If In The Beginning

Chapter One: James

"What if we´re caught?"

"Oh shut up Peter, you prat, you know we´ve never been caught."

"There´s a first time for everything."

"Well, if you feel that way, you can stay behind."

"Oh, go on Remus, side with Sirius, I knew you would."

"That´s because he´s right."

"Not you too, James!"

"Yes, me too. Come on, make a decision. The map says Peeves is headed this way."

"All right, I´ll go."

"Good man, Wormtail."

Outside the portrait hole of the Gryffindor tower, four boys, nearly men, huddled under an Invisibility Cloak. Usually, on the nights when they snuck out, their only intention was to cause random mayhem. This time, the goal was more specific.

"What if the Slytherin password´s changed?" whispered the boy called Peter, as the four of them tiptoed down the stairs.

"Since five hours ago?" asked his friend Sirius cynically.

"Will you two PLEASE shut up!" hissed Remus. Although the fourth boy, James, was considered the most clever of the four, it was generally agreed that Remus was the most practical.

"Sorry, Moony," said Sirius quickly. James shot him a suspicious glance. Sirius had been doing that lately: appeasing Remus the second there was the slightest hint a quarrel might start between the two of them.

"The map says Peeves has gone up to the Hufflepuff tower," said James, changing the subject.

"How about Filch?" asked Remus.

"Both he and Mrs. Norris are in the Great Hall."

"Snape?" asked Sirius.

"In bed," said James, " and the Potions dungeon is empty." The four of them exchanged devilish glances.

"We´ll get him back Prongs, don´t you worry," said Peter.

"The nerve of him," said Sirius indignantly, "taking Polyjuice Potion to look like Cynthia Moore and then going into the girls´ bathroom to spy on Lily taking a bath!"

"And Cynthia Moore, letting him!" said Remus. "What´s Lily doing to her?"

"Pimple Potion in her pumpkin juice," said James. Sirius snickered.

They continued down the stairs and didn´t stop until the reached the Potions dungeon. All four stared up at the trap door. "Remus, will you do the honors?" asked James.

"Mortum Leo," said Remus to the door. It slid open and a ladder fell down slowly and gracefully. He grinned at Sirius. "After you, my good sir," he said with mock courtesy.

James couldn´t be positive, but he was pretty sure Remus and Sirius looked at each other a little longer than necessary before Sirius started up the ladder.

The Slytherin common room was decorated in bright green and shiny silver. Once all the boys had reached the top of the ladder, James folded up the Invisibility Cloak. Though they would be vulnerable to any wakeful Slytherins, It would make them clumsy if they stayed under it. And their plans required precision.

Trying not to laugh as they proceeded up to Snape´s dormitory, Sirius and James each took out a bottle of red dye. Peter was guarding the dungeon; Remus was guarding the common room.

The bottle in James´s hand was regular Muggle food coloring, something Lily had had her sister Petunia send from home. The red dye in Sirius´s bottle was far more complex.

In it was the Deux Yeux Potion, a highly complicated and precise formula that had been discovered by French witches. If you mixed together four unicorn hairs, one basilisk skin, four pints of orange juice, and a body fluid your victim, then mixed it with food coloring, you would create a dye that could only be seen, once dry, by the person who had supplied the body fluid. That part had been the easiest- Snape had so much grease and oil in his hair that he hadn´t missed the little bit Sirius had taken in History of Magic.

James took out a paintbrush from his pocket. Careful not to make any noise, he opned the door to Snape´s dormitory and the two boys snuck in.

Snape shared the room with the other sixth-year Slytherin boys: Beelzebub Malfoy, Oliver Lestrange, and Abelard Moore, Cynthia´s brother. Snape´s bed was the closest to the door. With a smirk on his face, James dipped the paintbrush in the food coloring, leaned over Snape´s face, and carefully wrote "I Am A Pervert" on Snape´s forehead.

"Your turn," whispered James to Sirius, grinning.

"Roll up his sleeve," Sirius whispered back.

James obliged. On Snape´s pale arm, Sirius painted the words, "Compliments of the Marauders and Miss Lily Evans." By the time he reached the last letter, the first three words were already invisible to them.

Sirius turned to leave, but James grabbed his arm. "Hang on a second, Padfoot, I´ve got to ask you something."

"What? Make it quick or we´ll be found."

James decided not to quote Sirius´s own words about how they had never been caught back at him. Instead he asked, "What is with you and Remus lately?"

Sirius bit his lip. "I´m not sure what you´re talking about, mate."

"You act differently around each other. More apprehensive. And I see you staring at each other when the other one isn´t looking."

"He stares at me?"

"Yeah. You stare at him too."

"Sorry," said Sirius rather abruptly, "I don´t know what you´re talking about. Now come on, before Snape or the others hear us and wake up."

It was odd, James thought, as they descended the stairs to join Remus in the common room. Usually Sirius told him everything: how he had bad dreams before every Charms exam, how he felt like his parents had always loved his brother more than himself. James shared things with Sirius too, the most personal being his crush on Lily. It was Sirius who had finally persuaded him to ask her out. They were best friends....so why was Sirius hiding things from him?