Over the next two weeks, Sirius and James spent their afternoons doing detentions with McGonagall. This meant that they were starting to get behind on homework, but they managed to get through it on Sunday.
Sadly, the detention also meant that they had no Quidditch tryouts until the third week of term. But finally, on the Wednesday afternoon of the third week in the term, James held a tryout for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Sirius and James headed down to the pitch. There was a rather long line of hopefuls waiting.
James let everyone who was left of last year's very successful team back on for this year, he did however need to replace both Beaters and the Seeker.
Sirius knew he would get in for certain, and everybody else seemed to think so too. Only one other person tried out for Keeper. He was a seventh year by the name of Lionel Johnson.
Johnson went up before Sirius. He was fairly good. He stopped most of the goals but fumbled a few.
Sirius was up next. He walked up to the goalpost with his broom over his shoulder. As he mounted, some fifth year girls who had come to watch cheered for him. He gave them a brief wave and took off. He stopped every goal and even hung one handed off his broom and kicked the Quaffle through the goal at the other end of the pitch. He was named the team's Keeper, but Johnson was given the position of substitute, should Sirius not be able to play.
Johnson's younger sister, Andrea, was the one to obtain the position of Seeker, with her slight build and a knack for quick manoeuvering.
Sirius was, of course, happy with James, Gideon, and Fabian as the Chasers, as the three friends worked together very well. He was ecstatic about being the Keeper again this year, as he had always loved playing on the team. The problem was the Beaters.
The thing was that most people who had shown up for Beater tryouts were not that bright. They had nothing between the ears and reminded Sirius of gorillas. Luckily, the previous Beaters had been alright. But they had graduated from Hogwarts last year, and now it was up to James to pick a new pair. The sad thing was that the only people to choose from were gorillas, and an annoying bossy seventh year called Chase McCormack. In the end, James chose Bruce Billson, because of the sheer power of his hit, and much to Sirius's disappointment, Chase.
After the tryouts, everyone who had attended made their way up to the Great Hall for dinner after they had gotten changed out of their Quidditch robes.
"So, what d'you think of the team?" asked James, as they sat down next to Peter and Remus at the Gryffindor table.
"Pretty good, excellent Keeper", replied Sirius, biting into a chicken wing as Remus rolled his eyes, "And great Chasers as well, good Seeker too. But those Beaters are idiots".
"Don't you just love blunt honesty", smiled Remus.
"They're not that bad", said James defensively.
"I don't mean the way they play", explained Sirius, "I mean Billson's an alright guy. But that McCormack, I can see him causing a match to go pear shaped. He's just bossy, it's like he thinks he's the captain. You know, congratulating every one and telling them to be ready for training".
"I noticed that a bit", agreed James, "But he's got good technique, and don't worry, I'll make sure he knows who's the captain".
##
The next day, it was the last Thursday of September, and it was the full moon. Remus had been looking peaky and ill all day. Sirius, on the other hand, although he felt sorry for Remus, was excited. It would be their first adventure since last year, and he couldn't wait.
They were sitting in the common room, James and Sirius were playing a game of exploding snap. Peter had been playing but had left, muttering darkly after his fingers got singed. Remus was staring out the window into the grounds, which were bathed in the last sunlight of September.
It was around five o'clock when Remus left to go to the hospital wing so he could be taken down to the Willow by Madam Pomfrey.
James, Sirius and Peter were waiting in the common room until it was empty enough for James to get everything they needed for their venturing. He came back down from the dormitory with his invisibility cloak and the creation of the four friends, the Marauders Map.
They slipped on the invisibility cloak and walked out the portrait hole.
"Sneaking out are you", said a voice behind them, but to Sirius's great relief, it was just the fat lady, "Sirius Black and James Potter, always at the heart of the mischief".
"Shut up will you?" said Sirius harshly from under the cloak.
"Fine then, but don't expect me to let you back in at the crack of dawn", she replied haughtily and went back to pretending to be asleep.
They opened the map. James reached forward and tapped it with his wand and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good".
The map suddenly transformed. Writing appeared in bright green ink and it filled the parchment, showing a map of Hogwarts. Up the top of the map was written: 'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers, are Proud to Present the Marauders' Map'. All over the map were little dots of ink that had names underneath them. These showed everyone in Hogwarts and the grounds surrounding it, where they were and who they were. The map also showed every secret passage way inside the castle. There were seven that lead in and out of Hogwarts. It had taken them quite a long time to make it, two years in fact. They had to use complex magic, including the Homonculous Charm. They had also managed to enchant it so that insulted anyone who they wouldn't want reading it, and so that it would only reveal the pass-phrase to any true mischief makers in the future.
Sirius checked the map to see where all the teachers were. They were in their offices or beds. He searched the map for Filch and his watchful pet cat, Mrs Norris. They were skulking around in the third floor corridor.
"Right, we just have to avoid the third floor", said Sirius.
"If we take the staircase all the way down to the dungeons, we can get out from the tunnel behind that statue of Edward the Ugly", James said pointing to a particularly hideous statue on the map.
"Sounds like a plan", agreed Peter.
The three of them went down the moving staircases to the first floor, where they then travelled down the spiral staircase into the dungeons. When they came to the statue, Sirius pulled out his wand. On the map, a picture of a wand hitting the statue over the head appeared. Sirius payed no attention to it, having followed the tunnel many times. He reached up and tapped Edward the Ugly on the head three time with his wand.
The bricks behind the statue slid backwards and sideways so that they sat underneath the bricks beside them. Then the statue shifted slowly backwards into the hole that had been made in the wall.
James pulled the cloak off them and then, tucking it under his arm, jumped into a hole that had been revealed in the floor. Sirius followed him with the map. He slid down an almost vertical slope that lasted for around three metres. Peter came down behind him. They were in a tunnel with a ceiling just high enough for them to walk with their back bent over. The walls were rocky and cold.
They continued down the tunnel for about twenty minutes until they reached a large rock blocking the exit. James levitated the rock out of the exit and they went through, putting the rock back behind them.
They stepped out into the light of the full moon. The grounds were shining eerily, and there was fog rolling across the grass in front of the Forbidden Forest. Sirius heard a distant howl and then a few yelps. Signs that Remus had completed his painful transformation into his half wolf form.
It was here that James stored the Map and the cloak. He went and hid them under a bush near the entry to the tunnel.
Now they had to transform into their animal forms so they could sneak down to the Willow without being caught.
First James started to grow, and after the full transformation, there stood a large chestnut stag in his place. Sirius stepped forward and transformed into a dog. It was a challenge, having to walk on four, very different legs. He could also smell the scents of many of the things around him, the grass under his feet, the cold night air, and the stench of rotting leaves on the floor of the Forbidden Forest. He watched as Peter turned into his rat form. Sirius could always tell Peter apart from other rats, his ears were topped by little tufts of fur.
The three of them set off towards the Willow, bounding, running, and scurrying across the grounds.
When they reached the violently thrashing tree, Peter scampered over through the wildly whipping branches, towards the trunk. With his front paw, he poked a knot in the wood and the tree became calm.
Peter ran down into a large hole under the roots of the tree. James and Sirius followed. Inside there was a tunnel that had rough stone walls, covered with moss and lichen. It smelt damp and musty.
The walked through the tunnel for about fifteen minutes. As they neared the end, the howls and whimpers Sirius had been able to hear the whole time became louder. The tunnel started to slope upwards until it stopped. There was a trapdoor in the roof.
Peter was waiting on the tunnel floor when they got there. He climbed up onto James's shoulder, then up his antlers, which he jumped off and through the trapdoor. Sirius followed, leaping up onto the hard wooden floor above. James came through after him, with some difficulty.
The room they were standing in was in appalling condition. The windows were boarded up and the light of the full moon shone through the boards of wolds, sending shafts of illumination through the dusty air. Half mangled furniture lay strewn around the room and some of the floor boards were rotting. The stair case that lead up to the second floor had partially collapsed.
Sirius could smell the sweet, musty scent that always clung to the ancient building. His ears prickled painfully as he heard a high pitched yelp coming from somewhere above them. With his super-sensitive hearing, he was almost certain that Remus was on the third and topmost floor.
He barked at the others to follow and made his way up the stairs carefully. They continued past the second floor where there were signs of new wreckage, and then slowly up the other flight of stairs. They cautiously turned around the decaying banister to see Remus.
He had grown into a large wolf. But unlike normal wolves his tail was rather bushy, and his eyes looked nearly human. His snout was also a lot shorter. These were the defining characteristics that would identify any werewolf.
Sirius watched as Remus sniffed the air and turned to look at the rat, stag and dog. He seemed to recognise them. Sirius approached him carefully. Sirius was the closest friend to Remus when he was in his half wolf form. Sirius suspected it had something to do with the relation between dogs and wolves.
Remus bent down to sniff at Sirius. He then lifted his head back and howled in approval, Sirius barked back to him and lead him over to James and Peter.
After Remus had familiarised himself with the other two friends, they lead him downstairs. They dropped down into the tunnel and then travelled along with Sirius in the lead, followed eagerly by Remus, with Peter scurrying along beside James, who was behind the werewolf to make sure he didn't try to go back down the tunnel.
After about fifteen minutes they emerged from the end of the tunnel, into the moonlight. Remus lifted his head towards the glowing white orb that was the moon. Seeing that Remus was about to howl and make a lot of unnecessary noise (that could wake the Hogwarts inhabitants), Sirius gave a short bark and ran off into the Forbidden Forest. Luckily Remus followed him as James nudged him along.
As they wound their way through the forest, the trees grew thicker and the fallen foliage on the Forest floor was piling higher. They turned and came to the edge of the Forest that grew near Hogsmead. Sirius ran between the trees barking and howling happily. Remus bounding around behind. James cantered around, pounding across the rotting leaves which Peter scurried through.
They ran out into the village, near the back of the three broomsticks. Sirius ran up the side of a large stack of Fire Whisky barrels and onto the low roof of the pub. He sat down and looked up at the moon. It covered Hogsmead in a soft silvery light, which he found peaceful. The other three had followed him and sat beside him.
Sirius could hear the voices of people in the pub. He howled again at the moon, and he couldn't help feeling a great freedom, as he had so often felt while adventuring with his friends.
He heard the back door swing open below them. He padded over to the edge of the roof. The young barmaid, Madam Rosemerta had walked out. She started to lift a barrel and drag it back towards the door. As Sirius turned around, Remus came galloping over and down the stack of barrels. Sirius and James leapt down as Remus edged towards Madam Rosemerta.
Sirius felt the fur on his back stand on end. Remus was about to attack, if he managed to, Sirius knew he would never be able to live with himself. However, Madam Rosemerta had not yet noticed the fully grown werewolf creeping towards her, only around ten feet away. James jumped in front of Remus, who snarled and tried to lunge for Madam Rosemerta. James put his antlers down and rammed Remus in the stomach pushing him back behind the barrels.
Remus stood up and growled, he made for the other side of the stack, but this time Sirius snarled, jumped up and batted Remus across the face with his paw. Sirius was nearly as big as the werewolf, and Remus stumbled back, yelping briefly. He started to whine and had a sad look in his eyes, as if the human inside him had realised what he was trying to do.
"Who's there?" said Madam Rosemerta from the other side of the Fire Whisky barrels, and Sirius was amazed that she had only just noticed any sort of disturbance.
James gave Remus another shove, and the four of the friends hurried away from the pub, careful to stay in the shadows.
They roamed the streets of the quieter parts of town (making them rather less quiet). Sirius stopped to look into the display of Zonko's joke shop. The new line of Filibuster's fireworks were in the window. They also went past Honeyduke's sweet shop, with its Cockroach Clusters and Fizzing Wizzbees. The sad thing was he couldn't go in and buy them.
They ran around the town. Sirius barked and chased some cats they found lurking in an alleyway. They made so much noise that a woman came out of her house with a broom. Sirius and James managed to shove Remus away before she saw him, but seeing Peter, she did what anyone who was holding a broom and had just saw a rat would do, nearly killing him, much to others' amusement.
A few hours had passed and they reluctantly headed back towards the Forest, but not before they made a stop at their favourite place to come on a full moon.
It was a rocky outcrop on the side of a hill, which looked towards The Shrieking Shack, sitting in the distance. Sirius climbed nimbly up onto the outcrop, while Remus, James, and Peter made their own ways up.
And then they all just sat there, looking out at The Shrieking Shack. Remus didn't move, he sat back on his haunches, making no noise at all. The full moon shone down on the four animals, and everything was quiet. Sirius felt the slightly overwhelming sense of freedom again, and he truly felt like time had stood still, and that he could stay like this forever, side by side with his three best friends.
But sadly, as all good things must come to an end, the four friends found themselves running out of time. They needed to get back to the castle, before dawn, when Madam Pomfrey would come to collect Remus.
They arrived back in the Shack as the greenish glow of dawn appeared on the horizon. Sirius and James lead Remus back up the stairs to the top level. Remus seemed to realise that his friends were leaving, Sirius could see it in his dark eyes. Remus sniffed each one of them in a kind of farewell, before Sirius, James and Peter hurried of downstairs and back through the tunnel.
Still in their animal forms, they trenched back up to the wall of the Hogwarts castle. Sirius felt tired. It was that shaky sort of tired, that occurred after he had stayed up late, or had played a hard Quidditch match, when his body was only going on a weak supply of adrenaline.
They reached the tunnel back into Hogwarts when the sun had started to come over the horizon. Here they transformed back into humans. Sirius discovered a rip in the shoulder of his jacket where he had torn out some fur from the same place on a branch in the Forest. Their clothes merged with their animal transformation. His sense of smell had returned to normal, and still, after years, he still found the difference startling, that humans could be unaware of their surroundings in so many ways.
"Come on, we've gotten back too late", said James with a sense of urgency.
"We'll be right", smiled Sirius, "Filch is always up early, but since when have we ever gotten caught back late by him."
"I suppose, still, hurry up", agreed James.
He then went and retrieved the map and the cloak from under the bush. They threw the cloak over themselves and headed into the mouth of the tunnel.
The three friends reached the end of the tunnel, scrambling up the last part with the steep slope, James first, then Sirius, with Peter last. James stopped suddenly, causing Sirius to bump his head on the roof. He could feel his head pounding with pain, as though it had been cleaved in half. He swore loudly.
"Keep it down", James said in a rasping whisper.
"What's the hold-up", Sirius heard Peter ask from behind.
"Filch is on the corridor right above us, it says so on the Map", James replied.
"What the hell is he doing down here", said Sirius loudly, James raised a finger to his lips to be quiet, "I mean, his office is floors above the dungeons."
"He must have been doing a complete round of the school", gasped Peter.
"We'll just have to wait 'till he's gone", James whispered.
"We're going to be here forever", Sirius said exasperatedly, pressing his sore forehead into his hand.
They sat there for about ten minutes, but to Sirius, it seemed like an age. James was crouched up ahead, ever watchful over the Marauders' Map. Suddenly he gave a start, causing Sirius to hit his already aching head on the roof of the again for the second time, at which he swore angrily several times.
"What is it", asked Peter excitedly.
"It's Peeves, he's floating along the corridor towards Filch", James stopped and they heard an agitated shout from above, and then raucous laughter, followed by loud footsteps.
"Filch has left, Peeves has followed him by the looks of it", James said thankfully.
"Thank god for Peeves", said Sirius, although he'd never thought he'd say it.
James reached up to the square in the ceiling, and tapped it three times with his wand. Sirius heard the grinding of stone against stone and the block slid back to reveal a glow of torches, the ones that lined the dungeon corridor walls. James clambered out with the Map and Cloak. Sirius pulled himself up cringing as his head gave a particularly painful thump, and stood up in the dark stone-walled corridor to let Peter get out.
James put the cloak over them again and handed Sirius the Map. Sirius checked it, filch was up stairs, outside Dumbledore's office, no doubt waiting to complain about Peeves. All the other teachers were asleep.
Sirius, James, and Peter hurried up the spiralled staircase that lead out of the dungeons to the first floor. After that, they headed quickly as they could up the moving staircases, which conveniently lead from floor to floor, and did not do much moving on their way to Gryffindor tower. Then they finally reached the Fat Lady, who was sleeping soundly, or rather pretending to.
The boys took off the cloak and she jerked awake, "Well, well, somebody's been out of bed for far too long", she smirked.
"Rumblebark", said Sirius, ignoring her, he had not even been in bed at all, and he at least wanted thirty minutes worth of sleep, though he highly doubted he would get five.
"The password changed at midnight", the Fat Lady sighed in an unconvincingly apologetic way.
"Yeah right, and I can grow antlers", said James said sarcastically, which was quite ironic between him and his friends, who knew very well he could.
"Please just let us in", said Sirius, pulling a fake pleading face.
"Oh, alright, the password hasn't changed", she gave up, "But one of these days, you'll get caught out."
The portrait swung opened and the three of them stumbled into the common room. They crept up to the dormitory. James stowed the cloak and the Map in the trunk under his bed.
Not caring that everyone would probably get up in five minutes, Sirius kicked off his muddy shoes, scratched the back of his head and yawned. He flopped face down onto his bed with exhaustion, still in his filthy, soiled clothes, and closed his eyes... Just in time to hear the alarm go off on his magical radio.