This chapter is officially dedicated to Scision, who's reviewed every chapter so far!
The best R&Rer a FanFictor could ask for )

Enjoy!

XxX

Peter looked round the corner on the 3rd floor. Madam Pomfrey and the Hospital Wing were just a few metres away, and the door to Dumbledore's office, just a few doors after that. Peter began hurriedly, talking to himself as he scuttled silently down the corridor. In his head, he was replaying all the things James and Sirius had told him just a few minutes before:

"Just a distraction Peter. That's all – a distraction."

"Just tell her you like her hair or something."

"Eyes are good. Eyes are always good."

Peter could still see their faces when they had looked expectedly at him in the common room.

"So what are you Peter?"

"A distraction."

"Good boy."

XxX

James and Sirius could see Peter walking towards the Hospital Wing from a crack in the door of the broom cupboard they were currently vacating. Not only could they see his plump little figure scurrying past, but they also see the tiny dot labelled Peter Pettigrew on their enchanted map. The Marauders Map.

As they scanned this map more closely, they could also see the dot of Remus Lupin, sitting in the common room, reading a book no doubt.

"Stubborn git." Sirius mumbled, as James pointed out their friend. "Never been one for fun, has he Moony?"

James put on a serious tone and a straight face. He pointed his finger in the air. " 'I am a prefect, and I'm sorry to be 'betraying' you all, but my prefect duties come before marauding.' Stupid idiot. As if they'd ever de-prefect Moony. He's too good."

"Is de-prefect a word?"

"I don't know."

"Where's Remus when you need him."

"Shut up now, I can hear Peter."

Sure enough they could hear Peter behind the other side of the Hospital Wing doors.

"So! Madam Pomfrey… how are you today… you're, err…looking lovely."

There was an awkward pause.

"Well, thank you Mr Pettigrew."

Another awkward pause. Much longer this time.

"Has anyone ever told you have very… err… lovely brown eyes, Madam Pomfrey?"

"Mr Pettigrew, I have green eyes."

Peter smiled sheepishly. He would have to resort to Plan B.

"Oh Madam Pomfrey - sniff - I've been getting this pain in my right arm for a couple of days now…" a single tear fell down his podgy cheek. He knew those acting classes would come in handy one day. He put a hand across his forehead. "I – I – I feel so weak!"

And then he fell to the floor, a real look a shock as he fainted. Remus' wand could be seen through a small gap in the door. Wormtail was always good at acting he thought to himself as he strolled back down along the corridor, Madam Pomfrey's shrieks growing fainter as he turned the corner.

XxX

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"RUN AWAY!"

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME!"

"EWWW!"

Sirius smiled and leaned back in his chair.

"Ahh, the sound of success."

XxX

"Sorry Professor."

"We won't do it again, Sir."

"I should think not!" said Slughorn from the velvet chair behind his desk. "I thought you were turning over a new leaf this year, boys! I thought you were going to focus on your studies! Focus on doing well rather than planning out a way to scare the Slytherins!"

Sirius grinned as he remembered his speech to Slughorn from last year.

"We're sorry Professor!"

"We didn't mean it!"

"I should think not!"

"Next year we'll be better Professor, you'll see."

"Yeah, we'll turn over a new leaf, focus on our studies! We'll plan a homework timetable instead of planning a prank to scare Slytherins. We will be better students, better friends, and most of all… better people!"

James wiped away a pretend tear as he put a hand across his heart.

XxX

Over the next fortnight, Sirius and James could be seen each evening scrubbing out the bedpans of the Hospital Wing, or De-griming the bottoms of cauldrons in the dungeons. As they entered the common room on their last evening of detention (cleaning the top of Hagrid's cabin to get rid of the Thestral dung), they sat down in front of the fire with Remus and Peter, sighing tiredly as they sank into the fluffy armchairs.

Remus looked up from his book to ponder out loud,

"You know, two weeks wasn't too bad considering you led a tribe of bogey trolls down the corridor of Dumbledore's office."

"I always knew being friends with Hagrid and looking after his creepy pets would pay off one day."

"I still can't believe they spat mucus at that Sophie Midgeon girl… Classic…"

"I still can't believe they didn't punish Moony for stunning Wormtail. I would've been grilled for something like that."

Sirius laughed.

"Well, like you said Prongs, they wouldn't de-prefect Moony."

They sat in silence after that, each of them wondering if de-prefect is a word; if it was a word, whether they would de-prefect Remus; what they would be having for breakfast tomorrow; or what Lily would look like in a leopard skin bikini, and whether she'd like the one James had left on her bed.

"Ahhh, the sweet sound of silence…"

"JAMES POTTER!"

He smiled as he heard Lily stomping down the dormitory steps and felt a leopard skin bikini being thrown in his face.

"What? You didn't like it?"

"Don't even start James Potter – we both know I can hex you to Uranus and back!"

"…"

"Potter! Potter? JAMES!"

James when into a daydream about Lily's uranus when he was snapped out of it by a hard slap around the face.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"I know you with thinking about my uranus."

"Wow! Are you a seer?"

"Oh shut up! I can't deal with you anymore! Just keep away from me!"

With that she stomped back up to her dormitory and slammed the door loudly. The common room remained silent for several minutes, and stayed so even after Alice had come down from the girls' dormitories and picked up the bikini, mumbling about Lily wanting to try it on.

XxX

The whole of Hogwarts castle was quiet, as students lay asleep in their beds and teachers patrolled the corridors. Gryffindor Common room was empty, and the house-elves were putting out the fire in the grate and seeping up scraps of parchments and bits of food sneaked from the kitchens. The Marauders lay asleep in their dormitory later that same night, silent except for the occasional snore. They all looked so peaceful…

"OH MY LIFE!"

Sirius sat bolt upright under his covers as he looked over to James bed, seeing the other two Marauders doing the same. James was breathing heavily and sweat glistened on his forehead. His face broke into a smile.

"She called me James!"

XxX

::Smiles::
I love it when James does stuff like that :)
Hope it's to your liking - i have another chapter just about ready, but after that, i'm pretty stumped! But tell me what you're thinking, suggestions and the like are always welcome!

Em