Saturday, 4th November

Dear Effie,

I'm writing to thank you for attending my Mother's party for Samhain. I know it can't have been a pleasant experience for you, and I want you to know that I appreciate your sacrifice.

With my deepest gratitude,

Sirius Black

Sunday, 5th November 1972, 4:10pm

Remus shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again, wishing King would hurry and catch the Snitch already so he could return to the castle and sit down. James' first Quidditch match was, thankfully, going better than the last one he'd attended. He wasn't afraid of touching the people around him this time, although he still wasn't overly keen on the density of the crowd. And the match being held almost exactly at the midpoint between two moons meant he was at his least sensitive and he could concentrate on supporting James, blocking out the noise and smells around him.

James himself was doing fantastically. Remus had known he would. Unlike him, James was born to fly, controlling the broom as if it were an extension of his own body. He worked seamlessly with his fellow Chasers, and it was only because Remus was concentrating more on James than the game as a whole that he noticed the hand signals they were using to communicate with each other. Thanks to their efforts, Gryffindor was leading the match 290 points to Slytherin's 150. If they could score two more times, and keep Slytherin from doing so, it wouldn't even matter if Slytherin's Seeker caught the Snitch, Gryffindor would still win the first game of the season.

At this point, though, Remus was close to not even caring anymore. The game had begun at nine o'clock that morning. They'd paused for lunch, the whole school traipsing back to the castle to eat before returning to the pitch, the players refreshed after the break. The Chasers ducked and weaved, tossing the Quaffle back and forth with speed and agility. Keeping them on their toes, the Beaters pounded the Bludgers with force enough to break bones if their targets didn't dodge in time. And high above the action, the Seekers circled, as they'd been doing all day, neither of them seeming to catch any sight of the Snitch. As the sky began to darken, Remus was starting to think it had somehow escaped the confines of the pitch and flown off, never to be seen again.

Wonder how long they would let the game continue before giving up if that were the case.

Just as he thought that, King and the Slytherin Seeker—the announcer was calling her Vanity—both swept into a dive. Remus followed their trajectory with his eyes and spotted a glint of gold near the foot of the Hufflepuff stands.

The crowd surrounding him roared with deafening cheers, and Remus glanced back up to see James executing a triumphant somersault.

'As the Seekers dive after the Snitch, neck and neck, Potter scores another goal for Gryffindor!' the announcer screamed. 'Gryffindor now lead by 150 points!'

Sirius grabbed Remus' wrist with one hand, squeezing painfully. 'This is insane! If we score one more goal, it won't even matter if Slytherin catches it!'

'James is going for it!' Peter said. 'Look!'

Remus' gaze was darting between the Seekers, who were in hot pursuit of the Snitch, and the Chasers who had begun a new play, Gryffindor currently in possession of the Quaffle. Despite his general dislike of the game, he found his excitement building.

The Seekers were closing in on the Snitch, and the Chasers were approaching the goal hoops. The Quaffle was thrown in James' direction and he angled his broom to catch it. Remus looked down. Vanity was an inch ahead of King, reaching out her hand. Remus looked back up. James had the Quaffle and was taking aim at the post. Down again, Vanity leaned forward, stretching her arm to its furthest reach, still flying at top speed. Up. The Quaffle soared through the hoop, Slytherin's Keeper barely missing it. Down, Vanity's fingers closed around the Snitch, and Hooch blew her whistle.

'With a last second goal from Gryffindor Chaser, James Potter, the Snitch is caught by Slytherin Seeker, Emma Vanity, but Gryffindor wins!'

Remus suddenly found himself engulfed in Sirius' arms, being spun around at an alarming speed. Through the blur of his vision, he could see James and his team mates making victory laps around the pitch to the backdrop of the setting sun. The sky was awash with pink and orange, matching the cheeks of the exhausted players as they celebrated their win.

'Come on,' Sirius said, finally putting him down. 'Let's go wait for James by the changing rooms.'

Remus gripped the back of the chair in front of him as he swayed on the spot, attempting to regain his equilibrium. 'Sure, but give me a sec. Your celebration's left me a bit dizzy.'

'I tend to have that effect on people,' Sirius said, smirking.

'Especially when you pick them up and spin them around,' Remus retorted. The world was finally settling into place, so he straightened. 'Alright, I'm good now.'

It took them a good fifteen minutes to work their way through the celebrating Gryffindors to the ground, and another five before they were at the doors to the changing rooms. James was waiting for them, already changed, with the biggest grin Remus had ever seen splitting his face.

'Did you see?' he asked at their approach, his voice brimming with excitement. 'One second later, and it wouldn't have counted. My first game and I scored the winning goal!'

'You were incredible, mate,' Remus said. 'Even I could see that.'

Sirius nodded. 'No one can doubt you belong on the team now.'

'Wouldn't surprise me if your animal turns out to be a bird,' Peter said, lowering his voice. 'Flying suits you so well.'

'Hope not. A bird won't be much use with Moony,' James said, glancing at the darkening sky. The horizon was ablaze with colour now, the sun rapidly setting behind the hills. 'It's got to be almost dinner time right? Come on. I'm starving.'

They joined the back of the crowd meandering across the grounds to the castle and rehashed all the best parts of the match. James was high on his victory, keeping the conversation going almost single-handedly, Sirius interrupting him every now and then. Peter was almost as quiet as Remus, both of them just smiling as they watched their noisier friends. Most of the time, Sirius and James made an effort to include them, allowing gaps in their conversation and inviting them to speak, but when they got like this, Remus and Peter both found it easier to stay quiet.

As they approached the castle, a commotion by the enormous front doors drew their attention, and Sirius and James finally stopped talking.

'What's going on?' James asked, rather stupidly. They all had the same information. There was a crowd of students outside the doors to the castle, and no one was going in.

Remus almost jumped out of his skin, along with most of the crowd, when a series of deafening bangs exploded from the roof of the main castle. Everyone craned their necks to look up, and the air was filled with gasps and expressions of awe as the sky lit up with coloured lights.

Fireworks. It's the fifth of November, Remus realised. Someone organised a firework display. They should have done that.

The last of the light faded away, but before everyone looked away, a message appeared across the front of the castle. Written in six foot high flaming letters between the windows of floors five and six, it read:

Happy Bonfire Night! Please proceed to the far side of the lake. Love from The Marauders' Malediction.

'The Marauders' Malediction, huh?' James said. 'Interesting name.'

Peter frowned. 'What's it mean?'

'In this case, I think it means curse,' Remus told him.

'Think it's the same people who did the hair potion?' Sirius asked.

'Got to be,' Remus said. 'The Marauders did challenge them to a fight.'

'That's true,' James said. 'Looks like they've taken them up on the offer.'

As the crowd thinned, dispersing towards the lake as the mysterious flaming letters had instructed, Remus was finally able to see what had prevented them from entering the castle. It was a wall. A brick wall, stretching from one side of the gigantic entrance to the other, and reaching from the floor to the apex of the archway. The bricks were weathered to the point Remus could easily believe they'd been there for as long as the castle if he hadn't walked through those doors just a few hours ago.

'That can't have been easy,' he said, nodding towards it as they meandered after the crowd. 'It would take extensive charm work to build a wall that large, and even more to get the weathering right on the bricks. They're showing off, whoever they are.'

'So it would have taken a while, then?' James asked, pulling his cloak around himself.

The wind had picked up as they approached the edge of the lake, and Remus pulled his wand out, casting a warming charm on each of them, earning himself three smiles of gratitude. 'A couple of hours at least,' he said, answering James. 'Maybe less, depending on how many were working on it.'

'Did you notice anyone was missing when we returned from lunch?' James asked.

'Why would we?' Sirius said. 'We were watching you, not checking the audience for missing people.'

James grinned. 'And thank Merlin, you were. Or you'd have missed my spectacular goal at the end, and how distraught would you be then?'

Rolling his eyes, Remus interrupted before they could get off topic too much. 'The wall would have taken a couple of hours. But that's not all they've done.'

'What do you mean?' James asked.

'Whatever's on the other side of the lake, right?' Peter said. 'I hope it involves food.'

'Me too,' James said, grinning again. 'I worked up quite an appetite scoring that last second goal.'

Remus, Sirius, and Peter all groaned, which only made James' grin widen. 'Grumble all you want. Nothing you do will spoil my happiness.'

By the time they reached the other side of the lake, James had brought up his epic last-second goal another thirty-six times—Remus was counting—Peter had mentioned the possibility of food seventeen times, and Sirius had asked Remus some variation of, 'Want me to help you warm up?' six times. The sun had dipped low enough to see the stars, but there was still enough light for Remus to make out the shape of a gigantic pile of wood close to the bank of the lake.

'It's a bonfire,' he whispered to James, who happened to be closest to him.

'I can see that,' James said. 'But why? It's not a festival day.'

'It's a muggle thing, bonfires and fireworks on the fifth of November, celebrating the foiling of a plot to blow up parliament.'

'I remember learning about that,' Sirius said. 'It happened before the Statute of Secrecy, didn't it? My tutor said they were trying to kill the wizards in parliament.'

Remus nodded. 'Yeah, 1608, I think. Something like that. I don't know if they were trying to kill wizards, though. Muggle history says they were trying to kill the king.'

James frowned. 'Well, that's a clue. At least one of the people behind this must be muggleborn, or a half-blood.'

'Not much of a clue,' Sirius said. 'That's half the school.'

'True,' James said. He glanced around. 'So, what now? Nothing's happening.'

As if his words were the cue, the pile of wood beside the lake burst into purple flames, causing several people to jump back, startled. To the left of the bonfire, several tables appeared, loaded down with traditional bonfire food, including piles of fluffy marshmallows and long sticks for roasting them.

'Burgers!' Sirius cried, punching the air. 'Yes!'

'We're interrogating the house-elves tomorrow.' James announced. 'Traitorous little buggers.'

Sirius finished assembling his second burger of the evening with a slice of cheese and a dollop of ketchup, before placing the top of the bap on and making his way back over to Remus and Peter, who were lounging on the grass near the bonfire. Sirius flopped to the ground and took a large bite. Delicious. Merlin, he adored muggle food.

A moment later, James joined them, handing each of them a dark brown ball on the end of a stick before sitting down next to Peter.

'What the hell is this?' Sirius asked, eyeing the brown ball dubiously.

'According to the sign, they're toffee apples. Healthiest thing I could find up there if you can believe it. Not a vegetable in sight.'

Sirius glanced at Remus in time to see him roll his eyes. 'Well, it is a party, Sunshine.'

'It is. But it's also dinner.' He leant forward and lowered his voice before continuing. 'We always make sure there are healthy options when we do stuff like this.'

'You always make sure there are healthy options,' Sirius retorted. 'Don't go dragging the rest of us into your insanity. It's bad enough you force feed us fruit and veg at every meal.'

James glared at him for a few seconds, and then smirked. 'Toffee apples are muggle, you know.'

Sirius laughed. 'You always know just what to say to tempt me, you fiend.'

'You're pretty easy to tempt, Twinkles,' James said with a wink.

Sirius finished up his burger before starting on the toffee apple, which turned out to be rather disappointing. The toffee was hard and hurt his teeth and it had made the apple dry and tasteless, but he ate it all, not wanting to incur another lecture from James.

The moment they were finished, Remus grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet before dragging him over to the bowls of white and pink cylinders that he'd been eyeing for the last twenty minutes. Sirius had no idea what they were, but Remus seemed keen to make him try one.

'Marshmallows,' Remus said. 'You are going to love this, here—' he picked up a pink one and held it to Sirius' lips, '—eat.'

Sirius' heart skipped a beat as he held Remus' gaze and opened his mouth. Remus' fingers brushed his bottom lip when he pulled them away, and Sirius's stomach did a backflip. The marshmallow was sweet and squidgy, like eating a sugary pillow. But he didn't quite understand Remus' excitement about them. They were nice enough, but there were definitely better treats, and he couldn't believe Remus would like these more than chocolate. The boy was obsessed with chocolate.

'Mmm,' he hummed, licking his lips. 'Tasty.' Remus didn't need to know he was referring to more than just the marshmallow.

Remus picked up two long sticks from the pile beside the bowls and skewered a marshmallow on to the end of each before handing one to Sirius, grinning. 'Now you have to try them roasted.'

Grabbing Sirius' hand again, Remus dragged him over to the bonfire and showed him how to roast his marshmallow without catching it on fire. And now Sirius was beginning to understand the appeal. He indulged in another five just so he could see the flush in Remus' skin from standing so close to the fire.

James and Peter had joined them, Peter roasting four marshmallows at once, while James only had two, saying 'I have to stay in shape for Quidditch, you know.' as his only explanation. When the area around the fire got too crowded for Remus' comfort, they all moved away, congregating in a quiet area, but still close enough for the warmth of the fire to reach them. Remus protested, telling them to stay and enjoy the marshmallows, but they ignored him.

Remus sat with his back against a tree and Sirius immediately claimed his lap as a pillow, staring up at the stars. He smiled when he felt Remus' fingers brushing through his hair.

'So, Twinkles. How was last night?' James asked. 'You haven't said.'

'What?'

'The dream catcher. Did it work? I didn't hear anything and Moony was still in his own bed this morning.'

James didn't need to remind him of that. It had been horrid waking up alone. But he couldn't deny that the dream catcher worked better than Remus' arms, actually preventing the nightmares instead of just comforting him after the fact. Still, he preferred Remus' arms. Why couldn't he have both? It wasn't fair.

'Yeah, it worked great. No nightmares. I dreamt of rainbows and puppies all night.'

'Rainbows and puppies, huh?' a female voice said from behind them. 'That seems pretty tame for you, Black.'

'Evans!' James all but yelled in excitement. 'Did you want to sit down? You can sit on my cloak if you want. The grass is a little damp.'

'Don't wet yourself, Potter. I just wanted to speak to Black for a moment.' She turned back to Sirius. 'If that's okay?'

'If this is about Marls, we already sorted that on Thursday.'

'It's not. It's about your brother, actually.'

Sirius sat up. 'What's Reg done?'

'Could we speak privately?'

'Sure, but I don't see much point. I'm going to tell this lot, anyway.'

James grinned and took off his cloak, laying it out on the grass. 'Have a seat, Evans.'

She glared at him, but took the offer and lowered herself to the ground, sitting with her legs crossed. James' grin stretched from ear to ear.

'So?' Sirius asked. 'What's Reg done?'

'Nothing, really,' Evans said, biting her lip. 'It's probably nothing, but I thought you should know. Have you heard of Lord Voldemort?'

'Vaguely.'

'Last Saturday, I went to a meeting about him. Apparently, he wants to get rid of the Statute of Secrecy, and they made it sound all very lovely. But, I don't know, it made me worried.'

'You have good instincts, Evans. I suggest you stay away from meetings like that in the future. They're not the place for muggleborns.'

'Your brother was there, too.'

'Doesn't surprise me,' Sirius said. 'I'm more surprised that I didn't get a letter from home encouraging me to attend.'

'Well, I think it was a secret meeting. Invitation only.'

'How on earth did you get yourself invited?'

'Isn't it obvious?' James asked. 'Snivellus took her.'

Evans' head whipped around. 'Don't call him that!' she snapped.

'He did take you to a muggleborn oppression meeting,' Sirius pointed out.

'They didn't say anything about oppressing muggleborns.'

'Not yet, they didn't. But they will. That's what Lord Voldemort is all about. My family was talking about him over the summer.'

'Severus must not know that,' Evans said. 'He wouldn't have taken me if he knew that.'

'Or, he wants to offer you up to prove his commitment to the cause,' James said. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up. 'You should stay away from him. If Sirius is right about this Lord person and Snivellus is involved with them, you could get hurt.'

'I told you not to call him that! Urgh, you're impossible.' She climbed to her feet. 'I can take care of myself, thank you, and I don't give up on my friends.' With that she turned on her heel, grinding James' cloak into the dirt, and stormed away.

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Well, that went well.'

'Did you see how her eyes sparkled in the firelight?' James asked, sighing. 'I love the way her face flushes when she's angry.'

'Is that why you wind her up?' Remus asked.

'No, that just happens on its own. It's a natural ability.'

Remus chuckled. 'If you intend to marry her, you might want to work on that. No one wants a wife that's mad at them all the time.' He pulled Sirius' head back onto his lap. 'You okay?'

Sirius sighed. 'Yeah. I'm really not surprised. If mother found out Reg had been invited to an exclusive meeting about oppressing muggles and muggleborns and he didn't go, she'd be furious. Reg always was better at staying out of trouble than me.'

'It probably won't go anywhere, anyway,' James said. 'I bet these nutcases pop up all the time. Most people are smart enough to realise that the Statute of Secrecy was passed for a reason.'

'Wasn't the last one Grindelwald?' Peter asked.

'The last one that actually made the news, yeah,' James said. 'And Dumbledore defeated him. So if this Lord Voldewhatsit tries anything, old Dumbles will knock him back down to size. Nothing to worry about.'

Sirius snorted. 'Voldewhatsit,' he repeated, laughing. 'It's Voldemort. Means "flight of death" in French. Got to be a fake name. His real name must be something stupid and embarrassing.'

'What? Like he's running away from death?' Peter asked.

'What a coward,' James said.

'Or, death flees from him,' Remus suggested.

'That doesn't make sense,' James said. 'Death isn't a thing that can flee. It's not a person.'

'He is in The Tale of the Three Brothers, remember,' Sirius said. 'He gave them the unbeatable wand and—-'

'The resurrection stone and the cloak of invisibility,' James interrupted him. 'That's just a children's story. It's not real.'

'Some people think it's real,' Remus said. 'There's a whole thing about uniting them and becoming The Master of Death.'

James snorted. 'That's ridiculous. The items exist, but death had nothing to do with it.'

'How do you know?' Sirius asked.

'Before I answer that,' James said. 'I'm going to need a solemn swear. This is top secret and I'm really not supposed to tell anyone, like, ever.'

They all dutifully made the promise, and James continued. 'I know, because I have one. The three brothers in the story are my great, great, great, etcetera ancestors. They were powerful wizards, and they created them.'

'Your cloak is The Cloak?' Sirius asked.

James nodded. 'We've no idea what happened to the wand or the stone, but they're out there somewhere.'

'An unbeatable wand,' Sirius said. 'That would be so cool to have.'

'Well, I don't know if it's technically unbeatable,' James said. 'It's just extremely loyal and better than most at channelling magic.'

'Still, would be cool.'

A loud bang sounded over the chatter of hundreds of students enjoying the bonfire, interrupting Sirius' thoughts about all the things he could do with the world's most powerful wand, and making him jump and clutch at Remus' hand. Then the sky above the lake filled with coloured lights. More bangs followed accompanied my more bursts of light, filling the night sky and the surface of the lake with colour.

'More fireworks!' James yelled. 'Awesome!'

The firework display lasted twenty minutes and once it was over, the prefects began rounding up the younger students to return to the castle as curfew was approaching. When they reached the entrance, they found the wall blocking the way had been removed and access to the castle restored.

Sirius crawled into bed that night with conflicted feelings. He was anticipating a good night's sleep, free from the nightmares that had plagued him since the summer, but he was sad that he no longer got to cuddle with Remus all night.

Sunday 5th November

Dear Sirius,

I was delighted to receive your note at breakfast this morning. While your thanks for my contribution to your birthday gift are appreciated, they are not necessary. I admit to having, perhaps, a little too much fun at your mother's party, and am contemplating attending her Christmas party this winter to continue my investigation into just how rude one can get away with being when one has more money than anyone else, in a room full of people who think wealth is a measure of one's worth. The results so far are quite shocking…

I hope you don't mind James telling Monty and I about the details of your summer. Please be assured that we will not interfere without your permission. We do not wish to make anything worse for you. That said, if you need anything, anything at all, please do not hesitate to ask. Also, I very much want you to know that the information does nothing to change our high opinion of you. You're a wonderful boy, Sirius. Don't let your mother make you forget that.

On a happier note, I have secured permission for you to spend four weeks with us next summer. Your mother believes it's to travel with us through Europe, meeting boring important people that will be good for your future. In reality, we will be spending two weeks at a wizarding holiday resort in France, and the other two at home. Remus and Peter are, of course, invited to join us for the month too, if their parents allow it.

With love and affection,

Effie xxx

It was two days later when Sirius led the way into the Defence classroom for their Tuesday evening lesson, and he immediately found himself paralysed. He panicked for several seconds before realising it was most likely Tenebris' doing and she wouldn't harm them. Hurt them? Yes. Humiliate them? Yes. But seriously harm them? No. She liked to give them incentive, but ultimately she wanted them to succeed. A few more seconds passed before he was proven correct.

'Disappointing,' she mused as she approached. 'I'd thought you'd have learned to apply caution on entering my classroom by now. Very disappointing.' She waved her wand and Sirius floated to the centre of the room, where he descended to the ground, falling over with a thud. Ouch, that bloody hurt.

Two more thuds on either side of him told him two of his friends were in a similar position. But which two? Who had escaped?

'You were attacked in the street,' Tenebris said. 'Someone found out Mister Lupin's secret and gathered his friends to teach the filthy werewolf a lesson.'

Sirius growled at the insult and suddenly Tenebris' face appeared above him, smirking.

'You lost the fight. You were stunned and have awoken paralysed and tied up…' She waved her wand and ropes wound themselves around his wrists and ankles, pulling his arms behind his back and squeezing painfully. '… in an unknown location. Mister Lupin is not present. You don't know where he is. You don't even know if he is still alive.'

Sirius heard a grunt on his right. It sounded like James. Tenebris paced back and forth in front of them. He couldn't see her face from this angle, but he'd bet his entire inheritance she was still smirking.

'You have failed to protect your friend. But, there is still a chance to save him if you can escape your bindings and find him before it's too late. Curfew is in an hour and a half. You have one hour.'

With that, she strode out of the classroom and closed the door behind her.

Buggering fuck. Sirius had been looking forward to a good duel this evening and instead he was paralysed and tied up in the middle of a classroom with no way out. Remus was in no real danger, he knew. But the point was taken. This scenario was a possibility. It could happen, and if it did, Remus would be counting on them to escape and save him. Sirius turned his thoughts inward and began. He knew the theory, but he'd never actually tried to break a bodybind.

Focusing on his magical core, he searched for the invading magic that was holding him hostage. For long minutes, his efforts proved fruitless. He could find nothing alien. But then, there! A flicker. It was subtle, and it fled from his notice, hiding itself away in a pool of his own magic, but he was on to it now. He knew what it felt like, and it would not escape him. Sirius chased the imposter magic for several more minutes, finally managing to surround it on all sides. He took a mental grip on the invader and expelled it from his being. And then he could move. He'd done it!

Sirius took a few seconds to enjoy his ability to blink again—the worst part of a bodybind was the eye dryness—before taking stock of his situation. He was still tied up, lying prone on the ground, but he'd broken his first bodybind and that was quite the achievement. Turning his head to the right, he found James already struggling against his ropes. Damn, James had beaten him. Not that it mattered who was first, but Sirius would have enjoyed bragging about it later. To his left, Peter was still paralysed. He raised an eyebrow at James and he shook his head, giving him a look. Don't speak, you'll break his focus and he'll have to start again, the look said. Sirius nodded and turned his attention to the ropes binding him.

They were tight, and there was no way he could wriggle out of them alone. Apparently, James had already figured that much out. He'd pulled himself to a sitting position and shuffled around until he was behind Sirius. Sitting back to back, they were able to reach each other's bonds and after a minute of them both trying to untie each other at the same time, Sirius decided to stop and let James work on the knots in his ropes first.

An indeterminable amount of time later, James was still fiddling around behind him when the silence was broken by Peter yelling, 'I did it!'

Sirius turned his head to find him struggling to a sitting position, blinking rapidly. 'Well done, mate! Knew you'd get there.'

'How're we going to get these ropes off?'

'I think I've almost got it,' James said.

'It definitely feels looser,' Sirius agreed.

'If I can just…' James trailed off, but his fingers continued to wriggle around the ropes securing Sirius' wrists until, 'There!' James said, pulling away.

The ropes fell to the ground between them, and Sirius pulled his arms around in front of him, rubbing the soreness from his wrists. With his hands free, he quickly untied his ankles before turning to help James and then Peter. Once they were all free, they stood up and conferred.

'Where do you think they are? Tenebris' quarters?' James asked.

'Too obvious,' Sirius said. 'More likely to be in an unused classroom. Somewhere students won't stumble across them.'

'Guys, my wand is gone,' Peter said.

Sirius checked his holster and discovered his wand was missing, too. 'She must have taken them. Not that they would have done us any good in finding Remus.'

'No, but you don't think she's going to give him back to us without a fight, do you?' James said. 'That would be too easy.'

'Good point,' Sirius said. 'So we need wands, one at the very least, and then we need to find where she's keeping him. How long do we have?'

James checked his watch. 'Just under thirty minutes.'

'Alright, I'll run up to Gryffindor Tower and see if Marls will lend me her wand. James, you go to the kitchens, see if the house-elves know anything, Pete, go and ask Dumbledore.'

'Dumbledore?' Peter asked, his eyebrows drawing together with confusion.

Sirius nodded. 'Or Minnie, if you see her first. Tenebris wants us to treat this training like it's real, and if this was real, we'd get help, right? So let's get help.'

'We'll meet up on the Grand Staircase,' James said. 'Let's go.'

They dashed out of the door, separating when they reached the stairs, James heading down to the kitchen while Sirius and Peter headed up. Sirius ran as fast as he could, quickly leaving Peter behind, but as he rounded the corner to the fifth floor, he heard a distant call of, 'Professor!' behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. Peter had found someone.

'Marlene!' he yelled, as he burst in through the portrait a minute later. His eyes darted frantically as he scanned the Common Room for her, finally spotting her sitting at a table in the corner beneath a window. 'Marls, I need a favour,' he said between gasps for breath.

'What is it?'

'I need to borrow your wand for half an hour. It's important, but I don't have time to explain.'

'You'll tell me why later?' she asked, already pulling it out of her… sock? What an odd place to keep it. He made a mental note to ask her about that when he had more time.

'Probably not,' he answered. Brutal honesty was always the best tactic with Marlene.

'That's what I thought you'd say.' She sighed and handed him the wand. 'You better take care of it, Sirius.'

'I will, I promise. Thank you.' He gave her a quick kiss for the sake of appearances and dashed back out of the portrait hole, hoping James and Peter had been as successful in their missions.

Marlene's wand felt strange in his hand, but he gave it an experimental flick and it responded well enough. Not as smoothly as his own wand, but it wasn't rejecting him. It caused a warm feeling inside him, knowing Marlene liked him enough that her wand would cooperate with him.

He found Peter waiting for him on the third-floor landing along with Professor McGonagall, who looked a little confused.

Sirius skidded to a stop next to her. 'Professor, thank you for agreeing to help.'

'Perhaps you can explain what exactly I'm helping with? Mister Pettigrew's explanation was rather garbled.'

'Of course,' Sirius said. 'Professor Tenebris is giving the four of us extra defence lessons so we can help Remus in the future if anyone finds out about… er…'

'His furry little problem,' James said, appearing out of nowhere behind McGonagall, making her jump a little.

'Mister Potter, you almost gave me a heart attack,' she said, clutching her chest.

'Sorry, Professor.'

'That's alright, but please refrain from such behaviour in the future.'

'Of course, Professor.'

'Mister Black, continue.'

'Right, where was I?'

'Defence lessons to protect Mister Lupin if his… er…' She glanced at James. 'Furry little problem becomes public knowledge.'

'Oh yes. Anyway, today's lesson involved a scenario where we lost the fight. She left us tied up under a bodybind and took Remus somewhere. We escaped but have less than twenty minutes left to find him. And she took our wands. I've managed to borrow one but we need your help because we'll probably have to fight her when we get there.'

'You want me to attack her?' Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows in shock. 'I can't attack a fellow teacher, Mister Black.'

'You don't understand, Professor,' James said. 'It's part of the lesson. We're supposed to treat it like it's real, and if it were real we'd get help, right?'

'I see your point,' she said. 'Alright, I'll assist you. Do you know where they are?'

'The house-elves said they were asked to deliver a pot of tea to classroom 16f half an hour ago.'

'Suspicious,' Professor McGonagall said, pulling out her wand. 'But first things first, accio spare wands.'

A moment later, two wands flew down the corridor towards them, and Professor McGonagall caught them deftly, handing one to James and the other to Peter. 'It's always a good idea to have spare wands,' she said. 'Shall we go?'

It only took them five minutes to reach the classroom on the fifth floor. They approached the door slowly and peeked in through the window. Remus was tied up in the corner with a conjured sand timer floating above his head. Tenebris was sitting in a chair with a teapot and two cups sat on the table in front of her. She was facing the door.

'She knows we're here,' Sirius said. 'Two cups on the table. She didn't tie Remus up until we arrived.'

'Well, that's something,' Professor McGonagall said. 'I'm not sure I approve of tying students up at all, but at least he hasn't been sitting like that for too long.'

'We agreed to the lessons, Professor,' James said. 'In fact, we asked for them. She's doing us a favour.'

She looked at them with a rare glint of approval in her eyes. 'You're good boys. Alright then, this is your lesson, so what's the plan? I am, as they say, at your disposal.'

Sirius grinned. Getting to boss a teacher around; it was like a dream come true.

Since there was so little time left until the deadline, they didn't take long with the planning, and a few minutes later they were putting it into action. Sirius unlocked the door with a whispered alohomora and Peter blasted it open with a depulso. Tenebris immediately jumped to her feet, her wand already in hand and shot a spell at them which James deflected with a well-timed protego.

Sirius and Peter started up a barrage of spells—nothing in particular, just whatever came to mind—while James protected them with his shield. They didn't expect to hit her. She was too good and had far more room to manoeuvre than they did. Rather, they were trying to keep her distracted while Professor McGonagall slipped into the room in cat form and skirted around behind her.

Sirius struggled to hold back a grin when Professor McGonagall returned to human form directly behind Professor Tenebris and shot them a wink. Possibly sensing her presence, Tenebris began to turn, but she was too slow. Professor McGonagall's stunner knocked her out before she'd even made it halfway, and she caught her in her arms and gently lowered her to the floor.

'Well, I thought that went very well,' she said, as she straightened and dusted off her hands. 'Let's check on Mister Lupin, shall we?'

Remus was, of course, absolutely fine, and once he was untied and Professor McGonagall had checked him over, she summoned their wands which flew out of Tenebris' robes. James and Peter returned her spare wands, looking relieved to have their own back in their hands, and Sirius took his, stowing Marlene's carefully in his pocket. His whole body tingled as his wand seemed to rejoice at their reunion.

'Would one of you like to do the honours?' Professor McGonagall asked, waving a hand at Tenebris.

'Remus?' Sirius asked, grinning at his friend.

'It would be my pleasure,' Remus said, pointing his wand at the prone figure on the ground. 'Rennervate.'

Professor Tenebris woke quickly, blinking once before shooting to her feet and reaching for her wand, which was, of course, absent.

Sirius twirled it between his fingers in a move that had cost several hours of practice to perfect. 'Looking for this, Professor?'

Professor Tenebris' mouth formed into a slow smile. 'Excellent work. Not only did you all break your bodybinds, untie yourselves and find out our location within the time limit, but you also thought to disarm me before waking me up. I really thought you would overlook that. Or did your… assistant suggest it?'

'I only did as the boys instructed me. Everything was their idea, Deasura. I wouldn't want to interfere with the sanctity of your lesson.'

'That's appreciated, Minerva. Thank you.'

Professor McGonagall smiled. 'You're welcome. I'm assuming Albus has approved these lessons and is aware of their content?'

'Of course. And the boys know to speak up if I push them too far.'

'Wonderful. Well, I'll leave you to it then. I expect you wish to debrief the boys on their performance, and there's only twenty minutes until curfew.'

'Thank you for helping, Professor. You're truly a queen amongst witches,' Sirius said, offering her a dramatic bow complete with hand flourish, followed up with a cheeky grin.

The corners of her mouth twitched, betraying her struggle to hold back a smile at his antics. 'You're welcome, Mister Black. Have a pleasant evening.'

The Saturday following his kidnapping, Remus was perusing the library shelves for books on tracking spells. They were all sure that Tenebris would repeat their latest lesson at a later date and that she would make it harder for them to locate Remus, so they wanted to be prepared. His instructions from James were to find a spell that would allow them to track a person down without notice, but failing that, a permanent spell they could all cast on each other in advance.

So far, he wasn't having much luck with the first option, and honestly, he wasn't sure it was possible. That kind of thing would be kept for the auror office, surely, if it even existed at all. The second option, however, was looking like a possibility. He pulled down the book titled Permanent Charms, Spells and Potions, and flicked through to the contents page, running his finger down the list until he found what he needed. Excellent.

After checking the book out, he stuffed it in his bag and left the library to meet up with the others. It was finally time to search the old Defence corridor.

Remus' stomach fizzed with excitement at finally getting to use his invention for its intended purpose, and he hurried down the stairs and through the corridors, reaching his destination in record time.

'Moony!' James yelled, greeting his arrival with his usual level of extreme enthusiasm, and completing it with a hug and a sloppy kiss on his cheek. 'How was the library? Did you find anything?'

'Yes, but it's the second option, unfortunately. A permanent tracking spell. You guys really don't have to do this, you know. We can j—'

'We'll talk about it later,' James said, interrupting him. 'Let's get this done first.'

Remus nodded. 'Alright.' Opening the front pocket of his bag, he pulled the magic detector out and held it up to the door blocking access to the old Defence corridor and activated it.

The runes went through their cycles of flashing, layer by layer, until the answer sat before him in a series of lights. It wasn't good.

'The door's enchanted to detect any magic used on it. The spell will bodybind the intruders and activate an alarm at another location.'

'We can all break a bodybind, though,' Sirius said.

James shook his head. 'Not fast enough to get away. What about the knife? Can we use that to open it?'

'I doubt it,' Remus said. 'The knife probably works a little like a wand, channelling the user's magic but to a specific purpose.'

James inclined his head. 'I'm sure you're right, but let's write to the twins and check before we write it off. Any other ideas?'

'Could break it down like a muggle,' Sirius said. 'A good kicking should do it.'

'Too noisy,' James said. 'It would draw attention.'

'We could silence the area first,' Peter said.

'Let's call that plan c,' James said. 'I doubt any of us actually has the strength to kick it down.'

'I could brew a Strengthening Solution,' Peter said. 'It lasts about an hour.'

'How long does it take to brew?'

'About a week.'

'Alright, get started on that. But keep thinking, too. I'd like to avoid vandalism if possible.'

They returned to their dorm to write to the twins. Cosmo greeted them at the door, looking quite put-out at their long absence from the room and immediately curled up on Sirius' lap when he sat down, the traitorous little fur-ball.

'So, what did you find, Moonbeam?' Sirius asked, scratching Cosmo behind the ears.

'It's a ritual, and it seems a bit complex, but I'm sure we can do it. I'm just not sure we should.'

'Why not?' James asked, frowning.

'Because it's permanent. Once it's done, you'll be stuck with it, forever.'

James rolled his eyes. 'Yes, I know what permanent means.'

'So, anyone who knows the spell will be able to track your location whenever they like,' Remus said. 'Don't you think we're a bit young to be making decisions that will affect us for the rest of our lives?'

'So we don't tell anyone,' James said with a shrug. 'And we promise each other to only use it in an emergency. I trust you all. Don't you trust us, Moons?'

It was Remus' turn to roll his eyes. 'Of course I do. You three know the biggest secret I have. I think it's pretty obvious I trust you.'

'So what's the problem, then?'

Remus sighed. 'I feel guilty, alright. If I wasn't a werewolf, you wouldn't need to do any of this.'

'Well, that's stupid,' Peter said. 'You didn't ask to be bitten, did you?'

'No, of course not. I—'

'So it's not your fault you're a werewolf. Therefore, it's not your fault that we want to do things to protect you,' he said, crossing his arms to show how serious he was. 'I have no problem with this tracking spell. I trust you all not to use it against me.'

'I agree with Peter,' Sirius said. 'Nice use of the word "therefore" by the way, Bubbles. We'll have you speaking like a pureblood before you know it.'

Peter blushed at the compliment.

'I didn't ask to be bitten, but I did open the window on the night of a full moon and tried to stroke a werewolf like a fucking idiot,' Remus snapped. 'So it is my fault.'

'Moons, you were four years old,' James said. 'You can't be held responsible for your actions when you were practically a baby. Come on.'

'I guess.'

'You guess?' Sirius said. 'When I was four, I snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night and ate an entire cake that was meant for a dinner party the next day. My mother caught me and put me in the garden for the rest of the night to punish me. Do you think I deserved that?'

'No!' Remus said, horrified. 'That's terrible! How could she do that?'

'But you think you deserve to be cursed with a lifetime of painful monthly transformations because you opened a window?'

'No, but I was stupid—'

'So was I. I knew I shouldn't eat the cake, and you knew you shouldn't open the window. My crime was worse than yours, but your punishment is far more brutal. I was left with a phobia of storms, but you were left with a lifetime of suffering. Let us do this for you.'

Remus swallowed hard. 'There was a storm? When she shut you outside?'

Sirius lowered his head. 'Yeah, a bad one. It was terrifying.'

'I'm so sorry she did that to you.'

'Thanks,' he whispered before visibly pulling himself together and continuing in a louder voice. So, will you let us do the tracking spell?'

'Yeah,' Remus said. 'Let's do it.' If Sirius' mother ever did something that threatened his life, Remus wanted to be able to find him.

A/N: The gunpowder plot actually happened in 1605, but Remus can't be expected to get everything right. He was close, though ;)