Author's Notes: This story is the effort of a group of dedicated Gryffindors, written for the house fan fiction contest at Third Floor Corridor. In this chapter, Beckiemalfoy and Yellowwolf were the authors.

While we wish Harry Potter belonged to us, we do not own him, nor the books, nor the movies. They are owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Warner Brothers, and possibly a few others. No harm is intended, and no profit is being made.

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Chapter Eleven

The day began innocently enough, Sirius and James woke up around the same time, possibly due to the smell of sizzling bacon and freshly brewed coffee, although was probably due to the fact that Sirius thought it would be funny to pour cold water over James's head. After he finished sputtering and yelling in shock, James leapt out of bed and chased Sirius down to the kitchen.

"So, how long will you be staying with Remus?" Carolyn asked whilst dishing out the breakfast plates. James and Sirius were to meet up with Peter and Remus at the Leaky Cauldron around eleven, and then they'd head back to Remus's house for the week. James was too busy glaring at Sirius over his coffee cup and mumbling incoherent threats at his adoptive brother to answer, so Sirius answered, instead.

"A week, I think we agreed on, but if anything changes, I'm sure ickle Jamesie will owl you."

James shifted slightly in his seat and smiled in satisfaction as his foot connected with Sirius's shin, causing the boy in question to gasp sharply.

James looked at his mother innocently. "What our dear, darling Sirius is trying to say, is that we'll be away for the week, and when he gets homesick, he'll owl you but he'll sign it from me."

A splutter of indignation came from across the table, and James noticed as his father tried to smother the noise of his snickering as he watched his two boys battle for the upper hand.

Carolyn watched them banter back and forth and rolled her eyes. James knew that she was happy; she'd told him to make sure that they both – Sirius in particular – had as much fun as was legally possible during their summer holidays.

"Alright, boys," she smirked, turning to put her empty plate by the sink. "I get the idea. You'll both be so homesick you'll each sign the letters you send home with each other's names."

Sirius and James just stared at her, matching looks of surprised shock on their faces. Harold laughed outright at them, and shook his head before glancing at his watch. "You boys best go get ready. It's half past ten and you'll need to be on your way soon."

Stumbling out of the Floo at the Leaky Cauldron, Sirius and James dusted themselves off and looked round for the familiar mops of hair of their friends. Spotting both Remus and Peter already sitting at a table in deep conversation, they bounded over to them.

"Morning to all! Shall we be going? Lets go!" Sirius said cheerfully, turning and skipping through the thankfully nearly deserted pub. He was out the door to the courtyard before Remus, James, and Peter could exchange hellos of their own.

"He's awfully chipper this morning," Remus observed as he and Peter stood from their table.

"And that's what I was subjected to this morning when he woke me up," James sighed, explaining what Sirius had done to wake him. Peter and Remus tried unsuccessfully to cover their laughs at the woebegone expression on James's face as they made their way out the door and to the entrance to Diagon Alley, where Sirius was waiting for them impatiently.

"You and sleep is like Moony and his chocolate. Take it away and you'll sulk," Peter choked out, his pointed face pink with laughter.

Looking outraged, James and Remus simultaneously shouted, "HEY!" Sirius and Peter looked at each other and laughed.

After tumbling through the entryway to Diagon Alley, the boys spent most of the afternoon gathering what they believed they needed for the coming week. During their excursion, Remus and James got their retribution for Peter's comment by buying him a cage with a wheel, while James presented Sirius with a collar, to get back at him for soaking him that morning. On their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, they all fawned – or in James's and Sirius's cases, drooled – over the new brooms in Quality Quidditch Supply. At last Remus reminded them that his mother was expecting them, and they turned reluctantly away, and made their way to the pub and it's floo.

Remus's mother had already set the dinner table by the time the boys had arrived.

"Did you boys have a good day?"

"We did," Remus said quickly.

"Yeah," Peter and Sirius said at once.

"Great, thanks!" James replied, plopping down at the table and sniffing the air, trying to figure out what Mrs. Lupin was cooking.

The rest of the boys joined him at the table. James heard several hungry stomachs rumbling, and grinned at Sirius, who put his napkin in his lap and looked up expectantly.

Laughing slightly, Mrs. Lupin sent the plates of food over to the table with a flick of her wand. After the mad scramble to fill their plates, the boys settled into the quiet rhythm of eating ravenously.

As she joined them, Remus's mother said, "Just so you boys understand, you'll have to go home Tuesday morning, but then you'll be able to come back on Wednesday night, although as I'm sure you know, Remus will still feel a little ill."

The boys looked up as one, their food momentarily forgotten. James shot a glance at Remus, who kept his face in a carefully crafted look of supreme innocence. He was a little shocked that Remus's Mum had brought up with the subject at all, but as he finally caught Remus's eye, he smirked and answered for them all.

"Yes, we do, but then at least Remus's furry little problem will be out of the way for a while!"

"Good. I don't know how many times I've said this, but I'm so glad you three could look past his ... furry little problem."

The boys chuckled and carried on eating.

After dinner, they made their way up to Remus's room which they would be sharing for the week. They had planned that after Remus's mother had left, the three animagi would return and spend the two days with Remus anyway, although they planned to leave early on Wednesday morning to make sure they weren't caught in the house.

Tuesday morning came too soon for the four boys. Remus's parents had to leave around lunchtime, so the boys were forced to get up at ten. They went downstairs to eat breakfast with Remus's parents before heading back upstairs to start packing their things. While they had only been at the house for two nights, the boys had managed to transform the normally tidy room into a downright mess. It took them a while to gather their belongings as they were strewn all around the room, and several times they couldn't decide to whom a certain object actually belonged to.

It seemed quite a waste of time to clean up since they would be back soon, but they could hardly leave their things behind, claiming they would leave everything there until Wednesday. No, that would certainly make Remus's parents suspicious.

Once they were done packing, they headed back downstairs. Remus's parents were ready to leave as well.

"Now, boys, I expect the three of you back here Wednesday night, but no sooner!" his mother said warningly, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Of course not," James said with his most charming smile. "We quite value our lives."

Remus fidgeted a bit at this, not quite liking the fact he could possibly attack his friends while transformed. It was because of that that his friends were always in Animagus form when they kept his company. That way they could keep an eye on him and even put up a fight if he attacked them or just run away, whatever seemed best.

"Okay, mate, we'll see you Wednesday. Take care," Sirius said, clapping Remus on the shoulder. His back was turned to Remus's parents. 'See you later,' he mouthed with a wink. Remus smiled and nodded.

James and Peter said their goodbyes, too. They had decided on taking the Floo network to Diagon Alley, wander around there for a bit and then go back. The original plan had been to go back to James's and hang around there but since his parents thought they would be with Remus all week, they figured that would look suspicious.

Several minutes later, James, Sirius and Peter found themselves wandering down Diagon Alley, carrying their rucksacks on their shoulders. They had agreed to stay there for an hour, and then go back. They walked past Ollivander's, seeing a young boy being given his first wand. The boy looked absolutely terrified while holding the wand. A stack of papers started flying around, and Ollivander abruptly took the wand from the young boy's hand.

James snickered. "Ah, the good old times. I remember when I went to get my wand. I found the right one pretty quickly. You know what they say, the wand chooses the wizard, and which wand wouldn't want to be with me?"

"Come off it, Prongs! I'm sure the wand made an error," Sirius snorted.

Peter laughed but otherwise stayed quiet as the two boys started bickering. His gaze drifted along the busy street. It was busier than normal, he noticed. But the weather was good so people tended to come out and do their shopping. The sun was shining brightly and a gentle breeze was enough to make sure they weren't too warm. His gaze fell on a girl, walking alone and coming in their direction.

"Guys," Peter said, effectively cutting off the bickering, "there's Lily."

James made a kind of choking noise and seemed to be considering ducking away but kept on walking. Lily saw them and seemed to slow her pace but a confrontation was inevitable.

"Hello boys," Lily said nervously, smiling slightly.

"Lily!" Sirius exclaimed, taking her hand and pressing a kiss on it. "What a pleasure to see you here."

"Hello, Lily," Peter answered. "Say, eh, Padfoot, I er … need your help with something."

Sirius followed Peter and gave James the thumbs-up behind Lily's back.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked, blushing a bit as she looked down at the ground.

"We're going to be staying over at Remus's house and we… er… came to get some stuff. You?" James said, figuring it was best not to tell Lily they were actually waiting until Remus's parents were gone before going back. And he shouldn't mention the werewolf thing at all.

"I came to get some books to work on our summer assignments," she answered, holding up a bag, "But… er, I had better keep moving because my mother is waiting for me in Muggle London. So, I'll talk to you later."

"Yes, I'll… er… owl you or something," James said, fidgeting nervously on the spot. He mentally kicked himself. He was always so cool about everything, yet just talking to Lily made him sweat and nearly stammer.

Lily nodded and hurried off down the street. James stared after her with an expression of longing on his features. The other two boys came over again, standing on either side of him.

"Do you need a tissue or something?" Sirius asked.

"For what?" James asked confused.

"To wipe up the drool before there's a puddle here at your feet," Peter replied. Sirius nodded approvingly and high-fived the smallest of them behind James's back. Both boys snickered.

"Ha ha, very funny, guys," James deadpanned, glaring slightly at his two friends. "We better get back; don't want Moony to be locked up in the basement for too long."

"Sir, aye aye, sir!" Sirius said loudly, saluting him.

James just rolled his eyes.