An R/L fic

An R/L fic? That's a good idea… Only kidding – I couldn't do that to James (he's the sensitive type). In this fic I'm going more for realism than romance – why shouldn't they just be friends? It's a bit unrealistic falling in love at 11, and yet I can't see them contemplating murder either. If you think about it, the whole thing'll take me about twenty years to finish – I wanted to do all seven years. Maybe I'll leave romance for five years or so... We'll see. Anyway I thank you solemnly for the reviews (if you gave them to me). If you didn't… never mind (yet). Here's part 5…

The rest of the holidays were fun for Lily, James and Remus. They spent practically all of it exploring Hogwarts and the grounds under the Cloak. By the end of the holidays, they were getting to know the geography of Hogwarts very well. On New Year's Day, Remus had to go and visit his mother; she was still sick, so Lily and James were the only remaining first-years. They got on very well – James tended to get on well with everyone that wasn't a Slytherin – lucky for Snape that he had gone home for the holidays – they had plans for him involving the Cloak. They spent their time having snowball fights (the snow still hadn't cleared), or in the common room, playing chess or exploding snap. James was crestfallen to find that Lily was better than him at chess – she told him she had had practice playing her older sister, Petunia. Unless James' eyes were deceiving him, he could have sworn that Lily looked less-than-joyful when her sister was mentioned.

'Let me guess,' said James suddenly. 'You don't get on well with your sister.'

'It's a hate-hate relationship,' said Lily, and then realising what he had said, she said 'How did you know that?'

'Elementary, my dear Lily. When your sister is mentioned, there is pure hatred in your pretty eyes.' Lily stared at him, but he seemed not to notice.

'Very clever, Sherlock,' she said, grinning. James bowed.

Sirius returned three days before the start of term – two days before anybody else. On entering the common room, he found it to be empty. 'Strange,' he thought 'I wonder where Lily, Remus and James are.' He carried on upstairs to the dorm, with the idea of unpacking his trunk. As he approached the door, it creaked open in front of him. Bemused, he entered the room. It was completely empty – no James, no Remus. He sat down on his bed, and the dormitory door slammed shut – what was going on? He approached the door, but there was no one around. He turned back to look at his bed, and his trunk had disappeared! He was starting to get worried now – since when could ghosts lift heavy trunks?

'Hello?' he called nervously. There was no reply. 'Hello?' he called, louder this time. Unless his ears were deceiving him, he was sure he could hear a faint whispering sound.

'Ssssiirriiuusssss,' it said, in a very low whisper.

'Who's there?' said Sirius, the panic evident in his voice. Under the Cloak, meanwhile, Lily and James were both fighting to hold off their laughter. James mouthed to Lily 'after three. Three – two – one – now!' They both threw of the Cloak and shouted as loud as they could. Sirius collapsed in a heap. He had fainted. James and Lily burst out laughing.

'Oops,' said Lily, holding off he laughter. 'I think we overdid it a bit.' And she burst out laughing again. James, meanwhile, was crouched over Sirius.

'He's fine,' he said, also trying to control his laughter. 'Maybe we were a bit cruel.'

'A bit?!' came a voice from the floor suddenly; Sirius had regained consciousness. 'You evil gits! You call yourselves frien – what's that?' He had just spotted the Invisibility Cloak.

'This, my dear Sirius, is the secret of our future success. Observe!' He threw the Cloak over himself and disappeared. Sirius looked stunned.

'An Invisibility Cloak,' he whispered hoarsely. 'How did you get that?

'Family heirloom.'

'You lucky git. I've always wanted one of them.'

'And now you have,' said James, materialising in front of Lily and throwing the Cloak over Sirius.

'You mean I can keep it?' said Sirius weakly.

'No, you plank. We can all use it, that's what I meant.'

'Of course,' said Sirius, now grinning. Hey, where's Remus?'

'Visiting his mum again,' said Lily.

'Does he know about this?' said Sirius, pointing at the Cloak.

'Err, no,' said James, winking at Lily.

'Oh goody,' said Sirius, the mischievous glint back in his eye. 'Does that mean we can have fun scaring him as well?'

'Why not?' said James, trying to stop himself from laughing. 'I think he's coming back today.'

After getting over the shock of his extraordinary return, Sirius described to them how his Christmas had been.

'Most of my presents were good,' he told them. 'I got this book off my aunt, Complex Potions – she knew that I like Potions. I got your, er, 'utensils', as well. Using those and that Cloak, we can have lots of fun.' The look in his eye was identical to that of Remus' on Christmas morning.

'What're your "utensils", Siri?' asked Lily – She had a strange habit of calling people by nickname. Sirius grinned guiltily at James, and fished something out of his pocket. It was a small leather pouch, and inside it were five of the strangest implements Lily had ever seen.

'This knife can undo any knot – it's extra sharp, and enchanted. This is an enchanted candle; it's very powerful ('It's kinda like a torch,' said Lily). This is for engraving things; this is Floo powder in a small capsule ('Good for a quick getaway,' said James) and this is the best one.'

'What does it do?' she asked curiously. 'And what's Floo powder?'

'It's a key. It can undo almost all locks – almost all, mind you – it's kinda like the Alohomora Charm in key form. And Floo powder is powder that can transport you via fireplaces. Lily looked intrigued.

'James is so thoughtful,' Sirius carried on. 'How could he know that I wanted The Magician's breaking-in Kit?'

'That's not what it's called,' said James. 'But I'm glad you like it.'

'Like it? This is great! Add that Cloak to it and – well – Snape had better watch out.' James and Lily laughed. Suddenly, they heard a voice from outside the common room. Somebody was saying, or shouting, rather, the Gryffindor password.

'THUNDERBOLT!' they heard Remus shout. They raced down to the common room in time to hear the Fat Lady's reply.

'I'm sorry,' she was saying, 'I was just taking a nap. No need to shout.'

'Quick,' said Sirius. 'Grab the Cloak.' James already had it, and he threw it over them, Lily still shaking with silent laughter. Remus entered the common room, looking morose. Lily suddenly sneezed, but silently. Remus looked up. His eyes travelled over to where the three of them were standing. He sighed, and began walking over to them. He then nonchalantly pulled the Cloak off them.

'Nice to see you to,' he said. 'Hi, Sirius, did you have a good holiday?'

'You liars,' said Sirius, laughing, to James and Lily. 'You said he hadn't seen the Cloak.'

'Did we?' said James slowly, in mock surprise. 'I don't remember that. Do you, Lily?'

'No, in fact, who is he –'

'Very funny,' said Sirius acidly.

'You mean he thought I didn't know about the Cloak?' Remus laughed. 'I was the second person to try it.'

'How's your mum?' asked Sirius innocently.

'She's not too bad. Still ill, though. I think she was glad to see me.'

'We're sorry she's ill, Remus,' said Lily sincerely.

'Not your fault,' he replied sombrely, and then, perking up, he said 'Now, anyone fancy an undetected trip to the kitchens?

Sirius had, as James and Remus had predicted, developed a deep affection for the Invisibility Cloak, and tended to have withdrawal symptoms if he was away from it for more than half an hour. James agreed that it was the best birthday present he could ever have wished for. Their prime use of the Cloak was using it to sneak down to the kitchens. They agreed not to directly play tricks on Snape, like hitting him (Sirius suggested that), as he was likely to go to Dumbledore and have the Cloak confiscated. They instead entertained themselves by throwing snowballs at him from underneath it, as he could mistake it for another one gone off-course.

Peter and the rest arrived back at the Castle the day before term started. They decided, after giving Sirius such a shock, to be gentler in revealing the Cloak to Peter. He was just as impressed as they were, and was also envious, as he had only been given sweets ('I wonder why?' said Sirius). Sirius agitated the rest that evening by badgering them about his Transfiguration homework. James, Remus and Lily, who had all done their homework a few days into the holiday (when they were bored), were having an exciting game of exploding snap, with Katie, Sarah and Frank. Michelle and Heather were locked in a 'deeply important', as they put it, chess game. All in all, the atmosphere was a pleasant one in the Gryffindor common room.

The next day, term started, and Hogwarts returned to its usual hustle and bustle. The teachers had been refreshed over the holidays, and were ready to resume their usual teaching patterns. The students were ready to get back into their intensive working schedules – well, most of them. James and Sirius still remained top of their year. James was becoming very talented in Transfiguration, as was Sirius in Potions. Ironically, the two best students of Potions in the year were Sirius and Snape, and, despite the fact that they loathed each other, Jackson made them work together, as they were such diligent workers, or at least, that was the theory. The truth was, their lack of camaraderie led to trouble for them both. In no less than two lessons, Sirius managed to earn three detentions, and Snape managed to lose twenty points from Slytherin. This made Sirius very happy.

'I take the lead in our competition,' he laughed, 'and Snape loses twenty points for the rat-house.' Sirius had an odd tendency to refer to Slytherin as 'the rat-house.' He claimed it was to do with physical appearance.

They all had a good laugh on the weekend after term restarted. James had managed to develop his photo of Remus and Lily, and keeping his promise, showed it to them before showing it to Sirius (who was very interested in what kept making all three of them laugh).

'Beautiful,' laughed Remus. 'We should frame it and put it onto the common room wall.'

'That's right, and put little hearts around it,' said James.

'We'll see…' said Lily apprehensively. James and Remus laughed.

'We're only joking Lil',' said Remus, laughing. 'We need to put it somewhere where Sirius will never find it.'

'Knowing Sirius, the common room wall would be good enough,' said James light-heartedly.

Peter had pointed out to James a very good use for the Cloak – using it to sneak into Thornheart's office and try and find something incriminating. However, that evening, the four of them found that they couldn't get into Thornheart's office as it had an unbreakable charm on it. Even Sirius' key wouldn't work.

'Damn!' he said, as he tried for the third time to unlock the door.

'There's no use,' said James quietly to his three friends. 'We have to go in when Thornheart is in there.'

The next day, James tried again, on his own, when Thornheart was in the office himself – it would be too risky for all four of them to be in there at the same time as the Professor. He had to be extra careful not to arouse suspicion, but Thornheart was engrossed in marking work. Despite this, however, he found nothing. There was no sign of the coffin, or any mention of the potion, or of anything remotely involved with the incident at all. He reported his findings – or lack of them – to Sirius, Peter and Remus, who were all very disappointed – all four had been determined to find out what Thornheart was up to.

Meanwhile, they had still had no luck with their research of the blue unicorn. There had been nothing about it in Thornheart's office. Thornheart himself, in the meantime, was acting more vindictively than ever. They agreed that he must not of been able to find the ingredient associated with the supposedly extinct creature. Jackson, on the other hand, seemed perfectly cheerful, and it didn't take a genius for them to work out why – James hadn't forgotten the look on his face when he had visited Thornheart's office three months ago.

James was definitely getting accustomed to Hogwarts, after his enjoyable first term. He and Sirius were now almost like brothers, as they did practically everything together. He also had two great friends inside Remus and Peter, and got on very well with Lily, Frank and all the other Gryffindors. He was, of course, averse to all Slytherins, but he was on good terms with other students in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. He found nothing to really upset him within the castle. He had friends, he enjoyed his lessons, he had no trouble with homework, and he liked most of his teachers - and vice-versa.

The next few weeks were fairly uneventful for James and the others. They still hadn't managed to find out anything about the blue unicorn, and were beginning to give up hope. January faded imperceptibly into February, and the next match in the house Quidditch tournament was approaching. Slytherin were playing Ravenclaw – on the first weekend in February, and Gryffindor would play Hufflepuff on the second weekend. The big upset preceding the Slytherin-Ravenclaw match was that Jake Smith, the Ravenclaw seeker, had injured his leg in a skiing accident – he was a muggle-born. Therefore, Ravenclaw would be without their captain and star player, so the odds were on Slytherin winning.

That Saturday proved that this theory was accurate – Slytherin flattened Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw, however, were still in the lead in the House Cup Championship, leading Slytherin and Gryffindor by forty and fifty points respectively.

The day of the match dawned on the second weekend of February. Every student from the third year up was spending the day in Hogsmeade, the local wizarding village, on the Saturday, a rare treat from the teachers. Therefore, the Gryffindor – Hufflepuff Quidditch game was to be played on the Sunday.

James and the others spent an enjoyable afternoon on Saturday exploring the grounds. As most of the student body of the school was visiting Hogsmeade, not to mention quite a few teachers, the grounds were empty. Besides, most first and second years were content to remain inside their warm common rooms than be outside in the cold grounds. Sirius was quite happy to taunt the Whomping Willow, but neither Remus nor Peter wanted to. They instead prepared themselves a mini-feast, back inside the common room, with some help from the kitchens, and invited all the first and second years. There was still a little Christmas spirit left in the common room, even two months after Christmas. James and Sirius got to know some of the second years. One boy asked them whether they were brothers, and they burst out laughing. Everybody seemed to be of that opinion. It was, however, a justified opinion, as, around Hogwarts, if you saw one of them, then the other wasn't likely to be far away.

The next day, subsequent to breakfast, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter made their way down to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the first year Gryffindors to watch the match. As with the previous match, the Quidditch match brought with it an atmosphere of tension and excitement. By eleven-thirty, nearly the whole school was packed into the huge stadium. From where he was sitting, James could make out the greying beard of Albus Dumbledore, and he could see the huge figure of Hagrid sitting below him. He caught Hagrid's eye, and gave him a thumbs-up. Hagrid winked. He could also see, though he was disinclined to look, Snape and his gang, a few rows away. He caught Snape's eye and Snape swore at him. James simply laughed at Snape, who went bright red. Snape had a very quick temper.

Before too long, however, the match was ready to commence. Fourteen players came onto the pitch from opposite ends of the pitch. Seven players were dressed in the scarlet Gryffindor robes, and the other seven in the canary-yellow Hufflepuff robes. Madam Hooch, the referee, had a jet-black robe. After the captains had shaken hand, the players mounted their brooms and they were off. Fifteen brooms rose high into the air. David Woods was again providing the commentary.

'The Quaffle taken immediately then, by Vaughn of Gryffindor. Plays a nice pass to Coates – good one-two there. Oh – no, a Bludger unseats him – nice work by Hufflepuff Beater McCutcheon. The Quaffle is retaken by Coates, however, he's heading towards the goals – Keeper Davies comes out to meet him – FOUL!' The Hufflepuff Keeper had grabbed Coates by his ankles and tried to unseat him. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out, and Gryffindor were awarded a penalty.

'Coates will take it – and he scores, no problem – ten-zero to Gryffindor.' Play resumed, and after an hour, the score was eighty to thirty, and yet there had been no sign of the Snitch.

'So,' said a drawling voice from behind where they were sitting, 'what d'you reckon the odds are of Gryffindor winning?'

'Probably,' said James, without looking up, 'the same as the odds that you never wash your hair, Snape.' Sirius, Remus and Peter laughed.

'How can we help you, slimy?'

'Very funny, Potter,' spat Snape. 'I'll have you know I take a shower every day.'

'What are you trying to do, Snape! Fill my mind with disturbing images? I don't really care, though I am surprised there are showers in the Slytherin common room.' He had said all this without looking up, but when he did, he was face to face with an angry-looking Snape. Behind him were Avery and Lestrange. James loved winding people up – he didn't have a temper at all.

'C'mon,' said Snape resentfully to his companions, 'let's leave the losers.'

'Yeah, c'mon,' said James, mimicking Snape. 'Let's let the losers leave.' Snape shot him a look of pure venom, and all four of them burst out laughing.

'He looked like he'd swallowed a lemon,' said Peter.

'Poor Snapey,' said Sirius. 'So ugly, so friendless, and so brainless.'

'Except in Potions,' Remus pointed out.

'Thanks for reminding me,' said Sirius, now looking as though he'd swallowed a lemon.

While this confrontation had been going on, the Quidditch match was still being played. All of a sudden, David Woods' voice rang out.

'And Beaufort has seen the Snitch! She's closing in, she'd being caught by Pugh and - and - GRYFFINDOR WIN!! Nancy Beaufort gets the Snitch, and Gryffindor win, by two hundred and fifty points to fifty.' All around the stadium, Gryffindors were cheering loudly. James shot a triumphant look at Snape, who turned away.

There was a party in the common room that night. There was no major reason; Gryffindor were now only tied in second for the House Championship – it was just that Gryffindors liked parties. James and Sirius provided food and drinks, much to the delight of the other students. Even though they were only first years, they were the centre of attention. A group of fifth-years were impressed with how they had managed to find the kitchens in their first week, and find three secret passages within the castle. James made sure, however, not to tell anyone about the Cloak.

By midnight, nearly everyone had gone to bed. Only James and Peter were still left down in the common room, playing chess. Suddenly, they heard a strangled cry from above them.

'That's Sirius,' remarked James. 'Wonder what's going on.' All of a sudden, they heard footsteps on the stairs leading to their dorm. Remus and Sirius came into the room, looking breathless. Sirius was holding a large book.

'We've found it,' said Remus breathlessly.

'What?' asked James.

'The blue unicorn.'

Time to end, methinks. Ah, so what is the mysterious blue unicorn? You'll have to wait and see. My holidays start in approximately ten days, so I'll have more time to write part 6 and maybe 7. Please review? Ciao.