Author's Note: A big thank youto my reviewers and the people who have chosen to favourite/follow this story. Talia-Elizabeth, this chapter is dedicated to you for urging me to continue. I'll be seeing this story through to the end, so I hope you guys will stick with me :)

Enjoy! (Chapters will eventually be longer).

Chapter 2

"I don't believe this!" Sirius whined as he and James exited Muggle Studies.

Upon handing in their wands the boys had each been gifted with something called a 'ball-point pen' and a composition book. Professor Gillies claimed these added burdens were to complete the journalling experience since muggles did not write with quills and scrolls. This would have been fine with James and Sirius had the composition books not each sported a violently vibrant muggle-themed cover. Sirius had been lucky enough to grab a football-themed journal that was fairly unremarkable. James had spent too long mourning the loss of his wand and was stuck with an ostentatious giant glittery butterfly on the front of his journal. His first thought had been to charm it to change into a golden snitch. Then he remembered he didn't have a wand to charm it with.

He had looked from his journal to Professor Gillies in revulsion. "You've got to be joking."

She had responded with a wide grin. "Enjoy your weekend Mr. Potter."

"How are we supposed to do anything?" Sirius continued. "What a right bore these journals are going to be. 'Dear Diary, without the use of magic, I had a lovely old time watching the grass grow. Oh, and I made a cup of tea. It was absolutely smashing.'"

"'Dear Diary,'" James stated in mock seriousness, "Without magic, I did an extraordinary thing known to muggles as 'walking'. Unable to summon my book, I was forced to 'walk' to my dorm to to retrieve it. I've never felt such satisfaction. Muggle-walking is brilliant."

Sirius chuckled. He and James continued to compose absurd diary entries as they made their way to the Great Hall for supper.

"'Dear Diary, I peeled an orange. Huzzah! Next week: conquering the elusive apple skin! Week after that: a cavalry charge!'" Sirius said with a flourish.

"'Cavalry charges are the muggles' way of cracking a coconut, you see Diary,'" James concluded, deadpan as he and Sirius sunk into their seats at the Gryffindor table.

"What? A cavalry charge, really?" asked a round-faced boy with a pointed nose and mousy hair. His plate of food was half gone and he had a pumpkin juice stash on his upper lip.

"Yes, Wormtail. Don't you remember The Great Coconut Charge of 1907?" asked James, serving himself a lump of mashed potatoes.

"Impossible to forget, really," Sirius piped in, grabbing a plateful of drumsticks. He and James finished serving themselves and then switched dishes.

"Whatever they're telling you, don't believe them Peter," sighed a worn-out looking boy as he sank into a seat next to the wonderstruck Peter Pettigrew. Remus Lupin's robes were substantially less black than the other boys and his face was extremely pale and peaky looking. In fact, nearly everything about Remus Lupin looked faded except for the shining prefect's badge on his chest.

"Aw, Moony, don't ruin the fun," James said with no real disappointment, offering Moony the plate of chicken he'd finished with. Moony accepted with an apologetic grin.

"I didn't really believe it. I knew you were joking," Peter insisted, but his attempt at redemption fell on deaf ears. "Anyway, full moon this week isn't it?" he prompted.

"Shh. Keep your voice down, would you?" Remus said, as he always did when the others were careless with his condition. "And no. It's next week."

"Oh," said Peter regretfully. "Then what's on this weekend?"

Sirius and James exchanged a look. It occurred to both of them that their friends were unaware of their currently magic-less situation. Being without magic would definitely put a dent in their usual weekend shenanigans.

James shrugged at Sirius and leaned forward to tell Remus and Peter of the unfortunate nature of their Muggle Studies assignment in a low voice.

Sirius frowned, and for the first time since handing in his wand, gave true thought to the prospect of being without magic for an entire weekend in a place where at least one-quarter, if not one-third, of the population loathed him. While he was in no way afraid of anyone or anything, he told himself, it just didn't seem practical to announce his predicament to the whole school. Certainly that would just be asking for trouble.

And while it was perceived as cowardly to attack an unarmed man, he had never counted on the Slytherins to be the brave, honourable sort.

He wondered if Professor Gilles had given true thought to the growing contention between certain groups of students at Hogwarts, particularly between those who stood with The Dark Lord and those who opposed him. Skirmishes often broke out between the two sides in the corridors of Hogwarts. Sometimes official duels were arranged, but it was common knowledge that James and Sirius could not abide walking past a group of would-be Death Eaters without some sort of altercation occurring. Usually the severity of which depended on Sirius and James' mood, whether or not they were running late for class, or if they were busy putting as much distance between themselves and their latest prank as possible.

Sirius was sympathetic to the muggle people but he didn't see how being one would help him or protect them. Muggles were a helpless lot. He needed his wand.

James concluded relaying his story. Remus looked nervous and Peter had a confused expression.

"So… you can't do magic?" Peter asked.

"That's really horrible," Remus said, twisting his napkin between his fingers. "I mean, what if, you know, people find out. People like…"

"Oh, who cares?" James said, waving away Remus' worry with a careless hand. "It's just a couple of days."

"It makes you an easy target," said Remus. "You don't think Severus and Mulciber and the rest wouldn't love to catch you without a wand? You'll be as helpless as a flobberworm against a hungarian horntail!"

"Hey!" James protested. "Watch who you're calling a flobberworm, would you?"

"Yes, mustn't insult the flobberworms, Moony," Sirius said. Peter shrieked with laughter.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Will you both of you please be serious. This is-"

"I can't be Sirius," James interrupted, eyes wide, feigning shock and indignation. "He's Sirius." He pointed to an empathically nodding Sirius to make the distinction quite clear.

"WILL YOU STOP. THAT JOKE IS SO OLD. JUST LET IT DIE."

"Moony, my lad, I had no idea you felt so strongly about it," Sirius said, laughing.

"Every. Single. Time. Can't you just let one go? ONE? Would it kill you?" Remus pleaded.

"It might." James said.

"Not sure," considered Sirius.

"Probably not worth the risk," James concluded.

Remus groaned. Peter continued laughing like a hyena. The small outburst caused those closest to stare curiously for a moment. Seeing the source of the noise, however, the observers went back to their meals, used to the marauders being the source of raucous behaviour. Since their third year at Hogwarts, it was custom for there to be at least five seats left empty on either side of the marauders at the Gryffindor table. People found that breaching this bubble caused their food to behave in curious ways. Chicken wings would come to life and flap as though seeking to take flight, peas would scream and dodge each stab of the fork, goblets would pirouette out of reach as the owner went to take a drink, and so on and so forth. Eventually, people learned that it was better to keep their distance and enjoy their meal in peace than to attempt to toady to the marauders, or James and Sirius as it were.

This bubble of space allowed sensitive matters, also known as elaborate scheming, to be discussed without fear of eavesdroppers.

"You worry too much, Moony. No one's going to find out," James said.

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, and when have we ever been the sort to attract trouble?"

A/N: Please review :)