Disclaimer:

This is my interpretation of the Marauders life at Hogwarts. I am planning on doing all seven years, but for now this is year one. I hope you enjoy it.

All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 8 - Lost

After Slytherin defeated Gryffindor in the first game, Slytherin morale was high while Gryffindor's was low. The only two students not bothered by this seemed to be Lily and Severus who were still spending a lot of their free time together besides all their house mates telling them to stop.

Classes went on and summer faded to autumn which grew colder and became early winter. Some mornings there was snow covering the castle grounds and others just had a chilly breeze. Most of the students started spending more and more time inside. It wasn't all bad. The common rooms, library and Great Hall were always buzzing with life as people looked for areas to huddle together and relax.

On Monday morning, Aurora Smith, a Hufflepuff first year came running into the Great Hall at breakfast time. "Have you seen my wand?" she asked her friends and she headed round to the other houses asking the students there if they'd seen her wand and to keep a look out for her wand.

"How did you manage to lose it?" Lily asked her.

"I don't know. It was lying on my night stand last night and when I woke up this morning, it was gone." Aurora answered, "Please, if you find a Pear-wood, Dragonheartstring, 11 inches, Rigid wand, it's mine." she hurried away to go look for it some more.

"How does one lose a wand?" James asked.

"I lost one of my wizarding cloaks last week." Peter spoke up.

"And my potions textbook is missing." Marlene added.

"Frank, he's in Hufflepuff, tells me he's managed to misplace his cauldron and has been borrowing one from Professor Slughorn for three weeks now. He still hasn't found it and his mum says she'll only get him one for Christmas." Alice told the rest.

"So everyone's been losing stuff?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I've heard that a Ravenclaw chaser's robes are gone and two Slytherin players are without brooms. There are bets going around on when the goalpost will vanish. And people are saying paintings are missing from their walls as well. Hopefully the Fat Lady is next to go." Sirius said.

"Sirius, that isn't funny." Lily scolded. "I better start locking my trunk if there's a thief at school."

"The thing is, stuff has been disappearing from all the house common rooms, so that narrows the suspect list to teachers, ghosts and house elves." Peter said.

"Woah, Peter, that's actually really smart. You're absolutely right." James answered.

"I bet you it's that Peeves fellow." Marlene said.

"Hey! Peeves is a troublemaker, not a thief." James defended.

"And how would you know that?" Lily asked.

"The four of them have been sneaking out at night to help him plan pranks." Kingsley said from over his Daily Prophet. The other four boys stared at him in shock, "What?" he asked, "I only pretend not to know what you're up to."

"You know, you could join us." Sirius said.

"No thank you, I'd rather stay at school long enough to graduate." Kingsley replied.

Breakfast hour ended and the Gryffindors joined up with Ravenclaw to head up to Transfiguration. By now, they had no problem getting there and with some help from James, Sirius, Remus and Peter they knew the less crowded shortcuts and always got to class before even McGonagall could.

"We were going to turn rats into teacups today, but I seem to have misplaced my box of rats." Professor McGonangall laughed. It continued that way all week. Professor Flitwick, their Charms professor had lost his glasses and kept calling Lily, Molly. Their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Johanson, had lost his lessons planner and Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher couldn't get into the greenhouse as she'd misplaced her keys and Filch didn't know where his spares were and a complex charm had been placed upon the lock to ensure it couldn't be opened with magic. Madam Hooch arrived late to the flying lessons, empty handed, as the brooms weren't in the storage cupboard and Professor Slughorn's desk had vanished from his Potions classroom. When they arrived at History of Magic, they spent the whole period outside as Professor Binns had gone missing too. By the time they arrived at Astronomy the students were half expecting that the stars had gone away. Professor Strauss assured them that the stars were still in the sky and that it was only over-cast.

"This is crazy." students were commenting to each other. Half the stuff in the classrooms had grown feet over night and walked away and the evening before Christmas vacation, dinner was sent up on paper plates. The actual plates had disappeared from the kitchens.

After dinner, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter walked up together and looked around the corridors trying to see if anything else had disappeared.

"Well, this corridor looks relatively normal." James commented.

"Wasn't there a giant gargoyle there?" Remus pointed ahead.

"Hmm, I can't remember." James replied.

"So, are you guys staying for Christmas or are you heading home?" Peter asked.

"Home." James and Remus replied in unison.

"Staying." Sirius answered.

"How come you're staying mate?" James asked.

"My parents don't want to see me yet. They say they can't imagine spending any more time than necessary with a Gryffindor. By that they mean I'm allowed home for Summer vacation but if I can stay at Hogwarts, I'm staying at Hogwarts. Besides, they're having really important guests over who would feel offended by someone who doesn't share the same values and view on pureblood-superiority." Sirius answered, "What about you Peter?" Sirius tried to get the conversation off himself.

"Mum and Dad are taking me to Switzerland for Christmas." Peter replied.

"This is nonsense!" James exclaimed.

"I really am going to Switzerland." Peter replied.

"Not that Peter." James said, "I mean the fact that Sirius is staying over Christmas."

"It's really okay." Sirius said.

"No, it's not. You're coming to spend Christmas with me." James told him.

"Really mate, it's fine. Besides, your parents aren't expecting company." Sirius said.

"Please, mum loves company and she always makes too much food in any case. You're coming with me. End of discussion." James ended.