9 Years with the Marauders: 1972-1981. Beginning in 2nd year, the trials and tribulations of the Marauders right up until the deaths of James and Lily Potter. Remus/Sirius relationship-centric. James/Lily. Warning SLASH! Contains m/m content in later chapters.

DISCLAIMER: All characters, locations, and bits (with a few exceptions) are property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Studios.

NOTES ON THIS CHAPTER: October and November 1973

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KABOOM!

There was an explosion of blue and purple into the air, and all the girls in the class screamed. Most of the students on either side of the table had dived for the floor, including Peter and James, who were partnered together just on the other side of Severus Snape and Lily Evans.

The Slytherin and Gryffindor in front of the jinxed cauldron had been drenched in the dark liquid. Sirius and Remus had turned to look at the explosion. Remus had jumped back when they'd heard the bursting cauldron. Sirius had already been steeling himself for it, checking back every so often to see when Snape was going to be putting the third ingredient in the potion. They were making Lethargy Potions, and Remus could already see Lily becoming faint and tired, and even Snape – through his fury – had slumped onto the floor. A Slytherin girl was letting out short little screams, which were fading as the potion began to affect her as well.

James and Peter had come out from under their table, just like everyone else, and Slughorn had immediately pointed his wand at the liquid splattered everywhere. Within a moment it was gone, and he scurried over to help Severus into a chair. James had jumped forward to help Lily, setting her down.

"It's quite all right!" Slughorn was saying reassuringly. "The effects will wear off in about ten minutes, as the potion had not been brewing for very long. There's not even a need to go to the Hospital Wing, unless either of you are injured otherwise?"

They both shook their heads listlessly. Snape had a huge bruise growing on his head where the brunt of the cauldron had hit him, but since it was rubberized it hadn't actually caused him much damage. "Professor... I didn't... do it wrong..." Severus managed to get out, quite firm in his belief.

"Don't worry my boy!" Slughorn patted him on the shoulder kindly. "Everyone makes a mistake sometimes, I promise you that this will not affect your final grade in the slightest. I'll even allow you to redo the potion for extra credit, so long as you are supervised by me." He chuckled at that, but Snape shook his head a bit harder, seeming to come out of the potion-induced stupor to glare fiercely at his teacher.

"I. Did not. Do it wrong." He said angrily, and Slughorn blinked curiously.

"Perhaps you'd better go to Madam Pomfrey after all for that bruise, you got knocked upside the head quite severely." Slughorn glanced around, and unfortunately James was the only one nearby, still standing next to Lily. "Mr. Potter, kindly take Mr. Snape up to the Hospital Wing."

James balked. "But Professor, I'm not finished with mine!"

Slughorn shook his head. "In light of the explosion, every potion in this room is probably tainted, therefore I am forced to render the assignment void. No points will be awarded nor taken away." He stood up, looking around the room, and waving his wand over the scattered pieces of cauldron. They vanished with a pop, except for the piece that Sirius had shoved into the pocket of his robes. "Everyone please put the lid on your cauldrons. Please note that although I'm not forcing you to complete this potion, the ingredients and uses of the mixture will be on your next test."

James had – reluctantly and with disgust showing on his face – lifted Severus by the arm and was now leaving. Remus gazed at them as they left, knowing that Snape hated the idea of James half-carrying him to the hospital wing as James hated having to do it. Sirius whistled as he pulled back out the scrap of cauldron. It was quite rubbery, but blackened around the edges from the explosion.

"Boy, James is good with Charms, huh? That was bloody brilliant! Best thing we've done in a while." Sirius said as everyone mulled around the classroom, now left without anything to do for the last fifteen minutes. Lily was becoming more energetic again, brushing off the people trying to help her. Sirius had a weird look on his face as he gazed at Lily, and Remus raised an eyebrow.

"She's fine, Sirius." He pointed out, and Sirius jerked back.

"I wasn't..." He protested instantly, and Remus blinked and smothered a smirk. "James helped her." Sirius said incredulously.

"Well she was going to fall. You wouldn't have let her fall, would you?" Remus said in confusion.

Peter let out a squeak of a laugh. "That's not what he meant. James wanted to help her."

Remus stared. Sirius groaned. "Oh never mind! You are completely stupid, Moony."

"Hey!" Remus protested, as the bell finally chimed for the end of class, and they gathered their things. James met them at the top of the stairs to the dungeons, looking extremely displeased.

"Why did you help Evans?" Sirius questioned James immediately. James looked taken aback, shrugging one shoulder in response.

"She nearly fell into me."

"She did not. You raced over to help her."

James raised an eyebrow. "I was... being chivalrous?"

Sirius looked irritated as they walked out of the castle and towards the grounds where their Care of Magical Creatures class was held. Professor Kettleburn was sitting on a stool, rubbing his one stump of an arm.

Remus watched Sirius as Kettleburn began his lecture, and wondered what had Sirius so uptight. So James had helped a girl, big deal.

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"Students!" McGonagall stood up that evening at dinner, and the Great Hall fell almost silent. The Slytherins ignored her at first, until they all realized that she was staring at them, her gaze level but deadly. "I have an announcement to make!"

When the Great Hall was fully quiet, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter all looked over at Dumbledore. He looked serious, but willing to let McGonagall speak. She was his second-in-command after all.

"There have been a number of disturbances in the village of Hogsmeade of late." She began. Whispers immediately began through the room, but a glare from her shut them all up again. The four boys at the Gryffindor table looked at each other knowingly, their eyes doing all the talking. "As such, I am very sorry to say that the Hogsmeade weekend coming up will be canceled."

A roar of anger and protest came up from every table, the Gryffindors and Slytherins the only two houses with enough courage to stand up as they tried to argue. Dumbledore now stood, raising a hand. The students once again fell silent, sitting back down. They were still grumbling, even as the headmaster began to speak. "I apologize sincerely for this problem, everyone. I please ask that you do not get angry. There will be more Hogsmeade weekends, I promise you, and Zonko's and Honeyduke's and every other shop will still be there. As a consolation prize, we will be serving butterbeer at this year's Halloween feast. Now, please, go back to eating."

McGonagall and Dumbledore both sat down again. Now the whispered conversations and grumbles became even louder as students argued and debated as to what was going on.

Sirius turned to the group, excited. "They've been disappearing from Hogsmeade!"

The three other boys nodded furiously. Sirius and James began discussing the disappearances, but Remus felt himself getting distracted by his own thoughts. Nobody really ate anymore dinner, and soon everyone was filing out of the Great Hall. Remus heard rumors that were little more than wild speculation, everything from a pixie infestation to a mass murderer on the loose. They had no idea that there were any disappearances, but it had to be something serious to prevent the students from going to Hogsmeade.

That night in their dormitory Sirius and Peter had crowded onto James' bed again, the curtain half-way around them so that they could talk in semi-privacy. Remus was laying in his own bed, not caring, but Sirius was still quite exhilarated. Even the fact that none of them would be enjoying Hogsmeade for a while didn't matter much to Sirius.

"So people are disappearing from Hogsmeade. What do you think it is?" Sirius said curiously.

"Who knows?" James said with a smirk. "Maybe Cassandra MacMillan was right, you know. Maybe it's some crazy mass murderer serial killer fellow on a rampage!"

Peter yelped. "What if he gets to the school!"

Remus snorted derisively. The three boys looked over at him, and Remus blinked. "Oh honestly. Haven't any of you three ever read Hogwarts: A History?" When he was met with three blank faces, he rolled his eyes. "Honestly!"

Sirius scowled. "Well not all of us are boring, Moony."

Remus sighed. "Would you stop calling me that?" He was normally indifferent to his new nickname, but the way Sirius had said it was completely condescending and it sparked annoyance in him. "Hogwarts is protected by several dozen special spells for protection. Muggle repellents, Unplottability, Disillusionment Charms, the whole lot. But also, there are special protection spells that help stop any person with wicked intentions from getting in. They aren't foolproof, like you can trick them pretty easily, but if it's just some crazy wand-happy guy, he's not getting in past the gates."

James tapped his chin. "Should we go see Hogsmeade maybe?"

"Don't you dare!" Remus said quickly. "I will go to McGonagall." All three boys looked at him, and Remus turned bright red. Their feelings of betrayal passed over him in waves like a physical wall, and he shrunk down into his blankets. "It's too risky!" He argued without them even having said anything. "If there is something seriously wrong... well there's a reason that they want students to stay out."

It was Sirius that snorted this time, and Remus gave him a bit of a glare. "Moony, you're being such a child."

"We're only thirteen." Remus protested.

"That isn't what I meant. I mean, always listening to your teachers, your mummy -"

"Don't talk about my mother, Sirius, please." He said, his voice much calmer than he felt.

Sirius made an unapologetic motion with his hand. "We should figure it out."

"Why us?" Remus asked even though he half-way knew the answer. "There are a dozen grown-ups that can handle it. Why do we have to do it?"

Sirius actually shrugged, as though he thought the answer was obvious. "I dunno. You just want to lay back and let adults take care of you for the rest of your life?"

"No. Just... for the next four years anyway." Remus said shakily. Sirius and James both laughed, and a body three beds away grumbled and rolled over, and they fell silent.

"We can't just sit back while things happen without us." Sirius said loftily.

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Halloween came and went, relatively interesting. Sirius and his friends managed to play a trick or two on the Slytherins for the holiday, but the whole castle just seemed a bit boring. Perhaps because of the lack of Hogsmeade, they were all a bit listless and irritable. Remus spent the weekend reading, or trying to. Sirius made it his special mission to prevent Remus from doing so, even after Remus hit him upside the head with Spellman's Syllabary and nearly gave him a concussion.

A few days before Sirius' birthday in mid-November, the four boys were all lazing about in the common room. Even Remus wasn't doing his homework, or reading. Instead they all sat around, not really doing anything at all. Sirius and James were playing chess, but Sirius was mostly lining up his pieces for the slaughter. Peter was gazing at a group of girls on the other side of the common room with a strange amount of interest. Remus was stretched out on a nearby sofa, lackadaisically swirling his wand over his head, causing a trail of soft silver sparks to whirl in the air.

James killed Sirius' queen quite brutally, and then sat back. "You aren't even trying."

Sirius shrugged in boredom, stretching his hands over his head. Even though they had not talked about the strange happenings at Hogsmeade again since several weeks ago, Sirius had still been listening. He and James had even snuck out to Honeyduke's just briefly one night. Remus was partly right about it being too dangerous. They had just poked their heads around, seeing if they could hear anything. They hadn't gleaned any new information though.

There was a sudden shriek, faded as though it came from a distance. Everyone in Gryffindor Tower jumped from where they were sitting as the scream went on and on, joined by a second voice, also screaming. The four boys ran to the window along with a dozen other people, elbowing their way to the front. There was a group of about six students gathered in a circle, hiding something within their ranks, and they could just see the pointed hat of Professor McGonagall dragging a young girl away. She was doubled over, still screaming. Hagrid was there too, much easier to see, as he pushed everyone out of the way. As soon as the circle was opened, half the students crowded around the Gryffindor window were suddenly screaming and backing away from the window.

There on the grounds, barely even recognizable, was a body. But it was entirely torn asunder. All that was visible from this distance were crimson blood, black robes, pale skin, and long, dark hair. Sirius felt a shiver of terror, and when he looked over at Remus the boy was shaking, and then fighting his way back from the window and running off.

"Remus!" Sirius turned, but was momentarily trapped by the growing crowd of people around the window.

When he had finally been freed from the group of Gryffindors all crying out in fear and talking to each other in hurried voices, he raced up the stairs to see what had happened to Remus. He grabbed at Remus' curtain, but the fabric did not move. Sirius looked surprised. What charm could keep him from pulling the curtains open? The curtains felt hard, almost like they were made of wood. He tugged a bit harder, but they didn't budge.

"Remus?" It was Sirius' voice, concerned as he obviously tried to yank at the curtains. Remus had spelled them as soon as they had closed, and now he was sitting alone, deaf to anyone outside his bed. It was dark, but Remus didn't even bother to light his wand.

Dark. Darkness stronger than anything. Silence and darkness and then, like a spotlight from a stage the clouds broke and there it was, the moon. Full and round and yellow-white, glowing down at him wickedly. His hands reached up to fist in his hair and he whined in pain.

"Remus!" James now, but he ignored them both, even as the rapping on his curtains became even louder.

Pain. Unendurable pain. His bones were breaking, elongating, fur sprouting from his arms. And then... blood. Coppery scents tantalizing him, swirling in his nostrils like the smell of a baking pie, drawing him closer.

"I could hurt him if I used a Blasting Curse!" James was saying angrily, and Sirius muttered something, and Remus felt himself calming down, but the memories were still surging.

Biting and breaking, blood on his tongue and he wanted, no needed more, more blood, more pain, more screams. Make the human hurt like he was hurting, make it scream for mercy until he finally snapped its neck.

"Finite!" Sirius had finally figured out what to do when confronted with an unknown spell, and the curtain shimmered for a moment before it fluttered in the wind. Sirius grabbed it and yanked it open, and Remus looked up at them.

"Blimey Remus... are you crying?" James asked. Remus' hand touched his face and realized that yes, it was wet, and salty liquid stained his lips.

He turned away and pressed his sleeve to his eyes, ignoring everything else. The three boys were the only ones in the dormitory, and they all looked at him. James looked worried, Sirius looked surprised, and Peter actually looked quite afraid.

"Sorry." Remus mumbled. "I could... I could smell the blood... even from up here."

They all seemed to understand, and James sat down on the bed, relaxing. "You only had to tell us then."

Remus took out one of his mother's handkerchiefs and blew his nose, sniffing a bit and shrugging. He tried to make it seem like he was perfectly calm, but he could still smell the body and the blood, like it was a cloak clinging to his skin.

He had never killed before, but he had had nightmares about it. Even if he did kill someone though, would he know? He rarely had memories of the full moon, only waking up and feeling pain from whatever injuries he had felt the night before. Would he recognize the taste of someone else's blood in his mouth? Would he know that someone else had suffered because of his disease?

Sirius blinked. "McGonagall." He said, as they heard a voice from downstairs. They all scrambled upright again, heading out to the common room, even Remus, who was still rubbing his nose with the handkerchief.

"Everyone please calm down!" She said loudly. She was frazzled, her hair coming out of her bun, her hat completely askew. Remus stood at the top of the stairs while Sirius, James, and Peter all pushed their way to the front, trying to listen.

It was several minutes before the residents of Gryffindor Tower had calmed down enough for her to speak. "Thank you. Now everyone, please, there will be an official announcement soon, I cannot reveal anymore details. I need to speak to Remus Lupin."

Remus froze as every single person in the room turned to find him, and then all stared up at the stairs at the same time. Sirius and James had shock in their eyes, and Peter looked terrified. Remus walked down, and the crowd parted for him to get to McGonagall. He followed her out of the portrait hole, his heart thumping. It was beating so hard and fast he thought it was going to explode and then McGonagall would be too busy being covered in his insides to worry about whatever she was worrying about.

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"Mr. Lupin. Please answer the question." McGonagall's voice was calm now at least. But her appearance was no less worn and frantic. He looked at her, and then into the bright blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

He had never been in the Headmaster's office before. He'd only gotten in trouble once or twice in the last three years due to his associations with Sirius and James, but those times he'd only ever been lectured in McGonagall's office. Sirius had been in this circular room innumerable times, for fighting or pranking or maybe just because one of his teachers didn't like the look he was giving them.

"Remus." Dumbledore's voice was soft, reassuring, and Remus finally seemed to come out of his daze. "I understand this is very difficult for you. But you must tell us all that you know."

"I'm sorry Professor..." Remus said, feeling small and frail as he racked his brains. "I just don't... I just don't know. I never remember what happens in the night. When I'm... when it takes over, it's not me anymore, it's kind of like going to sleep, only foggy... sometimes I can smell stuff? I..." He trailed off, closing his mouth.

"But you are sure... you are positive that you never left the Shack?" Dumbledore pressed him, not letting him think, demanding the answer instantly.

"Yes." Remus said, but his voice was more uncertain than he felt. "The trap door can only be opened with a key or a wand, and I didn't have either one that night... I mean my wand was in my robes but there's no way..."

"Yes, yes." Dumbledore cut him off, leaning back in his seat.

"P-professor..." Remus hated the stammer in his voice, and he licked his bottom lip to try and calm himself down. "What's happened?"

"Mr. Lupin, it's not something you should know..."

"It's all right Minerva." Dumbledore raised a hand. "We will be making the unfortunate announcement soon. Fourth year Ravenclaw Ursula Perch was found this afternoon, by her friends. She had gone missing two days ago after claiming that she was going down after hours to the Forbidden Forest to do some research. We believe that she strayed too close to the forest, and was attacked."

Two days. Remus' throat actually felt like it was physically burning with the words that he was holding back. Two days ago had been the full moon. Had been the first moon in a while when he had woken up with little more than bruises and a light cut. Had he...

"There are many beasts in the Forbidden Forest, Remus." Dumbledore said quietly, gazing into his face as though he were reading his mind. Remus felt only slightly reassured. "There are many possibilities. We will exhaust every single one first."

The headmaster straightened and looked at McGonagall. "Minerva, I would like you to alert Professors Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn. Please tell them to collect their houses and bring them into the Great Hall. And then of course fetch the Gryffindors. I will make a public announcement to everyone. Take Remus with you, back to his house, and his friends." Dumbledore smiled, but Remus' face remained empty. "All will be well, Remus."

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Remus wasn't talking. Remus wasn't talking and among the clatter of students, and the whispers, and the sobbing from the Ravenclaw table, his silence seemed the loudest of all. James didn't know how silence could be loud, but Remus' quiet demeanor was screaming at them. Sirius wasn't speaking, but at least he was fidgeting, tapping his fingers against the table, shifting back and forth on the bench so that it squeaked lightly, inhaling and exhaling rather loudly as he thought. Remus though... Remus was still. As though he had looked at a basilisk straight on, his face was frozen in a blank gaze, his body sat on the bench with his hands in his lap and his eyes were slightly wider than usual, glassy. The expression in his eyes was familiar. James knew it meant that Remus was thinking about something and was distracted from his surroundings. Half the reason he had earned his new nickname. Moony.

Dumbledore raised his hands over his head, and immediately a hush fell over the hall. It was punctuated occasionally by more crying from the Ravenclaw table. Older students were comforting younger ones, most of the first and second years were in tears, but two or three students who were either third years or fourth years were crying the hardest of all, and one of them had a dark brownish stain on her jumper, and James shivered, recognizing her as the girl that McGonagall had been leading away from the body on the grounds.

"I have grave news." Dumbledore said, his voice full of regret. "I am very sorry to announce that one of our own has been lost today. Ursula Perch, formerly of Ravenclaw, was found at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It is a tragedy to lose a student, no matter the house, and we will mourn her."

As he said the word mourn, all four house tapestries hanging from the walls of the Great Hall transformed to pitch black, and the charmed ceiling became dark as great big black clouds passed over the sun that had been there. A somber mood settled over the room. Dumbledore continued, saying that the Ministry and Miss Perch's parents would be arriving the next day to take care of things and to assure that a full investigation was made.

"And I must remind you that Miss Perch's story is a grave retelling of the consequences of going out after hours, and of approaching the Forbidden Forest. We beg that no students will be forced to endure what she did, and you will all obey the rules more closely in her memory."

He dismissed them not too much later. James looked at Remus. The other boy got up from the table as though he were being Imperioused, pushing into the crowd, ignoring Sirius, James, and Peter, who were all gathering together. "Remus!" James called, but even though Remus turned his head at his name, he was already being swept away by the students filing out.

Sirius was tugging on his arm frantically. "What do you -"

"I don't know, Sirius." James snapped, realizing he was angrier than he thought he would be at Sirius asking his usual questions. "This isn't really the time. Someone's died you know."

The dark-haired boy looked taken aback, and slightly upset. "I was just wondering. Whatever was in Hogsmeade..."

James calmed down, slowing down as he spotted Peter behind them getting swallowed by the students and then reappearing a few yards away. "Yeah, well that much is obvious."

"Did you see what happened? That's not just some crazy bumbling axe murderer." Sirius said in a hushed voice as they walked past a Ravenclaw prefect holding several younger students close while they cried into the older girl's robes.

"Yes I know, Sirius. It looked like an animal..." James blinked behind his glasses as suddenly something clicked. He turned white as a sheet, and Sirius stared at him in confusion as they filed behind the rest of the Gryffindors climbing the stairs.

"What, what is it, James?"

"Shush. I... we'll have to talk about it later."

When they entered the common room everyone seemed quiet and confused. James motioned to Peter and Sirius, who trotted behind him up the stairs to the dormitory. Remus' bed was cut off again from sight by the ruby red curtains, and they heard muffled noises coming from it. James lead them to Peter's bed, the furthest bed from both the door and from Remus, and they all huddled within the curtain. James even threw in a "silencio" for good measure.

"They might have found her body today, but I don't think she died today." James began.

Peter gasped. "What do you mean!"

Sirius shushed him, and James cleared his throat to continue. "I think she might have died two days ago... at the full moon."

The blond didn't seem to understand what James was trying to say, but by the way that Sirius froze and turned pale, James was sure he immediately comprehended. "The... full moon?"

James nodded slowly, glancing at the curtain which was hiding Remus' bed from them. "And I think that's why McGonagall wanted to talk to him, to see if he knew what he'd done."

"He didn't do it!" Sirius' voice was loud, angry. "He couldn't have done!"

"Sirius, it's possible... I mean, if he managed to escape the Shack..."

"No! There's no way!"

"Calm down Sirius, I'm just saying."

"Saying you think that Remus is a killer?" Sirius' face was now dark, and angry.

"Calm down, I'm just saying we have to be realistic. I don't think he did it, I know the Shack is a good place for him. I'm just trying to think of our options."

"What do they do to werewolves that have killed?" Peter squeaked out, finally having figured out what they were talking about.

James and Sirius both glared him into submission, and then looked towards Remus' bed again, the same expression on their faces. They were both wondering what was going on behind the curtain. Finally the bespectacled boy returned his gaze to his two friends, his childish jaw set in determination. "It wasn't him. We'll prove it if we have to."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well... I have some very exciting things lined up for 3rd year as you see. I wanted to integrate both the rise of the Dark Lord and the troubles of the Marauders. It's not as canon as most of my storyline, but there's nothing that says it couldn't have happened.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK:

hotpinkfleur: in every single chapter, because she is, as always, my ever-present writing advisor and friend *hug*

pshhh yeahh and freakyprincess-87: reviews! you really make my day.

anonymous: for your detailed review, and I would like to let you know that all the stops along the way are what make a story worth reading. =D