The Marauders and the Apple of Discord

Chapter 1

Owl Post

Everyone was fast asleep in Godric's Hollow. Everyone, that is, except a small boy with messy, jet-black hair. This little boy was James Potter, and he was sitting on the floor in his pajamas, shivering. He was very cold, and very tired, but he couldn't go to bed, because he was waiting for something very important to arrive. But he was more than a little anxious that it wouldn't arrive, which was why he was up in the early hours of the morning waiting for it.

James was just beginning to think it wouldn't be arriving today, after all, when suddenly, through the slot in the door, popped a thick, heavy envelope made of yellowish parchment. On it, in emerald ink, were written the words:

Mr. J. Potter

The Floor

27 Magus Lane

Godric's Hollow

James's heart gave a little leap as he turned the envelope over, seeing a purple wax seal with a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter “H”. After staring for quite a few minutes, James ripped open the envelope, reading:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

James smiled to himself. So he was in. He had known of course. He hadn't been worried at all.

Well, maybe a little bit…

Petunia Evans hoisted her thin body into her second story window, and into her room. The clock by her bed said 4:00 am. She had just come home after spending the night with her best friend, who lived next door, but she wasn't worried about her parents finding out. They probably wouldn't even notice. They were too involved with their own perfect lives to notice anything their twin daughters did.

Suddenly, Petunia noticed a large grey owl soaring over the rooftops. It was carrying something. It wasn't so odd, until Petunia noticed that the thing it was carrying wasn't a dead mouse, or whatever it was that owls ate, it was a letter.

Even stranger, though was the fact that this letter-bearing bird seemed to be heading straight for Petunia's house. Petunia watched in awe as the owl sent the letter right through the mail slot and took off into the early morning.

Overcome with curiosity, Petunia tiptoed down the stairs to the front door. She picked up the heavy envelope on the floor, and, unconcerned with the address on the front, tore it open quickly and quietly. Her bony hands carefully pulled out the yellow piece of parchment that lay inside, and she began to read the letter.

Dear Ms. Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagoll

Deputy Headmistress

Witchcraft? Was this a joke? Well, she had seen with her own eyes an owl delivering this letter. It did seem the sort of thing…

Hogwarts? It sounded more like a disease than a school… something like chickenpox. But Minerva was a strange name too. Maybe everyone had strange names there. It did seem the sort of thing…

But to do magic was something Petunia had only dreamed about. It would be amazing, exciting, and just plain cool. And then her parents would notice her. They would be so proud. And Lily would be wonderfully supportive about it, of course. They had always been best friends, and even though Petunia was sometimes jealous that her sister was smarter or prettier than she was, she always bit back those feelings because of the kindness Lily showed her. But it would be better now. Now that Petunia had this magical gift, she would never have to be jealous of her sister again. They would be best friends forever.

She stood there for a few moments thinking of her parents' and sister's proud faces, but the words on the front of the envelope knocked the smile right off her face.

Ms. L. Evans

Sirius Black rolled over in his bed, nearly falling onto the floor before waking suddenly. He had slept surprisingly well; unlike most of the other witches and wizards his age, he was not worried about receiving his Hogwarts letter. He would definitely get it—he had to. He had everything going for him: he was intelligent (although most of his brain power went into pranks instead of school), he was good looking (although that wouldn't really affect him being accepted to Hogwarts), but most importantly, he was a pure- blooded wizard of the noble and most ancient house of Black, of which generations had been Slytherins at Hogwarts. With his family history, he was practically royalty.

Casually, Sirius stood up and got dressed. Even in his room next door, Siius could hear his little brother, Regulus, snoring.

Dressed in all black robes, Sirius left his room and walked down the stairs, passing dozens of stuffed house elf heads on his way to the front door. And there it was, on the floor, just as he knew it would be. His mother would be so pleased. Seeing Kreacher, Sirius barked, “You! Go and tell my mother that I've received my letter.”

“Yes, Young Master. Mistress will be so pleased,” Kreacher replied as he bowed himself from the room. Sirius smiled. He couldn't wait for the Sorting Hat to place him in Slytherin.

Lily awoke suddenly with the pressing feeling that there was something she needed to do. Quickly rolling out of bed, she pulled her auburn hair into a loose ponytail, and made her way down the hall to the stairs. She stopped suddenly at the top, seeing Petunia standing by the front door with an envelope in her hand. Her gaunt face was pulled into a scowl, and then she looked up, giving Lily the dirtiest glare she could muster.

Lily stopped mid-yawn and looked at her twin sister with concern. “What's wrong Petunia?” she asked cautiously.

Petunia gave a short, very-forced laugh, and turned abruptly, storming into the kitchen without a word.

Lily distantly heard the door slam, but she was too preoccupied with the envelope Petunia had left on the floor to care.

Ms. L. Evans

Largest Bedroom

9 Wisteria Walk

Little Whinging

Surrey

Lily removed the parchment inside, her breath catching in her throat as she realized her life was changing forever.

Remus was exhausted, but not because of the full moon—that wasn't for another week. Remus Lupin was exhausted because he hadn't been sleeping at all lately. He had applied to all the best wizarding schools, and even all of the not-so-good ones, and the message had always been the same: “We regret to inform you that due to your condition, we are unable to accept you to (name of school).” They didn't want a werewolf to scar the name of their school. There was only one school that Remus had yet to hear from. Hogwarts.

The letter would come today. He had to get in. If he didn't, he would have to live life as a muggle, and Remus didn't think he could do that. Not after being so close…

With a feeling of utter dread in his gut, Remus pulled himself out of bed, and, still in his pajamas, made his way to the front door, where his fate lay. Or didn't lie… there was nothing there.

Great, he thought. They didn't even have the common decency to tell me I wasn't accepted. Oh well, I guess I could always be a lawyer.

But Remus Lupin would never have to be a lawyer, for at that very moment, three very soft knocks were heard at his front door. So soft, in fact, that Remus wasn't sure if he had imagined them or not. But when they sounded again, louder this time, Remus knew they must be real.

His parents appeared at the top of the stairs looking very puzzled. Yawning, his mother mumbled, “Was that someone at the door, dear?”

Slowly, Remus turned toward the door, which creaked as he swung it open. Remus was suddenly aware that he was wearing nothing but his pajamas when he saw who was standing outside his front door. One look at the half-moon glasses, long, crooked nose, and long, flowing silver hair told Remus exactly who this man was. It was Professor Dumbledore. Standing on one side of him was a squat little witch with very dirty clothes and flyaway hair, and on his other side, was a strict young witch in a Healer uniform.

“As you may know,” the old wizard began, “I am Albus Dumbledore. It is a pleasure to meet you here in your lovely home.”

Remus' mother made an odd, panicked, squeaky noise, and looked as if she might faint. His father however, cleared his throat and said, “Well, yes, thank you. Umm, won't you come in, er, Sir?

Dumbledore smiled, and the three people made their way into the Lupin's living room.

Once seated, Dumbledore continued, “After very careful consideration and planning, we have decided to accept Remus into Hogwarts.”

Mrs. Lupin gasped and looked like she might cry, but Mr. Lupin simply sat, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. The only sound to be heard was the ticking of a clock until Remus asked, “What about my… er… condition?”

Dumbledore smiled. “Professor Sprout (he indicated the witch with the squat witch on his left) and Madame Pomfrey (he indicated the strict witch on his right) have assured me that there is an easy way around this complication.”

Professor Sprout launched quickly into her explanation as if she had been rehearsing it in her head the whole time. “You see, we have spent a good portion of the summer holiday creating a passageway from the Hogwarts grounds to a small deserted hut in Hogsmeade. I, being the Herbology teacher, was assigned the task of finding a way to make sure no student comes across this passageway, and I am happy to say I have found one.”

Here, she removed a small photograph from her pocket and handed it to Remus. It was of what looked like a large willow tree swaying in the wind. Upon looking at it closely, however, Remus saw that it was swaying quite violently, while the other trees in the area were still. “It's called a Whomping Willow,” Professor Sprout continued, “and trust me, no one will even consider poking around underneath that, at the risk of being seriously mauled.”

She smiled proudly, but Remus' insides were squirming. “Umm, so you say, that thing is really dangerous?”

“Absolutely.”

“So, umm, how would I, umm, get past it then?”

“Oh, dear! Did I forget to mention the knot? Goodness, how silly of me!” she giggled, but Remus failed to see what was so funny. “There is a knot on the tree that freezes it so that you can creep by unharmed.”

Madame Pomfrey continued, “You will, of course have to miss some classes before and after the full moon to come to the hospital wing for treatment, but as long as you are willing to work hard, this shouldn't present a problem.”

All three teachers rose from their seats, and Dumbledore handed Remus a letter, smiling. “As long as none of these arrangements present a problem, we would be very pleased to see you at Hogwarts next year.”

As soon as they were gone, Remus' mother burst into tears, but Remus didn't hear. He was too busy reading his letter.

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Peter trudged down the stairs and over to the front door, thinking, Don't get your hopes up. Don't get excited... but when he saw the letter sitting on the floor, it was all forgotten. He was in.

Now all he had to worry about was getting into a good house. He wasn't clever enough for Ravenclaw; he knew that. Slytherin would be good, but he wasn't nearly talented enough. Gryffindor would be great, but he knew he was nowhere near brave enough. And then there was Hufflepuff. That was where he would probably end up. Being valued for kindness was all well and good, but when you're surrounded by people who are courageous, ambitious, or sharp, it's just doesn't compare. He could hope for Gryffindor, but he didn't want to get too excited, in case he was disappointed.

Don't get your hopes up. Don't get excited...

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Chapter 2

The Crossing of Fate

Lily woke up on the morning of September 1, terrified. She had no idea what to expect, and honestly, she was starting to regret her decision to attend this strange school in the first place. All of her other friends, Petunia included, were going to Normile High School, but Petunia had insisted she tell them that her parents were sending her to St. Agnes School for Aspiring Nuns.

It's a good thing I packed my things last night, she thought. I'd be much too nervous to pack today.

Dragging her trunk behind her, she got into the car, ready for her first trip to Hogwarts.

He knew he was early, but he hadn't wanted to take a chance and miss the train. After all, if Dumbledore was nice enough to accept him with his, well, condition, the least he could do was show up early for the train. Remus looked around. The only other person on the platform was a young boy, who looked about his age, with neat dark hair, and even darker eyes. He was standing next to a woman, probably his mother, and the two of them kept glancing over at him as if they were judging whether or not he was worthy of their company.

Sirius kept glancing at the sandy-haired boy across the platform, judging whether or not the boy was worthy of his company. Finally, unable to tell just by looking, he decided to go over and check.

Leaving his mother's side, he approached the only other person on the platform, who smiled and said, “Hi, my name's Remus Lupin. What's yours?”

“Sirius Black,” he replied, but, before he could ask about his family history, Remus' parents arrived, and began hugging and kissing their son goodbye. (“Aww, Mum! Stop it! You're embarrassing me!” said Remus)

Well, that settles it, then, Sirius thought, walking back to his mother. If his parents can get onto the platform, they can't be Muggles. Of course, his family is nowhere near as prominent as the Blacks or the Malfoys, but he'll do.

More people were flocking onto the platform now, and Sirius scanned the crowd looking for any students without parents. And then he saw one. She was petty, with shoulder-length auburn hair, and startling green eyes. She looked nice enough, but nice didn't matter. Blood mattered.

His mother had seen her, too, and voiced his thoughts. “Filthy Mudblood.”

James was running dangerously late. Saying goodbye to his parents at the car, he ran through the station with his trunk and his owl, Mercury. Seeing the wall between platforms nine and ten, he headed straight for it, but instead of hitting it, he went right through.

A large sign overhead said, “Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock,” and in front of him wasw a huge scarlet steam engine. But James wasn't particularly interested in all this. He was too busy staring at the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She seemed to be last to board the train, and was trying to heave her trunk onto the train when she dropped it on her foot. She gave a little gasp, and James immediately ran over to help her.

With a great tug, he managed to tuck her trunk into the corner of her compartment. Turning back to her, he ruffled his hair a bit, and threw her a dazzling grin. This smile had never failed to win over any girl… yet.

“You cocky, arrogant prick!” Lily screamed.

It was horrible—inexcusable. If she had wanted his help, she would have asked for it. Of course, she had needed help, but just the fact that he had done it without even the courtesy of asking first was unforgivable. And then that cocky grin and the way he had rumpled his hair had just made it that much worse.

The boy stepped back, obviously startled. “I…sorry…I didn't… know…sorry…” was all he managed to sputter before Lily turned into the empty compartment, slamming the door in his face.

He smiled. “I'm going to marry that girl.”

Peter dragged his trunk from compartment to compartment trying to find and empty one, with no luck whatsoever. They were all completely full, and there was only one left at the very end for him to check.

Opening the door, he saw three boys sitting there. Sensing what he wanted, one of them, with messy, jet-black hair said, “Come on in, we've got an extra seat.” He paused, and added, “I'm James Potter, by the way.”

Another boy, with sandy hair, added, “And I'm Remus Lupin. Nice to meet you.”

The last boy simply said, “Sirius Black.”

Smiling, Peter sat down with the three boys. “I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew.”

Lily was sitting alone in her compartment, and she kept hearing people pass the door, laughing and talking. She was feeling a bit nervous now—like she would be the only one on this whole school without any friends. It was terrifying.

Just as she was seriously considering jumping out the window and running home as fast as she could, the door of her compartment opening, and three girls walked in.

The first girl, a dignified-looking witch with long, straight black hair, said, “Hello, my name is Emmeline Vance, and these are my friends, Marlene McKinnon (a pleasant looking girl with curly brown hair smiled and nodded), and Dorcas Meadowes (the blond girl waved feverishly). May we sit with you? Everywhere else is full.”

Lily, feeling very relieved that she found some people to sit with, smiled and nodded. “I'm Lily Evans, by the way. It's nice to meet you.”

“…and then I turned his hair pink, and sent him out to the shops to buy some broom polish. When he came back he talked for at least an hour about a girl who had been staring at him but I didn't have the heart to tell him why. Of course, he found out later when he looked in the mirror!” Sirius finished as the rest of the boys roared with laughter.

“Oh yea? That's nothing,” Remus cut in after he had caught his breath. “Once, I set of a dozen dungbombs in my cousin's clothes, and she had a date with her boyfriend that night. It took her three hours to get the smell out! I've never really liked her…”

When the laughter had subsided, James added, “Well one time, my mum went shopping, and she told me to clean my room while she was out, so I used a cleaning charm on it to make it clean itself, and then I went into her room and exchanged her makeup for Flookles' Color Changing Face Paint. When she put it on the next day her face was changing from red to blue to green all day, and she didn't even think to blame me because she thought I had been too busy cleaning my room to pull a prank like that!”

Sirius had never had such a wonderful time in his life. The four boys had everything in common, and Sirius could tell they would be best friends. That is, if they all made it into Slytherin with him. The talk of pranks shifted to talk of Quidditch, and they were still talking about it when the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. They were all disappointed that the train ride had ended, but the displeasure soon dissipated when they saw for the first time the place that would be their home for the next seven years. Although only a speck in the distance, it was the most magnificent place any of them had ever seen.

It was the most magnificent place Lily had ever seen. It was just like the old castles she had read about in books—right at the top of a mountain with towers and turrets and everything. Against the night sky its glittering windows could almost be mistaken for stars. And it was HUGE! Not even the pictures in Hogwarts: A History had made it seem this big.

But if Lily had thought the castle was big, it was nothing compared to the man in front of her, shouting, “Firs' years! Firs' years over here!”

Sirius watched as Rubeus Hagrid called to all the first year students. The others were staring at Hagrid with a mixture of fear and respect, but Sirius saw him for what he really was.

“Disgusting half-breed,” he muttered.

For a split second, he thought he saw Remus give him an odd look of surprise, and maybe…fear? But when he turned, Remus was listening fixedly to James and Peter, who were having a lengthy discussion about a greasy haired first year whom they didn't seem to like.

Oh well, Sirius thought. It's just my imagination. No one would ever care about a half-breed anyway.

“No more'n four to a boat!” Hagrid called out, indicating a group of boats floating by the edge of a very big lake, which resembled a big, smooth mirror. The stars were reflecting onto it tonight, giving it the appearance of a large continuation of sky, like they were floating in nothingness.

But as the girls were quietly admiring the lake's beauty, the boys were sataring wide-eyed at several large tentacles stretching out near the opposite shore.

Taking an entire boat for himself, Hagrid shouted back at the first years, “Everyone in? Right then—FORWARD!” and the students gasped as the fleet of boats glided toward the magnificent castle.

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(AN: Before you even read this, I just want to apologize in advance for the awful Sorting Hat song. I tried, but I just can't write poetry…)

Chapter 3

The Sorting

It was amazing, magnificent, wonderful, incredible, but also extremely terrifying. It was strange and splendid at the same time, and Lily had to remind herself to breathe as the group of first years entered the Great Hall. Thousands of candles, floating over four long tables, sent a flickering light across hundreds of faces, all staring fixedly at the line of first years making its way toward a small stool, on which sat an old, frayed hat.

Terror clutched at Lily's chest as she wondered what she would have to do. She didn't know any magic. Suppose she got up there, and when she couldn't do anything, the stern-looking witch next to the hat, Professor McGonagoll, would tell her that this was all just a big mistake, and that she would have to go home.

All of the students were now staring at the tatty old hat, and Lily found some comfort in the fact that the other first years also had looks of panic pasted across their faces. Everything was completely silent and still, but when Lily glanced back at the hat, she could have sworn she saw it move. When she looked again, a rip in the side of the hat opened up into a mouth, and it began to sing.

I welcome you to Hogwarts,

Where you can learn to be

An expert in the complex art

Of noble wizardy.

But first, before you start your quest,

For finer education,

You must be sorted to a house

That suits your expectation.

That of Godric Gryffindor,

Who valued nerve and bravery,

Or else of Helga Hufflepuf,

For kindness and for loyalty.

Will it be Rowena Ravenclaw,

Whose pride was laid in learning,

Or Salazar Slytherin,

Who valued blood and cunning.

So put my rim around you ears,

And then your house we'll find.

For when you put me on your head,

I'll look inside you mind.

The hat turned and bowed to each of the tables as the hall burst into applause. James was suddenly aware of the awkwardness of his clapping.

He had thought about this before—gone over this very moment in his head over and over again—but it had never gone like this. He had never even thought of the possibility that he would be awkward or nervous. He would throw the crowd a confident grin as he pulled the Sorting Hat onto his head, and then, when it shouted Gryffindor, he would throw out another grin as he swaggered confidently to his seat at the Gryffindor table. But this—this was terrifying.

*

When Sirius heard his name called, he left James, Remus, and Peter, and swaggered confidently over to where the Sorting Hat stood, knowing where he would be placed. He winked at the Slytherin table before pulling the rim of the hat over his eyes.

“Hmm… You're going to be one of the more difficult ones, I see,” said a voice inside Sirius' head.

What do you mean `difficult'? I should be the easiest choice here! Sirius thought.

“Well, you have a great deal of talent, and ambition, too. It's all here…”

Slytherin! That means Slytherin! You're thicker than I thought!

“Now, now, young man. I'm not finished. There's courage here, too. Oh, a lot of courage. There's no doubt about it, Gryffindor will help you see beyond what you have been taught.”

What's wrong with what I've been taught?I want SLYTHERIN!

But it was too late, because the Sorting Hat had already shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” and Sirius was reluctantly pulling the hat off his head. The students were shocked into silence, and even the teachers, though clapping politely, were giving each other looks that clearly showed how shocked they were.

Sirius found his feet moving him toward Gryffindor table, and he could hear the students whispering to each other. “A Black? In Gryffindor? There must have been some mistake!”

He sat down with his new house, all of which was giving him doubtful and nasty looks, and tried to concentrate on the sorting of “Bode, Broderick,” but when he saw his thrilled look at being sorted into Hufflepuff, he found he had to look away.

*

Lily watched as “Bones, Amelia,” was sorted into Hufflepuff, and found her dread mounting as “Dolohov, Antonin,” became a Slytherin. By the time Professor McGonagoll was calling “Evans, Lily,” her heart was pounding so loudly she could barely hear it.

She hardly realized it as she sat on the stool, or as she pulled the hat over her eyes, but she did hear the strange voice in her head.

“Hmm…talented, yes, but you wouldn't fit in Slytherin. Kind and loyal, too, but I can see you were cut out for greater things than Hufflepuff. Ah! You're clever—cleverer than many that I've seen. You would do brilliantly in Ravenclaw. But what's this? Bravery—a remarkable trait to possess. It's one thing to have the intelligence and maturity to see what is right, but another thing entirely to do it. Better be… GRYFFINDOR!”

Lily walked shakily over to the Gryffindor table, at which all the students were applauding politely. She didn't feel very brave right now, but then she didn't feel very clever, either. Maybe the hat had made a mistake. But she wasn't particularly concerned with that right now. She was too busy feeling overwhelmingly relieved.

*

Remus watched Fenwick, Benjy step off the stool, and make his way over to the Ravenclaw table, and before he knew it, it was his name being called, and he was the one walking toward the stool. He was nervous, but nothing compared to what the other first years seemed to be, because he wasn't worried about what house he would be put in. He was just happy to be here, and he was grateful. He didn't feel like any house was any better than any other house. Gryffindor would be nice though…

“Hmm… a nice mind, I see. Oh, a werewolf, eh? You're afraid of what you are—afraid of what people will think of you. But I see you've dealt with this with much courage. It's all here. But you needn't be afraid. People will look down on you for what you are, yes. But you will find friends who will accept you and seek to help you. Yes—better be… GRYFFINDOR!”

Remus could have jumped for joy (but he didn't, of course). He had been placed in Gryffindor, and would, apparently, have lots of friends who would accept him for what he was. All he had to do was tell them. He sat down next to Sirius Black, who was still staring at the Slytherin table wistfully. Remus turned to him, ready to tell him what he was, but then he remembered what he had said when he saw Hagrid. “Filthy halfbreed.” But what does a hat know anyway. He would be best just keeping it to himself, like he had always done.

He turned back to the sorting. Macnair, Walden had just been sorted into Slytherin, and he noticed that Sirius was looking a bit queasy, but he clapped with the other Gryffindors when McKinnon, Marlene, and Meadowes, Dorcas joined their table.

Both boys snapped to attention as Peter Pettigrew's name was called and he made his way up to the hat. He was trembling, and Remus was sure he was going to wet himself.

*

Peter was absolutely terrified. He didn't feel clever or courageous at all. But then, he wasn't really anyway. If only there were a house for people who were about to wet themselves. That would be the house for him.

Peter pulled the Sorting Hat over his eyes, and was plunged into darkness. “Hmm…not clever enough for Ravenclaw, not cunning enough for Slytherin. You could be in Hufflepuff, I suppose, but you haven't an ounce of loyalty. There's some bravery here, though. But I suspect it won't be an easy journey learning how to use it. It will serve you before the end. We'll give it a try… GRYFFINDOR!”

Peter gave a little squeak, and ran over to Remus and Sirius, knocking over the chair and sending the Sorting Hat flying. It didn't seem too happy about landing on the floor, as it told Professor McGonagoll when she placed it back on the stool.

Remus and Sirius gave Peter their congratulations, but all three boys were immediately silenced when James' name was called.

*

Taking a deep breath, James gathered up as much confidence as he could muster, and dragged his feet over to the stool where the sorting hat lay.

“Oh, well this is easy. You have the traits for any house, but they are far overpowered by your courage. You possess more bravery than anyone I've seen in a long time! You'll do well in GRYFFINDOR!”

Beaming, James strutted over to his friends at the Gryffindor table, and watched the sorting, the butterflies in his stomach significantly lessened. Sirius was still looking angry when Skeeter and Snape became Slytherins, but his mood seemed to be improved when he clapped for Vance, Emmeline when se became a Gryffindor.

By the end of the sorting, all three boys were very hungry, and sighed as the headmaster got up to speak. Remus leaned over and whispered to James, “I hope this doesn't take long, I'm starving!”

James silently agreed, and turned to the head table as the Dumbledore began to speak. “I understand you're all hungry, so I'll make this short. (audible sighs of relief from James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter) Welcome! And now, enjoy!”

As soon as that was said, the plates in front of them were piled high with every kind of food imaginable. The four boys gave shouts of joy, and immediately began piling their plates high with everything from black pudding to pork chops. Not another word was said as they began to stuff their faces.

*

When the feast was finally over, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, were almost too full to walk, but somehow they managed to make it to the Gryffindor common room, although they were the last ones there. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, the Gryffindor prefect, Gideon Prewitt, was waiting for them.

“Well finally! I was thinking you lot were never going to make it!” he said as the four boys groaned and fought the temptation to just lie on the floor and go to sleep. “The password is Annum Principalis.”

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, and the James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter climbed through the opening, followed by Gideon.

The Common Room was amazing. There was a fire roaring in the fireplace, which was surrounded by the most comfy-looking armchairs any of them had ever seen. But right now, they were too tired to really appreciate this room. They would be much more appreciative of a nice, warm, bed.

So they went straight into the first year boys' dorm, and by the time each boy had hit the fluffy pillows and soft mattress, they were already asleep.

***

Please review!! I love reading them, even the bad ones!

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Chapter 4

Friends and The Things They Do

Lily woke up early the next morning to look over her schedule, and Dorcas Meadowes was already up, sitting on her four poster bed and rocking back and forth, humming. When Lily sat up in her bed, Dorcas gave a little squeak and almost fell right off her bed.

“Oh, I'm so glad you're awake! I've just been sitting here for ages! I can never sleep before the first day of classes, I was like that back at my Muggle school as well. My parents are both Muggles, so it was a bit of a shock when I got my letter. They didn't want me to come at first, because they're both accountants, and they were hoping I'd be one too, but I persuaded them in the end. What about you? Are you Muggle born too?”

Lily opened her mouth to answer, but it became quite clear that Dorcas wasn't going to stop for an answer, as she just continued talking.

“I've heard that there are quite a few Muggle born students here, so it shouldn't be too hard to adjust, but I'm a bit nervous, because I don't know any magic. Although not even the pure bloods know much, because you're not allowed to do magic before you're old enough, so it shouldn't be so bad…”

Dorcas continued babbling, and Lily was starting to worry that she would never stop, but in the bed behind her, Marlene McKinnon was just waking up, and she had grabbed one of her pillows and thrown it full speed at Dorcas' head. The pillow hit Dorcas square in the face, and Dorcas fell sideways off her bed. Then both girls exploded in fits of giggles.

Between gasps, Marlene managed to say, “That's just what you have to do when she starts talking. But it's best to just not let her get going, because once she starts, it's hard to stop her.”

Lily laughed along with the Dorcas and Marlene, but they were so loud that Emmeline was soon awake as well. She sat up in her bed, and glared at the other girls, mumbling about early mornings and stupid girls, which, of course, only made them laugh harder, and before long, all four girls were laughing.

After a while, though, laughing gets a bit tiring, so quite painful if you are laughing hard enough, so they all collapsed onto their respective beds (or in Dorcas' case, the floor), and did some very deep breathing.

In the boys' dormitory, it was a very different story. They weren't having a pillow fight or collapsing with giggles, and they were most definitely not awake. In fact, each boy was sleeping soundly, and snoring loudly. Nothing could wake them… except maybe breakfast.

*

A few hours later, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were loading their plates with anything edible they could get their hands on.

“You know what the best part of Hogwarts is?” Sirius asked between mouthfuls of sausage and egg.

“The food,” James and Remus replied immediately. Peter just sat there looking confused before returning to his breakfast.

They sat in silence for a few minutes (they had no choice, as their mouths were stuffed with food), and then Remus asked, “So what's the first class today?”

“Double potions with the Slytherins,” Peter replied quickly, happy to finally be asked a question that he knew the answer to.

James and Remus looked at Sirius carefully, knowing what he must be thinking, but Sirius simply sat, showing no emotion whatsoever. So, naturally, they went back to their food.

*

From the moment he walked into the Potions room, Sirius knew there would be trouble. All the Slytherins were staring at him like he was scum under their shoes.

The boys took their seats with the Gryffindors, but Emmeline Vance and Marlene McKinnon were giving Sirius strange looks too. But they at least, unlike the Slytherins, had the common courtesy not to do it while he was looking. Lily and Dorcas, being Muggle born, didn't really understand the peculiarity of a Black in Gryffindor, and so also didn't understand the strange looks Sirius was receiving.

At the moment, though, Sirius just felt like sinking through the floor. He took a seat between James and Remus, who seemed to have made his welfare their personal responsibility. They were glaring at the Slytherins as if daring them to antagonize their friend.

But no action was necessary, because before anyone could say anything, Professor Cortina entered the Potions dungeon. Professor Cortina, a tall woman with white hair who was so old she looked like she could drop dead at any moment, was the potions teacher, and head of Slytherin house. She had a cold voice that sent shivers down their spines, and she made it clear from the first moment that she loathed and detested Gryffindors.

She began the class by taking the register, just like all the other teachers, but when she got to Sirius' name, she stopped. “Ah, Mr. Black,” she began, raising her icy blue eyes to look directly into Sirius' black ones. “I must say you have quite disappointed me, and others, no doubt.” This was greeted by sniggers from the Slytherins in the room, but she continued, ignoring them. “I have taught generations of your family, and I was quite looking forward to teaching you. I had thought you were to be one of the best in the class, but I see I must have been mistaken.”

Sirius could feel himself tensing up, and looking to his right, he could see cold fury in James' features. It shocked him—he hadn't been expecting this to affect his friends like this.

Professor Cortina continued, “You'll be just like any other prissy Gryffindor I've ever taught.” She smiled sourly, and continued with what she was doing, leaving Sirius feeling once again like he would like nothing better than to sink right through the floor.

Everything was completely silent when Professor Cortina went back to the register, until James said, in barely more than a whisper, “You're wrong.”

She looked up slowly, her eyes meeting James' with a glare like she was trying to burn a hole through his skull. “What did you say?”

“I said, `You're wrong',” he said, louder this time.

If there was anything worse than her glare, it was her smile, as they all discovered then. When Professor Cortina smiled, it was as if her whole face was one big wrinkle, and it was cracking in the middle into a mouth, which had limited teeth inside, and all the ones that were left looked like they had some kind of mold on them. It made the whole class shrink back, and, still smiling dangerously, she said, “Oh, well if it isn't Mr. Black's little girlfriend. Now, if you'll just sit down and be quiet like the rest of the children, I'm sure I might not punish you for contradicting a teacher.”

James stayed standing.

Her smile faded.

“Well, that will be detention for you, and why not one for Mr. Black as well?”

“Sirius didn't do anything and you know it.”

“Well then, we have a choice, don't we. You and your little friend can serve detention together, or you can serve a double detention alone. And let me warn you, you will be doing hard, manual labor. A double detention would be exhausting.” She smiled again.

James sat back down, never breaking eye contact, and said, “I'm sure I'll survive.”

Professor Cortina promptly stopped smiling, and wrote something down. She then turned and continued with the lesson, not saying another word to James.

Sirius was shocked. This boy, who he had only known for about 24 hours, had just stuck up for him, offered to serve a double detention with the most evil woman in the whole world for him, and didn't even seem fazed by the whole idea. He looked over at James, who was now taking notes as if all that hadn't even happened. Sirius had never had a friend like that before.

“You didn't have to do that, you know,” Sirius said quietly.

“I wanted to,” James replied, without looking up from his notes.

“Oh. Well… ok then.”

*

Lily was excited, and getting more excited by the minute. In each class, she learned new things that she never thought possible. In potions, she learned how to brew a potion that would cure boils, and had even earned five points to Gryffindor for getting it right. Of course, James Potter had soon gotten tham taken away when he “accidentally” poured a bit of his on Severus Snape's hand, burning off some of his skin.

Then, in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagoll had begun the class by turning her chair into a sheep. The class was amazed, but they soon learned that they wouldn't be doing anything this advanced for quite a long time. Both James and Sirius expressed a great amount of disappointment when asked to turn a match into a needle. However, they had both made almost perfect matches by the end of the class period, earning 10 points each for Gryffindor. Remus' match was silver and very pointy, but Peter hadn't made any change in his match, so when Professor McGonagoll had her back turned, Sirius did it for him, earning Gryffindor another 10 points. Lily was a bit disappointed when her match only went a little bit shiny.

Charms went a lot better for her, though. She discovered quickly that she had a knack for it, and it was by far her favorite class. The boys, however, discovered quickly that they didn't care at all about this particular class, and spent the entire class speaking in whispers in the back of the room.

*

When it was time for James detention with Cortina, he walked toward the dungeons like it was the end of the world. He didn't know what to expect, but he could guess that it wasn't going to be pleasant.

When he got to the potions dungeon, Professor Cortina wasn't there yet, but on a table near the front of the room was a table with about a dozen jars on it. The jars seemed to be filled with large cotton balls, but upon closer inspection, James could see that the large cotton balls had beady black eyes and a mouth full of sharp-looking teeth. They looked calm enough, not moving around much, but they seemed to be eying James warily.

While James was inspecting these strange creatures, Professor Cortina entered the classroom, and walked briskly to where James was standing. “Ah, Mr. Potter. Right on time. Today we, or rather, you, will be gathering warvole droppings.” James assumed the cotton balls in the jars were warvoles. “Now, you must do it quickly, because although they look calm, if they get the chance, they will attack.”

“Wait, attack?” James gasped.

“Yes, Mr. Potter. They will bite you.”

“Oh, right. How nice. So why am I collecting warvole droppings anyway?”

She smiled her smile again. “If you had done your homework, you would know that warvole droppings are very useful in brewing healing potions.”

James fell silent and began collecting droppings. As Professor Cortina had told him, the warvoles did bite, and it was actually extremely painful, and by the time he was done, James was sporting some very painful gashes in both hands. In his opinion, this was hardly the sort of thing students should be assigned to do.

When James returned to the common room, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all waiting up for him. Or rather, Sirius and Remus were waiting up, but Peter had fallen asleep quite some time ago.

“So what did she make you do?” Sirius asked guiltily (but quietly, so as not to wake Peter).

“I had to collect droppings from about a hundred fluffy cotton ball looking things,” James replied, flopping down in an armchair.

“Thanks for doing that for me. It was really great of you,” Sirius said softly (not because Peter was asleep, but more because he was uncomfortable).

“It's alright, really. She shouldn't have talked to you like that.”

“You know what?” Sirius started slowly. “I'm kind of glad I'm in Gryffindor.”

***

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(Thanks to everyone for all the great reviews, I really appreciate them! I replied to most of them on the review page)

Chapter 5

Secrets and Lies

The next week went as usual, classes that they (for the most part) didn't pay attention in, and some near misses in the detention field, but Remus was starting to get nervous. It was only a few days until the full moon, and pretty soon he would have to get to the hospital wing, and he still hadn't told James, Sirius, or Peter that he was a werewolf. He was starting to think that there would never be a good time to bring it up, and that even if he did, it's not like they would embrace the fact that he turned into a monster every month. He was wondering if it was better just not to tell them. Especially Sirius. Although he did seem to be fitting in more with the Gryffindors, he did still look down on the Muggle-born students at Hogwarts, and Remus was sure it was the same with half-breeds. No, it was definitely safer to keep his secret to himself.

*

A few nights later, James was in the library studying. Or rather, Lily was in the library studying, and James was staring at her. He must have spent a good two hours reading the same sentence (“If the sap of the Curiosap touches your skin, dunk it immediately in a potion made from warvole droppings”) and glancing occasionally at her.

When she got up to leave, he gladly got up to follow her. (His backside was really starting to ache.) He was careful to stay far enough behind her so she wouldn't see, but then, as she was passing the staff room, her bag split open, and she dropped all of the books she was carrying.

James was a bit reluctant to go and help her, but when he had caught up, he really had no choice but to ask. “Do you, um, want some help?”

“Oh, yes. Thank you.”

She smiled.

She smiled?

“Oh, you were the boy at the train station who helped me with my trunk!”

James panicked.

He was just about to mumble a reply when she murmered, “Thank you. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I was feeling a bit stressed out.” She smiled again.

But at that very moment, just as he was making some progress, Professor Dumbledore turned the corner with Professor McGonagoll. They hadn't seen Lily and James, but they were bound to, as they were crouched by the door to the staff room. If they were seen, they would almost definitely get detention, as they were supposed to be in bed by now, and James wasn't quite keen on collecting any more droppings.

Shoving Lily's things into her bag, James grabbed her by the arm and dragged her behind a suit of armor.

“They've come to me for help,” Professor Dumbledore was saying. “They say that this great power that is threatening them could destroy us all.”

“But why you?” asked Professor McGonagoll.

“I have been in contact with them for many years now, and they have always aided me when I needed it.”

“And what is this great threat?”

“They will not say. But I believe it is a person.”

They had reached the staff room now, and walked inside. James, in a moment of intense curiosity, reached forward and stuck Lily's bag in the door, unnoticed, to prevent it from closing.

Inside were Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, and Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher, who was so old and shiveled that people were always worried that he would drop dead in the middle of class. He was very regimented, and stuck to a strict routine, and people said that even if he did die, he would still get up every morning to teach.

Professor Binns said, “Albus, Minerva, what brings you here?”

“Ah, a very good question,” Dumbledore said quietly (so quietly that Lily and James practically had to press themselves against the crack in the door. “There has been a crisis in Greece.”

“Greece, Professor?” Flitwick squeaked.

“Do you know anything about the legends of Greek gods?”

“Well, yes, of course. But they are only legends, aren't they?”

“Not entirely, no. The gods who lived in Greece were an ancient breed of wizards and witches with great power. They can control the weather, transform people into all kinds of things (Professor McGonagoll gave a little cough), and, although they are not immortal, they are perfectly capable of living for many thousands of years. For these great powers, these people were labeled `gods'. Long ago, they lived peacefully with the Muggles, but soon, because of their powers, the people began to fear, and even hate them. The gods had no choice but to leave their homes, and so they found a new place to live. They created a huge palace on the top of a tall mountain, Mount Olympus, where no one could ever find them. They have remained there ever since, but there stories were passed down from generation to generation to become legend. After a time, the Muggles worshiped these wizards, and prayed to them, but they were still afraid, and as long as the wizarding world remains a secret, so shall they.”

Silence greeted this, and James and Lily exchanged skeptical looks, until Flitwick asked, “But what is this crisis?”

Dumbledore suddenly looked sad. “They have told me that a great power threatens to destroy their survival, and they worry that if it is not dealt with, it could destroy us all. They are coming here to speak with me.”

Lily gasped, and the four teachers turned towards to door. Before they could be seen, they snatched the bag from the door and took off running toward the Gryffindor common room.

*

James and Lily reached the common room, out of breath and panting, but not in any trouble, which was nothing short of miraculous, as they had just spied on teachers and heard a top secret meeting when they should have been in bed sleeping.

Lily went straight up to the girls dorm to tell Emmeline, Marline, and Dorcas what she had just heard. But James didn't have to move, because Sirius and Peter were already there waiting for him.

“Have fun at the library?” Sirius joked as James collapsed on the floor, clutching his side.

“I wasn't at the library. Well, I was, but I left, and I was helping Lily pick up her stuff, and I have to tell you what I heard. Where's Remus?”

“He's been gone all day. Haven't you noticed?” Sirius answered, annoyed. “He left early this morning, something about his mother. She's sick or something. But forget about it. We'll tell him when he gets back. What did you hear?”

James gave them a full account of what he and Lily had heard in the staff room, and Sirius and Peter gave suggestions to what, or who, could be threatening the most powerful group of wizards and witches in the world.

They were in the common room until dawn, (which was all right, because it was a Sunday, and they wouldn't have classes anyway) and as the sun was rising, Sirius was asleep on the couch, and Peter was asleep on the floor by the window. James had just woken up, and decided to wake Peter and Sirius up before people started to wake up. They could always just sleep away the rest of the day in their own beds.

James soon realized just how deeply Peter slept. He was poking him, and prodding him, and calling his name, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was outside. It was a person. A woman. But she was far away, walking towards the Whomping Willow. She was picking up a large stick, and then the tree froze. It just stopped moving. She disappeared. For a moment, James thought he was going insane. He started shaking Peter, who finally started to wake up.

The woman had emerged from a big hole underneath the tree, but someone else was with her now. A boy. He was limping. He looked hurt. They were walking back to the castle now. James could see them clearer now. One of them was Madam Pomfrey. And the other was…

“Hey, Peter?”

“Yea?” Peter said sleepily.

“Where did Remus say he was going?”

“To visit his sick mother, I think.”

“So he's definitely not here right now?”

“Yea, definitely. Why?”

“Because there he is.”

***

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Chapter 6

Werewolf

James had decided it was best not to tell Sirius about what he had seen, and he had made Peter promise not to as well, at least until they got to talk to Remus about his side of the story. It's not that he approved of lying to Sirius (and he was sure going to give Remus hell for doing it), but he thought that he would at least wait until Remus got a chance to tell his side of what the hell was going on before he went telling any more people. But what was really killing him was that he had no idea what was going on, and no matter how much it pained him to admit it, he was worried.

So that was why, on a Sunday morning, before the rest of the school was even awake, James was up and dressed and making his way down to the hospital wing. It seemed to take forever, but finally he was there, and there was Madam Pomfrey, giving him a slightly questionable look.

The hospital wing freaked him out a little bit. It was just too clean. And white. It gave him the creeps. There were rows of clean white beds, on a clean white floor, under a clean white ceiling, surrounded by clean white floors. It was practically blinding. But something was wrong. One of the beds was surrounded by a curtain kind of a thing. And James was willing to bet that's where Remus was.

He looked back at Madam Pomfrey, who was still giving him a questionable look, and asked, “Is Remus here?”

And just like that, Madam Pomfrey's look turned from slightly questionable, to extremely shocked. “I'm afraid I am not able to discuss my patients,” she said, trying to retain a little bit of her calm composure. “And you'll have to leave. I'll have no one disturbing the patients.”

She turned him around, and gave him a gentle shove out the door. But that wouldn't do. James wanted to speak to Remus. He got up early for this specific purpose, and he wasn't leaving until he completed his mission.

Staying right outside the hospital wing, he crouched on the floor and starting screaming, “AH! Ouch! My ANKLE! I think it's BROKEN!”

And, of course, Madam Pomfrey came rushing out to his side. But as soon as she saw him sitting on the floor, clutching his ankle, and grinning up at her, she went back inside, leaving James on the floor. So, he kept screaming. And she came out again.

“What are you trying to do? Wake up the whole castle?”

“Oh no, Miss. I'm simply trying to get into the hospital wing in order to have a civil conversation with my friend. Waking up the whole castle is just an added bonus.”

And then he smiled. And she smiled. And she let him in.

*

Remus looked even worse than James had expected. He had cuts and scratches, and what looked like bite marks all over his skin. He was glancing up at James, and he looked… scared?

For lack of anything better to say, James asked, “How's your mother?” And maybe this wasn't the best time for jokes, but it all worked out ok, because Remus laughed.

“She's fine. I, on the other hand…”

“Yea, that much I can see. So… you going to tell me what happened?”

Remus smile faded. He looked nothing short of terrified.

“How did you know I was here?” Remus said quickly, changing the subject.

“This morning, I saw you come out from under that tree. Was it the tree that hurt you?”

“No,” Remus began sadly. “It was me.”

“You? I don't understand…”

“I'm a… a werewolf,” Remus said slowly, looking resolutely at the wall. Then he looked up at James and added quickly, “I'll understand if you don't want to be friends with me anymore.”

“Why? Just because you're a werewolf?” James laughed. “You're only like that once a month, and I know people who are evil and dangerous all the time. It's all right, really. I mean, you're still Remus.”

Remus was considerably relieved, and laughed along with James, but soon became more serious again. “Did anyone else see?”

“Peter did, but Sirius was asleep on the couch. Just wait till they hear! Peter's theory was that you got beaten up by your sick mother, and had to come home early!”

Remus laughed happily with James. It was going to be ok.

*

Remus was coming out of the hospital the next day, after Madam Pomfrey had healed all of his cuts and scrapes and bites, but until then, James was determined to help him out in any way he could. He hadn't told Sirius and Peter yet at Remus' request. It was hard to lie to his friends, but Remus had wanted to tell them personally, and James wasn't going to argue.

James took the best notes he could in all of his classes so that Remus wouldn't fall behind (even History of Magic, which was a real struggle, since it was so incredibly boring).

By the time Remus was back in his classes, James was so exhausted he was sleeping through them, but it was worth it because Remus was so grateful to James for all of his help and support.

*

The night after Remus' return, the four boys gathered in their room to talk about Remus' illness. Remus was feeling very nervous, but significantly better now that James had accepted it.

They all gathered in a circle on the floor, and Remus prepared himself for what he had to say. Peter was looking very worried, as he still believed Remus had been in the hospital because his sick mother had beaten him up, and Sirius was looking puzzled, as he still had no idea that Remus had even been in the hospital wing. Remus was looking for a way to begin.

“Ok, so I needed to talk to you guys because, well, my mother's not really sick.”

Peter and Sirius looked surprised.

“I've really been in the hospital wing for the past few days.” He paused— for effect, and also because he really didn't know how to say the next part.

Peter nodded, but Sirius now looked surprised and worried. “Why? What happened? Are you sick? Or hurt?”

“Both.”

Puzzled looks.

“I'm a werewolf.”

Awkward silence.

Sirius had a strange empty look on his face. “So you're, like, a half-breed.”

Remus fidgeted nervously. “Well, yea.” Here it comes…

Silence.

Sirius got up and left the room. Peter looked puzzled, but just laid down and fell asleep on the floor.

James smiled sympathetically, but it really didn't help Remus. Sirius didn't understand. He wondered what would happen next—if James would go off with Sirius and Peter would follow, and Remus would be alone… again.

James stood up. “I'm going down to talk to Sirius.”

But Remus could guess what he meant. If Sirius goes, I go too. Peter gave a loud snore. Remus went to bed.

*

When James got downstairs, Sirius was sitting on one of the couches, staring into the fire blankly. He looked up at James as he entered, but then looked back to the fire.

“I've never known one of them before.”

“One of what?” James asked.

“You know, one of them.”

“If you mean a werewolf, just say it. Don't treat him like he's changed. He's still Remus. He's still a person.”

“But he's NOT!” Sirius shouted. “They're not like us! We're supposed to hate them! Not be friends with them!”

“He is still a person. And as to what we're supposed to do, I think you can decide for yourself. You can hate him because he's a werewolf, or you can accept him, but in the end it's still your decision. But think about it first. You knew him when he was still Remus Lupin, who likes Quidditch, and plays pranks on people, just like you do, and is kind, and thoughtful, and smart. And what has changed? Only the way you see him. But he's still the same old Remus. You didn't always see him as `one of them', but so what if he is? Do whatever you think is right. If you think you should just forget him and never speak to him again, then do it. But if that's what you decide, then I guess I was wrong about you, because I was under the deluded impression that your friends were important to you.”

And with that, James turned around and walked right back up the stairs into their room, leaving Sirius on the couch.

*

The next morning, Remus was late waking up, and when he did, he saw that the other three boys had already left their beds. Oh great. They probably left for breakfast without me. Remus got dressed and walked down the boys' staircase, dreading having to sit alone at breakfast.

He was just walking towards the portrait hole to make his way to the Great Hall for breakfast, when he heard a voice behind him. It was Sirius.

“Oy! You're not going down to breakfast without us, are you?” He and James were walking toward Remus with huge grins on their faces.

“We've been waiting ages for you to wake up and then when you do, you ditch us to go to breakfast by yourself?” James joked, and then added, “Peter was waiting a while, but he was starving, and he couldn't wait, so he said he'd meet us there.”

Remus was shocked. “But I thought…”

Sirius smiled and interrupted, “Yea, well, you were wrong, weren't you? But that's ok. We don't expect you to be right all the time… then you'd be just like me!”

Remus smiled.

The Sorting Hat was right! It really would be ok after all.

***

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Chapter 7

Flight of the Gods

Lily, Emmeline, Dorcas, and Marlene were all sitting in the Great Hall, discussing the conversation that Lily had overheard. It was Saturday morning, and they were quite literally the only students in the hall for breakfast. In fact, the only other people were Dumbledore and McGonagoll, who were sitting at the Head table, not eating, but discussing something in low voices. The girls had noticed this, and were discussing in low voices what it was that the two professors were discussing.

It was then that two strangers entered the Great Hall and approached Professor Dumbledore. The first stranger was a man, very tall, with light grey hair, and bright blue eyes. The second was a woman, with the darkest hair Lily had ever seen, which flowed off her shoulders like water. They walked quickly and purposefully toward Dumbledore, although the woman kept looking over her shoulder, as if afraid she was being followed.

As soon as Dumbledore saw the two, he immediately got up, and led them out of the Great Hall. As they were leaving, the woman glanced at the girls suspiciously, and Lily noticed that she was holding a bundle under her arm protectively.

As she walked, a fold of the material came loose, and Lily could see that something very shiny was inside. Whatever it was gave her the sudden and intense urge to reach out and take it, but before Lily could see what it was, the woman suddenly sped up, and followed the two men out of the hall.

*

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had just pulled the greatest prank ever. Well, maybe not the greatest, but it was pretty damn great. They had seen Severus Snape walking down the hallway, and they had sought to do him a favor. There was nothing cruel about simply requesting that he wash his hair, in the interest of his own hygiene, of course.

Well, Snape had gone crazy, and tried to hit James with a Jelly Legs jinx. But that wouldn't do, so James simply washed his hair for him. He shot pink soap bubbles at Snape's hair, in the interest of public sanitation, and Snape had run away crying.

And the four boys had took off running the other way. When they were finally sure that they were far enough away, they stopped and sat on the floor, leaning their heads against the wall, panting.

“Did you see his face? And when he started crying?” Sirius asked between sobs of laughter.

“His mother really was quite wrong when she named him,” James added. “She should have called him Snivellus, not Severus!”

The boys continued laughing, but were soon silenced when they heard voices from around the corner. They seemed to be coming closer, so the boys immediately fell silent, and crawled behind a statue.

They recognized the first voice as Dumbledore's. “I understand your misgivings, but I assure you, it is in your own best interests to tell me anything about this threat that you can.”

James whispered, “They're talking about the thing that's threatening the gods!”

The three people came into view, and Peter whispered excitedly, “Do you think that's them? The gods?”

The man next to Dumbledore began, in a booming voice, “He has kept much hidden from us, which was wise for his part. All we can be sure of is what he wants from us.”

The man gave a meaningful glance at the woman, who stopped walking and gasped. “Zeus, how can we be sure this man can be trusted with the information we have?” she whispered, with a hissing voice, like a snake. The woman was wearing all black, and James couldn't help thinking that, had she been a Hogwarts student, she would have been a Slytherin.

“Calm yourself, Eris. I would trust Albus with my life.”

“Only because you can never die,” she murmured so that the two men couldn't hear.

They walked further down the hallway, stopping at the ugliest stone gargoyle any of the boys had ever seen. Dumbledore whispered something to it, and it sprung aside as the wall behind it opened. Zeus and Dumbledore walked right through and stepped onto a staircase just beyond where the wall should have been. Eris gave one more look over her shoulder and followed after them.

*

After eavesdropping on another one of Professor Dumbledore's private conversations, James was really starting to feel guilty. Of course, he had mostly forgotton it as he ran top speed to the Gryffindor common room with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. They were completely silent—all thinking about what they had overheard.

When they got to the common room, they quickly discovered they were not alone. There were four girls sitting in the corner, huddled together, and speaking in low voices.

*

“So who do you think they were?” Dorcas asked.

“Oh, I have a few guesses…” Marlene replied.

“Oh… who, then?”

Emmeline sighed. “Just think for a moment, Dorcas. Lily overheard the teachers speaking of the gods and their trouble. So who do you think the two strangers in the Great Hall were?”

Dorcas thought for a moment. “Look, you know how much I hate riddles. Just tell me!”

Lily, Emmeline, Marlene just stopped and looked at her for a moment.

Suddenly Dorcas' eyes lit up. “Wait! I got it! Those two strangers in the Great Hall had information for Dumbledore about the gods!”

Emmeline smiled patiently. “Darling, those people were the gods.”

Dorcas began laughing uncontrollably, which confused the other girls greatly, but Lily hushed her when she saw the four boys come in. Everyone was silent and still for a moment, before James sauntered over to where the girls were sitting.

Without wasting any time, James said simply, “We know something you don't know.”

“Oh, I'm so glad you're not being ambiguous and immature, because we would really hate that,” Lily replied sarcastically.

“Well if you tell us what you know, maybe we'll tell you what we know…” Marlene said deviously.

Suspicious looks were exchanged, and the groups split up and began talking amongst themselves.

“I don't know if that's such a good idea… I mean, should we really be telling them anything? Can we trust them?” Emmeline asked.

“I don't think it's really a matter of trust,” Marlene whispered. “It's more that we just want to know what they know. And anyway, if it turns out their information isn't as good as ours, we could always just say that ours was the same…”

“Sneaky!” Lily murmured. “I like it.”

*

“Do you really think it's a good idea to tell these girls what we know?” Peter asked shakily.

“I think so,” Remus replied quietly. “It's not like they're going to spread it around. They're being quiet and sneaky about this whole thing just like we are. Plus, they did say they knew something.”

“Yea, but they could just be saying that to hear what we know!” Sirius hissed.

“I say we tell them. And if theirs isn't as good, then we can always say we made it up,” James said, and the other boys agreed.

The boys rejoined the girls' group, and they all sat around the fire, waiting for someone else to start.

“Ok, we've decided to tell you what we know, but you have to swear that you really do know something, and that you'll tell us when we're done,” Sirius began.

“Fine,” Lily said, “Get on with it.”

James took a deep breath, and began their story. “We were just running down the hallway after, umm, helping a fellow student (skeptical looks from the girls) and we heard voices, so we hid behind a statue, and we saw Dumbledore with two strangers.”

“Oh, we know this already!” Dorcas interrupted. “The two strangers are…”

But Dorcas was elbowed hard in the ribs by Marlene, and stopped immediately.

James looked puzzled. “So, anyway. The man is Zeus, and the woman is someone called Eris or something. They were talking to Dumbledore about the evil that was threatening them. I think it's some kind of man—a wizard, probably. Anyway, they said that he wants something from them. It seemed really important. Eris didn't think they could trust Dumbledore with the imformation.”

“Well, she was right, wasn't she! I mean, with you four listening, and all,” Marlene joked. “Anyway, our turn now.”

Lily began, “Well, we saw them leaving the Great Hall with Dumbledore, and I don't know if you noticed, but the woman—Eris, was it?—she had a bundle under her arm. She was holding it protectively, and while she was walking, the material slipped, and I got a look at it.”

The boys were all hanging off the edge of their seats, staring at her intently, as if she was telling ghost stories around a campfire, and they were all eager to hear what happened next.

“I couldn't really see, but it was shiny. It looked like gold, and as soon as I saw it, it was like I wanted it—badly. Like I wanted it more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life. I felt like just reaching out and taking it, and then running off as fast as I could. It was the strangest feeling I've ever had,” she finished.

“Well, you know what this means, don't you?” James asked.

“There's an evil wizard out there that wants whatever that woman has, and if he gets it, it could mean the destruction of, well, everything…” Lily said, smiling at him.

“Well, yea, exactly,” James said, looking a little shocked.

“But, uh, why does whoever it is want it?” Peter asked quietly.

“Who knows,” Lily murmured. “But whatever it is, we're going to find out, and if that means more late night eavesdropping encounters (she gave James a meaningful look) then so be it.

*

The next few days were very difficult. James and Lily had assigned jobs to the members of their own “groups” so that if there was a conversation going on, it would definitely be heard.

Dorcas and Peter were in charge of the teachers, so they spent most of the day (when they didn't have classes) walking back and forth on front of the staff room, hoping to overhear snippets of important conversation. Occasionally, Professor McGonagoll would leave, and then it was Dorcas' responsibility to tail her (inconspicuously), since, out of all the teachers, she seemed to know the most of the situation. But mostly they just walked back and forth, and on the rare occasion that they did hear anything at all, it wasn't anything important anyway.

Emmeline and Remus were assigned to Professor Dumbledore, but since he spent most of his time in his office, they spent most of their time pacing around outside his office, waiting for him to come out. Very rarely did he ever speak to anyone while they were, for lack of a better word, spying on him, and when he did, it wasn't anything to do with the present state of affairs.

Marlene and Sirius's responsibility was to follow Eris around, and hope to hear something from her, but since she was constantly looking over her shoulder, they found this very difficult. They had to constantly be doing something, like reading a book while walking, or having a loud, staged conversation about Quidditch, or their classes, but even then, she seemed to be getting suspicious. Marlene was a little freaked out by her, because, truth be told, she was a bit sinister-looking, like something you would find in a cemetery of a Muggle town on Halloween. Sirius said she looked a bit like his younger cousin, Bellatrix, and Marlene wasn't quite keen to meet her.

And, of course, Lily and James shadowed Zeus, which was a bit intimidating at first, but after following him for a few hours, they learned that he was very friendly. He walked around the school clapping students on the back, and shouting friendly comments, but nothing that would help them in the least.

All in all, the plan was a complete and utter disaster. They each came back each night bored with blisters on their feet, but with no information that would in any way help them figure out what was going on.

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Chapter 8

The Beginning of an Era

There were only fifteen minutes left of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Liefer was really starting to worry about the Gryffindors. For the past two weeks, they had been lazy and sluggish, and were almost always sleeping. He hadn't seen a hand in the air for days, and it was slightly disturbing. It was as if they had been up late at night working, but that was highly unlikely. It was more likely that they had been up late at night doing something else. Professor Liefer continued with the lesson, not knowing what else to do. As long as their grades didn't seem to be slipping (which they weren't) he supposed it must have been all right.

*

With only a few minutes left of their last class of the day, James began waking up. It was strange that the thing he had begun dreading more than anything else was the end of the day. Usually, the end of the day signified a chance to relax and have fun, but now, it only signified a chance to walk back and forth, doing absolutely nothing other than walking back and forth getting blisters on the backs of his feet.

There had to be a way to get out of it, but how? All of the boys had to do what they were told when they each had a girl breathing down their necks. Professor Liefer dismissed the class, and James went over to speak to Lily.

“Hey, Evans,” he said, smiling sweetly (Hey, a little sucking up never hurt anyone).

“What do you want?” she asked moodily.

James chuckled. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the desk just now,” he joked. She didn't find it very amusing. “Anyway, I was thinking, we've been doing this spying thing all week, and we haven't been making any progress at all.”

“And your point?”

“Well, Peter says that nothing ever happens over by the staff room, and Remus says that Dumbledore only ever stays in his office, so it's impossible to hear anything at all. So I was just thinking, that if we split into two groups instead of four, and only tailed Zeus and Eris, we'd make a lot more progress!”

Lily thought for a moment. “You know, you're right! Ok, so you can go with Sirius, Marlene, and Dorcas, and Remus, Peter, and Emmeline can come with me!”

“Well, I was thinking more along the lines of my friends with me, and your friends with you…” he said delicately.

She thought for a moment, and then realized that she would probably have a lot mor fun with Marlene, Dorcas, and Emmeline. “Well, ok, but you better not be goofing off. I expect you to be listening for information.”

James smiled. “Yea, ok. We'll be watching Zeus like a hawk.”

*

“So where did Zeus go?” Peter asked.

“Who cares?” Sirius laughed. They had been walking around the school for at least an hour, and they hadn't caught sight of Zeus since he had left his room.

It was interesting walking around the castle, talking to all the paintings, and going in all the rooms, as long as they were sure there was no one in there. The castle was huge, and they had been in some rooms that they had been quite sure no one had been in for years.

Suddenly they were in a large corridor with cheerful paintings lining the walls. None of them had ever been in this part of the castle, but they were having fun, so they just walked through looking at all the paintings.

James was looking at a painting of a large cake, when he heard Peter trip over something behind him. He turned, and saw Peter was leaning on a large painting of a fruit bowl trying to get up. He had his had on the pear, which suddenly started giggling, and turned into a giant, green doorknob.

Peter gasped and jumped back from the painting, slipping again, and ending up on the floor. The other three boys came over quickly, very impressed with what Peter had discovered.

“What d'you suppose is in there?” Sirius asked quietly.

“No idea… let's see,” James replied, reaching for the doorknob. He gave the door/painting a tug, and it swung open, revealing a high-ceilinged room filled with pots, pans, and house elves.

One of them, upon seeing the four boys enter the room, scurried over, looking quite shocked. “No students is ever coming into the kitchens,” said the creature, which had bat-like ears, and huge green eyes. “What is you doing here?”

Peter was rather taken aback by these creatures, and began taking small steps backward.

James, however, thought quickly, and stammered, “We're, uh… marauding…”

The elf didn't look like it understood remotely what James meant by this, but wasn't going to say that. “Ah, I sees. Would the marauders likes some foods?”

“Do you have any cream cakes?” Sirius asked immediately, as if he had been practicing saying it his entire life (and James wouldn't be particularly surprised if he had).

The elf ran off, returning quickly with four platters of cream cakes. And so, naturally, the boys stuffed their faces, forgetting all about whatever it was they were supposed to be doing.

*

“How much do you wanna bet that the boys have forgotten all about what they're supposed to be doing and are off somewhere stuffing their faces?” Lily asked after at least two hours of following Eris around.

“Well, since that is most definitely what they're doing, I think we could probably afford to take a break too…” Marlene said carefully.

“Well, ok, but only because Eris doesn't seem to be doing anything right now,” Lily sighed. “And also because my feet are hurting.”

Laughing, the girls turned the corner, where the four boys were walking towards them, laughing and joking, their arms full of more sugary foods than Lily even knew the names of.

Fuming, Lily stood with her arms crossed on her chest and her eyes filled with fire. Upon seeing her, the boys immediately dropped their gooey, sugary, messy food all over the nice, clean floor.

And Lily almost exploded.

*

Marlene was actually faring for hr life as Lily screamed at the boys. If Filch didn't hear this, then someone had to. And even if they didn't get caught, Lily's eminent explosion would surely kill them all.

“How DARE you!” she was shrieking. “I knew you weren't following Zeus! What if something interesting had happened and you'd all missed it?”

Marlene actually thought Lily might have been overreacting a bit, especially since the girls were just about to take a break themselves, but she decided that whether or not this was the case, she would have to stick by her friend (mostly because she was just glad it wasn't her being yelled at), so she stood tall, glaring at the boys, but staying out of Lily's line of vision, just in case.

James, however, was not so easily intimidated. (Well, he was, really, but he couldn't let it show.) He moved toward Lily, and said in as casual a voice as he could muster, “Where's Eris, then?”

Marlene would have laughed, had this not been such a serious situation, but as it was, she liked her head just the way it was, and Lily would undoubtedly have bitten it off had she done anything of the sort. So she just watched as Lily flipped her hair, and stomped off in the opposite direction, salvaging whatever dignity she had left.

*

Lily had been sitting on her bed for over an hour when the other three girls ambled in, laughing and talking happily.

“James is so funny! Especially what he said about Severus Snape!” Marlene was saying until she saw Lily, and immediately became more serious. “Are you ok?”

“No,” Lily pouted.

“I don't see why you're so angry,” Dorcas said delicately. “I mean, we were taking a break too…”

“But where did they get that food from? It was very obvious that they never had any intention to help at all.”

“Well, you've got to admit it is hard work, and I have thought numerous times of quitting myself,” Emmeline added. “It's only natural for them to want to do other things.”

“Yea, I guess so,” Lily sighed. “But I can't help thinking that it wasn't fair for them to expect us to do everything for them. They should have come to us if they didn't want to do it anymore.”

Marlene smiled and hopped onto Lily's bed. “I've got an idea. What if we didn't tell them anything we found out. That way we'll always know more than them, and we'll have them right where we want them.

Lily smiled. “I like it.”

*

“That was great!” Sirius barked as the four boys strolled into their room. “Who knew it would be so easy to steal food from the kitchens?”

Peter laughed. “Yea, those things are dead friendly.”

“We should do this more often,” James laughed. “We could be like the Four Musketeers!”

“No! Not Musketeers…” Remus added, thinking. “What was it those house elves called us? Marauders?”

“Yea!” James shouted. “That's perfect! We'll be the Mauraders!”

“Do we have to have a name?” Sirius whined.

“YES!” James and Remus bellowed, making Sirius jump.

Sirius sighed. “Alright, just as the as we can go to bed now.”

“The Marauders,” Peter whispered, with almost a sense of awe.

James smiled. “I like it.”

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Chapter 9

Thief

The newly-formed Marauders were really putting their name to good use. They were sneaking through the castle late at night searching for near rooms and passageways, but always stopping by the kitchens to visit the house elves (and of course, the sugary treats they got weren't exactly a bad thing). Every night they would sneak out late at night, praying not to get caught by Filch, and laugh and joke, and sometimes even leave traps and pranks for the other students. But on full moons, they would all be good little boys and go to sleep at the proper time, because if one of the Marauders couldn't be there, then the rest of them would just refuse to leave them out of any midnight adventures.

Already, the boys could tell that these would be the best years of their lives.

*

The girls, however, were having significantly less fun at the dead of night than the boys were. They were still straining their ears—desperate to hear something the boys didn't already know. And it was killing them that all they had discovered so far was that these gods were very private people. They hardly left their rooms anymore, and when they did, nothing interesting was ever said. Occasionally, they would enter a room with Dumbledore, but the door would be locked, and on these occasions, the girls would have had a higher chance of hearing something if they stuffed cotton in their ears.

It was on one of these occasions that Lily came to the conclusion that absolutely nothing could be gained by what they were doing, and so the four girls trooped lazily back to their common room.

It was just plain frustrating. They were so curious to know what was going on, but it seemed so top secret that no one would ever in a million years be heard talking about it. It just wasn't fair.

The girls had taken about three steps away from where they had been crouching on the floor, when the heard the lock turning behind them, and had just enough time to dive behind a suit of armor before the door was flung open and a horrified-looking Eris leapt out of it, shrieking.

“Where is it? It is not in its proper place! Someone must have stolen it! My apple is gone!” she screeched, her voice sounding like a thousand nails scraping across a blackboard. “It must have been one of those little wretches. The school is full of them. Or…” she paused, looking wildly around her, “…maybe it was… HIM!”

Zeus walked quickly toward her, and placed his hands on her shoulders, steering her back into the room and speaking with a deep voice, which sounded strangely soothing, “Calm yourself, Eris, you probably just misplaced it. We will look in your room after the meeting.” He turned and walked inside, motioning Eris to follow him.

She glared at him, and hissed, “You do not realize the importance of that orb. It will turn friends against each other, and send enemies into battle. It will topple empires and send the world to war... I would not have simply misplaced it.” And with a flip of her hair, she followed Zeus back into the room.

The girls, shocked and frightened, snuck back to their dorm room in the shadows, wondering who had taken the apple, and why. Lily was actually a little happy, though, because she had finally heard something that the boys hadn't.

What the girls didn't know, however, was that the boys knew exactly what had happened to that apple.

*

Earlier that day, the Marauders had been absolutely bored out of their minds. It was a Saturday, so they had no classes to go to, and it was a full moon, so they couldn't discover any new rooms or passageways or staircases or statues or doorways or anything of the sort. Not on purpose, anyway.

So they were simply walking around the school, talking about things that were of no particular interest to any of them, and being careful not to walk down any passageways they didn't recognize, just in case they found something, because, of course, they didn't want him to be left out of anything.

Peter had just begun talking about the beneficial aspects of detention, when they turned a corner and saw Eris walking straight towards them. She was still far away, so she hadn't seen them yet, but she looked like she was in a very bad mood, so they had no desire to go near her.

They stopped, and ducked into the nearest room they could find, careful not to let her spot them. There was a large wooden table in the center of the room, with about five very comfortable looking chairs set up around it. It looked like a kind of meeting room, and they knew at once it was not somewhere they should have been.

They heard Eris' footsteps outside, and dove clumsily into the nearest closet. Pulling the door until it was almost closed, but not all the way, in case they were locked in. It was very cramped in the closet, but through the crack in the door, the Marauders could just see inside the room.

Eris had walked it, slamming the door behind her. It was obvious that something was bothering her, but there was no telling what. She drifted over to the far wall, where a portrait of a mountain was placed. She looked as if she was about to speak, and so Peter strained his ears to hear what she would say.

“Avoiktoc,” she whispered so softly that Peter could barely hear.

Peter had been expecting the portrait to simply swing aside like the Fat Lady did, but instead the portrait simply melted into nothingness right off the wall, leaving a small opening in the wall, where a bundle of cloth sat. Quickly and silently Eris took the bundle from the wall and carried it to the table, where she sat down.

As soon as Eris unwrapped the bundle, exposing the orb inside, Peter was grasped with a felling of desire like he had never felt before, and judging by the gasps of the two boys next to him, they felt the same. The orb looked like diamond and solid gold at the same time. One minute it would be clear, flecked with the most beautiful colored light Peter had ever seen. The lights would shine on the walls and ceiling, moving around in stunning patterns and designs. Then, in a split second, it would be gold, and the room would be filled with light of such a rich, golden color, that no words can begin to describe it. And at the same time, a song filled the air, but it seemed as if Peter was only hearing it in his own head, and it was such a strange song that he wondered if he hadn't just imagined it. And as suddenly as it had begun, it was over, and Eris was placing the bundle back into the wall. She seemed much more calm now than a moment ago.

Eris didn't even bother to whisper this time, she said “kaeiote” loudly and confidently, and then drifted from the room as the portrait materialized behind her.

As soon as Eris had shut the door behind her, the Marauders collapsed onto the floor, groaning with pain.

There was a window at the far end of the room, but instead of pouring sunlight into the room, it showed only darkness.

“That's not right,” Peter said, confused, “It was still daytime when we came in here.”

The other two boys looked around looking bewildered, and James said thoughtfully, “You, know, now that I think about it, it did seem like we were in that closet for longer than we thought. It could have been hours for all we know.”

“Well it would have to be,” Sirius added, “if it's so dark outside. I mean, it was only lunch time when we came in here, and it's already dark.”

“We'd better get out of here before we get caught,” said James quickly. “I have a feeling we'll get more than a detention for being in here after dark.”

Sirius agreed with James and he and James made their way towards the door, but Peter hung back. When James and Sirius looked at him, puzzled, he stuttered quickly, “I w-want t-to leave, b-but I… I j-just want to see it one more t-time.”

James shook his head sadly. “I get that feeling too, but I don't think it's a good idea to be snooping like that. We should leave. Now.”

Sirius nodded, and made a move to pull Peter from the room, but Peter took a step backward.

“You don't understand! I need to see it again!” Peter yelled. “It'll only be for a second, I swear!”

James sighed, and shook his head again. “How do you know it'll only be a second? We watched for hours before, but it seemed like only a few minutes. What if we get sucked in again and someone catches us here? We could be expelled! It's just not worth it.”

But Peter knew he was wrong. It was worth it. He would have given anything just to see that orb one more time.

And so Peter put on his most innocent look, and said pleadingly, “Please just let me see it one more time. You don't have to look if you don't want to, you can wait outside and come and get me in a minute or so if I don't come out.”

James and Sirius exchanged questioning glances, and seemed to come to a decision when James said, “Ok, but only a few minutes or we'll come and get you,” and they left the room.

Peter was seized with a joyful kind of eagerness, and ran to where the picture of the mountain was mounted on the wall. It really was a beautiful painting. The mountain was covered in grass so real you could almost reach out and touch it, and at the top of the mountain, clouds were swirling around it, but Peter was too excited to notice any of this. Quickly and quietly, he whispered the word he had heard Eris speak, exactly as she had, and his stomach gave a little leap as the painting melted just as it had before.

And there it was. The little bundle of cloth wrapped around the most beautiful thing Peter had ever seen. He whipped the cloth of the orb quickly and held it in his hands.

A strange warmth emanated from it, and traveled through his entire body, giving him a snug, calm feeling. Looking closely, he saw that it wasn't an orb at all, but a kind of apple-shaped thing. It was bigger than an apple, though—about the size of a Quaffle.

Peter vaguely heard the door behind him open, and then heard Sirius' voice, “Peter, you've been in here about ten minutes, I think it's time to come out now.”

Peter nodded and mumbled something that not even he could understand, not once taking his eyes off the golden apple in front of him.

He heard the door shut behind him, and something in him told him it was time to go, and that he should put it back, but it was covered up by the overwhelming urge to spend the rest of his natural born life in that room, staring into the golden warmth in front of him. It was like taking a hot shower in the morning, when you've just woken up, and it's so early that it's still dark. You're so tired and the water is so warm that you just can't bring yourself to step out into the cold.

But something inside him was pushing harder, and after what seemed like an eternity, the cloth was over the orb and Peter was just about to say the word that Eris had used to close the painting. But he couldn't do it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop wanting it. He was gripped with the desire to forget about everything he was supposed to do, and take it out again.

But James had opened the door, and was hissing, “Peter! Come on, it's half an hour! Let's go!”

Alright, Peter thought, it's now or never. Just do it. I'm sure it won't be so bad. Just LEAVE!

*

“What's taking him so long?” Sirius sighed, leaning against the wall. “We never should have let him back in there.”

James nodded, closing his eyes. “You're right. It was stupid not to realize that we'd never get him out.”

Sirius laughed. “If Remus was here he would have knocked some sense into us and dragged us back to the common room.”

James suddenly turned, staring wide-eyed at Sirius. “Remus! I completely forgot! The full moon is over! He'll be back in our room, wondering where we are!”

Sirius gasped and turned to the door. “We'll just have to get Peter back as fast as possible,” he said, reaching for the handle, but it was alright, because Peter had just burst out of the door, looking a little red, but not too bad.

Sirius grabbed Peter by the arm, dragging him along as the three boys ran down the hallway. “We've got to run…Remus is back…forgot,” Sirius panted as they ran up the staircase towards their common room.

*

All that running was hard work, up stairs, down passageways, taking all the possible shortcuts, but still successfully tiring themselves out. It was definitely a relief when they got to the portrait hole, wheezed the password, and crawled inside.

Inside, Remus was looking very worn out, and just generally not in very good shape, sitting in front of the fire. He looked up when they arrived, and laughed when he saw them collapse on the floor.

“Do I really want to know?” he asked them.

“Probably…not,” Sirius answered. “But we're going to tell you anyway…”

“When we've caught our breath,” James finished.

“You know, I'm feeling pretty tired,” Remus laughed. “Why don't you just tell me in the morning.” He got up and walked to the boys' dorm, closing the door behind him.

“All that trouble,” James laughed, “and he doesn't even want to know!”

*

It was definitely late when they finally crawled into bed, but Peter wasn't feeling very tired. Mostly just excited. As soon as the lights went out, he pulled the curtains around his bed shut tight, and pulled his bag to him.

He opened it, and a golden light immediately filled the room. And for a split second, he felt the happiness that came with looking into the beautiful apple in his hands.

And then the curtains were pulled back and Peter was faced with the faces of his three best friends—James and Sirius looking shocked and horrified, and Remus looking shocked and confused.

James was the first to speak, but his words were strangely detached, and he spoke slowly and deliberately. “What—the—HELL—are you doing with that?”

Peter looked up at James, feeling like his whole world was collapsing, despite the wonderful feeling that holding the apple gave him. The look on James face took it all away. All his friends were looking at him like he had betrayed them. And it hurt. Badly.

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Chapter 10

Mission: Impossible

Sirius grabbed the bedcovers from the foot of the bed and tossed it over the glowing orb that Peter held, putting out the glowing light and plunging the room into darkness. He carefully lifted the covered orb from Peter's arms, and held it tightly, backing away from Peter. And then there was silence, until Sirius heard James whisper “lumos,” and a soft light filled the room.

With the light, Sirius could now see that Peter was glaring at him with a look of utmost loathing. “Give it back,” he hissed.

Sirius laughed mockingly. “Give it back? You stole this. It doesn't belong to you. Why should you have it?”

Peter rose slowly from his bed. “Give it back,” he repeated, his voice getting steadily more forceful.

The laugh on Sirius' face was quickly replaced with disbelief as Peter began walking slowly toward him. “Why?” he asked again.

“Because,” Peter said as he walked slowly to Sirius, stopping only when their faces were inches apart. “Because it's MINE!” he shouted as he launched himself at Sirius, and the two boys fell to the floor, Peter desperately trying grab the orb, and Sirius holding onto it as if his life depended on it.

They only stopped when Remus forced them apart and grabbed the orb out of Sirius' arms. Both boys leaped off the floor, and both shouted at Remus to give it back, but Remus was looking at the bundle, and had a strange look on his face. Sirius leapt at Remus, but he was too quick and had jumped onto James' bed behind me, clutching the orb protectively.

Sirius knew Remus didn't deserve it, and neither did Peter, and the only thought in his head was that he had to get it away from them and keep it forever, but by the looks on their faces, he could tell they were thinking the same thing. The only one who didn't seem to be thinking this was James.

*

James was looking very strangely at his friends. He just didn't understand their behavior. They were acting like they hated each other, and he knew that wasn't true. And it was getting worse. Peter looked as if he were about ready to kill one of them. This utterly confused James, but then he felt it.

Jealousy. The cloth had slipped, giving James a quick glimpse of the orb Remus was holding, and he felt that he would do anything to take it from them—even if he had to hurt them. But then the cloth slid back into place and it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. And he knew what he had to do.

He leapt onto the bed, where Remus was attempting to kick Sirius onto the floor, and grabbed the orb. Then, despite the feelings he had against it, he put it into his bag, running from the three other boys who were flinging themselves at him, and shut it in a closet, locking the door. But they were still coming at him, so he took the key, and ran down to the common room.

As soon as they were all out of the room, James shut the door, and they all stopped. Everyone was silent, and then Remus said, “Somebody feel like telling me what's going on?”

*

It took about half an hour to tell Remus just what was going on, and then to talk about it, but they finally came to the realization that the orb was trouble, and they had to get rid of it. Fast.

So around about midnight, the Marauders grabbed the orb, which they had wrapped in all of their bedsheets and put in a bag (in order to resist temptation), and snuck out of the common room. They had only been walking for a little while before they turned around the corner, and crashed into a group of girls running down the halls, panting.

“What are you doing here?” Lily asked slowly.

“Well what are you doing here?” James asked suspiciously.

“That's not fair, we asked you first,” Marlene said.

“Well we asked you second,” said Sirius, “so you have to tell us.”

“No way!” said Lily.

“We've just overheard a meeting and Eris said her apple thing is missing and it might be stolen and no one knows where it is and it's bad because she says it's dangerous,” Dorcas said quickly, getting hit on the back of the head by Marlene.

“Fine,” Lily sighed. “But now that you know, you have to tell us why you're here.”

Sirius made a face like he was thinking, and then said, “Umm… NO!”

As the girls were glaring maliciously at him, Peter, who was holding the orb-bag, fumbled around behind him, and then dropped it on the floor, where it landed with a clunk.

Both groups made to grab it, but Lily got to it first, and opened it up, gasping. James snatched it from her, but he could see from her face that it was too late. She had already seen the apple, and was looking at James like he was a mental patient.

“I didn't take it,” he blurted out quickly. “It was Peter. We're just returning it.”

“Well good luck returning it now,” Marlene hissed. “They're all in that room right now. And they know it's missing. So there's really nothing you can do right now.”

The Marauders all sighed, feeling completely helpless. It wasn't a good feeling.

James knew then what he had to do. It wasn't a particularly good idea, but he knew there was nothing else to do. “I think we need your help,” he mumbled softly.

Lily smiled. “What was that?”

She knew what he had said. He could tell by the look on her face. She just wanted to make him suffer. “Look,” he said, “I'm sorry for goofing off when we were supposed to be finding information, and I'm sorry for being such a jerk, and for making you mad all those times, but right now I don't know what to do and we really need your help. So can we just call a truce and make a plan?”

Lily's smile faded to a more serious look. “Apology accepted,” she said, and then, smiling again, but sweetly this time, she added, “and of course we'll help.”

*

Quietly, Dorcas and Emmeline crept down the hallway. They could see the door up ahead. It was closed, and probably locked, and Dorcas felt like her insides were melting. She had never done anything like this before, and it was killing her.

They had spent at least an hour coming up with an idea to return the orb to its proper place, and even after all that time, none of them had come up with a suitable plan. Except Sirius Black, that is.

So, at the dead of night, Dorcas and Emmeline were about to set into motion the most stupid and immature plan they had ever heard, and that is why they were so afraid to be caught. Because it was quite the opposite of foolproof. In fact, there was about a 99.9% chance that they would get caught, and Dorcas got the feeling that getting caught doing something like this was going to catch them more than just a detention.

They were approaching the door now, and Dorcas felt she would have given anything to be anywhere else at that moment—even if that place was in an open field in a thunderstorm holding a tall metal rod.

She didn't understand why Peter shouldn't just do all of this. After all, it was he who stole the orb in the first place. Why shouldn't he deal with it alone? But she answered her own question. Because he has friends that really care about him and want to help. Because it wasn't really his fault. And because it would be very difficult to have to carry out the entire plan by himself.

She looked sideways at Emmeline. Her face was set, and as they walked in silence, she had the look of someone who accepts what will happen because she expects to get caught.

But Dorcas did not have that kind of quiet serenity. It was unfair, all based on chance. They had drawn straws, and she and Emmeline were the ones chosen. It really might have been Lily's fault. She was the one who had decided that they would help. Life was really a lot easier when Lily hated James Potter.

The door was coming closer now, and though Dorcas knew what had to be done, she didn't understand why, and neither did she want to. She just walked to the door as if it would be the last thing she would ever do.

*

Peter hid quietly in the shadows, just as Sirius had told him to. Truth be told, it really was a stupid plan, and it seemed that at least one of them would be caught, but it was the only plan they had, and so Peter hid quietly in the shadows, just as Sirius had told him to.

He watched with increasing guilt as Dorcas and Emmeline approached the door. Emmeline looked calm, but Peter could tell that the same panic that was painted across Dorcas' face was running through Emmeline as well. They looked at each other for a moment, seemingly deciding who would have to do it, and then Emmeline lifted her hand to the door, and knocked, loudly.

Peter saw Dumbledore open the door, and look expectantly at the two girls. And then he heard Dorcas say shakily, “Umm… we're sorry to interrupt, Sir, but we… umm… have some… er… information… about the missing… uh… thing.”

Peter couldn't see Dumbledore's face, but he could guess what it looked like. The Headmaster disappeared inside the room for a moment, and then reappeared, saying quietly, “We will all speak in my office. This way, please.”

But here's where Peter made his mistake. Had he been watching the figures leave, he would have seen that only four people were making their way to Dumbledore's office—two men, and two girls. But Peter was too busy worrying about the task ahead of him to wonder where the other one was.

And so, taking a deep breath, Peter scurried into the room, over to the painting of the mountain, and whispered the password. He was doing everything as quickly as he could, a feeling of dread filling his stomach. It began to dissipate, though, as he placed the bundle back into the hole, and hissed the password to close it. But as soon as the word left his mouth, another voice, one he recognized all to well filled the room.

It was all Peter could do not to cover his ears when he heard the voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. It spoke loudly, with an almost mocking laugh. “Did you really think you could get away that easily?”

Hope you liked it! If you did, tell me why in a review! If you didn't, tell me why in a REVIEW! Thanks for reading!

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I'm really sorry this chapter's so short, but there has to be a break in between this one and the next one. I probably should have just tacked this one onto the end of chapter 10, but oh well. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 11

Crime and Punishment

“Did you really think you could get away that easily?” said the voice mockingly, as Peter frantically turned his head to see where it had come from. He knew who it was, of course. There was only one person in the world with such an awful voice. The only trouble was… he couldn't see her anywhere.

And then a movement caught his eye, and he turned to see Eris appear in the corner of the room. She had swept off the silvery cloak that had covered her, and was now smiling at him contemptuously.

“I knew something was wrong when those girls came here,” she said, walking slowly towards Peter. “So I hid under my invisibility cloak and waited.”

Every step that she took echoed in the cold, quiet room, and Peter could feel every step reverberate through his entire body. His heartbeat was so loud he was sure it could be heard 50 miles away. With every step that Eris took, his dread seemed to grow that much greater, until it felt as if it would pop.

“I suppose we'll have to take you to the headmaster's office,” she whispered, so close now that she was looking straight into his eyes. “You'll be expelled,” she added, smiling maliciously.

*

Dorcas and Emmeline had sat down in Professor Dumbledore's office, and were now desperately trying to think of something to say. Sirius had never covered this in the plan, because it had been thought highly improbable that they would even get this far.

Dumbledore was looking at them intently over his half-moon glasses, expecting them to begin talking, but even if they did have something to say, it would have been impossible to find the words.

Just as Zeus was clearing his throat loudly for what seemed like the hundredth time, Eris came bursting through the door, dragging behind her a trembling boy with the most terrified look they had ever seen plastered across his face. But even before they saw him they knew what had happened. It was inevitable. It really was an awful plan.

Eris had a look of selfish glee on her face as she shoved Peter into a chair, and marched towards the headmaster's desk.

“I caught this rat in the meeting room,” she said, looking at Dumbledore expectantly.

But Dumbledore didn't speak. He simply stared at Eris, while she smiled spitefully at him.

But then her smile began to fade. “Didn't you hear me, Professor? He was in the meeting room!” she shrieked.

Dumbledore simply smiled. “Ah, I see. And what was he doing in the meeting room?”

“He was returning the orb, Professor,” Eris said, the same smile returning to her gaunt face.

Dumbledore turned to look at Peter, frowning slightly. “Is this true, Mr. Pettigrew?”

Peter looked horrified. “Y-yes, S-sir,” he stuttered.

Eris smiled. “I trust he will be expelled for this?”

*

“They should definitely be back by now,” Marlene said, pacing back and forth across the common room.

“They were caught,” Sirius said, his face in his hands. “I knew they would be. It really was a stupid plan.” He raised his head and looked at James. “Whatever possessed you to go with my plan?”

James laughed, but it was a forced laugh, laced with worry.

Lily was lying on one of the couches in front of the fire, staring into the flames. She hadn't said a word all night, but now she said, “We should have all gone, really. It wasn't fair of us to send them alone.” She sighed. “If they really are caught, it's our fault.”

Everyone was silent for a moment until Remus said slowly, “She's right, you know. We should have all gone.”

Sirius jumped up raised his head suddenly, gasping in the way that someone does when they have a brilliant (or in Sirius' case crazy and dangerous and not terribly bright) idea.

James looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at James. And James knew what he was thinking. “It's crazy!” he shouted, never taking his eyes off Sirius. “It's too late, anyway. If we were going to do something, we should have done it a long time ago!”

Marlene and Lily looked at them like they were morons (which, of course, they were), and Marlene said, “Umm, what's crazy?”

James and Sirius turned and looked at them as if they had only just realized they were still in the room. James sighed. “Sirius wants to go out there and find them,” he said slowly.

“WHAT?” Marlene shouted. “You have to be joking. Go out there? We'll all be expelled.

Lily groaned, getting up slowly off the couch. “He's right, you know. We really should do something.”

Marlene looked from one to the other slowly, and then collapsed into an armchair, muttering, “They're mad. They've all gone completely mad!”

They all looked at her, smiling, and she got up slowly, saying, “Surely you can't be serious?”

Sirius laughed. “Of course I'm Sirius. And don't call me Shirley.”

*

Dumbledore smiled and looked at Eris. “Clearly,” he said, “this boy was simply returning what was lost. Isn't that right, Mr. Pettigrew?”

Peter nodded feverishly. Eris looked like she might be sick. And then she stormed from the office, Zeus following closely behind her.

As soon as they had left the office, Dumbledore turned to Peter, looking very serious. “I assume you were the one who had stolen the orb?”

Peter nodded slowly, his head down.

“You will be punished, of course. But not expelled.”

Peter looked up, tears in his eyes, and nodded again.

“I understand the desire that something like the Apple of Discord can place in a person. When placed among friends, they will often fight to the death to possess it. Only the strongest minded of all people can look at the Apple and resist it. Therefore, it is understandable that you would seek to take it. It was also a very noble thing you did to return it at all. Men older and wiser than yourself have died trying to cling on to the Apple, and I commend for attempting to return it.”

“Please, Sir, it wasn't really me who wanted to return it. James Potter was the one who told me too. I had wanted to keep it, but James made me put it back. I didn't do anything good at all.”

“James Potter?” Dumbledore repeated, smiling. He turned to Emmeling and Dorcas, who had been listening quietly. “I suppose all of the Gryffindor first years have been involved in this little escapade?” he laughed softly.

They nodded, turning a bit pink.

“Well,” Dumbledore continued, “I must have a word with all your peers at some point. Shall we say, tomorrow morning, when you all are well rested?”

But at that moment, Professor McGonagoll marched in a tartan dressing gown and slippers, followed by two girls and three boys.

“I'm sorry to interrupt, Professor, but these students say they must see you at once. Apparently, it's urgent.” She said sarcastically.

But before she could say anything more, James leapt in front of her, and said something to the effect of, “ProfessorYouCan'tExpelPeterIt's AllMyFaultAndHeDidn'tDoAnythingWrong!”

Dumbledore smiled, and said softly, “Don't worry, Mr. Potter, I have no intention of expelling anyone.”

James went a little pink, and muttered, “Oh, well, sorry, I'll just, umm, go then.”

“Not so fast, Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore continued, still smiling, “Since it is, all your fault as you put it, I think it only fitting that all eight of you receive a week's detention—if not for theft, then for wandering around school after hours.”

All eight students nodded. It was, after all, only fair for all the school rules they had broken over the past few months.

“I am not completely heartless, however,” he continued. “These detentions will not be served until after Christmas holidays.”

The Gryffindors smiled. They had completely forgotten that Christmas break only began in a few days.

“Now, if all of you do not return to your dormitories, I'm afraid you will all be quite deprived of sleep tomorrow morning.”

And that was quite enough for them. They all rushed out of the headmaster's office, leaving Professor McGonagoll quite confused behind them, and talked together all the way back to their dormitories, where they promptly fell asleep.

Hope you liked it! Now, I have a serious matter to discuss with all of you. It's called “reviewing” and it's really really really really important to me. I have calculated the numbers, and approximately 3% of the people who read this story write me a review. That means that 97% of all the people who read this story have been too LAZY to tell me what they think of it, and this is getting to be a very serious problem. I mean, how long does it take to write a review? Not very long. And then you get the wonderful satisfaction of knowing that you made me happy. So I suggest that the 97% of you that aren't writing to me please please please write something.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You all made my day! Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 12

Home for the Holidays

The next few days passed relatively quickly for the Gryffindor first years. After coming so close to being expelled, they had no desire to do anything else wrong, and so there were no more late night wanderings, and every one of them worked harder than ever in all of their classes. Needless to say, the professors where quite impressed, and it wasn't long before the Christmas holidays had begun, and they were all boarding trains to go home.

None of them had any desire to stay, as Eris had been giving all of them incredibly frightening looks when she passed them in the hallway, and they weren't in any mood to find out what would happen to them if she ever met them alone.

So that's why, in a compartment meant for only a few people, eight students were squeezed in, almost sitting on each other, but nevertheless, having a great time.

“I'm just glad we didn't get into too much trouble,” Peter said slowly.

Marlene laughed. “Still, our first detentions…”

“And may there be many more!” Sirius said, and the rest of them erupted into more happy laughter.

*

When the train arrived in the platform, everyone quickly said goodbye, and ran off to meet their parents, all heading in different directions for the next few weeks. Lily, of course, had to leave the platform to find her parents, as they still didn't know where it was.

There was a great deal of hugging when she finally found them, and then they helped her carry all of her things out to the car.

“We're just so happy you're home, dear!” said her mother, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“Petunia will be happy to see you, too. She's been so down lately,” her father added. “She hasn't really wanted to talk about you at your new school. But it's understandable, I suppose. After all, you two have been inseparable since the day you were born!”

Lily laughed. “I've missed her a lot. And there's so much to tell you all!”

“Well, you can tell us on the way home, dear,” said Mrs. Evans. “Petunia's waiting in the car.”

And before long Lily could see her sister sitting in the back seat. They loaded her trunk into the back of the car, and Lily got in and sat next to Petunia.

“Hi!” Lily shouted, jumping excitedly into the car.

Petunia didn't look up. “Hello.”

Lily's mood dropped suddenly. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” Petunia muttered, turning and looking out the window.

*

Sirius walked slowly over to his mother, who was standing alone on the platform. She didn't look too happy, and he felt utterly confused as to why. Not a word was spoken the entire ride home. Not even the portrait of his mother said a word when they entered the house—she glared at him, and Sirius couldn't help but notice that it was the same glare they used when they saw Mudbloods.

It was only when they had entered the sitting room, and Sirius saw all his relatives sitting there with that same evil stare that it dawned on him. They were all there. His mother's cousin, Araminta Meliflua was sitting in the corner staring at him with an empty look in her eyes, and his ancient Aunt Elladora, who was so old she looked as if she was already dead, was sitting on the settee, looking at him with such loathing that it was a wonder her eyes didn't melt right through his head. Uncle Alphard was in a black armchair looking up at him not angrily, but sadly. But worst of all was his father, sitting quietly with his face buried in his hands, with his younger brother Regulus' hand placed reassuringly on his shoulder.

His cousin Andromeda gave him a reassuring smile for a split second, but looked away before anyone could see. Her sisters, Bellatrix and Narcissa, were glaring at him like everyone else, though. Andromeda had graduated from Hogwarts last year, as a Ravenclaw. She was the only other Black besides him who wasn't a Slytherin. But Ravenclaw was nowhere near as shameful in the Black family as a Gryffindor was. Bellatrix was a year younger than Sirius, and there was no doubt that she would be a Slytherin. Narcissa was also a Slytherin, although she was in her fifth year. She had to be the one who had told his mother that Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor, because he most certainly didn't.

But Sirius was shattered out of his thoughts when his mother said quietly, “Blood traitor. Shame of my flesh. How DARE you!”

Sirius spun around to look at his mother, a horrified expression on his face. “I… I… no!” he stuttered desperately.

“Narcissa has even been telling us that you have become friends with other Gryffindors,” his mother interrupted.

Sirius paused, looking at Narcissa, who now had her head held up proudly. Aunt Elladora had leaned over to her, and was whispering, “Well done, dear.”

“Is this true? Have you been friendly to these Muggle-loving freaks?” she asked, her skin growing tight on her face, giving her a ghostly appearance.

But this was too much. She could insult him, and call him awful names, but she would not insult the only people who had accepted him for who he was. “YOU'RE WRONG!” he screamed, making everyone in the room jump. “They're not freaks! And yes, I'm friends with them, because they're ten times as great as the lot of you could ever be!” And with that, he stormed out of the room, leaving his entire family dazed behind him.

*

Peter trudged up the lane to his front door, hauling his heavy trunk behind him. He had to admit, he was a bit worried. His parents hadn't been at the station to pick him up, and so he had to Floo home alone. Could they be mad at him?

He opened the door, and dropped his trunk next to it, surprised. All the lights were off, and it didn't look like anyone was home, but he could have sworn he heard noises in the living room. Taking his wand out of his pocket, he walked slowly into the next room, and flipped the light switch.

“SURPRISE!” shouted at least a dozen members of Peter's family, jumping out of various hiding spots around the room.

Peter was so shocked that he nearly jumped right out of his skin. Red sparks shot out of his wand at his surprise, setting fire to a banner that said “Congratulations Gryffindor!” and upon seeing the panic around the room at the fire, the newest member of the house valued for courage squealed like a little girl and promptly fainted.

*

Remus was so excited he could barely stop talking. He told his parents about all the classes and all the new magic he had learned, and all his new teachers, but most of all he talked about his new friends, and how amazing they were.

“…and you'd never believe how amazing my friends are! I didn't want to tell them about my being a werewolf at first, but I did…” He ignored the concerned look his parents exchanged, and continued, “and they think it's fine! They've all been really supportive and great about it, and we have so much fun!”

His parents, of course, looked thrilled, and who wouldn't be? Their son had finally found people that accepted him and supported him, and although there would be people that would put him down, those people would be with him through it all to help him and make things easier for him.

*

One of those people was getting out of a car in Godric's Hollow at that moment, and did not look very happy. In fact, he wasn't, because he had just been informed that his parents wouldn't even be home from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day. This meant that he would have to go and stay at his Aunt Gertrude's until they got back.

Although Gertrude was Mrs. Potter's sister, they had nothing in common. They got along well, but Aunt Gertrude definitely did not possess her sister's kindness or warmth. She lived alone, and her house smelled strongly of cheap perfume that always made James feel sick. The only thing to do at her house was read books, and they were the kind of books that only lonely old women read.

So James slammed the car door and stomped all the way to his room, slamming that door as well. The first thing James noticed when he got into his room was a black owl sitting on his windowsill looking very regal, and staring at James as if it would bite one of his fingers off given the chance. It held its leg out to James, where a piece of parchment was tied. James approached it cautiously, taking the letter off quickly, and it flew off almost immediately after giving James another dirty look.

James,

I have nothing to do! My whole family is giving me the silent treatment for being sorted into Gryffindor, if you can believe it. They're all here, too. It was like a big party, only more depressing.

Anyway, I can't see the holidays will be much fun, wish I never came back now! It'd be much more fun if you or Remus or Peter could be here, too, but oh well. Guess I'll see you back at Hogwarts after Christmas!

Sirius

PS- Owl me back if you have the time, I could do with something to read—got nothing else to do!

James scowled as he read the letter. He could just imagine, Sirius would be stuck in his room doing nothing as James would be reading one of Aunt Gertrude's randy books. He got out a scrap of parchment, scribbling out

Sirius,

Don't worry, you won't be the only one having a rotten time—I'll be staying with my Aunt Gertrude from Christmas Eve `til Boxing Day, and I'll be doing pretty much exactly what you're doing. She's old, and no fun, and she doesn't even let me go out flying or anything, so divide how much fun you're having by ten and that's how much I'll be having!

James

He put the letter onto his owl, watching as he flew off into the sunset, and then collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep.

*

“What's wrong, Petunia?” Lily asked for what felt like the thousandth time as the two sisters sat on Petunia's bed.

Petunia just continued ignoring her, but was flipping the pages of her magazine quicker now, and with more force.

Frustrated, and getting a bit exasperated, Lily sighed, “Petunia, please just tell me? Whatever I did, I'm very sorry, and I need to make it up to you.”

Petunia was now flipping the pages so quickly that it would be impossible for her to be reading anything, and Lily was so upset that she was nearly in tears.

“I love you, Petunia,” Lily said, a single tear dripping down her cheek, “and I don't want to lose you.”

Petunia was flipping the pages so forcefully that one ripped out, and floated to the floor, and Lily wrenched the magazine from her, forcing Petunia to pay attention. “What are you talking about?” Petunia spat at her sister. “I'm not going anywhere.”

Lily's tears were flowing freely now. “You're my sister, and my best friend, and I don't want us to grow apart.”

Petunia's look softened. “I love you, too, Lils.”

“Then tell me what's bothering you!” Lily pleaded.

“I just… I thought the same as you—that we would grow apart. And I didn't want that, so I got a little… crazy. Just promise that you'll always be my best friend?”

Lily smiled, “I promise.”

Pretend that your favorite story of all time has just been updated (or maybe it has and you've just finished reading it, but I won't get my hopes up!) Now imagine that feeling you get when you read that amazing chapter. Now multiply that feeling by a billion, and you get the feeling I get every time I get a review. Don't you want me to be happy?

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Thanks for all the reviews! You Guys are the greatest!

Sorry this chapter's so short… I couldn't think of anything else to write in this chapter so I figured it was better just to post this than to wait another week just to have it a little longer. Hope you like it!

Chapter 13

Dejection

James,

Why don't you just stay at my house? I mean, not that your Aunt Gertrude doesn't sound like a blast and a half, but I'm sure we'd both have more fun with someone else to share in the boredom.

Anyway, ask your mum and let me know.

Sirius

Sirius finished his note to James, and tied it onto the leg of his father's owl, Atrum, who didn't look too happy with having to be sent to James again, but nevertheless took the letter and flew out the window.

“Who's the letter for?” said a voice behind him. It was his father. He looked tired—like he hadn't slept in days.

“Friend from school,” Sirius said briefly, turning his back on his father. “I'm asking him to come and stay.”

He heard his father sit down on his bed, but didn't turn to look at him. He didn't know why he was feeling so angry towards him, but it was taking over, like he was drowning in a feeling that wouldn't go away. Sirius knew his father didn't deserve his anger, but he couldn't help feeling tragically misunderstood.

“You know I'm not angry with you, don't you?” his father asked quietly. Sirius turned to look at him slowly. “I do know what you're going through, with your mother. She's just disappointed. But she'll get over it soon enough.”

Sirius' face turned sour. “You know she won't! She'll be calling me a traitor until the day she dies!” he spat.

His father sighed. “Yes, possibly. But only if you don't do something about it.”

“Like what?” Sirius asked slowly.

“Your mother and I have decided to pull you out of Hogwarts.”

“WHAT?” Sirius yelled, hardly believing what he was hearing. “You can't do that!”

“Of course we can,” his father said coolly. “We're sending you to Durmstrang. You'll like it much better there. They only let the purebloods in, so you'll be with your own kind.”

Sirius could feel his face growing red, but he didn't care. “My own kind? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You know perfectly well what I mean, Sirius. Your mother and I are only concerned for you. Goodness knows the people you prance about with at that school. I mean, the Slytherins are all respectable, but the Gryffindors… You never know the type of people that could be in a house like that. I'm sure at least one of your little friends is a Mudblood, or a halfbreed. You never know with a place like that. But at Durmstrang, you'll never have to worry about what your friends are.”

Sirius grew very quiet, and stared at his father for a few minutes, feeling as if he was seeing him for the first time. “But I don't worry,” he said softly. “Because they're my friends. If you could see the things they've done for me. I've changed.”

Never losing the cool stare, his father rose, and silently walked from the room. A few minutes later, Sirius could hear his mother's quiet sobs, but he realized that he didn't much care.

*

At breakfast, Lily was shocking and amazing her parents and Petunia with her description of the incredible world she had found herself in. She left out the affair with the gods and the orb, of course, but there was still plenty to tell about moving staircases, disappearing doors, ghosts, and, of course, her new friends. Although, when she had reached that part, Petunia became strangely quiet and began pushing the eggs around on her plate with her spoon. But Lily didn't take any notice of her sister's strange behavior—she was too busy telling stories, and attempting to help them understand the types of things she was learning.

“Well, Lily, your friends sound delightful!” her mother interrupted. “You should have them stay over sometime during the break!”

“Could I really?” Lily said excitedly. “I'll go send them all an owl right now!”

As Lily rushed up the stairs happily, Petunia slid quietly out of the room, murmuring, “Not hungry, going out.”

*

Lily woke early the next morning to a very impatient-looking owl scratching at her window. She leapt out of bed as quickly as she could and let it in, relieving it of its letter and giving it something to drink.

Lily,

I'd love to come stay with you over Christmas. As if I don't spend enough time with you during the year! Only joking! Dorcas and Emmeline are staying with family, though, so it'll be just us!

So I guess I'll see you on the 23^rd!

Marlene

Lily did a little dance around her room, and then, regaining her maturity, walked casually down the stairs where her parents were already up and eating breakfast.

“Marlene owled me back, and she'll be here the 23^rd,” she told them excitedly.

“Owled?” asked Petunia, who had just walked in behind her. “You mean she sent a letter with an actual bird?” Lily nodded. “Why can't she just use the telephone like a normal person?” she asked snottily.

“Well, she isn't a normal person, if you define normal that way,” Lily replied cautiously.

Petunia sat down at the table and mumbled, “Well, if you ask me, she's a freak.”

Lily gasped. “You don't even know her! How can you judge her like that? She's just a witch, but so am I, so if you want to call her a freak then you'll have to call me one too!”

Petunia drew herself up to Lily's height and said slowly and deliberately, “Fine. Then I guess you're a freak, too,” and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving a distraught Lily behind her.

*

“Peter?” came a voice out of the darkness. He slowly opened his eyes to see his mother standing over him. He sat up slowly, and his family gave a relieved laugh.

His father held out his hand, pulling Peter to his feet. “Well?” he said, an expectant look on his face. At Peter's confused expression, he added, “Don't you want to tell us about Hogwarts?”

Peter immediately launched into a detailed account of everything the had been going on for the past three months, leaving out, of course, the obviously secret bits.

“And then there's some really great guys in my dorm room, James, Sirius, and Remus, and they're fantastic! Sirius was a little bit weird for a while, because he's from a pureblood family, and so he was weird toward Muggleborns, and wasn't even supposed to be sorted into Gryffindor, but he's really nice now, so it's ok.”

His parents looked worried. “Your friend is a blood fanatic?” his mother asked, clearly concerned.

Peter gasped, realizing that he had said too much, and his parents were obviously getting the wrong idea. “Oh, no, it's alright! He was only like that for a while, but he changed after we all found out that Remus is a werewolf.” Peter gasped again, and clamped his hand over his mouth, knowing that this time he had definitely said too much.

“Your other friend is a w-werewolf?” his mother stammered.

Peter just stared at her, not knowing what to say. Somehow he didn't think “Just kidding!” was quite going to cut it. And they stood there for what felt like hours, Peter staring silently at his family, and his family staring silently back at him.

***

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I'm so sorry it took so long! I've been so absolutely busy lately that it's been tough to get anything done, let alone this story. Plus it didn't help that even when I did find time to write, I couldn't get anything out. My brain hasn't really been working so well lately.

Incidentally, that's also why this chapter is so short. I was going to make it longer, but I think at the rate I'm going, it would have taken at least another year and a half just for another page! So anyway, hope you like it…although there are no guarantees… I haven't even reread this, so it might suck, I'm not sure.

Well, enough from me, here you go… hope you like it!

Chapter 14

Madness

“And your name is?” Sirius' mother asked James, looking down her nose at him as if he were something foul and dirty.
“Umm… my name is James. It's nice to meet…”

“No,” she interrupted. “I meant your surname.”

James paused. He hadn't expected this at all, and in all honesty, he was stunned at the way he was being treated by Sirius' mother. “Potter,” he said quietly.

“Ah, well, I've heard of your family,” she muttered. “Welcome to our home.” And, almost regally, she turned and walked back to the sitting room, mildly satisfied with the answer she had been given.

Sirius sighed. “Don't mind her. She's nutty,” and then, picking up James' trunk, he added, “Come on, we can put your stuff in my room,” and James followed Sirius hesitantly up the stairs.

*

Lily was sitting by the window, looking out into the empty street. She couldn't wait until Marlene arrived. She and Petunia had always shared the same friends, and Lily knew she would love Marlene, even if she had been rather distant lately.

Actually, distant didn't begin to describe how Petunia had been for the past few days. She would leave any room that Lily entered, and refused to say anything nice to her. But Lily knew everything would be better once Marlene arrived. It was just jealousy, and it would all disappear once Petunia realized that Marlene wasn't a threat.

Still looking out the window, Lily realized that she hadn't the faintest idea how Marlene would be getting to her house. Did wizards drive? Or did they just appear wherever they wanted to go? Lily had never given wizarding travel a thought, and now she was feeling utterly baffled.

But that feeling only lasted a moment, for just then, a bloodcurdling scream came from downstairs, and Lily leapt up and ran downstairs as fast as her legs would carry her. What she saw when she reached the living room was definitely not what she had expected.

*

Peter's father was looking at him expectantly, and his mother was looking quite frantic. “Well,” she said, on the verge of hysterics.

The blood was just about completely drained from Peter's face, but he still tried to save whatever it was that wasn't already ruined. “Well, umm, you see, well, they're not really so bad…”

Whatever space there had been between Peter's mother and untamed hysterics was now entirely lost.

“NOT SO BAD?” she shrieked, and then practically collapsed on the couch, fanning her face.

Peter's face fell. How had he gotten himself so deeply into trouble? He had only wanted to make his parents a part of his new life. But now they hated his friends, and who knew what his mother would do.

His father sighed, massaging his temples. “Son, go up to your room and let your mother and I discuss the situation.

Peter rose slowly, dread growing inside his as he walked to his room. Situation. They had called it a situation. A situation that they would discuss. Great.

*

“So…” James said slowly as he put his bag on the guest bed. “Your mum's nice…”

Sirius laughed awkwardly. “You know, she really is ok, once she gets past the whole blood-thing.”

Uncomfortable silence.

So how does she feel about you being sorted into Gryffindor?” James said slowly, watching Sirius' reaction carefully.

Sirius sighed and gave him a small smile. “How do you think?”

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse,” Sirius said slowly, and then paused, before continuing quietly, “They want me to leave Hogwarts.”

“WHAT?” James yelled. “Leave Hogwarts? That's mad! What would you do?”

“They want me to go to Durmstrang,” Sirius continued, sighing heavely and falling backwards onto his bed, “because apparently there I won't have to worry about what my friends are. Can you believe it? What they are.”

James just stared incredulously at him for a few seconds. “So what are you going to do?”

“Do? I guess I'll try to talk them out of it,” he said softly, and then pausing, he laughed, “or I could always just come and live with you!”

James and Sirius burst into fits of laughter at this, imagining Sirius moving into the Potter house. It was utterly ridiculous.

*

Lily had been expecting a horrible violent death scene by the way she had heard her sister screaming. What she saw was much different.

Marlene McKinnon was stepping out of the Evans' fireplace, hands up in an “I surrender” position, and eyes as wide as saucers.

Petunia was standing in the middle of the room, screaming her lungs out, and staring at Marlene like she had just done some kind of Satanic ritual or something. She stopped to take a breath, looking wildly around her like the world was out to get her, and then passed out on the floor.

Lily sighed, on the verge of tears, but bravely holding them back. “Petunia—Marlene. Marlene—Petunia.”

*

Peter sat quietly in his room, waiting for his parents to finish discussing the situation. It just wasn't right. His friends were good people.

His mother walked slowly in, and sat resolutely on the opposite side of the room. As if she were afraid of him. As if pureblood mania was a communicable disease. As if being a werewolf was contagious. And she looked at him as if to say, “Yes Peter, we still love you, but you've made an awful mistake becoming friends with those people.”

And he realized that he didn't care what she had to say. She took a deep breath, and began talking to him about “mistakes” and “bad decisions,” and Peter came to the conclusion that she was a moron. And he didn't care what she had to say, because she didn't have any idea what she was talking about.

She could go to hell for all he cared.

Thanks for reading!

Review! (I swear they make me write faster…)

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I'm sorry for the wait… it took me ages to figure out what was going to happen next. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love hearing from everyone! Well, since I know no one really reads these notes at the beginning I might as well just shut up and let you get on with reading the chapter… Have fun!

Chapter 15

Running Away

The next few days passed as near to uneventful as any of the Marauders could have hoped. James had pretty much managed to steer clear of Sirius' family during his stay, and had returned to his own home virtually unscathed.

Peter had attempted to steer clear of his own family, but it hadn't quite worked the way he had planned, it being Christmas and all. But even that hadn't turned out too terribly. They had made up, and although his mother was still worried, she was sensibly keeping her mouth shut.

Remus had a wonderful time with his family, having never made any sort of slip-up about his friends like Peter had, but he was still happy to be returning to Hogwarts.

Lily, however, was not so lucky. She had had a wonderful time with Marlene, of course, but Petunia had become pretty much nonexistent for the entire time Marlene was in her house. She was becoming increasingly distant from Lily, and Lily knew that if something wasn't done soon, the girls' friendship would be irreparably damaged. But it seemed too late. Lily would be leaving for Hogwarts in another day, and Petunia wasn't even speaking to her. Another few months at Hogwarts with no contact between the sisters was likely to cause a huge rift in their relationship unless things were resolved. Fast.

*

“Petunia?” Lily called cautiously. Her room was dark, and Lily couldn't see anything inside. She cautiously opened the door a little wider, but still only a crack.

“Petunia, I don't want us to be enemies,” she began hesitantly, watching in the darkness for some indication that her sister was listening. She heard nothing. “Tunia, please listen to me,” she pleaded softly. Still nothing.

Lily could feel tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. She pushed the door all the way open, hearing it hitting the wall violently. “Petunia, this is serious!” she shouted, bursting into the room, but then she stopped. Something wasn't right. The light from the hallway filtered past Lily into the room, showing no sign of her sister.

*

Her mother was crying. Her father was looking tired and upset, though he was trying to be strong for his wife. Lily was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest as she watched her mother answer a police officer's questions hysterically. (“We really have no idea where she is, Sir!” she sobbed.)

They had spent nearly an hour calling all of Petunia's friends, and had gotten nowhere, so eventually, her father had called the police, who were now out scouring the streets for her sister.

Lily sighed as the police officer left and her mother resumed her sobbing. She really was too tired for this. And besides, she had packing to do. It wasn't that she didn't care… well, no, it was.

*

Sirius wasn't so much packing as shoving random things into his trunk. He hadn't really unpacked to begin with, so as to save time in the repacking, but as it turned out, trying to make everything fit while absolutely refusing to fold a single thing was taking as much time as it would have if he'd just done it right.

He heard the door open behind him, and attempted not to cringe too visibly. He knew what was coming, and wasn't looking forward to it.

He looked behind him and stared defiantly as his mother walked in, her yellowy skin stretched into a glare, followed by his father, whose tired face was set, and staring resolutely at the floor.

“Your father and I have made a decision concerning your future schooling,” his mother said, her voice sounding a lot like nails on a chalkboard.

“Oh, have you really?” Sirius said enthusiastically. “How lucky of me to have parents who care enough about me to rip me out of a perfectly good school, take me away from my friends, and stick me in some place where everyone walks around like you lot do—with their noses in the air.”

A strange noise seemed to come out of his mother's throat, like she was considering whether or not she wanted to hurl him straight out of the window. But it seemed his father stopped her thoughts when he placed a hand on her shoulder, and said softly, “We've decided to let you stay at Hogwarts.”

“FOR THE TIME BEING!” his mother interrupted, but Sirius was busy trying to resist the urge to jump in the air.

His father sighed, and continued, “But if we find out anything about your being friends with Mudbloods or the like (“AND WE WILL FIND OUT!” his mother shouted), you'll be out of there before you can blink.”

And with that, his parents left the room, leaving Sirius smiling behind them.

*

It was dark outside. And mildly frightening. Not that Petunia couldn't handle it. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She didn't need anyone to take care of her. And if it took running away to make her Lily and her parents see her, then she wasn't afraid of anything that might happen.

She saw a shadow move out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned there was no one there. Ok, maybe this was remotely frightening, but still nothing she couldn't handle. There was no way Petunia was going to go home just because of a stupid shadow.

And then it moved again. Well, she still wasn't going home, but it couldn't hurt to walk a little faster, could it? She sped up, turning her head slowly to look into the shadows, and saw a boy standing there. He was standing with a group of boys, who were just dumping another boy, a smaller one, into a trashcan. He was leaning against the wall, a cigarette hanging loosely out of his mouth, and he was watching her.

Despite her better instincts, Petunia stopped walking, and stood staring at the boy. He left the gang of boys behind him, and began moving toward her.

“What's a nice girl like you doing out all by yourself?” the boy said suavely.

“I- I ran away,” she said slowly, not entirely trusting the boy.

“Oh,” he said, chuckling. “And why's that?”

Petunia stuck her nose in the air. “It's not any of your business why I ran away,” she said, turning away.

“Wait,” he called. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.” He smiled. And she smiled. She walked back slowly.

“What's your name, anyway?”

“Vernon. Vernon Dursley.”

*

Leave one…

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I'm so incredibly sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've had so much going on lately that I simply haven't had the time for writing this! I hope you can all find it in your hearts to forgive me, or at least that you will all enjoy this chapter…

Chapter 16

Scarlet Eyes

“So, you feel like telling me why you ran away?” Vernon asked again.

Petunia took a deep breath, deciding that since he was being so nice to her, she might as well tell him. “I ran away because…umm…” and then she changed her mind. This boy didn't need to know the personal details of her life—he wouldn't understand. “I ran away because my parents wouldn't let me go out with all my friends.”

Vernon smiled, and took her arm, leading her back the way she had come. “Well, I'm sure your parents are worrying, we should get you back.”

Petunia sighed. “I suppose. But why couldn't I stay here with you?”

Vernon stopped and looked her up and down, then glanced back at his friends, who were eyeing him suspiciously. “Well, alright. But only for a little while.”

*

Lily shielded her eyes as the morning light sifted through her window. She hadn't gotten much sleep that night, worrying about Petunia. But it was her fault anyway. Why should everyone have to be worrying so much about her when it was her choice to leave? And it wasn't as if she had never done it before—this just happened to be the first time her parents had known about it.

She glanced at her watch. She would have to leave for Kings' Cross in a few hours. And her parents were distraught. Petunia definitely picked the most perfectly inconvenient time to run away.

Lily walked cautiously down the stairs, approaching her mother, who looked up at her with tear-stained eyes. “I know what you're thinking, Lily-darling, but we simply can't take you to the train station. Not with your sister missing.”

Everything that Lily had wanted to say caught in her throat. “That's it? But I can't get back!” she shouted, quickly losing coherent thought. “Petunia's always doing this! All she wants is you attention, and she'll do anything to get it!”

Her mother rose quietly. “Well then maybe it's about time we started showing her some affection.” She moved quickly out of the room, and then turned back to look at her daughter. “All of us.”

When her mother had left the room, Lily collapsed on the floor, unable to control what she was feeling. It was unfair. Petunia was being selfish, and was, as usual, not thinking of anyone but herself. But somehow Lily would just have to get back to Hogwarts. To her home.

*

James looked at his watch with a feigned look of shock on his face as his best friend sauntered over to him. “What's this? Is Sirius Black actually early?” he laughed.

Sirius chuckled. “What are you on about? You were here first!”

“Yea, well, I didn't want to risk being late,” James shrugged.

Sirius laughed. “Nothing like that for me… my mum just shoved me out of the house a bit early this morning. I'm thinking she couldn't wait to get rid of me!”

The two boys laughed heartily, not knowing that they were not as alone on the platform as they may have thought…

*

Petunia was happier than she had been in months. Being with Vernon and his gang had been an adventure, and she was sorry when it was over. But as the sun began to rise, Vernon had insisted that he take her home. She was a bit young to have stayed out all night, after all.

Saying goodbye to Vernon at the front path, Petunia snuck around to the side of her house and hoisted herself into the tree outside her window, as she had done so many times before, and climbed into her bedroom. This was good. She wasn't home too late in the morning, so her parents wouldn't even have noticed she was gone. In fact, it was just about time for her to be getting up.

Petunia pulled out a pair of pajamas, and put them on, ruffling her hair a bit. She walked down the stairs slowly, rubbing her eyes so that she would look like she had just gotten out of bed. She had done this so many times before it was almost second nature.

Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her back to her and her head resting on her arms, so Petunia sat down across from her, and said with a large yawn, “Good morning, Mother.”

Her mother's face jolted up, and Petunia gasped as she saw her mother's puffy red eyes. She had been crying.

So she had known that Petunia had been missing.

She had noticed.

*

After some short hugs and goodbyes between Petunia and Lily, Lily had been whisked off to the train station, and luckily made it just on time for the train, finding her friends in an otherwise empty compartment. As each girl told the others of her holiday, Lily felt herself feeling uneasy, as if someone was watching her. But they were alone, so it was just a silly feeling caused by a sleepless night.

Wasn't it?

Still, the feeling wouldn't go away. There was someone watching her. She just knew it. She did a quick glance around the compartment, barely hearing Emmeline's descriptions of how beautiful Paris was this time of year, but she couldn't see anything suspicious.

She was looking out the window, watching a few flakes of snow drift lazily toward the floor, and wondered distantly why it was taking so long for the train to get going when she saw him.

There was a man standing on the platform. He looked young, but old at the same time. He couldn't have been more than 30, and yet he had the look of someone who had seen more than most people his age. And he was looking at her.

He had strange, sunken, almost scarlet-looking eyes, staring right through her. And he looked happy. The breath was practically sucked from Lily's lungs as this man's eyes bored through her. He didn't look like the sort of man who could be trusted, and Lily simply stared wide-eyed out the window at him.

But suddenly he looked away.

And he got onto the train.

***

Well, that's all for now! I'll really try to get the next chapter out faster…. but I can't promise anything….sorry!

Anyway, I'd really like to know what you all thought of this chapter… so leave a review! I do promise that if I get a lot, I will definitely find it in me to get the next chapter out fast!!

Thanks for reading, sorry again for the delay!

Review!!

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Sorry it's been so long since the last chapter. I know it's been ages and I'm very very very sorry. I hope very much that this chapter is worth the wait. I know it's not very long, but I promise that the next will be better and longer, and coming along very soon. Hope you like it, and if you do, there's no better way to ensure faster updates than to tell me how wonderful I am in a review.

Chapter 17

Memories

“Did you see that?” Lily asked breathlessly. Emmeline, Dorcas, and Marlene stopped their discussion on Dorcas' trip to Spain and looked at Lily questioningly.

“See what?” Dorcas asked, looking excitedly at Lily. “Was it something to do with the… um…. you knowHH…. situation?”

“Well, I don't know really….” Lily said, glancing back out the window, but seeing no sign of the man or his frightening eyes. “It was just a man outside, but I don't know, I just got a bad feeling from him.”

“What kind of feeling?” Marlene asked, leaning closer and whispering anxiously.

“A bad one,” Lily whispered ominously, giving one last glance out of the train window, before Dorcas launched back into her description of Spain, and all thoughts of the strange man were forgotten.

*

The train had been moving for barely ten minutes, when the boys got the feeling that something had to be wrong. First of all, the train didn't seem to be moving nearly as fast as it should have been. The trees were merely gliding past the windows, instead of whirling past as they usually did.

Also, James noticed a certain feeling of calm settling over him, and it wasn't just him. The rest of the boys had stopped talking and laughing merrily, and had settled into a kind of contented quiet. The rest of the train, too, seemed to be feeling the effects of this strange occurrence. The cheerful laughing and yelling that streamed through the compartment door from the hallway had slowed to silence.

Sirius nudged James, and gave him a puzzled look, before pointing to Peter, who was sitting quietly in his seat, eyes closed, and a peaceful smile over his face. Remus was asleep.

“Do you feel it?” Sirius whispered to James, a look of worry on his face.

“Yea, I do,” James replied, “It's like, a weird calm, trusting sort of feeling.”

“Yea, it feeling like everything is going to be alright… like everything is fine and there's nothing to worry about,” Sirius said, frowning. “But it's like a forced kind of feeling. It's fake.”

“Something weird is definitely going on,” James agreed, rising from his seat. “Reckon we should take a look?”

Sirius grinned. “Definitely.”

James stuck his head out of the compartment door, looking both ways before stepping out into the hall. After one more look at sleeping Remus and strangely comatose Peter, Sirius followed.

James looked into the next compartment, where the results were much the same as in their own. Glancing at Sirius, who was peering through the window into another compartment, he whispered, “D'you reckon it's a spell?”

Sirius looked back at his friend, clearly worried. “What kind of spell? And why?”

“I don't know. But something weird is going on. And I intend to find out what it is,” James replied, starting down the hallway toward the front of the train. He looked back, and noticed that Sirius wasn't following him.

“Don't you think we should check on the girls? Just to see if they're alright? Maybe we could take them with us. I mean, they do get a bit moody when they're left out of things.”

The two boys looked at each other, considering it. “Well…” James started slowly. “I suppose we could always just tell them all about it later…”

“Tell us what?” Lily said, poking her head out of a nearby compartment. Not waiting for a reply, she continued, “There's something strange going on, and we intend to find out what it is.”

James and Sirius just stood staring as Lily and Marlene emerged from their compartment.

“Everyone else is in a kind of trance,” Marlene said, thinking out loud. “We've decided it must be some kind of spell to keep us under control. Someone's trying to pull one over on us. The question is—what are they trying to do?”

Lily took over and told the boys about the man she had seen with scarlet eyes, and they all agreed that there was something desperately odd and suspicious about all of it.

The four students set off toward the front of the train, intent on finding some explanation for this puzzling turn of events. But what they saw in the next carriage stopped them dead in their tracks. It was Professor Liefer, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, unconscious on the floor, and standing over him was… Professor Liefer, with his back turned to the Gryffindors.

The four students stood staring as the man turned around and looked at them. This was all a little much to be taking in. The puzzled students simply stared in complete confusion, until the man who looked like their professor took a step towards them, and his eyes gleamed a strange shade of scarlet. James gasped and made to take his wand out of his pocket, but the stranger was too quick, and before any of them had a chance to run or retaliate, the man had whispered, “Obliviate.”

*

That's odd, Lily thought, stretching. I don't remember falling asleep. She sat up in her seat, and looked out the window. By the looks of things, they were almost at the castle. Emmeline and Dorcas were sitting together talking about nothing in particular, and Marlene was just sitting there, staring into space.

Lily stretched, and looked over at Emmeline and Dorcas. “How long was I asleep for?”

Dorcas and Emmeline stared blankly at her for a few moments before Dorcas said, “Asleep? When were you asleep? You two just walked in…”

At this, Marlene gave a jolt and looked around slowly. “I didn't even know I'd fallen asleep.”

Emmeline sighed and turned the other way. “I don't know what you two are talking about, but it's getting annoying, so why don't you two go back to doing whatever it was you were doing outside.”

Dorcas leaned over to the two girls, whispering, “Don't mind Emmy, she's just a little upset that you two went off and left us here. I think she's feeling a bit left out.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily asked, utterly puzzled by this point. “We've been here the whole time, since the train left the station.”

“Now that's completely untrue, and you know it,” Emmeline muttered moodily. “Dorcas and I fell asleep shortly after leaving the station, and when we woke up a few minutes later, you two were gone. Then you came shuffling in here a minute ago with that same silly look on your faces, not listening to a word we said. And I, for one, have had entirely enough of it.” At that, Emmeline turned and stormed from the compartment, leaving Lily and Marlene more confused than ever in her wake.

***

Hope it was good, and worth the wait! Leave a review if you liked it, or if you didn't, whatever. Anyway, the next update will be soon, and the story is going to be moving along quicker after this, so it's about to get good.

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