Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! Sirius-ly!

Chapter Thirty Eight- The Package

That evening, all of the students that were to go home for the Easter holidays left on the train. This included Rose, Jess, and Lily. Rose, because she'd promised Josh. Jess, because it was both her mum and her half-brother's birthday. Lily, because she knew it would be the last time as a student to be able to spend time with her family in her holidays and she owed it to her parents, for missing Christmas.

James spent about 15 minutes saying goodbye to Lily since he decided to start in advance and whined about it for a while, thoroughly annoying his friends and amusing Lily.

Once she and the other two girls were gone, his good mood remained and the Marauders plus Leila discussed pranks on their way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

X-x-X

In the train compartment, heading back to London, Lily looked at her two friends and frowned.

"Say, isn't it weird that this is how it used to be all the time?" She said. Rose looked up from her book and Jess snapped out of her trance.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I mean, without the Marauders, or Leila. Just us three, on our way back home for the holidays. I mean, this time last year, we were doing exactly this. 'Cept Alice was here, ranting about how Frank asked her out." Lily said thoughtfully. Jess threw her a lopsided grin.

"Yeah. That is weird. I mean, we never even knew James Potter had a cousin, let alone that we'd become best friends with her. A lot has changed." She said.

"Yeah. Like last year, my parents were both perfectly normal and I had little to no contact with Josh, who was single." Rose said.

"And I had hardly had the courage to ever speak to Peter. And my worst problem was my stupid step-brothers." Jess added.

"And I was adamant that James Potter was an arrogant toe-rag." Lily grinned.

"And Remus was sweet and innocent with a poor, sick mother and no dramatic secrets!" Rose said, a smile creeping onto her face.

"And Peter was the quiet marauder who never did much that no one would ever suspect to be one of the sweetest and most thoughtful guys in the year." Jess said in a dreamy voice.

"Yeah! And Sirius was just the player that the stupid girls like Meggin Stone were all over and he was completely incapable of normal emotions." Lily laughed.

"Ah, those were the days." Rose sighed. The girls looked at each other and immediately cracked up.

X-x-X-x-X

After dinner, James's mood deflated somewhat. He tried not to show it but it didn't seem to work. Everyone else noticed.

He was determined to sleep in the Gryffindor dorms though so the five of them traipsed up to Gryffindor tower and Sirius kissed Leila before she disappeared up to the girls dorms.

Over the next few days, James's moods flicked on and off. When he was in a good mood, he'd go relatively back to his normal self, with just a hint of sadness in his eyes. But when he was in a bad mood, he went quiet and lost confidence. He went along with the normal routine and pranked and played quidditch, just without his usual loudness and over-enthusiastic-ness.

Slowly, the bad moods faded away and by the last weekend of the holidays, he was almost completely back to normal. You could see in his eyes that something was missing but it didn't affect him as much and he wasn't shaking or having nightmares anymore which was always a good sign.

It was on the last Saturday of the holidays and the five students were out in the grounds, eating leftover Easter eggs and discussing the new term, when Leila decided to raise a delicate subject.

"Erm, James. I was just thinking. About Potter Manor… and how a lot of our stuff is there… Um… and well, aren't we supposed to get our stuff out of there before the house and stuff is sold?"

Peter, Remus and Sirius went quiet. James stiffened, then frowned. There was a long, icy pause.

"Well…" James began, and the others held their breath, "I guess so." He finished. Leila sagged with relief. "Why don't we ask McGonagall if we could floo there from her office tomorrow?"

"Um. Yeah. That'd be good. Yeah. Lets go ask her now." Leila smiled and stood up. James grinned and jumped up himself.

"Yeah! Lets."

X-x-X-x-X

Wow. I have a lot of junk. Leila thought to herself as she cleaned out her bedroom. She'd just emptied her bathroom cupboards, wardrobe, chest of drawers and the box of stuff she kept at the foot of her bed.

And now, for her desk. She pulled open the first drawer to find a large envelope. The very one she'd hidden in here two weeks ago, the day she'd received it, along with that tragic news. Frowning, she sat down on her bed and pulled out her Aunt and Uncle's will, setting it aside with extreme care before tipping the rest out onto her bed.

These were her father's notes. The stuff that the death eaters were after. The stuff Leila suspected the death eaters thought Remus's parents had. Maybe she'd find out why.

The contents of the envelope was mostly scraps of parchment with ingredients and random notes that she was sure she could make sense of if she could be bothered sorting through them. But along with the scraps there was one main 'copy' of something that was only half finished. Leila picked it up and started to read:

Andrew Potter: Uses of Wolfsbane

Healing Potion: Trial Seventeen

Desired Effect: Allows Werewolf to keep their human mind through their transformations on full moons

Tested: Yes… On: Patient 169… Details: Confidential

Successful: Yes

Ingredients:

Leila stopped reading. A long list of ingredients along with the first step in the Method was all that remained.

This couldn't mean what she thought it did. Had her father discovered a way to cure (or at least control) lycanthropy? That was impossible! And if it wasn't, why did the death eaters want the notes so badly?

She decided to call the boys. Remus especially should know about this.

"GUYS!!! REMUS!!! GUYS! COME IN HERE!" She yelled, keeping the piece of paper clutched in her hand. Remus appeared in the doorway, with Peter behind him.

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

"Get James." Leila said. "And Sirius." Peter turned around and yelled for them to come, which they did, shortly after.

"What is it?" Sirius called, as he made his way towards the bedroom with James.

"I found my dad's notes." Leila said, allowing the boys to come into her room.

"Ok." James said slowly, taking on his usual role of marauder leader, despite the way he'd been quiet since arriving back at the manor.

"A-and, it turns out… he was working on… on cures for diseases." As Leila said this, she caught Remus's eye for a fraction of a second before turning back to James.

"So what?" Her cousin said, frowning, "He's been doing that ever since he started doing healing potion work."

"Yeah but, we never knew what types of diseases he was working on!" Leila said carefully.

"And you've found out in the notes?" Peter guessed. Leila nodded slowly.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, not noticing how Remus had paled ever so slightly. Leila however had noticed and her voice was quiet as she answered;

"It's… It's lycanthropy." She swallowed. Remus coughed and took a step back before straightening and composing himself. A short silence fell over the group.

"Did- did you find out more?" Sirius asked. Leila nodded and handed over the paper. Sirius read it aloud up to the ingredients. Remus paled completely. Another silence ensued. "Wow." Sirius said after a while. "This… this is pretty big."

"You think?" Remus said in a hoarse voice. Sirius bit his lip.

"Is the method complete?" James asked quietly. Leila shook her head.

"It cuts off halfway through. But we might be able to piece together just a few more… it seems like we'd have to be trained healers to figure it out." She explained. Remus scoffed.

"Like some random healers could be trusted with this at this time! It's no wonder death eaters were after this! Like Sirius said; it's huge!" Remus cried.

"But how could death eaters use it?" Leila asked.

"Think about it," Peter chipped in, "there are plenty of werewolves on their side. Think of how many people they could infect if they could guarantee that they had human minds on full moons. It'd be the new form of murder! Not to be mention a quick way of getting revenge or forcing people to join his side!" James and Remus nodded in agreement.

"It would make sense though… I mean, of all the people on the good side of the war. They want to get the potion. And if they thought it was complete, and knew what it did but didn't know who invented it or where it was, they'd go for the most obvious candidates. Aka the people who are most likely to have it." Sirius sat down on Leila's guest chair and continued to speak his thoughts aloud. "Leila's dad was a recognized healer, known for his work on diseases. But when he 'didn't have it', they went for the fighters who were well educated and had connections to werewolves; Moony's parents. Then, they went for the Potter's again, when that was unsuccessful. Anyone else that could be a likely suspect probably aren't that well known, and after three failures, they're likely to think that the potion's just being passed on. Which means the next targets could be-" Sirius stopped and his eyes widened in horror.

"I hate it when he does that." Peter grumbled.

"Does what?" Leila asked suspiciously.

"When he speaks his thoughts aloud until he comes to a conclusion." Remus answered.

"What's so bad about that. I mean, we have a plausible theory now, that's probably good for us to know…" Leila paused and glanced at her boyfriend. "… Even if it is terrifying and spookily accurate."

"Terrifying and spookily accurate. That's why we hate it when he does that." James said. "He only does it with crucial subjects that often lead to 'terrifying and spookily accurate' results." Leila bit her lip.

"Um… so maybe we should just mention this to Dumbledore." She suggested weakly.

"Yeah. Maybe we should… when we get back." Sirius said shakily, scared by his own conclusion. So that's what they did.

X-x-X

"And if they somehow decide that attacking each of the family members is leading to something, then-"

"You would be the next targets." Dumbledore stared evenly across his desk at Leila and James as they retold the story and their theory to the professor. Sirius, Remus and Peter stood sheepishly in the background. The old professor looked at each of them in turn, then at the package that Leila had lain on his desk, containing the potion notes. "I must say, I am impressed. You are bright young students." He said calmly.

"But surely you knew about this before." Leila said.

"Yes. We did. Professor McGonagall and I had been debating when to tell you and whether you would eventually figure it out. It seems, once again, that Professor McGonagall was right." Dumbledore smiled and his eyes sparkled. "You are right. And your theory matches ours. We recommend that you stay on-site at all times. Teachers already watch your quidditch matches and Hogwarts is probably the best protected building in Britain. While here, you should be safe. Once the year is over… we're starting to sort out some things. For now at least, continuing as normal is recommended."

"But what about the package?" Leila asked.

"…Can you think of anywhere you could hide it?" Dumbledore asked with an almost knowing smile. Leila shook her head and felt the corners of her lips tug upwards in a small smile.

"I think I know where I can put it sir." She said. "No one will find it. I promise."

"That's good. Now is there anything else you would wish to ask me?" Dumbledore looked round at each teenager in turn. They all shook their heads and the professor smiled. "Then you may go."

A.N- I think I'll stop here actually. Like it? I think it's a rather significant plot twist but you know… I enjoy second opinions. Which is code for 'Please Review'!!!

The next chapter is…. Chapter 39: Almost like normal

Stay Tuned

Toff.x