"Ah, another year, off to a magnificent start." Albus Dumbledore mused approaching Minerva McGonagall from behind. He was in his favorite powder blue robes, though the dark candlelight of the otherwise empty staff room make them look far darker than they otherwise would.

"Magnificent," Minerva scoffed. "That's certainly not the word I'd use, Albus."

"Now now, there's nothing wrong with a bit of fun." Albus giggled like a schoolboy. His fondness for these little pranks was no doubt part of the reason they kept happening.

"One of these days... They think they're so clever, those Marauders." Minerva shook her head, the book she held in front of her nearly forgotten. She was one plot hole away from putting it down forever anyway.

"Well, we've yet to figure out where they keep finding all these clever little tricks and charms. And admittedly they are quite hard to dispel."

"Only because they're so… unconventional. A modified listening charm, now really."

Albus chuckled again.

"It isn't funny. If something isn't done it will never end." The book lowered even further to her lap, completely abandoned now in favor of the conversation.

"If we could be so lucky."

"Albus!"

Albus had on a whistful smile as he looked at the door. "I believe I've had enough of war, Minerva. I do not wish to wage war on joy as well."

Minerva pursed her lips, her displeasure plain on her face, and picked up her book once again. But she still wasn't invested much.

"Have any of them come to you wishing to join the Order," Albus asked his whistful voice not conveying the seriousness of the topic.

Book once again forgotten Minerva's eyes narrowed, not at Albus in particular, rather than a passionate distaste for the topic.

"Why would they? The Order is a secret, none of the students should know about it."

"Hmm, true. But then, they've always had a knack for knowing far more than they should, haven't they."

"Foolishness," she muttered but caved anyway. "Black mentioned it, of course, says he overheard it. Though where he could have heard something like that…"

"I'm quite sure those boys know more about this castle than even I do. It wouldn't surprise me if they were listening in right now, hiding in the walls, or perhaps another listening charm done properly. We'd never know."

Minerva looked around as though hoping to spot a fly on the wall, but no. There was a full moon outside, the boys were likely resting so they could be up bright and early to greet their friend in the hospital wing like they always were.

"They would make quite the asset, I'm sure," Albus hummed.

"You aren't serious, Albus. They're just boys."

"They turn seventeen this year."

"Being seventeen doesn't stop them from being children." Minerva's voice rose in pitch as it rose in volume, sounding entirely scandalized by the idea. Her book was so well past forgotten it flopped sadly onto the floor as Minerva stood to meet his gaze.

Albus smiled, a reaction meant to calm her, but was failing. "You can't protect them forever, Minerva. Once they come of age it's their choice what they do. The only thing we can do is give them the tools they need to succeed."

"Of course, of course, but there's no reason to throw them into the fire already. They at least deserve to graduate before we send them out to die."

"James Potter will not sit on the sidelines. You know that better than I do. At least if they join us we can choose what front line they visit." He said calmly, though she was ready to blow her temper. It was starting to work, and there were sometimes she hated how often he was right. She sat back down face in her hands and let out a long heavy sigh.

"I suppose you're right. They're likely to get themselves in trouble no matter what they do. Heaven's they're probably in trouble right now."

"If we head a bit more north this time we might be able to get into school grounds without going through the gate," Sirius said, more interested in the map in his hands than the darkened tunnel in front of him. "The wendigo we found last year have definitely been there a few hundred years and there's no way anyone built a fence straight through their territory."

The map itself had grown in detail dramatically since its makers obtained the power to go anywhere they wanted without being discovered. Hufflepuff's hobbit hole of a common room was drawn in more detail than even a Hufflepuff could have managed with each dorm labeled by year and gender, Professor Slughorn's secret liquor cabinet was there, three doors from his office. And if you really wanted in that bad the map would even show you the password.

But it was the outside of the castle that needed work. They couldn't explore much of the grounds during the day-as someone would notice them missing-so that left them the night to properly explore the grounds. And there was no one better to explore a dark dangerous forest with than a werewolf.

"Keep near Padfoot when we pass the centaurs, Wormtail. They're superstitious so they won't get near him. They're liable to step on you otherwise." James looked over his shoulder at the rat in question. He had to hunch over even more than he had last year, it was killing his back. How did Moony manage with all his aches and pains? He was even taller than James.

Angry howling greeted them at the end of the tunnel, as usual. Moony could smell them but couldn't eat them. Must be infuriating.

Sirius folded the map into his pocket and began to shift. It was odd how much different he looked as a dog since he'd… unwillingly moved in with the Potters. Still the same big black mutt as ever, but no longer did he have perfectly groomed fur and professionally manicured claws. No now he looked almost wild. Like a dog abandoned in a park. It made James cringe every time he saw it.

Now no one could say he didn't look like a Grim.

James let him out to distract Moony. As usual Moony chased him long, enough for James to get in and transform before the wolf realized there was food nearby.

It took a minute-long enough for the wolf to greet them happily-for James to notice there was something different about how the wolf played with Sirius. More hesitant, less violent, though Padfoot seemed the opposite. Almost like he wanted to anger the bigger, stronger canine. James wasn't worried however, it wasn't all that surprising. Emotions were less pronounced and easier to process while transformed. Even James had to breathe a sigh of relief when he switched.

But Moony? Even as a wolf he could sense the difference? Or was Remus starting to peek through the lunar madness of his condition?

James led them out of the shack. Moony didn't hesitate anymore, not even when the smells of the village hit them. He shook his head, trying to shoo the smell away, and kept following. And James swelled with pride. Both for Moony, but also for himself. James had trained a werewolf. It had never been done before, he'd done enough research on them to be sure of that.

Okay, admittedly Sirius and peter had helped a little bit.

They headed north. Wormtail hopped on Padfoot's back when they approached the centaur clearing, but they were all too busy staring at the sky to notice them.

Once the instinctive fear of the unknown past and the inherited fear the teachers instilled faded the forest really was beautiful.

They stopped more than once to watch the rainbow fireflies. And Padfoot ran straight through a patch of glowing grass resulting in its luminescent spores getting stuck in his fir. They waited for a full five minutes as he tried and failed to shake it all off until Peter took pity on him and helped him. James laughed at him the whole time.

Naturally, the moment he turned around to continue on he got his antlers caught in the low-hanging branches of a tree and Peter had to help him too.

Stupid forest.

They smelled the wendigo before they saw them. Moony whimpered quietly, they smelled just enough like people to make him hungry. But James and Sirius steered him back on track and he let them.

They skirted the cave housling the Gollum-like creatures that would still happily eat them regardless of their species and weren't even remotely afraid of a werewolf.

Peter was too frightened to even squeak and even Sirius was padding quietly along.

After a tense minute of tiptoeing they passed the cannibal's territory Sirius ran forward and barked at them his tail wagging and looking happier than he had in months. Being back at Hogwarts was doing wonders for his mood. Though-again-being a dog seriously helped.

This was the first time the wolf would step on Hogwarts grounds in the state he's in.

Moony could sense their excitement and now that he couldn't smell the cave any longer he raced up to chase Padfoot onto the grounds. Sirius barked again and ran. It was harder for James to run after them on the uneven ground and grabby branches, but he kept up just fine.

Until he realized where Padfoot was leading them.

He'd turned south-east, straight for the castle.

Irritated by his best friend's lack of common sense-anyone could be out there: Hagrid, Dumbledore, a first-year with a sense of adventure-he picked up speed. Peter squeaked his complaint in James' ear, but James ignored him and called out a deep, low-pitched bark then growled to make Sirius stop laughing at him.

He cut Sirius off and growled again. They had a silent argument, where James put his foot down. Moony was doing great, but that was no reason to risk exposure, or worse. Padfoot couldn't glare as a dog, but James knew he wanted to. Instead, he turned around, barked at Moony, and started north again. This time at more of a walk, James kept pace and Moony caught up, his tail wagging too.

They were in unknown territory now. The Marauders hadn't explored much of the forbidden forest. Not because it was forbidden-of course-but they rarely had a reason to visit.

This was a grave oversight in James' opinion as there was so much to see.

Moony found a giant spider that chased them for a good part of a kilometer, Padfoot disturbed a pack of living trees that actually did grab James' antlers on purpose.

But it was Peter that found the best discovery of all.

Standing quite alone, drinking from a river was a unicorn. Peter squeaked several times to get their attention as for once he wasn't on top of one of their heads.

Peter squeaking like that usually meant he was in trouble so they stopped what they were doing to find out what was wrong and then they saw it. Beautiful and elegant.

Then there was a crash behind them and James and Sirius looked back at the wolf. Moony had knocked over the tree that had attempted to ensnare James, killing it and making the unicorn look up looking just seconds from fleeing.

Even the wolf didn't move, more because his friends didn't than anything else. Nothing happened for several tense seconds, then they all breathed when the unicorn went back to drinking.

James looked at Sirius, whose head hung low, and his tail up in the air. James shook his head, but Padfoot didn't see him.

Padfoot inched towards the peaceful creature just wanting to be left alone, looking for all the world like the predator he technically was. Sirius wouldn't hurt a unicorn. So why was he so determined to scare it?

Moony tried to follow, his own tail was tucked between his legs, betraying his worry for his brother, but James stopped him. A werewolf would absolutely scare it away. It wasn't hurting anyone.

Sirius pawed closer and closer. It didn't run, not even when he raised his head and the unicorn looked right at him.

Could Unicorn's sense intent? James didn't know, Peter was the one who took Creatures as an elective. Maybe he'd ask later.

The two sniffed at each other, then Padfoot looked back at them and barked. The unicorn still didn't run off. James-slowly, more carefully than he'd ever done anything in his life-approached, Moony following now that James was no longer stopping him. Peter continued to watch from a distance.

It was beautiful. The full moon's light reflected off its pure white fur and even the stream it drank from seemed brighter just from holding the beast's reflection.

Moony tried to play with it, because of course he did. And James was sure it would flee from that at least. A werewolf hopping around barking at you. Any creature would. But the unicorn didn't seem all that frightened, regarding it passively and sniffing the air around them all. It didn't take long for the wolf to get the hint that it wasn't interesting. James could smell his disappointment.

Without warning the unicorn's head perked up, its ears facing behind it, still for only a moment before it went bounding off faster than could be believed, leaping over Padfoot in its haste.

Disappointed James looked around to see what had startled it but saw nothing. The forest empty and quiet.

Peter squeaked from James' hooves, and without thinking, he lowered his head to allow Wormtail to climb up.

He looked back at the sky, barely visible through the clouds. It was best that they head back to the shack anyway.

A/N) I watched a video of deer noises while writing this chapter to make sure that deer actually do bark... it was hilarious. They even growl.