The Marauders: Year 1

James and Sirius were almost back into the castle before they realized Peter and Remus weren't with them.

"Where's Peter?!?" James yelled over to him across the crowd, with a look of panic on his face.

"Where's Remus?" Sirius yelled back, looking equally terrified.

They both turned back to look behind them and screamed at what they saw. Peter was still back by where the class had been standing. Professor Kettleburn had his wand out, but clearly couldn't hit the Acromantula for fear of hitting Peter. Remus however, was running at full speed towards his best friend. Sirius and James took off running towards them, but both saw Peter collapse to the ground before Remus even reached him. However, they saw Remus roll Peter over and grab at the thing attached to his neck. Then they heard Remus let loose a painful scream and saw him drop the Acromantula right next to Peter's head. Fortunately, James had reached them by then and took his chance to jump with all his might on the Acromantula before it could strike again.

He looked up at Remus who was swaying dizzily and then back down at his shoe, now covered in a thick black gooey mess and blood. James nearly threw up when he realized it was probably more of Remus and Peter's blood than the Acromantula's. A second later, James saw Remus topple over and Sirius catch him, yelling out in a strained voice, "Professor!"

Less than a second later, Professor Kettleburn was at their sides, levitating Peter and yelling for Sirius to follow him carrying Remus. The five of them ran into the castle where Madame Pomfrey met them halfway up the steps.

She took one look at Peter and went white as a sheet. The six of them then continued up to the infirmary. She sent one of her assistants to take care of Remus and grabbed several potions and began pouring them down Peter's throat. Sirius had stayed with Remus, but James let out a strangled cry when he saw parts of the bright green potion come back out through the holes in Peter's neck.

"Kettleburn, get these kids out of here now!" Madame Pomfrey yelled and a second later James and Sirius were standing outside in the corridor beyond the Hospital Wing wide mouthed and gaping at one another.

~~*~~

Several minutes later, Professor McGonagall arrived in at the Hospital Wing and breezed right past James and Sirius. She reappeared in the corridor a moment later and took a good look at both the boys.

Looking back at her, they were even more scared than they'd been initially. She was very pale and slightly trembling. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. "Common Room, now, boys" and she gestured in the general direction of Gryffindor Tower.

James and Sirius just stood there.

"Now, boys," she raised her voice slightly and it cracked as she did.

"No," James said, very quietly.

Professor McGonagall looked right at him, almost as though sizing him up. "Potter, I have absolutely no time for you and Mr. Black at the moment. I need to write to Mr. and Mrs. Lupin and Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew." Both Sirius and James winced as they noticed her voice crack even more at the word Pettigrew.

James swallowed very hard, "I'm sorry for being insubordinate, Professor, but we can't just leave."

Sirius had spent a great deal of this conversation staring at his feet. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked directly into Professor McGonagall's eyes. "Mr. and Mrs. Lupin are horrible parents. They won't care and they won't come. Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew are Muggles, it'll take them a while to get here..." he trailed off, then his voice cracked horribly and you could hear the tears in it, "They're our brothers, Professor... we can't just leave them. We can't."

Professor McGonagall looked very surprised at this comment. She paused for a moment and then looked up, visibly startled. "Professor Dumbledore," she gasped.

"Minerva," he acknowledged. "If I am to understand the situation correctly," he continued, "you boys may sit with Mr. Lupin, he is unresponsive, but will recover... in time."

James noticed that the usual twinkle in the headmaster's eye was missing. He was almost scared to ask, "But... Peter?"

"At the moment, there are several professors working on Mr. Pettigrew. Most likely, it seems, he will need to be transferred to St. Mungo's as soon as we can secure a safe way for him to travel. His injuries are quite severe. If I allow you to enter the Infirmary, you boys must both promise me not to go near his bed. There are spells being performed and potions being administered that your presence could agitate. You must give me your word."

"Yes sir," James said immediately.

"Yes, Professor," Sirius replied.

"Let them by, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore addressed Professor McGonagall. She shook her head sadly and let them by, walking off in the direction of the owlery.

The boys followed Professor Dumbledore into the Infirmary. He pointed them to a nearby bed. "Do not go beyond it. Do not touch anything, don't even touch Mr. Lupin. But you may sit with him for a bit, if that is what you wish to do." He continued walking.

James and Sirius pulled back the curtain around the bed and looked at Remus. They both gasped at the same time. He was so pale that they could see his veins clearly through his body everywhere except for his hand, where he'd been bitten. His hand, which lay above the covers, was more than twice its normal size and a nasty shade of green. The actual area that was punctured was purplish red and still oozing pus and blood. Two tubes were going into his hand and attached to a machine next to him.

Sirius walked over to the other side of the bed. And quietly, so quietly that no one but James and presumably Remus, could hear, he muttered, "What were you thinking, Remmy?" and then sunk into the chair next to the bed.

James too the seat on the other side and the two of them sat in silence for quite a while alternating looking at Remus and then at each other. Finally Sirius buried his head in his hands. James winced and looked out the window. Until that moment, he'd forgotten that the two of them were in the middle of a fight. He couldn't imagine that it was possible to feel worse than he did now, but he thought that if it was possible, Sirius did.

"Dammit, why does he have to be able to run so fast?" Sirius muttered quietly a few minutes later, his voice very thick.

"I think that any of the adults would tell us those aren't the best questions to be asking right now..." James trailed off. "I hate 'what if's?' I mean, I was standing right next to Peter. It could've been me... and why wasn't it? Or why didn't I see it attack him? I could've gotten it off sooner and then at least Remus would be fine..." James stared back out the window.

Sirius sniffed and made a choked sort of chuckling noise, "For once, Jamesy boy, I think the adults are right."

James just shook his head, trying to tune out the sounds of all the people at the end of the isle. "If just a bite... just a bite and he's like this... Peter..." James looked out the window again and didn't look back for quite a while. He was brought back to reality when there was a loud noise entering through the door to the Infirmary and various voices identifying themselves as from St. Mungo's. The noise briefly got louder and then stopped completely. Sirius and James exchanged a glance. Peter was gone.

The silence continued until Sirius broke it, looking at Remus, "Look pal," he began. "I don't really know what kind of state you're in... whether you can hear or not because, ya know... sometimes you can and you're just... trapped. So, if you can. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. You can keep all the secrets you want, I'm sorry. And I'm sure your mom is very sick and I'm sorry I just made that harder on you too and I'm sorry your immune system sucks, but you've got to fight this crud out of it? You hear? Because we might already be down one Marauder and being down two... listen, you can't die while I'm mad at you, that's just not a fair way to end an argument..." Sirius trailed off.

James looked up with a twisted smirk on his face.

"What?" Sirius snapped.

"Only you wouldn't even let someone die to end an argument," James said.

"He's not going to die."

"I know... if I thought he might, I never would've said that."

"Right," Sirius said aloud and then more to himself with a little nod, "right."

~~*~~

About an hour later Madame Pomfrey stopped by to check on Remus, all the while muttering about the 'idiot teachers at this school and their hair brained ideas, one of these days a child is going to die' and then she'd gasp at the word die, which only scared Sirius and James even more since no one had given them information about Peter. Suddenly, she noticed James and Sirius.

"He needs to rest," she said and then reached into a cabinet. She took out a large slab of chocolate and broke it in two. "Eat this, all of it. And then go get some sleep." She started to leave, paused and then turned back to them. "You can come back tomorrow after your classes if you wish... but there won't be much of a change for several days."

Sirius and James both nibbled a bit on the chocolate. "Well then..." James said, gesturing towards the door.

"Yea..." Sirius rose, trying to think of the right way to leave. Then he shrugged and said in his normal voice, "See you tomorrow, Remus. We'll leave a copy of tomorrow's notes when we come back."

James took his cue from Sirius, "I'll even try to get him to not draw so many quidditch figures on them. See you tomorrow then."

They'd both visited Remus many times in the Hospital Wing and that was, more or less, their standard exiting words. Except this time Remus didn't sigh and roll his eyes at the notions of drawings all over Sirius's notes and then brightly tell them he'd see them tomorrow. James and Sirius gave one another sad looks and made their way out the door to Gryffindor Tower.

When they entered they were relieved to see that the story about what had happened had spread quickly, so no gossip mongers were all over them begging for details. Sirius was disturbed to notice that the news really had little effect on most of the House. Then he noticed one very quiet corner containing the other six Gryffindor First Years. All the girls had rather red looking eyes and Frank had the same glazed over look on his eyes that James and Sirius were not too familiar with. In front of them lay a pile of books, as though they'd gotten together under the guise to study. Alice looked up and noticed James and Sirius making their way over to their table.

Lily had a strained look on her face, like she was dealing with inner turmoil about whether or not to ask them about Peter and Remus. Fortunately for her, Melissa had no such qualms, "Are they ok?" She looked near the verge of tears again.

James and Sirius both semi-collapsed at the end of the bench, the stress of the day hitting then full force. James sat there pondering exactly how to answer that when Sirius saved him the trouble and responded with a very flat, "No" which James realized with a shock was the correct answer.

Melissa dropped her head into her hands the same way Sirius had before, but instead of looking out the window like James had done, the other girls crowded around her, beginning to cry also.

Frank sat back and said, with what seemed like a little bit of awe in his voice, "I'll never understand how they're able to do that..." Then he turned to the two boys. "No? They'd tell us if they were dead..." His sister raised her head from the crying group of girls and glared at him through wet eyes.

The group was now attracting attention from other members of the House until finally a Sixth Year Prefect came over and asked if everything was alright. She was met by blank stares that, in truth, scared her a bit. She asked again if everyone was ok when Lily whipped around and stood up. This prefect had the misfortune of being rather short for sixteen and Lily was rather tall for eleven years old, leaving them nearly eye to eye.

"Two of our friends were bit by Acromantula in Care of Magical Creatures today. We don't know if they're ok or even if they'll live. Would you be ok?" her voice was beginning to rise and take on a hysterical pitch. "Do you think everything is alright? Because I don't. But I also don't think you can do a bloody thing about it, so why don't you just go away. None of the house cared before when they were told. Why should you care now!" Then she grabbed her stuff and looked at the other seven people sitting at the table. "Come on," she said to them.

The others scurried to grab their stuff and follow her out the portrait hole. They followed her and quickly caught on to where she was going, the astronomy tower.

~~*~~

"Oi..." Frank said, sitting down on a nearby bench. His sister sat down on one side of him and her friend Alice on the other. The group all sat down in various spots around the room. Alice started to sniffle again and Frank put his arm around her, then tossed his arm around Rebecca as an afterthought. She seemed grateful. They all sat in silence for several moments.

"I hate to be the one to actually ask this out loud... but since I know the six of us are wondering anyway... how not well are they?" Melissa asked softly.

James and Sirius glanced at each other, then James opened his mouth and Sirius fixed his gaze resolutely out the window. "On a scale of 1-10... I'd say Remus is about a 6 and although we don't really have many details about Peter... I'd put him at a 9."

Melissa dropped her head back into her hands and Tessa covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

James continued. "They let us sit with Remus for a while. Professor Dumbledore said he's going to be alright eventually and I believe him... it's just... he doesn't look like he will be. He was so pale and his hand..." he trailed off and Sirius took up where James left off.

"They took Peter to St. Mungo's. We don't know anything else... but he was hurt worse. I saw that much... while we were still outside," he stopped short. It seemed like years ago that they'd walked out to Care of Magical Creatures. All of a sudden his emotions went haywire and what had been rattling around inside him came loose in one long, loud tirade. "What would possess a teacher to show a creature like that to FIRST YEARS?!?! HE COULDN'T EVEN HELP PETER! HE JUST STOOD THERE! HE JUST LET IT BITE REMUS, TOO. THAT STUPID, STUPID GIT!" Sirius stopped short again and dropped his head into his hands. A second later he felt a thin arm wrap itself around his shoulders. He tensed and looked up to see Lily gazing into his face, her eyes shining with tears.

"It's ok," she said, so quietly that he doubted the others could hear. "They'll both be okay. People just don't die at Hogwarts. They'll both be okay." She tightened her grip around Sirius.

Sirius put his arms around her and pulled her closer. He froze for a second when she burst into tears against his chest, then tightened his grip on her. He was glad to have a distraction from his own worry for a moment. 'Comfort Lily,' was what his mind was flashing now and he was happy to oblige. It took his mind off of other matters.

They'd been sitting quietly for nearly an hour when James turned his head around to face the others. "I'm sorry guys, but I really just can't handle all this silence anymore. Can we talk about something? Anything, please?" He was almost begging. "Doesn't anyone have anything we can talk about?"

Tessa looked up hesitantly. "What were you saying about your sister, Alice? On the way out to..." she trailed off looking horrified at nearly mentioning the class that had caused the current predicament.

Fortunately though, Alice picked up right away. "My sister Melody, she's in Hufflepuff, told me she was 'going out' with Peter. I thought she meant Peter Petti..." she stopped, looking ready to kick herself.

"No... go on," James said. Then he turned his head to Sirius, "Peter's going out with a Hufflepuff? Why didn't he tell us?"

"What's he doing going out with anyone? How did he manage that?" Sirius asked, seriously contemplating his own questions. The rest of the group relaxed a bit at the tone of James and Sirius's voices. Earlier they had seemed near hysterical and now they sounded far more normal.

"No, no," Alice interrupted. "That's what I thought, but it's Peter Neder, another Hufflepuff."

"Which one is Peter Neder?" Rebecca asked.

"The one with all the acne already," Melissa told her, and Rebecca's face acknowledged this information.

"So your sister already has a boyfriend?" Frank asked Alice. She nodded.

"We're only eleven," Lily said in a tone of someone much older. "We're far too young to be dating."

"Hey, speak for yourself," Sirius said. "And I happen to be twelve, thank you very much."

"Oi vey, Sirius Black dating, Merlin help us," Tessa chuckled. "How did we wind up talking about who Melody liked anyway?" She looked at the other girls.

"Got me, I actually..." Rebecca paused and then decided to continue anyway. "I was running a bit late from lunch. I missed that whole conversation. I'd only gotten half way across the lawn when the entire class came running in my direction..."

Melissa saw that this was not heading in a very good direction and jumped in. "Because we were talking about you Becca." Suddenly a very sly grin spread across her face, "and your reaction if you found out that Alice..." Suddenly Alice jumped off the bench and knocked Melissa out of her chair, clamping her hand tightly across her mouth in the process. The others watched rather surprised and the Lily started to laugh, followed a second later by Tessa, all the while Rebecca was looking quite confused.

"If I found out what? What??" she asked.

Alice looked over at Rebecca and then sent a glance that clearly could be read as 'if looks could kill you'd be the new Gryffindor ghost' in Melissa's direction as she let go of her mouth. "We'll discuss this later, Rebecca."

Lily and Tessa were stilling giggling madly and shooting looks in the direction of where Alice had been sitting quite comfortably with Frank's arm around her. The boys and Rebecca, however, looked quite mystified.

Rebecca glared at the giggling girls, clearly not appreciating being left out of the joke. Lily spoke up first, "We were just talking about boys. That was all."

James looked at her rather surprised, "You talk about boys?"

Lily looked at him like he was a lunatic, "Of course I do, all girls do."

"But what do you say?"

"What do you mean what do I say?"

Sirius jumped in now, "Yea, what do girls say when they talk about boys?"

"Absolutely nothing," Alice said resolutely, causing Lily and Tessa to burst into laughter and Melissa to snort quietly.

"Oh my, you've certainly got a different definition of nothing than I do," Melissa said. "This coming from the girl who describes, vividly I might add, what she'd like..."

"Oh shut up this instant, Mel. I swear you're insufferable sometimes," Alice said loudly, cutting her off.

Melissa looked around the room. Alice probably wasn't going to speak to her for a few days, but her goal had been accomplished. She had gotten them all thinking, at least partly, about something other than Remus and Peter. Then she turned her head innocently towards Alice and smiled like a little angel.

"I'm not insufferable... I've just got a unique and challenging personality," she quipped at her.

"Oh you," Alice growled and jumped at her again, knocking Melissa's glasses askew as she pushed her out of the chair.

"I'd never known girls to be so physical before," James reported.

"It's a bit of a turn on," Sirius said with a wicked grin.

"Oi," Alice said at the same time Melissa said "Ick" and the two laughed together.

Sirius turned to them, "But you haven't distracted me that well. What do you all talk about?"

"Now what on Earth do you mean by that?" Melissa asked. "We talk about boys, what more do you want than that?"

Lily grinned and spoke up for the first time in a while. "I think they want an example." The other four girls stared at her like she'd grown three extra heads that spoke only in Chinese.

A look crossed Tessa's face. She'd just gotten an idea and hoped sincerely that it was the same one Lily had. She held out her hand with her palm facing out in a stop sort of gesture to the boys and motioned for them to gather on the same bench, so they could watch the proceedings. James and Sirius complied and, after Rebecca stood up and crossed over to where the girls were all sitting, joined Frank on the bench.

Tessa looked pointedly at Lily, hoping she'd get the point and the other girls would pick up on it. "How about that Sirius Black, Lil?"

Lily grinned widely and both knew they'd read the other's minds. "Insufferable git, with that ego of his it's nothing short of a miracle he can fit through a door." A look of comprehension dawned on each of the other girl's faces and they all smiled slightly.

"I know," Rebecca commented. "A few weeks ago he came over to be my partner in Transfiguration, you weren't there Alice, and instead of a normal 'want to be partners?' the dolt said to me 'did it hurt?' and when I looked at him rather puzzled, he finished with 'when you fell from heaven'. I nearly chucked my Transfiguration book at him. Sent him to go with with poor Trixie... I'm beginning to feel guilty about sending him to her every time he tries to work with me." She said all this with a wicked grin on her face, not even once glancing over at him.

The girls were slowly clustering, talking loud enough so the boys could hear, but otherwise ignoring their existence.

"Poor Trixie," Melissa commented. "I heard she has a crush on Remus though. Think that could go anywhere?"

"Have you lost your marbles girl? Lupin is madly in love with you," Alice said with a smug smile on her face. "It's so obvious."

Sirius and James looked at one another trying to discern whether this was true or part of their games... assuming this was a game they were playing. They both shook their heads a bit, as if to say, 'no way'.

Melissa turned bright red as Lily added, "Well if he does, that's their business then, isn't it Alice" and gave her a light prod. Anyway, how about that James Potter?"

All five of them groaned collectively and then laughed.

"What a horror!" Lily uttered.

"Unbelievable I know," Melissa added.

"I think his hair is cute," Rebecca said, giggling a bit.

"Traitor," muttered Tessa, then she laughed. "Although you've got a point."

James gave Sirius a smug look and then ran his hand through his hair.

"I've never really looked twice at him in that manner," Alice said.

"Yes, well, we all know why," Melissa said, beginning to giggle.

"No we don't, why?" Rebecca said, leaning farther into the group.

Lily nudged them both. "Later," she said firmly.

"So what about you Lily? Fancy anyone? Like Potter maybe?"

"Oh the unspeakable horror. Seriously, I'd die before I'd date him," she said with a look of pure disgust on her face.

"No, I think Lily's quite taken by Remus," Tessa said.

"I think not. Why do you all have such trouble believing we're just friends!" she insisted.

"Ah, ha!" Melissa gasped. "But we've forgotten the amazing Frank Longbottom," she said as she faked swooning. The others picked up on this too.

"Oh my, his eyes," Lily said, blinking rapidly.

"He's so sweet and intelligent," Melissa added.

"Speaking of bottom's, check out his," Tessa added, busting into laughter.

"He's my brother!!!" Rebecca shouted with a mixed look of humor and disgust on her face.

James and Sirius looked at Frank who had turned quite red during the past few comments, despite the fact they all knew they were in good fun.

Suddenly, Lily turned to face the boys. "And that is what we do," she said and took a bow. The other four followed her and then the five of them collapsed into a fit of giggles.

The silence then returned and remained for a few minutes before someone pointed out the time and said they'd better get back to their dormitories. It was getting late and they had classes in the morning.