There You Were

Chapter 11: Up to no good.

Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter related

Dedicated to Sirius' Sweetheart, who reminded me that the Marauders need love too.


It was breakfast time on the Thursday before Christmas and the girls had just joined the Marauders; only one appeared to be missing.

"Where's Remus?" Dorcas asked in her usual morning voice. "He was supposed to give me those potion notes I missed last week because of that stupid back-fired transfiguration project. Honestly, I swear I said the incantation correctly, and yet suddenly I end up with claws."

The Marauders stiffened. They knew why Remus wasn't around; it was a full moon tonight, and there was no way he was well enough to go about the daily routine. But for some unknown reason, the guys had forgotten to clarify which story they were sticking with this time.

"He had to visit Madame Pomfrey, you know, Marauder Mischief gone bad." James replied quickly.

"His mother's ill, so he went to visit her. I keep telling him, a boy who looks after his mother so much will never find a girlfriend; but he just never listens." Sirius answered at the same time as James, though more casually than his best friend.

While Peter blurted out, "We're playing hide-and-seek!"

"Oo, Good one." James whispered to Peter. It wasn't even lying much, as they often played hide-and-seek both in and out of the castle.

"Hide-and-seek? So early in the morning?" Alex asked. "And in a castle this big, wouldn't a game like that be safer being played on the weekend; so you had more time to hide and a lot more time to seek?"

"Well, we weren't just playing it this morning." Peter covered up quickly.

"That's right," Sirius took over. "It was a last night thing and well, I really wanted his hiding spot. I meant for the jinx to be a mild one, but I slipped at the last minute. Poor Remus never had a chance. So we hauled him off to the Infirmary, and that's when he found out his mother was ill. Once he was fixed up himself, he went off home."

They looked at the girls sitting across from them, and held their breath. It was a long shot that they'd actually believe them. They waited for a response.

"You boys really need to learn how to recount a story." Lily stated shaking her head. The boys exhaled. "Thank goodness Sirius has half a brain and pieced the story together, otherwise we might have been here for hours wondering whether Remus came home from his mother's place, then played hide-and-seek; before being rushed off to the Infirmary."

"We'll, um, work on that one for you Lily." James said taking another piece of bacon off a tray.

"Did you hear that, I have half a brain!" Sirius beamed. The group rolled their eyes.


"That was close." Peter whispered as they opened the doors leading to the castle grounds. "I thought you were reading the Map Sirius"

Sirius looked up "What? Oh, right, the Map. Well I was reading it and everything appeared to be clear, just like I said. But I forgot about that darn Cat!"

The boys were almost caught sneaking around the castle. Despite having their secret Marauder's Map that told them who else was wandering the castle they still managed to bump into Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat. Luckily for them, James covered them with his invisibility cloak, just in case.

"Maybe you should have changed Padfoot, given old Norris a fright her little kitty heart would never forget." James said giving Sirius a nudge.

"Well maybe next time I will." Sirius replied, nudging him back.

"Next time?" Peter said giving Sirius a questioning look. "Merlin, I hope not."

By this time they had made their way across the Hogwarts ground to the big and seemingly old willow tree. It had been planted the year they came to Hogwarts, though it wasn't an ordinary willow tree. It was called the Whomping Willow, and it tried very hard to hurt you if you got too near. And it was to this tree that the boys were now headed. It was planted because of their dear friend Remus, to hide him from the students of Hogwarts on nights of the Full Moon. Poor Remus was troubled at this time, for he was a werewolf; and as such, was dangerous to those at Hogwarts.

However, this condition of Remus's didn't both the other Marauders. They were willing to see past it, because they knew just how good a friend Remus was. It's because of this that they worked hard to become Animagi over their years at Hogwarts. Animals were in less danger of being harmed by a werewolf; and this way the boys were still able to hang out with their best friend during his time of need.

"Righty-o Wormtail," Sirius began, turning to his friend and giving him a pat on the shoulder. "It's knot pressing time."

The boys had discovered that if you pressed the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow it would stand motionless long enough for them to enter the tunnel that led to Remus's hiding place. With a little pop, Peter the human disappeared and in his place was a large rat. Standing at a distance, Sirius and James watched as Peter raced towards the tree's trunk and proceeded to press the knot.

"Excellent!" James whispered into the still night as he and Sirius caught up to Peter.

"We're off to see the Wizard." Sirius sang, and they slid down into the dark tunnel.


Dorcas sighed. Lily had already gone off to bed, claiming that it was a school night and she wasn't going to sit around and waste precious sleeping time. Lily had always been like that, early to bed and an early riser too. She sighed again. What was she supposed to do by herself on a Thursday night?

Sound on the stairs made her turn. Alex was walking down them with determination. She had a look upon her face that said she had a plan and was sticking to it.

"Hey Alex," Dorcas waved from where she was sitting. "What's up?"

"Oh, Dorcas," Alex said jumping. "You scared the life out of me. What are you doing sitting around by yourself, where is everyone?"

"Well Lily went to bed ages ago, and I haven't seen the Marauders since breakfast." As Dorcas finished her sentence Alex had made her way to the portrait hole. "Where are you going?"

"To meet with the Boyfriend." She said as though it were obvious. "I do this every Thursday, remember?"

"Yeah, but normally I'm not alone. When are we going to be introduced to your new guy, you're keeping him so hidden I'm beginning to wonder if he even exists." Dorcas had meant it to be a joke, but Alex's eyes narrowed and her face turned hard.

"Oh, He exists." She said through a clenched jaw.

"Alright, alright." Dorcas said holding up her hands. "I just want to make sure he's good enough for you."

"He's perfect; really, there's no need to worry." Alex replied becoming cheerful once again. "Although he might be a little annoyed if I keep him waiting much longer. I'll see you tomorrow."

She left before Dorcas had a chance to respond. "Bye, Alex. Strange."


"How do you think Remus is feeling on this fine night?" Sirius asked as the boys continued to make their way along the dark tunnel.

"How do you think he's feeling Padfoot?" Peter said sarcastically. "He's stuck in a stuffy old room and desires fresh meat; I think he'd be rather uncomfortable and agitated."

James turned to face them. He'd been leading the group and had just passed their marker that told them the entrance to the shack was just around the corner. As if on cue, a howl sounded from above them. Peter gave Sirius a knowing look.

"Well that was a lucky guess." Sirius huffed looking at his shoes.

"Alrighty boy," James said placing a smile on his face. "It's show time." His comments were met with three small pops and in the place of the Hogwarts students were three animals. One was the rat that had pushed the button; Peter. The other two boys took the form of a large black dog, who appeared to be rather eager to enter the rooms above him; and a brilliant white stag, whose antlers barely fit in the tiny tunnel. Using his antlers, the stag pushed open the door around the corner and tentatively walked into the room beyond.

'Hasn't changed much.' The stag thought to himself. Motioning with his head he called the others in. The dog went bounding past him and made his way upstairs; a short yelp told the animals below that he hadn't taken Remus by surprise, he never did. 'Damn Sirius, never cautious.'

It had been a tradition for Sirius to alert Remus to their presence, although he had a habit of doing it by jumping on the werewolf. However, Remus's stronger senses never left him unprepared. The stag, who had to be James, leant down and allowed Peter to climb upon his back. Remus didn't try to hurt them anymore, but sometimes he got over excited, and a rat was no match for a werewolf; one strong leap and Peter would have a hard time recovering.

Making their way upstairs, James observed his surroundings. Nothing much had changed downstairs, but there had certainly been changes upstairs. The wallpaper covering the stairway was pealing off the walls in oddly shaped patterns. 'Claw marks.' James thought, they were claw marks from intense scratching. 'Remus must have been anxious earlier.' It appeared that the wall paper was the worst of the damage this time around, but on other occasions bits of furniture had been Remus's victim.

James trotted into the room upstairs which resembled a bedroom. The boys had often commented on why a werewolf would need a bed during his crazy night.

'Well I can understand if he had a lady werewolf friend, then they might want to use the bed.' Sirius had said one day after their full moon visits. Remus was still gaining his strength back and the boys had been wandering the castle trying to find something to do without him.

'Sirius!' Peter yelled, his glare had made Sirius lean against the wall laughing, after a moment or two James joined him.

"What? It's not like he's here; and besides, it's a fair comment. I don't see why there's a bed, it's hardly worth trying to make him comfortable. Obviously whoever put it there has no idea what he goes through during these transformations. Added furniture will only give him a reason to get angry at something.'

Coming back to the present, James noticed that Remus was mirroring Sirius's actions. First they both raised their front right paw, and then rolled over, before chasing their tails for a short moment. Sirius encouraged this every time they arrived, to show they were friendly visitors. The next move was to walk up to James and Peter and give then a good long sniff. Sure enough, Remus and Sirius padded over to the remaining boys and circled them slowly. James stood still with Peter slightly shivering on his back, as a smaller animal he was often scared easier; but the wolf didn't hurt them. He gave them a small snort, grinned and then began chasing Sirius around the room. James was quick to take up the chase and soon all four of them were enjoying themselves.

It wasn't hard to get along with Remus in his werewolf stage. He understood them fairly well and always enjoyed himself. If he wasn't likely to hunt the surrounding students and residents in Hogsmead the boys would have taken him out to the Forbidden Forrest and allowed him to stretch his legs. They'd tried it once but Remus was a bit too wild with excitement, and they were too nervous to try it again. None of them wanted Remus to wake up the next morning and found out he'd done something terrible; it was better on all of them if he stayed indoors.

'I wish we could bring chess with us, or exploding snap.' Peter had mentioned one day while the boys were discussing their next trip.

'I think I'd have a bit of trouble learning those ones in my wolfy state.' Remus had replied, chuckling at the thought of a werewolf playing chess.

'Bet he'd still beat us ever with the added disadvantage.' Sirius mumbled to James who just smiled.

As it was they found plenty to keep them occupied during their trips. Tonight they settled on hide-and-seek. It mainly consisted of Sirius or James distracting Remus while Peter ran off to hide and then, after a 40 second head start, they let him loose and all three of the bigger animals searched the house until they found him.

The evening always ended with Remus asleep on the floor, he never used the bed, and the boys slowly creeping out of the shack.

"Far out, I thought he was going to eat me that last time." Peter said once they were inside the tunnel once more. "He had that hungry look on face, and I swear he licked his lips."

"He did not." Sirius answered giving Peter a small shove into the wall next to them. "And anyway, even if he had James and I were there almost instantly after he found you. You had nothing to worry about."

"Well next time try and get there a bit quicker." Peter mumbled as he continued to walk along with his friends.

"Will do Wormtail." James replied patting him on the back.


"What!?" A male voice sounded in the dark corridor.

"I said tomorrow you make yourself known." The light female voice answered him. "I thought I said it perfectly clear the first time."

"Our rules are to never get caught." The man stated trying to mirror her calm voice, he didn't succeed.

"Well the rules are being changed to minimise questions!" She spat back before giggling slightly. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."


And there you have it: The latest chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it, as I had fun writing it!

Reviews are always welcome.

~James' Girl Lily.