Chapter 12

Midnight encounter

oOo

"Potter! Black!" The angry shriek resounded across the empty corridor. It seemed as if the Slytherin girl did not find their prank all that amusing. Pity. She hadn't even been the intended target, she had just stepped right in front of Mulciber. It was not their fault that she had been hit with a Dungbomb that had been intended for Mulciber's ugly mug. One of the many Dungbombs James' father had send them, it must be mentioned. The package he had sent was a treasure chest filled with all kinds of pranking supplies.

Sirius grinned at the running James next to him. Laughter was bursting from their lips as they ran, corridor through corridor, their feet following the winding staircase towards the bottom.

"Out of the way!" James called as they rushed passed a surprised looking fourth year. She was clutching her parchments to her chest as not to lose them to the wind the running boys had created.

When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs they were gasping for breath. Between his gasp for breath, Sirius managed to get the words out: "Next-huff time ... let's n-not do that ... on top of the Astronomy tower."

"Brilliant plan!" James answered with a small breathless laugh as he fought to catch his breath. Sirius grinned at him. The pounding of heavy footsteps from behind alerted them to the fast approaching thunderous footsteps that most probably belonged to likely very pissed off Slytherins. Oh joy.

"Oh bollocks!" Sirius groaned.

"Come on, we've got to run... again." James exclaimed before he took off again. Sirius holstered his bag higher on his shoulder before running off after James with a very fake annoyed groan.

They ran through the corridors, rushing past startled students, ignoring the furious calls of a Prefect, running as if the wind itself was carrying them. They rushed around corners barely avoiding running headfirst into people or objects. Laughter disturbed the sound of their heavy breathing. Free, Sirius felt free for once. There were no expectations, no stiff rules, no hatred, no fear, just the freedom of their laughter.

"Come on Sirius stop being such a slug!" James hollered from ahead of him. With an affronted protest, Sirius escalated once more. His muscles would be greatly displeased with him tomorrow, but he couldn't care less. He barely registered the moment hard stone floor turned into soft grass. The sun had not yet completely disappeared behind distant mountains. The shadows they ran past were becoming darker as night slowly fell.

Sirius finally managed to reach James and tackled him. James let out a surprised sound before falling forward. He gripped Sirius' sleeve and pulled him with him down towards the grass. Together, the two of them toppled down the hill, rolling through grass and mud. They finally stopped at the gigantic feet of somebody.

"An' just what are yeh boys doing?" Sirius looked up to the biggest human being he had ever seen. Actually he wasn't quite sure if he was even human. He was tall, nearly three times taller than he was, probably over three meters. He seemed even taller from their sprawled position on the grass.

A big unruly beard covered his face and black eyes glinting like small black beetles regarded the two of them with something akin to amusement. One of his bushy eyebrows was raised as he looked down upon them. He had been introduced during the welcoming feast but to be truthful Sirius had blocked everything other than the sorting and the food out. So he had no idea what his name was. James was the first one that found his voice.

"Sorry, Hagrid" James answered as he struggled to sit up. Apparently James had been more attentive during the feast, which was excellent as it prevented Sirius from embarrassing himself. Hagrid held out his hand and James took it gratefully. The gigantic man pulled him onto his feet effortlessly. He also pulled Sirius to his feet and the power with which he did it felt like he was attempting to rip his arm out. He winced and hoped that his arm would not hurt tomorrow.

"We had a small run in with some Slytherins" James answered Hagrid's question before he reached out to pluck a few leaves out of his messy hair.

"More of a run-away if you ask me." Sirius added as he rubbed a smudge of mud from his cheek.

"Well, that is true. We ran here all the way from the Astronomy tower." James answered when he saw Hagrid's curious expression. How he was able to read the curiosity on Hagid's beard hidden face was a small miracle. Sirius grimaced and spit out a small piece of leaf that had somehow ended up in his mouth.

"An' just why did yeh have to run away?" Hagrid asked as crossed his thick arms.

"We are innocent!" Sirius proclaimed as he held his hands up with the most innocent grin he could manage. Hagrid narrowed his eyes. James lightly hit the back of Sirius' head. "That made him more suspicious than anything else!" James hissed.

"What did yeh do?" Hagrid asked. James apparently decided that it couldn't hurt telling Hagrid.

"We might have thrown a Dungbomb in the general direction of Mulciber", James said as he sheepishly ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up all the more. Before Hagrid could open his mouth to scold them, Sirius started talking.

"Mulciber deserved it. He insulted Peter and undermined his confidence. A Dungbomb was way too harmless." Sirius growled darkly.

"No one harms one of our friends." James added as he nudged him none too gently to prevent him from following darker thoughts. Hagrid looked back and forth between them. He seemed to be smiling beneath his great shaggy beard. Whatever Hagrid had wanted to say was interrupted by a flurry of feathers and the sound of wings flapping, making Sirius and James freeze, blinking confused. Sirius valiantly fought the urge to start laughing no matter how much he wanted to. James apparently couldn't help himself and blurted out: "Eh Hagrid you do realize that a rooster just landed on top of your head?"

Hagrid blinked at him in confusion for a moment. Sirius couldn't quite help the laughter that bubbled forth. Slowly Hagrid patted the top of his head till his overly large fingers came into contact with something feathery. Carefully and gently he grabbed the rooster and plucked it off of his head.

"Chadwick! I've been looking for this little bugger all day!" Hagrid exclaimed with a broad grin as he regarded the rooster in his hands. The rooster that was now held delicately in Hagrid's arms looked at them nonplussed and very much annoyed.

"He ran away again to run after some fox that tried to get the hens." Hagrid explained with gruff affection as he patted the roosters head with his large hand. The rooster looked very displeased at that, though, but Hagrid seemed oblivious to that. Sirius and James shared an amused look.

They spent some time talking after that. James had asked Hagrid something about Care of Magical Creatures and Hagrid looked delighted. He told them all about the little Salamanders that have recently been born from fire.

"James! Sirius!" A voice called from behind them, effectively interrupting Hagrid's gushing over the Salamanders. Peter was standing on top of the hill waving at them. The worried expression on his face was foreboding. They quickly said goodbye to Hagrid, promising to visit him for tea, before nearly running towards Peter.

"What's wrong Pete?" Sirius asked while a worried frown was marring his features.

"Where is Remus?" James asked immediately. When he and James had gone to hunt down Mulciber, Remus had been helping Peter with his potions homework inside their dorm.

"McGonagall informed him that his mother's condition has worsened again. He left to visit her." A curse flew unbidden out of Sirius mouth at Peter's worried words. James' head jerked upwards and his expression grew dark when he noticed the full moon that had appeared in the darkening sky.

"Let's go inside." James urged them. Impatience was suddenly in every tense line of his body. He grabbed their hands and was as good as pulling them towards the castle. His gaze was wary as it looked towards the forbidden forest.

"James?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow. His behaviour unsettled him because usually James and Sirius were the calm ones in face of dire situations, but those usually involved the stern glare of McGonagall and detention, nothing like this. Sirius didn't even notice anything odd.

"It's nothing, it's just… the full moon gives me the creeps." James said with a dark look towards the moon.

That was news. Sirius hadn't known about his strong dislike of the full moon.

"Why do you find the full moon creepy? Isn't it very beautiful?" Peter mused out aloud. Sirius felt James go rigid.

"Beautiful? There is nothing beautiful about this oversized silvery glowing Quaffle. It causes unbearable pain and suffering." James answered sharply with hollow laughter that made a small chill travel down Sirius' spine. He saved the implications of James' words in the back of his mind. Without even thinking about it, his fingers enclosed James' wrist tightly as if he could physically pull him back from wherever his mind had gone. He didn't know why, but seeing James like that broke something inside him. James' gaze flicked towards him and luckily the haunting quality of his eyes left just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Sorry, Peter. I didn't mean to snap at you. The bloody moon puts me on edge." James smiled at Peter with a rueful expression. Peter accepted the apology with a small nod.

"So we need to cheer Remus up when he gets back. Any ideas?" Sirius asked in an obvious effort to distract from the previous uncomfortable conversation topic.

"Well, it should involve a lot of chocolate." Peter answered with a small laugh.

"And nothing that destroys any of his essays." James added.

"As I said before, it was an accident!" Sirius protested.

"Keep telling yourself that!" James retaliated with a small smirk. And Sirius couldn't quite help his worry ease a little bit at the already familiar banter that erupted between them.

oOo

James was roaming the halls again. Years of being friends with Remus and worrying over him had made sure that he could never sleep during the full moon. Now that he was eleven again he could still not get rid of the habit. Today it had been a little harder to sneak out because both Sirius and Peter had been awake longer than usual worrying over Remus as well. Worrying over their werewolf (Not that they knew that yet) never seemed to change. It was amusing in a way, how they always had fussed over Remus. Sometimes they would have loved to wrap him in cotton so that he was unable to get hurt during the full moon.

Beneath the invisibility cloak, he managed to sneak past Filch, who was muttering something about mud and puddles while cursing students underneath his breath. He was now on his way towards the Shrieking Shack to keep Remus company in any way he could.

He stopped walking when he saw a dark shadow come up the stairs towards the dungeons. James narrowed his eyes before following the suspiciously familiar shadow. It didn't take him long to identify the shadow as Snape. What on earth was he doing out past curfew? Lily would take his head if she knew. It didn't matter that he was her best bud, Lily and rule breaking were enemies, especially during the first few years.

Without really thinking about it, he started following Snape as he sneaked through the corridors. James couldn't suppress a wince. Snape seemed to have no experience in sneaking around. He was too loud, he had even knocked an armour. The ensuring noise resounded across the corridor, it could as well have been a gigantic shout of 'I am here'. It was a small wonder that Filch or his cat hadn't caught him yet.

James felt slightly unsurprised when Snape sneaked into the library. Ah, so, apparently, the Restricted Section was his goal. So many memories, of both his previous life and his son's rushed into his head. Silently, James followed him inside. Snape had put down a small lantern onto the cold stone floor. It illuminated the baggy and oversized clothes Snape was wearing and James was again sharply reminded of Harry in his cousin's old clothes.

Snape's muttering pulled him back into reality. He saw Snape brush over the backs of the books in the Restricted section with gentle fingers. Apparently he was looking for something specific. He moved to pull one of the books out and James had to wince. It was one of the screamer books. Harry had the misfortune to encounter one during his first year. It would be better to interfere.

"You know, I wouldn't open that book. It's a screamer." James commented as he lazily leaned against the bookshelf after taking the cloak off. Snape dropped the book with a start and whirled around, wand at ready. James ignored it, focusing on being grateful that the book hadn't opened.

"No need to leave me at the pointy end." James exclaimed as he raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" Snape asked darkly as he slowly lowered his wand. He didn't put it away, apparently deciding it would be better to be able to cast something at a moment's notice. Not that he as a first year had a large spell reservoir. Or any, for that matter. But still…

"Well, I was taking a stroll through the corridors when I stumbled upon a snake loudly slithering towards the library." James answered with a small shrug.

"So you followed me. At least I am not pompous Lion strutting through the halls. " Snape hissed. The idea of someone following him without noticing displeased him. James fought the urge to snicker at the imagery Snapes words awoke. In the past he would have taken offence now it just amused him.

"I was curious and you were hardly hard to follow. A silent Snake you were not. Stealth is not your strong fort." James answered with an unapologetic smile.

"Oh and apparently you're the master of that or something." Snape sneered.

"Well, no, that title would go to Minnie. Her cat form is awesome at stealth. I just have some practice from sneaking around the current Head Auror for the last eleven years of my life." James explained unconcerned and without looking at his classmate. "So why are you browsing through the Restricted section?"

"None of your Business, Potter." Snape's answer was venom filled. James internally rolled with his eyes.

"You know, I can be very persistent when I want an answer. Dad always says I am as stubborn as a mule or maybe even worse." James said with a grin. At the mention of his father, Snape's hand tightened around his wand. His answer was a sour glare before he refocused on the books. He was trying to ignore James and that just wouldn't do.

"Are you looking for curses?" James received no answer but that wouldn't deter him in the least.

"Hexes? Poisons? Love potions?" At James last words a small worried expression hushed over Snape's features. Interesting that Poisons didn't bother him but love potions apparently did. "Rituals? Animal sacrifices? Animagus transformations? Occlumency? Legilimency? Dark Spells?" Snape remained stubbornly silent. James could go on for a little while longer. "Dark incidents in the last century? Blood Purity? Fire breathers? The Great Book of Spells? History of Dark spells? Ancient families? History of ancient pure blood families?" Ah, finally a reaction. Snape's continuous glare had faltered for a moment at the mention of the last two subjects. Still, he remained stubbornly silent. James preferred a snarling and hissing Snape to a silent one. Silent Snape was just weird.

"Okay, they shouldn't be too hard to find. You did realize that the shelf is ordered alphabetically?" Snape as good as snarled at him. No, then. James raised his hands in mock surrender. "Chill."

James stepped around Snape and scanned the shelf. He vaguely remembered Sirius complaining about certain books his family had made him read. Now he just had to remember how the books were called.

"Ah found one." James pulled out a book by the name of 'Superiority: A study of Pure Bloods' he unceremoniously threw it in the general direction of Snape, not really caring whether or not he caught the book. He disliked the subject so a few injured pages didn't bother him in the least. 'Tradition and Purity' James pulled a disgusted grimace at the themes but handed the book over to Snape anyways. 'Ancient families and their History' was the third book he handed over to Snape. 'Bloodlines: A study of the Noble Ancestors' was the final book James gave to Snape. The last book was not a complete lost cause in his opinion. According to Lily, it also explains the reason why Muggleborns and Muggles are important in the genetic pool, or something like that. He couldn't quite remember the lecture (or rather rant) she had held about the subject. It had been sometime back in sixth year if he remembered correctly.

"Those are the ones that I know of. Or rather, that Sirius complained about." James said with a small shrug. Snape didn't utter a thank you, he just stared at the books in his arms.

"Also, just for your information, Filch will be here in..." James gaze trailed towards the ancient clock in the corner. "about 8 minutes if he didn't encounter Peeves during his patrol."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Snape bit out angrily, panic filling him. James just shrugged as he saw Snape quickly stuff the books inside his back.

"See ya, Snape!" James called as he walked out of the library without sparing Snape another glance. As soon as he was sure no one was in the corridor he threw his invisibility cloak over himself and continued his way towards the Shrieking Shack as if the meeting with Snape had never happened. The plan "try to keep the animosity between him, his friends and Snape to minimum" was well on the way.

oOo

"What did you do to Snape?" Remus asked at breakfast the day after he had been released from the Hospital Wing. His friends had greeted him with a warped chocolate cake that they had made themselves under the close supervision of the houselves. All three of his friends had beamed at him and he didn't have the heart to tell them that the cake was a little hard on the teeth (Remus was picky). The gesture though had been sweeter that the cake and had sent pleasant tingles through him. He once again felt blessed for having such friends.

"What makes you say I did something?" James asked before he bit heartily into his strawberry sauce covered pancake.

"He isn't glaring at you." Sirius pointed out around a mouthful of what was once an omelette. James turned around. His eyes sought out the Slytherin.

"Hu, he really isn't. Weird." James answered after he turned back towards them. Peter gulped down a large quantity of pumpkin juice to try and drown down the piece of bread that had been stuck in throat while Remus gently patted him on the back. Sirius was thumbing him on the back not nearly as gently. James had to stop him before he pushed Peter face forward into his scrambled eggs.

"What did you do?" Peter asked in a slightly croaky voice from his near suffocation.

"Why do you always assume that I did something?" James complained with pout.

"Because you are looking way too smug!" Sirius answered as grabbed James' nose. "I will not release my captive till you tell us." James glared at Sirius, who just grinned. A silent staring contest broke out. James left I twitched lightly before he conceded defeat.

"I can't sleep during a full moon, never have been able to." Remus paled lightly next to Peter. "I went out and roamed the halls under the cloak." Sirius opened his mouth to protest that he would have gone with James, but his friend silenced him with the simple raise of his hand. "I stumbled over Snape and followed him into the library. I helped him look for some books."

"That's it?" Sirius asked disappointed.

"That's it." James confirmed after he took a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Boring!" Sirius whined. Remus rolled with his eyes and went back to his in chocolate sauce covered pancake.

"Halloween is in about three weeks." James commented with fake nonchalance. Sirius immediately perked up at those words.

"Let's plan a prank!" Sirius said in an excited whisper. He was nearly vibrating out of his seat in his excitement. James' face was overtaken by something one might classify as a mad grin. Peter looked between James and Sirius with something akin to excitement and confusion warring on his features. Remus let out a resigned sighed and already mentally apologized to the general population of Hogwarts.

oOo

A.n.: Thank you so much for the reviews! Already 100, thank you! Thank you to all the follows and favorites. I very much enjoy reading your reviews and ideas. Thank you very much for liking my story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and had fun reading. I had fun writing it and I am already working on the next chapter. Two hints: Halloween and Pumpkins. Have a wonderful day or night (depending on wherever you are).