Author's Note: Finally, an update! Sorry it has been so long, but an incredibly hectic year of university is at an end. This means three months of free time to write! Expect to see more frequent updates (and, dare I say it, maybe even completion of this story?)

7.

The silence hung heavy and impenetrable in the castle; it was starting to play on Remus's nerves. Completing the spell he sat back on his haunches and rubbed at a crick in his neck. He and James were drawing a tracing spell around an empty classroom on the sixth floor. The spell inscribed the room onto a large piece of parchment that was forming the basis of the Marauders' map. They had been taking it turns to spend an hour or two each night to trace around rooms for the map. So far, they had completed the upper floors and towers (with the exception of the Ravenclaw common room), and tonight he and James had been at it for over an hour. It was painfully slow work; if their wands slipped and broke the trace, the room would not be accurately represented on the map and they would have to repeat the process again. The ease with which the Marauders had been able to access unused rooms had made Remus surprised at the low level of security in the castle. The majority of classrooms and offices were left unlocked, or only protected by the most basic of security spells. He guessed that everyone was right in saying that Hogwarts was the only safe place left in the wizarding world.

A few nights ago, the Death Eaters had orchestrated a gruesome attack that had struck at the heart of everyone who still maintained the delusion that Lord Voldemort was not a serious threat to society. A series of Dark Marks had appeared simultaneously in the sky over London, sending the bewildered Aurors in disarray from false attack to false attack. Only one of the Dark Marks signalled a genuine attack, and due to the Aurors delayed response in reaching the house, a family of Muggles died. Nobody yet knew if the false Dark Marks were part of the planned attack, or if they were sent up by Death Eater sympathisers. The Ministry was barely keeping control of the chaos; so many Muggles had witnessed the blatant magic in the sky, causing a breach in the International Statute of Secrecy. That morning's Daily Prophet had reported that the Minister of Magic, Edmir Gillespie, was facing a coup from his own government, it was likely that the end of the week would see a new Minister in place. Why the Ministry was deliberately adding to the sense of panic in the community by ousting their own leader in such a perilous time was beyond Remus. But at least they were safe from it all in Hogwarts.

Beside him, James completed his trace and paused to take a break. He lay back heavily on the stone floor and stretched out his cramping muscles. He looked at his watch.

"We'll just finish up this room and call it a night," he said around a huge yawn.

"Sirius should be back by the time we return," Remus said as he sat down next to James. "He said they were only going to be away for the day."

The previous week Sirius had received a letter from his uncle Alphard who had arranged to take him out of school that Sunday in light of his upcoming birthday. It seemed that Sirius was not the only Black who could charm anyone to their will, and Remus was surprised that Dumbledore had given Sirius permission to go on the outing. Nevertheless, it was probably good for Sirius to spend time around a family member that wouldn't hurl abuse at him.

James had been watching Remus think. "I'm guessing it's not just me who thinks Sirius has been acting oddly lately," he said. "He hasn't said anything to you about it, has he?"

"No," said Remus. He hadn't meant it to come out sounding as bitter as it did. He and Sirius had barely exchanged more than a few words since the disastrous ending of their recent Hogsmeade trip.

"I guessed you guys had had a fight... He's just not as open with me as he used to be, it's like he's hiding something but I can't tell what it is."

Thinking back to Regulus's taunts in the Three Broomsticks, Remus thought he had a pretty good idea about what exactly Sirius was hiding, but he wasn't going to say anything to James until he had more concrete proof.

"I mean," James continued, "it can't just be about his mother wanting him to marry some pureblood. She's always been a persistent bitch and he's never let it get to him before."

"Maybe he's finding it more difficult to shrug it off than before, I mean, Christ James, he ran away over the summer," replied Remus. "It's no wonder really that he's still acting weird. Think about what you'd be like if it was you."

"I guess," said James but he still looked unconvinced.

"How's things going with Lily," Remus asked, eager not to talk about Sirius anymore and knowing that this was the one subject that James could ramble forever about.

"She's great," he said with an almost rapturous expression on his face. Remus briefly wondered what it be like to be so enamoured by another person. "I mean she's still putting up a fight, but I think her resolve is weakening. I've been really trying, you know, to be more mature and all that. Hell, I've even read all of those dreary Marcella Crouch novels you and she both love so much, but sometimes I feel it's just not getting me anywhere. I mean, it's just taking a lot longer than I expected."

Remus knew James well enough to know that he was more disappointed than he was letting on.

"I think you're doing everything right, James," he said encouragingly. "You have been talking more... civilly to each other than you used to, and I can tell Lily appreciates it. Maybe you should just try and be yourself around her."

"Yeah, maybe," said James thoughtfully. The remained in companionable silence for a few moments before he spoke again. "My mum's been panicking about all this Dark Mark shit. She's written letters to the Minister and Dumbledore, but I can' see what good she expects to get from it."

"At least she's taking some action," Remus replied. "Sometimes I feel like my parents don't even know there's a war coming. They've completely insulated themselves from everything that's been going on."

"Well, maybe that's okay. After all it will be us fighting, not them." It was such statements that reminded Remus why James was the unspoken leader of the Marauders. He had the ability to strengthen nerves without sugar-coating a situation.

"We've still not found out who that Slytherin first year is, either," he reminded Remus. "Why does Snape's lot have so much respect for him and how is he able to pass messages to Bellatrix Lestrange of all people? I doubt he's from old pureblood stock if Sirius doesn't recognise him."

Remus frowned. "Would Sirius really recognise him, though? He hates all that family stuff, how much attention would he really have paid to some random kid?"

James shook his head. "Don't let him fool you, Remus. He hates them but he makes sure he knows everything about them."

"Nevertheless, it looks like the only way we'll be able to find out his identity is by getting the student register. And that means breaking into McGonagall's office."

James's eyes lit up at the prospect of mischief. "Well, for that we'll need a spectacular prank. What if –"

He broke off suddenly. There was sounds of movement in the corridor outside.

In unison the boys pointed their wands at the lamps on the walls and whispered "Nox". They froze in their positions, hardly daring to breathe. The steps were too brisk for Filch, and there was none of his usual accompanying wheeze. As the steps faded down the corridor the boys crept to the door. Peering around the door-frame they saw an unfamiliar tall man with dark hair and an emerald cloak disappearing around the corner at the end of the corridor. Re-igniting the lamps, they looked at one another with raised eyebrows.

James smiled grimly. "Something strange is going on around here."


The next morning, Remus awoke abruptly from his peaceful slumbering to find his bed spinning around furiously.

"What the hell!" he cried, trying to focus on something as the dormitory whirled in a blur of colour around him. From across the room he heard similar strangled cries from Peter and James as they awoke. From the centre of the room he heard familiar guffawing.

"Sirius, stop spinning my bed or I swear I'll spew all over you!" The threat seemed to do the trick for after a few seconds his bed became stationary once more, as did Peter and James's.

"Good morning, Marauders," Sirius cried in a sing-song voice that was several times more irritable due to the early hour of the morning. "Now, do you all know what day it is?"

"The day I try out that new ball-crushing jinx on my best friend?" James grumbled, lobbing his pillow at Sirius's head.

"Wrong!" smirked Sirius, vanishing James's pillow into thin air with a casual flick of his wand. "It's my birthday!"

"So soon?" said Remus, sitting up blearily. "The common room still hasn't recovered from the aftermath of last year's party."

"Those chairs were old, they needed to be replaced anyway. My party just sped up the process. Come on, get up! We must breakfast like kings."

Remus was sure he heard Peter mumble something that sounded like "fucking insufferable git" into his pillow.

Grudgingly, the other three boys got out of bed and started to get dressed for the day – a practise that was made considerably more difficult due to the fact that the now of age Sirius kept making their clothes fly out of their hands before they could put them on. After losing his third set of robes to this supposed joke, Remus pointed out irritably to Sirius that he could have used this magic inside Hogwarts at any point in the last six years, regardless that he was now seventeen.

Evidently, Sirius had returned from his trip to London with his uncle in much better spirits. He just laughed at Remus and returned his robes, it seemed that their disagreement of last week had been forgotten. He was behaving far more like the Sirius of old than the surly version Remus had been putting up with for the last few months. As the Marauders made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Sirius excitedly told them that his uncle Alphard had given him a flat in London for his birthday. Not only that, but since his family had not officially disinherited him yet, Sirius now had access to his share of the Black family fortune. His family could no longer legally take away his access rights without going to trial. The news that Sirius would never have to return to Grimmauld Place again put the four boys in such high spirits that they practically bounded into the Great Hall.

Seconds after they had crossed the threshold, Sirius was accosted by a mane of blonde hair and a shriek of "Happy birthday, Sirius, darling." Snickering heartily, the other three boys made their way to the Gryffindor table, leaving Sirius to fend off the incorrigible Verella.

"Morning, Remus" said Julia brightly as they passed her.

"Moony, you need to ask that girl out before she explodes from unrequited feelings," said James insistently. "I don't want Julia-bits in my cereal."

Remus smiled to himself as he took his seat and pulled the jug of milk towards him.

"Good morning, Evans," James said politely, as if it was a coincidence that he had chosen the seat across from Lily.

Lily looked up from her paper, "Good morning, Potter. I thought you guys never left a loyal comrade behind," she said nodding over to Sirius and Verella, who seemed to be doing her best to imitate a giant squid ensnaring its prey."

"After his actions this morning he more than deserves it," James assured her.

Lily had been about to reply when a familiar greasy figure appeared behind her.

"Lily, can I have a word with you," Snape asked in an undertone, deliberately avoiding eye contact with any of the Marauders.

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of breakfast, Severus?" Lily replied coolly, not turning around to meet his eye.

A pinkish tinge rose on Snape's sallow cheeks. "Maybe later then?"

"Can't you see she doesn't want to talk to you, you greasy git," James interjected.

Snape's eyes met James's with a murderous expression, but before the argument could even begin Lily spoke.

"Is this any of your business, Potter? Severus, I can meet you after Transfiguration but I have to go see Professor Phipps about my essay result before lunch."

"Okay," said Snape, looking relieved. He stalked away not glancing back at James who was fuming.

"Why do you still talk to that prejudiced bastard?"

"Which one?"

"Look, I am nowhere near as foul as him. He called you a – a – a you-know-what! Don't you remember?"

"Yes, Potter, I remember. I also remember it was your despicable actions that provoked Severus into saying that stuff. You're not always as noble as you seem to think you are."

With a final angry glare at James, Lily stuffed her newspaper into her bag and left the Hall.

An awkward silence fell at the table. Remus was glad for the distraction when the post owls swooped in overhead. To his happy surprise he recognised his parents' owl, Tiberus, amongst the throng and cleared a space on the table for him. Tiberus had just landed as Sirius squeezed himself onto the bench beside Remus, finally free from the clutches of Verella.

"What's up?" he asked, piling potato scones onto his plate.

"Snivellus," grunted James.

"I thought I saw Evans stalk off. The great plan working well, then?"

"Fuck off," said James, sounding more defeated than angry, though he did cut up his bacon with more violence than Remus thought was strictly necessary.

Rolling his eyes, Sirius turned to Remus. "Who's the letter from?"

"My parents. They're going to Rome over the Christmas break. My mum's been dreaming about going there for years, so it looks like I'll be staying here over the holidays."

"No you won't!" said Sirius happily. "Didn't I say earlier? You're all invited to come and stay at my place at Christmas. It'll be great, we can probably all get into those clubs on Diagon Alley now and we can live up the city life."

James looked upset. "I'm sorry, mate, that sounds really great but my great-aunt Ethel's coming from Denmark to visit us over the holidays. My mum would do her nut in if I'm not there. I can probably wangle to come over for a night or two, but not the whole holiday."

"And my mum wouldn't be happy either," said Peter in a small voice, staring into his cereal bowl as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I can't leave her on her own over Christmas."

Sirius did his best to look as if he was unaffected by their responses. "Oh, that's all right, it was just a thought." Nevertheless he still looked disheartened.

"I'll still be able to come," Remus said, nudging him gently in the ribs. "That is if you still want to spend your holiday with a taciturn werewolf."

Sirius gave him a wide smile, emphasising his Black good looks. "Of course I do. Cheers Remus."


The day's classes passed quickly. Remus was happy with his progress now that he had finally caught up with the other Marauders in regards to human transfiguration, but it was a small consolation in the face of the sixth years' ever increasing workload. With four essays all due at the end of the week, Remus was working flat out just to keep afloat and doing his level best to ignore Sirius's attempts to divert his attention from his work. Sirius, of course, would not start a single essay until the night before they were due, and would still end up with better grades than Remus.

Not that Remus was jealous or anything.

He had, much to his relief, been able to get his monitoring book from the Werewolf Rehabilitation Scheme signed by his professors without his classmates noticing. Professor Dumbledore had let Remus's professors in on the secret of his Lycanthropy the day Remus returned from his first visit to the Ministry. Thankfully, none of his teachers took the news badly, Professor Phipps had even given him a box of Muggle chocolates. With tears in her eyes she expressed her most heartfelt sympathy for Remus's condition. The teachers were all very discrete about signing the book, and though Remus didn't think any of his classmates had noticed anything unusual, he still looked around nervously each time he handed the book over. In fact most of the professors, Professor McGonagall in particular, had expressed outrage over the whole procedure Remus was being put through. From the comments she had made whilst signing his reports, Remus had surmised that McGonagall and Umbridge had been at Hogwarts together and that she had no more love for the old toad than Remus had. He diligently owled the monitoring reports to the Ministry at the end of each day as he had been instructed, and his parents had received the first of the promised monthly subsidies at the end of last week. Money that was now being cautiously spent on a much needed holiday to Rome.

Sitting in the Common Room after dinner, it seemed to Remus that anything was more interesting that his impending Defence Against the Dark Arts essay (Discuss the different uses of jinxes throughout history, with focus on the goblin riots of the seventeenth century, and assess the critique that the use of protective jinxes is feasible). Instead, he lost himself in thought, going over in his head what they had overheard from the Death Eater's meeting in Hogsmeade, and the possible identity of the mysterious Slytherin first year.

Across the table James met his eye. "Are you thinking about how we can break into McGonagall's office?"

"What we need," said Remus, abandoning the pretence of working on his essay, "is a diversion."

"Well, that's our speciality," said Sirius, sitting forward and rubbing his hands together in a gleeful manner. "We haven't wound up old Minerva in a while."

"You got detention from her last week," Peter reminded him.

"Oh, that was just foreplay, Wormtail."

"Eew, you want to shag McGonagall?" Peter said, just as a lull of silence fell in the common room. A group of nearby fourth years turned around to stare at the Marauders. Sirius just flashed them a smile and waved jauntily.

'What can I say? The woman's still got it."

"Anyway," said James, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. "We have to get McGonagall out of her office unexpectedly, so she doesn't have time to put the security spells on it."

"An explosion?" suggested Peter.

"Nah, we're out of Filibusters. Besides, we don't want people to say we're becoming formulaic."

"Peeves?" Remus proposed.

"No," said Sirius. "Last time we enlisted him he ended up reneging on us half way through, remember?"

They lapsed into a thoughtful silence.

"I've got it," exclaimed James suddenly, "and if it works we can land Snivellus in detention while we're at it."


Later that same evening the Common Room became packed with people for Sirius's birthday party. As with previous years it promised to be a wild night. Sirius and Peter had spent the last two weeks persuading the house elves to let them smuggle as much food and alcohol as they could from the kitchens. The Marauders bathroom had been beginning to like a particularly seedy bar, with the amount of liquor bottles that had been crammed into it. The whole of Gryffindor had turned out to celebrate, as well as many students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Even Verella, accompanied by one of her surly girl friends, had appeared. Thankfully for Sirius the large crowd meant he could easily avoid her.

With the copious amounts of alcohol flowing freely, it wasn't long before the high-jinx started. In one corner of the room a boisterous game of truth or dare had started up with the objective being, as far as Remus could see, to snog as many of the fellow players as possible. Another group were dancing (well, Remus supposed that was what all the unsequential flailing was meant to be), and in the centre of the room Sirius and his old beater partner, Bertie Russell, were standing on top of one of the rickety tables with some unknown girls' underpants on their heads. They were drunkenly holding each other up, singing tunelessly to the music blaring out to the common room's old gramophone to admiring cheers. Remus was watching the performance with much amusement, when from across the room he noticed Julia looking at him. He was smiling back at her when, from nowhere, James appeared behind him.

"For Merlin's sake, Moony, go over there and snog her," he cried, giving Remus a sharp shove in the back.

Stumbling slightly, Remus made his way through the throng to Julia.

"Hi."

"Hi, Remus." Julia reached out to take his hand. "Let's go somewhere quieter," she said, dragging him over to a secluded corner of the common room behind a conveniently placed statue of Godric Gryffindor.

"I really like you, Remus." She clasped her hands behind his neck as Remus's brain finally caught up with the situation. He didn't know what exactly was in the punch he'd been drinking all night, but he was certainly feeling very free, surprising himself when his arms wrapped themselves around Julia's waist, bringing their bodies together.

The kiss wasn't exactly mind-blowing. In fact, it rather mirrored all of Remus's other, though admittedly limited, experience with girls; he acted mechanically to the point that it almost felt as if he were performing a chore. Rather than compounding his feelings for Julia, it confirmed something in Remus's heart that he had been doing his best over the years to ignore.

However, before any more epiphanies could reveal themselves to Remus, the portrait hole suddenly swung open. As planned, all traces of alcohol were automatically vanished and sobriety spells executed, the gramophone switched itself off and the whole common room turned with innocent expressions to face Professor McGonagall.

Remus was sure he saw the Professor's mouth almost twitch into a smile at the scene before her. Sirius and Bertie were still underwear clad on the tabletop, reeling from their sudden, unexpected sobriety.

"Really, Mr Black," began McGonagall exasperatedly, "I do wish you many happy returns, but it is a school night and not only have you kept all of Gryffindor up until two in the morning, but also Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw it seems." Before any one had a chance to protest, McGonagall stepped back and held the portrait hole open. "Bed, everyone," she said with such finality that no one dared disobey.

Remus hurriedly extracted his arms from Julia's waist. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said, quickly joining the crowd that was heading back to their dormitories.

"Okay, Remus." Julia looked slightly dismayed.

As he entered the dormitory, James gave a whooping cheer and slapped him on the back.

"That's my boy," he cried, a stupidly patronising grin on his face.

"Really James, I have snogged someone before."

"I know Moony, but it's just Julia's a great girl. I approve."

Remus pretended to wipe a tear of gratitude from his eye. "It's your approval I've been waiting for all along James," he said, not without sarcasm.

Sirius laughed from across the room, where he was digging around under his bed for something. Springing back to his feet, he clutched a full bottle of Firewhiskey. The pink pants were still pulled over his head.

"Whose knickers are they?" asked Peter

"Your mum's," replied Sirius, not missing a beat. "C'mon," he indicated the window, "the night's still young boys."

James groaned. "Don't you think we've had enough by now?"

"Hey," exclaimed Sirius, shaking the bottle of golden alcohol under James's nose, "me and Pete spent a great amount of money and effort persuading those house elves to get us this alcohol. Besides, thanks to McGonagall I'm now completely sober, and so are you lot – that's no way to end a night. Drinking contest!"

"You should know better by now than to challenge a werewolf to a drinking contest," said Remus. "Last time you did you ended up lying in your own sick singing that song about a goblin."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did," laughed the other three boys in unison.

"Alright, firstly, you two," he indicated James and Peter, "had already passed out by that point, and secondly, I can't even remember the words to that song when I'm sober. Now, come on, let's get pissed."

And that is how the Marauders ended up on the roof of Gryffindor Tower at four in the morning, watching the dawn slowly break from behind the furthest reaches of the forbidden forest. Remus lay on his back as, one after another, the stars slowly faded from view. The Firewhisky had given him the disconcerting sensation that he was floating, and he gripped onto Sirius's arm next to him to make sure he didn't fly away.

Slurring slightly, Sirius began singing. "See the little goblin, see his little feet. And his little nosey-wose isn't the goblin sweet? Hurrah!"

James and Peter had clambered off the roof back into the dormitory about half an hour ago – a memory that was sure to make Remus regret their drunken foolhardiness in the morning. The light coming from the east was giving him a headache, so he rolled over to face Sirius and the still dark sky behind him.

"You look ridiculous," he said, indicating the underwear still on Sirius's head. With a surprisingly graceful movement, Sirius swept the knickers from his head and together the boys watched as they sailed across the battlements and out of sight.

Sirius looked over at him, nudging Remus in the ribs teasingly. "So, how was it?"

There was no need to ask what he was talking about – the two of them could carry out whole conversations without any specific references. They knew each other so well by now that it was unnecessary, the meanings seemed to flow between them without needing to be said.

"It was..." Remus searched for the right word. "Boring."

Sirius gave a small smile. "Well, maybe you've just not found the right person yet."

"But I wonder what it's like with you?" Remus said.

Sirius gave him a startled look.

"I mean," continued Remus, trying to organise his alcohol soaked thoughts into some semblance of order. "I mean what's it like when you're with girls?"

Sirius looked taken aback. "It's – it's –– it's, I dunno. I mean it's good – it just kind of happens I guess, I don't really put too much thought into it."

Remus had the distinct feeling Sirius wasn't being entirely truthful. He was about to ask another, more pressing question when Sirius reached into the pocket of his robes and withdrew a small package wrapped in brown paper.

"Here," he said. "This is for you."

Remus took the parcel, perplexed. "It's not my birthday 'til March."

"I know that," Sirius said exasperatedly. "Can't a guy get his friend a gift without it being a big deal?"

"Not when the last gift the guy gave the particular friend was cologne that made him smell like an overripe Dungbomb."

"That was a joke – how many times do I have to tell you? Oh, look just open it already, will you."

Gingerly, Remus tore off the packaging to reveal a small leather-bound volume entitled Hairy Snout, Human Heart.

Remus opened the book to the first page and read "I had never told anyone I was a werewolf until it was too late..."

"I saw it in Diagon Alley yesterday," Sirius mumbled quietly. "And I just thought you would like it. I guess I wanted to remind you you're not alone. And that the Ministry are bastards."

"Thank you, Sirius," said Remus, feeling greatly touched.

Sirius shrugged, "It's nothing."

The pale sun had fully risen now above the Forbidden Forest where the birds had started singing. Below them, the lawn was sparkling with dew.

"I'm sorry I've been such a moody git," Sirius said, apropos of nothing.

"You mean today or the last six years?" teased Remus.

"Today, last week, all of it – I'm sorry I've been such a pain."

Remus could see where this conversation was headed and sought to put a stop to it once and for all.

"Look, I forgive you for the whole Snape-Willow thing, okay? I should never have brought it up last week. It's in the past, let's not talk about it anymore... Whatever Regulus is holding over you on the other hand –"

"I don't want to talk about that. Not tonight, Remus, please."

"I wish you'd just tell me what the problem is. I'd keep it to myself."

Sirius gave a rueful smile. "Yes, I rather think you would. Anyway," he gestured to the book, "that's my I'm-sorry-I've-been-such-an-arse gift to you. Next time I'll bring flowers."

The were quiet for a while. Remus closed his eyes and emptied his mind of all thought except for the joyous chorus of birdsong.

"You know," said Sirius after a while, "people are really scared out there. In Diagon Alley, it was so strange – no one talks to each other anymore and most of the shops are boarded up. It's like Voldemort has sucked the life out of the place."

"Are you scared?" Remus asked.

"No. It's just the same shit my parents tried to make me believe – they didn't succeed and neither will Lord Voldemort."

"Come on," said Remus, sitting up. "We should go – it'll be time for breakfast soon."


Later that same week, the Marauders put their plan to break into McGonagall's office into action. James and Sirius had contrived to goad Snape into such a bad temper with them that it would bring McGonagall running from her office. It wasn't exactly their most inventive plan to date, but James was still furious with Snape about the conversation with Lily the other morning and wanted revenge.

Suppressing his guilt at his friends' continued persecution of Snape, Remus and Peter faithfully snuck into McGonagall's office, after she hurried to investigate the source of the shouting emanating from the floor above. Remus headed over to the Professor's desk while Peter took his position as the lookout.

They knew from past break-ins to McGonagall's office that the Professor filed all her documents very carefully. Everything was labelled correctly and organised chronologically – very helpful for an intruding Marauder. Remus quickly found the list of all first year students who had been due to enrol in the start of the year, and muttered the spell to make a duplicate copy. Taking care to leave everything the way he had found it, he and Peter swiftly left the office making their way down the corridor in the opposite direction to the source of all the commotion.


Half an hour later, after James and Sirius had returned with freshly served detentions, the Marauders carefully scanned through the list of names and accompanying photos of enrolled students. Upon reaching the end of the list, Remus caught James's eye: he looked as bewildered as Remus felt.

"That can't be right," declared Sirius, snatching the list from Remus and going back to the beginning again.

"What is it?" asked Peter.

Remus looked over at him.

"The first year is not on the list of enrolled students."

To be continued (very soon)...