~*~
"Mum, I'm back!"
Matilda Black looked up sharply from her cookbook to greet the young boy who came running into the kitchen, dark hair and green suitcase flying.
"Sirius! What on Earth...we didn't expect you for another week...what happened?" she asked, pulling the boy into a hug which left him breathless.
"Took the train," he said, dropping into a chair and leaving his suitcase to drop to the floor.
"From Llyn Alwyn? You came all the way from Wales by yourself?"
Sirius grinned devilishly. "It was a bit of an adventure," he said, daring his mother to make a fuss. She did.
"You could have been robbed, or killed, or worse! You could have run into some Muggles who'd have taken everything you had!" Matilda glared down at her 12-year-old son. "And what happened to you staying until I came to pick you up?"
The grin disappeared from her son's face. The witch took that to be a sign of something wrong. "What happened to the Lupins, Sirius?"
Sirius looked down at the kitchen floor for a moment, his hair hiding the expression on his face. After a moment, he looked up at his worried mother. "Remus' dad was killed."
"Oh my...," Matilda's hand went to her mouth. "That poor, dear boy...was it...You-Know-Who?"
Sirius nodded. "I'd thought it better I left."
"Oh my," Matilda repeated. She hugged her son again, as if trying to erase the news from his brain.
"Sirius!" A little girl with long, dark hair came running into the kitchen. As soon as Matilda let go, she jumped on her brother. "You're back, you're back!"
"Ahh, get offa me, Aidy!" the boy said, tickling her.
"Aidian, give your brother a bit of breathing room," Matilda said. She picked up her son's suitcase and handed it to him, pulling her youngest child off in the same movement. "You go put your things away, Sirius." She gave him a sober look.
"We'll talk later."
"Alright, mum."
"Talk about what? Tell me, I want to know!"
~*~
"Oh, and you remember that time that James spilled multi-colored ink accidently-on-purpose on Snape's robes?" Sirius asked, laughing as he rolled around in the grass.
His friend, Remus Lupin, leaned against a tree and threw grass at him. "Oh, yeah, I remember that one. Who could forget the look on his face? Brand new, and they were changing colors for weeks!"
"I swear, if James hadn't done it I would've. I hate that little git," Sirius said, stopping to brush the grass off himself.
"You've got some in your hair," Remus pointed out.
"Thanks." Sirius shook his head like a dog, sending grass everywhere.
"Hey!"
"Sorry." The dark-haired boy went over to sit under the tree with his friend.
"You know, we're going to have to do something about Snape. He just keeps getting worse and worse."
"Funny, it looked to me like we were already doing something," Remus said, pushing his light brown hair our of his eyes. "I mean, we've manage to embarrass him in just about every class we've got with Slytherin."
"True, true," Sirius agreed. "But still. He doesn't seem to get it. Oh, but think!" he said suddenly. "Next year, we can try out for the Quidditch team! And you've seen James on a broomstick...oh, we'll show Snape!" He grinned evilly.
Remus had to laugh. "Sirius, you are ridiculous."
"I know."
The two boys sat in the shade a bit, watching the sky over Mt. Snowdon. It was a hot but dark day, as roving clouds sent shadows down over the valley. The mountains had an ominous look, so Sirius thought. But then, they always did, in Wales.
"So, what do you think we'll be doing next year?" Remus asked lazily, beheading a dandelion.
"Same as last year, probably. You know, pranks on the teachers, Dungbombs at the Slytherin tables, overall terror and mayhem for the entire school," Sirius replied, laying down on his back. "Only better, because we won't be lowly 1st years anymore."
"Which is why we'll be known as the almighty and glorious 2nd years," Remus said wisely. Suddenly, he straightened and looked off down the valley in a movement so sharp Sirius sat up.
"What is it?" he asked the other boy. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Remus said slowly, chewing his lip. He continued to stare off in the direction they'd come from, his grey eyes dark and troubled. "Something's not right."
Sirius sat up. "Remus..."
"Come on," he said sharply, running down the slope. Sirius had to hurry to catch up, despite his longer legs.
"Remus...what's...?" Sirius stopped abruptly as his friend ground to a halt in front of his small house, tucked into the hillside. Tall, brawny men from the village were standing about outside, and the door to the cottage was open. There were sounds of crying from inside.
Remus asked a man nearby something sharply in Welsh, ignoring the look of thinly-disguised hatred on the his face. The man gestured towards the house, and Remus disappeared inside.
Sirius was left standing around awkwardly. "What happened?" he asked in English, hoping that someone spoke the language. He'd learned from experience that some Welshmen didn't, and looked with distaste upon those who did. Luckily, the man Remus had been talking to was not one of them.
"Another attack," he said shortly in a thick accent. "Down in Aberdify. You-Know-Who again, I think."
"What...why?"
"Of course it was You-Know-Who," another man said angrily. "Who else would it be? I tell you, he's getting stronger. How long before it's one of our own families?"
"Aye," another agreed. "I tell ye, it's bad enough it had to happen to the Lupins. They're good folk, even if their son...," He shot a look at Sirius and cut himself off. "I don't think it's safe here, not with attacks every week like this."
Sirius didn't wait to hear the rest of the discussion. He brushed past the villagers and entered the house.
Just that morning, the little cottage had been a bright, cheerful little place. It was rather dingy and worn, but well cared for and beautiful in it's own way. Now, however, it seemed dark and lifeless, as though someone had taken all the light out of the place.
Sirius walked through the kitchen into the little back room, and halted at the threshold.
Remus knelt on the floor next to his weeping mother, who sat in an old armchair with her head in her hands. She was convulsed with sobs, and the boy was trying to comfort her as best he could with tears silently streaming down his own face. He spoke softly, in Welsh, and Sirius could hear the undercurrent of deep anger in the foreign language. He took a step back, and Remus looked up at the sound.
"He's dead," the light-haired boy said in a voice devoid of emotion, but his eyes saying all that needed to be said. Sirius had seen a glimpse of his friend like this only once, but knew all too well that expression in the eyes.
"Who?" he asked.
"My da."
~*~
"Sirius, I'm so sorry," Remus said, as Sirius packed his belongings into a green suitcase.
"What are you sorry for?" Sirius asked incredulously. "It's not like it was any of your fault."
"How are you going to get back?"
"I'll take the train," was the light reply. "I've got a good bit of Muggle money; I always keep some in case of emergencies." He waited for Remus to remark about his actually being prepared for something, but the jibe didn't come. The boy seemed lost in thought; hardly hearing what was being said.
"Look, Remus," Sirius began. "If there's anything I can do...for you and your mum...I mean, you could come live with us for a bit, if you wanted..."
Remus just shook his head, finally managing a small smile; the first of two days. "Thanks, Sirius, but mum...doesn't speak English all that well. She'd feel out of place. But thank you."
"Are you sure? 'Cause my mum...I mean, she wouldn't mind or anything."
"I'll see you when the school term starts?" Remus asked, silently turning him down again.
"Yeah," Sirius said. He shut his suitcase and looked his smaller friend in the eye. "I'll see you there," he said, clinching a silent promise.
Remus saw him to the Muggle station and waited as Sirius boarded the train. Sirius sat in a compartment by himself and stared out the window at his quiet friend. Despite the terrible tragedy, he stood with his soldiers straight and an aura of strength. Sirius had to marvel at that.
"I'll see you there," he repeated.
~*~
So I got on a train and came back," the boy concluded, as he sat in bed. Matilda Black sighed.
"There have been more and more attacks lately," she said. "Soon there isn't going to be a safe place left."
"Headmaster Dumbledore isn't afraid of Voldemort," Sirius said. "He says all that stuff about calling him You-Know-Who is rubbish."
Matilda smiled gently. "There are some of us who remember what the power of a name held. There used to be spells that allowed a wizard or witch to know all about a person that called them by name. Dumbledore is a very strong wizard, and doesn't need to worry about that sort of old magic. But as for the rest of us commoners...I just feel safer saying You-Know-Who."
"You mean it's dangerous just to call someone by their name?" Sirius whistled incredulously.
"It depends," Matilda told her son. "Let me put it this way. When you say the incantation that makes a spell work, you're invoking the power of the spell by using it's magical name. Now, it used to be that you called everything by it's magical name, none of this nonsense with other languages. Hence, when you called something by it's name, something magical happened. Am I losing you?"
"No," Sirius said. "I think...alright. The name of something...the true, magical name...is what unlocks it's magic. A long time ago...,"
"Not so long ago," Matilda corrected. "I remember it, remember."
"A while back," Sirius amended, "whenever you said a name, you unlocked it's magic. So now, with the Dark wizard rising, people are afraid that if they say his name, they'll unlock his power."
"That's about right. You see, there are some spells that let a wizard or witch call on that old naming magic. Who knows? You-Know-Who very well could have. None of us know, to the full extent, the power of Dark Magic," Matilda said.
"We're learning about it in school, in Defense Against the Dark Arts. But Professor Gold doesn't go into it very much," Sirius said. "It's almost as if she's afraid to teach it."
"It's a rather unconventional subject," Matilda said. "They never taught it when I went to Hogwarts. But that, of course, was when Dippet was Headmaster. And he was rather wishy-washy."
"Do you think it's because of Voldemort," Sirius asked.
Matilda sighed and stood up. "I don't know, darling. I don't know." She bend down to kiss her son's cheek, smiling when he quickly rubbed it off. "Good night, dear."
"Night, mum."
Matilda closed the door softly, and turned to face her husband who had been standing in the hallway. "It'll get worse before it gets better," she said.
"Owen Lupin was working for the Bureau of Nullification of Dark Wizardry," Jack Black said quietly to his wife. "I looked it up in the Ministry files. It was no accident he was killed."
"So what are we going to do?" she asked. "So much is happening...no child should be going through this. Sirius shouldn't have been exposed to death so soon, and that poor boy..."
"Our son's strong, 'Tilda," Jack said, putting an arm around his wife. "We've raised him well; he'll survive."
"I'll tell you something, Jack. I'm getting a cuppa tea."
"I might just join you."
~*~
"James!" Sirius yelled at the top of his lungs, hailing his friend who stood outside of Dervish and Bangs, a shop in Diagon Alley. The tall boy with wild black hair turned just in time to be crushed by Sirius' charge.
"Well, you're in a good mood today," James said, adjusting his glasses and grinning widely.
"Where were you? We were supposed to meet an hour ago!" Sirius said.
"Mum and Dad had car problems. It was a bit of a mess," James apologized. "I only got here just now."
"Floo Powder, James," Sirius said. "That's all I'm saying. It's fast, it's easy, and it doesn't involve a suspect transmission."
"Ha ha, very funny. And the transmission didn't break; it was the carburetor. And I think there was a problem with the fan belt as well..."
"You've lost me already," another voice broke in.
"Remus!" the two boys exclaimed exuberantly.
Remus back away. "Don't even think about hugging me," he said, grinning.
"You? I'd never hug you. I don't hug anyone, do I, James?" Sirius asked magnanimously.
"Um, right. Of course not, Sirius," James said. He solemnly showed Remus his two crossed fingers.
"Oh, thanks a lot."
"Any time."
"So, do you guys have all your shopping done?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, I've got my books and all," James said.
"Me too," put in Sirius. "Should be interesting, this year, with all the stuff we're learning."
Remus held up a copy of the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. On the cover was a picture of a rather disgruntled looking werewolf (so Sirius thought) attacking a sleepy village. The boy grinned sardonically. "Oh yes, a very interesting curriculum."
"Well, at least you won't fail," James said kindly.
"Of course not!" Remus said, shaking off the bitter mood and speaking in an outraged tone. "I never fail!"
"Right," Sirius drawled. "Then you can help Peter this year. ("I always help Peter this year, what are you talking about?") Oh, James, have you seen the broomsticks?" he said, changing the subject.
James' dark eyes lit up. "Yeah! They've got a whole new series - the Cleansweeps! I got one for my birthday; you've got to see it!"
"You'll have to try out for the team this year," Remus said. "No doubt - you'll have no competition."
"Plus, you know, I heard that Snape plans to try out for Slytherin," Sirius said.
James looked at him, surprised. "Snape? He couldn't even get on his broom last year - how does he expect to play?"
"He probably bought someone to play for him," Sirius grumbled.
"That sounds more like that 7th year, Lucius Malfoy," James said angrily. "Who ever heard of free enterprising a Quidditch match?"
"Look, it doesn't matter what the Slytherins do. Gryffindor still beats 'em every year," Remus pointed out.
"What about you?" James asked his friend. "Are you going to try out?"
Remus shook his head violently. "No, no, no. I'm keeping my feet on the ground, thank you very much. I'll wait in the stands with Peter while you and Sirius break every bone in your bodies."
"Oh, come off it, you can't still be afraid of heights?" Sirius said, waving to a few boys from the Gryffindor house as they passed them on the street.
Remus looked down. "My da was going to teach me," he said, very softly. He squinted up into the sky suddenly, trying to keep his voice light. "We never got around to it. So I think I'll stay down here. Besides," he said, grinning tightly, "I'd never be able to make it through the practices. They're brutal, I hear."
"Yeah, the captain doesn't give up," James agreed. "Which is why we always win.
Once I make the team, the other houses won't even show up to the games; they'll loose so badly."
"I'll drink to that," Sirius said, indicating Madam Doubuah's ice cream and soda shop. "Shall we?"
"You're paying."
~*~
"So, Lupin, I see you couldn't afford any new robes this year," Severus Snape taunted from the other side of a cauldron in Potions class. "Did your mother make those out of your old curtains?"
"Stuff it, Snape," Sirius called from across the room. James put a hand on his arm to keep him from chucking a dragon liver at the offending Slytherin. Sirius shot him an annoyed look; the one thing he hated worse than bickering with Snape was seeing the sallow boy fight with Sirius' other friends. Especially Remus, who's financial situation left him wide open for jibes, and Peter, who didn't have the guts to fight back.
"Oh, and now you've got other people fighting your battles for you," Snape continued, black eyes glinting. "I must say, that's rather shallow. Been taking lessons from Pettigrew?"
"Just put in the liver, Snape," Remus said. He'd been late for class and looked literally dead on his feet, after a night of the full moon. Having to be partners with Snape was hardly a good way to recover. The Slytherin was best in the year at Potions, and made sure everyone knew it. While working with him ensured a good grade, it also made for an almost unbearable class.
"G-d, Remus looks like he's about to fall into the potion," James whispered to Sirius.
Sirius, however, was focused on Snape. "If he makes one more crack, I swear, he's going to be our next ingredient."
"I hear Daddy kicked the bucket, Lupin," Snape said to the exhausted boy. "Did he see a Grim and die of fright?"
Remus froze.
"Oh, no, now I remember," Snape plunged on. "You-Know-Who got to him, didn't he?
I hear he chopped him up into little pieces and fed him to a vampire in a fluted champagne class. What's your mummy going to do, Lupin, without that extra paycheck? Starve? She can't eat the curtains, 'cause you're wearing 'em..."
Sirius lunged in Snape's direction, but Remus was much closer.
Snape only had a chance to scream once.
~*~
"I must say, Mr. Lupin, that I'm disappointed in you," Headmaster Albus Dumbledore said severely. "Fighting in class is hardly a way to endear yourself to anyone. Can you explain your choice of actions?"
Remus sat stiffly in the high-backed armchair in the Headmaster's office, under sharp scrutiny of the phoenix Fawkes. "Sn...Severus said some things that I found impossible to ignore."
"Is that so?" the Headmaster asked. "You deemed it necessary to break Mr. Snape's jaw, give him two black eyes, and quite a few bruises, over a simple verbal disagreement?"
Remus simply looked down, pleading silently for the older man to understand.
Dumbledore sat down at his desk and looked at the young boy speculatively. "Mr. Lupin," he said softly, "I believe your father passed away this summer?"
The reply came in the form of a bowed head and slumped shoulders. "Yes sir."
"Did this have anything to do with the fight this morning?" Dumbledore asked, softening.
There was a pause. Then, "Yes sir."
The Headmaster sat back and folded his hands in his sleeves. "Can anyone testify to this?"
"The class heard Snape, I guess. Professor Dennis was in the other room, though," Remus said.
"So he tells me," Dumbledore said. He looked at the boy over his moon-shaped spectacles. "Remus, I knew your father very well."
Remus looked up sharply at this, but remained silent.
"He was a good friend of mine. In fact, I was the first one he came to after you'd had your accident. We worked together for a long time."
"He talked about you, sometimes," Remus said.
Dumbledore smiled. "Good old Owen. If it weren't for him, my Welsh would still sound Arabic. But I'm straying." Dumbledore leaned forward. "Remus, your father would have been proud that you felt the need to defend him, and even prouder that you didn't admit to it. I daresay he'd have even been proud that you won the fight. But the point remains that you broke school rules, and that would not have pleased him. Therefore, you'll understand why I'm giving you detention. Four hours with Professor Dennis this weekend, helping him clean the Potions dungeon."
"Yes sir," Remus said, hiding his displeasure at having to spend four hours with the unpleasant, absent-minded Potions professor. However, detention was far better than suspension, which he had been almost certain would be the punishment. And that was only best-case scenario. Snape had not been in good condition when they carted him off to the Infirmary.
"Marvelous," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands and startling Fawkes, who had fallen asleep. "You go on down to lunch now; I hear they're serving Shepard's Pie, my favorite. Oh, and Remus," he added as the boy made to climb out the entranceway.
"Yes sir?"
"Next time, don't hit him so hard."
~*~
"So what happened, Remus?" James asked as the pale boy plopped down at the Gryffindor table. "We tried to wait for you, but Professor McGonagall made us move along."
"Four hours detention with Dennis," Remus said, reaching for a plate. "I get to clean the dungeon this weekend," he added in sarcastic happiness.
"That hardly seems fair," Sirius said. "After all, it was all Snape's fault."
"Remus did break his jaw," Peter pointed out, mouth full of potatoes. "By the way, how did you do that? Snape is huge; I'd have thought he would beat you to a pulp!"
Remus shrugged, letting the insult go by. With Peter that was usually the best course of action, as the small boy hardly ever intended to offend. "I wasn't really thinking about the how of the situation. It just kind of happened."
"I hate that....that...Slytherin!" Sirius said explosively, earning himself a few stares from the other Gryffindors. "Just you wait; he'll milk this for all it's worth."
"I don't know," James said, introspectively. "I mean, he did loose to a smaller boy (no offence, Remus). That doesn't say much for him."
"He'll probably try to make my life miserable," Remus said, chewing thoughtfully. "Which, since he's working for that anyway, shouldn't be too much to adjust to."
"Well, I say we make the first move!" Sirius said, banging his fist down on the table. (By this time the other diners had prudently decided to ignore his little outbursts.) He motioned for the other boys to move in closer and gleefully whispered a plan.
"It's perfect!" James exclaimed.
"Brilliant!" Remus praised.
"Leave me out of it!" Peter pleaded. He took in the looks from the other boys.
"There's a test in Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, and I know I'm going to fail. I...I have to study!"
"There is?" Remus asked, shrugging. "You can copy off of me, Peter. No problem."
The small boy slumped with relief. "You'll still leave me out of it, though. Right?"
"Sure, Peter, whatever you say," James said. He lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Now, here's how we'll do it. We'll grab a can of ink from Transfiguration, and my Invisibility cloak ("Maybe we'd better get that first."), and..."
~*~
"James, move over. You're taking up all the ruddy space!"
"Well, I've got three cans of ink here, you move over!"
"Shh!" Remus hissed. "Mrs. Norris!"
The three boys, huddled under one large Invisibility cloak, froze in the middle of the dark hallway as the janitor's cat stalked past. The boys had learned from experience last year that wherever Mrs. Norris was, Filch himself was not far behind. They held their breath as the cat paused, sniffed the air, and then moved on.
"Phew," Sirius said, exhaling as soon as Mrs. Norris was out of sight. "I swear, we're going to have to do something about that cat."
"Like what?" James whispered back, starting to move along the hallway again.
"Kill her? You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am," Sirius said, grinning at the pun.
"Shut up."
"You know, the idea has merit. We'd be worshiped by future Hogwarts law-breakers for years to come," Remus said.
"After we'd been decapitated by Filch," James said.
"There is that."
"Watch out, guys," Sirius cautioned. "Stairs."
"Now you tell me!" James said, tripping and almost dislodging himself from the cloak.
The three descended the long, spiraling staircase into the dungeon of Hogwarts. Remus had made sure to note the way after his detention, and the miscreants headed along the dank passages towards the Slytherin common room.
"Okay, stop," James commanded, as they reached a dead end. The moldy rock wall rose in front of them. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
"This is where Dennis told me the entrance is," Remus assured him. "Almost makes you feel sorry for them; they don't have a simple picture and password to use."
"Never feel sorry for the Slytherins," Sirius advised. "I think it's rather funny. Can't you just picture Snape being stuck out here 'cause he forgot which stone to push?"
The three took a moment to snicker over that.
"Alright, let's get started," James said, cautiously easing off the cloak. "Remember, one sound, and it's back on and we're nowhere in sight. Remus, you keep an ear out."
"Yes, master," Remus said, opening a can of ink and taking out a brush. Sirius and James did the same. "Ready?"
"Ah, the joys of art," Sirius sighed. With a bold red brush stroke, he began to paint the wall.
~*~
"Alright, listen up," McGonagall said sharply to the amassed group of Gryffindors. They all sat in the common room, facing her wrath. "Someone, or someones, has taken it upon their selves to deface the Slytherin entranceway. I'd suggest that the perpetrators speak up now, or risk harsher punishment, because one way or another, we will find out who committed this crime."
"Professor." A red-headed 2nd year named Lily raised her hand. "How do you know it was a Gryffindor, and not a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw?"
"For your information, Ms. Flannel, the other houses are receiving the same lecture. However, considering the fact that the Gryffindor lion was painted in bright red ink playing golf with the Slytherin serpent as a putter, most of the faculty believe (and I agree) that it was a Gryffindor who did the painting."
There were more than a few giggles, which stopped abruptly when McGonagall sent out her famous glare. "This is hardly humorous. I will leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves. If, in one hour, you cannot produce the people who did this, than the entire house will have detention until we can get this sorted out. I leave it to you."
She left the common room amongst a chorus of groans.
"All of us?!"
"This is so not fair!"
"I was asleep all night last night!"
"I don't even know where the Slytherin common room is!"
Peter kept shooting agonized looks at James, Sirius, and Remus. He seemed to be debating the consequences of either infinite detention or betrayal to three bigger boys.
"Now, listen up," Molly McPastor, a 7th year, said. "I don't plan to be spending all my time in detention, so I suggest whoever did this speak up, or...risk facing a whole lot of annoyed 7th years."
"Exactly," Arthur Weasley agreed.
Sirius looked at James, who looked at Remus, who looked at Sirius.
"It's not like we're scared of them or anything," James pointed out, under his breath.
"Hardly," Remus agreed.
"We're just doing it in the name of justice!" Sirius said. "I mean, that's why we did it in the first place, right?"
"Right."
With that decision, the three boys stood up.
"Look no further, fellow Gryffindors, it was us," Sirius proclaimed.
"Our artwork graces the Slytherin entrance wall," Remus admitted.
"None of you will have to face eternal detention," James assured.
They were faced with silence. For a moment, Sirius wondered if the other Gryffindors were going to attack them or something. Then...
Molly McPastor stood up and walked slowly over to the three 2nd years (tripping over quite a few other kids, but doing it gracefully, as befits a 7th year). She put her arm around James and faced the amassed people. "We have here," she said in a choked voice, "three talented, honest, noble young men. Not only did they show Gryffindor pride, but they proved their honor by turning themselves in. We all...genuflect...before your superiority. And hope your punishment isn't all that harsh."
"Gee, thanks, Molly," Sirius said.
"Look, guys," Abernan System, a 5th year, said, "I motion that because of what you did, the rest of us should help out with the detention. After all, in a way, it's all of our fault, no?" He looked at the older students. "I mean, if we hadn't taught these young Gryffindors what it is to hate Slytherin, none of this would have happened. We can't leave them to be punished for a deed that we're at least partly responsible for!"
"No, that's okay," Remus said. "It would kind of be a mess if the entire house turned up for detention."
"Plus McGonagall wouldn't hear of it," James said. "But thanks anyway, you lot."
They sat down amidst a great cheer.
"You know, James," Sirius whispered as some of the kids went off to do other things. "Next time, I think we shouldn't be so obvious. I mean, I like all the attention as much as the next guy, but this was rather embarrassing. I mean, it took all the fun out of being caught!"
"Sirius is right," Remus agreed. "I mean, the lion and the snake was cute, but also just a tad bit cheezy. We can be much more creative."
"If only we had more time to work," James mused. "It took us half the night to get there. And I know there's got to be a shortcut to the dungeons; how else would the Slytherins get to class on time?"
"We can always find out," Remus said. "A map, perhaps...,"
"I think you're on to something, there," Sirius said. "A map of all the secret passageways in the school! It would be hard, but we could do it, I think."
"Of course! With my cloak, Remus' senses, and your...um...enthusiasm, we can do anything!" James said.
"What about me?" a small voice asked. The three turned to look at Peter Pettigrew, who stood before them, wringing his hands. "I mean, I know...I'm not very brave. And...and....I really did have to study! But...I want to help."
Sirius was already shaking his head no, but James grabbed him by the hair and grinned at Peter. "Of course, Peter. Now, we're four."
~*~
Disclaimer: All characters except for Owen Lupin, Matilda Black, and Aidian Black belong to J.K. Rowling.