"The Cloak Prongs, the Cloak!" Sirius Black whispered frantically as the four famous Marauders barreled down an empty corridor.
James "Prongs" Potter nodded his head and shoved his hands into his pockets, continuing to run. But his pockets were empty. "It's not here! I left it!" James yelped in horror.
"Not here? Not here?" Came the terrified moans of little Peter Pettigrew.
"Prongs, you dolt! What are we going to do?" Sirius asked hurriedly.
"Leave that to me." Said the quite Remus Lupin. The sandy-haired boy has stopped running and was searching the surroundings closely.
"Hurry up Moony, Filch is bound to catch up soon." James whispered loudly to Remus.
"Shhh. I'm thinking…" Remus eyes flashed to the left in right.
"Here!" Remus exclaimed after several seconds of thought. "Follow me."
Without a word of protest, the three Marauders followed after the fourth. Remus had darted to a set of stairs. He climbed over the banister and ducked low behind the stone supports. Peter, James, and Sirius followed suit.
"Bloody hell, Remus, this isn't going to work." Growled Sirius.
"I didn't see you coming up with a plan." Remus hissed back.
"Shut up!" James warned. At the end of the corridor, Filch was visible. The caretaker had the most hideous purple blemished dotting his arms, hands, and head. It had taken about a week of planning and studying, but the Marauders had perfected the prank-perfect charm.
"Come out here you brats!" He snarled, swinging a lantern back and forth in the night air. "When I catch you snots, I'll hang you up by the thumbs, yes I will!"
Peter wimperd quietly, and Sirius made frantic hushing hand motions.
Argus Filch approached the stairwell and began to climb the steps. "Decided to run upstairs did we? Oh, when I get a hold of you-" Filch made a violent hand gesture that made James flinch.
Flich passed by the spot were the Marauders were hiding. All four of the fifth year boys huddled backwards, hoping that they wouldn't be seen. The ugly caretaker saw nothing of the pranksters and continued up the steps, grumbling all the way.
When Filch's exscessive complaining was out of ear shot, the boys let out a sigh of relief.
"That." Exclaimed James. "Was to close for comfort."
Sirius was laughing already. "Ha! It worked! Did you see how repulsive those boils
were?"
Peter still looked afraid, but was chuckling nervously, because the prank had been rather funny.
Remus was straightening his tie. "Didn't I tell you the charm would work? You just had to stay and watch, didn't you Padfoot?"
"Awww, common Moony! It wouldn't have been any fun if we didn't stay for the show!" Sirius sat, patting his comrade on the shoulder. Remus winced. "Careful!" He muttered.
"Sorry mate, forgot the full moon was only a few days ago." Sirius whispered.
"Lucky you." Remus replied, rubbing his sore shoulder.
"Well Marauders," James said, abruptly changing the subject, "Another suscesful prank pulled upon the notoriously nasty, Argus Filch. I would like to thank Sirius Black for risking two weeks worth of detention by planting the Charm on Filch,"
Sirius took a dramatic bow and waved to an imaginary audience.
"Peter Pettigrew for creating that lovely distraction involving eleven dungbombs,"
Peter blushed to the roots of his hair.
"and especially, Remus Lupin for risking his good boy reputation by committing this crime and for doing all the boring research."
Remus pretend to be extremely flattered, and fanned his face.
"We should really get back to the common room though." Remus said. "Its nearly three in the morning, and we have lessons tomorrow."
Grudgingly, the Marauders paraded back to the Gryffindor House, laughing merrily all the way.
Remus Lupin was seriously regretting his late night pranking adventure. He dragged himself into the great hall for breakfast feeling completely exhausted.
"Oi, Remus!" James called from the head of the table. Remus made a b-line towards his friends. There was James, with his shock of black hair in its usual mess, eating a bowl of porridge with vigor. Then, there was Sirius, whose hair was messy in way that almost looked cool. He was reading the Daily Prophet while poking at a plate of scrambled eggs. Peter was helping himself to a donut.
HE sat down beside Sirius, who didn't look up from his paper, James smiled at him, but for some reason, his eyes flashed. Remus wondered what was up.
"Morning Moony!" Peter said over his mouthful of food. Remus waved sleepily.
"Pardon my asking, Prongs." Remus said groggily. "But is your hair even messier than usual this morning, or is it just me?"
James laughed. "Early morning Quiditch practice." He explained. "Second match of the season is only a week away."
And so the breakfast went. James gave a lively description of his practice, which Peter listened to eagerly, and Remus tried not laugh at his friends' gigantic ego. It wasn't until half way through breakfast that James took a break in his tale to ask Sirius what he was reading.
"What's the headline Padfoot?" He asked. Sirius had his face wrinkled in disgust, but upon hearing James question, dropped all signs of distaste and shoved the Newspaper into his lap. "Nothing." He said a little to quickly.
"Come off it!" James sad, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Come on Sirius, we want to know!" Peter chimed in. Remus nodded agreement.
Sirius sighed. He knew that as awful as the article was, his friends wouldn't leave him alone until they read it.
"Alright. But don't say I didn't warn you." He threw the paper onto the table.
James, Peter and Remus all paled. The title blared " Vicious Werewolf Attack Kills Three Children."
"Oh." Peter whispered.
James and Sirius were staring at Remus. His Grey eyes were vacant, his pale complexion even paler than normal. Almost blindly, Remus picked up the paper and began to read the article.
"At two o'clock last night, disturbing howls pierced the air of the small village of Hampton, just west of Hogsmeade." Remus began to read aloud.
"The villagers all frantically hid inside of their homes, recognizing the brutal call of the werewolf. Three children, ranging from ages six to twelve, did not hear the howls or the desperate calling of their worried parents." He read, voice wavering.
"Stop it Remus." Sirius said firmly, ripping the paper from his grasp. "Quit doing that to yourself."
Remus was quivering ever so slightly. "They were just kids. They got killed. You except me to just let that slide?"
"It's not like you were the one that killed them!" James said in exasperation, while Peter nodded his head in agreement.
"But it could have been." Remus said darkly.
James and Sirius exchange looks. Remus allowed himself to worry so much. He had a lovely habit of thinking everything was his fault.
"But it wasn't." Sirius said confidently.
"What did they do to the-the werewolf." He asked in a hoarse whisper.
"Remus, I-" Sirius began.
"Padfoot, just tell me."
"T-the Ministry….gave him to the Dementors." Sirius whispered. Peter whimpered.
"And yet, you wonder why I worry?" Remus muttered, glancing upwards. "That is a fate that ultimately awaits me."
"Shut up Remus." James growled. "Just stop it. You would never do that."
Remus said nothing.
"Moony," James said after a long silence. "You're a good guy. That's not your fate. I'll make sure of it."
Remus gave a faint laugh. "You are the most stubborn git I've ever met."
That sent all the Marauders laughing, mostly because they were glad to have cheered Remus up.
"Come on." Peter said. "Transfiguration starts in five minutes."
As they walked to class, James reflected on the mornings events.
When Remus had sat down at the table, he had looked paler, more tired than normal. And it had shocked him. They were all used to Remus's ill appearance, but usually, about five days after the full moon, he started to look a little better. Perhaps the late night last night hadn't been a good idea.
The more James thought about it, the more he thought that he could never wash the vacant, distraught look Remus had in his eyes as he had read the Title of the news article. He tried to shake the image out of his head as they enter the transfiguration classroom.
Class passed uneventfully. Remus took notes diligently, but his eyes remained dull and dreamy. Sirius was casually leaning back in his chair, twirling his wand in his fingers. Peter was staring at professor McGonagall, trying to understand the lesson. But James…James had his mind on things to. And it was not the Fury Little Problem or the Lesson..
He was staring intently at a certain red-head. She's so stubborn. James thought to himself. That Lily Evans doesn't know what she's missing. He grumped in his head
"Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall called, and judging by the tone of her voice, it wasn't the first time she had called either.
"Huh?" James said, sitting up so quickly that his glasses nearly fell off.
"Am I failing to grab you attention this Morning?" The teacher asked severely.
"Only a bit mam." James replied honestly.
That sent the class laughing, at least until Professor McGonagall subtracted five points from Gryffindor.
Lily Evans turned and glared at him, clearly displeased that he has lost Gryffindor House some points. James ruffled his hair and waved. Ginny wrinkled her nose at him.
"Not a chance, Prongs." Sirius whispered in his ear.
"Not yet Padfoot, but one day, I promise you, Lily Evans will fall in love with me."
Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes. James nudged his shoulder with a frown. "I know she likes me." He declared. "She just doesn't know it yet."
"SH!" Remus said glaring at them over his shoulder.
"SH!" Sirius and James mocked.
Remus stared at the ceiling and turned back to his work. "I'm surrounded by morons." He said under his breath, scribbling notes. Lily Evans heard the comment, and barely suppressed a giggle.