.

They didn't stop running, or laughing, until they tumbled through the dormitory door and onto Remus' bed. Neither he nor Peter appeared to have moved in the last half hour, and both blinked several times at James' and Sirius' new, colorful attire before Remus managed to ask, "Alright, you two?"

"Better!" Sirius grinned. "We are now officially no longer a part of the Slug Club."

"And you can read our resignation in the Potions Corridor tomorrow," James said.

Peter's eyes widened. "In the corridor?"

"Rainbow Rockets," Sirius explained. "Found them in Zonko's. And we charmed the wall to absorb the color, so it ought to last longer."

Remus shook his head, trying valiantly not to grin. "You're impossible."

"Brilliant, you mean." James grinned. "I'll bet the whole school's talking about it by breakfast."

"At this rate, you'll be more infamous than the Prewetts," Remus said, returning to his homework.

James only smiled. "That's the plan, Moony. That's the plan."

-.-.-

"So Moony," said Sirius on Monday, the start of the last week of classes.

Remus looked up warily from his Potions book, which had been his constant companion for the last two days. "Yes?"

"What electives are you taking next year?"

"Why?"

Sirius tried – and failed, in James' opinion – to look offended. "What, can't a bloke take an interest in his friend's life?"

"When that bloke is you?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. "And you're taking an interest in school?"

Dropping the indignant act, Sirius grinned. "Fine. I just wanted to know what classes I should take next year."

"Whichever ones you're interested in."

"And how'm I supposed to copy your answers if you aren't in the class?"

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Remus!" James said. "We just want to spend more time with you!"

The look Remus gave James was one of pure exasperation. He turned back to Sirius and said, "I thought you'd already decided to take Muggle Studies."

"I have," said Sirius. "But I don't know what else to take."

"Divination!" said James. "It's supposed to be the easiest class at Hogwarts."

Peter chuckled, pushing aside his Transfigurations notes. "Sounds good to me."

"It's only easy because it's a load of nonsense," said Remus with a scowl. "I don't even know why it's taught here. All the books I've read say that if you aren't born a Seer, you can't possibly learn anything."

"Well, do you have to be a Seer to take the class?" asked James, grinning.

"No," said Remus. "That's the problem. A real Seer would get far more out of a private tutor than a class full of people who don't know what they're doing."

But James only shook his head. "Yeah, sure. But if you don't have to be a Seer to take the class, then the professor can't mark you down for getting a wrong answer, which means you just have to show up and do as you're told!"

From the lines that appeared between Remus' brows, he didn't find the notion as desirable as James. Peter, on the other hand, was grinning.

James turned to Sirius. "You in?"

"No way," said Sirius, curling his lips. "Sounds boring – sitting in a tower for an hour trying to see stuff you know you'll never see? I've heard Madame Syrah doesn't even talk much, just walks around and watches you. You won't even be able to pass notes while you're there."

"Is that a challenge?"

Sirius grinned. "Sure. You and Peter go a whole lesson without once staring at your crystal ball or reading your tea leaves or whatever – and without getting caught – and I'll buy you both whatever you want from Zonko's. But if you don't manage it by the end of the year, you've got to buy me whatever I want."

"Deal!" said James, grinning. "Best start saving up now."

"Well see, Potter."

Remus sighed and turned back to his Potions book.

"Oi!" Sirius protested. "We haven't finished. What classes are you taking? Obviously not Divination."

"No, not Divination," said Remus distractedly.

"Muggle Studies?"

"Not that either."

"Then what?"

"Arithmancy, for one."

James scowled. "Isn't that the one that's like maths, but harder?"

"That's the one," said Remus. "I take it you're not interested."

James, Sirius, and Peter exchanged looks of disgust and shook their heads.

"What else?" Peter asked. "You need at least two."

Remus sighed. "Ancient Runes – but as it requires a lot of reading and essays nearly every week, I doubt any of you would like it. And Care of Magical Creatures."

Sirius perked up. "That sounds fun."

"I thought so, though Runes is more practical."

"Fat chance," muttered James. "Magical creatures are everywhere. When are you going to run into runes that need translating?"

"Besides," Sirius added, "why sit in a room with a book for an hour when you can be outside wrangling dragons?"

Remus snorted. "We won't be working with dragons in Care of Magical Creatures. Grindylows and bowtruckles are far more likely to come up."

"Beats books and runes."

Shrugging, Remus said nothing.

James paused, considering, then nodded. "Well, I'm in. Sirius?"

"Definitely."

"Peter?"

"Sure."

"Brilliant!" James beamed. "That makes one class we'll all four have together."

Remus shot him a bemused look. "We'll still have all our usual classes together, James."

"One more, then," James amended. "And I'll have Divination with Peter. I feel sorry for you two, though, having classes all alone. Poor sods."

"Sounds like a dream come true," Remus muttered, hiding a grin behind his book. "Two whole classes where I don't have to listen to you lot complaining about how bored you are, or planning pranks, or proposing ridiculous group names."

Sirius crossed his arms with a huff. "I thought you liked the idea of having a name."

"I do. Your ideas are just terrible."

"Terrible, are they?" Sirius stuck out his tongue and reached into his pocket. "Lucky for you I've got a load of new ones. See how terrible these are!"

"Please don't," Remus grumbled, but Sirius ignored him and began to rattle of a list of names.

"The Only Thing That Bothers Filch More than Peeves. Providers of Dumbledore's Daily Amusements. The Dark Path of Pranksterdom. Siremeseter."

"That last one wasn't even a word!" Remus protested.

"Course not! It was all our names, all mashed together."

Groaning, Remus dropped his head onto the table with a thud.

"Sirius, mate?" said James gently, pulling the list out of Sirius' hands. "Those are the worst names you've ever come up with."

"And that's saying a lot," Remus mumbled into the table.

With a huff, Sirius slouched in his seat. "Excuse me for running out of ideas. I don't hear any of you helping."

Remus picked his head up off the table and gave Sirius an encouraging smile. "We'll come up with something, Sirius. Only… don't over-think it. And don't make it such a mouthful, alright? It would take too long to say 'The Only Thing More Bothersome Than Peeves' or whatever it was."

"Then what would you suggest?"

For a long moment, Remus was quiet – thinking, James assumed, but it wasn't long before he noticed the color rising in the other boy's cheeks.

"You've got an idea, haven't you?" James asked, grinning.

Remus glanced up guiltily, and shook his head. "It's probably rubbish."

"Worse than these?" James asked dubiously, waving Sirius' list of names in the air. Off to the side, Sirius made a rude gesture in James' direction, but he, too, eyed Remus with interest.

Biting his lip, Remus fiddled with a quill and avoided their gazes. "I've been thinking is all. That our name ought to sum up who we are and what we do."

"Of course," said Sirius, nodding. "And?"

"Well," Remus said, "we are a lot of things. We're friends, and we're Gryffindors, and we're wizards – but none of those things really sets us apart from the rest of the school."

James grinned. "Sure. Don't see Evans pulling pranks or finding secret passages, do you?"

"So we're the Pranksters?" Sirius asked, scratching his nose. "A little mundane, but it's on the right track."

"Not the Pranksters, no," said Remus.

Raising an eyebrow, Sirius asked, "What, then? Thinking about the secret passages bit? So we'd be the Cartama-whatsits? Those map-maker blokes."

"Cartographers?" Remus grinned, but shook his head. "Too scholarly for you two loafers, if you ask me. I was thinking… well, what do we do? We rove about in the dead of night, going where we will, breaking rules, causing mayhem—"

"Dueling Slytherins," Sirius added.

"Making mischief," said James.

"Exploring the castle," Peter said.

"—marauding," Remus said with a note of finality. He smiled nervously at his friends. "We could be the Marauders."

-.-.-

Sirius was so thrilled to finally have a name – "It's bloody perfect, Moony! You're a genius!" – that he dragged them all away from their revisions (and distractions) to pull the first official Marauder prank. With liberal application of Glisseo, every staircase they could find was soon converted into chutes that were impossible to climb. The only way back to the Gryffindor common room took them in a circuitous route up secret passages, along corridors echoing with yelps of surprise and fear, down slides to yet more passages, and finally to the tunnel by the library that let out near the Fat Lady's portrait.

Gryffindor Tower was nearly empty when they arrived (and remained so for over an hour while the professors put the stairs back to normal). Nevertheless, the four boys charged up the stairs to their dormitory, laughing loud enough to draw some angry shouts from the fifth and seventh year dorms. OWLs and NEWTs had started that day, and tempers were running high.

But James couldn't be bothered by angry shouts. He and his friends piled onto James' bed, drew the curtains, cast their usual regimen of privacy charms, and got down to business— the first Marauders' Council.

Not much needed to be said, really, but they discussed it all anyway: They made official Marauder's Vows to always be friends, to always listen to each other, to keep each other's secrets and defend each other's honor, and to never, ever jump off the Astronomy Tower. They agreed to find a way to make a Marauder's Map, even though Remus swore it couldn't be done without traipsing all over the castle to map everything the muggle way. They promised to write over the summer, whenever they could, and to stay over at Peter's house in the last weeks of August, after the full moon.

Throughout it all, they grinned madly, laughing at odd times and getting into fierce debates over which Vows they should do first and how often they should write and whether they ought to stay over with Peter for more than two weeks.

When at last they called their Council to a close to head down for dinner, James couldn't help but feel that they had all grown closer. It made no sense, of course. The conversation had scarcely been different than any other they'd held that year, and they'd discussed nothing of any real import, but it felt as though something in their friendship had solidified.

Sirius, of course, was never satisfied.

"What do you say we come up with a motto? 'Prank On,' or some such. We could end every Council with it!"

Remus groaned, Peter laughed, and James grinned a devious grin. "Another challenge, Sirius. To find a motto Moony will actually say."

"Good luck with that," said Remus, but he, too, was smiling. "Do remember to owl me all your ideas over the holidays."

Raising his eyebrows, Sirius dug his elbow into Remus' ribs. "Why, so you can marvel at my wit?"

"No," said Remus, smirking, "so the distance doesn't make me forget what gits you all are."

Laughing, Sirius shoved Remus through the doors of the Great Hall.

-.-.-

"I'm leaving tomorrow," said Remus, eyes never straying from the book in his lap.

The four boys were down by the lake under their favorite beech tree – the professors had finally lifted the restrictions at the end of exam week, claiming that the as-yet-unnamed criminal who had attacked Hogsmeade nearly two months prior had been sighted by the Channel and so posed no further threat to the students of Hogwarts.

This news had, unfortunately, come too late to salvage the Quidditch Cup, but much of James' time since his last exam had been spent on the Quidditch pitch playing pick-up games. When not in the air, James and his friends found no shortage of pranks to be pulled, passages to be explored, and card games to be improved upon with their own particular brand of Marauder humor.

But now, two days before the end of term and with the full moon approaching, Remus had grown pale and lethargic and wanted to do nothing more than read as many books as possible before the holidays began.

"You're spending the…" Sirius caught himself and tried again. "You're going home?"

"Well, actually, I'm going on holiday with my mother." A wry tone laced his words, but Remus' face remained bland as he flipped a page. "France, apparently."

"Ah." James smiled grimly. "At least she isn't sick again."

Remus chuckled. "Oh, yes. The Healers are very optimistic about her outlook. Sounds as though her illness is gone for good."

They shared a smile, and then Remus glanced around. Seeing no one, he went on in a low voice.

"Professor McGonagall and I reckon it's safer for me to spend this month at home. Don't want to risk running into anyone on the way back from the Shack – people will be up and about earlier than usual with the Hogwarts Express leaving at nine the day after the… you know. And anyway, I won't be up for any sort of travel until Sunday, at the earliest." With a grim smile, Remus went back to reading.

After a moment, James frowned. "Hey, Moony?"

"Mm?"

"What do you do at home for the you-know-what?"

Remus looked up, amber eyes suddenly hard. "What do you mean?"

James glanced at Sirius, who ran a hand through his hair. "You know… Do you have something like the Shack, or…?"

"Something like that." Remus stared out over the lake, an odd expression on his face.

By now, Peter had looked up from the cauldron cake wrapper on which he'd been doodling, and he joined the others in frowning at Remus. "Is something wrong?" Peter asked slowly.

"No."

"Something you want to talk about?" James asked.

Remus shook his head.

Sighing, James exchanged frustrated glances with Sirius and Peter, but they didn't press the issue. Over the past month, James had come to realize that Remus had eight years' worth of secrets stored up, and he'd built walls to protect those secrets from prying eyes. To protect himself from the rest of the world. Since finding out the secret behind Remus' monthly disappearances, James and the others had made great strides toward helping Remus open up, but it seemed it would be a long time before the walls were totally destroyed.

In the mean time, James had to constantly remind himself not to press Remus too hard. James' natural inclination was to pester his friend until everything was out in the open so Remus would see he didn't have to deal with everything alone. The few times he'd tried to pry, however, Remus had shut down altogether, a veiled fear in his eyes as he regarded James with the kind of suspicion he'd shown that night in the Forbidden Forest.

James might be ready to hear Remus' secrets, but Remus obviously wasn't ready to share them and, as frustrating as that was, James had to learn to be patient. It was maddening.

Eventually, the tension drained out of Remus' shoulders. Sighing, he stuck a bit of parchment in his book to mark his place, then shut it and slid it into his bag. He hesitated, glanced at his friends, and pulled out a square package wrapped in parchment and tied with string.

"What's that?" Sirius asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"It's a present." Remus rubbed his hand over the parchment. "To say thank you. I know it's not enough—"

James rolled his eyes. "How many times have we got to say it, Moony?"

"You don't have to thank us," Sirius finished.

Remus remained adamant. "I wanted to." When none of the others made a move to take the package, he rolled his eyes. "Fine. Here, James." He thrust the package at James, who took it gingerly but did not unwrap it. "Christmas, Part Two."

James peered at Remus over the rims of his glasses.

"I didn't give you nearly enough, compared to that encyclopedia. And since you won't take back your gifts, you've no right to tell me not to give you this."

Too shocked, at first, to say anything, James stared at Remus' stubborn scowl. Then, laughing, he shrugged. "Oh, alright, then. As long as you don't feel you owe us for sticking by you."

Remus only smiled, gesturing toward the present.

Grinning, James reached for the string. Sirius and Peter, evidently forgetting their reservations, gathered around as James peeled back the wrappings revealing a pair of unadorned, square mirrors. Frowning, James turned them each over, looking for a note of explanation. Finding none, he glanced up at Remus, who was playing with the laces of his shoes.

"Er—thanks… What are they?"

"Two-way mirrors," said Remus, twisting the laces into a knotted mess. "I found the spell in the library a few days ago. I wanted to make three – one for each of you – but the spell only works in pairs, so I figured James and Sirius could each take one for the summer, and then you could pass them around when terms starts in September."

"Oh." James turned the mirrors over a few times, trying to look grateful.

Sirius, on the other hand, didn't bother with pretenses. "But what are they? What do they do?"

A grin found its way onto Remus' face, and he held out a hand. "Give me one of them, and I'll show you." James passed a mirror to Remus, who held it in his hands, cleared his throat, and said, "James Potter."

The mirror James still held grew suddenly warm, and James looked down in surprise. Remus' face gazed back at him.

"What the—? Blimey, Remus!" James was startled to hear an echo of his own voice from Remus' mirror.

Wide-eyed, Sirius snatched the mirror from James' hands. "This is…" He grinned at the Remus in the mirror, and then up at the Remus sitting across from him. "This is amazing, Moony!"

"I felt bad about Andromeda's parchment getting ruined," Remus explained, smiling shyly. "So I wanted to make sure you had a way to talk to us this summer, aside from letters to Peter that have to go through your parents."

Laughing, Sirius lurched forward to fling his arms around Remus' neck. The werewolf gave a start of surprise, but by the time he recovered, Sirius had already pulled back. He settled into a crouch and peered at the mirror, eyes gleaming with anticipation. "This'll be loads faster than writing everything! Plus, I'll get to hear something other than Mum's screeching and Kreacher grumbling about what a horrid son I am."

"You'll have to keep it close," said Remus. "In your pocket or bag, say. If you don't have it on you when James says your name, it'll stay blank. That way your parents won't accidentally find out about it." He shook his sleeve down over his hand and wiped the surface of the mirror. "Just wipe it with any bit of cloth to make it blank again." Smiling, Remus handed the mirror back to James, who tucked it into his pocket.

"Thanks, Remus," he said earnestly.

Remus blushed. "Don't mention it."

"Really," said Peter. "That's brilliant!"

"And just think of what it'll do for our pranks!" James added gleefully. "Easier to talk through a mirror than find somewhere to write."

Sirius only grinned and, with a funny little dance, pocketed his mirror. "This summer's going to be great."

-.-.-

The last night of term was quiet with Remus gone – even more so when James caught a glimpse of the full moon through the window. Peter and Sirius quickly noticed James' somber mood, and the three of them stayed up well into the night, thinking of Remus and hoping he would be alright.

A thought had been growing in the back of James' mind over the past month, but he'd held back from voicing it aloud with Remus around. In fact, he didn't have a chance to bring it up – and the will to finally admit the mad plan – until halfway through the train ride to London. But after stuffing themselves with sweets and pastries from the food trolley, the three boys had sunk into a comfortable silence, and James knew he could put it off no longer.

"We need to help Remus."

Sirius nodded absently, sorting through a packet of Every-Flavor Beans for the ones that didn't look too dangerous. "Of course. We've already convinced McGonagall to let us visit him after his furry little problem."

Rolling his eyes at Sirius' name for Remus' transformations, James sighed. "And that's great and all, but I was thinking we should do something more. Something… bigger."

"Like what?" asked Peter, who was trying to get Luftwing to eat what the three boys were certain was a worm-flavored bean. "Get Madam Pomfrey to teach us healing magic?"

"We'd never be able to heal as well as Pomfrey," Sirius argued, taking his unwanted beans and dropping them over Luftwing's head. The owl hooted indignantly and nipped at Peter's fingers.

Peter drew back sharply, sucking on his bleeding finger, and mutter, "Stupid bird."

James chuckled and pulled his owl away from his friends. "Don't worry, boy. I'll get you better treats when we get home."

Peter rubbed his finger absently as he watched James. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Yeah," said James slowly. "I figured there's not much we can do after the transformations, but if we could help him during…"

Frowning, Sirius tossed a handful of beans into his mouth. "During? Are you insane? What can we do while Remus is…?" He gave his friends a pointed look.

"Keep him company." James held up his hands before the others could protest. "Do you remember what Dumbledore said when we told him McGonagall had gone after Remus?"

"That Greyback was more dangerous than Remus could ever be?" Peter asked.

"No," said Sirius, a grin stretching across his face. "That werewolves won't attack animals like they do humans."

James nodded. "And that animagi can't be infected with lycanthropy."

"Wicked," muttered Sirius.

Peter looked considerably less certain about the idea. "Become animagi? There's no way we could manage it! You've got to be of age, haven't you?"

Waving his hand, James kicked his feet up on the bench opposite. "So we don't tell anyone we're doing it. Not like we'd tell them why anyhow."

"But that's illegal," Peter protested. "Not to mention dangerous!"

Sirius snorted. "So's living with a werewolf, according to the Ministry. Don't see you complaining about that."

"Well, no…" Peter frowned. "But who says we won't mess it up and get ourselves killed or something?"

"I'm not saying it'll be easy," James admitted. "We'll have to start researching it right away so we know exactly what it'll take—"

"Research?" Sirius moaned. "You mean reading?"

Laughing, James lobbed a licorice wand across the compartment at him. "It's for Remus, you git. And it's not as though we can ask him to do all the research."

"Why not?"

"Because," said James patiently. "If this doesn't work out, I don't want to have got his hopes up for nothing."

Peter laughed. "And because you don't want him putting a stop to it before you get anywhere— you know he would."

James couldn't argue with Peter there, so he only shrugged. "I know this will help Remus, and I don't care how hard it is, or how long it takes. I'm going to do it. The only question is whether you're in, or if I'm going to do it on my own."

"Of course we'll do it," said Sirius at once, sounding offended. "Moony's just as much our friend as he is yours!"

When James turned to Peter, the other boy bit his lip, but nodded slowly. "I don't know if I'll manage it, but if it's for Remus…"

James grinned. "Brill. Alright, we've got to start reading up on it now. See if your parents've got any books on animagi at home, only try not to let them know what you're looking for."

"I'll look," said Sirius, "but I doubt I'll find anything. Anamagi are too nice for my family to care about. All our books are on curses, and why purebloods are better than anyone else, and other rubbish like that."

"Well, check. There's always Hogwarts' library after the hols, but it'll be harder to give Remus the slip when we're at school."

With murmurs of agreement, the three fell into silence. There really wasn't anything more to say on the subject, at least until they'd learned more about what they were getting into. But James couldn't help but feel as though they had taken the most important step. They'd found a way to help Remus with his transformations. If they pulled it off, they could keep him company on the full moon, could maybe even distract him so he wouldn't hurt himself so badly.

"I wonder what sort of animal I'll be," James said aloud. "Maybe a lion, for Gryffindor."

Sirius snorted. "I think you'd make a good donkey. You're certainly stubborn enough."

"If he's a donkey, Sirius," said Peter, grinning, "then you'd be a peacock."

"Only if you're a worm, so I can eat you!" Sirius shot back.

"Oi!"

James laughed.

Soon enough, they arrived at King's Cross and made their way out to the platform. James spotted his parents near the front of the crowd. Bidding his friends goodbye – and promising Sirius to mirror-call him after dark – James made his way to where his parents stood.

"Can I stay over at Peter's again this summer, if his dad says it's alright?" James asked before his parents could even say hello.

James' father laughed. "That eager to be rid of us?"

Grinning, James shrugged. "Not your fault, Dad. Only you're not a Marauder."

"Marauder, eh?" James' father turned to his mother and smiled. "We'll have to apologize to the Pettigrews, then. All the marauding that'll be going on at their house has got to create a mess."

Rolling her eyes, James' mother shrunk and pocketed James' trunk, then steered him toward the barrier to the muggle world. "I ought to have known my son was a marauder, what with all the times he's pillaged the kitchen before supper."

James laughed and charged through the barrier, already plotting adventures for the next year.

The End

A/N: So ends another year in the life of the Marauders! Thanks to everyone who's read, favorited, or added me to alerts. And an extra big thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys are great!

Now for what you all, no doubt, are wondering: what's next from Avery Lou?

First of all: the James Potter series. I will NOT be writing James' third or fourth year because, while I love writing the Marauders, I don't have the time or the inspiration to write seven full-length novels about their time at Hogwarts. The next story I write in this series will be Year Five - the completion of the animagus transformation and Marauder's Map, the Unspeakable Prank on Snape, the end of Lily and Sev's friendship... Yes, lots of fun stuff coming up.

Now, as to my next project... Before I continue the James Potter series, I'm going to be writing my first AU. Set immediately after the Marauders graduate Hogwarts and focusing on them and on the Black Family (including the Malfoys, Lestranges, and Tonkses), this story will cover the First Wizarding War... with a little twist. Here's a preview: the letter that irrevocably altered the course of history.

28 October 1978

Regulus—

Don't ask me why I'm writing this, because to be perfectly
honest, I haven't any idea. It's been, what? Four years?
Four years since we actually had a conversation that didn't
involve me hexing you or you calling my friends disgusting
blood-traitors and disgraces to magic itself and whatever
other dragon dung you could come up with. I don't know why
I'm expecting things to suddenly change, especially now
you've turned Death Eater.

I mean, Merlin, Reg! How idiotic do you have to be to join
Voldemort? You think this will make Mum and Dad proud? Oh,
fine. So you're probably right. But is it really worth it? Are they
worth torturing and killing innocent people just because some nutter
says they're beneath him? I hope you're happy, Reg. And I hope
you're a damn good Death Eater, because I've heard the kind
of things he does to people who fail him.

You, Regulus Arcturus Black, are a bloody gormless moron.

But somewhere along the line, the fates decided it'd be worth
a laugh or two to make me your brother, so I guess I've got to
make sure you don't kill yourself trying to make our spiffing
parents proud. (And if you are, in fact, trying to get yourself
killed, you're doing a bloody good job of it.)

So I guess what I'm saying— and I must be as completely
barking as you for even thinking this— is that if you ever need
anything, if you ever want to talk or whatever, you let me
know. We're stuck with each other, brother, whether we
like it or not. I'm not letting you take the easy way out.

(Unfortunately) Your brother,

—Sirius

Why is Sirius contacting his Death Eater brother? How will Regulus respond? What do their friends think of it all? (Like I'd answer that.) Sirius playing with five-year-old Tonks, Remus meeting with werewolves for the first times, James and Lily's wedding... All this and more will show up in this AU (in just the first few chapters, in fact.) Keep an eye on my profile for updates as I get ready to post it, and for some oneshots to break up the silence between now and then. See you in 2013 with...

Shades of Black
(A story about family.)

Book One in the Black AU

And, finally, I'd like to take a moment to shamelessly direct you all to my Etsy shop, Clockwork Whimsy. Steampunk, cyberpunk, geekery, requests... Tell your friends. (Link's on my profile.)