A/N I was determined to save this chapter and not post it until tomorrow, but as I have ADHD and therefore very little self-control, I'm posting it today. I just couldn't stop thinking about it being sat there, ready, waiting to be read. I really love this chapter and I hope you all love it too.

There is a 'scene' at the end where parts are supposed to be crossed out, annoyingly FF doesn't support that, so please use your imagination and pretend the underlined parts are crossed out. Thank you :)

Tuesday, 5th October 1971, 4:30 pm

Remus left the hospital wing and headed straight for Gryffindor tower. He was still a little sore from his transformation, but there was no way he was going to admit that to Madam Pomfrey. Knowing her, she would keep him in for an extra night, and he wanted to see his friends too much for that. He had information they needed to know.

Before leaving, though, he had asked her about the mystery of his full-moon symptoms starting so much earlier than normal, and she had put it down to how much he was using his magic every day. It was nice to have an answer, but, on this occasion, he hoped she was wrong. If she was right, it meant three full days of pain every month instead of one. Although, when he really thought about it, he had to admit, if he were forced to choose between Hogwarts and less pain, he would choose Hogwarts. Even if it meant pain all day every day, he would choose Hogwarts.

He clambered through the portrait hole, dashed across the common room (as much as he could dash with his aching joints, other people would probably call it a meander), and up the stairs to the dorm.

He burst into the room with an excited, 'Guys, I've figured it out!' kicking the door closed behind him, crossing the room and dropping his bag on his bed.

'Figured what out?' James asked, leaping off his bed and jumping around, apparently caught up in the excitement.

'Hello, Remus. And how are you feeling?' Sirius asked from where he was lounging on his bed and writing in his journal.

Remus turned to face Sirius. 'I'm all better now, thank you. Nothing to worry about.' He turned back to James, who was still bouncing on his toes waiting for the news. 'I've figured out how to make everyone burp bubbles.'

'Yes!' James punched the air. 'You are the best researcher a team of magical mischief-makers could ever ask for! How do we do it?'

Remus smiled. He had been hoping the news would be sufficient distraction to keep them from asking questions about his hospital stay. It looked like it was working.

'The belch powder uses delayed transfiguration, like on the robes the Marauder did. So all we have to do is add an extra layer and set it to be triggered two seconds after the first layer.'

'And you know how to do that?' Peter asked.

'Yes, it's really easy. I can show you.'

Sirius closed his journal and placed it gently on the bed next to him, stood up in a single, graceful movement and sauntered over to him. 'Hmm,' he said, looking Remus right in the eyes. 'I think I know your secret.'

Remus' blood went cold.

'Hmm, I think I know your secret.'

Remus' face went white. Shit. That was an epically piss-poor choice of words. Sirius hurried to finish before Remus did something ridiculously stupid, like outing himself by shouting, "I'm not a werewolf."

'You're the Hogwarts Marauder,' he said, pointing at him.

'What?' James said.

Sirius turned to James to explain his theory. And to take the attention off of Remus, who seemed to be struggling to catch his breath. 'He has regular access to the laundry,' he said, ticking each point off on his fingers. 'He has apparently used delayed transfiguration before because he knows it's "easy." And he somehow knows the Marauder used delayed transfiguration to do the robe trick. He is amazingly good at transfiguration, as if he's had lots of extra practice. And I'm pretty sure he was lying when he said he'd never altered a spell before. Therefore, I conclude, he is the Marauder.'

James' eyes went wide, and he turned to Remus. 'Is he right? Are you the Marauder?'

Remus seemed to have regained control of his lungs and he nodded. 'Yeah. You got me, Sirius. It was me.'

'That is so bloody brilliant!' James said, returning to bouncing like an over-excited squirrel. 'We can all be The Marauders! It's much easier to say than magical mischief-makers. Oh, I wish we'd known before the niffler hunt. We could have used it for our team name.'

'Breathe, James,' Sirius said, laughing.

'That was awesome, Remus. I really liked the lion,' Peter said.

'Thanks, Pete. I can make you another one if you like?'

Peter grinned. 'Yes, please!'

James suddenly stopped bouncing. 'If we're going to be a club, we need rules and stuff.'

Remus frowned. 'We're a club now?'

'Hell yeah, we're a club!' Sirius said.

James ran over to his trunk and pulled out another brand new notebook with a beautiful red dragon-hide cover, before sitting at the head of his bed cross-legged and patting the mattress in front of him. 'Come on.'

Sirius and Peter were quick to pile on, but Remus hesitated. Sirius shuffled further over to make more room for him. 'Come on, mate. You're safe with us.'

Remus climbed onto the bed with extreme caution, sitting himself right on the edge. He was in danger of falling off, but Sirius didn't want to push him. The full moon was only last night. Speaking of which…

'Oh, if this is our first club meeting, then we should have chocolate,' he said, before climbing carefully off the bed and going to his trunk to fetch the extra-large box of chocolate frogs he'd ordered ready for today. Fancy expensive chocolates were delicious, but right now Remus needed quantity, not quality, and he figured he'd be willing to eat more if they were cheap ones.

Sirius plonked the box in the middle of James' bed and climbed back on.

James raised an eyebrow at him. 'Are we ready now?'

'Not quite,' Sirius said. He ripped the box open, took out four chocolate frogs, throwing one to each of them and ripping the fourth open, before taking a bite. 'Now we're ready.'

James chuckled and shook his head. Ignoring his chocolate frog, he placed the notebook on top of the box in the middle of the bed. 'This book comes with a built-in notice-me-not charm. If we all channel our magic into it and then activate the charm, we'll be the only ones who see it.'

Sirius frowned at James. 'Are you telling me you've had a way to pass notes in class without being seen this whole time and you never said?'

James gaped at him. 'I never even thought of that.'

'Idiot,' Sirius said, cuffing James around the back of the head.

James scowled at him but didn't argue. 'Yeah, alright. Get your wands out then.'

They all took out their wands and channelled their magic into the notebook before James activated the charm. He opened the notebook to the first page and wrote "The Marauders" across the top, followed by their names in a list.

'We need to pick roles,' James said. 'I'm the ideas man, and Remus is obviously Chief of Research. Sirius?'

Sirius grinned. 'I'm the charm.'

'Why exactly do we need charm?'

'To charm our way out of detention, of course. Minnie loves me.'

'Hmm. We'll come back to you. Peter?'

Peter shrugged. 'I don't know. I'm not really any good at anything.'

'You're great at potions. You've stopped me killing myself at least twice,' Remus said.

'And we're all very grateful for that,' Sirius said, nodding.

'Chief Potioneer,' James said, writing it down next to Peter's name.

'If Remus and Peter are both Chiefs, then we should be too,' Sirius said. 'You can be Chief Imaginator. And I'll be Chief… Um.'

'Artist?' Remus suggested.

'Excellent idea.' James wrote both the titles next to their names and turned the page. He wrote Marauders Code along the top of the new page and looked back up.

'Rules?'

Sirius grinned. 'All feast days are Marauder celebrations and should be marked as such with Mischief.'

James pointed his quill at him. 'Nice!'

'All Marauder Mischief should be harmless and fun for everyone,' Remus said before taking a large bite from his third chocolate frog.

'Unless we're getting revenge,' James said.

'That's not mischief,' Remus said with a shrug. 'It's revenge.'

'Good point.' James wrote it down.

'Marauders always keep each other's secrets,' Peter said.

'But are not obligated to reveal their secrets before they're ready,' Sirius added quickly, making extra sure he wouldn't look at Remus when he said it by reaching for another chocolate frog.

'Rule, and amendment, accepted,' James said.

'Ooh, Marauders always come before girls,' Sirius said.

James rolled his eyes. 'Obviously.' He wrote it down anyway.

'A Marauder will always come to a fellow Marauder's aid,' Peter said.

'That really goes without saying, doesn't it?' James said. 'But I'll write it down anyway.'

None of them could think of any other rules, so James put the notebook away, and they spent the rest of the evening stuffing their faces with chocolate and making more plans for Halloween. Remus was given a new research assignment, trying to find the recipe for the animation potion they had used before, and Sirius was delegated the task of drawing the most realistic picture of a bat he could manage.

They didn't find time to practise the mass delayed-transfiguration until Saturday. Remus had still been exhausted from the moon on Wednesday and spent the whole afternoon asleep, and it was far too much work to bother starting during a measly hour-long free period. Thursday evening, Remus and Sirius had Art Club, and Friday evening, they had all agreed they were too tired.

Remus sat his students down in a line on the floor and gave them each a bowl he'd borrowed from the kitchen that morning.

'I want you to find your magical core and channel your magic into the bowl, just like we did with the notebook,' he said.

He watched as they all placed their wand tips on their bowls and closed their eyes, and he knew it was working when the hairs on his arms stood on end.

'Good. Now'—he handed each of them a chocolate frog wrapper he had saved for the lesson—'I want you to turn your wrapper pink.'

They frowned at him but did as they were told.

'What was the point in that?' James asked. 'We've been able to do that for weeks.'

'Because you have to do what you just did at the same time as channelling your magic and speaking the incantations for the delayed transfiguration, the timing charm and my combining spell.'

'I thought you said it was easy,' Sirius said.

Remus shrugged. 'It is. You just have to focus.'

'I can't focus on that many things at once. I can barely focus on one thing.'

'I found it easiest if you start channelling first, before focusing on your target and intent. Once you have your magic flowing, it's fairly easy to turn your attention to something else while it continues in the background. We can work on adding the incantations when you get the hang of the first part.'

'Okay,' Sirius said, still sounding sceptical.

'So, start channelling your magic. Once it's flowing into the bowl, create your mental images of the pink wrapper and whatever colour you want to turn it. And if you think you're ready, say the incantation for the delayed transfiguration. Moratus Mutatio. You'll need to channel for about twenty seconds to change the wrapper.'

'Moratus Mutatio,' they all repeated before beginning the task.

James was the first to open his eyes. He grinned at Remus but didn't speak, obviously knowing better than to break his friends' concentration. Peter was next. He looked around and seemed surprised to see Sirius was still trying. Looking at Remus, he raised his eyebrows, jerked his head towards Sirius and raised his fists in the air as if celebrating a victory. It took all of Remus' self-control not to laugh. Sirius didn't take much longer, opening his eyes about thirty seconds after Peter and glancing to the others.

'Dammit, I'm last,' he said with a huff.

'It's not a competition, Sirius,' Remus said.

'Everything,' Sirius said, 'is a competition.'

Remus rolled his eyes. 'If you say so. Let's see if you all managed it, shall we? Drop your wrappers into your bowl.'

They did so and all three of them changed. James' turned Gryffindor red, Peter's turned white and Sirius' turned blue with bright orange spots.

'No wonder you took longer,' Remus said. 'Why did you bother with spots?'

Sirius shrugged. 'If you're going to do something, might as well do it properly.'

Remus laughed. 'Well, I guess if everything's a competition you won this round. Ten points to Gryffindor.'

'If only you could hand out points,' James said.

Remus was finding he quite enjoyed teaching. He got a thrill of excitement when they managed to achieve something under his guidance.

'What's next?' Peter asked.

'Next, you need to learn the timing charm. I tested it with defodio, but we probably shouldn't damage anything in here. You all have the hang of Wingardium Leviosa, right?' They all nodded, so Remus continued, 'Great, I want you to cast the timing charm on your wrapper followed by wingardium leviosa. After you cast the levitation charm, you'll need to move your wand in the path you want it to travel. The timing charm is Statuto tempus.'

They all followed his instructions to the letter. Remus was a little surprised that James and Sirius were being so attentive. They never paid that much attention in class. But he supposed this was for fun, so it was far more important than class in their minds.

Sirius and James succeeded on their first attempt. Peter took a few tries, but it was only a couple of minutes before his wrapper was floating around the room with James' and Sirius', seemingly of their own accord.

'We have got to use this for Halloween. We can make the candles do a dance,' James said.

'That will take forever to set up,' Remus said.

James rolled his eyes. 'So? We can do it over a few nights if necessary.'

'Alright, we'll talk about that later. We're on the last step now. Basically, do exactly what you did before but add the timing charm and my combination spell. The full incantation will be Statuto tempus et magicae simulio moratus mutatio.'

'Merlin's ragged and pointy hat, that's a lot to remember,' Sirius said. 'How in Godric's name did you manage to do all that?'

Remus considered the question. He hadn't really found it that difficult. But why was that?

'I think it might be the meditation.'

Sirius frowned. 'The what?'

'It's a muggle thing. My mum bought me a book about it a few months before we started school. It helps me control my temper, but it's improved my focus too.'

Sirius looked interested. 'I could use a little help with that too. How does it work?'

'It's a lot of breathing and visualising stuff in your mind. I could teach you?'

'It's a date,' Sirius said, winking and making him blush. Again. Goddammit. He really needed to stop reacting like that.

Sirius smirked at him.

They went over the incantation several times until they all had it memorised before they tried it. Remus told them to set their timing charm for eleven o'clock. An hour would be long enough for them to get it done, he thought.

James finished first, again, after thirty minutes of trying, Sirius came second this time, finishing ten minutes after James and beating Peter by a full five minutes. They sat in silence, waiting for him to open his eyes. Sirius kept pulling faces, trying to make them laugh until Remus scowled at him to make him stop.

They dropped their chocolate wrappers into their bowls, and while they waited to see if they had been successful, they returned to the discussion of the dancing candles.

'It could be dangerous,' Remus said. 'If someone got in the way, they could be burnt or even catch fire.'

'That would be bad. We'd be expelled for sure,' Peter said.

'I hadn't thought of that,' James said. 'I think we need to add that to your Marauder role. Remus Lupin, Chief Researcher and Safety Monitor.'

Remus bowed. 'I graciously accept.'

'Excellent, I'll write it in the book later. So, Maraudering Chief of Research and Safety, how do we do the dancing candles without hurting anyone?'

'Hmm, some kind of shield charm around the candles? That would stop anyone getting hit by molten wax, too.'

Sirius frowned. 'That sounds pretty advanced.'

Remus nodded. 'The basic personal shield charm is a second-year spell, I think. But we wouldn't need anything that powerful for this. It only needs to stop fire and solid objects, not magic. I'll have a look next time I'm in the library.'

'Which will probably be later today, right?' Sirius asked, laughing.

Remus refused to be embarrassed by his dedication to schoolwork. They wouldn't be able to understand why it meant so much to him, so he couldn't blame them for finding his behaviour strange but he wouldn't hide it.

'Probably,' he agreed. 'I want to look up some things for the cockatrice essay,'

When eleven o'clock came, all three wrappers changed colour. James' was gold this time, Sirius had gone for purple and Peter's was black.

'Well done,' Remus said. 'I can't believe you all got the hang of it so fast.'

Sirius winked at him. 'You're just an amazing teacher, Remus.'

'That might be a part of it,' Remus said, feeling his face heating up again. He was going to end up permanently red at this rate.

They practised a few more times, trying out more complex transfigurations and working their way up to creating bubbles. They took a break for lunch, and the other Marauders joined Remus in the kitchen, where Remus taught them the theory of turning a gas into a liquid, as they wouldn't be covering it in class until November. Peter picked it up surprisingly quickly, and Remus wondered if it was the informal setting putting him more at ease. The classroom environment didn't work for everyone.

By two o'clock, they were all happily transfiguring pockets of air in the room into bubbles of various sizes, and the dormitory was filled with them.

'I think you're ready,' Remus said, with a wide smile.

James fetched the belch powder his dad had sent him, and they settled down to complete the mammoth task. They would need to channel for an hour to be sure there was enough magic in the bowls to work on each grain of powder.

The following Tuesday, after lunch, Sirius was lounging on his bed in the dorm, chatting with James and Peter while they waited for their spells to activate. They had been practising the timed levitation charm for Halloween, and there were a number of items placed strategically around the room.

'Only four more days until we find out what's behind the locked door,' Sirius said.

James was sitting up on his bed, tossing a balled up pair of socks back and forth across the room with Peter. 'I know. I can't wait. What do you reckon it is? I bet it's something awesome.'

'This is Hogwarts, mate. It could literally be anything.'

They all looked over when the door burst open and an out of breath Remus rushed through it.

'I've found the recipe!' he said, collapsing on his bed.

James perked up. 'For the animation potion? No way!'

Remus sat up. 'Yes. I still don't see how we can use it, though. We don't want to ruin the feast by making the tables gallop off again.'

'Give it to our Chief Potioneer. He's going to see what he can do with it.'

Remus stood up and took three steps across the room towards Peter when all of a sudden various items around the room rose into the air and converged on him.

'Oh shit! Remus, duck!' Sirius cried.

Remus didn't need telling twice. He dropped to the floor and rolled onto his back to watch as the quills, socks, screwed up balls of parchment, and potions bottles carried out an elaborate dance above his head.

He pointed at one particular item. 'That quill is out of time with the others.'

Sirius threw his pillow at him. 'Shut up, it was our first attempt.'

Remus arched his head back to look at him. 'Really? Well, in that case, it's very impressive. Well done.'

A couple of minutes later, it was safe for Remus to stand back up, and he handed the recipe he'd copied from the library book to Peter, who looked it over with a frown.

'This is pretty straightforward,' he said after a couple of minutes. 'If I substitute a couple of items and add in a targeting charm at the end, we can make it so it only animates the bats. We'll need to add one of them to the potion so it knows what to target.' He looked up from the parchment. 'It'll take two full days to brew though.'

'We'll have to do it in here over the weekend,' Sirius said.

'But what if they do a dorm check and catch us? We'd get in serious trouble for brewing in the dorm,' Peter said.

'If one of us stays in the room at all times, we can avoid dorm checks. The house-elves don't come in if the room's occupied,' James said.

Remus looked at him. 'How do you know that?'

James grinned. 'My dad told me. He thought it was important information every boy should be aware of.'

Sirius laughed. 'I kind of love your dad.'

'Strange. I kind of love him too,' James said with a chuckle. 'He would adore you. You should come over in the summer holidays. All of you. We can have a Marauder sleepover or something.'

Yeah. That wasn't going to happen, Sirius thought. No way his parents were going to let him out of the house that summer.

'I can practically see you thinking, Sirius. You can't possibly believe your mother is daft enough to refuse an official invitation from House Potter? That would be social suicide.'

He was right. She'd be furious about it, of course, but she'd have no choice but to let him go. Sirius grinned. 'It'll be brilliant!'

'Yeah, it will! Peter, you in?' James said.

'Definitely. I'm sure my mum won't mind.'

'Remus?'

Sirius glanced over. Remus was biting his lip. He knew what the problem was; he wouldn't be able to say yes unless he knew exactly what day it was going to be.

'I'll have to ask my mum. But I'd like to come if she lets me.'

Translation: I want to come, but only if it's not a full moon.

Sirius decided then and there to make sure the get together happened when it wasn't a full moon so Remus could be there. It wouldn't be a Marauder sleepover without the original Marauder, after all.

Two days later, after Potions had ended, Remus waited for the rest of the students to clear out before making his way to the front of the class.

'Excuse me, Professor. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about the uses of dragon blood in potions?'

Slughorn looked up from the essay he was marking. 'Of course, my boy. What is it you'd like to know?'

'Well, I was thinking about its use in healing potions. Could it be mixed with dittany to make its effects stronger?'

Peter had told him to ask that. Apparently dittany and dragon's blood were an explosive combination.

'Oh, Merlin, no! That's a terrible idea. Dragon's blood is very volatile, and it dislikes dittany immensely. Don't ever combine them.'

Remus nodded. 'Understood, sir.'

'Do you have an interest in potions?'

Remus shrugged. 'It's more an interest in healing, really. You may have noticed I'm not particularly adept with a cauldron.'

'Well, you'll need at least a little competency with potions to get into the healers' program at St Mungos. But I may be able to help you with that. I have a few connections in the trainee intake department. Why don't you come to my party this Saturday, and I'll see what I can do for you? You're friends with Black, Potter and Pettigrew aren't you?'

Remus nodded. 'Yes, sir.'

'Invite them along too. It starts at seven pm in the room next door to this one.'

'I will, sir. Thank you.'

'Not at all. Have a lovely evening, Mister Lupin.'

'You too, sir' Remus said, hurrying from the room and hoping he had kept Slughorn talking for long enough.

James, Sirius and Peter were waiting for him outside and gave him a thumbs up. They had got what they needed for the potion. Excellent.

The Official Marauders Notebook

The Marauders

James Potter - Chief Imaginator and Lily Evans Stalker

Sirius Black - Chief Artist and Charmer of Teachers

Remus Lupin - Chief Researcher and Safety Monitor and Chocolate Eating Genius

Peter Pettigrew - Chief Potioneer and Master of Food Procurement

The Marauders Code

- All feast days are Marauder celebrations and should be marked as such with Mischief

- All Marauder Mischief should be harmless and fun for everyone

- Marauders always keep each other's secrets but are not obligated to reveal their secrets before they're ready

- Marauders always come before girls

- A Marauder will always come to a fellow Marauders aid

- The Chief Imaginator is responsible for providing all Marauders with daily chocolate and must give compliments to them once every hour.

6th October

The crossed-out sections were added in permanent ink at some point during the night when all NORMAL people were sleeping, and they do not count. The main suspect is one Sirius Black, who is giggling like a girl. - James Potter Chief Imaginator. and Lily Evans Stalker.

7th October

Sirius! Stop adding things to the Official Marauder Notebook or I'll kick you out of the club! - James Potter Chief Imaginator. and Lily Evans Stalker.

8th October 1:23 am

James! Never! And I don't giggle like a girl. My laugh is deep and manly. - Sirius Black Chief Artist and Charmer of Teachers.

Monday 11th October 11:45 am

Chief Imaginator to Chief Researcher, Gods Transfiguration theory is boring, have you had any luck finding that recipe yet?

No, I'm going to look tomorrow afternoon. And it's not boring; it's important. Especially if you want to be able to change, oh I don't know, bubbles into bats? - Chief Researcher and Safety Monitor.

You have to sign your messages so we know who it's from. I did it for you this time. And you make a good point, I will try to pay attention. - Chief Imaginator

You know who it's from, James. I passed it to you. And you're not doing a very good job of paying attention. I saw you flicking bits of parchment at Snape. - Chief Researcher and Safety Monitor.

They were drawings of his ugly nose. I think he appreciated them. Please sign your name. For me? - Chief Imaginator.

I will if you do your work - Remus

Fine! - Chief Imaginator.

Thursday 14th October, 3:00 pm

Remus, we need you to distract Slughorn after class. Can you talk to him about something? - James.

Sure, how long do you need? - Remus.

Long enough to sneak into his office and grab some ingredients. - James.

Ask him about mixing dragon's blood and dittany, he'll be horrified - Peter.

Why, what does it do? - Remus.

Let's just say they're an explosive combination - Peter.

Peter, you're giving me ideas - Sirius.

Sirius, as Marauder Safety Monitor, I forbid you to blow up the school - Remus.

Remus, you spoil all my fun :( - Sirius.