How It All Happened

Sirius was in the Gryffindor common room, alone. It was the first night of his seventh year at Hogwarts. He had stuffed himself so full of food at the feast that he had hardly made it to the common room, he had to be yelled at several times by James and Lily who were taking the first years up to the tower, well yes, they had to yell at him to keep him from sitting down and not standing up any time soon. Well that was what he was doing now. Celestina had looked pretty at the feast... so had Misury, he just loved Misury's smile, it was so full of life. When Celestina smiled she looked like an angel, which was why she was the only student who wasn't in Slytherin who had Professor Nott completely wrapped around her little finger, all the teachers adored her. All the students adored her as well. She was a very adorable person. Sirius chuckled to himself.

”Padfoot? What are you doing down here? It's almost two AM!” James was shocked.

”Er, Prongs, don't be like Alfred Weasley... “

Alfred Weasley had been the Head Boy in their forth year, and what a pain in the arse he had been! He always had to follow every single rule, and he was always boasting about his brother being in the Ministry or something...

”I am NOT like Alfred, and he wasn't so bad...”

”Come off it Prongs, you are just like him!”

”Padfoot, firstly I have black hair, not red hair, secondly, I have round glasses he had square...” James broke off because he realized he wasn't being listened to, Sirius was laughing into a pillow shaking all over.

James grabbed a pillow near by and swung it into Sirius who was to busy laughing to notice. But you'd have to be really daft not to notice the impact the pillow made with his head.

”Prongs!” came a muffled yell. That wasn't fair; his best friend had no right to hit him with a pillow when he was in a helpless laughing fit. When he finally managed to get the pillows off him, he glared angrily at James who was now the one laughing helplessly.

”Lets play a prank! He decided out loud.

James stopped laughing immediately.

”But, I'm Head Boy... oh who cares, I just have to let Lily know”

Ever since James and Lily fought James had told her absolutely everything, he always told her when they were about to do a prank and when they were going to keep Remus company. Lily had been a very good sport about Remus and didn't seem to have changed her opinion of him. Sirius had the feeling she had given Remus one of the best gifts available, without knowing it herself.

”I'll wake the guys”

”Get the cloak and the map as well, will ya?”

”Sure, don't smooch her for too long”

”Padfoot!”

”Well you do smooch an awful lot ya know...”

”Aw shaddup, Padfoot”

Sirius entered the seventh year boy dormitory and went straight for James' trunk; he rummaged through it for about two seconds before finding what he was looking for. Then he walked towards Peter's bed and drew the curtains open.

”Wake up Wormtail, there's something going on”

Peter stirred, but eventually he just rolled over to the other side and put his chubby thumb into his mouth. Sirius rolled his eyes and went to Remus' bed.

”Moony, a prank is brewing”

Remus sat up and stared at Sirius for a second before blinking and saying, ”be right there”

Sirius grinned, he was used to Remus waking up like that, but the first time he had been given quite a scare. He walked back over to Peter's four poster, stood over him and sighed, Peter looked just like a baby in a crib when he was sleeping, he used to have a teddy, but he got really embarrassed in third year when Sirius found it and waved it around in front of all the girls while singing Peter's got a teddy, Peter' s got a teddy' He smiled at the memory.

”Are you gonna stand there all night or are you gonna wake him up?” Remus asked impatiently

He snapped out of his reverie and in one swift motion he pulled the covers off Peter, Peter squeaked and jumped out onto the floor.

”I'm up!” He yelped, seemingly very startled.

”It's prank night!”

”Duh.” Peter muttered darkly.

”Come on Wormtail, cheer up!”

Peter put on a very huge very fake grin, and they laughed quietly.

”Did you wake everyone up?” James said, after knocking on the door lightly.

”Yup, let's go guys.” they headed for the door.

When they were at the door, Peter and he transformed and James and Remus used the cloak, that way, no one would take any notice of them, well once, Filch had spotted him and he had to run really fast, which wasn't hard in his canine form, he had lost Filch in the end but he really didn't want to repeat the experience. He liked being in his dog form, everything was much simpler when he was a dog, and it was like actually being a dog. He couldn't explain it very well, probably because he didn't understand it very well. He recognized James as his master, but couldn't see him; he just followed his scent in blind trust. He also smelled other friends. But what was that smell? A cat! Cats were evil; he had to destroy that cat. Now where was it He stopped and sniffed the air. There! There it is, in that room.

”Padfoot” someone whispered, it was his Master. But Master didn't understand. The cat! He barked. Master was angry and he could feel it.

”Shut up, do you want to get us caught?” Master said angrily. But the cat... He whimpered. How unfair! He could smell the evil cat! Master should be thanking him. A friend was talking to Master now.

”Maybe Padfoot smelled something, maybe he's trying to warn us.” Friend said to Master.

Friend was right! He could smell the evil cat. The cat was close now. He had to chase it away! The large black dog ran out of sight.

”Oh no!” James said, “Where is he off to now?”

Remus shrugged and Peter, well Peter just looked like a rat.

”I don't like this one bit. We should follow Padfoot and see what he's so upset about” Remus thought out loud.

James nodded once. They started walking in the direction Sirius had gone.

Soon they could hear a dog barking and a cat hissing.

”Just a cat?” James questioned

”Well, Padfoot does change into a dog...” Remus said with a small grin.

When they could finally see the scene in front of them, they burst out laughing. Sirius had apparently chased Mrs. Norris up a wooden cabinet. There were claw marks all over the piece of wood and Sirius sat at the base, barking like mad. James yelled at Sirius to stop, and he did, although he did so reluctantly.

”Bad dog” James scolded at the impossibly cute face Sirius was making.

”Talk about the puppy dog eyes” Remus said and laughed.

”It's not funny, that awful cat's gonna get Filch as soon as she gets down and we're gonna be doomed!” James looked ready to run back to the common room and hide under a chair.

”James, don't be such a baby.” Remus said jokingly. “You say when the cat gets down I say, if the cat gets down.”

James' face lit up. “ If is good”

”Yeah, I'll just put a Containment Spell on the cabinet, she won’t be able to get down unless someone reverses the spell.” Remus said looking pretty smug.

”We'd be lost without you, mate.” James stated and patted Remus on the back.

Remus took out his wand and performed the Containment Spell.

”There. Now what?”

”We go to the kitchens”

Both Sirius and Peter looked happier about that, especially Peter. After all, he was a rat and would want to get away from an angry cat.

As Remus and James walked ahead of the two animals covered by the Invisibility Cloak. Remus wondered what he'd have done with his life if he hadn't gone to Hogwarts and hadn't met his friends. The answer was an answer he knew. He shivered. It might be because of the fact that he knew he wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for his friends and Hogwarts, or it might be because they just entered the dungeons.

”This isn't the way to the kitchen,” Remus said feeling a bit confused.

”We have to go to the Slytherin common room first.”

”For what?”

”You'll see”

They walked further in absolute silence. It was the silence in the Hogwarts dungeons that unnerved Remus the most. There was no drip, drip of water in a distance, there were no sounds of chains or ice-cold wind. There was just silence. Complete silence. He knew he'd never be able to be a Slytherin. He couldn't stand long hours of silence. It was just too unnerving. James' voice snapped him out of his reverie.

”What's the password?”

”Huh?” He hadn't noticed they were there already.

”You have the map, check what the password is.”

”Oh, right” he checked the map; he saw a tine speech bubble appear next to

the dot that was he on the map. The word inside the bubble was simple.”Power” he said. The wall slid open.

The two invisible boys and the two animals made there way into the not so empty common room. There was a very pretty girl sleeping in a chair near the fireplace. Someone had covered her with a blanket and the fire was casting an eerie glow on her relaxed features. She had very dark red hair and very pale skin. Her dark eyelashes contrasted against her pale skin. He didn't know her. But he felt something stir inside him. Was he supposed to know her? Remus shook his head and looked at James. James pointed at the map, and then at himself. Getting the hint, Remus handed James the Marauders Map with a small smile.

A few minutes later all the seventh year Slytherin boys had black thin moustaches. (A/N villain moustaches)

Sirius had changed into his human form and was carrying Peter on his shoulder, Sirius was the one who had invented the Moustaches Spell as he had nicknamed it, and he was the one who performed the spell. To Remus' annoyance Sirius wouldn't teach anyone this spell. Never mind how much they whined, he just wouldn't give in! Silly Sirius...

They were walking towards the kitchens now. James and Remus under the Invisibility Cloak and Sirius walking for anyone to see with a rat on his shoulder. Sirius didn't want to risk another cat chasing episode, in reality he needed to get a better hold of his dog self, the problem was, he always gave away to the dog senses after a few minutes... probably just needed more practice... But then, the animal instincts were good when he needed to fend werewolves off. He sniggered to himself and got an angry 'shhh' from James. When they were safely inside the kitchens, he put Peter down and he changed into a human again.

”Listen, this is what we do.” James said and fished something out of his robe pocket. “When Padfoot was waking you up, I told Lily where we were going and got this from her.” He held a tiny phial up.

”What is it?” Peter said, voicing the question both he and Remus had thought.

”It's a potion you dummies!” James grinned.

”We know that, but what does it do?” Sirius asked in a slightly irritated tone.

”Well, it makes you want to kiss the person sitting next to you” James said, grinning insanely.

”And we're putting it where?”

”Over there, look at the tanks, there's a green one, a red one a yellow one and a blue one, there are notes that say, 'Pumpkin Juice' you figure it out”

”Prongs let me do it!!! I'll put the potion in the green tank”

”Okay Wormtail, you can do it, but remember, you have to put it in the green tank”

”I know!”

”Moony, go get the Slytherin goblets and put a Glue Spell on them. They are in that cupboard over there”

”Padfoot, come with me to the dungeons again”

”Moony, wait a sec. When you and Wormtail finish, take the Invisibility Cloak and go to the common room, we'll meet you there”

Sirius followed James out of the kitchens again. He wondered what James was up to now, but he only wondered for a moment because James turned around and told him exactly what they were about to do.

”This spell is technically not allowed, if the Muggles see this spell everything will go ballistic! I found it in the Book Room. It's a spell that imitates miracles, and I think setting the only way from the Slytherin common room on fake fire is a pretty good idea. But it's difficult to do, we need to bless our wands with a silver cross, so Moony can't be here and, well, Peter isn't really the best person to do difficult spells... Anyway, do you understand?”

”Are we gonna do something like the burning bush?”

”Yeah”

”I really hope God likes us”

”I really hope God has a sense of humour”

”That too”

They stopped a few meters from the Slytherin common room entrance. There was only one main way from the Slytherin common room to the Great Hall and they were gonna set it on fake fire. This wasn't a good idea. This was a brilliant idea! He watched James carefully as he blessed his wand with a silver crucifix and then he copied what James had done.

”One, two, three!” They yelled the spell and a huge fire blazed up in front of them. It was hot. He put his hand inside the fire and felt like it was burning. He pulled it out with a yelp. He looked at it, expecting to see nasty burns he was surprised to see his hand just the way it had been a minute ago.

”Come on, let’s get out of here before Filch or Peeves or someone shows up”

So the two boys hurried away from the huge fake fire, looking forward to the morning. Everything was perfect.

”I know there's a tunnel around here somewhere, give me the map”

”But, Prongs... you have the map”

”No, you have it”

”Well, I don't have it now, maybe Padfoot and Wormtail have it”

”I hope so”

The two friends walked to the common room in absolute silence, both thinking the same thought. What if Remus and Peter didn't really have the map? Where was it? What if they got caught? They stood in front of the portrait hole, neither one daring to utter the password until they both said it simultaneously.

”Lemon frogs” Sirius grinned, James just smiled a little, but you could’ve easily spotted how nervous he was. His eyes spilled all he was thinking.

”What did you do?” Peter asked as he and Remus helped them through the hole in the wall.

”Fake Fire Spell.” James answered simply.

”Cool! I bet those slimy Slytherins will never see that one coming!” Peter said, sounding a little pathetic, but that was Peter for you...

”Wormtail, Moony... you wouldn't happen to know where the map is, would you?”

”The Marauders Map?”

”Yes”

”Don't you have it?”

James and Sirius shook their heads no. Sirius felt a cold hand clam it's fingers around his heart. His stomach did a funny flip-flop. They didn't have the map. The map was lost. (A/N: I can't write the next few things that came to Sirius' mind because I'd have to change the rating drastically) This was definitely not good. Had they wiped the map before they lost it? He hoped so.

”Well, we better go to bed, no point sitting down here and sulking” James was being the voice of reason in this tragedy.

The four boys went to their dormitory in rather low spirits.

The looks on the Slytherins faces as they entered the Great Hall accompanied by a very angry looking Professor Nott and a very amused looking Professor Dumbledore, were worth losing the map. In fact the angry, scared and horrified looks were worth a thousand Marauder Maps! And there was more to come! Sirius chuckled to himself, imagining the look on Snape's face when Goyle kissed him... Everyone was looking at him. He hadn't noticed the complete silence around him. Everyone had heard him laugh. Oops...

”Now, if I could please have everyone's attention, I would like to ask who is responsible for the little fire blocking the way to this very Hall from the Slytherin common room.” He paused for a moment and his eyes fell on the four sleepy looking Gryffindor boys. “I have a few suspects, but I'm giving you this chance to come forward freely. Thank you” Dumbledore sat down and the Great Hall exploded with whispers.

”It was the Marauders for sure”

”A fire? Was anyone hurt?”

”How can you light a fire in a stone castle?”

”Don't be stupid, it was a magical fire”

”Look! The Slytherins seem to be having trouble with their goblets!”

Sirius sniggered as almost every Slytherin was waving their hands around, frantically trying to get rid of the goblets that were sticking to their hands. He took a sip out of his own goblet and felt compelled to kiss Celestina, who was sitting beside him. She seemed to be having a similar thought as she was leaning towards him and closing her eyes. Their lips met and suddenly he could remember a pretty girl with dark hair and beautiful brown eyes. She was kissing Peter! That's gross!

”That's gross!” He said, voicing his thoughts.

”Nice to hear you like me” Celestina said, sounding more than a little miffed.

”Not you, them” He gestured at Peter and Misury, who were by now spitting and wiping their mouths.

He looked around for Remus and saw his friend engrossed in a massive snog with a girl Sirius had never seen before. Wait, he had seen that girl before... but what was she doing at the Gryffindor table? And why did the kissing potion end up at this table? It was supposed to be at the Slytherin table! Peter.

”Peter!!!” Sirius yelled. The blond boy looked simply aghast and was squeaking something no human could ever hope to understand.

”You messed up!”

”Sorry”

”It's okay, I got to kiss Celestina, and Remus and James don't seem to mind.”

Peter who had hidden under the table looked up from under the tablecloth. Sirius would have laughed at his expression, but Misury, who had heard his earlier comment about Celestina, was punching him in the arm.

”I'm your girlfriend!” She hissed.

”I know!”

”Then why are you so happy about kissing other girls?”

”It's Celestina.”

”You talk about her as if she were some sort of goddess”

”You're my goddess, it was just a potion, it was supposed to go into the Slytherins Pumpkin Juice, but someone, namely Wormtail, messed up”

”Oh”

Sirius sighed in relief; he was off the hook... for now.

”Having girl trouble Padfoot?” James came over, his arm around a happy looking Lily. Good thing they always sat next to each other, or else Lily wouldn't be looking so happy right now...

”Just be glad you're not having any trouble Prongs”

”I'm always happy”

”Right”

”I am!”

”Whatever.”

They laughed and headed for the first class of the day.

”Not so fast, you six” Professor McGonagall had never looked so angry.

”Good morning Professor” The six friends chorused

”Evans, Warbeck, out of my sight. You four. Get into this classroom” They did as they were told and soon the four boys were smiling their very best angelic smiles at a very furious Transfiguration Professor.

”Explain yourselves”

”Explain what professor?”

”The fire, the Gluing Charm, the kissing”

”You think that was us?” Sirius said trying his best looking innocent and insulted.

”I know it was you”

”Where's your proof?”

”Shut up Padfoot” James hissed. He probably just wanted to get this detention, and perhaps lecture over with.

”I don't know why she insists on blaming us right away, without any proof”

”Padfoot, it was we, unless I found your evil twin sitting like a stuffed turkey in the common room last night”

”That's it! My evil cousin... Serious, that's his name! He’s evil... I keep getting blamed for what he does... honest!”

”James Potter. I'm very disappointed in you. You are Head Boy. You are meant to be a good example.”

James looked at the ground. He actually looked - to the untrained eye remorseful. “It won’t happen again” He said meekly.

The glare in McGonagall's eyes softened. “Well, I suppose, twenty points from Gryffindor and a warning. Anything like this happens again, and it's a hundred points and detentions for you. Weather you're responsible or not”

”Thank you”

”Now, get to class... oh I suppose you don't have your schedule yet, this >whole fuzz at the Gryffindor table. Those Slytherins really have gone too far this time...

The boys grinned at each other, not only had they played a huge prank on their advisories, but also they were getting blamed for something the Marauders had done! If only they hadn't lost the map...

It would have been the perfect prank.