The Marauders' Years: Year Two

Chapter Four

The Planning

Warning: The following story was being planned out in 2003 -- well before the fifth, sixth, or seventh Harry Potter books were available to me. While the story has absorbed facts from these books as they have been presented, some key elements of the story will still not match up with canon, as it's too late to change some events and relationships. Please keep that in mind.

Characters Contained: The four Marauders are this series' main focus, but a core group of OCs also appear throughout the story. Therefore, it would be wise to read the first installment of The Marauders' Years to better understand where everything is coming from.

Disclaimer: I neither own nor make a profit off of anything from the Harry Potter universe. J.K.Rowling is the one behind the series, y'know.

Status: Ongoing. I have no intention of dropping The Marauders' Years from my current writing projects. How frequent updates will be, I can't say. They will be more frequent than in the past. However, the chapters may not be up to parr in terms of polishing. As my wonderful beta looks over the chapters and adds in her thoughts and corrections, I will re-upload chapters. In theory, nothing major will be changed, so it should be safe for me to put up the un-beta-ed chapters to cut down on the waiting period. Happy reading, all, and many thanks to those who are still sticking with me on this.

Peter could hardly contain his nervousness as he trailed after Sirius later that week – the weekend, as it turned out.

It was a collection of very odd circumstances that led to Peter accompanying Sirius instead of James. Miraculously, Sirius had managed to avoid detention while James had landed himself three hours of helping the Divination teacher recover her crystal balls that had been 'mysteriously' charmed to stalk Slytherins. (Nothing is more disturbing than looking over one's shoulder and seeing a crystal ball lurking in the shadows.)

Actually… it wasn't really that much of a miracle that Sirius was free of detention while James was detained. The teachers had come up with a new plan of attack on their constant disruptiveness: Divide and conquer.

Peter almost had to feel sorry for the professors… dividing James and Sirius would only mean two separate evil plans instead of one… but he couldn't feel that sorry for the professors; he was too busy pitying himself.

"Well, here we are," Sirius declared flamboyantly.

Peter frowned lightly, glancing from their apparent destination, to Sirius, and back again, "A broom closet?"

Sirius gave him a look that Peter was positive was meant to make him feel stupid.

"There's an air duct in there."

Peter returned the 'are you that thick?' look. "An air duct? In a castle?"

"Of course. They need to get air to the lower parts of the castle somehow or we'd suffocate," Sirius answered offhandedly, pointing his wand at the door's lock as he spoke.

After Sirius had unlocked the door and wandered into the closet, Peter followed after him, giving the dark space a doubtful glance. As far as he could see, there weren't any air ducts.

He was about to voice that observation when a sudden thought struck him. Even if there were air ducts to provide oxygen to the dungeons and such, he and Sirius were heading for the Divination classroom, and it was several floors up… in a tower. Why on earth would an air duct lead there?

"Sirius, this is ridiculous."

"I've found the air duct!" Sirius ignored Peter and swept several dusty cloaks out of the way to reveal… a cardboard box.

Their endeavour had been rather pointless, and Peter said as much.

Sirius merely shrugged, picked up the box, and headed off for the Divination classroom, "I needed this box, but it was more fun to be looking for air ducts!"

ooo

James yawned. He didn't even bother to stifle it.

He had at last managed to discover and capture the crystal balls from Divination class, and now James sat on a pouf, eying the floating orbs suspiciously. The Divination professor had gone out to get something – someone – and had left him here with a stern glare and orders to not charm anything.

His detention time was over, however. …should he really wait for her return?

A sudden movement from the trapdoor drew James's attention. He straightened his glasses before sitting back and raising an eyebrow, offering a lazy grin to Sirius and Peter as they entered.

"Jamesie, love what you've done with the place," Sirius announced, poking one of the crystal globes as it floated at eye level.

"You know how it is," James responded with a wave of his hand. "An artist's inclinations cannot be stifled."

"You've been listening to Remus recite from that vocabulary book again," Sirius accused.

James shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Not like you don't do the same."

"Before we're caught," Peter interrupted, pointing at the empty box Sirius still held, "mind telling what that's for?"

Sirius brushed past the crystal balls, setting the box on one of the many low tables scattered across the room. "This is our decoy."

Peter frowned, "What're you planning on doing with that?"

"Just watch," Sirius instructed simply.

Peter had the undeniable feeling that whatever Sirius had planned would not be brilliant enough to keep them out of trouble.

James and Peter sat in silence as they watched Sirius wander around the room muttering to himself.

"Should we… do something?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"Best to let him be," James advised carelessly. Peter nodded.

"Finished!" Sirius declared at last.

The black-haired boy had stolen one of the many tablecloths and draped it over a crystal ball that caught his fancy. Sirius had completed his project by plopping the cardboard box jauntily over the whole lot and scribbling features that vaguely (if you had a good imagination) resembled those of James Potter.

"You're kidding," Peter decided.

"He's not," James sighed with a small shake of his head.

Sirius sniffed, his nose up in the air superiorly. "Just because we can't all be great artist who are incredibly smart doesn't mean you two can try to degrade my masterpiece."

Peter and James exchanged silent glances before marching past Sirius and down the ladder to the hallway below. If Sirius wanted to rant until the professor came back, then let him. They were going to Gryffindor Tower.

ooo

As they descended from Divination, Sirius caught up to them, sulking only slightly. James, knowing that if the subject were changed Sirius would forget the entire conversation, rubbed his chin thoughtfully before speaking. "We still don't know what's up with Remus… we've gotten a few clues, but nothing else. This is frustrating."

Peter nodded in agreement. "Well... do we have any guesses yet?" he asked.

Peter and James both turned wary eyes on Sirius as he nodded vigorously. This did not bode well.

"Remmy is..." Sirius paused for dramatic effect; his eyes darted side to side, "a British spy."

This pronouncement was met with the usual silence and disbelieving stares, but Sirius was accustomed to such reaction and continued on without even a hint that he realized how crazy they thought he was. "Yes, our dear Remmy is secretly a British spy, sent to... gain our deepest secrets! And steal all of our wonderful ideas!"

James decided that being reasonable was the best way to deal with this newest delusion. He had heard about James Bond movies (he suspected this was where Sirius was getting his notion of Remus being a spy) from a muggle-born boy in their Charms class. Thomas Cork was the boy's name, and he had gone into great detail over the movies.

Sirius, of course, had soaked it up to use for future insanity.

"Sirius," James said plaintively. "Remus can't be a spy."

"And why not?" Sirius demanded dubiously.

James blinked as both Sirius and Peter focused their attention on him, waiting for an answer. "Well, for one... can you see Remus getting the girl at the end of his spying? I certainly can't."

For a brief moment, James thought Sirius would accept his point, but then his slightly incoherent friend held up one finger triumphantly.

"Exactly!" Sirius cried. "That's what he wants us to think. It's quite a clever ruse don't you agree?" – "No, I don't agree, actually," James cut in, but Sirius ignored the interruption. – "No one would ever suspect him with the way he acts, but don't be a fool! It's all a facade to deceive us of his sinister deeds' nature!"

"Someone here is being a fool, but it certainly isn't me," James deadpanned before sighing and motioning for the two boys to follow him. "Let's get going… we still have to start on our Halloween project and we need to find Remus for that."

ooo

The three boys scoured Gryffindor Tower and then the rest of the school in search of Remus. It took the better part of the day to check his usual haunts around the grounds and in the library.

When they searched the library, Sirius entertained James and Peter by scaling one of the tall bookcases and having a long chat with the dust bunnies that resided there.

Their search was put to an end there, however, when Madam Pince spotted Sirius and informed him that he was within a few feet of the restricted section and would be severely punished if he didn't come down from his perch within the next minute,

They would have been perhaps allowed to stay and search a bit longer if Sirius, dangerously curious as always, had not clambered down from the bookcase on the restricted side.

Peter commented later that they were lucky to escape with their lives. He had never seen Madam Pince with more intent to seriously maim a student than at that moment. And he had seen the perpetually late Ravenclaw, Stebbins, turn in a shredded library book once.

ooo

Sirius marched along the quiet hallways as he led James and Peter to the Hospital Wing. He hadn't forgotten Remus's mention of being sick on the weekend, but he had supposed it to be an excuse. Perhaps Remus had gone to the Hospital Wing just to not be caught in his lie?

Because it was a lie, he knew; no one could predict when they would be sick. Not even someone with a bloody rotten immune system like Remus.

"Sirius, go ahead and knock," James's voice broke into Sirius's thoughts and he raised a fist to rap smartly on the door.

To Sirius's surprise and, for a split second, dismay, a Ravenclaw second year he had met a few weeks ago opened the door to the Hospital Wing. She opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and stared. He knew exactly what she was thinking: Coincidental, or purposeful meeting?

"Black," she said cautiously. "What do you want?"

Sirius brightened up, his old charming grin back in place as he recovered from the mild surprise. "Sarah! Sarah Duble, isn't it?"

Sarah narrowed green eyes. "If you're here to bother me again, you're not walking away – you're heading right into the Hospital Wing, Black."

Noting the dangerous tone in the Ravenclaw's voice, James and Peter chose to watch the chat from the sidelines, unnoticed.

"Still upset over the transfigured quill?" Sirius asked innocently.

"That was you?"

"Ouch," James murmured sympathetically as the dark-haired Ravenclaw slapped Sirius and stormed past him.

"Oi!" Peter called, in a rare show of courage, before she could disappear down the hallway. Sarah turned and he quailed for a moment before gathering the courage once again to ask his question. "I-i-is Remus Lupin in there?"

Sarah nodded curtly, angrily shoving her long hair back. "He's ill; Madam Pomfrey doesn't want him to be bothered. Black, if you come within ten feet of me in the next week I'll hex you till you're black and blue."

James arched an eyebrow at Sirius as the other boy absently rubbed his cheek. "That looked painful."

"Thank-you for stating the obvious," Sirius complained, "How am I supposed to stay away from her? We have Transfiguration with her! She bloody sits five feet from my chair."

"I take it the girls don't usually slap you?" Peter queried curiously as he noted Sirius's angry mutterings.

"Bloody Ravenclaws…" Sirius pouted, rubbed his cheek again before starting down the hall. "Let's get to work on thinking up a suitable prank. We'll get Remmy later tonight and see if he's up to rigging whatever we need then."

ooo

"Well," James announced after a while, "I think that about covers everything. S'bout time to go collect Remus and have him poke holes in our plans, eh?"

"Maybe he'll point out why we shouldn't even try this?" Peter asked. Sirius merely rolled his eyes at Peter's familiar dialogue and hopeful wish of a plan being cancelled.

"Remus will most definitely tell us why we shouldn't do this," James assured.

"Doesn't mean we won't go through with it anyway," grinned Sirius.

Frank, who was just trudging up the stairs to the dormitory, gave the three boys a wary glance. He pondered for a moment if he really even had the energy to question the Marauders outright about what they were up to.

He didn't. It was late.

"You lot," Frank ordered as he made straight for his bed, "remind me to kill you in the morning if you do anything to embarrass Gryffindor."

"Of course," Sirius agreed cheerfully. Frank gave him a weary glance and shook his head. He'd deal with whatever they were up to later.

ooo

The Marauders made their way quietly through the dim corridors. Aside from a brief incident with the Bloody Baron coming dangerously close to floating through the three as they hid under James's invisibility cloak, no other souls, living or dead, were seen.

James nudged the door to the Hospital Wing open and the three slid in as quietly as possible, easing the door closed behind them.

As usual, the Hospital Wing was scrubbed clean with various health potions decorating the shelves that lined the walls. Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, but the boys could detect faint noise from her office – soft snores?

"She's asleep?" Sirius guessed.

"Let's make this quick, then, shall we?" James responded quietly.

Just to be safe, the three stayed under the cloak as they made their way into the section where the cots lined the walls. They scanned them individually, finding no occupants.

"He died!" Peter half-wailed with trembling lips.

"Don't be daft," Sirius snapped quickly. He glanced around uneasily, though. "Where do you think he could be, James? Sarah said he was fairly sick… Remus has looked a bit paler than usual this week. He's sick again, so... why isn't he here?"

James shook his head.

The sound of Madame Pomfrey suddenly bustling around her office prevented further conversation and James motioned frantically for his two friends to hurry with him to the exit.

They made their way to Gryffindor Tower again, worry and confusion weighing on them heavily.