A/N: Reviews – I love them! So give me lots, please! At least say that you're happy I'm updating often now that I actually started updating… But hey – it's not entirely my fault that I haven't been able to access the internet for the last – how long was it, a month or two? But now – my updating schedule should go back to normal. You guys are probably wondering how come I'm not able to go on the net now even though I was able to during school… Well, let's just say that I'm not a perfect student – and attending a school where you have to have a laptop and a wireless card to access the internet, well, you have my reason for that. And now that I'm back in India, I don't have access from my laptop – I have to go to my grandparents' place… Well, enough about me, here's Chapter Seven.

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"Wake up, lover boy!" Sirius yelled at James first thing in the morning.

"W – What do you want?" James said, yawning.

"I want you to shut up!" Sirius said, clutching his head, as he moaned sarcastically.

"Why – what did I do?" James said more awake now that Sirius had started his routine of teasing.

"What did you do? Did you hear that Remy? He spends the whole night jabbering stuff about that girl and he asks us what he's done," Sirius said, pretending to be furious.

"Oh, shut up. I say – what time is it?" James asked.

"Uh – Moony, do you have any idea?"

"Yeah – it's six forty-three. Do you want to go down now or wait an hour or two?" Remus asked.

"Go down for what?" James asked, looking from one of his friends to the other.

"I'm guessing you've forgotten, right?" Sirius said, rolling his eyes at James.

"What did I forget about?" James asked again.

"You stupid git, what did we do last night?" Remus screeched at him.

"Moony, you're starting to scare me…" James trailed off.

"Bloody git, he wasn't talking about anything like that! You idiot, he's talking about the stuff you did in the Slytherin dorms!" Sirius yelled while giving him a punch on the arm.

"Oh yeah, I forgot… Sorry – but what are we going to go down to do?" James asked, still slightly out of it.

"We want to be the first ones to see what happened, right? And we have to pass the entrance to their Common Room on the way down to the Great Hall, anyway, right?" Remus said as though he was talking to a five-year-old.

"So what…" James said, raising an eyebrow.

"Grr – you don't get this, do you? If we go early, we might be able to see the Slytherins as they find the stuff. Then, we'll be the first audience they get! So, we'll know whether our prank worked or not. Therefore, oh jeez, you get the idea, don't you?" Sirius said, fed up.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go. No wait, one of us can go down to see if anyone's come yet, and if people have, the rest of us can go. But if not, then we'll wait about half-an-hour more."

"It sounds good to me. Who's going to go?" Remus asked.

"You go, Siri – you're a good sneaker," James suggested.

"Okay, that's fine with me. But hang on a sec. What's wrong with all of us going?" Sirius asked.

"It's – it's – a – a waste of our energy?" James asked hopefully.

"Nice try, Prongs, but that's not a good enough reason."

 "Okay, let's all go then. But no – how about we all wait? I don't really feel like going down now…" Remus said, shrugging his shoulders.

"So we spent all that time debating for nothing? And I could have still been asleep?" James whined.

"And he could still be dreaming about Lily?" Sirius mocked, grinning.

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"Hey, it's not my problem that you talk in your sleep. Moony, remind me to buy earplugs next time we're down in Hogsmeade."

"Shut up, Sirius!" James said, the pitch of his voice rising slowly.

"Uh, Padfoot, you might want to take his advice and shut up before he loses it again…" Remus warned. James was getting close to blowing his top again – and since then Remus and Sirius had decided not to provoke him anymore – but it was too tempting for Sirius.

"Thank you, Remus – obviously some people know when to shut up. People like Sirius, on the other hand…" James began, but at a look from Sirius that said not to push it, he stopped.

 "Okay – so are we waiting or what?" Remus said, breaking the silence that ensued.

"I guess we are…" Sirius said dully. James, however, didn't say anything.

"What's wrong, Prongsie boy? Cat got your tongue?" Sirius asked him. James just glared in response.

"Okay – I guess not. Crikey, James, you're getting back into the habit of turning temporarily unconscious…"

"I am not temporarily unconscious, I'm just thinking."

"Have you ever thought about telling us what you've figured out from your long periods of mental strain during these stressful thinking processes?" Sirius asked stiffly.

"Shut up, Padfoot, please…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was disturbing the great mind while he was doing his important job of dreaming about some stupid chick. Remus, I'll be in the Common Room when his Highness has finished his tedious work," Sirius said sharply, as he left the dorm.

"Okay – what's wrong with him? Oh shit – I knew something like this would happen…" James groaned as he kicked the bedpost of Remus' bed – making Remus bounce on it involuntarily. "Oops – I didn't mean to make you bounce, Moony – my mistake…"

"Forget it… And don't worry about Siri either. He's probably just annoyed that you're not spending much time doing Marauder stuff anymore – you're too busy with her. Really, once you look at it from our – I mean his point of view it is pretty frustrating. You're always talking about her, and doing stuff based on whether or not she'll mind and stuff like that – it's demoralizing. Seriously –" Remus started.

"Moony, you do realize that you're speaking on your own behalf as well as Sirius', don't you?" James said in a menacing tone.

"What do you mean by that?" Remus said quickly. It was true that James' sudden change in behavior had been rather unnerving, and both Remus and Sirius had come to the conclusion that they had to do something, but Remus had never intended to let James know, or get offended by this plain fact.

"What I mean is that you're indirectly voicing the fact that you're as annoyed as Sirius is…"

"I didn't say that…" Remus trailed off.

"Of course you didn't say it. But you meant it. Fine – be that way. I don't need you two – I'm fine on my own. It's not as though I don't have friends. There are eight hundred people in this damn school. One of them is Lily, I'm one of them, and three of them are you, Sirius, and Peter. And well, what do you know? There are seven hundred and ninety-five bloody people left! I don't need you stupid gits! You guys are always mocking me and making fun of me – teasing me all down the line. Well listen up – I'm making my own way through the school, and it's up to me whether or not I like Lily or not, or whether I want to think about things or not! So get the hell out of my bloody life!" James screamed at Remus.

Remus blinked. He had never known this side of James before – he had only ever been in touch with the softer, shier side of him. He had known that James was more than that – inside he was a bundle of thoughts and ideas, which he was only too keen to share with the world – but he had never exposed it. He was always eager to take in information rather than thrust his knowledge out.

James had always been slightly touchy whenever Sirius and Remus teased him, but most of the time James had just waved it off, and kept his feelings inside. But Remus realized that the anger had just been building up the past few years. Now the cork had given way and all the frustration and annoyance was shooting out.

James was slightly outgoing, but never so much as Sirius. When it came to Quidditch, he was decidedly better than his friends were, but it was Sirius' charm and sociability that had made him captain. Sirius and James were prefects, but James was certain that the only reason that he had been selected was to replace Remus. Remus had been told that he would have been appointed if not for the fact that he was a werewolf. Even in the many pranks they played, Sirius was the big boss and James was his sidekick – doing all the dirty work.

But this had just come naturally to the foursome – Peter included. Sirius had always been the one with the creativity and cunning. He planned out all of the pranks, gave each of them their separate instructions, and took every precaution. Remus was their aide in whatever research or spells they needed – except for Transfiguration, of course. That was the one thing in which James could outshine everyone. Besides Transfiguration, they used him for carrying out the pranks, since he knew more about the castle and its passageways than the others did. And Peter – he was a shifter. Once in a while, they would use him to replace either James or Remus if either one of them had something else to do. Sometimes, he wouldn't take part at all in case he messed things up. Often times, he was sick or so overloaded with homework that the others decided that it would be better if stayed behind. But most of the time, he was their messenger. He would wander around the castle, picking up bits of gossip, a password or two, and other information. His keen hearing, ability to sneak around unnoticed, and the fact that he could transform into a small rat helped him to go around the castle and do his duty.

But none of them had ever felt that the jobs were unequal. But now that Remus thought of it, James had always been treated slightly unfairly. Sure, Peter had probably been through worse stuff, but James didn't deserve the unfairness. Okay, so Peter didn't either, except for the fact that his grades were lower than most of the first years', but besides that he was just unimaginably accident-prone… But James didn't deserve to be teased and treated like a child. So what if he was shy with girls and people he didn't know. He was the only one of the four that could ever keep his head when arguing with Snape and Malfoy. If it weren't for his Transfiguration skills, they probably never would have managed to become Animagi. James was their friend, but now, it seemed as though they were going to be cut off forever.

"Listen, James…" Remus began, still standing in the doorway, his back to his friend. He had thought James would tell him to get lost, or to shut up at the very least, but there was no answer. Slowly he turned, expecting to see James sitting on his bed staring determinedly away from him. But instead, he just saw the row of five beds – all of which were empty. James had disappeared.

"I'm sorry, James… I had no idea…" Remus muttered to himself. He backed out of the room slowly. The door slammed and made him jump. Remus was unsure about his next step, and so he ran down the stairs and into the Common Room to tell Sirius.

"Sirius, James is gone – Sirius?" Remus said in surprise. The Common Room was empty too. "Sirius – where are you? Bloody hell, what's happening?"

Too surprised to think, Remus walked over to the couch and sat down heavily. He placed his head in his hands and closed his eyes slowly. He didn't know how long he sat there, but soon, a small tapping noise made his eyes spring open again. He looked over to the window. A small tawny owl was tapping on the window with a note in its beak. Remus walked over and took the letter. It was a torn piece of parchment, and the handwriting looked as though the writer had been in a great hurry to send it off. It was addressed to him – though, not by name…

Werewolf –

I have wanted to have a little chat with you. I do believe that you have noticed your friends missing. Yes – they have been sent to me by one of my… messengers. I am sure you want them to be sent back. Well, that I will do. But sending them back alive – that is another matter. You could be invaluable to my plan, and I have an offer for you that you cannot possibly be too foolish to decline. Agree to my wishes, and they will be sent back still breathing. Disobey my requests – and your band of Marauders will have three less in its party. Do not be rash and try to save them yourself. You cannot find me, nor can you win against me. Send your response to me by this owl immediately – if you ever want to see your little friends again.

"Oh no – no, not – not him – no, it can't be – it's impossible. Oh jeez, this is my fault entirely. Hell – what have I done?"

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