A/N: Long time no see. I'm working really hard trying to find motivation for my other stories, I really am. This piece I wrote in twenty minutes after reading an extraordinarly good fanfic, sadly though, I can't remember the name. I have not planned for this to become a multi-chaptered story, but if good response is given...Who knows. This would be much easier to write, I think. Well, here's my one-shot of the Marauders (possibly multi-chap story)

"How are you doing over there, Snivelleus? Not missing any classes over your chemistry set, are you?"
James and Sirius fist bumped. Remus just smiled slightly, and Peter laughed a hysterical laugh. Severus didn't answer. In fact, he did his very best to ignore the infamous duo. James Potter and Sirius Black were the stars of the school, even if they were only in their fifth year. People did tend to avoid Remus Lupin, though. Not that he was mean or anything, he was actually a unusually nice guy, but there was just something...off with him. And nobody else could stand spending more than a few minutes with Peter Pettigrew, they were just thankful that James, Sirius and Remus were indifferent enough to let him stalk them everywhere they went.
"James?" said Sirius.
"Yes, lover boy?"

Over the years Sirius had become quite the player.
"Funny. You do know you'll never hook up with Evans if you keep picking on him?"
"I'm just teasing him a little, it's his problem if he can't take it like a man." shrugged James, but Sirius could see he was concerned. And he had noticed James had cut down severely on the public humiliations. Sirius just stared at James, showing he didn't believe his bullshit.
"All right, fine! I've been thinking the same thing. But I can't stop picking on him and be his new bff, what would will people say? I've got an image to hold up here, you do too! You gotta think about your reputation, Sirius. We only got two and half years left here and all you have accomplished is sleeping with approximately a third of Hogwarts' girls.

"What's wrong with the other thirds, Sirius?" said Peter with a nervous smile. Sirius placed a firm hand on the shorter boy shoulder.

"You see Peter, one third are the girls who are too young and the other third are the girls who are just too bloody ugly." Sirius leaned back in the grass, placing his hand beneath his head in a very relaxed position. "Well, some of the hot ones are unbelievably prude. But I'm not counting them, they are too few."

"Let me guess, Lily's among those few?" said Remus while picking straws of green grass from the lawn.
"She'd better be." said James, even if he knew Sirius would never even try to sleep with Lily.

It was a silent agreement they had in the Marauders, you don't sleep with each others crushes. Of course, this only applied when the others actually knew about it. James had had a thing for Lily since the beginning of time, Sirius never fell in love, Remus was afraid of having a girlfriend due to his little furry problem, and no one cared what Peter said. For five years they had tried to get him to relax, but he kept on trying to please them every waking second so they just gave up. So the only girl who was really of limits was Lily Evans. Sirius couldn't understand what James saw in her. Sure, she was pretty and would make a nice shag, but she was a prude and a know-it-all. Not to mention her complete lack of humor.
"Of course she is, I would never even hit on Lily."

Although shagging was great, Sirius did feel a bit jealous sometimes. He had never been in love. Sure, it was nice screwing around with no conscience, but he still wanted to feel those butterflies people talked about when they're in love. Just once, perhaps. Otherwise, love just seemed complicated. Just look at James. Never even spared a glance for anyone else than Lily Evans, but he never even dared to make a move.

Lost in his thought, Sirius didn't notice Remus getting up.
"If we don't want to be late for Transfiguration we should go now."
They got up quickly and hurried to McGonagall's classroom even if they weren't in a hurry. They usually didn't make much effort to be in time for classes, but none of them had never missed a Transfiguration lesson in three years. Not even when they were sick. Their devotion for Transfiguration had not been appreciated by the other students when both James and Sirius had caught the flu. But they where still as motivated as they where in second year when they had come up with the idea after finding out about Remus' little furry problem. They were so close now, so close to finding the key in becoming an animagus.

When they got to the classroom, they found that it was already open. Nobody was in there. They went in and took the places in the front row. A cat appeared out of nowhere, and made itself comfortable on the teacher's desk.
"Hello, professor McGonagall!" they all said in unison. The cat took a leap and transformed into Minerva McGonagall. She smiled at them.
"Early as usual. I must say, I do not quite understand this fascination with being early for my classes. I understand you don't make the same effort for your other classes." she said. It was clear she indeed was curious about it, but but very pleased to see students of her own house be so devoted to her subject. The Marauders had had a serious discussion about professor McGonagall. Sirius thought they should ask and discuss with her about becoming animagus for Remus' sake. Dumbledore didn't have to know. James thought the exact opposite, he claimed that Dumbledore knew everything that was going on at the school (Sirius really couldn't argue with that. Though he barely knew him and had only met him connection with him being a naughty boy, Sirius had great respect for Dumbledore. Heck, he'd die for him). The old man was already risking enough with just having Remus at the school. And even if they unofficially were McGonagall's favorite students, they couldn't be sure she would take it well. James didn't want to jeopardize their grades if they could do it alone, even if it would take longer to figure it out. And as usual, James got his way.
"We just want to be the best in our favorite subject." said James, knowing exactly how much he could butter before McGonagall snapped.
"Well, some say you master Transfiguration when you master Animagi..."

The Marauders went very silent.
"But that is way out of a few fifth years' hands! Even if you are talented..." said McGonagall, thinking of something. Just then, the rest of the class stormed in and McGonagall broke her deep thoughts.
"Silence please! Today we're going to learn about...Yes, Mr. Lupin?"
"Ma'm, can I be excused? I'm not feeling very well."

James and Sirius looked at each other. They hadn't noticed it, they were so caught up by the moment of Animagi. It happened that Remus got sick and nauseous when the full moon approached. James and Sirius got up from their seats at the exact same time and said simultaneously:
"We'll take him to the hospital wing."
McGonagall, like the other teachers, knew that Remus was sensitive around the full moon. They pardoned them from classes more than they should.
"Isn't one enough? Well, fine then...Potter, Black! Only escort him. Come back and finish the class, or else I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you detention."

Sirius answered for them as he and James pulled up Remus from his seat and half dragged him out of the classroom.
"We'll see you at the usual time then, Professor. Wear something pretty!"
Their classmates snickered, some girls giggled a little louder than other. Probably to catch James and Sirius' attention. Minerva couldn't come up with anything better to say than:
"That includes you too then, Mr. Pettigrew."

After that occurrence McGonagall proceeded her lesson four favorite students short.

"Madam Pomfrey? He's getting worse." said James worried. Remus had puked out his guts for over an hour. Madam Pomfrey had told them to leave the minute they put him in the closest hospital bed, but they stayed and took turns cleaning up Remus and holding the bucket.
"Maybe he's just caught the flu." said Sirius.

"Extraordinary bad timing." replied James and handed over a fresh glass of water to Remus who thankfully rinsed his mouth.
"Well, with my luck I'll say it's the flu." said Remus, his voice weak. James smiled.
"Let's hope it's the flu and not a side effect of moon. Do you think you can sleep a bit now?"
Remus nodded and sank down in the sheets.
"We'll stay here and watch over you. Mind the detention, but we'll be back." whispered James as Remus went to sleep.
"I'll fetch some of our homework." said Peter and left for the Gryffindor Tower. Neither James nor Sirius answered. They knew Peter would get their homework, he always did. Peter didn't have much guts to make his opinion heard, but boy, he always finished his homework. Remus didn't like missing essays or finals, but if it didn't match with that time of month...Bad luck. Somehow, there were only few occurrences when a paper with Remus Lupin's name wasn't on it. Whether he was the one who actually wrote the essays or if it was the work of the other Marauders the teacher did not know, and they didn't bother to find out either.

After a few hours, they had finished the homework Peter had brought down.
"Why don't you make a move?" said Sirius suddenly after minutes of silence.

"Sorry?"
"Lily. I don't think she even knows you fancy her."
"She wouldn't want me anyway."
"Of course she would. Why wouldn't she?"
"Because I'm a douchebag who takes advantages of my intelligence for pranks."
"S'not true. You have excellent grades and no one has ever been able to prove we are the brains behind the brilliant pranks. And you know how girls work, given thought to your line of girlfriends. And the line of potential ones."
"She wouldn't like me because I'm experienced. She thinks I'm an repulsive player and a bully!"
Sirius leaned forward in his chair. Peter had fallen asleep over his Potions essay.
"Because you are. How about us sticking to only pranks for a while, ey? Leave Snivellius alone. If you're good to people, and especially in front of her, she might reconsider you. Start with friendship. Hang out in the library, I bet she spends every free minute there."
The next thing that came out James' mouth surprised them both.
"But I'm afraid she'll reject me."
Usually, Sirius would have teased the shit out of James for admitting he was scared of something Lily Evans might do to him, but under the circumstances Sirius knew James was trusting him. Probably more than he ever had before, and probably will with anyone. Sirius would not even admit to himself that he indeed was very moved by this.
"Then it's her loss. You're a genius, an excellent seeker, popular and irrevocably loyal to your friends. I don't know with you, but that sounds like a hell of a guy to me."
James cracked a small smile, and Sirius relaxed some. He had treated James' trust correctly.
"I think I'll ask her out in a few weeks time. When I'm a good guy."
Sirius snorted.
"I'll rephrase that for you, nice enough for her. You would be extremely boring to plan pranks with if you turned into a complete good guy."
This time, the smile James cracked was wide and genuine. Sirius felt like the best friend in the world.
"No worries, mate. Only to get my girl!"
Just then, Peter woke up with a startle. His head literally flew up from his pillow-serving Potions book as he said:
"What time is it?"
"It's time for your detention." said madam Pomfrey as she walked out of her office.
"Take care of him, will you?" said Sirius as he quite unwillingly got up from his seat next to Remus' bed.
"Of course Mr. Black. It's my job." she answered with a warming smile. She had grown quite fond of the boys of the years. Normally she would have answered with an ironic comment to that question, but she knew the boys really cared about Remus. She did too. She was saddened that such a horrible fate had landed on such a sweet and nice boy as Remus Lupin, and gladly helped him as much as she could. She considered it the least she could do, escort him the Shrieking Shack once every month. As soon as the boys left, Poppy Pomfrey put an extra blanket over Remus and fluffed his pillow a bit. Since the were no other patients in the hospital wing, Poppy magically pulled down the curtains and left the room a bit darker for Remus too sleep in before returning to her office.

A/N: Like it? Hate it? Let me know. Let me know how I can get better with my writing. Also, basic fact-errors are also appreciated even if it would be a sore spot to hit in my Harry Potter know-it-all-heart.

Lots of love3