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Chapter 22

One Saturday morning in mid-October, while Peter was still sleeping and Remus was "away," Sirius and James were amusing themselves by listening for the sound of girls walking down the steps from their dorms. As soon as they heard the girls coming, they'd step foot on the staircase. They would then laugh maniacally as a klaxon sounded and the stairs turned into a slide and, with a scream, whatever poor girl happened to be walking down the stairs, now found herself sliding to the bottom. Several students, particularly the guys, grumbled at the boys since the klaxon had awakened them, but many watched in amusement as the girls slid to the bottom of the stairs.

Many of the first-years were taken completely by surprise and landed in awkward heaps at the bottom. James and Sirius would then, very graciously, offer to help them up off the floor. A few of the older girls, who were used to the unexpected shifts in the castle, simply slid to the bottom gracefully. The boys still offered their hands to help them up.

"Oo, Evans and Gillette," Sirius whispered when he identified the next set of voices coming down the stairwell. Lily Evans was a particular favorite for the Marauders to torment. The fiery redhead often laid into them, particularly for pranking younger students. She was wickedly funny and could hold her own in verbal sparring matches with the boys, and she occasionally fired back with a spell of her own. The added danger of retaliation only served to spur the boys on to see what she would do next.

James grinned in Cheshire fashion, and the two boys counted to three, then they stepped on the stairs, which collapsed into the slide. With a scream and a laugh, Lily and Gillette found themselves at the bottom of the stairs.

James offered to help Lily up, and Sirius took Gillette's hand.

Lily looked up and saw the perpetrators of this offense. "Oh, should have known it'd be you. How many times has it been this morning?" And she got up without taking James' hand.

"Look at that, Sirius. She recognizes our handy work."

"Yes, anything this lame would have to be you," Lily replied.

Sirius watched amusedly as his friend searched for a comeback. As he watched, he casually rested his elbow on Gillette's shoulder. They exchanged glances and smiles. Sirius was entertained; unbeknownst to him, Gillette was blushing and smiling for an entirely different reason.

"Ah, but you laughed. It couldn't have been that lame."

"When there is nothing intelligent around with which to be amused, sometimes one has to allow oneself to be amused by simple people. I mean things," she said haughtily.

At this comment, Sirius barked out a laugh.

Lily's vivid green eyes gleamed triumphantly as she watched James struggle to find something to say. With a satisfied nod, she turned to Gillette. "Shall we continue to breakfast or wait for Patty and Leena?"

Gillette looked at Sirius, who shifted so he was no longer leaning on her. Gillette shrugged, "Let's go. I'm starved. They'll catch up."

James cast Sirius a scandalized glance. "You were a big help."

Sirius laughed. "I'm not getting in the middle of that. I've seen what that girl can do with a wand."

Peter walked groggily down the stairs from the boys' dorm.

"Finally!" James said irritably.

Peter looked questioningly at Sirius.

"Oh, he's just upset because Lily got the better of him."

"Again?" Peter asked innocently, causing Sirius to start laughing again.

James started grumbling to himself about lack of respect and girls as he headed for the portrait hole and breakfast.

In the common room that night, Sirius was staring out the window, taking a break from his Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment. The new professor was an odd woman who tended to stop mid-sentence as if she'd forgotten what she was talking about. After a moment, she'd pick up right were she left off. Some of the students had started joking that she heard voices and had to stop and listen to them on occasion.

James was trying to explain to Peter the difference between a jinx and a hex when he noticed that Sirius was suddenly paying very close attention to something outside.

"What are you looking at?" James asked.

Sirius returned James' question with one of his own. "Is it a full moon tonight?"

"Dunno. Why? What do you see?"

"Nothing. I'm just thinking… I'll be right back." And with that Sirius ran up to their dorm. After a moment, he came back down, skipping every other step.

"Astronomy?" James asked.

Sirius cuffed James lightly on the back of the head. "Yeah. The moon and all… " Sirius frowned.

"What?" James insisted.

"Remember what we talked about on the train? … About Remus' trips home?"

"About them being regular?"

"Monthly." Sirius stated simply.

He stared at James, trying to communicate without speaking. He didn't want to say anything for fear he was wrong. So he waited to see if James would come to the same conclusion with what little information Sirius had fed him.

After a moment, the light of dawning comprehension lit in James' eyes and he grabbed the astronomy book. Once he confirmed his thought, he sat down hard and looked back at Sirius.

"His mum?" James asked.

Sirius sat down close to James so they could talk quietly. "I don't think so. Listen… Remember the night I spent in the hospital wing last year?"

James nodded.

"Well, Remus was there. He didn't go home that weekend. In fact, he told me his mum wasn't really sick and he didn't go home to take care of her."

James ran his hand through his dark hair, making it stick out at odd angels and adding to the disheveled look it usually had. "Why didn't he tell the rest of us?"

"Well, can you blame him? I mean, if it's what we think it is?"

James thought for a moment then a new thought occurred to him, "You knew and didn't say anything?"

Sirius shrugged, "I didn't know what it meant at the time. Besides… I promised."

James accepted this answer. "We need to hit the library. How are we going to look into this without him knowing?"

"Why not just ask him? I don't think he'll lie if we ask him to his face."

"No. I want to be more sure. I mean… This is… This is big!"

"Got it!" Peter exclaimed, holding his quill up triumphantly. James and Sirius looked at him expectantly. "The difference between a hex and a jinx…" Peter's voice trailed off. Sirius and James both shook their heads in disbelief. "I have the feeling I missed something again."

James smiled and put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Don't worry, Peter. You'll find out soon enough."

During the week that followed, Remus noticed a change in Sirius and James' behavior. They were a little more secretive and he'd caught them whispering a few times. Occasionally, he'd catch one of them watching him thoughtfully, and he began to worry. He decided, however, that he would not confront them. If they knew anything, they would, inevitably, come to him. But if he was just being paranoid, then there was nothing to worry about. So he tried to ignore the behavior.

Fortunately, the attention of twelve-year-old boys is easily diverted. November hailed the opening of the Quidditch season and James' first official match. For all his confidence and swagger, he barely ate or spoke the morning of the game.

"You'll do fine, mate," Sirius said, reassuringly clapping him on the back.

James left breakfast early to meet the team at the Quidditch pitch.

Remus, Peter, and Sirius headed to the stands. They were sporting their usual red and gold hair and they had made signs that read "Way to go, Potter," "Go James," and "Gryffindors Rule."

The game, which was Gryffindor verses Slytherin, was an exciting one. James was obviously very good. Because of his relatively small size and rookie status, the Slytherins were gunning for him. But James was not deterred and, in fact, used his size to his advantage. Among his more impressive moves of the game, he shot right between the two Slytherin beaters to make a goal. His fellow chaser, Frank Longbottom, was hit with a bludger and lost his grip on the quaffle. Tailed by the Slytherin chasers, James went into a twenty foot dive to rescue the lost ball. He plucked it out of the air and tossed it back to Frank, who had regained control, allowing him to make a goal. The Gryffindors out-skilled the Slytherins, and it was just a matter of which seeker would find the snitch first. After just a few short minutes, Jules, the Gryffindor seeker, shot like an arrow across the playing field, barely dodging the activity around her, and beat the Slytherin seeker to the snitch. Gryffindor won 210 to 40. It could not have been a better opening for the young team.

His friends, for their part, had yelled themselves hoarse cheering him on.

Gryffindor had their usual victory party after the game with food, drinks, and the occasional fireworks. Frank was being lovingly attended to by his girlfriend Alice. The team captain, Weatherton, congratulated Jules and James for their fine performances during the game. And even Lily praised James' skill.

The excitement of Gryffindor's first victory died down just as it was time for Remus to make another trip "home."

"What do you reckon? Tomorrow night he'll tell us he has to leave again?" Sirius whispered to James in Potions class.

"Mm-hmm," James nodded, trying very hard not to spill any extra lilac essence into his potion.

And, just as predicted, the next night Remus said, "I'll be leaving again tomorrow night."

"Right on time," Sirius said, more snidely than he intended.

"What does that mean?" Remus asked, not really wanting an answer.

James interrupted, "It's just been a while since you went home. We were expecting… I've never seen you get an owl."

Remus was thrown by the change in the conversation. "What?"

"Nothing," James said thoughtfully.

"He means, how do you know when your father wants you to come home when you never get an owl telling you it's time?" Sirius never was one to back down, and the thought had never occurred to him before – further confirming what James and he thought.

"Well, I..." Remus started, but Sirius held up his hand.

"Don't," he said warningly. Sirius hated being lied to and he didn't think he would be able to restrain himself from spilling what he and James suspected if Remus started making excuses.

The boys let the conversation drop for now, though Remus knew this wasn't over.

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A/N - Thanks again to those who read and review and are continuing to stick with the story. Thanks also to the new people who've joined us. Thanks, too, to my ever faithful editors (Mom and mei mei) and my lovely beta (J.A.Carlton). Love.