Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. However, since Rowling discarded my favourite characters I picked them up and took them into my care to give them the love and attention they deserve...and occasionally give them reason to need that love and attention no matter how much they deserve it without needing a reason.
Summary: The decision to keep a certain truth hidden from Remus leads to disastrous consequences in what is later referred to as The Prank.
Warnings: Strong bromance, can't stomach boys being extremely close without it being sexual, then this is not the story for you and you should hit the return button.
Characters being injured and perhaps some harsh language.
This story is part of a series called A Bond of Family. If you are interested in reading the entire series, then the chronological order can be found on my profile.
Special thanks to Kitty for beta-ing this story for me. Thank you for your endless patience and kindness and I am sorry I put you through this story. *hugs*
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
James stretched with a yawn, tossing his book onto the library table on an early Sunday afternoon.
Sirius and Remus were both still looking through their own books, though Peter was completely spaced out.
"Anything yet?" he tapped Sirius' ankle as his brother's legs were resting over his own comfortably.
"Not really, there's a bunch of pages about how dangerous and rare the lot of them are, but nothing on how to efficiently deal with them," Sirius met his gaze with a smile as James softly rubbed his ankle when he felt the muscles spasm under his touch.
"Most common advice is to run like hell," Remus agreed as he placed his book onto the table as well. "But just how you are supposed to outrun something like that isn't mentioned."
"I did find an antidote for their venom. Maybe we can brew it next week so we won't need Madam Pomfrey any more if we happen to run into them again," Sirius closed his book and turned to Remus. "Think you could...Rem?"
James frowned at the sudden sense of urgency in his best friend's voice, startled as the other suddenly pulled back his legs and rose.
"We need to go," a couple of waves from Sirius' wand packed their stuff and returned the books to their places, startling Peter into awareness.
James got to his feet as Sirius pulled Remus out of his chair, shoving their shrinking bags into his pocket before hurrying after them when Sirius dragged a protesting Remus along with him.
"What's going on?" James ran to catch up with his friends as Sirius hurried down the hallway, dragging a now silent Remus with him.
"Si..."James' eyes widened in alarm as Remus suddenly doubled over with a pained groan, almost pulling Sirius off his feet with his supreme strength as they were still holding hands.
But the other boy seemed to have been expected it and compensated for it by moving with the sudden pull, all the while his eyes frantically looking around.
Kneeling down before Remus to see what was wrong with him as the other trembled, James' eyes widened as he caught sight of amber coloured eyes and growing teeth.
"Merlin..."he scrambled back as he finally realised what had Sirius dash out of the library like that.
"In here," Remus' bones cracked and began to shift as Sirius almost tossed him into an unused classroom, pulling a few hairs out in the progress before doing the same with his own hair.
"Ward the door, any protection and silence spells you can think of. I'll do the same from the inside and stay with him while you two lure everyone away just in case."
James looked down at the hairs Sirius pushed into his hand.
"That liquid...got it. Let me know when the coast is clear," James closed the door behind Sirius, hearing him cast spells and quickly followed his example.
"Peter, follow me," he turned when he was done, setting several traps in the hallway to prevent people from coming close to the classroom.
"What's going on?" Peter hurried after him confused.
"I don't know how or why, but he's changing into Moony. So we're going to lure people away from here for however long it takes for him to turn back again. Remember the prank Sirius and I were talking about last week?"
"The firework one?"
"No, Sirius deemed that one too dangerous. The frog one, with so many chocolate frogs running around no one will really notice they..." James trailed off as the sky was darkening around them and a quick glance outside told him the answer.
"A solar eclipse...never mind the prank, we'll just make sure they are seen and try to keep people away from that hallway."
"How?"
"Polyjuice. It is what Sirius gave me those hairs for. He must have known about the eclipse."
"But brewing that takes ages!"
"No, we've been trying to find other uses for it so there's a batch in Slughorn's office," waving the rest of Peter's questions off, James led them to Slughorn's office.
Relieved the office was locked and Slughorn nowhere to be seen, James broke in and collected enough for them to transform before they hurried to rarely used bathrooms and locked themselves in.
"You're smaller than me so you take Sirius or your robes will become much too short," James dropped the black hairs into two newly transfigured mugs.
"Cheers," taking a deep breath, James gulped down the disgusting potion and tried not to throw it up.
Before his eyes, Peter grew while at the same time losing about half his weight, making him look odd before his face began to change and his hair shortened and turned darker.
Groaning as he himself started to change, he almost buckled, immediately realising something was wrong and gasped as the transformation was completed.
"Oh..." Peter stared at him with Sirius' wide eyes and James was overcome with a sense of wrongness as he stared at the boy across of him. "You're..."
Turning to see himself in the mirror he was horrified to see he'd grown hair all over his face and arms.
"Crap," his face was a mix between his own, a wolf's and he could see some parts of Remus' strong jaw and his eye colour.
"You can't Polyjuice a werewolf?" Peter unhelpfully swallowed, but James only glared at him irritated.
"All right, change of plans. You make sure you're seen, just don't talk to anyone unless you absolutely have to."
"W-what if they ask where you guys are?" the squeaky stutter in Sirius' normally soft voice annoyed James.
"Don't speak; you'll give everything away that way. Just act like you are seeking for us in a game of hide and seek but don't go near where they are hiding. If I can undo this before the hour's up, I'll come find you, else return here."
"All right," Peter nodded, leaving and James turned back to the mirror after he locked the door again.
"Okay..." staring at his weird reflection, he pulled Sirius' bag out of his pocket to search for the Potions kit and the Marauders Map. Retrieving both, he laid them out on the sink beside him and activated the map.
He glanced at Peter's dot hurrying down the hallway before seeking out the unused classroom where Sirius had locked Remus and himself up, taking a deep breath as he noticed neither dot was moving.
Staring at it a few seconds he willed either of the dots to move, cursing when it didn't happen.
Quickly he set to work as he realised he couldn't leave the bathroom looking like he did, if people recognised parts of Remus' features they might begin to ask undesired questions and he couldn't risk that.
Yet it still took him the better part of the hour to undo the Polyjuice's effect, slightly delayed by his inability to not keep checking the map in the hopes the dots were moving.
The moment his features had finally completely turned to normal, he tossed everything back into Sirius' bag and grabbed the map before dashing from the bathroom with his heart in his throat.
He wasn't too worried about the fact that Remus' dot still wasn't moving as it told him the boy was either passed out after the sudden transformation or hopefully Sirius was keeping him still.
He tried to tell himself that was the case, but knew he was lying to himself as Sirius' dot hadn't been right beside Remus, but at the other side of the classroom. And that worried him, for what reason could Sirius have to remain unmoving, while knowing James would be watching the map for a signal.
From the other side Sirius suddenly approached him, the sight turning James' stomach and making his mind scream it was wrong and the figure moving towards him was not his brother.
But James shoved the wrong feeling away to investigate it later, relieved to see Peter hurrying up when he saw him.
"Any trouble?"
"N-no," Peter shook his head.
"Good. Their dots haven't been moving for almost an hour now, so I don't know what to expect," James informed Peter as they hurried back to the hallway, thankful most of the castle seemed to be deserted.
Undoing the wards on both sides of the door took a few moments and James only just managed to force himself to listen for any sign of growling in his worry, aware Sirius still hadn't given him a sign.
Too worried to wait longer than a few seconds, he slipped inside and was immediately overcome by the stale stench of copper as there was blood splattered everywhere.
Clenching his teeth, it didn't take long to find Remus sprawled out unconscious on the floor.
His clothes were torn to shreds, although James determined that was probably due to the transformation as besides a layer of blood coating the side of the brown-haired boy's face, he didn't appear to be in a bad shape.
"Is he..."
"He's all right," James determined as he knelt down to feel Remus' pulse, finding it steady.
"Can you look after him?" James rose to his feet as Peter nodded and took his place, freeing him to take a sweep of the room.
"Sirius?"
Not really expecting an answer, James made his way towards the overturned cupboard at the far end of the room, realising the position fit with the picture the map had given him.
He used his wand to move the heavy cupboard aside, heart skipping a beat as he laid eyes on the sight behind it.
Sirius was covered in blood and James didn't waste time as he knelt down beside his brother, uncaring that his trousers and robes immediately got soaked in blood.
Checking his pulse, he let out a relieved breath as he found a slow but steady one and set to work to heal his injuries as he cast a diagnostic charm.
"J'mes."
Sirius' sudden voice as he was almost finished with the cuts made James' heart leap.
"Hey, Siri," he tried to give a smile as Sirius' eyes fluttered open, but dropped it again as the boy's eyes seemed unfocused. "Can you tell me where you are?"
"C-classroom...Rem?"
"Unconscious, but all right," James peeled the torn clothes further aside to look at the rest of his best friend's injuries.
"H-had to knock h-him out," Sirius' pain-filled voice stocked as he tried to move and James paused to retrieve a pain-relieving potion. "He w-wouldn't stop coming even after...d-did I hurt him?"
"I think he might have a headache when he wakes up, but he's in a better shape than you are," James informed his best friend as he helped him swallow it. "I'm going to have to pull your robes off to get a look at your skin properly," he warned Sirius and choked as the diagnostic charm told him the boy was bleeding internally.
No more than an hour and a half had passed in total, but from the discolouration already visible on the skin, James knew it was bad and immediately set to work to do as much as he could.
After Sirius had showed up in a bloody mess at his doorstep five months earlier, James had become determined to learn all he could as he never wanted to feel that helpless again.
But although he could cast most healing spells without trouble, he didn't have the same flare for the healing side of magic as Sirius did and had trouble learning the more advanced healing spells.
"We need the hospital wing, Siri," he whispered as he finished healing the organs rudimentary.
"No..."Sirius protested as he tried to sit up, looking stronger now that the potion and James' efforts were doing their work.
"I can't heal this properly and you're in no shape to do so yourself."
"They'll kill him," glancing back at Remus, James immediately knew Sirius was right.
Remus had transformed without the presence of the full moon and even if they could prove the strange liquid Snape had thrown at them that morning at breakfast was responsible, it wouldn't matter to the Ministry as they'd be out for his blood.
The entire thing may have lasted only for minutes, the damage Moony could have done in that time was immense, Sirius was evidence of that.
"How long was he transformed?" he asked as he tried to think of a solution that would get them help but hide the truth.
"It felt longer than it was, couldn't have been more than ten minutes."
"The eclipse lasted seven minutes," Peter piped up.
"So you've been bleeding for over an hour already..." James tried to calculate how much Sirius could have bled internally in that time, though it appeared to be slow going if he'd managed to come into awareness when he sensed James. "All right, hide your scars and the new identifiable marks under your rune."
"Plan?" Sirius did as he asked and sat up completely.
"Something that would require your help, but you'll start bleeding again if you move," James swallowed as Sirius only shot him a look.
Sirius closed his eyes and muttered something, presumable to determine the damage for himself. "I think I'll manage half an hour before I'll collapse so we better hurry up with this plan of yours."
Nodding, James reached for Sirius' ruined robes and fixed it in several places so they'd no longer look like an animal had tried to rip him apart and helped him back in them.
Helping Sirius over to Remus, he did the same for Remus' robes.
"Can you use wandless magic?" he pulled out the Marauder map to check the area, relieved to see it was still deserted and silently blessed the unusually cold day keeping most students in their dorms.
"What do you need?" Sirius was pale as a sheet as he checked Remus' condition for himself.
"This bridge here? I want to blow it up."
"Partly, it'll look like an assassination attempt. Remus hitting his head when I pushed him aside," Sirius immediately caught on to his plan.
"It'll fit with your injuries too, if the bridge collapsed with you on it your injuries make sense," James nodded. "You weren't fast enough to avoid the collision because your feet still aren't healed completely."
Tapping the map, he enlarged the bridge so a visual picture of it came up and Sirius studied the details for a moment.
"It'll be best to blow it up here at the right edge. It'll prevent too much damage to the castle, but enough that it might look like it's done on purpose."
"If you blow it up there, Remus would be injured worse, too," James said.
"No, see how those stones support the bridge to the castle? The structure of it means it'll collapse to the left even when we blow it up at the right side," Sirius argued as he pointed out what he meant.
"Leaving you enough time to push Remus away, who collided into us..."
"So neither you nor Peter were hurt either," Sirius finished with a nod.
"I hate it when you guys do that," Peter grumbled. "It's like you share a brain."
"We're brothers, it's what we do," James shrugged. "If you use wandless magic..."
"They can't trace the magic back to our wands. Your last spells are healing ones and mine are defensive ones, backing our story further up," Sirius swayed a little as he repaired the furniture in the classroom and the blood vanished.
"We need to hurry up; I don't know how much longer I'll last."
Sirius' warning was unnecessary when it became clear he couldn't support his own weight as James helped him up, wrapping an arm around his waist to balance him.
"Got it," opening the door, he led Sirius into the direction of the bridge, levitating Remus behind them and Peter trailing after them.
He'd chosen that bridge because although it was fairly far from the hospital wing, it was the closest to the classroom.
"From here it'll look like we've come from the bridge," James explained when Peter asked why they were going in the opposite direction.
"I'll transfer the spilled blood to the bridge and get some grit and dust in return as it's collapsing so it'll leave evidence of our story," Sirius' was breathing shallowly so James stopped as he deemed them close enough for it to work.
"Good thinking," making Sirius lean between him and the wall beside them, James scanned the bridge. "That pillar there?"
"Yeah, but let's keep it small enough that no one immediately comes investigating. We're too far away for you to have been able to dig me out, treat me as best you could and then make it all the way here already."
"Right," together they wandlessly sliced the pillar, letting it collapse with small enough noise that it would buy them time.
Mere moments later all four of them were covered in grit and dust, Sirius and James the worst.
"You dug me out while Peter helped Remus," Sirius explained as he reached out with a trembling hand to smear the dust out over James' face so it mixed with his sweat and formed tracks before his hand slipped down.
"James..."
"I got you," James reassured him as he moved closer, as even under the dirt, he could see Sirius was rapidly losing what little colour the walk had given him and pulled him into his arms as he collapsed moments later.
"Is he..."
"Unconscious and probably bleeding again, we need to hurry to the hospital wing. Can you control Remus?" James lifted Sirius into his arms bridal style, careful to not aggravate his injuries even more than they'd already done as he couldn't bear to just float him behind them like Remus.
Glancing at Remus, he set as quick a pace as he dared, because although he'd gathered that Sirius had been forced to knock him out harshly, his prolonged unconsciousness began to worry James.
It seemed to take ages before they came across someone, McGonagall' quick stride momentarily faltering as she caught sight of them, before she hurried their way.
"What happened?!" she took one glance at Sirius and Remus before she shot off a Patronus that James hoped would alert Madam Pomfrey they were coming.
"The bridge collapsed, I think it was done on purpose," James hurriedly informed her, not daring to stop as Sirius' breathing had become shallower on the walk.
"The...another one?" McGonagall didn't ask more questions, already aware of the occasional assassination attempt that happened. "Do you need me to take him?"
"No," James tightened his grip on Sirius' limp form, shifting him back into position as his head had slightly begun to slip from resting against his collarbone.
Without another word McGonagall led the way to the hospital wing, pushing the doors open.
"Rest him here, what are his injuries?" Madam Pomfrey inquired, aware they usually took care of their own injuries and that it had to be bad if they couldn't handle it themselves.
"He's bleeding internally, I healed his spleen and left lung but I don't think I got it all as he began bleeding again on the way here," James wasn't surprised that she had already begun to cast her own diagnostic spells even as he carefully laid Sirius down.
"What precisely happened?" James turned to see McGonagall had led Remus to the next bed and let him rest there.
"We were planning to return to our dorm because it was so cold outside when Sirius suddenly shoved Remus back and the bridge collapsed with him on it," James explained. "I tripped when Remus was knocked into me and wasn't able to stop him from hitting his head. Peter checked him while I began to dug Sirius out and tried to treat his wounds but realised it was too serious for me to deal with and came here."
"You should always come here if Sirius is the one who's injured," Pomfrey berated him. "Even if he's been teaching you all he's learning from me."
"You've taken Mister Black on as your apprentice?" McGonagall looked surprised.
"Not exactly. Sirius came to me three years ago with the request to teach him all I knew so he could take care of Remus after the full moon. Said I was drawing too much attention as I required Remus to return here several times a week after the full moon to check his wounds and if his closest friends would notice then eventually so would others."
"That makes sense," James wasn't sure why McGonagall sounded so surprised, surely she'd have realised by now that the Marauders took care of their own. "Why did you not inform me?"
"It was not an official arrangement, he'd just come here when we both had time to show him some things and let him read my medical books. But he already knew quite a bit when he came to me," Pomfrey explained as her wand kept making complicated patterns over Sirius. "He has no desire to become my apprentice, though I have thought about offering it more than once as he truly has a flair for it."
"I see. And Mister Black has been teaching you what he's learned?" McGonagall turned to James.
"All three of us. And we're learning from my mother as well," James admitted.
"Yes, Dorea would be a likely source to learn from," McGonagall nodded before she focused on Sirius again. "Did you see anyone near the bridge while you were there?"
"No."
James helped Pomfrey as she applied cream to the hideous bruises covering Sirius torso and back.
"Why isn't it working?"
"It just means the bruises are so severe that only the underlying tissue is healing. Magic can't heal everything, love. Now, why don't you help me bandage him up so he won't use his arm for a while?"
"Going to wrap his ribs as well?" James asked, knowing they'd be sore even if he'd healed them.
"Yes," Pomfrey smiled approvingly at his knowledge as they worked together to bandage Sirius up.
"How is he?" McGonagall asked when they were done.
"Lost quite a bit of blood and he'll be in discomfort for a while so I want him to take regular potions, but thanks to James' quick actions, he'll be all right. Now, if the two of you change him into a hospital gown, I'll have a proper look at Remus."
James nodded as he moved to do as she'd asked and McGonagall turned as Peter and he quickly dressed Sirius in a hospital gown and removed his ruined trousers.
When they were done, James pulled the blankets up to both cover and keep Sirius warm and sat down on the edge of the bed while Peter took the chair.
"He'll likely have a headache when he wakes, but he'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey determined as she cleaned the blood away from Remus' head and wrapped his head in a bandage.
"No concussion?" McGonagall eyed Remus' face in disbelief.
"No, despite the amount of blood it is only skin that's damaged. Remus has quite an unusual thick skull," Pomfrey explained.
"Dense bones are about the only good thing he got out of it," James grumbled. "But why hasn't he woken up yet?"
"It is quite normal to be unconscious after such a hard blow to the head, even if the damage isn't that bad. There is no damage to his brain or skull and you should know that head wounds always bleed more than you would think," Pomfrey assured him. "But I'd like to keep him overnight just in case so if you could change his clothes?"
"Of course," Peter nodded at James' questioningly glance and the two of them made quick work of changing Remus' clothes as well and have him settled.
"I will speak to Professor Dumbledore about what happened, he will likely wish to speak with both of them as well, but it will have to wait until they've been cleared by you, Poppy," McGonagall announced.
"It will have to be after tomorrow as they need their rest. I mean it, Minerva; I will refuse him access if he comes before I say he can."
"Very well, Mister Potter, Mister Pettigrew..."
"You should know better by now than to even entertain yourself by the idea I'm leaving his side," James cut their Head of House off.
McGonagall sighed. "I'll report to your teachers none of you will be in class tomorrow, except for you Mister Pettigrew."
"But..."
"Your grades are simply too low so you can't afford to miss classes in an O.W.L. year. Perhaps you could take notes for your friends, so they will not miss anything."
"Y-yes Professor," Peter nodded sullenly as McGonagall turned.
"Poppy, keep me posted and I will tell Albus what you've told me."
"I will," Madam Pomfrey bid her a good day as she fussed over both of her patients for a while longer before leaving them in James and Peter's care with the warning to get her if they woke up.
Peter shifted nervously, something James had noticed him doing since he'd return.
"Are you sure you're all right?"
"Y-yes. Just uncomfortable by what happened," Peter glanced at Sirius for a moment. "Do you want me to retrieve your books from the dorm so you'll have something to do tonight?"
"That would be nice, thanks," James shifted to make himself comfortable beside Sirius on the bed, readjusting his brother slightly so he was resting slightly sidewards against his legs and off his bruised back and shoulder.
Pulling the blanket up further to ensure for himself the other would be warm, he leaned back to keep an eye on them both.