Author's note: Surprise chapter! I didn't intend to do one but then I got excited for this one. I was going to get it out tomorrow for Thanksgiving but then wasn't sure when I'd be able to. So I figure for people who want a small break tomorrow you can save this chapter to read :)

Trigger warnings for emetophobia and gore.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Of course everyone in Study Group wanted to know what the heck happened with the laughing in Charms. Twycross also complained about what happened in History, making it obvious she placed all blame on the Marauders—or really, Remus specifically. He didn't bother arguing that he hadn't meant to hit Nettle. There just seemed to be no point in arguing with Twycross.

After Study Group Bones jumped up, asking Remus to talk privately for a moment. Remus told Lily he'd catch up with her, and then went to a corner of the library with Bones, suspecting what the Hufflepuff had to say.

Sure enough, "When are you going to do the—the you know?" he hissed out.

"Soon," Remus promised, hugging his satchel to his chest. "We—we g-g-got supplies over the—the weekend. We need to prac—prac—practice a couple spells to make sure we get them right. We also n-need to make a potion that takes—takes a couple days to brew. Hopefully bef—before the end of the—the week but it might not be until next week."

Bones's face fell slightly. "I guess I kinda hoped it'd be done quickly."

"I—I'm sorry. We have a big—see, we c-could have done something simple and—well, rather bor—boring. We came up with a big pl-plan."

Bones tilted his head. "Big plan? How big?"

Remus smiled. "Decently b-big."

"Can you tell me?" Bones pressed, and Remus shook his head. "Not even what potion you're making? Drat. Is it really awful?"

He shrugged at that. "The potion is. The rest… w-well, it c-could be, depending on their—their outlook."

"Hmm…" Bones rubbed his chin. "If it happened to you how would you feel?"

Remus thought of the noisy items, the Stink Potion, and the sticking spell with the glitter confetti. "Very angry and—and extremely annoyed. Furious."

Bones began giggling. "Ahhh yessss!" He smacked Remus's shoulder rather hard causing Remus to nearly drop his satchel. "Okay, sorry for bugging you. I was only, you know—they were bothering Donnie again."

"This—this p-probably won't g-get them to stop," Remus reminded him.

"I know, but it'll be nice to know they had some crap thrown at them," Bones sighed. "Thank you. By the way. For doing this, you and the others."

"D-don't thank us yet," Remus said, pulling the strap of his satchel onto his shoulder, letting the heavy bag smack against his hip. "Wait till we—we pull it off. Maybe you'll th-think it's a r-really stupid prank."

Bones smiled. "If it's something that would anger and annoy you, I trust your judgment. I don't trust them, mind you, 'specially Black, but I trust you."

Remus hesitated, wanting to ask why he didn't trust Sirius even though he knew the reason was probably because of his name. "Er, right. Um, no problem. Really. I—I'll s-see you tomorrow."

/\/\/\/\/\

The Marauders weren't able to start on the Stink Potion until the next day after Herbology. They holed up in the Pits Passage—across the first proper pit—where James and Peter began working while Sirius and Remus watched. Remus pinched his nose while the other two prepped ingredients and fought hard not to get sick down into one of the pits.

"You don't need to be here for this," Sirius said, noticing Remus going slightly green. "We could go do something elsewhere."

Remus scrambled to his feet. "Yes, that'd be best. I'm sorry."

"S'fine," James promised.

Sirius took James's broom, intending on flying back the way they came, but Remus asked to go deeper into the passage. He wanted to take Sirius to the painting of the red Short-Snout. Sirius obliged, flying them over several pits until they ended up at the junction. They walked down the dead-end corridor and Remus pointed the seams out to Sirius.

"Huh!" Sirius stood on tiptoes for a second, then hopped onto the broom, flying up to inspect the seams closer. "There's definitely something behind here. Can you move the painting?"

Remus took hold of the frame and tried pulling. The dragon stirred, lifting its head to see what was going on. Remus tried another tug before giving up.

"I might be able to if I put all my strength behind it but it might destroy the painting…"

Sirius laughed, landing so he could mess up Remus's hair. "All your strength. Right."

Remus opened his mouth then closed it, going slightly pink. This would be the perfect time to tell Sirius the truth, about his strength. Confess how dangerous he could be even as a human. Before he could, Sirius began talking again.

"We need to figure out a way to get past." He stood in front of the dragon, studying it carefully. "Figure out the password or whatever it is we need to do. It's probably some kind of password."

"You're good at figuring that out," Remus noted.

Sirius grinned at him. "Me and James together, yeah. Come on, we'll come back later."

But by the time the Stink Potion was ready to leave bubbling on its own, they didn't have much time left before class. They had to skedaddle out of the Pits Passage to get some lunch before Defense.

/\/\/\/\/\

Once Defense was finally over the Marauders wanted to go back to investigate the dragon painting, except when they ran out of the classroom Lily blocked the way. She informed James that his group wanted to get together to do some work in the library.

"Right now?!" James demanded. "No can do. I have plans!"

"We have a lot of work left to do," Lily reminded him. "I don't want a bad grade simply because you're lazy."

"I am not lazy!" James snarled. "I have plans with my friends!"

"We've hardly done any work together. We still have loads left to do!" Lily gave Remus an exasperated look."You surely agree with me, right?"

Remus swallowed, unsure of how to answer. Yeah, he thought if they hadn't done much they needed to do work; if he was in the group he'd certainly be pressing to meet up together as soon as possible. But he also wanted to see if James and Sirius could find a way past the painting—see if there was more to the passage. He was completely torn and had no idea what to say.

Thankfully he was saved from answering by Spinnet. "Hey, Pettigrew, we're meeting up at the library in fifteen minutes," he said.

Peter frowned. "Um, I have—"

"Fifteen minutes." Spinnet walked off, not waiting for an answer.

Lily looked quite smug, giving James a 'see?' look. James sighed, shoulders slumping. "Fine! I guess I'll see you guys later. We can… er, do our plans tonight. Come on, Petey."

"James, I can't—" Remus tried to say but James and Peter were already walking off, with Lily behind them. "I can't do tonight…"

"Why not?" Sirius asked then smacked his forehead. "Ooh, never mind. It's Tuesday. I forgot. Well, we can go tomorrow morning before Charms. Or after lunch, before History."

"Have you started your apology essays?" Remus asked as he and Sirius began walking down the hall, neither of them really sure where they were going.

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, right. I'll knock it out Thursday night. Don't sigh like that. Let me guess, yours is already done?"

"Both of them are finished, yes."

"How long are they?"

Remus bit his lip, choosing his words carefully. "The requirements were twelve inches—"

"Uh-huh." Sirius elbowed him. "How long are they?"

Remus ducked his head, feeling his cheeks heating up. "One is twenty inches, the other twenty-three. All right? Happy now?"

Sirius began laughing, shaking his head. "Nerd. Did you tell Flitty why we had our… outburst?"

"NO!" Remus shrieked, absolutely horrified and wanting to die just thinking about it. Then a horrible thought entered his head, and he reached out to grab Sirius's sleeve. "D—did you?!"

"Merlin, no! Though, I might've, if it had been Binnsy. You know, for a laugh." He stuck his hands in his pockets, impossibly long legs striding as Remus hurried to stay caught up. "I don't think it would phase Binnsy at all. Think he even reads our essays? Maybe I should draw a picture and hand it in, see what happens."

"Someone grades them," Remus said, having to go even faster since Sirius was walking a little quicker than normal. "Not Professor Binns—at least, he can't put our grade on the paper. Someone else does that."

"Do they read them or just do what Binns says, you think?" Sirius asked, turning to walk backwards, which thankfully slowed him down a little. "Having a ghost as a teacher must be very difficult. He can't physically grade our papers. He can't go through our papers." Sirius stopped, and Remus ran into him. "Well, he can go through them!" he laughed as Remus bounced off of him. "Oops! You all right there?"

"Fine. Yes, it does seem to be a terrible inconvenience. I wonder who does help him?"

"Thinking about volunteering for the job?" Sirius teased.

Remus's eyes widened at the suggestion. "That—that would be really interesting. I wonder if it is on a volunteer basis? Perhaps I should ask Professor McGonagall."

"If it is a volunteer basis, I can't imagine many people jumping at the chance," muttered Sirius as they began walking again. "You probably need to be older though."

"Yes, of course, I—I wasn't meaning this year, or anytime soon," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "If there is something like that I imagine it's for a sixth or seventh year, like the volunteers in the owlery."

"Hmm, if I had to volunteer anywhere in the school the owlery wouldn't be too bad. Or something with Quidditch. Or even, you know, perhaps helping out with decorations for the holidays. Not, you know, reading a dozen boring essays while having to interact with Binns."

He wanted to say something, to explain his side. However dumping all his thoughts out like that would probably be annoying, and he didn't want to irritate his friends with the huge spouts of thought and information that filled his head.

But it would be very interesting to help Binns. Reading various essays wasn't boring at all! Seeing what several different people wrote about the same events. The different opinions, the different research, the different approaches—it'd be absolutely fascinating to have so many various thoughts about the subject, even if some of them were probably lifeless like James's history essays. All right so yeah, not a lot of students took History seriously, he knew that, but it'd still be—

He was suddenly jerked back, and blinked several times, realizing he was practically in Sirius's arms which sent frantic waves of discomfort and panic through his entire body.

"You almost walked off a staircase again," Sirius said, rather angrily, pointing at the stairwell right in front of them. "How many times do we need to tell you to watch where you're walking!"

"Oh." He ducked his head, embarrassed. "Oops. Th—thank you. Sorry."

Sirius sighed, knocking his fist very lightly against Remus's head. "Just pay attention, dummy. Okay?"

"Y—yeah, of course. Yes. Sorry."

/\/\/\/\/\

Occlumency went fairly well. Fawley informed him his barrier felt a little stronger though of course he wasn't able to prevent her from seeing him sneaking into Hogsmeade, or planning the prank on the Hufflepuffs. She sighed when she saw the prank preparations but didn't complain. She did say she felt rather defensive of her old house until he showed her the memory of Bones and Rivers asking for help, including Bones explaining about Rivers being bullied. She asked if he knew what was going on, and he shook his head, informing her that Bones wouldn't say.

"Well," she finally said, "just be careful, all right?"

When the lesson ended, Fawley pulled a small box out of her bag and put it in his hands. "Don't unwrap it until Saturday though," she commanded.

He curled his fingers around the present, wondering what was inside. It didn't seem to be the right size for a book, though it could have been magicked to hold something bigger. "Th—thank you so much, Miss Fawley. I'll wait, I promise."

Remus was worried the others had gone into the Pits Passage without him, but he found them in the common room. When James wanted to go check it out immediately, Remus pointed out they had less than an hour before curfew and if there was more secret passage behind the painting they wouldn't really be able to explore much.

"Fawley give you a present?" Peter asked, noticing the wrapped gift Remus held.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I have to wait though. Unfortunately."

Sirius's eyes twinkled. "How will she know if you open it a bit early?"

Remus shot him a look. "Yes, it's not as though she can see my memories or anything."

James and Peter laughed while Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling incoherently, obviously a little embarrassed. "Er, right, well. A-hem." He raked his fingers through his hair and quickly changed the subject back to the card game the three of them were playing.

Remus took the present to his dorm, setting it carefully on his desk and marveling over the fact he was almost a teenager! All right so Sirius, Peter, and Lily all said nothing really changed but it was still a big change, and he couldn't help feel excited.

/\/\/\/\/\

Flitwick glared at the Marauders when they went into class Wednesday morning and when he began the lecture, everyone eyed the four of them as if expecting another outbreak of hysteria. They managed to keep their mouths shut. The fact Flitwick was teaching the shrinking spell instead of the other one certainly helped. However, when he handed objects out for everyone to practice on, he informed the Marauders that since they were a lesson behind they needed to do the engorgement spell first.

"En—engor—engorgio?" Peter tried, and nothing happened.

"Engorgio!" James said with confidence, and nothing happened.

"Engorgio!" Sirius said with equal confidence, and his feather caught fire. "Shit!"

"Five points for language, Mr. Black," Flitwick sighed, putting the fire out. "Mr. Lupin?"

"Engorgio," he whispered, and the feather grew to cover his entire desk.

"Very good. Mr. Lupin, you may practice the shrinking spell. The rest of you… continue on the engorgement spell. And please, no more fires."

"Not like I do it on purpose!" Sirius hissed under his breath as Flitwick went back to his own desk.

"Reducio," Remus tried, and the feather shrank. "Engorgio. Reducio." He prodded the feather, making it bigger and smaller for several minutes until Flitwick gave him something a little more complicated to practice on: a beetle. Remus stared in shock. Usually they didn't move on to living creatures so quickly! Slowly he looked up at Flitwick.

Flitwick gave Remus an encouraging smile. "I have confidence in you."

Everyone in class was watching, Twycross looking quite jealous. Remus cleared his throat, trying not to get shaky. "Engorgio." He held his breath as soon as he finished the spell, terrified something would go wrong… but the beetle began growing. It didn't get as big as it probably should have, however Flitwick was very impressed and rewarded him with five points.

"That's quite good work, considering you wouldn't normally be on insects yet," Flitwick said, giving Remus a vase to work on for the time being.

/\/\/\/\/\

Thirty-five minutes after Charms ended, James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were in the Pits Passage. They had stolen food for lunch, swung by the dorms to get James's broom, and were eating near the hall that led to the dragon painting. They didn't have to worry about History for at least an hour and a half.

Once the pies were all gone and their hands wiped off on their trousers, James took them over one by one until they were at the painting. Remus pointed the seams out, and James studied the painting with a frown.

"You say it's not really a species of dragon?" he asked, and Remus shook his head, explaining the color thing. "Hrm. I mean, there's got to be something behind here."

"What if we change it to blue?" Peter suggested, and all three of them stared. "If it's s'posed to be blue, maybe we change it to blue."

"You are brilliant!" Sirius said. "Remy, you're best at that."

Remus was already getting his wand out. "Peter, you are brilliant," he agreed.

Peter gave a squeak and yanked his jumper up to hide in.

Remus pointed his wand, trying to change the dragon's color to no avail. All he succeeded in doing was annoying the dragon. James and Sirius tried the spells too even though they weren't as good as Remus.

Peter was very disappointed. "I thought—I mean, it—oh."

Remus put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "No, it was a terrific idea and made a lot of sense."

"I GOT IT!" James shrieked, causing the others to jump. "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."

Sirius slowly began grinning. "Ha! Yes!"

"Oh! That's the, um, school motto!" Peter said. "Never tickle a sleeping dragon."

James shrugged, stepping closer to the painting. "Can't hurt to try."

In hindsight, those words should have set off alarm bells. Remus should have stopped James. Those words were what one would call 'famous last words'. But in the moment, Remus had no idea.

James reached up and began tickling the dragon. The dragon turned its head, opened its mouth—

And fire burst out from the painting. Real fire. Real, actual, hot, burning fire-fire. A real fireball that slammed into James, sending him crashing to the floor screaming in pain, his hair and sleeve on fire. His voice ripped through the air, cracking with anguish as his body spasmed. The others began screaming too, and Sirius yanked his robes off and dropped them on James before falling on top of him, trying to put the fire out. James was still screaming in pain, a hoarse, gut-wrenching scream that tore into Remus.

Sirius rolled off of James, peeling the robes back. Which peeled some of the skin off of James's cheek and he gave a shuddering sort of intake of breath, his head tipping backwards; his glasses frames seemed to have melted onto him though Remus could have been seeing things in the—the horror. Everything was running at a thousand times the normal speed, yet somehow also in super slow motion. James gave anguished sobs as his body twitched, a few guttural wails emerging as well.

Sirius scooped James up, swearing repeatedly until, "—hospital—hospital—hospital," was all he could say. James was gasping for air and wailing in pain as Remus dove for the broom. Remus didn't even think, he just swung his leg over and held onto the handle as Sirius got on behind him, James's shaking body between them; Remus felt fingers sliding against his hip, James trying to grasp onto something in his pain.

Remus shouted he'd be back for Peter then took off. He flew as fast as he could, darting across the pits towards the trophy room exit. He deposited Sirius who began running with James in his arms. Remus turned the broom, flying back for Peter. Once they were both at the end of the passage they began running, everything wiped from their minds as their legs pumped. Remus didn't realize he had tears dripping down his cheeks until they were right outside the hospital wing.

Sirius had just arrived, screaming for Pomfrey as he placed James on a bed. James was screaming again, and sobbing, and begging for it to stop. His right hand—the one not burnt—scrabbled on the bed cover, fingers twitching. Sirius's voice pierced the air as he kept screaming for Pomfrey even though she was running for them. She saw James before she could ask what was going on, and was at his side in an instant.

Before Remus knew it, curtains were shut around the bed. Shutting them out.

Sirius began pacing, fingers restlessly running through his hair, lips forming words that had no sound behind them. Peter had his arms wrapped around himself, shivering and giving little whimpering sounds as he rocked a bit. Remus stood stock still, James's broom still in his hand, face wet from tears.

He kept seeing the fireball in his head. Hearing James's scream. James going down. The flesh pulling off his face.

Remus's legs gave out and he sunk to the floor. He wished they could go in and hold James's hands, like they had been allowed for Peter with his appendix. Remus supposed with James's burnt flesh it wouldn't have helped much. They wouldn't really be able to hold him.

There had been a few other students in the hospital wing during all this, and all of them were watching the Marauders with big eyes.

"What are you staring at?!" Sirius snarled. "It's not a damn stage show! Bugger off!"

Peter noticed Remus on the floor and went over, sitting next to him. Not helping him up, which was good since Remus doubted he could stand, but sitting next to him. Remus put James's broom down so he and Peter could wrap their arms around one another.

"He's gonna be fine," Peter whispered, more for himself. "He'll be fine."

"Yes," Remus agreed, not sounding as though he had said it. Not feeling as though he was even there. None of this felt real. How could—how did that happen? Why? What had happened?!

The fireball.

His memories slid back to his first year, when he had burnt his arm. He had passed out from pain and by the time he woke up he had been healing pretty well. Not—not an option for James. Well. Sort've an option. Not on his own. There were potions to heal burns. There were loads of potions to fix James up. Quickly and easily. James would probably be back in class within a day or two probably.

There had to be a potion to fix what happened to his cheek, right?

Dark magic.

Remus's arms tightened involuntarily around Peter. Dark magic was harder to heal. What if the fire was dark magic? Nobody with good intentions would set a—a defense mechanism like that, would they? What if it was dark magic and Pomfrey couldn't fully fix James's face? Or worse… what if she couldn't heal him at all?

He spasmed slightly and then scrambled to his feet, running to the bathroom to be sick in the toilet before crumpling to the floor, crying. The fear for Peter had only lasted a couple minutes. Pomfrey had given him pain medicine to help and then came out with the diagnosis pretty quickly, promising them all that Peter would be fine. This had been—

How long had it been? Ten minutes?

Twenty?

An hour?

Time was mixed together in a weird muddy slush that he had no idea whatsoever how long it had been since—

He covered his face, trying to get the image of James's burnt face out of his head. He'll be fine, he's gotta be fine, Pomfrey can heal him. He dug his nails into his skin, rocking back and forth. This felt like one of his nightmares. One of his gory nightmares and any second he would wake up screaming.

Except it wasn't a nightmare, it had actually happened.

After another moment or two he pushed himself up and staggered back into the hospital wing, hoping the curtains would be pulled back but they weren't. Sirius was still pacing while Pete huddled on the ground. Remus sat back down, and he and Peter went back to clinging to one other.

"Dumbledore hasn't shown up so it—it can't be that bad," Peter said slowly. "Cause he came in for me, and that was pretty bad. I had to go to Saint Mungo's. So, no Dumbledore means it's not as bad?"

Remus nodded, unable to speak. Pete was right. Dumbledore had shown up for Peter, and if the Headmaster wasn't there surely it couldn't be… that bad, right?

Right?