The Marauders: Year 1

"I still really don't understand all this Quidditch stuff," Peter mumbled at Sirius and James. The Marauders had procured seats in the front row of their House's box for the first game of the Quidditch season: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. James and Sirius had been talking nonstop about the upcoming game for the last three weeks and it was finally here. Peter had been excited to see his first game, but he quickly realized that he had no idea what was going on. James and Sirius was both on some sort of Quidditch high, making them both incapable of normal speech, occasionally they'd start telling Peter a rule or two, but then some Catcher or Chooser or whatever they were called would do something important and they'd both turn back to they'd both turn back to the game. Peter was sure Remus would know exactly what was going on and he'd be able to explain it clearly, but he'd been immersed in some book all day, which he had brought out to the stadium with him and was continuing to read even now as the game was carried out around him. Finally Peter gave up.

"What're you reading, Remus?" Peter asked him. It took Remus a moment to look up.

"Little Women," he said, rather quietly.

"Little what?" Peter asked surprised.

"It's this Muggle book..." he muttered.

"Well I know that. What're you doing with a Muggle book? And that one, of all books?" Peter retorted.

Remus went slightly red and looked very glad that Sirius and James were so preoccupied with the Quidditch game. He'd quickly learned that you could get little past the two of them, but one sure fire distraction was Quidditch. "I borrowed it from a friend."

"Yea right, Remus. Like Sirius or James just had a copy of Little Women sitting in their trunks, waiting for someone to ask to borrow it."

"You do realize, Peter," Remus said, slightly miffed, "that I do have more friends than just the three of you."

Peter looked affronted. "Well yea, I..." Peter stopped. "Actually, I didn't."

Remus looked at his and cocked his head to the side a bit. Peter never ceased to surprise him. It was almost like he didn't know when to lie and when to tell the truth and his mind often mixed up the signals. When most people would've given Remus some sort of affirmation that yes, they were well aware he had other friends, whether or not he really did, Peter opted to tell the truth. He did that all the time, but it always surprised Remus.

"So then, who lent you this?" Peter asked, honestly interested. Another difference between Peter and James and Sirius, Remus thought, was that Peter just wanted to know. He didn't plan on being judgmental in the least. James and Sirius, if they knew the whole story, would mock him mercilessly.

Remus put the chad of parchment that he'd been using as a bookmark in place and closed the book. He looked over to make sure Sirius and James were occupied. "Alright, I'll tell you, but don't laugh. And for Merlin's sake, don't tell them." He gestured at the other two Marauders. Peter nodded, interested, as always, in gossip. "I borrowed it from Trixie McGonagall."

"So you like Trixie?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"No. Trixie's my friend. Just a friend. Merlin's ghost, she talks so much, it's next to impossible to get a word in edgewise. I don't think I'd ever be able to deal with liking her. But there is this girl..." he trailed off. Remus knew this wasn't the best idea, to tell his friends. Girls could gossip about boys to one another until their bloody heads exploded and they'd all keep one another's secrets till the grave. But as a guy, you mention even the tiniest inkling that you thought a girl was attractive and the entire House would know in less than an hour.

"So..." Peter prompted, both of them now glancing over at James and Sirius who were still entranced by the Quidditch game.

"So... she really likes this stupid book. I overheard her talking about it to one of her friends. So I thought maybe if I read it, I could start a conversation with her about it. But it was a ridiculous idea. I mean, the book is well written, but I couldn't care less about these stupid girls. There is no way girls are really like this? I mean all four of these girls are complete opposites. It's like four different breeds. If each girl is really that different from the next, then we're screwed, Pete. I mean, one of the girls in here, Meg, would be on cloud nine if you brought her flowers. Well, Amy and Beth, too, I guess. But if you brought Jo flowers, she'd probably lecture you on feminist rights and turn them into potpourri right in front of your eyes. So if you get a Meg, or an Amy or Beth, you're fine, but what if you think you get one of them and you picked a Jo? How disturbing is that?"

Peter looked at Remus like he had two heads. Remus realized that he was ranting and babbling. "Did that make any sense?"

Peter look at him thoughtfully, "You want to read this book so you can talk to some girl about it?"

"Yes."

"That's all I understood."

"Well... that was basically the point," Remus shifted uncomfortably. He looked over at the scoreboard. Hufflepuff was in the lead seventy to thirty. He suddenly hoped that someone would catch the Snitch soon so he'd have a good excuse to get away from Peter and this stupid conversation.

"So who's the girl?" Peter asked, with the look of someone just dying to know information that most people don't.

Remus smiled, "Absolutely none of your business."

"I don't know any girls name Meg, Amy, Beth or Jo," Peter commented. "I think there's an Elizabeth Fortescue, who I think is a... Hufflepuff? Or Josephine MacDonald, she's a Ravenclaw, right? Or is..."

Remus cut him off," Those were just the names of the characters in the book. Not the girl here, at Hogwarts."

"Oh, oka-" Peter got cut off as a cheer went up from the Hufflepuff side of the crowd and a collective groan from the Gryffindor side as the Hufflepuff Seeker caught the Snitch and ended the game with a final score of two hundred and forty to fifty.

"Did you see that dive?" James asked excitedly to no one in particular.

"I know, she was so close! If she hadn't fallen off her bloody broom," Sirius said angrily. "Can you believe that?" He looked at Peter and Remus. Peter looked bewildered, but Remus, as usual, just shrugged and grabbed his book as the four made their way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room.

~**~

The following day when James woke up, the others were all downstairs already. He got up and dressed in Muggle clothes, all the while thinking that there was just nothing in the wizarding world that compared to an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He pulled a school robe over the ensemble and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Afterwards, he took a long look in the mirror. His glasses were slightly bent from a wrestling match with Sirius the previous evening; he'd have to ask Remus if he knew any repairing spells. He looked at his hair and thought, For Merlin's sake, why won't it just lie normal? Then he gave up and ran his hand through it, messing it up even more, and causing it to stand at odd angles. He shook his head thinking I guess that's the best I can do... there might be some sort of spell, but I'd probably wind up hexing my head off. He turned and walked out of the dormitory and down to the Common Room, which was bustling with people all trying to start the homework they'd put off all weekend. For once, James was glad that Remus insisted they all spend Friday evening getting most of it done. All he had left to do was study for Transfiguration. When he thought of that his face curled up into a slight wince and he rubbed the still slightly sore spot on the back of his head from his encounter with that lunatic, Lily Evans. If she wasn't one of the scariest girl's he'd ever met, he didn't know who was. He glanced around for the other Marauders and saw instead, Lily and her friends Melissa and Tessa, the other two girls she usually hung out with were nowhere near her and Melissa and Tessa both had looks on their faces like they were trying to figure out how to get away from her. She had a Transfiguration book in her hands again and her wand out, pointing at the teacup in front of her.

James gave them a wide berth and walked over to the other side of the room where he found Sirius and Remus. Sirius was sprawled across the couch, taking up the whole thing. Remus was sitting cross legged, leaning against the middle of the couch, a book sitting on the coffee table in front of him. As James approached he could hear them quizzing one another.

"What's the incantation to turn a teacup into a mouse?"

"Squeakato? I don't know, Remmy. When did we even turn a teacup into a mouse?"

"On Wednesday. Four days ago, Sirius, really. Encanto. That one's easy enough, you use it for most simple changes of a non-animate object to an animate one."

"Alright. Encanto for teacups to mice. Got it." As James got closer he realized that Sirius's Transfiguration book was open, blue pages and all, across his face, like he was trying to hide from Remus.

"Alright, easy one, a matchstick to a needle- describe the wand movement."

"Double swish, double flick," James said as he sat down next to Remus and stretched out his legs. "Where's Pete?"

"Ten points to Gryffindor, Potter," Remus said jokingly. "He went for a walk a while ago."

James stood back up, "I think I'll go find him."

Sirius popped up. "You want company?" he asked hopefully.

"Nah," James grinned. "You two are having too much fun. Don't let me interrupt."

Sirius groaned and sunk back into the couch as Remus began ruffling through pages in the text. James crossed the room and climbed out of the portrait hole. Having no idea where Peter might have gone, he stuck his hands in his pockets and started off strolling towards the Great Hall. He peeked in through the doors and saw various groups of students studying at the long tables, now empty of food, but Peter wasn't in there. He kept walking until he saw a corridor he hadn't noticed before. His curiosity got the best of him and he turned down the corridor. Looking up, he noticed the corridor was well lit and there were lots of portraits, primarily of food. What surprised him the most though was, in front of a painting of a gigantic silver fruit bowl lay Peter, squirming on the floor. James ran over to him.

"Pete, are you ok?" Peter looked up at him with terrified eyes, but couldn't, or wouldn't talk. "Did someone hex you?" Peter blinked his eyes rapidly, which James took as a yes. While he was thinking of what kind of curse could do this to Peter, Peter suddenly began squirming even more again. Then there came a voice from behind him.

"Potter," it drawled. James spun around and less than ten feet from him stood Malfoy and his little gang, Crabbe, Goyle and Snape. James drew his wand and rolled his eyes.

"I should've guessed. What'd you do to him? Undo it now," James said.

Malfoy's face contorted into a thoughtful expression. "You know, Potter, I really don't think so, but if you'd like to know the curse... it's a full body bind," he looked rather proud of himself. "I think you'll learn it best if you experience it. Petrificus tot..."

"I think you'd best put your wand down Malfoy," came a voice from behind Malfoy and his gang. James beamed. "Sirius, they're over here," Remus shouted and Sirius came running around the corner. Remus had his wand drawn and pointed at Malfoy and as soon as Sirius had seen who else was in the corridor, he'd drawn his wand.

"Four to two isn't very fair? Now is it, Malfoy?" Sirius leered at him. The other three, Goyle, Crabbe and Snape had all pulled their wands and the seven boys all stood at something of a standoff while the eighth boy writhed on the floor.

"Furnunculus," Sirius yelled and pointed his wand at Malfoy, just as James yelled "Gelatani" with his wand pointed at the same target.

"Expelliarmus," Remus yelled pointing towards Crabbe, or maybe it was Goyle, he didn't really know which one was which. He was surprised at the strength of the spell when both Crabbe and Goyle's wands went flying down the hall.

"Tarantallegra," Remus said quickly after, pointing his wand at Snape, whom at the same time had yelled "Rictusempra" pointing towards Sirius.

Suddenly James hit the floor, Crabbe had attacked him, putting him quickly into a headlock, he was about to bash his skull into one of the nearby painting when James head "Stupefy" coming from Remus and Sirius at the same time. He felt Crabbe freeze behind him. He slid out of the headlock and pointed his wand at Peter, "Finite Incantatem!" he yelled and helped Peter up.

The four Marauders took off down the hallway. James turned back for one last look as they rounded the corner. Crabbe was frozen, still in the same position James had crawled out from. Goyle was trying to use his wand to end the spell, but had only succeeded at causing a large boil to grow where the end of his wand touched Crabbe. Snape was shouting profanities and... what looked like tap dancing. James had no idea what spell that was, or which one of his friends had cast it, but he realized he'd have to learn it, it was just too funny to watch Snape's legs act independently of his body. The best sight though, had to be Malfoy, unconscious on the floor with tentacles somehow sprouting out of his face. That sight caused James to burst into laughter and he heard Remus do the same next to him as Sirius jumped up with and shot a fist into the air with a look of victory on his face. Peter was still too weak to do much more than smile feebly.

"What is that curse that made Snape dance? That was bloody brilliant," Sirius asked.

"Tarantallegra," Remus replied smiling.

"Remmy?" All three looked slightly surprised.

"I thought you only knew countercurses," Peter said and the other two nodded in agreement.

"To break a curse, it seems best to know the curse in the first place," Remus said casually, "You'd be amazed at what I know thanks to be on constant alert around you two." He gestured towards James and Sirius. Peter laughed.

"How did Malfoy wind up with tentacles?" Peter asked. When no one answered they all looked at Remus.

He shrugged, "Got me, I don't know any curses that do that. Maybe two mixed and that's what happened." He laughed again, "Great effect, whatever it was."

"Hear, hear," Sirius said to that.

.

"You alright, Pete?" James asked as Peter let go of James and started walking along on his own.

"Yea, just... stiff, I guess. I was like that for a while," Peter said sheepishly. "Sorry I didn't help, I mean..."

Sirius and Remus both looked at him like he had two heads.

"You were in a complete body bind, Pete. If you had managed to get your wand out and utter a curse, you'd be a magical miracle," Remus said.

"Yea, but if I hadn't been down there in the first place..."

"We'd never of gotten to see what Snape looks like when he dances," James finished for him with a smirk on his face. "Don't sweat it, Pete. That's what friends do."

"Cover attackers in tentacles and make them dance the tarantella?" he asked, mildly amused now.

"Exactly," Sirius said and tossed an arm over Peter's shoulder as all four smiled and walked back towards the Common Room.

~**~

The weeks continued to pass rather uneventfully. The four Marauders spent a considerable amount of time in detention. The entire group decided that Remus's weak immune system was just treated as a joke since he was sick all the time it seemed. The four Marauders ran into Malfoy, Snape and company at regular intervals and, at least when the four fought together, usually came out on top; however, it wasn't all that uncommon to see any one of the Marauders (although Peter was the most often sought after target) wandering, or hopping, back to the Gryffindor Common Room, smarting from one hex or another. The weekends were spent watching quidditch and doing homework. Before any of them knew it, it was the second week of December and they were all preparing for Christmas break.

"What're you getting Remus for Christmas?" James asked Sirius as they walked towards the library.

"Hadn't thought much about it... a book, I guess," Sirius said, then grinned, "Or a lifetime supply of Pepper-Up Potion." The two chuckled. "You?"

"I don't know. I've got all the other gifts I needed to get, but I didn't want to get him a book. I figured he'd probably already read everything I'd thought of."

"He likes Muggle books, I think. Sometimes I see him reading them."

The two boys walked through the archway into the library where Remus was patiently explaining the details of the War of the Giants in 911 BC to Peter. Sirius and James sat down across from Peter and Remus, swinging their legs easily over the benches and sliding their books onto the table.

"Remmy, can you explain to me one more time why History of Magic is important? Because I really don't see how knowing about giant wars will help me in the least in the real world," Sirius said.

"I'm with you on that one, Seer," Peter said and put his head down onto the table, clearly fighting the urge to run screaming from the library.

"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, or somesuch nonsense, right Remus?" James offered as he stared vacantly out the window. It was beginning to snow lightly and as far as his brain was concerned, it should already be vacation. James was having a lot of trouble concentration on all these last minute tests the teachers had decided to toss on them right before the break.

"Yea, somesuch nonsense," Remus replied. Even he seemed gloomy, like he'd rather be outside throwing snowballs than discussing how Og the Ogre instigated the conflict between Batwallis the Angry and Booger the Ugly or whatever all those giants names were.

"Is there a giant called Booger the Ugly?" James asked, mildly curious whether or not he'd made the name up.

"Boger. Boger the Ugly," Remus corrected him.

James nodded and went back to staring out the window, "Right... Boger."

"Are you guys studying for the History test? Maybe we could all study together." The boys looked up and saw Rebecca holding her books, standing next to Frank. "We were studying in the Common Room, but it was getting a little too loud. They're still celebrating the quidditch victory over Ravenclaw yesterday in there."

"Yeah, that's why we came here," Sirius said and scooted over to make room for them on the bench. The group settled in and all six of them spent a good ten minutes staring blankly out the window at the snow that was now covering all the grounds.

Out of the blue, Remus snapped his book shut, crammed his stuff in his book bag, grabbed his scarf and cloak and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" James asked him, grabbing his stuff and following him. The rest of the group gathered their stuff and trailed after James and Remus. Remus was making a beeline for what seemed to be the Great Hall, but at the last moment he veered right and went out into the courtyard. He dropped his book bag by a snow covered statue and grabbed some snow. The rest of the group just stood by the entrance until Remus pulled back his arm and let the snow fly... hitting Rebecca squarely in the face. She squealed and launched herself down the steps at him, tackling him hard into the snow. Within ten seconds mass chaos broke out, the six divided silently into sides for an all out snow war. Frank and Sirius grabbed Remus and hauled him out from under Rebecca and James and Peter began launching snowballs at them while they tried.

The fighting continued for several minutes until the group heard a very loud "Oi there, what are you doing?" from up in the air. James, snowball in hand, looked up and saw Lily Evans leaning out of a window way up in Gryffindor tower. Without a second thought he grabbed his wand out of his cloak, enchanted the snowball and sent it soaring up and directly into her face. He heard her angry yells and the whole group burst into laughter, even Rebecca.

Less than two minutes later though, some sort of Snow Beast tackled James into the group. Or what he thought was a Snow Beast... a Snow Beast with bright red hair. He paused, there was no way Lily Evans would take time out of her afternoon of studying before a week that held five different tests to have fun. He didn't even think she knew how to have fun under the best of circumstances. However, he didn't have much time to contemplate this as Lily had seized his head during that pause and shoved it into the snow. Suddenly his whole group was barraged by snowballs and he realized that her whole group, Melissa, Tessa and Alice had come running out with her.

Quickly another snowball fight began, with the first group against the second until the girls pulled Rebecca over to their side, but Rebecca quickly turned on them and it became an all out survival of the fittest battle. Ten minutes later all ten of them were lying back down in the snow panting and laughing.

"Now who can tell me who instigated the War of the Giants in 911?" Remus said in a very serious voice when they'd all settled down a bit. He was promptly his by nine very hard snowballs.

"Oh man, I needed that," said Tessa from where she was laying. "I was this close to snapping up there in the Common Room. What sorts of teachers assign so much work right before vacation? Really now." Her grumbling was met by loud agreements; however, her comment and Remus's joke reminded the bunch that they all had lots of work that needed to get done and they all got up and began brushing their cloaks off.

The ten of them walked back into the school and began heading for their respective places of study. They all stopped at the corridor that split the way to the library from the way to the Common Room.

"I just can't handle any more of the library," Peter said just as Melissa said, "I think I'll go mad if I spend another moment in the Common Room."

"Well," Lily offered. "I know a quiet place to study, if you all want to study together." The rest of the group looked encouraged by this possible change of scenery. "Great then, just let us get our books out of the Common Room." When they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady she glanced at Melissa, "You wait out here Mel, we'll get your stuff... wouldn't want you going mad or anything." She gave a wicked grin, said the password and slid through the hole with Tessa and Alice.

"Was that just an evil grin?" Sirius asked incredibly.

Melissa glanced at him puzzled, "You've never seen her evil grin? My goodness, the number of times Filch has chased us down after that look on her face. I thought I was bad... but it's nothing compared to Lily when she's in a troublemaking mood, albeit a rare mood for her."

"I hate to disagree with you Melissa, but I don't think there's a rule breaking bone in Evans body," James said.

Melissa and Rebecca both laughed at this. "Oh my goodness, tell them about the seventh years, Mel. I wasn't there for most of it... just the results. And getting caught of course. Those stupid trophies, I swear I've got every plaque in the Trophy Room memorized," Rebecca said.

"Oh yeah? Head Boy, 1904?" Melissa quipped.

"Reginald Darkfeld," Sirius and Rebecca answered at the same time and then looked at each other surprised. A second later everyone laughed and the three other girls climbed back out through the portrait hole.

"What's this?" Alice asked.

"Who was the Head Boy in 1904?" Peter asked.

"Reginald Darkfeld," all three replied warily at once.

"Why?"

"Why do you know that?" James asked Lily.

She turned a light shade of red. "Let's just say I'm well acquainted with the Head Boys of Hogwarts plaque, ok?"

Tessa burst into laughter, "What a way to describe twelve hours of detention!"

Lily put on a stern face, "Well, are we going to study, or what?" and took off down the hallway with the others trailing quickly trying to keep up. This continued through several corridors and a few flights of stairs before they all stopped at the astronomy tower.

"The astronomy tower?" Sirius asked. "But most students come up here to..."

Alice and Rebecca giggled in recognition of what the students went up there to do as Lily cut Sirius off. "I know what they come up here to do. But it is quiet. I come here to study."

James dropped his book bag on a table and shook his head, "Only you would use the school's make out spot as a place to study."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Lily said, taking out her books and arranging them on the desk. "So what subject should we begin with? In all honest I might go mad if I have to discuss another giant or ogre right now. Herbology seems like it'll be the easiest test, I suggest we get that out of the way." She pulled out her Herbology text. "Right then, so what happens when you eat alihotsy?"

The others all settled in for a long evening, the boys with a new respect for the girls. James had been shocked to learn that all five of them had served detention. When Rebecca mentioned the seventh years and the trailed off, his mind had fluttered to the dormitory of the seventh year girls who, a little more than a month ago, had somehow shrunk themselves to a little over a foot tall. He remembered being very impressed at whoever had managed to pull off such a joke; he'd considered it Marauder worthy. He was completely shocked that it was a possibility that the lunatic who'd chucked a book at his head one night back in October was capable of such antics.

~**~

"Food," Frank muttered feebly several hours later, "We need food." They'd gotten through Herbology and History of Magic completely and were nearly done with Defense Against the Dark Arts. They'd just spent the last hour stunning and hexing one another, now they just needed to review the Dark Beasts section from the beginning of the term. Sirius nearly chuckled when he thought of how James had said he'd been sure Lily was a Snow Beast when she'd first attacked him earlier.

"I agree," Alice said, looking at her watch. "Great Merlin, we completely missed dinner." The others all looked up.

"Fantastic," Frank grumbled. "I guess we'll have to do without then."

"Well, er..." Peter began, everyone looked up at him. "I know how to get into the kitchens. The house elves would be more than happy to feed us."

"How do you know how to get into the kitchens?" Remus asked, rather surprised.

"Well, I like to wander around... I've got a pretty good sense of direction and all and I suspected they were somewhere near... where they are. And I was poking around down there one day when I saw some students climb out of a portrait. They asked me not to tell on them and I said I wouldn't if they showed me how to get in."

The whole group was looking at him oddly. If it had been Sirius or James or perhaps even Remus, no one would've been surprised and if Tessa or Melissa had owned up to knowing how, none of the girls would've been shocked, but Peter was the last person on Earth everyone expected to deduce where the kitchen was.

"Well, are you all going to stare at me like I've grown six heads?" he asked irritably. "Or will two of you come help me get food? All ten of us can't go, it would look odd."

"How do you get there?" Melissa asked.

"You go down the path to the Hufflepuff Common Room. The corridor splits in two, if you go to the left it's all well lit and there are tons of pictures of fruit. There's one of a silver fruit bowl, you just tickle the pear and it opens up."

"Fruit pictures? Were you by the kitchens the day..." Remus trailed off.

"Yea, Malfoy and Snape attacked me right after I climbed out of the portrait. They took the food the house elves had given me and left." Peter admitted turning red.

"Eh, coulda happened to the best of us," Frank said, who had heard all about their adventure in the dormitory later that evening. "Come on Becca, let's go get some food." He stood up and his sister followed him.

"Are you sure the three of you can carry enough food for the ten of us?" Remus asked.

"I'll go just in case. Four people can't cause that much of a scene. And now that you've told them," Alice gestured at the other three Marauders, "I'm sure four students in the kitchens won't be an uncommon sight for much longer." With that comment the four of them walked through the doorway of the astronomy tower and out of view.

The remaining six sat quietly for a few moments. Finally James leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands and his elbows on the table, looking directly at Lily.

"You shrunk the seventh years."

She blushed a bit and glared at Melissa. "Well yes. I'd only meant to shrink one... she called me an insufferable know it all the day before... but all five of them walked into the room together... so all five of them shrank."

Remus gave a low respectful whistle. "Five seventh years."

"Even we've never attacked seventh years," James said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Note to self," Sirius began but Remus cut him off.

"And we're not going to start now, thank you very much," Remus chided. "I already have more than five hundred years of Head Boys name's memorized." Everyone in the room chuckled and then fell back into silence.

"I never really apologized for hitting you with my book back in October," Lily said hesitantly. "I'm usually not so... crazed. I'm sorry."

James waved off her apology. "No problem. Didn't hurt a bit." Remus and Sirius both choked and bit back laughter since they'd both recalled seeing James rub that particular spot on his skull for nearly a week after the incident. The quiet followed again but was quickly broken when Frank, Rebecca, Alice and lastly Peter came running through the doorway. Frank, who was carrying two pitchers of pumpkin juice slammed them onto the table, drew out his wand and shouted "Colloportus".

Suddenly there was a loud bang as something ran into the door, causing both Remus and Tessa to jump a bit. However, the four who'd just sprinted through the door burst into laughter and brought the food over to the tables.

"Who is that?" Tessa asked alarmed.

"Snape," Alice sputtered, laughing so hard she was crying.

"Snape?" Lily asked, now bewildered.

Alice sat up and wiped away the tears from her face. The other three were still laughing and panting.

"Stupid git," Frank said and, sitting down, poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Is there a particular reason we're torturing Snape this evening?" Remus asked.

"Do we ever really need a reason, Remmy?" James asked, causing Lily to frown at him.

"Usually... no. Just curious if there was one," Remus replied, reaching for a piece of chicken from one of the platters Alice had been carrying.

"Oh but there is," Peter squeaked as he sat down next to Remus.

"Really? Do tell then," Melissa said, reaching for one of the turkey sandwiches.

Rebecca slumped down next to her, "They made me guard the hallway."

"So?" Melissa asked through a mouthful of turkey. "Big deal, you've been the look out for us before."

"I know. So I was fine. Until Snape came strolling along. I thought he'd be a mean git, like usual. But instead he was all... nice," she shivered. "I swear I've never been more taken aback. I had no idea what to do."

"The slimy jerk was chatting her up," Alice giggled.

"I'm sure you're laughing at the slimy git, not the possibility a boy could want to chat me up," Rebecca replied dryly, causing Frank to choke on his pumpkin juice and Alice to laugh some more.

"Riiiight, of course, dear, the slimy git part... that's right," Alice said and took part of Melissa's sandwich from her plate.

"Anyway," Rebecca continued. "He touched my hair and told me it looked really shiny tonight." She shuddered. "Then he leaned in and..."

Frank cut her off. "That slimy git was going to kiss her!" he exclaimed. "So I hexed the hormones right out of him. Let's see if he ever tried to touch her again."

"What'd you use?" Sirius asked, stretching to reach a couple of biscuits.

"Engorgio," he chuckled. "Why'd you think the bang was so loud when he ran into the door?" Peter, Alice and Rebecca all dissolved into giggles.

"Oh my," Tessa said, trying not to laugh but failing.

"So anyway, to make a long story short," Rebecca continued. "He got quite mad and started yelling at all of us, trying to hex and curse us. So we ran... unfortunately he followed."

"Fortunately, the engorgement charm made him swell up pretty badly, it slowed him down quite a bit or else we might have had to ditch the food to get back here safely," Frank finished up.

The whole group was still chuckling over various parts of the story as they finished their food. Eventually though, they went back to their work, calling it a night around one in the morning and heading back for the Common Room.

"You know, Lily," Sirius said. "That was actually a very good place to study."

She just smirked and said goodnight to everyone. Then the girls went up one staircase and the boys went up another.