19th March, 1972
None of the teachers could understand what made Peter suddenly start asking so many questions and trying so hard in classes. Especially Professor Moody. Moody eyed Peter with his one functional eye and licked his lower lip with interest and wonderment as Peter's marks started going up. Of course James, Sirius, Remus and I knew why. It was because Peter Pettigrew had suddenly become very, very motivated to know everything he possibly could about defending himself against the Dark Lord.
Actually, all of us were throwing ourselves quite extensively into our students in preparation for executing our plan, which we had now started to refer to as "Operation Mouldy Voldy". We had all agreed during the more extensive planning process that we needed to boost our arsenal of potential spells to fight back with, just in case He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named managed to resist our stunners (which I had no doubt he would). We'd referred to our textbooks and immediately gotten to work, practising any spells, charms and hexes that we thought might help us out in the midst of a heated battle.
The spells weren't the only thing we were working on for preparations, either. We'd found the map that James and Sirius had hoped for, the one showing the grounds of Hogwarts and where they cut off in relation to the Forbidden Forest. It was tucked away in my copy of Hogwarts: A History.
It was Peter who first pointed out the main problem that the map presented. "How do we know how far that is, once we're in the forest I mean, that we need to go before we reach the end of the grounds?" He asked, looking around at the four of us. "How do we measure how far we've gone?"
"Well...blimey...never thought of that, did we?" James said.
"We'll count our steps," I suggested.
So we then spent several long free periods out on the muddy grounds, walking from the castle to the edge of the forest, counting our steps as we went so that we were just a cluster of mumbled numbers as we moved in a herd from the entrance doors to the first tree, where we wrote down the count we'd gotten and proceeded to walk back, waving to Hagrid, who was out in his vegetable patch, planting.
Because of the many preparations that had come up, and my insistence that we not rush through them, we had decided to put Operation Mouldy Voldy into action in April. Sirius was antsy, though, nervous about delaying it so long and buried the mirror even deeper into his trunk, refusing to open it unless he absolutely had to, as if he was afraid that the Dark Lord might be looking back at him. If nothing else was true about the plan, it was absolutely necessary that it be a secret.
"I am very glad to see you all working so studiously," Professor McGonagall told us this afternoon, surprised to find us huddled around a table in the school library. "If you ever need any help at all with your homework, please feel free to stop by my office," she added, smiling through her Scottish accent as she moved on through the rows of books.
"If only she knew what we're really up to!" Murmured Sirius, "Doubt she'd want to help with that, eh?"
"Highly," James agreed.
25th March, 1972
It's the weekend before the full moon, and Remus very firmly reminded us all that we were not, under any circumstances, to go after the Dark Lord until he was back. "Remember," he said. "Promise me," he added.
"Of course we wouldn't go without you," Sirius seemed quite appalled. "When have I ever done a thing like this without you, mate?"
Remus raised his eyebrows. "How about when you brought that bloody mirror back in the first place, then?"
Sirius shrugged, "That was entirely different, of course."
"How?"
"I haven't got a clue, but I'm sure that it was," Sirius answered.
But we were true to our word this time, mostly because the more firepower we packed, the more likely our success was. Remus would eventually return two days later, quite relieved to find that we hadn't gone, and we spent the evening continuing to practise our spells while he recovered from the peaky look about him that the full moon seemed to cause.
1st April, 1972
At Hogwarts, there seems to be no holiday quite as widely celebrated by the students as April Fool's Day. The halls were littered with boobie traps waiting to be set off and Peeves zoomed about the castle blowing raspberries and turned somersaults as he cackled out rude little rhymes. Every teacher was extra careful in picking up the essays that were turned in, afraid to get a bit of trick parchment, especially after word spread around that Professor Flitwick had regretfully picked up a scroll turned in by Bilius. The parchment popped like a firework, sending colourful sparks every which way and accidentally lighting the peak of his hat on fire.
"This is the best holiday ever," Sirius announced in the Great Hall at lunch, starry-eyed with appreciation.
James, Remus, Peter and I were still snickering at Alice Bell, whose teacup Derek had transfigured as she lifted it to her mouth, making her kiss a giant toad where she'd expected her Twinings. "You're vile," Alice snarled at him, scraping her lips with a napkin, desperate to clear off the frog germs.
Lily glared at Derek, "Honestly!"
"Positively brilliant," I said to the boys, quietly enough that Lily couldn't overhear me.
The pranks didn't stop there, either, they went on and on all evening. In the hallways, students were being gotten left and right, and stories of this student or that student and the faces they made when they were tricked ran through the student body like wildfire. We spent the entire day wary of everyone, careful not to become the prankees.
"Next year, we celebrate April Fool's right," Sirius vowed that night as we sat in the safety of the boys' dorm, hearing somebody squealing downstairs at whatever latest joke had been played. We had our textbooks out across our laps and, though Remus was still tuckered out from the full moon, the rest of us were quite full of energy, and Sirius was all talk. "We'll come up with something really legendary."
James grinned up at the ceiling. He was laying with his hands up behind his back, book propped on his knees, but barely looking at it. "We certainly would be," he agreed. "Course, by then, I 'spect we will be legends anyway," he added, nodding his head toward the trunk that contained the mirror, "Once we complete Operation Mouldy Voldy, that is."
I looked up from my textbook. "Assuming we live through it."
James rolled his eyes, "We'll be just fine!"
"Get some confidence!" Instructed Sirius.
I turned back to my textbook without further comment.
I jolted awake when I heard a yell. I shook the sleep with my head in confusion of my surroundings, til I realised I was still in the boys' dorm. The puddle of drool on my textbook told me that I must've fallen asleep.
The others, too, seemed to be stirring. The room was dark aside from the moonlight filtering in through the window.
"Lumos," Remus said, and his wand tip lit up the room in a pale blue light. James was fighting with his glasses, trying to shove them onto his face and Peter looked panicked. But what concerned me was Sirius, who looked like a ball of sweat. I figured he must've been the source of the noise.
"What's going on?" Remus asked, his voice foggy from disuse.
I jumped from Sirius' desk, where I was seated, and went over to Sirius' bed, leaning over to look into his eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked lowly.
Sirius was trying to catch his breath. He nodded, even though I wasn't sure if he was completely calmed down yet.
I laid a hand on Sirius', and James crawled to the foot of the shaking boy's bed.
"What happened, what was it? Are we being attacked?" Peter squeaked.
"Bad dream," Sirius choked.
Remus moved around the ends of the beds to come 'round and joined James and I by Sirius. "Those are the worst," he offered comfortingly. "I have them a lot, too."
Sirius looked at him. "I hate them."
Remus nodded, "As do I."
Peter clutched his blankets fearfully. "But we're alright, though?"
"Yes, Peter, blimey, it's supposed to be Sirius who's upset, not you," I said, annoyed.
"I usually dream about the full moon," Remus said with a shiver, "That I've forgotten it's full and I turn without...without being ready." He frowned, "It's my very worst fear."
Sirius' voice shook, "Mine is about my parents."
There was a moment of silence as those words filled the darkness around us. I felt as though my heart would explode with the very thought of it: parents weren't meant to be the object of someone's nightmares. They were meant to be the ones who soothe you. I remembered my mum laying cool washcloths on my forehead after I'd had nightmares when I was a little girl and I felt suddenly very homesick.
"That's why I so desperately want to end the Dark Lord's reign," said Sirius thickly, voice still shaky. "He's the reason they're so terrible. He's the one whose ruined them. And he'll ruin everything else and every other family and life he can possibly get his filthy hands on." Tears stained Sirius' face. "I don't want him ruining anyone else's life like he's ruined mine."
James, Remus and I looked at each other, at a loss for words, none of us knowing what to say.
And those words to say came from the least expected place.
"He hasn't ruined your life entirely," Peter said, "You've got us." Sirius looked over at Peter, as did the three of us. Peter was still cowering on his bed, his duvet pulled up 'round his head, framing his chubby face - a trembling pile of blankets - but he looked every solemn. "We aren't going anywhere because of him. Not ever. And...and we're going to help you destroy him."
Sirius swept his fist over his cheeks, dragging off the tears. "Thanks, Pete."
Peter nodded seriously.
I said, "Peter's right. We've got your back, Sirius. Always. No matter what."
James added, "We're going to stun that blasted man so hard...he'll never know what's hit him."
Sirius guffawed thickly through the tears that continued to fall across his cheeks, despite his attempts to stop. He looked 'round at us, "You lot are so...so dramatic."
James laughed, "Look who's talking. You may just be the most dramatic person in the entire world, Black."
"And you're the most egotistical, Potter."
James clapped his palm on Sirius' back. "I've told you a hundred times if I've told you once, mate, it's only egotistical if it isn't true!"
Remus rolled his eyes, "Alright, are we ready to go back to sleep then? We've got classes in the morning, in case you haven't forgotten."
I looked at Sirius, "Are you okay?"
Sirius nodded, "I'll be alright now. Thanks, guys."
Remus patted Sirius' shoulder and went back over to his own bed as Peter's form beneath his duvet flattened out as much as Peter's form ever could. James smiled and crawled back into his own bed, and folded his glasses onto the nightstand. "Night, boys," I said, as I gathered my school supplies and headed to my own room.
Alright, so the next chapter is likely going to be the craziest chapter in the whole story. It's going to be in two parts :)
For those who are unable to access the reader feedback form thingy please PM me! is dumb and can't let people post links, so this will have to be the method, I guess.
MyBeewing says, "Well... that's certainly an interesting idea. Completely Gryffindor, too. I'm quite excited to read what happens next :) I just realized I haven't favorited your story yet, and I thought HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN! So yeah, sorry, believe me, I meant to do it a long time ago. Back to the chapter, well they're all together, so that's good. I must admit I hadn't expected the part with Lily getting on so well with the Marauders. I think it's cool though. I hope you update soon!
Well, voila, here I have now updated! And thank you for favoriting the story! In all honesty, I don't really pay attention to the favorites and follows. I'm not saying that in like a "ew, those pesky readers are BENEATH me!" way, I just write for fun and to express myself, and not because I want attention. Although I'll gladly take the favorite of course lol.
Also, in terms of Lily being a bit closer with the marauders, I was hoping it wouldn't be too sudden, like oh wow she's BFF's with them. She's close with Sabrina, and to an extent Remus as well (they're both in the Slug Club if you recall from earlier in the year). And this isn't too spoilery but she's actually going to become friends with Sirius somewhat soon. So I wanted to have her connections with the marauders not be random, but follow a form a logic. I guess? I dunno I just feel that when things get serious (ha Sirius) they should band together. So, erm...yeah! Hope you guys don't have too many panic attacks from the next two chapters :)
