James looked at Professor McGonagall with the most innocent expression he could muster. Unfortunately, his best wasn't all that convincing. Peter stood behind him, wringing his hands nervously as his eyes darted around the room. Sirius was to his left, and grinning so proudly one might have thought he'd made Head Boy. Lupin stood to James' right, looking slightly uncomfortable. He couldn't, however, hide the slight smirk that danced briefly across his face.
"But Professor, we didn't break any rules…" He tried.
"Mister Potter, you know full well the rules of this establishment." The Head of House began sternly, looking over her glasses at the four teenage boys. "No students out of bed after-"
"Well we never actually left our beds, now did we?" Sirius cut in, trying hard not to laugh. McGonagall breathed a heavy sigh, and glared at the dark-haired teen. He immediately closed his mouth.
The four boys had plotted for days on how to get past the pesky rule. At least three of them had wanted to explore the castle after dark (Peter tended to get antsy around the idea of punishment), as they had thought it would be far more interesting.
They discussed ideas with each other during classes and lunch. They had ranged from 'use the invisibility cloak' to 'conjure a box big enough to hide all four of us, and duck under it when the teachers look'. Eventually, they had begun to discuss technicalities of the rule. It was James who first noticed the loophole.
He had approached the other three marauders during a passing period to share his epiphany.
"I figured it out!" He had nearly shouted with glee, sprinting towards his partners.
"Figured what out?" Lupin had asked curiously.
"How we can leave our dorms at night without breaking any school rules!" James was practically bouncing up and down with excitement as he spoke.
"How? Go on, share!" Sirius urged, making a 'go on' gesture with his hands. Peter just looked worried.
"What is the exact rule?" James asked slowly, glee evident in his eyes.
"'No students out of bed-'" Lupin began cautiously.
"Exactly!" James roared, cutting him off. The others looked on in curiosity. "We just won't leave our beds!"
"How would that work, exactly?"
"It's simple, really. We'll just use a levitation charm to maneuver our beds to wherever! It's genius!"
"I-I'm not so sure about this James… What if we get caught? We could lose points! Or even get expelled!" Peter pleaded.
"No one's forcing you to come along, Wormtail." Sirius pointed out. Peter remained silent after that.
Later that night, the four troublemakers had put their plan into action. Quietly, so as not to awaken anyone, the boys managed to levitate their beds into the corridor outside the common room.
"This is brilliant, James!" Sirius whispered, grinning from ear to ear. James beamed back at him with an equally mischievous look on his face.
"Hey Sirius, wanna race?"
The ensuing mayhem quickly awakened Filch, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and other residents of the castle. What had begun as a harmless prank soon became a castle-wide game of tag: Professors V.S Marauders.
They were, of course, eventually caught.
But it had been a fun game, Sirius mused, as he finished regaling the tale to his Godson. The boy looked delighted at the tale, and Sirius couldn't help but let out a bark-like laugh.
"Did you really do that?" Harry questioned, in between giggles.
"Oh yes. They have since changed the rule, of course, but it was good fun all the same,"
Sirius assured his charge, looking upon him fondly. He was so much like James… Sirius was sure he would have a wonderful marauder.
He did cause his own brand of trouble at Hogwarts, after all.