Friendship Never Dies

The Marauders

Sirius was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, bored. Everyone around him was studying for the upcoming finals. Even James had cracked a book open, though he shut it again promptly with a bemused expression on his face, as though he couldn't quite make out the meaning of the funny markings on the page.

Peter caught James's expression and remarked, "Always knew you couldn't read, James, though it might reflect a tad poorly on your exams." He went right back to reviewing Sharpened-Wit Potions with Remus.

Lily Evans walked by and then paused. "Hello. Since finals are coming up, the girls and I were wondering if you'd like to squeeze in an extra S.S.P.O. meeting tonight at around five," she offered.

Remus looked around at his friends to gather a general consensus before nodding.

"Excellent!" Lily said, and she quickly hurried off to her dormitory.

"Good Merlin," Sirius moaned. "She scurried away like we bite! Am I that repulsive now?"

Remus cast an amused glance at Sirius while James yawned, "You have no idea how disgusting you are, Black. None at all."

"I have the feeling it might not be just you," Peter mumbled distractedly as he pored over a page of potions ingredients.

Remus sighed. "Oh, Lily disapproves of us completely."

"Really, and why's that?" James asked, sitting up.

Cocking an eyebrow at James's sudden eagerness, Remus began in his officially (and rather un-affectionately) dubbed "professor voice", "Well, Lily and I are friends, as intellectual equals, of course, but she disapproves of my friends and our activities. She says that we are only perceived as 'cool' because of our flagrant disregard for authority and rules. She is, of course, correct." After pausing for a moment, Remus mused, "Lily also dislikes the way you lot target Severus, but she's very hazy about where I fit into the equation."

There was a moment of silence, during which James looked at Sirius and nodded discretely.

"Say, Remus, can you come help me with the snuffbox transformation for Transfiguration?" Sirius requested.

Remus scoffed, "You hardly need my help. You were second in the class to get the transformation and you don't study! Besides, even if you did need my assistance, why ask me for help? It's James that's top of the Transfiguration class. Go ask him, I'm studying."

Sirius winced and gritted his teeth. "I tried the spell last night, but my snuffbox still had whiskers," he admitted through clenched teeth. "And James won't help me because-"

"-you're impossible to teach," James supplied helpfully.

"Right," Sirius said. "Remus, come on up to the dorm and help me."

"Why can't we do it here?" Remus sighed resignedly.

"I thought you were the smart one," snorted Peter, looking up from his book. "Sirius has to transfigure a mouse. There are girls in here, and they can deal with mice in classrooms, but..." his voice trailed off as he looked pointedly at June Hale, a third year, who had fainted the last time someone had tried to transfigure a mouse in the common room.

"Right, let's get this over with," Remus told Sirius, jumping up.

James and Peter got up as well.

"Why are you coming?" Remus asked.

"Moral support," James chuckled.

Peter yawned and said, "I'm tired of studying and it'll be something to watch."

As Remus shrugged and walked up the stairs to the boys' dorm, Peter and James gave each other meaningful looks before bounding up the stairs to where Remus and Sirius were waiting.

Sirius was sitting on the floor, a hunk of cheese in his hand.

"What're you doing?" Peter choked, holding onto the doorframe as he laughed uncontrollably.

"Trying to attract mice to transfigure," Sirius snarled. He gave Peter a discrete wink. Then he turned to Remus.

"Hey, Moony, you must have some nifty trick to help a pal catch some mice!"

Remus sighed, raised his wand and began," Acc- wait, what... what did you call me, Sirius?"

James put in blandly, "Oh, Moony, I think by petitioning for help, Sirius was asking for you to sniff the mice out."

Stark white, Remus stumbled backwards and sat heavily on his bed, facing his now stony-faced friends.

"Don't you like the new nickname, Moony?" Peter asked quietly. His voice was not threatening, but nor was it kind.

Remus blanched, if possible, even more white.

"Come on, you couldn't possibly think we wouldn't figure your secret out," Sirius spat contemptuously.

Closing his eyes, Remus buried his face in his hands.

Unable to see his friend in a position of such helplessness, James put his hand on Remus's shaking shoulder and spoke up. His voice was soft and full of compassion. "C'mon, Moony, don't be like that. We won't tell anyone else about you being a... a werewolf. Besides, I forgive you."

"You forgive me for being a vile monster?" Remus asked bitterly.

"No!" Peter interjected, shocked. "We forgive you for lying to us."

Sirius's face had softened. Stony expressions really didn't suit him. "Moony, you're not vile or a foul monster. I mean, Evans obviously thinks you're better than us 'normal' people since you're the only one out of all of us that she chose to be her friend."

Peter turned an incredulous face to Sirius. "You," he said, "are hardly normal."

Scowling at Peter, Sirius turned to Remus. "Ignore the blithering fool. Moony, we know you're a werewolf, we swear not to tell anyone, or try to see you in wolf form. Last place we want you is in Azkaban. Now, not to be tactless, but I'm relieved that you're a werewolf. See, I was observing your behavior of late, and I began to wonder- where is Remus's masculinity?"

Remus threw a pillow at Sirius's head.

Ducking and laughing, Sirius persisted, "Now I understand that your rage and testosterone show themselves when Remus-wolf emerges. I'm glad it's just that, because, well, those looks you've been throwing my way lately have been getting heated...."

Sirius was too busy laughing to duck when Remus threw a shoe at his head.

Later, Sirius and Peter headed down for an early kitchen raid. James hurried them on, saying he had to write his mum a quick note before he joined them. Remus said that he just wanted to finish reviewing Potions and besides, the Marauders were going to the kitchens in an hour for an S.S.P.O meeting anyway, so what was the point of going now?

Muttering something about party poopers, Sirius and Peter left.

When left alone, neither James nor Remus set down to their respective tasks. Remus's Potions book was lying on the floor; James's owl (which he kept in the dorm), was asleep and a quill was nowhere to be seen.

The two friends sat in silence until James said quietly, "It wasn't fair of us to sneak the topic of your...lycanthropy up on you like that." He took a deep breath and went on, "I was really ignorant about- it -at first. I mean, we figured it out and I thought it was cool! But then, we read about your symptoms and the pain- Peter cried, Moony. He may look like a blubbering idiot, but he hardly ever cries. I just wanted you to know, we'd never have abandoned you. I saw the look on your face when you thought we'd turn on you, but you're our friend. We know you, not a monster. We were really hurt and angry, Remus, because you kept a secret from us, but your lycanthropy doesn't lower you at all in my eyes. I think you're really brave to be able to go through that."

James rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"James, thanks," Remus said.

Now looking puzzled, James asked, "What for?"

"For being a friend, for being there for me." Remus appreciated James's words of encouragement, especially because he knew it took a lot for James to make such a personal speech.

James scuffed the floor with the toes of his shoes, looking bashful, but he was spared any further discomfort by a scrabbling outside the door.

Remus sighed and opened the door with an expression of mild amusement.

Sirius and Peter were fighting on the floor, apparently deciding who would get to listen at the keyhole and who would listen under the door. Sirius appeared to be winning, until Peter pulled his hair. That made Sirius emit a blood-curling scream (which, of course, wasn't feminine at all, since it was Sirius emitting it) and he and Peter fell apart.

"Why were you listening at the door?" Remus asked with resignation.

Sirius got up, helped Peter up, and then brushed himself off. He strode back into the room completely unabashed and explained their eavesdropping quite succinctly by announcing, "Because having Jamie talk to you after we unveiled our knowledge of your secret wasn't part of the plan."

James wasn't looking quite as solemn and embarrassed as he had before, nor was Remus looking glum anymore. Still, the atmosphere in the normally bursting-with-energy room was far from its usual self.

Peter moaned, "Someone say something. It's too quiet. The common room is even more boring. Everyone's studying."

James's face immediately brightened. "You know, Peter, I reckon you're onto something."

Sirius looked up, his face glinting with the excitement of mischief. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Jamie?"

"Of course he is," Remus said.

Peter scurried to close the door and put in, "I agree. Finals have been far too quiet."

"And, in the spirit of charity, we ought to do something to cheer people up," Sirius said sanctimoniously.

"It's our duty to throw a prank so people won't forget that something called humor exists," Peter piped up.

"There's no better way to end a year; people should have something to remember us by," Remus added, now grinning.

James nodded and reached under his bed, pulling out a shoebox.

"What's in there?" Remus asked, frowning.

"I completely forgot to tell you," James cried. "It's something we made while you were away 'visiting your aunt'. Remember how we kept on having so many ideas for pranks that we couldn't possibly use them all?"

Remus nodded.

"Well, we decided to write them on slips of parchment, so if we ever want to throw a spur-of-the-moment prank, we'd have plenty of ideas," Sirius explained with relish.

"If you'd do the honors, Moony," James offered gallantly.

"Gladly, Sir Potter." Remus reached a hand into the box, read the slip of parchment he had fished out and leaned forward. The other Marauders huddled around him. "Right, so here's the plan...."

Lily, Ashleigh, Caroline and Renny were sitting at the kitchen's equivalent to the Gryffindor house table in the Great Hall. In fact, they had already been sitting there for ten minutes before the Marauders arrived, flushed and grinning.

Suspiciously, Lily regarded them for a minute before saying, "You're late," rather coolly.

"Sorry, unavoidable business, Lil," Sirius said carelessly, before sitting down with his mates.

"All right then," Lily continued, but the distrust in her voice was evident. "The 'Finals Cram Session' of the S.S.P.O. is officially called to order. We'll spend forty-five minutes on each of the four critical core subjects: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic. Everyone's pretty fair at Herbology already."

Three and a half hours later, the Marauders and their female counterparts stumbled up to Gryffindor tower, well-fed and brains crammed to bursting point. Everyone felt confident enough about the upcoming exams. Lily was still slightly nervous, but not in an entirely bad way.

The Marauders were whispering with their heads together all the way up to the tower. Fed up with the secrecy of it all, Lily whipped around.

"All right, what's up? What are you planning?" she demanded.

"If we told you, we'd have to kill you," Sirius replied smoothly.

"Tell me," Lily growled.

"It's nothing too horrible," James assured her.

Again, Lily hissed, "Tell me. Peter Pettigrew, I swear I heard you say 'Truth Potion'. If you lot make Severus Snape spill his deepest secrets to the Great Hall, I'll-"

"Hey, that's an idea!" Peter said with relish, but Remus cut across him.

"No, Lily, it's not like that. It's actually a surprise though. Just something light-hearted to relieve the stress of exams; nothing harmful. Trust me, Lily."

Scrutinizing Remus's honest face, Lily found no fault. "Fine. But it'd better not target Severus Snape." She then whirled around and marched straight through the portrait hole, which her friends had kept open for her, much to the annoyance of the Fat Lady.

James shivered. "That girl is scary."

The Marauders made their way into their room and had a last minute convention.

"The only problem is getting the solution into the girls' dorms," Remus said.

Shouting with laughter, James crowed, "Sirius is feminine enough. We could always temporarily castrate him and..." His laughter was muffled by Sirius rubbing a pillow into his face.

"Does anyone know what actually happens if you try to get into the girls' rooms?" Peter asked.

Sirius looked over at him. "Yeah, James and I tried it in the beginning of the year. The stairs make a clacking noise and turn into a slide."

"Well if that's all that happens, it'll be easy getting into their rooms," Remus exclaimed. "Haven't any of you ever climbed up a slide? We can just put a Silencing Charm on the stairs. And Peter, sorry mate, but I'm nixing the Truth Potion idea. Firstly because Lily overheard, and also because we don't have it, and there's no time to brew some if we're pulling the prank tonight."

"Wake up! We have our Transfiguration final today," Caroline yelled early the next morning. She herself was already up and dressed (as well as uncharacteristically bossy).

Renny, Ashleigh and Lily rolled over and moaned.

"Hurry up now, all of you. Jump in the showers. Breakfast starts in half an hour," Caroline ordered, throwing towels at them all.

Still yawning and grumbling, her friends tripped toward the showers.

At that moment, four mischievous boys were sitting in the common room, waiting for the girls to emerge from their dormitory. Twenty minutes later, four girls hurried down the staircase.

They didn't seem to notice that their hair was shining a brilliant white. James's mouth dropped open. Against all the snowy, blinding white, Lily's still vividly red hair was framed, like a halo.

"She looks like an angel," James whispered.

Sirius leaned over, snapped James's jaw closed and hissed, "Why is Evans's hair still red? Do you reckon she didn't shower?"

Blinking for a moment to tear his eyes away from the red on white, James muttered, "Dunno." Then he stood up (the Marauders were all huddled behind a couch) and said, "Evans, could I have a quick word?"

Puzzled, Lily went over to him.

"Did you take a shower this morning?" James asked her bluntly.

Looking momentarily offended, Lily replied, "Yes, why?"

James rubbed the back of his neck and looked to his friends, then back to Lily. "Um, what kind of shampoo do you use? It uh...smells nice."

Lily scoffed at the last bit, then said, "I use an avocado shampoo bar. It shouldn't smell nice, seeing as it's fragrance free. If that's all you wanted, Potter..." She gave him a nod, then walked over to her waiting, white-haired friends, who all huddled around her eagerly, wanting to know what James Potter had said to her. They whispered to her, but she shrugged and walked on, leaving them to trail behind in her wake.

James Potter turned to his friends, who were all groaning.

"I didn't think of that!" Remus exclaimed. "I only put the potion in the shampoo bottles."

Sirius, James and Peter nodded. "Same here," they all said.

Remus moved towards the portrait hole, then stopped with an arrested look on his face. "You did all remember to charm the pillows, right?"

Again, the other Marauders nodded, but then Peter said, "Why?"

"Because we don't want any of the girls suddenly realizing they've got white hair. Oh, they will eventually, but not until the exam is over," Sirius explained impatiently.

"What you (and the rest of us) cast last night was a sort of concealment charm, but instead of concealing their new hair color, it just conceals what they see. They won't see the effects of the potion until the effects of the charm wear off," Remus elaborated much more patiently than Sirius.

"Right," James mumbled, "let's grab some breakfast."

The Great Hall was a scene of utter chaos. Boys were gaping and laughing at girls, who in turn were patting themselves down frantically and using a mixture of shrill demands and threats to make the boys tell them what was so darn funny!