The Marauders: Year 2

"Fancy running into you here, Melissa, Tessa," James Potter said to the two girls as their paths crossed in the hallway.

"James," Tessa acknowledge with a curt nod of her head.

"Sirius," Melissa following in suit.

Sirius glances at the two girls, both holding large jars of honey and then down to his own hands, carrying a big bowl of oatmeal, as was James. "Er... no questions?"

"Perfect," Tessa agreed happily. "See you lot in Potions." The girls headed off towards the Common Room and James and Sirius continued on their course to the library.

"You brought me breakfast?" a happily startled Peter exclaimed.

"Not quite, sorry Pete. Did you find anything?" James said as he slid in next to his friend and pulled several balloons out of his satchel.

Peter sighed, "Nothing of use. I was ever so excited to learn that teenage werewolves have the highest suicide rate in existence. More than eighty five percent never make it to twenty."

"Bloody hell," Sirius breathed.

"You can say that again. Was Remus still asleep when you went down to breakfast, Sirius?"

Sirius reached for a balloon and stretched the opening wide, "Yeah, we'll find something soon though. There must be something we can do. We've been looking for nearly a month." He smiled widely as James began to pour the oatmeal into the balloon. When they finished he tied the top and squeezed it a bit for good measure. "Mushy," he nodded in approval.

Peter looked to his friends and then down to the balloons. "Do I even want to know?"

"You will Peter. Is that all you found?" James paused mid-pour to poke at a rather large lump.

"Of real use? No. I mean, I learned a lot about werewolves. You were right James, as long as we all just keep our heads and use a bit of precaution, we'll be fine, but that was all. Lots of descriptions of them, but no ways to help them..."

Peter went back to the book in front of him and the other two boys worked on their current balloon project. Fifteen minutes later, Peter put the book back down.

"Alright, I give. What are you doing?"

James glanced down at his watch and gasped. He carefully began piling the oatmeal filled balloons into his satchel. "We're going to miss our chance, Seer. Come on." He stood up and then gestured to Peter to follow them.

The three boys walked briskly until they reached a small balcony on the second floor that opened out into the Entrance Hall. This particular balcony was situated right above the stairs that marked the descent into the dungeons. James took out the oatmeal balloons and divided them among the three boys. "I think you know what lot we're aiming for."

The Marauder's leaned over the ledge and watched as the students began trickling out of the Great Hall and throughout the castle. The bell to signal the start of classes was due to ring in about ten minutes.

"Ah, ha. Target spied, mates. The greasy haired git is over there and that Umbridge hag is following with two of her lot nearby him. Balloons at the ready, men," Sirius cackled maniacally and leaned over a bit farther.

"Now," he hissed dropping two balloons at once, both hitting their target square on top of the head.

A startled surprise came from below as a very angry Second Year Slytherin looked up at them, porridge dripping off his hooked nose. Nearby, Umbridge, Port and Bellatrix Black burst into laughter. They were quickly silenced as James, Peter and Sirius proceeded to bombard them and Snape with the remaining balloons.

"Filch," Peter gasped.

"Time to go," Sirius said, grabbing Peter and pulling him towards the prearranged escape route. A moment later, the three found themselves crammed in what appeared to be a very small room.

"Where are we?" Peter asked as he gasped for breath.

"Pull on the rope, we need to move fast," James said, guiding Peter's hand to a rope running through the middle of the room. "It's a small elevator type of thing. We're going to lower ourselves into the dungeons. This lets out into a passageway that'll put us at the other side of the Potions classroom. We'll get off free and clear, but we have to move fast."

Working together, the boys quickly managed to lower themselves down. Upon entering the narrow passageway, they broke into a run and came out behind a portrait of Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff picking flowers (Helga was having a grand time, but Salazar looked rather annoyed to be spending an eternity engaged in such a stupid activity).

They quickly made their way to the classroom, which was already half full of students and sat in their seats. By the time Remus entered the classroom, the three were laughing hysterically as they listened to Frank and Rebecca tell the class why Snape, Umbridge, Port and Black were going to be late.

~~*~~

"I hate group projects," Peter grumbled as he bustled into the Second Year boys dormitory and flopped on his bed.

"It could be worse."

"Easy for you to say, Seer. You're partnering with James! I have Lily. Lily! She's going to kill me when she realized how slow I am."

"You're not slow, just special..." Remus said, grinning wickedly. He held out a large wooden spoon full of a bubbling potion from the cauldron sitting in the middle of the floor. "Taste this and tell us if you go blind."

Sirius, nearly bouncing on the floor with energy, looked up at Peter, as though he honestly expected him to walk over and taste the potion.

"Argh," Peter groaned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Guess he's not up to it today. Well, bottoms up then, mate?" Peter heard Sirius's chipper voice float out of the room.

"Bottoms up... you know though, if this works, I'm not sure if that makes it a real success... it better wear off eventually."

Peter relaxed a bit and chuckled, I'd better go check on them in a bit and make sure they're alright. Lunatics, both of them.

Down in the Common Room, most of the Gryffindors were studying like mad, trying to finish up all their work in time for the Christmas holiday coming up.

"I'm molting, I'm molting!"

Peter looked over to the sound of the voice and recognized Alice, asleep with her head in a book, talking to herself. She had a look of absolute terror on her face as Rebecca nudged her, trying to wake her up.

Alice shot upright and shook herself a bit, examining her arms. "A canary. Becca, I just had a dream that Lily turned me into a canary for saying maybe we should take a study break to go eat breakfast." Her voice was slightly hysterical.

"Go to bed, Alice. I'll keep her out of the dorm for a few hours," Becca said, yawning herself. "I think she's still torturing Peter in the library right now."

Peter snorted, thinking of what perfect wording that was for the last three hours he'd spent with Lily Evans. "No, she's done with me for the evening. Blew up three library books at one point because she was so frustrated at me. Madame Pince tossed us both out... if you're planning an escape, I'd go now."

His eyes widened as he watched Alice bolt up the steps to her dormitory, in two years, he'd never seen her move that fast. A moment later, he heard the portrait hole squeak open and saw the unmistakable whoosh of red hair belonging to the tyrant known as Lily. "Later, Becca."

With one final glance and feeble wave, he saw Becca slide noticeably down in her chair and try to hide behind her book. Peter set himself down in an armchair and was surprised when, a moment later, Tessa and Melissa slid into the two seats across from him.

"Hide us and we'll owe you anything, Peter," Tessa muttered quietly.

"Anything," Melissa reiterated, a look of pure fear on her face.

"Forget Voldemort, that man is nothing compared to Lily Evans," Tessa concluded and both girls shivered at the thought of Lilt around test time.

Peter chuckled quietly. "You can stay here, but if you attract her to this corner, I'm making a run for it. None of you are her Defense Against the Dark Arts project partner."

"Oi, Frank told me he saw the two of you getting kicked out of the library!" Tessa said, leaning forward. "What did you do?"

"Me? I don't think so. She blew up two books. Bloody loony she is." He shook his head as he recalled the deranged look on her face when he made the mistake of saying there were two Unforgivables, forgetting one for a moment.

"Oof! Gerroff me," Peter exclaimed, pushing what felt like a large sack of potatoes off of his lap.

"Sorry, mate. Didn't see you there. Oh Merlin, am I hyped up on sugar right now," James gave Peter a crazed grin.

"Why are you clutching a teddy bear, James?" Cortessa asked, a look of amusement playing on her fair features.

"No, no. We don't want to know. A Marauder on a sugar high? Lily is safer. Come on, Tessa." Melissa stood up and started off slowly towards Lily with Tessa trailing after her.

"She does make a fair point, James," Peter said. "Why are you holding a teddy bear?"

"I have plans for this baby," James grinned and cackled. "Where are the others?"

"Going blind up in the dormitory."

"Of course. Let's go help."

~~*~~

"Remus," Peter leaned forward as he hissed at his unconscious friend. "Remus."

It was a typically dull day in History of Magic. The class was finish up the last test of the term and snow was falling lightly outside the window. The full moon had been two nights ago and Remus still hadn't fully recovered, which Peter realized when he saw his friend slowly slump over his test paper. "Reeeeeeemus."

Peter picked up his wand and prodded Remus hard in the ribs. Remus snorted, his shoulder shook and then he settled back down. Peter let out an exasperated sigh and glanced up to make sure Professor Binns hadn't noticed anything. Then Peter realized who he was worried about noticing and had to bite back a chuckle. Peter went to give Remus another prod in the back when, at the same time, his wand opted to emit the blasted sparks that he hadn't yet managed to entirely curtail.

Well that's certainly going to wake him up!

"Remus," he yelled loudly, interrupting the whole class. "You're on fire!"

A disheveled and confused Remus Lupin leapt to his feet as he heard four different classmates yell out 'Aquato' at the same time, completely drenching him from head to toe as they put out the small fire. Throughout the entire episode Professor Binns didn't look up once.

Remus shook his head, sprinkling droplets of water all over Peter.

"Ugh, just finish your test, Remmy," Peter muttered, returning to his parchment.

"Right. Thanks. No fires next time though, alright Pete?"

Peter grunted an agreement, already engrossed in an essay on Fwooper Breeding Legislation.

Two hours later, the four boys stumbled back into Gryffindor Tower.

"Need nap," Remus managed to mumbled before staggering off in the direction of the tower. "Presents... after... dinner."

"I can't make it up the steps," Sirius moaned, collapsing onto the nearby couch. By the time James glanced his way again, the boy was snoring.

Peter and James remained now, swaying slightly as the stood. "Why are you so tired?" Peter grumbled. After spending the entire night studying for the tests he'd endured in the previous hours, he temper was rather short.

James broke into a groggy but triumphant grin and sunk into a nearby armchair. "You'll see later. Night, Pete." His head dropped back and shortly he was snoring too.

Peter glanced at the steps, but suddenly there just seemed to be too many. He curled up in another armchair across from James, facing the fire, and was asleep before he even registered the heat radiating out to him.

~~*~~

A few hours later, Remus felt himself jostled awake by Sirius jumping on his bed.

"Presents, presents," the hyper boy chanted in a sing song voice.

Remus groaned. "Ten more minutes." He felt the pillow being pulled from behind his bed and barely had time to register what was occurring before Sirius smacked him with it.

"No. Presents. Now."

He felt Sirius move over and the bed bend under the weight of James and Peter as they flopped onto the bed.

"Come on, Remmy. We're leaving in the morning, get up would you?" Peter whined.

"My turn to go first this year," Sirius crowed as Remus finally relented and sat up.

The other three boys chuckled, but happily dumped their gifts in front of him. He picked up the thin parcel from Peter first and tore at the wrapping.

"Be careful, you could rip it," Peter said quickly.

"Sweet Merlin, Pete, this is fantastic," Sirius said as he reverently picked up his new present. In his hand was a Muggle magazine featuring different Muggle sports cars. Over the summer, Peter had made a brief mention of them in one of his letters to Sirius and the boy had seemed very interested. He grinned widely at his friend. "Thanks, mate."

Peter shrugged and grinned back at him. "Happy Christmas, Seer."

Sirius picked up his next package and glanced briefly at Remus as he began to tear into it. "A book? Have you lost it, Remmy?"

"Will you look at the title at least, before you bite my head off?" Remus replied attempting to sound annoyed but failing as a small grin played across his face.

"1000 Absolutely Horrible and Tactless Jokes," Sirius burst into laughter. "Bloody brilliant, mate, thanks."

"Anytime, Seer. Happy Christmas," Remus smiled at his friend.

Sirius tore into the wrapping paper on his last gift, as he got through the final layer. Sirius beamed at the box of Every Flavor Beans, but his smile faltered entirely at the second half of the gift. "You realize Remus got away with this because it was a joke book. Have you gone nutters, mate? Advanced Transfiguration Processes?"

James chuckled, "Flip to the page I marked."

Sirius flipped to the page James had placed a marker at and looked back at his friend. "You have lost it. We can't do this."

Remus scooted to look over Sirius's shoulder. "That's illegal, James," he glanced over at his friend.

Peter joined the other two, "Not to mention very, very difficult. What sort of prank are you planning to use that on?"

Eyes gleaming with excitement, James looked at his three friends and tossed the other two their gifts, indicating that they open them.

"Uh, thanks James," Peter said, already setting the book aside and opening the box of Cockroach Clusters. James shuddered, never entirely understanding how Peter could be so fond of the disgusting sweet.

"Well this could be interesting," Remus conceded and then proceeded to concentrate on the bag of Chocolate Frogs. "Thanks for the frogs, of course."

"I swear, there's a point to those books," James said. "I'm not nutters, not yet anyway."

"Well?" Peter prompted nervously.

"We're going to become animagi," James said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

"You do realize that Remmy was right, it is illegal," Sirius asked.

"Since when do you care about what's legal and what's not, Seer?" James retorted.

"And it's so advanced," Peter said sadly. "I'll never get it."

"Sirius and I will help you, we'll figure it out Pete, don't worry," James told him.

Remus glanced at the page somewhat bitterly, "Not to mention that I can't do it. It's an interesting theory and all to learn, but my body is already housing another creature."

"Ah, well... you weren't going to be doing it anyway, Remus. The point is for Sirius, Pete and me to do it. Then we can keep you company," James smiled broadly back at the three confused faces.

"Keep me company? What do you call right now?" Remus asked, looking rather confused.

"Oh, no," James said, realizing that they were all missing the point. "A werewolf's bite can't pass lycanthropy to other animals. Therefore, if we're all animals, you can't hurt us. You only want to eat humans then, so... if we're not human, we can all stay together. Even during a full moon."

Sirius burst into a wide grin, "Brilliant, mate. You know, I'm sure it's not all that complicated. A little practice, we'll be running wild with you by the end of the year, I'd bet."

"I don't run wild," Remus replied, his head spinning a bit. "You don't have to do this."

"No, but we want to," James said. "We've been looking for something and... well, I think this is it."

Remus shook his head. "It's illegal."

"No, it's not illegal until we succeed, technically," Sirius pointed out.

"Which I probably never will, so nothing to worry about there," Peter mumbled.

"Yeah you will. I told you, we'll help you," James said again.

"You are nutters. This is dangerous!" Remus said, looking at the two of them as though they were insane.

"Fun," Sirius replied, a mad look dancing in his eyes.

"But anyway, that's what the books are all about," James said. "Happy Christmas, mates. Me next." He grabbed a gift and shook it.

"Oi, you'll kill it," Remus said with a horrified look on his face.

James quickly put the box back down. "Kill it?" He peered at the box carefully, prodding it cautiously with his finger now.

Remus laughed, "Just kidding."

Peter and Sirius burst into laughter as James snickered. "Very funny, hardy-har-har." He then tore into the wrapping and opened the box. "Oh man, thanks Remus. This is great." He pulled out a large jar of broomstick polish and a special polishing rag.

Remus smiled back, "Happy Christmas."

Reaching for the next package, James took special care to look over to Sirius, "Not alive, is it?"

Sirius made an innocent face and shrugged.

Narrowing his eyes, James pulled off the wrapping paper. "Dungbombs and Stink Pellets! Awesome, Seer. Thanks."

"Can you imagine the fun we can have with those with Snape?" A dreamy look crossed his face.

James laughed and grabbed for his last present. He ripped the paper off and unrolled it. A poster of Amadeus Pritchard, considered the best Chaser in the all the Quidditch leagues, was looking back at him.

"Cool, Pete, thanks," James said, jumping off the bed to pin the poster to the wall next to his own bed.

"Happy Christmas," Peter said with a happy grin. "Can I open mine?"

"Yeah, sure Pete," Remus said, pointing to a specific package. "Open mine first?"

Peter obliged and wrestled the wrapping paper off of the small box. He opened it and pulled out the little sphere. "Uh... thanks Remus. What is it?"

"A rememberall!" James exclaimed. "Brilliant, Remmy, just what Pete needs. It tells you when you forget things, it'll well, look, its glowing red. You've forgotten something."

Peter groaned, "But I've forgotten what I've forgotten." The other three boys chuckled. Peter tore through his last gift, a large bag of pranks and candy from Sirius.

"Thanks mates," he beamed, helping himself to some cockroach clusters. He gestured towards the small pile in front of Remus. "Well, come on Remus, open them!"

Remus carefully unwrapped the gift from Peter and smiled down at it. Peter had made a copy of the same picture that he had given the other three the year before and put it in a wooden frame.

"I noticed you were the only one who didn't have a copy of the picture," Peter said shyly.

"This is... great," Remus said. He'd often wanted to kick himself over the summer for not taking the time to make a fourth copy before he returned the original to Frank. He carefully put it down on the small table next to his bed and then reached for Sirius's gift, unwrapping it to reveal a plethora of destructive goodies.

"Thanks, Seer. Happy Christmas," he grinned as he rooted through the bag.

"Happy Holiday to you too, mate. Now let's go get some dinner," Sirius jumped off Remus's bed and dumped his new treasures onto his own. "Last one to the Great Hall has to kiss Snape."

"Yecch," James hissed and shot out of the room after Sirius.

Remus chuckled.

"I'm not kissing Snape," Peter groaned as he headed out the door.