"I can't believe you four." Professor York glared at them from behind his desk. "How could you think thatwas an appropriate time to start a duel with the Slytherin students?"

Despite the urge to defend himself, James remained quiet. His head was bowed, his hair falling over his glasses as he stared down at his feet. Peter shifted uncomfortably next to him, while Remus remained as still as a statue. Sirius was visibly shaking, though not at any threat he faced from his school. His thoughts were focused on what Lucius had said, about how his mother was going to hear about what he had done.

She would kill him.

"You are lucky you are not being suspended. After the trouble you have been in this year..." Professor York paused, sighing as he sank into his chair. He rubbed his head, closing his eyes. "I would have thought that you would have been more respectful towards Professor Caedmon's memory."

"We didn't do it out of disrespect, sir," James muttered, lifting his head. "The Slytherins didn't seem to care, so..."

"That doesn't matter," York hissed, eyes fixing on James. "Potter, it doesn't matter who you think doesn't seem to care or who does. The feelings of the students are not your concern, nor is it ours. Simply being unaffected by an event is not just cause for punishment."

James opened his mouth once more, only to have York wave him silent.

"Don't get me wrong; any disrespect will be taken seriously, but they were not being disrespectful. By attacking them, by starting a duel, youwere disrespectful."

"It wasn't meant to be a duel, sir," Sirius whimpered. "We only wanted to pull a prank; we didn't think it would...would..."

"Escalate?" York sighed, eyes roaming over them. "I know you are not bad children, and I know you all admired Professor Caedmon. But you need to be more aware of how your pranks, as harmless as you think they are, affect the whole school. Dumbledore does not know each individual student here; he was very close to Professor Caedmon and for him to see that happened after the announcement..."

"We know, sir," Remus interrupted, lifting his head up. "And we are sorry. Extremely sorry. I..."

York lifted his hand, silencing the boy. "It's nearly the end of term; we have no chance now to regain those points. It's simply too late. Especially with classes over." He shook his head, leaning back. "But, well, the same goes for Slytherin. I do believe Slughorn will make the Slytherin students clean his cauldrons for the next week or so. I want you four to report to the Quidditch Pitch every morning at six A.M. You're going to help me look after the pitch. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

They repeated the words, one by one, as his eyes fell on them. Once they were done, he waved them towards the door.

"Dismissed. I will see you, bright and early, tomorrow."

X X X

The next morning, the four boys slumped down at the table for breakfast, all of them with half-asleep faces and glazed eyes. Arthur Weasley looked over them, an eyebrow raised.

"You can't say you don't deserve it."

From across the table, a second year turned to them, frowning. "Are you the boys that made sure we had no chance of winning the cup?"

James glared back at him. "Yeah, because that is the most important thing in the world right now."

"You still shouldn't have done it." The quiet voice came from further down, and they turned to see Lily Evans staring at them, her eyes wide and dark circles underneath them. For once, she wasn't glaring at James or Sirius; instead, she just looked upset. "It wasn't right."

"They deserved it," Sirius mumbled, reaching to grab himself some sausages. "They should learn to show some more respect."

Lily rolled her eyes, turning to the food in front of her. "Sure, Sirius. They're the ones who need to learn respect."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped, turning his head to face her fully.

She lifted her chin, dropping her knife and fork on the table. Alice, sitting opposite her, glanced towards Sirius, shaking her head. "You know what it means, Sirius," Lily growled, standing and walking briskly out of the hall.

"Merlin, Black," Alice sighed, standing. "Can't you keep your mouth shut for once?" That said, she turned her followed her friend out of the hall.

Sirius turned to the others. "She needs to get that stick out of her arse."

"Leave her alone, Sirius," James muttered. "Everyone's feeling a bit rubbish at the moment, no need to cause arguments in our own house."

The others around them turned away, focusing on their own food or conversations with their friends. The four boys soon realised they were being shunned; William and Michael barely looked at them, while everyone else shuffled along the benches, away from them.

"Great," James muttered, finishing his food and pushing the plate away. "This is just bloody great." He climbed off the bench, stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned away from the table.

"Where you going, mate?" Sirius asked, mouth full of cereal.

"To sleep," James replied. "I am knackered."

X X X

Sirius and Peter elected to remain in the Common Room when they returned to Gryffindor Tower. Sirius fished out a pair of Exploding Snap cards from his bag, dealing half out to Peter as Remus climbed the stairs to the dorm, with the intention of reading a book.

When he reached the dorm, he was surprised to see James' bed empty, the curtains pulled back. Curious, he crossed to the window and glanced across the grounds, wondering where his friend could be.

He saw a few students in the grounds, enjoying the freedom and the sunshine, but no James. Then, he lifted his gaze and fixed it on the Quidditch Pitch. An idea struck him and, following it, he went back to the Common Room.

"Ran out of books," he muttered to Sirius and Peter. "Going to go to the library."

"Okay, mate," Sirius replied. "If we're not here when you get back, we'll be by the lake."

"Okay." For some reason, he hadn't wanted to tell the other two that James wasn't in the dorm as he said. He'd clearly wanted to keep it a secret, whatever he was doing, and although Remus was eager to find out why, he wasn't to divulge it to the other two.

Not yet.

He owed James at least that much.

Quickly, Remus made his way down to the pitch. Outside, people celebrated their freedom, enjoying the bright sunshine that stretched across the grounds of the school. Groups were gathered in various places, chatting happily or chancing each other around. Despite the sorrow of Caedmon's death, they were enjoying themselves.

Or trying to, at least.

Reaching the pitch, Remus slid in between the stands and stood at the side of the grass, tilting his head back to stare into the sky. A small smile crept across his face as he spotted James in the air, flying one of the school's broomsticks as he threw a quaffle forward and chased after it.

The broom shook and quivered under him, but he kept his control on the thing. Soon, he was under the ball, and easily, the dark haired boy caught it.

Remus clapped.

With the quaffle under his arm, James turned and glanced downwards. He nodded quickly at Remus, before pointing the broom downwards and flying towards the ground. Easily, gracefully, he landed, climbing off the 'stick and walking towards Remus.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, voice light as he reached the other boy.

"Looking for you," Remus muttered, eyeing the quaffle. "Good catch."

James' skin flushed red. "Thanks." He glanced at the big red ball in his hands, before his eyes darted back up to look at Remus. "So how come you were looking for me?"

"I got to the dorm and you weren't there," he said. "Figured you'd be around somewhere...is everything all right?"

James shrugged, glancing away from the other boy and eyeing the goals at the furthest end of the pitch. He let out a long sigh, pushing his glasses up his nose as he did so. "I just wanted to get some practice in, that's all. I want to be the best I can be for the try-outs next term."

"You going for Chaser?"

James nodded. "The current captain has try-outs every year. He's still going to be the captain next year. Fingers crossed I can make the team."

"You will," Remus muttered, reaching forward and squeezing his friend's shoulder. "You will, James. You're a really good flyer – even York was amazed."

James nodded, before looking back at Remus.

"Why did you hide it, though? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because then Sirius and Peter would have wanted to come, too. And I wanted to practice on my own, for a bit."

Remus nodded, glancing around the pitch as he pushed his hands into his pockets. "I should head back to the castle, then..."

James shrugged, eyes darting to glance around the pitch before he looked back at the smaller boy. "You really do hate flying, don't you, Remus?"

The smaller boy laughed. "Yeah, I do."

"Why, though?"

Remus sighed. "Whenever I get on a broom, I get this...this feeling, inside, of dread, I suppose. And then it feels like the wolf is just itching to get out, to escape...I think it's the wolf. Itdoesn't like flying, so it does everything in its power to stop me from flying. And it works, I suppose."

James nodded, before crossing to the crate of balls nearby. "I'll come with you. I'm going to tire myself out if I keep at it for too long." A small, slow smile crept across his face as he dropped the ball in and glanced at Remus. "You're a good friend, Remus."

"Thanks," Remus muttered, shrugging. "You are, too."

X X X

The four boys met up on the edge of the lake. They spent the rest of the day relaxing, throwing pebbles into the lake in an attempt to lure the Giant Squid to the surface. Things, it seemed, were returning to normal, as students continued to enjoy the sunshine and the freedom of an early start to the summer.

"What are your plans for the summer?" Sirius asked, after another failed attempt to draw the squid up.

"My parents want to go to travelling," Peter sighed.

"That sounds exciting," Remus commented, glancing at the smallest of their group as he frowned.

"I hate travelling. It's always too hot. And the food is odd."

The other three laughed. "Where do you think you'll be going?" James asked, seemingly eager to hear about it. Peter shrugged.

"It depends on what they want. Might be Europe, America or Australia." Again, he sighed, shaking his head. "I hate travelling."

"James? What about you?" Sirius glanced at the dark haired boy, who shrugged. "Remus?"

"I have no idea," Remus muttered. "We can't really afford to go on holidays."

"Well, if you get bored, I'm sure Mum and Dad wouldn't mind you coming to stay with us for a few days," James said, a wide smile on his face. "We usually go to Wales for a couple of days – they don't like going abroad too much. Hey! Maybe you guys could come with us?"

Sirius shrugged, eyes falling to look into the lake. "I don't know. Doubt Mum will let me out of her sight the whole summer." A strained smile crossed his face, his eyes darkening. "Anyway, she considers the Potters to be muggle loving blood traitors. Doubt she'd let me even come visit."

"She think anything of the Lupins?" Remus asked, glancing at Sirius. "Or the Pettigrews?"

Sirius scoffed. "Not worth thinking about, apparently," he mumbled. "She blew her top when she found out I was friends with you guys...blood-traitors and lowly beings." He grinned, turning to them. "Which makes it all the better, really. Rather hang out with you lot than Malfoy and his kind."

"Say you're coming on holiday with us," Peter piped up, shrugging. "My parents work at the Ministry, she can't have much objection to that, surely?"

"Maybe not...actually, yeah, I'll try, but I can't promise anything."

"Good," James muttered. "Then that's sorted. I'll write to you guys as soon as..."

He was stopped by the loud screeching that came from above the Forbidden Forest. The boys weren't the only ones to hear it – everyone gathered outside Hogwarts turned to see a large group of owls flying over the forest and towards the school.

"Some of them," James whispered, eyeing them with pure shock on his face. "Some of them...they're injured..."

They watched as one of the owls fell, falling straight towards the forest. An older student, across the lake, leapt to his feet and pointed at the owl. He cried out a spell, one the boys had yet to learn, and they watched as the owl stopped falling, hovering over the forest. With his wand, the older boy brought the owl towards him.

The owls were almost directly above them now, giving them a clearer view of the extent of their injuries. Many of them flew with damaged wings, and as they watched, more began to fall.

Sirius swore under his breath as, following the other boy's example, more students climbed to their feet and aimed spells at the owls, slowing their falls or stopping them falling into the lake.

"There must be fifteen of them," Remus muttered, lifting his wand as another owl began to fall. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he cried, gently bringing the owl down. Sirius held his arms out, and Remus brought the owl into his hold. The rest of the owls continued to fly, heading, it seemed, for Dumbledore's office.

The few that made the journey without falling entered the office through the window, disappearing from sight. The students gazed around at each other, wondering what to do with the injured owls they were now holding.

Before any decision could be made, Dumbledore's voice boomed from the office.

"Please bring all injured owls to the Great Hall. Thank you for your quick thinking."

As one, shaken and confused, the students moved towards the castle, silence wrapping around them quicker than the owls had fallen.