The Marauders: In the Beginning
Chapter Four: Of Curious Cloaks and Whomping Willows



Disclaimer: All HP characters were created by the brilliant J. K. Rowling (not me!).

A/N: Thank you for the nice reviews ^^ I really hope this chapter doesn't seem choppy or anything... I'm writing it in a few different sections, because there's so much going on, and it's all pretty important so I wanted it to be one complete chapter. Sorry about the silly title ^^ Anyway, here's the fourth, as promised!



For a fleeting instant, the boys seemed to understand each other completely. They were sitting in complete silence before the warmth of the fire when the portrait hole opened. Peter and the red-haired girl stepped into the room.

"Lily?" said James, startled by the look on her face. "What is it? Is anything wrong?" After all, she hadn't been in Potions that morning with the other first-years.

Lily shook her head as she sat down next to Remus, but appeared close to tears. "I've just heard what's happened," she said to him. "Are you alright?"

Remus remembered meeting Lily aboard the Hogwarts Express and speaking to her here and there after school started. They certainly weren't close friends, and Remus knew this, but he couldn't help feeling that he could trust her. She was such a sweet girl.

"I'm okay," Remus assured her. "But... what do you mean... you've just heard...? Heard from who?"

"Everyone's talking about it," Peter said. "Mainly the Slytherins. I'd be surprised if the entire school doesn't know by now..." He looked a great deal more nervous than usual.

"News sure does travel fast around here, doesn't it?" Sirius said glumly.

"That's not all," Lily added. "I've just come from the headmaster's office, and he wants a word with all of you..." She bit her lip. "Now."

Remus couldn't believe his ears. He'd never been in trouble for something like this. "Was he... upset?"

"I can't say for sure," said Lily, who was now looking at James. "But you'd better get going..."

Remus got up rather reluctantly, followed by James and Sirius. As they started towards the portrait hole, Peter lingered behind, unsure whether it was his place to follow. "Er," he said uncertainly.

"You'd better wait here, Peter," Remus sighed unhappily. Peter, though, looked slightly relieved. Remus, James, and Sirius braced themselves, thoroughly convinced that the headmaster was going to be screaming at them for hours on end. "Trust me... you won't want to hear this."



James and Sirius had been in Dumbledore's office several times already, and Lupin spoke to the headmaster quite frequently - almost on a regular basis. Still, the three were uneasy about this particular visit, and with good reason. This was bigger than a small mix-up or a practical joke.

The expression on the headmaster's face was impossible to read. Dumbledore was not smiling, and his pale blue eyes expressed deep concern from behind the half-moon spectacles he always wore. Yet Remus could have sworn that he saw his eyes twinkling with something like amusement. He felt very silly admitting it, but he wished they would stop.

Dumbledore took a deep breath, choosing his words carefully. "You are intelligent young men," he began. "Surely you are aware that conflicts can never be resolved when one must resort to violence. Violent actions do not go unpunished."

"Please, sir," Remus pleaded. He realized he'd been holding his breath. "You're not... going to expel me?"

Dumbledore gave them a funny half-smile. "Luckily, Mr. Lupin, as none of the students were victims of physical harm, I can safely say that expulsion is not one of the options I was considering.

"Detention will serve as fair punishment," Dumbledore continued. "I have already spoken to Severus Snape. I do wish for my students to learn the value of working alongside one another, for the inability to cooperate only leads to greater complications. However, considering the circumstances..." His gaze fell upon Remus. "Considering the circumstances, Snape will be serving his detention separately." He sat back and smiled now. "Give everyone a little room to breathe. How does that sound?"

Remus, James, and Sirius breathed a collective sigh of relief. "Just tell us what to do," said Sirius.

"The Quidditch trophies need polishing," Dumbledore said. "And then you are to patrol the grounds with Filch. I know it seems like a lot of work, but between the three of you, I think you'll be able to manage well enough."



They did manage. After classes had come to an end for the day, the three of them headed to the trophy room, and finished polishing the trophies rather quickly - almost in record time - only to realize they'd forgotten about Part II of their detention, which they would be spending with Filch.

"Ugh," said Sirius, remembering.

"Polishing off the trophies and plaques - that's a standard punishment," said James, who was by now an expert on detentions. "Loads of kids have had to come up here for it. But I've never heard of having to patrol the grounds with Filch. Maybe Dumbledore thought we were ganging up on poor widdle Snape with our wands out, three to one--"

"And quite a pitiful one," Sirius added.

Or maybe, thought Remus... Maybe there's something I'm supposed to see.

Soon they met up with Filch, who was waiting for them at the end of the Great Hall, which was now quite deserted. He grunted at them by way of greeting and told them they were to stay close behind while he patrolled the grounds. "You'll have to stay here, my sweet," he said to his cat, Mrs. Norris, who meowed fondly in reply.

"That... that cat... thing is so creepy," James said.

They had been outside for nearly two and a half hours when they heard a girl's scream. Remus was the first to react. He ran, following the sound, and found himself face-to-face with a rather large tree that he couldn't remember seeing there before, though he felt certain he knew what it was.

This tree was moving. Its flailing branches, like arms, reached down towards a first year girl who had wandered outside. She screamed again.

"Help!"

Before any of them had a chance to move, the mighty tree took one more wild swing of its branches... taking the girl along with it. She screamed again and was swept off her feet before she landed several feet away. She did not move.



"I need to speak with Dumbledore again, it's important," Remus said quickly, just outside of his office again. "And please," he said, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Don't wait up for me, okay?"

His friends glanced at each other, but nodded uncertainly. Remus wouldn't go in until Sirius and James had begun to walk away.

"Detention was alright, I suppose," Sirius remarked as he and James headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Could have been worse," James agreed, still quite shaken. "But I'd hate to be on Dumbledore's bad side. And that tree we saw..."

"Mm. I hope that girl's going to be okay... they say the nurse here can mend anything in seconds, even broken bones. Hey, d'you reckon we should wait here for Remus?"

James stopped walking. "He told us to go on without him," he said. Sirius hung back. "Well, yeah, but... you know how he is - so modest--"

"Aww, has Sirius gone soft?" James taunted, although he knew Sirius had a point.

"You were the one who suggested getting to know him better. All I'm saying is, it would be a nice guesture."

"Yeah, you're right. It's just... a bit weird that he was so insistent about our not waiting for him."

No sooner had they gone back to wait for their friend than they heard a voice. It belonged to Remus, but they had a hard time recognizing it. It didn't sound at all like the voice of a mild-mannered eleven year old boy. This one was soft. Anguished.

"...and she could have been killed, sir. We both know it's my fault - if I hadn't come, there'd be no need for the Whomping Willow, and no one would have been hurt."

"Whomping Willow?" Sirius whispered. "Shh!" said James, listening closely.

"While the latter may be true, Remus, you have just as much right to be here as anyone--"

"But--"

"Remus, you may fail to see it now, but I can sense it - you belong here at Hogwarts. You have the potential to become a great wizard, and it would be a pity to see all of that talent go to waste. Therefore, as we cannot change the past, this is the best possible way to ensure the well-being of all students. Including yourself, I might add."

"...Yes, sir. I... I understand."

"Now, I'd like to go over this one more time. To get past the Willow tonight..."

James and Sirius stared at each other in shock, taking care not to miss a single word.



After Dumbledore's speech had come to an end, they'd run back to the Gryffindor common room as fast as their legs could carry them, continuing all the way up to the boys' dormitory. James collapsed on his bed. He and Sirius struggled to breathe normally.

"Did you - get - all that?"

Sirius nodded. "We have to follow him," he gasped. "He could - he could be in danger!"

They played a few games of chess and finished their homework in the common room. But immediately after dinner (Remus hadn't shown up in the Great Hall), James excused himself, saying he was quite tired and wanted to go to sleep early. He nodded at Sirius as a signal.

Sirius took his place in an armchair near the boys' staircase, just as they'd discussed, picking up a book about Quidditch and pretending to look through it with great interest. The page he'd opened up to showed a Keeper in blue-green robes, making a dramatic save and catching the Quaffle before the other team could score.

James, meanwhile, did go upstairs to the boys dormitory, but instead waited by the window. The sun had gone down and the sky was beginning to darken gradually, making his task twice as difficult as he strained to see what was happening below in the darkness. Finally, his tired eyes detected movement. He kicked the wall loudly, a signal to Sirius that he'd seen someone on the grounds - only perhaps a little too loudly in sudden excitement, and he paid dearly for it as pain shot up his leg. He hopped one one foot, one hand clamped over his mouth, trying not to scream out.

Downstairs, he could hear Sirius loudly saying, "Well, look at the time! It's getting late - I'd better go to the library before bedtime!"

When the pain subsided, James looked anxiously over at the trunk by his four-poster bed. He opened it up, lifting up piles of not-so-neatly folded jeans, sweaters, and robes for school. He felt around for it - yes, there it was. His father's gift to James, the invisibility cloak.

"Someday, my boy," his father had said, showing James the folded-up cloak, "you're going to be the best damn wizard the world's ever seen!" The cloak had been his gift to James when he'd received his letter of acceptance from Hogwarts. Only, he, er... wasn't supposed to have it yet. James' father had intended to give him the cloak as a graduation present, but was often quite careless and didn't realize that he'd accidentally thrown the cloak in his son's school trunk without knowing. So, it wasn't really stealing, James convinced himself.

"Ahem!" Sirius yelled loudly. "Yes, I'll just be GOING TO THE LIBRARY NOW if anyone needs me!"

"Sorry father," James said, throwing on the invisibility cloak and rushing down the stairs as silently as he could. He walked right up to Sirius, who was standing beside the open portrait hole as planned. "Alright," he whispered, "let's go."

Sirius finally stepped outside into the dark corridor, accidentally stepping on the end of James' cloak, as it was a little too big for him. "Watch it!" the boy whispered at his friend. Sirius gaped. "An invisibility cloak!" he whispered back. "Wow, I've never even seen one--"

"Of course you haven't!" James snapped. "They make you invisible! Now get in the cloak or you'll be seen!"

"Right," said Sirius, laughing to himself. "Get in the cloak... you crack me up sometimes, mate."

They made their way slowly through the corridors and down the series of staircases that had apparently moved there over night. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" one would occasionally whisper to the other. Finally, they reached the exit. Outside, the Whomping Willow waved its branches restlessly, pummelling the occasional butterfly or bird.

"That thing's vicious!" Sirius remarked. "It's been magicked or something to be bloodthirsty! How the heck d'you expect us to get past that thing alive?"

"Shh," said James. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Now, it can't see us under the invisibility cloak, but I reckon we should still be careful, in case - in case--" He gulped. "Just stay low to the ground," he finished upon finding his voice.

They crept slowly up to the tree. A twig snapped under James' foot, and the Willow automatically swung one of its mighty branches. It was a near miss. Sirius could actually feel it graze the side of his head. Neither boy dared move, or step back, or even breathe until the Willow, as if convinced the noise had been made by some small creature that had scampered off, resumed waving its branches again. "You be careful!" he warned, upset. "That was way too close!"

Slowly, carefully... one foot in front of the other (Sirius and James, frozen with fear, had to remind themselves of this quite often)... James reached up to the tree's trunk...

"It's got me!" he yelped, forgetting the secrecy of the entire mission as he was swept backwards out from underneath the cloak. One of the branches had grabbed onto James as if he were a rag doll. "Sirius, quickly! The knot! Press the knot!"

Frantically, Sirius followed his friend's directions, and as he did so, the Willow froze, dropping James from at least ten feet up.

"You okay?" Sirius asked, rushing to help James up. "Yeah," said James when he was over the initial shock of what had happened. He followed the sound of Sirius' voice (and the sight of his hand, which was floating in midair, extended to James to help him up) to find the cloak, and covered himself up again. "We've got to go, now!" he said desperately, trying to keep his voice low, "there isn't much time! I don't know how long the tree stays frozen like that."

Behind the tree was a small, dark tunnel, which they reluctantly followed, unsure of where it would leave them. When they found themselves in a small wooden shack, they felt sure they'd made a mistake and were ready to turn back.

"Wait," said Sirius. "Let's just see if he's here first. Remus?" No answer. So he called again, "Remus, are you here?" Only silence followed.

"Remus--"

He stopped dead in the middle of the sentence. "J... J..." he stuttered. "J... J-J-J-J-JAMES!"

"What is it, Sirius?" James asked. Sirius smacked his friend on the arm to get his attention, and pointed straight ahead.

Coming towards them was a large gray wolf, snarling and showing its pointed teeth.



A/N: Wow. Sorry this chapter was packed with so many different things going on! The next chapter will be more complete, and not so chopped up. Also, I wasn't sure when/how James aquired his invisibility cloak, so I just kind of decided that, at least for this fic, his father "gave" it to him. Maybe it's a family heirloom. ^^;;