Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize as belonging to the great and mighty JK Rowling, for she is the queen, and I am but a lowly peasant.

Marauding Gone Awry

"You're not still cross with me, are you?"

"He could have died, Sirius!"

"Nah, I wouldn't have let him die. Just wanted to give him a nice scare's all." Seventeen-year-old Sirius Black grinned wolfishly, to which his best mate did not respond. Sirius's smile faded away at James Potter's scowl.

"C'mon, Prongs, I wasn't trying to get him killed."

"Moony could have bit him!" James was still outraged. Twelve hours had passed and the strength of his anger had not yet subsided. He and Sirius had pulled some stupid pranks over the years, but this – this had crossed a line. Nothing they'd done had ever put someone's life in jeopardy before, not until last night.

"Would've served him right, wouldn't it?" Sirius barked, standing abruptly. He was getting tired of arguing, and was starting to feel cornered, which he did not respond well to. "Maybe if Snivellus wasn't such a greasy nosy git and left Moony well enough alone I wouldn't have sent him down there. He's been following us for months, Prongs, trying to find out what we're up to, hoping to get us expelled. About time someone taught him a lesson if you ask me."

"No one asked you!" James roared. "What's Moony going to say? He's going to be horrified, Sirius! Do you have any idea what it would do to him if he bit someone? If he killed someone?"

Sirius's expression slipped slightly. He hadn't thought of that.

"Prongs, I–"

"It would ruin him, Padfoot," James said, shaking his head. "He'd never forgive himself. You know that."

Sirius grimaced. "You're right. I didn't think of that, and I should have," he said sincerely. "But I'm not sorry for what happened with Snape. He should learn to keep his giant nose out of other people's business. Or learn to take a joke."

"It wasn't very funny, Sirius," came the murmured voice of Peter Pettigrew as he entered the dormitory with an exhausted-looking Remus Lupin. Peter had gone down to the hospital wing before either of his other two roommates had awoken that morning, to retrieve Remus and to avoid the angry tension in the room.

"What wasn't funny?" asked Remus, stumbling to his bed and collapsing in it. He groaned softly, his face pressed against his pillow. Sirius and James exchanged glances. They knew the full moon the night before had to have been a particularly rough one for Moony without the other three there.

After James had saved Snape's ungrateful arse from the werewolf in the Shrieking Shack, they'd all been hauled to Dumbledore's office by a particularly furious Madame Pomfrey, who'd heard them fighting from an open window in the infirmary. Being more vigilant than usual because of the full moon, she'd descended in a panic upon hearing voices outside, and after hearing Snape's accusation against Sirius, they'd spent half the night being lectured by Dumbledore and McGonagall and Slughorn and Madame Pomfrey each in turn.

One thing was for sure though – Severus Snape definitely knew Remus's secret now.

"What wasn't funny?" Remus repeated, raising his head at the utter silence in the room.

Sirius shifted uneasily, and Peter stared determinedly at his shoes. "Go to sleep, Moony," James said at last, shooting a look at Sirius. "We'll tell you later."

Remus mumbled something incoherent before rolling over and promptly falling asleep. Sirius reached over and picked up his wand, waving it slowly to close the hangings around Remus's bed.

"This isn't over," James warned, grabbing his wand and heading out the door. "But I'm hungry, so let's go."

X

The Marauders, minus Moony, filed into the Great Hall in silence. James was still seething, Peter was quietly disapproving, and Sirius was sulking at being ganged up on. Before they could even reach the Gryffindor table, however, they were intercepted by the last person any of them wanted to see at that moment.

"What do you want, Snivellus?" Sirius snarled, more than ready for a fight. Snape ignored him, directing his attention to James.

"Just so you know, Potter," he said coolly, "last night changes nothing."

James, who had expected at least a 'thank you' for his efforts, was taken aback. "I saved your life last night, Snape. You could at least be grateful," he snapped.

Snape scoffed. "I certainly didn't need your help. I would have gotten by just fine on my own. Your "heroism" was unnecessary and unsolicited."

James, already at a breaking point from arguing with Sirius and getting next to no sleep the night before, bristled angrily. "Fine," he snarled. "Next time I won't bother. Next time, I'll just let you die!" He shoved past Snape and stormed to the Gryffindor table, throwing himself into the open seat across from Lily Evans. Sirius and Peter followed, Sirius taking care to knock into Snape's shoulder roughly as he passed.

"What was that about?" Lily questioned, having noticed the exchange.

"Snape's a git," Sirius said cheerfully, digging into breakfast with enthusiasm. "Deserves everything he has coming to him, en't that right?" he added, nudging James with his elbow.

"Shove off," James muttered.

"James is sore because I'm right and he's wrong and he can't admit it," Sirius said to Lily, looking positively gleeful as he began spreading jam on a piece of toast.

"No, I'm sore because you're a would-be murderer and you don't even care. And because Snape's an ungrateful flobberworm who wouldn't know helpful if it danced naked in front of him singing Christmas carols. Should've just let him die," James mumbled into his porridge.

Lily couldn't be sure if they were talking about literal or figurative murder, nor exactly how Severus was involved, and judging by James's foul mood, Peter's carefully blank expression, and the lingering tightness in Sirius's jaw, it would be best not to push the matter any further. So she dutifully ignored them as she ate her breakfast.

She couldn't help but cast a glance toward the Slytherin table though, just once. Severus was sitting across from Avery and Mulciber, and as she watched, he looked up, sending a hateful look James's way. When he caught Lily's eye, he scowled and ducked his head, and Lily turned back around.

X

"You did WHAT?!" Remus thundered, mouth agape as he looked back and forth between Sirius and James.

Sirius looked at him sheepishly. "It was all in good fun, Moony. No one got hurt."

"Sirius, what were you thinking? He could have been KILLED! Or worse, I could have bitten him! Are you really that stupid?"

Sirius looked wounded by this. "Yeah, but he didn't, did he? You didn't. No one died. It's all fine."

"Yeah, because James had enough sense to realize what a completely idiotic idea it was! If James hadn't been there, what then? Did you ever think about that?"

"Moony, calm down. Yeah, it was stupid. I shouldn't have done it I guess. But no one got hurt so can't we just forget it?" Sirius asked, tired of being the target of his friends' anger.

"Yeah it was stupid. Stupid and reckless and thoughtless and downright mental–"

"OKAY! I get it! I'm an arse and an idiot. Lay off!" Sirius yelled. "Merlin, I've said I'm sorry, haven't I?"

"No, actually, you haven't," Remus said stiffly. Sirius paused, then deflated slightly and turned toward him. He took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Moony. I shouldn't have told Snape about the tunnel or the Shrieking Shack. It was a bad idea. Okay?" He stared at Remus straight-faced, sincere, waiting for an answer.

After a moment, Remus nodded. "Yeah, okay," he conceded. His shoulders dropped, and he forced a smile. "I bet Snape's face was pretty great when he saw me though," he managed, looking as though he still wasn't entirely convinced it was funny. Sirius and James grinned though, and Peter snickered, and the tension in the room evaporated.

And just like that, it was behind them.

Author's Note: So, I don't know if I even still have readers out there, but if you've read my Marauders story, Gambling On Her Heart, I'm kind of thinking of doing a reboot of it, editing and rewriting parts of it since I haven't updated it in forever and I've kind of dug myself into some plot holes I can't seem to work around. This little oneshot is what happened when I was brainstorming for that.

Anyway, let me know if you liked this!