Disclamer: (Oh no I don't know how to do this) We do not own Harry Potter. (I thought that went rather well)

Chapter 1

Her fiery red hair was gleaming in the sunlight against the blue sky. He looked at her emerald green eyes and reached out his hand to caress her beautiful skin. She took away his breath as she smiled at him, and he thought he was the luckiest bloke in the universe. As she was running her fingers through his black messy hair and leaning closer to him he could feel her tickling breath on his face. Their lips were mere inches apart-

SPLASH!

At the sudden impact with the cold water, he opened his eyes to reveal a surprisingly smiling Sirius, holding a bucket that had recently been full of water.

"SIRIUS, WHAT-"

"Prongsie, they're coming, they're coming," Sirius was yelling.

James blinked his eyes and tried to figure out why Sirius was currently jumping around James' bedroom wearing only his underpants. "Wha... who? What do you mean? Why am I wet? Why are you jumping around my bedroom wearing my briefs," he said, looking at the horror in front of him.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Our guests you idiot," he said. "Oh and I liked the Snitches on them. You know the way they twirl. But anyway, they're coming, they're coming."

James reached for his glasses and finally realized that Sirius was talking about Remus and Peter who were coming for the weekend to stay. His parents were currently on vacation in the Bahamas, leaving the empty house to James and the recently moved in Sirius. It was mid-July and this was the last time they could all act like a bunch of idiots without a care in the world. Next year would be their seventh and final year at Hogwarts and after that… life. No more stupid pranks and no more goofing around. So they were all determined in enjoying their last year of childhood as much as they possibly could.

"Hulllllo. James? Sirius? You guys home?" Remus' voice rang from the foyer.

Sirius stopped bouncing. "Moony, you came," he yelled and ran downstairs.

A shriek was heard coming from Remus and James assumed he had seen Sirius' half-naked body.

"Sirius, for Merlin's sake, put some clothes on"

"What, no hug?"

"Padfoot, I am not going to give you a hug with only Snitch patterned pants to cover your manhood."

"Why not, Moony? They're not mine."

"That really isn't helping the situation."

At that moment, James came downstairs, mercifully having the sense of putting some clothes on before he graced them with his presence.

"James, get that madman away from me," Remus yelled while running away from Sirius' embrace.

James ignored this and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Wh-hes Wo-homy," he yawned whilst ruffling his abnormally messy hair.

Sirius gave up on trying to hug Remus as he had somehow managed to jump on to the chandelier and was now swinging in the air away from Sirius' reach. "Wesawot?" Sirius asked, his face resembling a question mark.

"Where's Wormy?" James repeated after finishing his yawn.

In that precise moment a loud "Hey guys" was heard from outside and said boy walked through the door.

"There you are Wormtail. How'd you get here? I thought you failed your apparition test?" Sirius asked still looking like a question mark.

Peter's face reddened in embarrassment. "My mum took me by side-along apparition." He muttered to his shoes.

"Oh," they all said simultaneously.

"Well, now that we're all here," Sirius began but then a singing voice was heard coming from the living room Floo calling "Sirius"

"Huh, I wasn't expecting any girls today," Sirius said STILL looking like a question mark. "I'll just go see who it is."

"Shouldn't he put some clothes on before greeting any more guests?" James asked after Sirius had left the room. They all looked at each other for a moment but then James shrugged and said: "Anyway, want some brekkie?"

"Sure," Remus and Peter replied in unison.

After they had gotten Remus down from the chandelier they conjured up some breakfast consisting of much desired eggs and bacon. While thoroughly enjoying their meal Sirius entered the kitchen, a look of utter terror on his face.

A stuffed Peter looked up at him and asked: "Wot wong whiu?

"Merlin, Wormtail, cover your mouth," said James as he plucked the half chewed food from his sweater.

Sirius stared at them, without actually seeming to see them at all. James tried to wave a hand in front of his face.

No response.

"I- I- I forgot-"

"What did you forget?" Remus asked looking confused.

"Your brain, perhaps?" James added. Sirius didn't even notice the insult. Something was clearly, terribly wrong.

"I forgot the pink-haired monster."

Not for the first time, James worried about his friends' state of mind. "The what?" he asked.

Sirius only stepped aside, revealing a pink-haired, four year old, holding a headless teddy-bear.

Now the tables had turned, as the rest of the Marauders were looking like question marks.

"Wotcher," the monster spoke in a squeaky voice.

"Gentlemen, meet my cousin, Nymphadora Tonks," Sirius said in dismay.

"What is it?" Peter asked

"It's a child you imbecile," Remus scolded.

"Err… yeah… NO. It's a monster!" Sirius corrected. "This is my cousin's Andromeda's midget… err I mean kid!

"And why is she here?" James asked.

"It… IT… it is referred to as IT!" Sirius replied "It's here because I forgot I was supposed to baby-sit today. Andromeda and her husband Ted wanted the house free of any brats to celebrate their fifth anniversary."

"And she has to stay here?" Remus asked.

"Yes." Sirius sighed

"For the night?"

"Yes."

"With us?"

"Yes." Sirius seemed very happy that Remus had figured it out all on his own. He himself would never have been able to do that.

Remus had a feeling that this weekend would only end in complete chaos. "Merlin, help us."

"I'm hungry."

"So?"

"I wanna eat."

"So eat."

"Mum said you'd feed me."

"I what?"

"Feed me."

"Huh…"

"I'm hungry."

"Moooony," Sirius cried "I don't want to feed it"

"Sirius for goodness sake, she's a girl not some kind of genderless creature," Remus replied.

"Yes it is."

"Fine, I'll get some food for her"

"Make sure to watch your fingers while you're at it."

Remus rolled his eyes as he walked passed him, leading Nymphadora to the kitchen.

As soon as the door closed a loud "Ouch" was heard coming from Remus.

"I did warn him," Sirius said smugly to the others.

Remus wondered how such a small child could have such sharp teeth, but he refused to give up and say she was a monster just yet. He studied the red marks on his finger and promptly healed them with a flick of his wand. He was quite good at healing spells by now.

Nymphadora didn't seem to mind that he had gotten rid of the marks so easily, nor did she seem to feel any remorse for her actions. "Who're you?" she asked as they neared the kitchen.

Remus stopped to look at her. "I'm Sirius' friend."

"What's your name?"

She was talking annoyingly fast. "Remus Lupin," he said.

"Cousin Siri called you Moony. Is that your name too?"

"No, it's just Remus."

"I like Moony. Moonymoonmoonmoony. Can I call you Moony?"

He was beginning to have trouble understanding her abnormally fast babbling. "No."

"Okay, Moony."

"It's Remus."

"I'm Tonks."

The sudden change of subject caught him completely off guard. "I thought your name was Nymphadora?"

A look of pure hatred met his blue eyes as he looked in her grey ones. They seemed to have a storm raging in them. It was quite scary.

Remus swallowed in fear. "Sorry, Tonks it is."

A satisfied smirk appeared on Tonks' face and the storm immediately vanished from her eyes

"So… Err… What do you want to eat?" he said as they reached the kitchen.

The bouncy kid never stood still and was currently climbing on top of the kitchen table. "You," she said just before she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

Remus was about to help her up, but she seemed used to falling flat on her face and promptly stood up again as if nothing had happened. "What? No you can't eat me, I don't taste very good," he finally managed to say.

Tonks contemplated that for a second and then reached the conclusion that he was probably right. "Then I want chocolate. Do you like chocolate? I like chocolate. Do you have some chocolate?"

He didn't think it would be a good idea to give the already hyperactive child, sugar "I don't think that counts as food."

"Chocolate."

"Err… why don't you have an apple?"

Her eyes had a storm in them again. That wasn't good. "CHOCOLATE!" she screamed.

Remus quickly hid his fingers in his pockets. "Alright, alright. Here's your chocolate. Just don't hurt me or make the storm come get me."

"Thanks Moony," she said as she took the offered chocolate.

"No problem Tonks," Remus replied in a voice he thought he had abandoned in fourth year.

As soon as she had exited the room, he sank down in a chair and hid his face in his hands. He drew a deep breath and released it slowly. Okay. I'm okay. She didn't eat me. I'm still alive. She's gone now. I'm safe. Get a grip Remus, it's only a child. You're seventeen years old. A Marauder. A Gryffindor. A werewolf for Merlin's sake.

A few minutes later James came bursting through the kitchen door. He had tears in his eyes and seemed as close to a breakdown, as Remus felt.

"Why did you have to give her sugar Moony? WHY?" he cried.

"She forced me. I couldn't do anything. She looked like she wasn't going to let me get away from her, with all my fingers intact, without giving her what she wanted." Remus knew he was close to hyperventilating but he didn't let it show.

James looked at him in disgust. "What are you, a Marauder or a mouse?"

"A mouse."

James was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a high pitched shriek coming from the living room. They ran to the source of the shriek only to find the pink-haired monster, covered in chocolate, and bouncing on top of Peter's abnormally large belly, whilst her hair was changing colour with each bounce.

"Fancy a cup of tea?" James asked Remus looking traumatized at the sight in front of them.

Remus swallowed. "Yes, please," he replied.

"Can I join?" was heard from behind the sofa where Sirius was currently hiding from the terror.

They were soon sitting at the kitchen table, leaving Peter to take care of the problem. As they drank their tea, hearing only the odd scream from Peter, James' thoughts soon drifted to the dream he'd had earlier this morning. He didn't know why she was always on his mind or why he cared at all. I mean it isn't as if I like her flaming red hair or those gorgeous emerald green eyes- STOP thinking like that. I don't care if she doesn't like me. I don't care if she dates other guys. I don't care if she… if she… ARGH I DO CARE!

"James. Why are you hitting your head with a teacup?" Remus asked after watching his friend for the past minute.

James opened his eyes to see that his friends were looking at him with bewilderment etched in their faces. "What? I was?" he asked them.

Sirius took on the look of a Healer who specialized in mental illnesses. It didn't suit him very well, as he looked like a tortoise with digesting problems. "It is my professional opinion that he is indeed thinking about one Lily Evans. You can see it in the way he manages to put on the biggest frown known to mankind, all the while looking like an injured soldier. What do you think, Healer Moony?" he said in an annoyingly dry voice.

"What? No I wasn't," James replied, his own voice suddenly very squeaky.

Remus put on the same look as Sirius, only he managed to make it look real. "Yes, I concur, Healer Padfoot. He is obviously in denial over his own feelings."

"WHAT? I AM NOT IN DENIAL!"

"It is my conclusion that when you drool on a table for a few minutes and then suddenly start hitting your own head with a teacup, which surprisingly didn't brake with the impact of your enormous head, you are in fact in denial."

"Yes, I agree," Sirius added. "I believe he did that because he didn't want to admit to himself that he's completely in love with her."

"I most certainly am not in love with her!"

Sirius had a sad look on his face that said he did not believe a word James had said. "Sure."

Remus looked at the lost case in front of him. "Of course you aren't."

James stuck out his tongue at Remus and was soon deeply engaged in banging the teacup against his head once more.

Remus however, didn't seem to notice this as he appeared to be thinking very hard about something. "But aren't you dating that Jennifer from Ravenclaw?" he asked James.

But before James could answer, Sirius burst out laughing until tears were streaming down his face. James frowned at him, highly offended that Sirius found his misfortune so amusing.

"Why is he laughing so hard?" asked Remus, looking very confused that his question had caused such a reaction.

James had the look of an axe murderer in his eyes. "Yes Sirius, please tell us the reason for your sudden lunacy." I shouldn't have told him that. I should NOT have told him that!

Sirius wiped the tears from his face and managed in between giggles to tell Remus that Jennifer had broken up with James on the train last June. Traitor!

"But why did she do that?" Remus asked. "And why didn't you tell us when we were on the train?"

"He was too embarrassed to tell us about it," said Sirius, after recovering from his fit of laughter. "I had to use Firewhiskey to drag it out of him."

Remus seemed to be about to yell at them for drinking but he was too occupied, trying to stop James from causing physical damage to Sirius.

Sirius clearly didn't take the hint about shutting up and went on. "So there they were, locked in the bathroom on the train and snogging each other senseless, when Jennifer suddenly asks if James knows the contraceptive charm." Here Sirius couldn't help himself any longer and the next few minutes were spent in trying to calm James down, while Sirius laughed his arse off. "Then do you know what he says?" he said after calming himself down. "The stupid arsehole says he's saving himself."

James' face was now the colour of a tomato, so he buried it in his hands. It didn't really work since his ears were glowing like a pair of red light bulbs. "I thought girls liked it when blokes are all sensitive like that," he muttered into his hands.

Sirius grinned. "Oh yes, usually they do," he said solemnly. "But they don't like it when you say you were saving yourself for a girl called Lily."

As the night fell on the Potter home, Tonks started to get sleepy while sitting in Remus' lap. Remus, who was currently reading a book to the hyperactive monster they'd been trying to settle down all day, nodded to the so called babysitter to go and put her to bed. The little girl on the other hand was extremely aware of her surroundings and immediately bolted upright screaming that she didn't want her funny smelling cousin to put her to bed. She wanted Remus to do it instead. Sirius, delighted at the fact that she had chosen someone else than him to put her to bed, simply said to his friend that he had prepared some sort of a sleeping area for her in Mr. and Mrs. Potter's room. Remus tiredly stood up, holding the now very satisfied girl in his hands and made his way upstairs, leaving the other Marauders smirking for some reason.

As he entered the Master bedroom, Nymphadora had settled her head on his shoulder and was currently enjoying the taste of her own thumb. He soon found out that the sleeping area Sirius had talked about was actually just all her things casually thrown on the bed. Remus just sighed and began to clear the bed. He then laid her on the bed and surrounded her with all the pillows he could find to make sure she wouldn't fall out of the bed. The fact that it was impossible to fall out of the enormous bed clearly didn't enter his mind. He was about to turn away and go back to his friends when he realized there was something odd about the little girl.

"Tonks?"

"Yeah," she answered sleepily and opened one eye to look at him.

He wasn't sure if she had the energy to stay up much longer but if he wouldn't get an answer now, he was afraid that he would burst from curiosity.

"Why is your hair pink?"

She opened both eyes now. "Don't tell my mum. She doesn't like it when it's pink," she said mysteriously.

Remus looked even more confused now. "What do you mean, she doesn't like it? Isn't it always pink?" he asked as he sat down on the bed.

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Nope, I can change it when I want," she paused as if she wasn't sure if she was allowed to say more, but that only seemed to make it all the more tempting. "Do you wanna see?" she asked.

Remus wasn't really sure if she was telling the truth, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Sure."

She closed her eyes and concentrated hard for a moment and when she opened them, her hair had turned shocking green.

It took Remus a while to realize that he was staring. "Are you a Metamorphmagus or something like that?"

"Yup, but mum says pink's not a hair colour… do you swear you won't tell her?"

"I solemnly swear that I won't tell a thing. And I'll even make sure that the others won't either."

She looked relived. "Okay, thanks Moony."

He smiled and stood up from the bed. "Good night then."

"No! You can't go. What if there's a boggart under the bed?" she suddenly looked terrified at the thought.

He bent down to look under the bed. "Nope, there's nothing there."

"But what if he's hiding somewhere else? Can't you stay here and hit him in the head when he comes?"

"No, I'm sorry Tonks, but I have to go and make sure your cousin doesn't destroy the house."

She seemed to understand that, but the fear in her eyes was still there. He knew he shouldn't leave his friends alone for long, but those eyes were too much. Apparently puppy dog eyes ran in the family. "Look," he began. "Why don't I just stay until you fall asleep? How does that sound?"

Immediately, her eyes lit up. "Okay, but you have to promise to look under the bed again before you leave."

He sighed and prepared himself for the waiting. A few moments later, a couple of snores could be heard coming from the bedroom.

Remus woke up when the sun hit his eyes, and took a moment to realize that he had fallen asleep, fully clothed, next to a green haired four-year old. She was mercifully still asleep, probably exhausted from all the bouncing. Then it hit him. Where were his friends? Why had they not woken him up, or had they realized that he hadn't come back downstairs?

He jumped out of the bed and ran downstairs, dreading what he would find there. When he reached the living room, he saw that his fears were not without reason. There, lying on the floor, his friends were snoring loudly. Surrounded by empty bottles of butterbeer and Firewhiskey. The sofa had been turned upside down and music was coming from the WWN, somewhere among the large pile of snacks and food.

This was definitely the remains of a party. There was no way they could have done this on their own. Typical, they turn the house into a war zone, and I have to clean it up because they're too hung-over to do anything other than moan in agony. Well not this time.

He took out his wand, conjured up three buckets full of cold water and levitated them over each head. The gasps of ice-cold horror were like music to his ears.

"Not again!" James yelled and then flinched. "Yelling not good. Yelling bad."

Peter looked as he was about to burst into tears. "Where are the bunnies? The bunnies are coming. Help me, I don't wanna die," he said between sobs.

No response from Sirius. If anything he was snoring louder than before.

"SIRIUS, WAKE UP!"

"SNORE"

"All right, that's it," Remus said as he rolled up his sleeves. Levicorpus.

It was no use. Snores were still coming from Sirius' upside down body. His shirt was in his face and the empty bottle of Firewhiskey, he had been holding in his hand, fell to the floor and shattered. Sirius didn't even flinch at the sound.

Remus sighed and fixed the bottle with a flick of his wand. He went over to Sirius and lifted the curse. That should wake him up.

"GAH! MOONY!"

Sirius rubbed his pounding head as he walked into the kitchen. "Stupid werewolf," he muttered to himself. "I'd like to see him flat on his face for once. My poor beautiful nose will be bent for the rest of my life."

As he poured butterbeer over his cereal (don't ask) he heard Peter screaming from the living room. "NO, NOT THE BUTTERFLIES. PLEASE, MAKE THEM GO AWAY. I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE." He then heard a loud smack and assumed that Remus had hit Peter in the head.

James came walking through the door, muttering something about buckets. Hmm maybe that explains why I'm wet. He plumped down on the next chair and buried his face in his hands. "Ugh, headache… I'm never drinking again," he said and managed to open one eye, but closed it when he saw the irritating smirk on Sirius' face.

"Here mate, have some cereal," said Sirius cheerfully. He pushed his bowl of butterbeer-soaked cereal across the table. James looked at the cereal, thought about it for a second, then took a large spoonful and shoved it in his mouth.

"That's disgusting, you know," he said to Sirius.

"Yeah, but it's disgustingly good."

James shook his head. It looked painful."There's no such thing as disgustingly good," he said after recovering from the head shaking.

"Yes, there is," Sirius replied.

"No, there isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Did you know that you're missing an eyebrow?" said James, probably just trying to shut him up.

"Well, you're missing a brain," Sirius shot back. Hah! Take that for trying to shut me up.

"Padfoot, I'm not joking. You are missing an eyebrow."

Sirius didn't believe him, but he didn't want to risk it. He checked.

"Bugger!"

"Told you so."

"How did this happen? I wasn't that drunk, was I? I mean somebody must have shaved it off when I passed out. Who could do such a thing? Is there no mercy in the world? Oh, the cruelty. Why me? WHY ME?" He was sobbing by now.

"Stop being so melodramatic, it'll grow back," said James, frowning. "And don't shout. I have a massive hippogriff dancing on top of my skull."

"My beautiful eyebr-" Sirius' reply was cut off by four school owls, flying through the window. They dropped the letters on the kitchen table then flew right back out again.

"GUYS, THE HOGWARTS LETTERS ARE HERE," yelled Sirius, secretly enjoying the painful look on James' face. The missing eyebrow was clearly forgotten.

Soon they were all busy opening their letters, and as Sirius read the usual boring stuff about which books he had to buy and when the train would leave, he heard a snort coming from James. He looked up and saw that James was holding a Head Boy badge in his hands, looking at it without seeming to recognise it.

"Huh, they didn't even mark the letters right this time," James snorted then looked at Remus. "Here's your badge Moony."

He held it up to Remus' face, but Remus just stood there, staring. "Prongs," he said in a shaky voice. "That badge is yours."

A/N: We welcome any reviews, good or bad. First time writers. We're really nervous.