The Change

James, Remus, Peter and I walked out of the hospital wing laughing the next day. I was right, the Lestrange brothers had broken one of my ribs, but luckily there was no serious damage and Madam Pomfrey was able to fix Remus's cut in a single wave of her wand. She had made Remus and me stay the night for observation. She wanted to make sure the curse Bellatrix had used on me was harmless and that Remus hadn't been hit with anything too serious during their duel.

"So then Bellatrix tried to put a body-bind on me but I Stunned her," Remus said, finishing the story of the duel for the twentieth time. James was practically in tears by the end of it.

"Remus, you are my hero," James said.

"Really, Remus. How come you're so good at dueling? Half that stuff we're not supposed to learn until fifth year," I said.

"Yeah, I know. My father has been teaching me how since I could hold a wand. He said you'll never know when you'll need it," Remus explained.

"Really? I wish my dad would do that. Didn't you get in trouble since you're underage?" James asked.

"I would, but I never actually did them at home. He'd tell me the incantation and how to use the wand but I never actually got to try them. A few times I did when he wasn't looking but the Ministry doesn't keep as close an eye on young children as they do those in school. They wave it off as accidental magic. Very useful," Remus said.

"Wish I'd known that," James mumbled.

"Anyway, though, I have to tell you guys something," I said.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Not here," I said, looking around. "It's got to be somewhere private."

"How about the transfiguration classroom?" Remus suggested.

I nodded and walked towards the empty classroom. When we got inside I sat on top of a desk and said, "There was a reason Bella wanted to talk to me."

"It wasn't because of Snape?" James asked.

"No. She wanted to tell me a that new power is rising. A Dark Lord whose plan is to wipe out all muggle-borns and half-bloods. He wants to purify the wizarding world. He calls him self Lord Voldemort," I said, and even then I could see how his name instilled fear because Peter shivered slightly. "Either that or The Dark Lord. She wanted to know if I would like to join him."

My friends were silent for a moment and then Remus said, "I take it you refused."

I shrugged. "I just couldn't see why I would join a guy who would try to kill my best friends."

James smiled slightly and said, "I suppose I'd be on that list too, even though I'm a pureblood?"

"Yeah, you would."

"You know, by refusing to join him you're on it as well," James said.

"I'm not afraid if him," I said.

"I bet he's the one behind all the murders recently," Remus said.

"Fantastic," James mumbled.

"Don't worry, James, your dad will be fine. He's a great wizard," Remus said.

"I bet this Lord Voldemort guy will be gone before we get back from summer vacation. These nut jobs are always coming around talking about cleansing the wizard race. They never last more then a few months," I said.

My three friends nodded and then James smiled. "Hey, speaking of next year, are you trying out for the Quidditch team?"

"Definitely," I said as we left the classroom for Gryffindor tower. All thoughts of the Dark Lord vanished at the mention of Quidditch.

The next few months went by without much trouble. The Auror attacks continued and Muggles started to disappear, but the Ministry was trying to ignore it. If one of us had been watching Professor Dumbledore we would probably have noticed how much older he looked and how he watched us all with sad eyes. But we were too busy with out own lives.

Exams were approaching fast and Remus tried to get us all to study. James and I waved him off, saying we didn't need to study. After all we knew everything. So as winter changed into spring and the Gryffindor common room became quiet we found other things to do with our time. Peter and Remus often turned down the opportunity to explore with us, instead spending their time with a nose in a book.

One of these days it was just James and I exploring the dungeons with a piece of parchment. We tapped our wands on different objects trying to find secret passageways, but we were becoming aggravated that there wasn't anything to find. "Maybe we should go back to the common room. The Charms final is tomorrow," James said when we reached the end of another corridor and I crossed it off our list of places to explore.

"Maybe," I said, glancing around one last time.

James turned around and started walking back to the staircase. I ran to catch up with him and tripped falling into a statue. I heard something click in it and gasped as it slid backwards. "James!" I yelled. "James, come over here!"

He ran over and we looked down into the hole in surprise. "We actually found something," James said.

"Still want to go back to the common room?" I asked.

James shook his head and took his wand out. "Lumos," he said and then stepped towards the hole.

"Hey, I found it! I want to go first," I said.

"All right," he said.

I lit my wand and stepped forward. Taking a deep breath, I jumped into the hole. I fell for what seemed like a few feet and then landed on something soft. Standing up, I pointed my wand down the tunnel. "Coast is clear," I yelled back up to James and moved out of the way of the hole. A few seconds later James was standing next to me and I heard the passage close behind him.

"Wicked," he said, glancing down the passageway. He was wearing the same smile I saw on him when we were pulling off a particularly impressive prank. I laughed and he said, "Come on, we're wasting time. I want to see where this goes." He led the way down the passageway. We walked for a long time before I saw a sliver of light coming from the ceiling.

"Finally," I said. I went to push it open but James grabbed my wrist and put his finger to his lips. I looked up and listened carefully.

"Madam Rosmerta said to get another keg of butterbeer and a few more bottles of firewhiskey. Hurry up, there's a big crowd coming in," a voice said.

"All right, boss," another answered. I heard a few boxes being moved and then a grunt as someone picked something up. The footsteps moved away from us and then I heard a door close. I looked back to James, excitement pouring out of me.

"James are we... are we in The Three Broomsticks?" I whispered.

"I think so," he said and he put his ear to the ceiling. "I think it's safe, come on."

"Wait a second. Only third years and up are allowed in Hogsmeade," I said.

"Sirius, no one is allowed in Hogsmeade today, so it doesn't matter," James said.

"We're going to get in trouble."

"Since when has that stopped you? This is our chance to explore Hogsmeade. You can't possibly turn it down," James said evilly.

I grinned. "You're right, of course, dear friend. Please accept my sincere apology for acting like such an idiot. Passing up such an opportunity would be an atrocity," I said, and James laughed.

"Why are you talking like that?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Its pureblood talk. A formality. I thought it would be funny."

"It is, we should do that more often," James said.

"It would be an honor to teach you. Later. Right now we have some exploring to do," I said, and bowed, pointing to the trap door. James snickered and lifted the door. He stuck his head out and lifted himself from the tunnel. I followed him and a moment later we were in the cellar of The Three Broomsticks.

James was looked through kegs and I was glanced at the bottles of different wines and whiskeys. "This is awesome."

James nodded and picked up a large bottle of butterbeer. "We should bring this back to the common room. We can have some later to prove to Remus and Peter that we were actually here."

"Yeah, good idea," I said, lifting up the trap door and then jumped into the tunnel. A second later James was standing next to me. "Come on, let's go," I said and we started back towards the castle.

"I can't believe you found a way into Hogsmeade," Peter said. We were sitting in our dorm room late that night retelling our adventure.

I put an arm around him and said, "Believe it, my friend. The Marauders are going to have a lot of fun next year."

Remus was looking doubtful still and James stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out the bottle of butterbeer. He passed it to Remus who said, "Is this butterbeer?" James nodded and Remus was quiet for a minute. He stared at the bottle and then his face broke into a smile. He looked back up at the two of us. "You're going to drive me insane next year, aren't you?" he asked.

I put a hand on my chest and said, "That hurt, Remus. I can't believe you think we would use this knowledge for anything but good."

He snorted and said, "Oh, ok. So you're going to break into Hogsmeade next year to get presents for all the teachers, right?"

James grinned and said, "Why, what a fantastic idea, Remus! We'll get all our Professors presents to show how much we appreciate them."

Remus shook his head and said, "Oh no. I didn't mean it like that. I meant... nevermind. I don't want to give you guys any more ideas. I'm going to take a shower, I'll be right back." Remus stood up and left the room. James got up from his bed and sat down next to me.

He looked at me carefully and I said, "What?"

"I've been keeping track the past couple of months of when Remus disappears. It's only on full moon nights and he usually comes back two days later."

I shook my head, "Its probably a coincidence. You can't really think he's a werewolf James."

"Werewolf! You think Remus is a werewolf? Peter said.

"No, Peter," I said, but James cut me off and explained everything to him. Peter look shocked for a minute and then said, "I'm with Sirius, James. He just can't be a werewolf."

James frowned and said, "Have you seen his arms?" I shook my head. "Well, look at them when he comes out of the shower. He has cuts everywhere."

"James, I just can't believe this," I said.

"I'm going to keep an eye on it the rest of the summer and if he is still disappearing full moon nights I'm going to ask him in September," James said and I sighed.

"Do what you want, James," I said. But when Remus walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I felt my blood turn to ice when I saw all the scars on his arms. I was shocked to see that some of them looked new. The full moon had only been a week ago, I thought. I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. There was just no way Remus turned into a wild animal once a month. I wouldn't believe it until he told me.

"So, Sirius, you're coming to my house in August, right?" James asked. We were carrying our luggage onto the Hogwarts Express and I was trying to forget that I was returning home.

"Yeah, I'll be there bright and early the first of August. The less time I have to spend at Grimmauld Place the better," I said.

"Awesome. Then Remus and Peter are coming a week after you. Godric's Hollow had better watch out this summer," James said.

"Godric's Hollow?" I asked.

"Yeah, my neighborhood is called Godric's Hollow. We're the only wizarding family that lives there. They've always thought us a little odd but for the most part they leave us alone. I spend most of the summer pranking the kids that live there. Oh, and the whole area is just woods, so I go exploring a lot, too," James explained.

"Sounds like a lot of fun. I'll spend my summer locked in my room, if I'm lucky," I said.

"Sirius, if there is any trouble when you go home owl one of us right away," James said.

"I will," I mumbled. I didn't like feeling dependent on others for my safety but I knew in this case I was.

"James," Remus began nervously. "I have to leave August fifteen because my Mum is getting an operation. I'll be back two days later, though."

James cast me a sideways look and I shook my head, "That's fine. What's the matter with her?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. Something with her liver, I think," Remus stammered out.

"Right. So you guys want to play gobstones or exploding snaps?" James asked.

"Exploding snaps," we all said at the same time.

It was nighttime before we reached King's Cross. I hopped off the train and saw my mother and Regulus standing off to the side. I waved at them and Regulus gave me a small wave back. My mother just glared. I started to walk over to them but James grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards his parents. "Mum, Dad this is Sirius Black," he said. "My best friend from school."

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Potter," I said nervously.

"Hello, Sirius. We've heard a lot about you from James. You get into a lot of trouble with him, don't you?" Mrs. Potter said.

I grinned but I saw my mother out of the corner of my eye glaring daggers at me. "I should go. Nice to meet you," I said.

Mrs. Potter gave me a quick hug. "You owl James if you need anything, Sirius. We'll see you in August," she said.

I turned to James and gave him a swift hug. "I'll be all right, James, don't worry about me."

"Yeah. See you soon," James said before walking off with his parents.

I turned to walk to my parents again but Remus and Peter were blocking my way this time. "See you later, guys," I said.

Remus gave me a hug and said, "If you need to get away for a little while, Sirius, Floo to my place. My mum loves visitors. It's called Baker's Cottage."

"Will do," I said. Peter gave me a quick hug too and I watched both them walk off to their parents. Remus's mother hugged him tightly and they walked off the platform talking happily. Peter ran over to his father who clapped him on the back. I sighed and marched over to my mother and brother.

"Hello, Mother," I said.

"Sirius," she said simply and turned on her heel, walking to the Floo Network. I thought weakly, I only had to spend a month at Grimmauld Place and then I would be with my real family again.

A.N:( Time for HBP hiatus, which actually coincides with my vacation hiatus. I'm sure no one really mind because we'll all be to occupied reading the new book. It comes out in two days! The next time that I update will probably be in two or three weeks. The summer fun begins! I'd like to thank Gillian88 for volunteering to beta read this chapter. I'm normal beta got it done a little early so I updated. Thanks though and I'm sure I'll ask for your help again, later.)