A Little Toil of Love

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-*~| A Little Toil of Love |~*-
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- Prologue -

I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor I had time to love; but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.

An ethereal body reckoned thoughtfully, hovering in the empty Library.

Tomorrow was that day again.... -*-

Tree leaves rustled along with the low breeze of the night. The Forbidden Forest breathed rhythmically alongside all of its unusual inhabitants. Dark shadows elongated and diminished across the occasional clear stretches of the forest, making haphazard shapes on the protruding roots and uneven earth.

The wind swirled about the forest spine breathing along it.

Blackness widened.

A howl reverberated.

Few ears swiveled towards the noise.

A pair of hazel eyes stared fleetingly at a pair of bright amber ones.

A sharp wolfish howl rang through the forest again--a little more daunting than before--stopping a sturdy stag in mid canter. Its body tensed, ears erect, as if expecting something.

A black shadow, blacker than the midnight sky, bounded in view, blocking the stellar lights for a while, stopping an advancing monstrous figure on its tracks with a playful bark.

The werewolf bared its teeth and snarled challengingly.

The stag shook its crowned head with a low grunt.

A rat skidded to halt in front of the werewolf and jumped onto the dog's back, while it crouched low beside it.

The unusual trio watched the werewolf closely, evidently waiting for a sign.

A bellowed howl rang through the forest again, and as if on cue the dog and the stag plunged into the deep embrace of the forest, the monstrous werewolf hard on their tails.

Whenever the werewolf got close to either the dog or the stag, it snapped its jaws threateningly causing them to put of a burst of speed and sprint even faster.

The chase continued until they reached the Shrieking Shack, where the odd group at last ended the Marauder's game of Full Moon.

The dog barked in the general direction of the swishing braches of the Whomping Willow. The rat, in response, scuttled towards a knot at the base of the tree and pounced on it, opening a gap making the branches freeze. It disappeared into the fissure, closely followed by the unlikely group of dog, stag and werewolf.

It was almost twilight. The stars dimmed and the moon disappeared in the folds of the wallowing clouds. The werewolf lost its raggedy sense of destroying everything in sight with the passing ticks of time.

~*~

-- 1 --

"We should head back to the dormitories," James said, transforming from Prongs.

Padfoot gave a little wiggle accompanied by a long toothy yawn in the direction of Wormtail, whose mousy head was peeking from above the highest cabinet of the room.

"You caaan come down nOoow Wormyy," Sirius said after completing his transformation, continuing the long yawn of Padfoot's.

A faint squeak sounded from where Wormtail was hiding and a fat, bloated pickled onion thudded to the floor from the cabinet.

James and Sirius exchanged looks hiding their chuckles in a coughing bout, one looking above the cabinet while the other observed the transforming figure of Moony in a corner, silently changing to his pale human self.

"Why do you ever listen to that fraud Trelawney, Pete? Okay, so she's a senior; you must know that predicting everyone's death is her favorite hobby?" Sirius inquired exasperatedly.

"Your life is not in danger! And a pickled onion is not going to save you even if it were. Moony will never harm us!" Sirius exclaimed while James stared pointedly at the mousy head of Wormtail, which was slightly twitching in worry seeing the audience below.

Moony grunted in response from where he was sprawled. His transformation was almost complete; the facial hair was gone and the snout was retreating; however, the amber eyes of the werewolf still prevailed.

"See?" said James, as if settling a big dispute.

Wormtail flounced down from the cupboard and transformed into Peter grinning at them sheepishly.

"What's for dinner? I'm starving!" Sirius said massaging his stomach, successfully steering the conversation away from dangerous grounds.

"Er... marshmallows," Peter said in a very small voice.

"WHAT!" Sirius and Moony roared together, but Moony was more successful in getting the message across. In his outburst he had ripped the sheet he was crouched on producing a teeth tickling sound making all of them wince. His semi-wolfish nails tore away the seams unabashedly, causing Peter to shrink even more.

"Er... I can always go and nick some food from the kitchen," James provided helpfully, casting an apologetic glance at Peter.

"And what do you suppose we'll tell Pomfrey when she comes waddling in a few hours? That we dropped for some tea?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"Well, no," James said lowering his voice, so that only Sirius and Peter could hear, "we can always use my cloak to hide us whenever she comes. You don't suppose we can leave Moony when he's in such a bad mood?" James finished questioningly.

Sirius's eyes softened as he stared at the crumpled form of Remus, bowing his head low on the tattered sheet while Peter's jitters abated.

"Well then, get going, mate. I'm not eating another morsel of marshmallow again!" Sirius said loudly, feigning a huffy voice while staring meaningfully at James. Moony growled in approval and Peter whimpered hurtfully, not unlike that God-awful elf of Padfoot's named Kreacher.

"Pete, you know we haven't got anything against them, but just tell me how many months does it take for a man to get his marshmallow love saturated?" James asked, cocking his eyebrow at Peter.

"We've been eating them for ages," Sirius provided.

"It's settled then, I'll fetch us some food," James said brightly grinning at Peter, who in turn grinned stupidly back.

"No harm does it," Sirius muttered from the corner of his mouth elbowing James, who in turn examined the Marauder's Map for any hurdles. His eyes fell upon the blinking dot labeled 'Severus Snape,' which was stationary in a room on the third floor.

James remembered that they had come across it during their exploration of every nook and cranny of Hogwarts and just by looking at the odd looking lock on the door they had agreed upon the fact that it was too boring for further investigation.

What is Snivellus doing up so early? his mind pounded.

"Something interesting, Prongs?" Sirius asked, his eyes glimmering wickedly.

"Er... no, Padfoot. I was just looking at Evans," James replied. He didn't know, what made him lie because he never lied to his friends, especially not to Sirius. However, the situation seemed to call upon a lonesome stroll.

Sirius sighed derisively. "James! Mate, she's not interested... don't you remember the last time you tried to--"

"Yeah, yeah! Never mind," James said dejectedly, the OWLs incident flashing through his mind. "I'll just be a while," he said, readying himself for the journey.

"Don't tell me... you are going to try entering Girl's Dormitory again?" Sirius said in mock exasperation, his hands resting on the smalls of his back in a perfect display of Lily's usual attitude.

James grinned in spite of the fact that he hated Sirius's 'Lily mockery'.

"NO. I'll tell you later." He wheeled about with an air of finality, and in a matter of seconds was plunging down the tunnel and towards the school grounds clutching his invisibility cloak, forgetting the fact that he was supposed to nick food from the kitchen.

~*~