Where did Harry get his Quidditch prowess from? His dad, of course... oh, and this is the one where everyone finds out about Remus' furry little secret.

Chapter 3

A pillow hit James hard in the face at 5 AM the next morning. He groaned and rolled over.

"JAMES. BLOODY. POTTER. Wake up now or I will hex you into oblivion and then I will kill you slowly!" Sirius yelled, throwing any items he could find at James. His wand hit James in the eye. James covered his head and groped around to turn off the blaring alarm clock. He hit it hard when he found it and the room quieted. Sirius sighed and fell back asleep within seconds. Peter rolled over in his bed and Frank remained unmoved. They could both sleep through an air raid. Remus, James presumed, was still in the hospital wing having his wounds tended to.

The transition hadn't been as bad as they had in the past. Remus didn't writhe in pain for nearly as long as normal, and once his wolf form took over, they roamed the grounds to allow Remus to work out his pent up energy and anger. Sirius and James kept Remus in check, using their large stag and dog bodies to keep him away from the castle, filled with sleeping students, and from hurting himself with the long claws that protruded from his paws. After the full moon began to wane, Remus became weaker and weaker and eventually retreated into the safety of the Shack after Peter had frozen the tree to await his full transition back to human. The other three made their way back to the part of the grounds where they had become their Animagus selves and hurriedly put their clothes back on and began to jog to the castle. After sneaking through the oak front doors, James and Sirius crouched down to Peter's height and the three of them made their way back to Gryffindor tower under the safety of the Invisibility Cloak. Cold, exhausted, and sore, they had collapsed into their beds fully clothed.

And now, at 5 AM, James seriously regretted his decision to hold Quidditch tryouts this morning. What sort of bloody idiot scheduled any athletic endeavor for 7 in the morning?! On a Saturday?! He made a mental note of how stupid he felt and vowed to never wake the team up so early again. After splashing cold water on his face and attempting to flatten his hair with a comb, James dragged his maroon and gold jumper over his head and fastened his Quidditch robes and boots. Carefully extracting his broom from his trunk and stowing his notes and plays inside his robes, he made his way downstairs to the Common Room. His eyes didn't seem to be fully functional nor adjusted to the darkness, so when he reached the bottom of the stairs and ran into something solid, his broom flew out of his hands and he fell face first onto the carpet.

"James? Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trip you. I forgot your eyesight is so bloody terrible." Lily looked down into James' disgruntled face. She appeared to be genuinely concerned, albeit slightly amused. James reluctantly nodded and rolled his eyes. He gave Lily his hand so she could help him back up.

"Dare I ask why you were camped out at the bottom of the boys dorm stairs? Bit creepy, if you're asking me…" James smiled lopsidedly as Lily stamped her foot.

"Because you four disappeared last night! Like you always do. I was hoping to catch you coming back in last night, but I fell asleep in the armchair next to the fire. So then I moved over here… but I suppose you were already back. I just want to know where you guys make off to all the time. You tell us we're all in this together but you're so damn secretive and it makes me crazy. Why can't you just be as honest with me and Mary and Alice and Frank as you are with Sirius and Remus and Peter? Do you not trust us?"

"Lily... " James sighed deeply. He did not have time for this today. "Lily, I do trust you. We do. But this isn't really something I can tell you. It's not up to me."

"Well who is it up to? Who gets to decide what information you withhold from us?!" Lily's red hair fanned out around her face and her green eyes flashed dangerously.

"Lily, I will explain this to you. I will. But not right now. Let me talk to Remus, Sirius, and Peter. This isn't a small decision. I want you to know we trust you. But I can't do this right now. I'm sorry." James laid a hand on her shoulder, but Lily turned away angrily. She stomped back up the stairs to the girls dormitories and James turned, defeated, to the portrait hole. Quidditch tryouts were off to a GREAT start.

After a rushed breakfast of porridge and coffee, James grabbed his Nimbus 1500 and made his way down to the Quidditch pitch. It was a little past 6 now and he wanted some time to fly and clear his mind before potential players showed up. He took Gryffindor's case of Quidditch practice equipment out of the changing room and set the trunk in the middle of the field. He tapped his wand against the arm of his glasses, ensuring that they'd stay on his face. Nobody wanted a repeat of Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff during third year, when James' glasses had fallen off and he missed the goal hoops by a spectacular distance when he attempted to score with the quaffle thanks to his near blindness. He shuddered at the memory as he mounted his broom and fastened his cloak even tighter against the morning chill. He gradually rose into the air, higher and higher until the Quidditch pitch was in full view and the castle looked like a miniature model in the distance. He urged his broom forwards and made a few circles around the pitch before making a nosedive at the smooth surface of the grassy pitch. He waited until he was about to hit the ground before pulling out of the dive in one smooth, upward motion. His toes grazed the ground as he began to accelerate upward. Adrenaline surged through his body and James let out a whoop of exhilaration. Never before had he executed such a well-time Wronski feint. He would definitely be using that move with his Seeker this season. As he hovered above the pitch, heart still beating like a drum in his ears, the hot guilt he felt over Lily's sense of betrayal started to seep back into his stomach. He hated the very idea that Lily thought James didn't trust her. He trusted her with everything he had… but this wasn't his secret to tell. It was Remus' life and future and wellbeing that were on the line if other people knew about his condition. James made a mental vow to broach the subject with the rest of the the Marauders tonight. If the four of them were going to be spending a lot of time with Alice, Frank, Lily, and Mary, it was bound to become obvious that they all disappeared at the same time each month. Practicing and perfecting defensive magic was sure to bring them closer together, but James knew they would never fully know or trust each other with this massive secret lingering in their midst. They had to tell them.

Suddenly, a voice broke through James' incredibly loud stream of consciousness and he started, almost falling off his broom. He regained his balance and looked down, his face burning with embarrassment.

"Potter! Oi! Come down here, won't you?" Kingsley Shacklebolt, a tall, brawny, black sixth year boy was yelling up at James with his hands cupped around his mouth. A small crowd of fellow Gryffindors was making their down the path from the castle and approaching the pitch as well. James steeled himself mentally and made his way back towards the stadium. He landed gingerly in the middle of a circle that was forming, full of Gryffindor Quidditch alums and new faces alike. James grinned and wrung Kingsley's hand enthusiastically until he realized how much stronger the black boy was and yanked his hand away, shaking it in pain.

"Damn, Shacklebolt. Don't break my hand, I need that to throw the quaffle!" Kingsley shrugged apologetically and laughed in his deep baritone.

"Sorry, captain. Just excited to see you!" James grinned at him and looked around the circle. Aside from Kingsley, James saw three more players from last year's team - Frank, who played chaser alongside of James; Lucy Hampton, who was a fourth year and an ace seeker, and Kat Griffin, who completed Gryffindor's trio of chasers, and Kingsley Shacklebolt in front of the goalposts. James knew that the four of them would have to perform well in their tryouts to make it back on the team, but he was confident that they would likely be flying alongside him again this were, however, down two beaters after having lost Gideon and Fabian Prewett the year before. They had been a year above James and were absolute menances with beaters bats and the team would sorely miss them this year. James was on the hunt for two beaters who worked as well and as in sync as the Prewetts had, but he knew that might not be possible. Twins always had some weird connection and those two had worked together like they were silently communicating during the whole game.

James started tryouts by having everyone warm up with a few laps around the pitch and then split them up into positions to have scrimmages to showcase skills. He immediately dismissed a few first years after realizing that they couldn't have been on a broom more than twice in their lives. They walked back to the castle with their heads held low in shame. For the next two hours, James blew his whistle, bellowed orders, and took notes on a clipboard as he hovered between the two scrimmages, watching the players battle for spots on the team. When he finally touched the ground, he knew he had a solid team picked out and that they had a good chance at the cup this year.

"Okay, okay, quiet down, please. Well done, everyone. Really. Great flying. This was a really hard decision, but I've tried to pick the players who are going to fly well together and win us the cup. So… in the position of keeper, we have Kingsley once again." Kingsley smiled as his teammates patted his back. His menacing size was a gift in front of the goal posts, where he blocked the majority of the middle hoop without even trying. "Well done, mate. For chasers, we are sticking with the combination of me, Frank, and Kat." Frank and Kat grinned at James and high fived one another. The other chaser hopefuls rolled their eyes and stomped back towards the castle. "For our two new beaters, we've got Dirk Creswell and Ian O'Leary. Great job with those bats, boys, and we expect you to keep our skulls intact this year." The two stocky fifth years hugged each other and tapped their thick wooden bats together in celebration. "And last, but certainly not least, welcome back to our seeker, Lucy Hampton. You can outfly nearly anyone I've met, Luce, and I know you're going to win us the cup this year." Lucy smiled bashfully. She was a small, slender girl with long strawberry blonde hair who looked incredibly sweet and quiet. Other teams made the mistake of discounting her small stature and quiet nature for weakness and were always thoroughly shocked by the vicious prowess she displayed on a broom. James met with his new team for a few minutes, lining up the next week's practice schedule, and dismissed them to go eat lunch. He stayed behind a few minutes to pack up the supply trunk and secured it to his broom to fly back to the broom cupboard in the changing room. He was barely hovering above the ground as he made his way over the pitch when suddenly, James was yanked from his broom by his boot. He yelped and groped inside his robes for his wand. He jumped up and looked around wildly, only to find a large black dog sitting quietly by the fallen broom and trunk. It wagged its tail happily and showed James its large, pink tongue.

"You're an arse, Sirius. That hurt." James rubbed his shoulder and attempted to reattach the trunk to his broom. Sirius, now back in human form, laughed genially and slung an arm around James' shoulder.

"Good flying, James. Very impressed by your airborne clipboard skills. That'll really win the girls over." He laughed again. "Speaking of girls, mate…. I came down here because Lily Evans looks like she might breathe fire if she opens her mouth and I happen to know there was a brief shouting match between the two of you this morning. I want you to walk into lunch ahead of me so that if she does kill someone, it won't be me. Think of yourself as a sort of human shield."

James sighed. "She confronted me about where we were last night, Sirius. She's pissed. She thinks we don't trust her. We need to tell the others about Moony being a werewolf. If they find out without us telling them, they're never going to forgive us. We need to be a solid group this year, Padfoot. We need to trust each other if we're going to make a difference and join the Order."

Sirius, in a moment that was seriously out of character, was silent. He walked alongside James, scratching absentmindedly at the dark stubble on his cheek. He ran a hand through his long dark hair, took a deep breath in, and turned to James.

"You're right. They need to know. But Remus has to agree first."

Lunch was an unusually long affair as the four Marauders sat huddled at one end of the table, discussing how best to tell their friends about Remus' secret. Remus had quickly agreed that they needed to know, and that James, Sirius, and Peter also needed to admit to their part in Remus' transitions. James reddened at the thought of turning into a stag in front of Lily. Would it make her feel uncomfortable that the boy who wanted to ask her out was part deer?

They eventually decided on telling the rest of the seventh years that night in the common room. James found Lily that afternoon and slipped her a hastily written note telling them when to arrive. He sidled away before she could ask him any questions and went to shower and clean up before dinner. The four of them spent the afternoon working on Potions essays and Defense homework in their four posters while Frank and Alice sat in the common room with Lily and Mary.

"At least they're not up here snogging in Frank's bed again," muttered Sirius, "I don't think my eyeballs will ever fully recover." James snorted and kept writing his essay. He was secretly very jealous of the relationship Frank and Alice had built. They trusted each other unconditionally and were one another's best friends. They were inseparable and loved each other deeply and could nearly always be found holding hands, or, as Sirius claimed, snogging. James felt a hot sense of desire in the pit of his stomach when he thought of he and Lily having that sort of a relationship one day. He abandoned his potions essay when the thoughts of Lily overpowered what little information he had absorbed in Potions and allowed himself to lay back into his pillows and take a short nap.

After being rudely awoken by Sirius for the second time that day, and in the middle of a very pleasant dream about Lily nonetheless, James grumpily made his way down to dinner with the rest of Gryffindor tower. He ate his steak and kidney pie in silence, mentally working through every possible outcome that Remus' confession could result in. His stomach twisted around itself and he abandoned his pie.

"So… all this time… you've been going through this alone?" Lily's eyes were sparkling and tears streamed down her freckled cheeks. "Remus… I'm so sorry. Here I was thinking you didn't trust me… but you were trying to keep us and yourself safe. I'm so sorry. You having to go through all that pain all alone…" She shook her head and wiped at her eyes. "But this doesn't explain what these three are always doing on the nights when you're transitioning." She motioned to Sirius, James, and Peter. They all turned a similar shade of purple.

"Erm," James coughed, "funny story there, really. We figured out where he was going during first year. We knew he was lying about his mum being sick and we followed him and saw him go into the willow. We worked the rest out from there. It made all of us sick thinking about Remus doing that alone and hurting himself… so we, um, so we worked something out."

Mary's eyebrows were dangerously close to getting lost in her hairline. Frank's mouth hung slightly open. Alice cocked her head sideways.

"So, are you going to tell us what this miracle solution was? Or make us guess?" Lily snapped, growing impatient to be in the know.

"I think it'll be easier for us to show you rather than try to explain, actually," Sirius added helpfully. He scanned the Common Room for students and when he was sure they were alone, he locked the doorknob on the portrait hole and put a shield charm up at the bottom of the dormitory staircases. "We can't risk being walked in on." Sirius stood up and began to unbutton his shirt. James followed suit. Shirts never seemed to survive transitioning without being ripped apart. They hadn't learned how to remedy that yet. Peter was the exception - his clothes simply swallowed him when he turned into a rat.

"Bloody hell, Sirius, I didn't think that your solution was some sort of twisted porno!" Frank's eyes were wide as saucers and he covered Alice's eyes with his hands.

"Bugger off, mate. You'll see in a second." Sirius took a deep, steadying breath. This was the first time they would show anyone what they'd become. Remus hid his eyes behind his hands and looked as if he was going to be sick.

"As a disclaimer, this was never my intention…" Remus muttered, steeling himself for the moment of reveal.

"Ready?" James asked the other two, locking eyes with them. They all nodded. "One, two, three."

The animal instinct took over again. His bones melted and his head split open and he wasn't sure it would ever end… but then he heard the gasps. He opened his eyes. The room swam into view through a fish eye lens. Everything was black and white. Lily Evan's eyes were open wide and her mouth was hidden behind her hands. Frank had jumped up and had drawn his wand. Mary looked as if she'd seen a ghost… or three of her best friends turn into animals. Alice had fallen over.

"Oh my god... " Lily whispered, "oh. This is not what I was expecting." Alice shook her head silently. A squeak came from underneath Peter's discarded robes. Frank knit his eyebrows together and cautiously peered down at the pile of clothes. He carefully lifted the robes up with the end of his wand and a fat rat ran out from underneath.

"OH. This keeps getting better!" Alice let out a hesitant laugh. "I was wondering where Peter was… with these two taking up the whole room and all."

Sirius barked. James snorted and threw his head. His antler got tangled in the chandelier and he quickly ducked down to break free of it, sending pieces of glass and candle showering down around them.. All four of them looked aghast again. Remus uncovered his face. "Okay, mates, I think they get it. You can go back now."

Peter immediately ran under his robes and emerged a minute later, a mousy haired boy once again. James too changed back into his human self, quickly pulling his shirt over his head. "Reparo," he muttered, quickly repairing the chandelier. Sirius, however, wasn't done with the fun. He nipped playfully at Lily's trainer and bounded around the Common Room on all fours. After licking Mary and Alice's faces, the humongous shaggy dog jumped onto the couch and flipped upside down on its back. Everyone giggled, and a moment later, a shirtless Sirius Black had taken its place. He grinned and hopped up, making his way over to his robes to pull them back on. Everyone sat back down.

"Bloody hell. That's bloody brilliant." Frank's face split into a wide smile and he clapped his hands. "How in the world did you accomplish that?! Advanced transfiguration? Non-verbal spells?" He looked quizzically into their faces.

"Erm, no," Sirius began, slightly ashamed, "we are unregistered animagi." Alice gasped. "We knew we wanted to be able to change with Lupin every month, so we went through the motions to become animagi. It's a long process, as I'm sure you know, and it wasn't easy. We didn't get to choose what we became. We each took the same form as our patronus when we finally transitioned. Nobody knows about this. We did this to keep Remus safe and we need you all to promise to do the same." His dark eyes bored holes into the eyes of Frank, Mary, Alice, and Lily.

"Sirius. We would do anything for Remus." Lily's voice was strong and steady. Remus turned red and hastily wiped at his eyes. "We won't say anything to anyone else. But I cannot and will not promise to not make fun of the fact that you are a stag. A DEER. Of all things to turn into…" She shook her head in disbelief.

"Oi! I didn't get to choose!" James crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "I know being a dog is cooler, but I've got sweet antlers, Lil. They're super useful for like… stabbing stuff." He trailed off lamely, eyes downcast. She laughed.

"Okay, Potter, whatever you say. You're the coolest stag I've seen in awhile. Now that this is over with, can we please get going on this whole defensive magic thing?"

Sirius grinned. "Ready when you are, Lils."