The Marauders: Year 1

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear. Both James and Sirius woke up early and dressed hurriedly. By eight they had eaten breakfast and were headed for the headmaster's office. After a quick ride up the steps, they were standing before Dumbledore, a man who looked exceedingly pleased to see them.

"Gentlemen," he said as they entered his office. He began sorting through a pile of books, apparently in search of the portkey. "I think you will both be very pleased to know that early this morning, Mr. Pettigrew awoke."

"Peter's awake?" James gasped as Sirius did a dance that would've been ridiculous under any other circumstances.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, he is awake. You'll still find him very ill, but the worst has passed." The professor held out the same old Transfiguration text. "It's only set for an hour this time, as visitors cannot stay long. Once again, should I not be here, please see to it that Professor McGonagall is alerted to your return."

"Yes, sir," Sirius said and touched the book. A moment later both he and James were in the lobby of St. Mungo's. This time it was empty, Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew were both probably sitting with their son. James and Sirius spun around and ran for Peter's room.

"You up for this, Seer?" James asked quietly before opening the door.

"He's awake. I'll be fine," Sirius said softly in return and then pushed the door open himself.

As they entered, Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew smiled widely at them.

Mrs. Pettigrew leaned over her son, "Peter, you have visitors. We'll leave you with them for a bit, alright then?" Then she walked over to James and Sirius. "Perhaps you can cheer him up a bit... he can't talk much though, it hurts his throat, so don't let him, understand boys?" They both nodded. "Then we'll give you some time. Marcus, let's go get a cup of coffee." She and her husband left the room.

"Hey Pete," James said as he walked over closer to the bed. He noticed that while the room still smelled bad, it was anywhere near as intolerable as it had been a week ago. The window was also open and the sun was shining it. This is a lot better, he thought.

"Did you get the galleons we left you?" Sirius said, timidly approaching the bed. "Or wait, don't answer that, your mom said we shouldn't let you talk."

Peter made a very visible gesture of rolling his eyes. James laughed. "Well, did you get the galleons then? Blink twice for yes and once for no."

Peter blinked twice and offered a weak smile.

"You're looking a lot better than when we last saw you," James offered and sat down in the chair Mr. Pettigrew had been occupying as Sirius sat in Mrs. Pettigrew's. "I'm sure you'll be back at Hogwarts in no time."

Peter's gaze narrowed and then his eyes concentrated on looking out the window. Oh no, I hope they didn't tell him that he might not be able to come back, James thought. If they did, that was probably the worst comment I could ever make. "Anyway," he continued out loud, "you've been missing all the gossip."

Sirius chuckled, "All of Gryffindor thinks Lily and Remus are going together."

Peter's eyes widened and directed themselves at Sirius.

"Oh, they're not really. We know that and I think Lily's friends probably do, but it's amusing. Remus will have a lot of whispering to deal with when he gets out of the Hospital Wing."

Peter's eyes opened even wider at the mention of Remus in the Hospital Wing.

"Oh..." James began. "Well, he got bit too. Uh... not quite as serious as you, clearly. But he's spent the last few weeks in the infirmary. He'll be out on Wednesday. Maybe he can come visit you with us next weekend. Although now that you're awake, maybe we can come back once or twice during the week too."

Sirius nodded rapidly at this. "Pete, you've got to hear what Malfoy did to me in Potions last week. Or, even better, you've got to hear what we're about to do to him." Sirius and James grinned wickedly and spent the remainder of their hour outlining their plans to torture Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins.

~~*~~

On Wednesday evening, the two healthy Marauders, Melissa and Tessa were working on their assignments for Herbology. James and Melissa had been teamed together as had Tessa and Sirius. While the former group was working diligently the latter had taken a slightly different approach to studying. Melissa and James both looked up abruptly when Tessa gasped.

"Sirius Black, are you propositioning me?" she looked shocked. Sirius tossed a wicked grin in the direction of James and then turned back to Tessa.

"Yup."

She raised her hand, clearly about to slap Sirius and then hesitated. She leaned over and kissed him very quickly, both turning a surprising shade of scarlet. After that she grabbed her books and headed for the stairs to her dormitory, "That should show you who has the upper hand in this relationship."

Sirius, looking entirely bewildered, turned to Melissa and James. "Relationship?" he squeaked.

James burst into laughter and Melissa smirked. "I was always pretty certain she wouldn't handle the boys messing with her... now I'm sure," Melissa commented. "Good luck getting yourself out of this one." Melissa gathered her books. "I think we're just about done as it is, James." She turned to Sirius, "Break her heart and I assure you, the other four of us in your 'Gryffindor five'," she said those last two words with dripping sarcasm, "will break your legs." She headed off for the stairs and called cheerily over her back, "Evening, boys."

Sirius and James sat there in shocked silence for a second until Sirius squeaked out one more time, "Relationship?" and James began laughing again.

Between James's chuckling and Sirius's bewilderment, neither noticed when the portrait swung open a small boy with light brown hair and an arm in a sling climbed gingerly into the dormitory. The boy paused for a moment to look over at his two friends. Without even having to ask, he knew something had just gone down and clearly at Sirius's expense.

"Apparently I've missed something," Remus commented as he slid into the seat next to Sirius. "I'd threaten you with a beating for the truth, but we all know I'm not in much of a state to do any damage."

James had stopped laughing when Remus sat down, but the moment he remembered why he was laughing in the first place he began to start again. Sirius glowered at him. Remus just sat there and hoped he'd played the guilt card well enough to get the story.

In between his laughter James choked out, "Sirius... has.... girlfriend!!"

Remus sat back with a bemused expression on his face. "You miss a few weeks of school..." he shook his head but didn't manage to hide his grin. "Well, which girl has officially lost her mind? Or were you brewing insanity potions this past week?"

"I..." Sirius sputtered. Then he decided to switch tactics entirely. He leaned back against the wall and polished his fingernail on his shirt. "Tessa kissed me."

His sudden change in demeanor provoked a raised eyebrow from both James and Remus.

"Oh, so now we're Mr. Cool and Collected?" James asked.

"Well, it was only a matter of time before all the girls began swooning over me. We all knew it was bound to happen," he stated pompously and thrust out his chest a bit. "I mean... who can resist this?"

"Oh, that's just too easy," Remus said and looked at James. "Would you like to take it?"

"Aren't you two just so funny," Sirius cut them off sarcastically. He turned to James, "What no comeback, Jamesy boy?"

"Nope," James replied. "I'm just imprinting forever in my memory, Sirius Black, beet red and flustered because a girl kissed him, squeaking 'relationship' over and over in a very high pitched voice."

Remus laughed, "Oh, so that's how that went, is it?"

"Sirius tried to talk the talk, Tessa decided that she was going to make him walk the walk. Bully for her, I say," James commented.

Remus chuckled again and looked at the table. "Herbology?" he asked, changing the subject. Such big news, he was sure, would resurface plenty of times over the next few days, especially if it was true and Sirius was now in a 'relationship'.

James groaned. "They partnered us for these projects today. Sirius and I tried to work together but..."

Sirius cut him off, mimicking Professor Sprout, "Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, I think, in lieu of recent events, such as when you tried to feed one another to the Tentacula, not to mention the fire breathing Snaptunia's incident, I would prefer if you did not work together. Ms. Denezyuk, Ms. Maris, if you'd please each work with one of them, my sincerest apologies to you both."

Remus smiled at this exchange. He could easily see Professor Sprout saying exactly that and even pictured her hands on her hips and her look of exasperation when recounting their previous partnerings. Remus decided that while all their visits to him in the Hospital Wing had been nice, there was nothing like being home. He was drawn out of his reverie by James.

"Not that Melissa and Tessa aren't great partners... well, I can't really speak about Tessa although she and Sirius certainly do seem to have a way together," James was interrupted as he dodged a book Sirius sent flying his way, "it's more that the project is rather tedious."

"And the polyjuice potion?" Remus inquired.

"We didn't know when you'd be out today. We skipped lunch to start brewing it. Now we've got a month to collect two, or three if your up to it Remmy, pieces of Slytherins. How disturbing is that?" Sirius put forth.

"It's just hair," James sighed. "You'd think we were going to skin them from the way he's been going on about that part of the potion. Oi."

"Any news about Pete?"

"Nothing you don't know," Sirius said. "We've been trying to send out an owl or two a day with a note to him, even if he can't talk, he can read, we figure."

Remus nodded, "That's a good idea." Then he jumped as though he suddenly remembered something. "I found a new passage. I don't know where it does, maybe was can explore it a bit when Pete's back, but it definitely seems to lead away from the castle. If it continues in the direction it starts in, then it seems to be heading towards Hogsmeade, I think."

James and Sirius both say straight up, "Hogsmeade?!?! Where!"

"There's a statue of a witch with a large hump in the third floor corridor. If you tap the hump and mutter 'Dissendium', it opens."

"Do you randomly walk around tapping things and muttering spells, Remmy?" Sirius inquired.

"Only when I'm lost, I'm well aware there's more to Hogwarts than meets the eyes, as are both of you." He shrugged and then winced. "I'd suggest we go and I'd show you, but there's a bit of sliding involved and I'm really not sure my hand could take that twice in one day, sorry mates."

"Just as well," James said. "We'll wait for Peter to get back and explore."

"Provided Peter comes back," Sirius intoned bitterly.

The three boys sat silently for a moment until Sirius made a move to begin clearing up his stuff. The other two looked at him.

"Need my beauty sleep you know," Sirius said with a roguish grin. "If she wasn't to play this relationship game, we'll see who caves first. It won't be me, I'll tell you that much." He then made his exit.

"Ah, Sirius Black, so smooth with the ladies," James said sarcastically.

"If she finds out that's how he's looking at this... she'll kill him," Remus mused.

"Ought to be interesting."

"Won't it be, though?"

~~*~~

The next few days passed uneventfully. Every day Sirius and James would go with Remus to the Hospital Wing and wait for him to take an array of healing potions. On Saturdays, James and Sirius would visit Peter and Remus would send a long letter with them, since Madame Pomfrey was reluctant to let him go with them just yet. Daily, group would head over to a hidden passageway by the Hufflepuff Common Room to check their hidden cauldron that was constantly brewing the polyjuice potion, and Sirius was too stubborn to admit he knew nothing about girls, he and Tessa were often seen in one another's company, causing her group of friends to begin taking their meals and studying with the three Marauders. James and Remus agreed this wouldn't be so bad if they could somehow ditch Lily before their study sessions. It was agreed by all three Marauders that, while in general Lily was alright, when studying, she was an absolute terror. This night was no exception.

Remus was going over the finer details of hinkypunks and grindylows with Frank and Alice, their heads all bent together at the end of the table. Sirius and Tessa were still working on their Herbology project and Rebecca was sitting quietly at the other end, with her Charms book in her lap, trying out a hover charm on her Transfiguration text. James had just pulled his Potions textbook out of his satchel when Lily sat down next to him, holding her. He just barely suppressed a groan and turned to her instead.

"About to start on your potions then, Lil?" he asked.

"Yup, want to work together?"

James pulled his face into a disappointed frown, "Sorry, just finished up." He hastily shoved his book back into the bag and grabbed his Defense Against the Dark Arts text out and jumped into the conversation Remus, Frank and Alice were having.

A second later he felt a tap on his should. "Do you think you could help me? I'm actually... I've been having a bit of trouble in the class," he heard Lily's voice state quietly.

He turned back to her, with an eyebrow raised. "You? Having trouble in class? Should I head up to my room now? As I recall, last time that happened I nearly wound up with a concussion during one of your temper tantrums."

"You'd make fun of me when I need help?" Lily asked, turning slightly red.

"To begin with, I find it hard to believe you actually need help," James began wearily. "I find it more likely that no one would go within ten feet of you when you're studying and this is a ploy to get someone, anyone, to work with you."

He paused to take a breath, "Secondly..."

At that point Lily burst into tears and jumped up from the table, running for the stairs. Quicker than he could say 'quaffle', the other three girls at the table jumped up and headed after her. Rebecca only pausing long enough to smack the back of his head and hiss, "You horrible boy."

The four boys sat in a stunned silence for a second.

"Well that was brilliant, Potter," Frank offered.

"Perhaps that wasn't the best route to take to get her to like you, Jamesy," Sirius quipped.

"Like? Her?" he sputtered. "I do not like her!" He grabbed his books and headed for the stairs to the boys dorm, muttering about how insufferable Lily Evans was under his breath.

Sirius look confused. "I was under the impression he fancied her."

"Oi vey, one girlfriend and you think you're the woman guru," Frank said, picking up his quill.

"I'm rather sure he doesn't fancy her," Remus commented.

"You bet me ten galleons they did," Sirius said.

"Eventually," Remus emphasized. "Besides, James kept going back to check on you know what, you know where last night, he's had no sleep. There are few people as testy as James when they get no sleep."

"You being one of the few," Sirius alleged.

"Agreed," Frank said heartily.

"Never said I wasn't," Remus agreed easily.

A second later the portrait swung back and a bespectacled red haired girl climb though. "Sorry I'm late," Melissa offered and dumped her bag on the table. "What'd I miss?"

~~*~~

"They found the cat."

Sirius and Remus looked up. They were sitting at a table in the library, researching the final bits of their respective Herbology projects. James had nearly knocked them off the bench when he came hurtling into the library at break neck speed. He dropped his satchel onto the floor beside him and whipped out a book and a bit of parchment, making it appear he'd been hard at work for hours on an essay or sorts.

"The cat?" Sirius asked with a puzzled expression of his face.

"Holy Merlin," Remus gasped, "I thought you hid the cat."

"It got loose," James hissed under his breath as the library door burst open.

A second later Filch was standing in front of them with Mrs. Norris in his arms. He stormed over to the Marauder's table.

"What have you done to my cat?' the man shriek in a never before seen level of fury. The three Marauders looked up innocently. Sirius's jaw dropped at the sight of Mrs. Norris. The cat, normally a small black demon with claws to be reckoned with, was completely and totally hairless. Remus and James put forth their most innocent faces.

"Us, sir?" Remus asked politely. "We've been here working for hours."

"How do you do that to a cat, anyway?" Sirius interjected, his head moving around, as though trying to study Mrs. Norris from multiple angles.

Filch turned to a girl wearing a Ravenclaw uniform, Sirius and Remus both recognized her as Trixie McGonagall, and sputtered, "Oi, girl. How long have these deviants been here?"

The Marauder's held their collective breaths. Trixie cocked her head to the side and then nodded, "They've been working on their Herbology projects for hours, sir. They were here before I was and I've been here for at least two hours, maybe closer to three."

Filch whirled back around and let out a shriek of fury that caused all the inhabitants of the library to jump, "I know it was you. It's always you!"

The Marauders kept the innocent looks pasted on their faces as Madame Pince made her way over and curtly informed Mr. Filch to get out of her library, with or without the students, but to do it that instant. He let out a final shriek of anger and stalked out, still cradling Mrs. Norris in his arms, shouting over his back, "Someday there won't be someone there to save you and on that day boys, I'll make it appear that next to you lot, the Bloody Baron's got a mere paper cut!"

The group sat in a stunned silence for a moment.

Then Remus and James burst into laughter, as it began to subside, Sirius shot them both questioning looks.

James shook his head slightly, "I can't believe we got away with that." Remus nodded in agreement.

"And what exactly," Sirius injected, "was that?"

"A bit of an experiment," Remus said. Sirius just continued to look at him. "Well, you both know I haven't been able to pull the rowdier tricks with you of late, with my hand still healing and all, so I started working on my own experiment. I've spent the last few weeks working on this powder. Then it turns into a gas, it causes... shall we say, a bit of hair loss? If you can recall the day you were both asking me where the bloody hell my eyebrows had gone... let's just imply that I stumbled upon this gaseous reaction accidentally. Anyway, I removed the powder from a few dung bombs and filled it with my powder instead."

"Well, that explains a positively brilliant new product for Zonko's, but it doesn't explain why Mrs. Norris will never need a hairdresser again," Sirius commented.

"No, not never, the hair grows back, as my eyebrows are proof of," Remus continued. "I put the new dungbombs into my book bag and earlier today James and I happened upon some Slytherins who were particularly nasty to us. He reached into my book bag and lit one of the dungbombs... to make a long story short, the Slytherins got out of the hallway before the bomb went off, but Mrs. Norris, I suppose she'd sniffed out the trouble brewing, came running right into it."

James chuckled, "You should've seen the expression on Remus's face when we saw that cat. Rather similar to yours a moment ago, Seer."

Sirius sat back and closed his eyes for a moment, "That is definitely on my top ten list of amazing pranks." He paused and shook his head with a look of respect on his face. "Mrs. Norris... oh my." They he looked back at them. "But that doesn't explain the found part. What in the name of Merlin did you do to the cat after that?"

"Oh," Remus finished his story. "Well we couldn't exactly leave her out there, could we? Filch would kill us. We popped open a secret passageway and crammed her in there, figured we'd let her out again when the hair grew back."

Sirius burst into laughter. "That's phenomenal. Did you really think you'd get away with it?"

"Didn't we just?" Remus quipped.

"Don't we always?" James added. The group went back to their work and less than half an hour later, Remus slammed a book shut.

"Finished!"

"How is that possible? You started later than the rest of us and you didn't even have a partner," Sirius protested.

"Because I'm just that good," Remus laughed. "Shall we go check the potion? I got a bit of hair off of Nott the other day in Potions. I seem to recall neither of you had managed to nick anything yet, and you were rather freaked out by the prospect Sirius. Fancy being Nott for a day?"

"Sounds good to me, Remus," Sirius replied. "Let's go." The group headed out of the library and towards the hidden passage they were using to brew the potion. It was the day before the Easter Holidays were to begin. Remus had improved immensely, despite three days spent in the infirmary over the past weekend that puzzled Sirius and James, as they'd thought he was getting better. Although Remus had to wrap his hand each day, it was completely out of the sling now and only hurt when direct pressure was applied to it. Peter, while still at St. Mungo's was making remarkable progress; however, no one had mentioned his magical abilities and Peter himself had only made a single remark, early on in his recovery, that he was too scared to pick up a wand and try just yet. Despite all this, Peter was expected to be released from St. Mungo's in the middle of the Easter Holidays and although his parents were taking him home for the break, if Peter's abilities were still intact, he would be returning to Hogwarts at the end of it.

The group slipped into the passage and whiled away a few hours chatting and stirring the brew.