"The weekend!" Sirius cried, flinging his bag away from him as if it carried the plague. He leapt into his bed, twisting midair to fall on his back with a thump and a bounce. He sighed gustily. "Finally."

"School's not that bad," Remus said defensively.

"Yeah, but Professor Lambern is a moron," James said dismissively. "If I learn anything from him this year that I haven't learned already from Dad…"

"But he won't be here next year," Sirius yawned.

"Why d'you say that?" Peter asked.

"Job's jinxed," Sirius drawled. "No one can keep it for more than a year."

"Yes, well," Remus said briskly, "in the meantime he's given us loads of homework this weekend—"

"We can do that Sunday," James cut him off, excitement bubbling up inside him. "This weekend marks the first time we explore the castle of Hogwarts together."

His friends looked up at him with a range of emotions: an already-familiar mix of anticipation from Sirius, Peter's inevitable confusion, and the wary excitement in Remus' eyes. The sandy-haired boy was the first to speak.

"How," he began, setting his book bag aside, "do you suggest we do that? I ask because you've got that look about you, James, that makes me think you won't be confining our exploration to the school hours."

James put on his best innocent look. Remus and Sirius snorted.

"Alright, alright," James caved. "And remind me to quit feeding Rem here dictionaries for breakfast, Sirius." He grinned at his friends. "It'll be best at night! Nobody to get in the way, the whole castle open!"

"Aside from getting caught and put in detention," Sirius said thoughtfully, "that sounds great. I think it's worth the risk!"

James shook his head, grinning, and bounded over to his trunk. "Not going to happen," he sang. "So, first," he announced, unlocking his trunk, "you're all about to be sworn to secrecy…"

Remus made a funny noise in his throat. James looked up at him, but he smiled slightly. "Sorry. Go on."

"Okay." James rummaged around in his trunk. His hands encountered the odd fabric he was looking for and he allowed a shiver to ghost up his spine. He'd thought since his first glimpse of the Cloak that it looked — and felt — like moonlight made material. "You can't tell anybody," he warned. "Nobody at all, ever. It's a Potter family secret, passed down for a long time…"

"Just show us, James!" Sirius burst out. James grinned and withdrew the Invisibility Cloak reverently.

Remus gasped. Sirius sat bolt upright. Peter's mouth fell open. "Is that what I think it is?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice.

"That depends," James said. "Do you solemnly swear—"

"Yes!" his three dorm-mates shouted impatiently.

"We won't tell anyone, James," Remus promised, "now, is that an Invisibility Cloak."

In answer, James stood up and whirled the Cloak over his head.

His friends gasped again and stared at him — or rather, where he had been. James grinned to himself and crept carefully across the room, careful not to disturb the various belongings strewn about the floor — most of them Sirius'. Sirius and Peter were still gaping at the foot of James' bed; only Remus glanced around the rest of the room, suspicion mingling with the awe in his face. James decided to pretend for a moment that he was telepathic, and sent Remus the silent warning to stay discreet as he eased a pillow off of the floor by Sirius' bed. Remus' eyes widened, and he bit his lip to keep from smiling.

James swung the pillow with all his strength. It creamed Sirius in the back of the head, sending the Black boy flying across the room — mostly because he shouted in shock and shot off the bed like a firework. Peter screamed, too, and fell backwards off his own bed. Remus doubled over laughing, and James' invisibility did him no good at all, because they could all hear him roaring with laughter.

Sirius stalked over and pulled the Cloak away from James. One black-haired boy grinned at the other: Sirius' grey eyes were huge, but excitement was quickly taking over the surprise. "I'm going to get you for that," he promised with vengeful glee. He ran the Cloak curiously between his fingers. "So, will this cover four of us?"

"I'm sure it will," James declared. "At least it will this year — and by the time we're too tall, we'll know all the secret passageways anyway, won't we?"

Remus raised his eyebrows at the two of them. "What on earth have I gotten myself into?" he sighed, but he was smiling.

…

"Sirius, we're in the Charms corridor."

"No, not anymore, this is getting closer to the trophy room…"

"Why've you been to the trophy room? Isn't that where lots of people do detentions?"

"Yes, exactly."

"You haven't had a detention already?"

"Keep your hair on, Mum, I haven't. I'm just familiarizing myself with the territory. I'll probably need to know how to get there, you know. James, shut up, someone's going to hear you."

"I give you until next weekend before you've got detention," James whispered back, smothering his laughter.

Sirius' face was hard to see in the dim light of the hallway. The torches had all been extinguished, the magical lamps had gone dark, the sun had gone down past the windows. Hogwarts looked different at night — less like a school, more like an abandoned castle from a myth. It wasn't so hard, at night, to imagine the ancient people who must have walked the same halls James and his friends now crept down. He wondered if Godric Gryffindor had ever done this — but he'd helped build the school, no reason to explore it. Still, James thought, he knew every inch of his house — didn't mean he had stopped wandering around it in the wee hours of the morning. James had never seemed to need much sleep. He would always rather be doing something.

"I can go two weeks without getting my first detention," Sirius mumbled.

James grinned. "Want to bet?"

The black-haired boy shot him a calculating look. "A Galleon says I'm free till at least next Monday."

"You're so on."

"You're so doomed," Remus chuckled.

"Which one of us?" James asked.

Remus turned and grinned at them. "Both of you. No matter who wins the bet, I imagine that your first detention is going to be a double one."

"Oh, really?" Sirius reached out and tousled Remus' hair before the other boy could duck away. "What if it's a quadruple detention?"

"Sh!" Peter hissed suddenly. The boys froze.

Shuffling footsteps could be heard around the next corner. "Under the Cloak!" James breathed, and flung it over the four of them. They shuffled back until they were pressed against the wall, squished together under the Invisibility Cloak like four little sardines.

A hunched and grumbling figure swung around into the hall. Bulbous eyes peered down the corridor, gleaming in the lantern-light. James held his breath. He could feel Sirius' heart beating madly against his shoulder blade. Peter was shaking; slowly, James gripped the smaller boy's wrist. Don't freak out, he prayed as if his friends could hear him. Just… don't… freak… out…

Painfully slowly, the caretaker and his cat prowled down the hallway. As Mrs. Norris passed them, she turned her enormous yellow eyes right on them, and meowed.

James felt on the verge of a heart attack. His father had never mentioned: did the Cloak work on cats? Could that infernal little beast see them, or smell them, or—?

"No one here, my sweet," came the dry, creaky voice. "Not just yet, oh no, but they'll be out and about… and we'll catch them, don't you worry…"

To James' everlasting relief, the cat followed at her master's heels.

Remus' shaky sigh breathed in James' ear. "Can we go back now?" he whispered.

"Yeah," James agreed, "yep, I think that's good for tonight… let's go…"

They kept the Cloak on as they made their way back to the common room. Peter was elected to go and tell the Fat Lady the password, and that he'd been in the hospital wing. That woman was far too nosy for a painting, James thought reproachfully as he, Sirius, and Remus snuck past her.

In the safety of their dormitory, the four boys were delighted about their first adventure. Even Remus sat up with them, grinning as they planned out the rest of the weekend's misdeeds in a blank journal by wandlight. At nearly three in the morning, James hid the book at the bottom of his trunk, under his Invisibility Cloak.

"One thing, guys," Remus yawned as they got into bed. "I think… we need to make a map."

Author's Note:

First of all, thanks so much to Miss EMT, yeahitsirine, IceBlueCrystal, DobbysArmy and Anon for leaving a review or two! I'm glad you guys like the story, and thanks for your opinions on which way I should take this. I've decided after all to leave it at a series of moments throughout the years. I'm not sure how many I'll do for each year — I guess however many moments demand to be written.

So the second part of their adventure, fittingly enough, was written while I'm supposed to be in bed. Hope it doesn't reflect my lack of sleep too much.

On a side note, it's quite fun to write this stuff to French music : )

Thanks again and see you guys next time, hope you enjoy the latest marauder moment.