The Marauders: Year 1

The following week was rather hectic, but all ten of the Gryffindor First Years were sure they'd done well. It was their last day at Hogwarts before the start of Holiday and the Marauders were sitting in their usual corner of the Common Room, exchanging gifts.

Remus was planning on staying at Hogwarts for the vacation. His home life wasn't exactly pleasant, but he wouldn't divulge any more details than that. In front of him were three cheerfully wrapped gifts. The others looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tear in. He grinned and picked up the first package, shaking it. He looked at the tag and then glanced over at Sirius, who was nearly bouncing out of his skin with excitement at the prospect of giving and getting presents.

"Well, Remmy, come on, open it," he said.

Remus laughed and carefully pulled at the tape on the ends, neatly undoing the wrapping. Then he folded the paper neatly and put it next to him. The other three Marauders looked at him like he was nuts, but he just shrugged, used to their reactions to his neatness. He then turned his attention to the gift in front of him, a large bag of dungbombs, which made him laugh thinking of their possible future escapades and a book, Defense Against the Dark Arts: New Theories, Spells and Hexes for the Serious Defender. The book kind of surprised him. Remus had never taken Sirius to be very observant when it came to what his friends liked and what they didn't.

"I know you like Defense, so I thought you might like that," Sirius said, still bouncing with excitement.

"It's great, Seer, thanks," he said. Then he neatly stacked the bag of dungbombs on top of the book, placed them next to his small pile of wrapping paper and turned to the next package.

The wrapping was a little haphazard and the tag hung crookedly, but only an onlooker would've noticed this. Remus just picked up the package and grinned at Peter. After carefully opening the tape tabs and folding the wrapping paper again, he turned to view his new gift. A copy of The Collective Works of Louisa May Alcott and a magical bookmark that told you the page you stopped at, just in case it fell out.

Remus laughed and blushed a little. "Thanks, Pete," he mumbled.

Peter grinned. "I thought you might like her other stories a little bit more. Then you might seem even smarter."

Remus laughed a little when both he and Peter saw the confused faces on James and Sirius's faces.

"Nothing," he said to them and picked up his last package. He was surprised to find it kind of squishy. He raised an eyebrow at James, who just shrugged and smiled.

After proceeding through his unwrapping ritual, Remus found that James had given him a very large box of Sugar Quills, his favorite, and two pairs of socks, one pair red and one pair yellow. When he saw this he began to laugh and so did James. Apparently James hadn't forgotten their conversation about always receiving books for Christmas. "Thanks James," he grinned widely. James nodded. Remus then stacked his gifts in a nice neat pile and looked over to Sirius, who was nearly bursting with excitement.

He grabbed the first gift in the pile, stopping only long enough to read the tag and glance over to James, and then he tore open the wrapping. Out spilled several rolls of parchment, quills and ink bottles and a small, beaten up book. Sirius looked over at James quizzically, school supplies had not been what he'd been expecting. The book didn't even have a title on it.

"Remember that map you wanted to make? Well, I think if we use that stuff and some of those incantations in that book, it could work. I had to sneak into Knockturn Alley to buy that thing and my mom saw me coming out... I thought she was going to skin my hide," James told Sirius. "And if I'm wrong, well, then you've got some nifty new school supplied."

Sirius chuckled and repressed the urge to chuck a quill at James head. He'd forgotten about the map idea. "Thanks, Jamesy boy." James winced at the use of the horrible nickname, but let it pass since they were celebrating the holidays and all.

"Anytime, come on then, Pete and I would like to get to our gifts," James replied with a wave of his hand.

Sirius grabbed the next package, once again only pausing to look over to Peter, and then tore in. Out poured a small barrage of various things, amongst them Sirius saw Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, dungbombs, Wet Start No Heat Firecrackers, and a couple of odd items he didn't even recognize. He smiled grandly. "Thanks, Pete!"

Peter shrugged, "I hope you like at least something. I wasn't sure what to get you."

"It's great!" He turned his attention on the last package, not even taking the time to read the tag this time and shredded the paper to get to the contents. It was a small wooden box. Sirius tried to open the box and couldn't. He looked over at Remus, confused. "Um, thanks Remus. This is... cool."

Remus laughed. "Like I'd give you a box that does nothing. It's enchanted. Here, let me show you what it does."

"But it won't even open."

"Of course, not, not unless you know the password," Remus took out his wand and tapped the top of the box, while reciting "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"I think I like this box already," Sirius said, with that trouble making glint in his eye.

When Remus opened the box, gold writing flashed across the inside of the lid, the other two boys crowded around Sirius and Remus to look at it. It spelled out the words The Marauders across the top and below that, in slightly smaller letters were all their names: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter all in a neat little column.

"This is quite cool, Remmy," Sirius said quietly.

"Not done yet. The inside looks small, but it can actually expand a bit to accommodate more than it looks like. For instance, all your map supplies could easily fit in here, even with a little room to spare, I think," he handed the box back to Sirius. "Just don't forget, tap it and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'"

"I'll definitely remember that," he said as he tapped the box and recited the incantation, opening it once more. "Wait, what's this?" There was a piece of paper in the box and Sirius flipped it over to see that it was actually a picture of James, himself, Remus and Peter, all with their arms slung around one another, very early on in the term. "I don't remember taking this."

"Frank took it one day," Remus said quietly. "He gave me a copy."

"Wow," Sirius said, nearly speechless, which was quite an accomplishment on Remus's part.

Remus just shrugged. "I've usually got a lot of time to kill in the Hospital Wing," he said with a grin.

"My turn," Peter yelled and grabbed one of his packages. He looked over to Sirius and began to open it. A book fell out of his hands with a thud, but he managed to catch the other package, a bag of Chocolate Frogs. He grinned over at Sirius and picked up the book Magical Plants and their Uses. He was surprised that Sirius remembered he liked Herbology. "Thanks, Seer," he looked over to his friend, who was already opening a package of his own Chocolate Frogs, "This is great."

"No prob, Bob," Sirius replied through a mouthful of chocolate.

He picked up Remus's present next, thoroughly curious about what it would be and tore it open. It was a box identical to Sirius's. He looked to Remus, "Does it work the same way?"

"Yup. Tap it and say 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good.'" Remus looked at him.

Peter pulled out his wand, tapped the box and recited the incantation. When the box opened it had the same gold writing flashing across the inside of the lid and a copy of the picture was in there too. Peter took it out and looked at it more closely. He realized it had been taken the day Snape and Malfoy had attacked him, right after the boys had finished telling Frank about their fight. He grinned. "This is really too cool, Remus."

"No prob, Bob," he said, imitating Sirius's voice, all the while smiling.

Peter carefully put the box down next to his new book and turned to James gift. "Socks?" he asked, a little worried, glancing up at his friend.

"Open it up and find out," James said, sitting back on the couch and the chuckled, "but no, it's not socks."

Peter unwrapped the box and then stopped short. The box was moving and there were air holes punched in it. "I'm not so sure I want to open this, James," he said warily.

"I promise it won't hurt you, Pete," James said.

Peter grimaced and pulled the top off box. Running around inside was a small rat, next to him in the box were a few bottles of food and health potions. Peter beamed. He'd really wanted a pet, but couldn't afford one when he and his family had gone to Diagon Alley at the end of the summer. "This is great, James. Thanks!"

"No prob, Bob," he said, trying to mimic Sirius as Remus had done, but not succeeding nearly as well.

"Ummm... Bob," Peter said and then looked down into the box. "Hello Bob." The rat continued running in circles.

"My turn," James crowed, like a kid in a Honeydukes. He grabbed his gift from Remus first and opened it- another Marauder's box. He took out his wand and recited the incantation. The box opened and he looked inside and looked at his copy of the group photo. He smiled over at Remus, "Thanks a lot."

Remus smiled back, "Sorry it's not much of a surprise by the time you got to yours."

"Nah, it's still great," James replied and reached for his next gift. This one was from Peter. He opened it up and smiled broadly. It was a copy of Hexes and Curses: How to get Revenge on Your Enemies. "This will definitely come in use," James said, grinning.

Last he grabbed Sirius's gift and opened it. An old, Muggle book fell out and James picked it up: Cartography for Beginners. James laughed, "I guess we were thinking along the same lines, Seer."

"Hope it's useful. I guess between that and the stuff you got me, we'll be able to somehow map out this place," Sirius said, still working his way through the massive amount of sugar Peter had bestowed upon him.

The four Marauders gathered up their stuff and took it up to their dormitory. The three boys going home dumped their loot into their trunks and Remus dropped his onto his bed. They then headed down to the Great Hall to eat lunch before they all left.

As they were walking down Peter noticed Remus still held a wrapped gift in his hands. He nudged him, "What is that?"

"Just a gift for a friend," he said, in a tone of voice indicating the Peter wouldn't get anymore answers from him.

The group sat down and ate quietly, well as quietly as Sirius and James ever are. When they finished the group made their way into the Great Hall and suddenly Remus broke into a run. The others stayed back and watched as he caught up with Lily and her group near the door. He stopped Melissa and handed her the small package he'd brought down with him. She opened it and made a surprised exclamation that was muffled to the rest of the Marauders because of the distance between them. She threw her arms around Remus and hugged him. Then she joined her friends and Remus turned back to the Marauders, looking rather flushed.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked, with a sly look on his face.

"Absolutely nothing. I just knew she wouldn't be getting much this Christmas, so I got her a gift," Remus said.

"Well, that was nice then, I guess," James commented. "What was it?"

"A copy of some Muggle book."

"Which one?" Peter asked.

Remus looked at him and blushed a bit, "Little Women."

~~*~~

Remus waved good-bye to his friends as they walked towards the carriages that would lead them to the Hogwarts Express. He was jostled at the last minute as Frank and Rebecca Longbottom shot past him, waving and yelling good-bye, to jump into one of the last carriages. He made his way back up to his dormitory and retrieved his book bag from by his trunk. He figured he might as well get a head start on the homework he had over the break. At the moment, he was almost regretting not going home for the break. Remus figured he'd be just as bored here as at home, and if he'd gone home, he might have been able to go over to Peter's for a week, like James was planning to do. He walked down the steps to the Common Room and spread his stuff out in the spot the Marauder's usually gathered at. Unrolling a scroll of parchment, he took out his Transfiguration text, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, and began rooting around his bag for a quill.

A small cough made him look up. "Lily?" he asked, surprised to see her there.

She smiled. "In the flesh." She sat down next to him on the couch. "You look really confused."

"What are you doing here?" he had thought he was going to be the only Gryffindor remaining over the break.

"Mom and dad were having a few... er... problems. We all thought it might be best if I stayed here," she said turning slightly red. "But all my friends went home, and I noticed all yours did too. I thought we might have more fun if we hung out together, rather than if we spent two and a half weeks rattling around alone."

Remus paused and then a wide grin slid across his countenance, "Yea, that definitely would be better. I thought I was going to be spending Christmas all alone."

"Oh," Lily looked over at the scroll he had unrolled, "are you going to start your homework? I was just thinking the same thing." She hopped up and grabbed her book bag off the table that she and her friends usually took over.

The two passed the rest of the day amicably working on their homework. They roamed the halls a lot and talked about their classes, occasionally throwing in a prank one or the other had played. On Christmas day, Lily bounded into the Boys Dormitory and woke Remus up, dumping a small package into his lap.

"You got me a gift?" Remus asked.

"Yea, well..." she smiled shyly. "Open it."

"Wait a second," Remus said as he rummaged under his bed and pulled out a brightly colored package. He grinned, "I got you one, too."

Lily smiled widely and grabbed it. She shook it and then tore into the wrapping. She opened the box and inside it was a red sweatshirt with the words Gryffindor printed across the back and a small lion emblem on the front. She tossed her arms around Remus exclaiming, "This is so cool!" She pulled the sweatshirt on over her pajama top. Remus blushed and hugged her back loosely.

Grabbing his package, Remus carefully opened the paper and folded it up before viewing what was inside. A red and gold scarf, which Lily had clearly hand knitted, lay on his bed. He was shocked that someone would take the time to actually make something for him. "Lily, this must've taken you hours. Thank you so much." He paused for a second, and then decided to give her a quick hug.

She was nearly glowing, "I'm so glad you like it. I know it's not really great. I only learned how to knit a few months ago..."

Remus looked down at the scarf, which certainly did have a very childish quality to it. No store that ever wanted to remain in business for more than a few days would've sold such a thing and for some reason, that made it all the more precious in his eyes.

"Thanks, Lil... I thought this Christmas was going to be horrible. This scarf is great, I mean, there's not another in the world like it."

She gave Remus one more quick hug and ran out of the room, presumably to get dressed for breakfast.

Remus had to spend the three days after Christmas in the infirmary, which worried Lily a bit, but other than that the two had a pretty fun break. On the last day before everyone returned, Lily and Remus climbed into the Common Room after eating dinner and settled into arm chairs by the large fireplace.

"Remus," Lily began, "how on Earth did you wind up hanging out with Sirius Black and James Potter... and Peter Pettigrew for that matter? You don't seem much like them."

"Well you didn't really get to know me until these past two weeks. I'd say it's safe to assume you don't know much about James and Sirius, or Peter," he said, rather surprised that she had asked. He knew many people found their group a bit odd. Everyone expected Sirius and James to be friends, but how they'd met up with Peter and Remus was beyond most of their comprehension.

"That's true. So tell me about them, then," she laughed a little. "Most of the other first year girls in all the Houses are interested in at least one of you."

"Really?" Remus asked, honestly shocked. He'd only noticed one girl for several months now and even he didn't really understand what 'liking' her meant yet.

"Yup, well, maybe not Slytherin, but the others. All the girls corner Rebecca all the time, since Frank is her brother and he rooms with you guys. They figure she knows all the stories."

Remus laughed, "Frank may know several stories, but he certainly doesn't know them all. He's a great guy and all, but he seems really close with the Rob's."

"The Rob's?"

"Yea, Rob Davis in Hufflepuff and Rob Cage in Ravenclaw. At first I felt kinda bad since he had to live with the four of us, but it's kinda clear that he prefers being best friends with the Rob's. Frank would know more about them than the four of us."

"So, what's the truth behind the Marauders?" Lily asked, grinning wickedly.

"Are you asking about where the name came from? Because if I told you that, I'd have to curse you," Remus laughed. Thinking over the silly vow they'd made to never reveal exactly how their name came to be... which was, in actuality, a very dull story. "Or are you asking about our deep dark secrets?"

"Well," Lily said, still grinning, "since I'd like to live to see twelve, I suppose the latter."

Remus leaned back in his seat thinking about what to tell her. "Sirius is terrified, and I do mean terrified, of cows. He even tries to avoid milk. We tried to hypnotize Peter, you know, the way Muggles do, and make him act like a chicken... it worked and we can still make him do it on occasion, even though he swears afterwards that we're all nuts and he can't be hypnotized. And... James, to his never ending shame, fell off his broom the first time he tried to ride one and broke his arm in three places."

Lily was laughing quite hard by the end of Remus's little tirade. "And you?"

"Me?" he asked. "I thought I got pardoned from this embarrassment by telling you about them." She shook her head in disagreement. "Alright then... every night I check under the bed for a boggart, and when I'm home, I check the closet too. I'm convinced one will get me while I'm sleeping some night."

Lily actually snorted she was laughing so hard.

"Alright then, let's hear about you," Remus retorted.

Lily, wiping the tears from her eyes, leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment. "I freak out about my grades." Remus was looking at her with a look that clearly stated this was not the same quality of blackmail material he's just given her. "Oh fine," she huffed. "I'm scared of Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I don't know why, but going into there makes me want to run in the other direction. I hate the idea that there are Dark Arts and I hate the idea that we might actually have to defend ourselves in such a manner someday. Most days it's fine and I'm fine once class starts, but some days, I hate it and I just want to cry and leave."

Remus looked at her, not sure what to say. In many ways, this was blackmail material, but it was the kind a decent person, like himself, would never use. He thought for a second. "Sirius worries about all of us. I know, it sounds nuts that a guy like him would worry, and usually no one knows it. In a lot of ways, he really is as oblivious as it seems, but he has the way we are memorized. He notices if we skip a meal, or if we don't sleep at night. Then he tries to find out what's wrong and goes about trying to fix it himself. My parents are cruddy parents," Remus said, pausing for a second, deciding whether or not to continue. "When I was little, I had an accident. Since then, I've been more like the family pet than a son... Sirius doesn't know why they act like they do, but I know it drives him absolutely insane that he can't fix it."

Lily looked at him, wide eyed. Remus chuckled a bit, "I know, an odd way for someone to think of Sirius, eh?" She nodded a bit. "Don't get me wrong, his main goal in life is to cause as much havoc as possible... but with his good friends, he really does care in his own weird way."

"James is more uncomfortable when it comes to problems. If he can do anything, he will, but you have to ask for help, he doesn't seemed as tuned into all our little nuances to notice when they start going haywire... he doesn't try to come up with a thousand ways to solve your problems yourself. But, once you ask for help, he'll go to the ends of the Earth to help you. Peter has trouble in Transfiguration. He didn't ask for help for the longest time, but Sirius kept on helping him in class. You know, quietly muttering the incantation and changing Pete's stuff for him... but that's no help in the long run and when Pete finally asked for help, James spent weeks tutoring him. Still does. And he does it quietly at night, so... until now, so please keep this to yourself, no one knew he was helping Peter out. I really don't know who was happier when Pete got his last test back with an A on it. That's the big thing with James. He never wants anyone to know when he helps people. I can understand not wanting to brag about it, but he always wants it kept quiet, even when it wouldn't be bragging." Remus let out a small chuckle. "Maybe he's worried it'll tarnish his Marauder reputation."

Lily sat back taking this all in. The two biggest troublemakers in the school had amazingly good sides. The more she thought about it though, the more right it seemed. In any class where people were partnered up, Sirius always seemed to quickly fix things for his partner before turning them in, no matter who the partner was. On more than one occasion, she'd seen James sitting in the library late at night, patiently explaining a concept to a classmate. She knew, despite yelling at them quite often about their study habits, that both were very near, if not at the top, of most of their classes. However, until this moment, that hadn't really sunken in. She'd just seen two of the four boys who were known for pulling pranks and torturing Severus Snape.

"And Peter? He's a very nice boy, I know... but he just doesn't seem to be up to the same level of magic as the three of you," Lily commented softly.

"Pete's Pete. He's the glue," Remus smiled, thinking that perhaps he had finally figured out the part Peter played in the group. "He's the peacemaker often... makes sure that the three of us don't kill one another."

"Kill one another? I've never seen any of you fight."

Remus laughed, "I think that may be the one thing Frank can attest to. We fight all the time, but they're quick fights. Oddly enough, maybe because of them, Peter's very good with healing charms. He's actually alright with Charms in general, Professor Flitwick seems to like him enough and he never needs any help in there. Actually, a few weeks ago, he was helping me in it." Lily smiled. "Any other information you've been dying to know about the Marauders?"

"Is Sirius related to the two Black girls in Slytherin?"

Remus nodded, "Yea, but we never mention them. He said something about having to spend Christmas with them and all... I think that was the only time I'd ever heard him mention them."

"They're not very pleasant," Lily said, the closest to a disparaging remark Remus had ever heard her make towards another student... other than the Marauders. "Especially that Bellatrix..." she shivered. "Great Merlin, it's nearly midnight." She jumped up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Remus. I hope we don't stop talking to one another just because all of our regular friends come back." She gave him a hug and began walking towards the girls dormitory.

"Night, Lily," he said loudly after her. Then, more to himself, "I hope not either."

~~*~~

In the first week of February, Remus disappeared again. He'd told the other Marauder's that his mother was ill at home and he needed to go visit her. The others were all becoming suspicious of his frequent disappearances now, but they all figured he'd tell them himself when he was ready.

It was late at night when Peter heard the curtains around his bed rustle and James and Sirius climb in and plop down at the foot of his bed.

"What?" Peter mumbled groggily, sitting up. He noticed they both had their Marauder boxes and wands out. He sighed. All he really wanted to do was sleep, not cause trouble. That could wait until tomorrow.

"We're going on a trip. Get your slippers," Sirius whispered and disappeared again behind the curtains.

"We'll meet you in the Common Room," James added, following Sirius out.

Peter groaned quietly and then leaned over the side of his bed to grab his slippers. He let himself out of the dormitory, which was strangely quiet, save the loud snores of Frank. He met the other two down in the Common Room. "Alright, what's all this about?"

"We need to explore the school a bit better to get this map started," Sirius said. "But I thought that tonight we could start with a rough outline of what we know."

"Shouldn't we wait for Remus to do this?" Peter asked, hoping for any reason that would let him get back to his nice warm bed.

"No, it's going to take a while to get this done. We'll just catch him up on what we've done when he gets back. Come on now, Pete. You know the school layout the best of any of us. Give us a quick drawing then," James urged him, pushing a piece of parchment and a quill and ink bottle at him. Peter glared up at him.

"It's two in the morning, James," Peter grumbled.

"Yea, but tomorrow's Sunday, you can have a lie-in. I promise we won't wake you up and we'll even bring breakfast up for you, Petey. Please, pretty please," Sirius begged.

"Ugh, fine. Give me that paper," Peter picked up a quill and started a rough sketch of the castle, muttering to himself. He looked up at James and Sirius. "This would be a lot easier if I could walk around the castle while I draw it." He'd said those words intending to get them all to give up and go to bed, instead Sirius and James both jumped up.

"Well, let's go then," Sirius said, grabbing an extra scroll of parchment and a few spare quills. Peter managed to squeak out a few words of protest before James and Sirius hauled him out of the portrait hole.

The trio quietly walked around for a bit, recording various pieces of information. However, as they rounded the corner by the first floor of the library, James literally walked right into Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor, sir," James sputtered, not sure what to do. He jumped back to where his friends were standing.

Dumbledore grinned at the three boys and Peter was surprised to notice a twinkle in his old eyes. "What could entice three Gryffindor boys out of their rooms at such a late hour?" he asked in a kind voice.

"Well... um sir, you see..." Sirius stuttered, at a rare loss for words. At that moment however, Professor Nackle rounded the corner. Peter and Sirius heard James actually emit a low groan. It was clear that the three of them had held out the smallest bit of hope that Professor Dumbledore might let them off with just a warning... this was unlikely now.

"Potter! Black! Pettigrew! What are you doing out of bed? Detention for all three of you," he said quickly before even noticing Dumbledore.

The headmaster cleared his throat quietly and Nackle's head sprung up. "Oh, Professor, I hadn't seen you there."

"Quite alright, Nicholas," said Dumbledore.

"Are these boys... with you?" Nackle asked cautiously.

"No, no, we just happened to cross paths while strolling. It clears the head sometimes... you are quite right though, Nicholas. It had slipped my mind that this is a punishable offense. A night of detention each seems about fair. I was heading towards Gryffindor Tower as it was, I'll accompany the boys back to their dormitory," Professor Dumbledore said to the potions master. "I trust you'll arrange their detentions with Mr. Filch."

Nackle nodded.

"Well then boys, back to bed," with that the four started off in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room. Just before going inside, Professor Dumbledore stopped them, "Mr. Black, you seemed to have dropped this earlier." In a slightly lower tone, he added, "I believe you'll find a useful shortcut to the Astronomy Tower from the Healing Potions section of the library." He then turned around quickly and headed back in the direction the boys had just come from.

After climbing through the portrait hole and up the stairs to their dormitory, James spoke up. "I really do believe that man doesn't miss a single thing that goes on here." And with that comment, they all climbed back into bed.

~~*~~

By Monday Remus had returned and been told of the previous nights activities. He found them rather amusing, even more so since, for a change, he didn't have detention with the others. The four of them entered their first class of every Monday, double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws and sat in their seats near the back of the class.

"So what's up, Remmy?" Sirius whispered to him, a few minutes after class had begun.

"What do you mean, what's up?" Remus replied leaning his chair back on it's two back legs to hear better.

"I mean, how's your mom?"

"My mom?" Remus asked. "My mom! She's doing better."

"So, where were you really?"

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Actually, Sirius..." Remus tried to turn around to look at his friend, but, forgetting that his chair was leaning on just two legs, instead wound up loosing his balance, sending him to the ground with a loud crash.

"Mr. Lupin!" Professor McGonagall said in a strict tone.

Remus righted himself, blushing bright red and muttered, "Sorry, Professor."

Professor McGonagall gave him one last withering glance and turned back to writing on the board.

"Well?" Sirius prodded.

"Get off it. It's none of your business."

"How do you figure?"

"What do you mean, how do I figure? It's none of your business." Remus hadn't realized that his voice had been rising the entire time until he nearly yelled the last word and looked around the classroom, noticing that it had gone silent.

"Mr. Lupin, I will talk to you after class. Five points from Gryffindor for that behavior. Now if you'll please move your belongings to that desk over there," Professor McGonagall, with a flick of her wand and a chilling glare at Remus, sent a single desk off by itself near a corner, "we can continue our lesson."

Remus shot Sirius a withering glance and moved to his new spot. When the bell rang, the other three Marauders slid out the door and Remus walked up to McGonagall's desk.

"Sit down, Mr. Lupin," she said, gesturing to desk right in front of her own. She looked over at the door and, after a moment's thought, pulled out her wand and said 'silencio'. She shook her head. "Remus, what in the name of Merlin was that all about?"

Remus just shrugged. "Sorry for interrupting the class."

"I'm not concerned about the class. I am, admittedly, rather annoyed at your behavior. I expect more from you than that. However, I am concerned about you," she said.

"I'm fine, Professor. Don't worry about me," Remus said.

Minerva McGonagall sighed and looked at him. She shook her head slightly and gestured towards the door. "You may go them. However, another outburst like today's and I'll have to give you detention."

Remus nodded and made a beeline for the door, where he found the other three Marauder's waiting.

"Well?" James asked him.

"Nothing," he said, then glared at Sirius and headed down the corridor in the opposite direction from Peter, James and Sirius.

~~*~~

"Oh bloody hell, Sirius," James said. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. I don't know what his problem is," Sirius muttered.

"Were you bugging him about his mom again?" Peter squeaked. "I know you don't believe she's sick, but what if she is... then what you're saying just makes it worse for him. Just leave him alone."

Sirius glared at the other two, "Marauders should never have secrets from one another. And I think Remus has a secret." With that he stomped off down the corridor in the same direction Remus had gone a few minutes earlier, only going right at the fork instead of left.

"This is not good," Peter said and James nodded in agreement.

Peter and James didn't see Remus and Sirius until Potions after lunch, when Sirius grabbed James's arm and dragged him to one side of the classroom and Remus did the same to Peter. After that class, Peter and James's heads were spinning. Remus had complained about Sirius the entire time and Sirius had complained about Remus. Peter and James literally sprinted out of the class to avoid having to listen to any more moaning and met up in the hallway.

"Charms then, Pete?" James asked.

"Oh joy," Peter muttered. Great, he thought. The one class that always drives James nuts and Sirius and Remus won't talk to each other... this is going to be a long ninety minutes. James and Peter walked into the classroom and put their stuff down in their seats. Sirius came in and plopped down next to Peter. Remus entered a minute later and, shooting Sirius yet another glare, sat down on the other side of James. The rest of the class filed in and soon Professor Flitwick began the lesson.

"Today we're going to pair off. However, after last times incidents, he stopped to look over at the two Hufflepuffs who'd accidentally turned themselves into pincushions. "I've set up partners for you. Today we'll experiment with the Cheering Charm. When I read off your name, please find your partner and begin working. Melody and Alice Smith. Peter Neder and Melissa Denezyuk. Robert Davis and Elizabeth Fortescue. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Peter Pettigrew and Cedric Fudge. Rebecca and Frank Longbottom. James Potter and Lily Evans..." the professor went through the rest of the class list.

Peter walked over to Cedric and they began practicing. Peter glanced over at Remus and Sirius and saw them both laughing hysterically. At first, this made Peter smile... until he realized that they'd both just cast the Cheering Charm correctly, if not a little too overzealously. Then he looked over at Lily and James and saw them glaring at each other. Great, thought Peter. Just great. James really needs to deal with this. This is the only class she's above him in and he just can't handle that. If it's Sirius or Remus or even me in Herbology, he's fine with it... but for whatever stupid reason Lily Evans can't be better at Charms than he is. Peter shook his head. The two of them had been rivals regarding their schoolwork for some time now and James did not take being beaten well at all. A few minutes later though and both were chuckling happily, another pair the charm had worked well on. Peter sighed and waited for Cedric to finish giggling so he could try out the spell.

After class, the four Marauders walked out the door together and for a minute, Peter thought everything had been forgiven. Then Remus turned one way and Sirius the other, leaving James and Peter standing alone outside the Charms classroom.

"Unbelievable," Peter muttered.

"I know," James said. "Can you believe her? Thinking that she's actually got better marks than I do in that class." James rambled on as the two walked towards the Common Room, Peter fighting the urge to bash his skull against the wall the whole way.

~~*~~

The next day was followed by more of the same right up to Care of Magical Creatures after lunch. They all met up out behind the Herbology greenhouses and saw Professor Kettleburn standing by a box that was moving by itself it seemed.

"I want all of you to stand back, please," Professor Kettleburn said. "Today we are going to study the Acromantula. This one is quite young, so I should be able to restrain it easily, however... if it gets loose, run. I kid you not, run." The professor then turned to open the crate, just as he did, the thing inside it jumped, causing the professor to drop the box, which then burst open on the ground.

The students all took to heart what had just been said and began running like mad for the castle, but Peter was always a slow runner and the Acromantula quickly found him to be good prey. The spider-like creature launched itself at Peter's face, landing just short on his neck and jammed his thick stingers into Peter's throat. He didn't even have time to react as the world went dark around him and he felt blood trickling down into his shirt.