Wednesday, 6th June 1973

'You're sure you don't want to come?' Sirius asked, crossing the room to Remus' bed so he could kiss him goodbye.

Remus looked up from his Astronomy text, which he was skimming through in preparation for their exam that night. 'Positive, thank you. But say hi to Firenze for me.'

'What about you, Bubbles?' James called from beside the door. 'Last chance to change your mind.'

'No. I'm good. He might make me ride on his back again,' Peter answered with a shudder.

'I hope so. I'd actually be awake to enjoy it this time,' Sirius said. He was still annoyed that he'd been unconscious the one and only time he'd ridden a centaur. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to Remus' lips. 'Try not to work too hard while I'm not here to distract you into taking breaks.'

Remus laughed. 'I'll do my best, but only if you try not to do anything reckless without me there to talk you out of it.'

'Deal.' Sirius grinned at Remus before spinning around to join James by the door, where they both paused to try out a new phrase on the blank parchment that hung there. When they'd first started trying to crack it, they'd used logic to formulate their guesses, but over time, logic had gradually dropped out of the equation and silliness had taken over. If he were honest, Sirius was enjoying his father's responses so much, part of him didn't want to succeed.

'The secret to good health is a generous helping of mischief,' James tried.

I would argue there's more to good health than that, but it certainly helps. However, that's not the password.

'Chimaeras make terrible pets, but wonderful bodyguards,' Sirius said.

I can't imagine why you would think that's the password. Please, don't bring a chimaera home from school with you. Your mother might get ideas.

'Good advice, father. Thanks,' Sirius said with a chuckle. 'Come on, let's go.'

Since it was just the two of them, they took the slide down to the ground floor, cutting several minutes of stairs off of their journey, and donned the cloak at the bottom. It was the middle of the afternoon on a beautiful, sunny day, and they didn't want to arouse suspicion as they crossed the grounds and made their way into the Forest. Most of the students were inside, taking various exams, but the second-years had the afternoon off to prepare for the Astronomy exam at midnight, and there were small groups of them dotted around, some revising, others just enjoying the sunshine.

Sirius shrugged the cloak off once they were far enough into the trees to be hidden from view, and James stuffed it back into his pouch, before glancing around and confidently walking deeper into the Forest. 'The centaur camp is this way.'

'How do you know?'

James shrugged. 'I remember.'

Seeing no reason to doubt him, Sirius followed. Whether James was right or wrong, it was unlikely that they'd find the centaurs before the centaurs found them, and with this in mind, they made no attempt to stay quiet as they walked. They wanted to be noticed. And it didn't take long for them to get their wish.

They were close enough to the river to be able to hear the rush of the water when Sirius noticed a distinct lack of noise from the local wildlife. Even the insects had gone quiet.

'Firenze? Are you there?'

'Did you hear something?' James asked, looking around.

'No. I can't hear anything. That's the point.'

'Very observant of you, Sirius Black,' Firenze said, grinning at them as he stepped into view. 'It is good to see you both. Are you out here for a reason?'

'We came to see you, actually,' James told him, causing a delighted smile to break across the centaur's face.

'Me? Really? Why?'

'We have a bit of a problem, and we were hoping you might be able to help.'

Firenze inclined his head. 'Of course. If I can help, then our bond insists that I must do so.'

'Oh,' James said, sounding startled. 'I didn't even think of that. I don't want you to be forced to do something against your will.'

Firenze smiled. 'That is considerate of you. In that case, perhaps Sirius Black should make the request?'

'Yeah sure. I can do that,' Sirius said. 'We found out that some of the kids at school are keeping a pet Chimaera locked in a room in the castle, and we were hoping you might be able to help us safely relocate it to somewhere in the Forest?'

Firenze frowned. 'Would a teacher not be better able to assist you in this matter?'

Sirius shook his head. 'We don't want to get them into trouble if we can help it.'

'Perhaps the groundskeeper, then? He is a friend to all creatures, no matter how vicious.'

'Hagrid?' James asked. He chewed his lip in thought for a moment before continuing. 'He seems nice, but he's still an adult. I don't know if we could trust him not to report them.'

'I am not opposed to helping, but I do not know how much use I can be. The chimaera would need to be contained in a restricted area to prevent it from killing everything else in the Forest as it's not a native species…' He trailed off, tilting his head to one side. 'There is a place. It's occupied, but if the chimaera is young, it could work.'

'Occupied by what?' Sirius asked.

'A litter of Mooncubs,' Firenze said, and he must have seen the question in Sirius' eyes because, after a beat, he explained further. 'Wolf cubs conceived by two werewolves during a full moon.'

'That can happen?' Sirius asked, his stomach twisting with something dark and nauseating. It was stupid because Moony wasn't Remus. They were separate beings, but still, the thought of Remus—Moony—doing that with someone else made him burn.

Oblivious to Sirius' inner turmoil, Firenze nodded. 'I believe it is rare, but it does happen. The cubs aren't aggressive like true werewolves. If the chimaera is young enough, it may be possible to introduce her to the mooncub's pack successfully. We won't know unless we try.'

'What happens if it's not successful?' James asked. 'We don't want any of the animals to get hurt.'

'If the introduction goes badly, we would have to intervene. I believe you're both proficient at the Stunning spell?'

Sirius and James both agreed that they were, and if Remus and Peter joined them, then—along with the Hufflepuffs—there would be seven of them able to prevent any bloodshed from occurring.

'I think we have a plan then,' James said. 'We'll speak to the students tomorrow, and meet you at the edge of the Forest on Friday night, hopefully with the Chimaera. Say around midnight?'

'Friday?' Firenze asked. 'I apologise, but I'm unfamiliar with these human terms for time.'

'Ah, sorry. Friday is the day after tomorrow.'

Firenze inclined his head in understanding. 'I will wait for you at midnight, then. For now, I will escort you back to the safety of your school grounds.'

'That would be great. Thanks,' James said with a grin.

They returned to school in time to meet Remus and Peter in the Great Hall for dinner before retiring to their dorm to take a nap so they'd all be rested and alert for the Astronomy exam at midnight. Sirius found the test just as easy as the year before, as did Peter—no surprises there; astronomy played an important role in potion brewing—but Remus and James both thought they'd made a few mistakes that would lose them some marks.

Thursday went by quickly with the morning spent on their written Charms exam, which turned out to be a little more difficult than Transfiguration—mostly because they hadn't studied the theory as much—but they were all confident they'd at least passed. And after lunch, Remus retreated to the library to look up climate spells for Peter, while Sirius, James, and Peter headed to the Training grounds for their Flying exam. Needless to say, Sirius and James had no trouble with the course Madam Hooch had designed, and Peter did very well too, finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack.

They went to dinner early that afternoon to make sure they wouldn't miss the Hufflepuffs, and when James spotted them taking seats in the Great Hall, he and Sirius left to wait for them in the dungeons, while Remus and Peter lingered to let them know when they were on the way.

Waiting was interminably boring, and Sirius almost whooped with relief when he heard Remus' voice in his head twenty minutes later. They're on their way to you now.

'It's drinking time,' Sirius said, pulling the vial of burnt orange polyjuice from his pocket.

'Finally,' James responded with a sigh of relief, taking out his own dose and pulling out the stopper.

A few minutes after they transformed, and mere seconds after they'd finished sorting out their clothes to fit their taller frames, the three Hufflepuffs rounded the corner, their eyes widening with surprise when they spotted the two identical women waiting for them.

'Good afternoon,' James called, letting them know that they were indeed waiting for them. 'Dani, Cole, and Arie, isn't it?'

'Um, yeah?' Cole answered for all of them. 'How do you know that?'

'We're the Marauders,' Sirius said. 'It's our business to know.'

'And we know about Cookie, too,' James added.

'Shit,' Dani said under her breath, then louder. 'Are you going to report us?'

'We will if you force us to, but we'd rather handle this without involving any adults.'

'What do you mean?' Arie asked, frowning. 'You can't take her away from us. I won't let you.'

Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'You think you could stop us?'

'Quiet, Arie,' Cole hissed. 'You're going to make it worse.'

'Look,' James said. 'We don't want to upset you or get you into trouble. But we can't let you carry on keeping her inside the school. She's dangerous. You must realise that?'

'Just because you run the Hogwarts' Games doesn't mean you're in charge of us,' Arie said, pushing past them to get to the door. 'You can't tell us what to do. Now if you don't mind. Cookie's waiting for her dinner.'

'And did Cookie do that to your arm?' James asked. 'Is that what happens when she isn't fed on time?'

Arie pulled her sleeve down to cover the thick scar and scowled at James 'It was an accident. She'd didn't mean it.'

'Maybe not, but if she can do that by accident as a baby, imagine what she might do to the other kids here if she escaped once she's fully grown.'

Pulling out her wand, Arie began the process of dismantling the enchantments protecting the door, and Sirius listened carefully to the incantations she was muttering. If the Hufflepuffs wouldn't agree to the plan, they might need to break in to take Cookie by force.

'She won't escape,' Cole said. 'You can see how well protected the door is.'

James nodded. 'You've done a fantastic job of protecting the room, but someone could come along and find it locked. They could get curious and work out how to break through your protections, and then what would happen?'

'Cookie would attack them for invading her territory, and once they're incapacitated, she'd leave. She'd go on a rampage through the castle until someone managed to kill her.'

Dani gasped and Cole looked stricken, but Arie just pushed the door open. 'She's perfectly tame. See for yourself.'

A menacing growl drifted out from the open doorway, and Sirius raised an eyebrow. 'Sure doesn't sound tame.'

'She's just saying hello. Don't be a coward,' Arie said, giving him a mocking glance before marching into the room and closing the door behind her.

Dani winced. 'Sorry about her.'

'It's okay,' Sirius said. 'She's just lashing out because she's scared.' He did it himself often enough to recognise it for what it was.

James wrinkled his nose. 'Dammit. We royally screwed that up, didn't we? Think we can fix it?'

'It's us. Of course, we can fix it. Stay here and give me a minute to talk to her,' Sirius said. And with a toss of his currently long, blonde hair, he followed Arie into the chimaera's room.

'Er, you probably shouldn't go in there,' James called after him, but it was too late for that. Sirius had already pushed the door open and stepped inside, coming face to face with the infamous Cookie. She really was just a baby, small enough to pick up, but big enough to rip your face off if she was so inclined. And it seemed she was.

The moment Sirius locked eyes with her, she lowered her body into a crouch and growled at him, her dragon-like tail swishing through the air behind her, and Sirius drew his wand in response, the incantation for the Stunning spell at the front of his mind. She was intimidating, for sure, but intimidation was relative when one had faced down a werewolf and survived to tell the tale.

'Hello, Cookie. It's nice to meet you.'

It seemed like Cookie understood, or maybe she just recognised the sound of her name, because her ears perked up and the swish of her tail slowed.

'That's right. Good girl. I'm not going to hurt you,' Sirius said, keeping his tone calm and soothing. 'I'm here to help. I can't imagine you like being trapped in this cold stone box, do you? You're supposed to live outside under the sky, with space to run and hunt.'

Arie had been glaring at him, but she lowered her eyes to the floor at his words and chewed her lip.

Sirius decided to double down on the guilt since it seemed to be having an effect on her. 'I know you love her, Arie, but she's a wild creature. This is cruel.'

'If you take her away, I'll never see her again,' Arie said, wrapping her arms around Cookie and hugging her close. With a sniff, she buried her face in the thick fur around Cookie's throat, hiding her tears. Surprisingly, the chimaera not only tolerated the treatment but seemed to actually enjoy it, turning her head to lick Arie's face like a dog.

'We've found her somewhere to live in the Forest. It's big and safe, and you'll be able to visit her. Well, if you're brave enough, but I don't think that's going to be a problem for you, is it?'

Arie huffed a laugh through her tears, wiping her eyes with another sniff. 'No, that wouldn't be a problem.' She went silent for a moment, scratching Cookie behind the ears before looking back up at Sirius. 'You're sure? That she'd be safe? There are dangerous animals in the Forest, and she's just a baby. She's got no one to protect her.'

Offering her a reassuring smile, Sirius moved closer, keeping his eye on Cookie as he did so. The chimaera watched him intently but allowed him to take a seat on the floor beside Arie.

'I think Cookie is more than a match for almost everything that lives in the Forest. And the place we've found for her is a long way from anything that might be too much for her to handle. It's protected with magic, and she wouldn't be alone. We plan to introduce her to a pack of mooncubs that live there. Do you know what they are?'

Arie nodded.

'We hope that she's young enough that the mooncubs will adopt her into their pack as their own. Our centaur friend thinks there's a good chance of it working, and if not, we can bring her back until we think of something else. How does that sound?'

'You're friends with a centaur?' Arie blurted. 'Sorry. I mean, that sounds kind of perfect, actually, but you're friends with a centaur?'

'Two actually,' Sirius said, chuckling. 'Sort of. Feodair tolerates us, but Firenze is definitely a friend.'

'That's so cool. I've always wanted to meet a centaur.'

Sirius grinned. 'Well, your dream is about to come true, because Firenze is meeting us tomorrow night to help us take Cookie to her new home. If you agree, that is.'

Arie's smile disappeared, and she hugged Cookie again, kissing the top of her head between her ears. 'I'll miss seeing her every day, but you're right. It's cruel to keep her here when she has somewhere better to go. Tomorrow night, you said?'

Sirius nodded. 'We're meeting Firenze at midnight on the edge of the Forest. So we should probably meet here to collect Cookie at half-past eleven.'

With a heavy sigh, Arie closed her eyes briefly and looked at the floor before visibly steeling herself and giving a firm nod. 'Alright. At least I get one last day with her. I'll make it a good one.'

'And just think,' Sirius said, thinking a little humour would help her to collect herself. 'This will give you a huge advantage in next year's Creature Hunt. Together, Cookie and the mooncubs are worth twenty points, and you'll know exactly where to find them.'

As he'd hoped, Arie laughed. 'We're so going to win.'

'I'll be extremely disappointed if you don't,' Sirius said, climbing to his feet. 'Right, I'm going to tell the others what we've decided. I'm sure your friends will join you in a minute. I'll see you tomorrow, Arie.'

'Yeah, thanks… um, what's your name?'

Sirius laughed. 'That's a secret, I'm afraid, but you can call me T.'

'Alright, thanks, Tee. And sorry… for before.'

'You're welcome,' Sirius said, pulling the door open. He stepped through and closed it behind him, giving James a smile.

'Good to see you're still alive,' James said, grinning back at him.

'Cookie and I came to an understanding. And Arie's agreed to the plan. Did you explain it to these two?'

James nodded. 'They're on board.'

'Excellent. We'll all meet here at half-past eleven tomorrow night, then.'

With the Hufflepuffs convinced and the plans made, Sirius and James returned to the dorm for a well-deserved rest, leaving the Hufflepuffs to feed their pet and say their goodbyes.

The next day, they spent a sweaty morning in the Greenhouse taking the Herbology exam, and a boring afternoon in a stuffy classroom answering questions about the History of the Magical world, which triggered funny memories of full moons spent under the Shrieking Shack and caused Sirius, James, and Peter to keep breaking into giggles in the middle of the silent classroom, much to the confusion of the other second-years. As soon as they were free, the boys dumped their school things in the dorm and changed into muggle clothes and, taking only what they needed for the purposes of sneaking, they made their way to the statue of Gregory the Smarmy.

It took more than an hour of hunting through the jumble of stock at Dervish and Banges, but eventually, they managed to find a pet carrier large enough to hold Cookie, which they paid for using the Marauders' communal funds.

'Drink before we go back?' James suggested as they exited the shop. He checked his watch. 'Actually, it's already dinner time. We might as well eat here.'

'Sounds good to me,' Peter agreed. 'I'm starving.'

'I'm not sure,' Remus said, chewing his lip as he looked at the pub. 'What if Madam Rosmerta says something?'

'She won't,' James assured him. 'She's cool. I promise.'

'And if she did, we'd just stun everyone,' Sirius said with a shrug.

'Better than killing them all, I suppose,' Remus said with a laugh. 'You're improving, Twinkles.'

'I do my best, Moonbeam. Anything for you.' Sirius pulled him in for a kiss, lingering until the sound of James clearing his throat made them break apart.

'Food now. Snogging later,' he said once he had their attention.

'Spoilsport,' Sirius replied, sticking his tongue out at him. But they fell into step and a few minutes later, Peter pushed the door of the Three Broomsticks open and led them inside.

The pub was busy, but they spotted an empty booth in the corner and made a beeline for it, taking turns to slide onto the bench seat. Sirius was the last to sit, and as he lowered himself down, he caught Madam Rosmerta's eye and she gave him a nod.

After they'd spent a few minutes perusing the menu, she strolled over with a sheet of parchment and a quill floating in the air beside her. 'What can I get you, loves?' she asked, smiling at each of them in turn. 'Four Butterbeers, and..?'

The quill scribbled down their orders as they spoke them, and when they were done, Madam Rosmerta snatched the parchment out of the air, pocketing it before banishing the quill with a flick of her wand. 'I'll be back with your drinks in a few.'

She bustled away, and James nudged Remus with his shoulder. 'See, told you she was cool.'

'Yeah, guess I was worried about nothing.'

'How unusual for you,' Peter said with a smirk. 'You're normally such a go-with-the-flow kind of person.'

'Fuck off,' Remus said, laughing. 'Like you can talk.'

'Just because I have the same problem doesn't mean I can't make fun of you for it,' Peter replied with a careless shrug.

Remus smirked and leaned across the table. 'Looking forward to our midnight trip into the pitch-black forest tonight, are you, Bubbles? I wonder if we'll finally get to meet the acromantula…'

The shudder that ran through Peter's body at the suggestion was so bad that he almost toppled over from it. 'That was a low blow, Moony,' he said, once he'd composed himself. 'Cruel even. Which makes you my sacrificial lamb. If we do meet the acromantula, I'm shoving you in its path to distract it while I run for my life.'

Remus tilted his head to the side, considering Peter's words. 'That seems fair.'

'Nah,' Sirius said. 'I vote for James to be the sacrifice.'

'What? Why me? What did I do?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Nothing. But I can't sacrifice Remus for obvious reasons, and Peter's potion-making skills are useful.'

'We could sacrifice the Hufflepuffs, you know?' James pointed out. 'It doesn't have to be one of us.'

'That is a good point. Alright, new plan. If we meet the acromantula tonight, each of us shoves one of the Hufflepuffs at it before we run.'

'Not very Gryffindor, is it?' Remus pointed out.

'It's an acromantula, Moonbeam. No one can be expected to be brave and chivalrous in the face of such a monster. Not even Gryffindors.'

At that moment, Madam Rosmerta returned with their drinks and handed them out before giving James a wink. 'Big party coming up, is there?'

'What?' James said, then he shook his head. 'Oh, right. Yeah, on Sunday. End-of-term send-off.'

'I thought so. You overpaid me, by the way. I left your change in the cellar. Make sure you grab it on your way back to school.'

'Oh. No. That was a tip. To say thank you for being a good sport.'

'There's no need for that, but I won't insult you by refusing it. Thank you.'

James smiled up at her. 'You're welcome.'

'Well then. Enjoy your drinks. I'll bring your food over as soon as it's ready.'

It was four full and satisfied Marauders that made their way back to Hogwarts via the Three Broomsticks cellar an hour later. Madam Rosmerta had refused payment for their meal, stating heroes ate for free in her establishment, and ushered them through the door to the cellar, waving them off with a cheery, 'Enjoy your party, lads. I hope it's a good one.'

Not knowing how long their midnight trip into the Forest might take, they decided to get some sleep before they left and went to bed as soon as they returned to the dorm. Sirius and Remus cuddled up together in Sirius' bed, and Remus fell asleep within seconds, his breathing evening out and his body relaxing in Sirius' arms.

James woke them all up at eleven o'clock, and they crept down to the dungeons, crowded together under the cloak, making a stop at the Den on the way to drink some Polyjuice. Their current stock lasted about three hours, which should be more than enough time, but they each took a backup vial in their pockets just in case their return was delayed.

As they approached the door to Cookie's room, the quiet murmur of voices drifted out through the gap in the door, which had been left ever so slightly ajar.

James glanced at the others and knocked gently as he called through the gap in a whisper, 'Hey, it's only us.'

'Come in,' Arie called back.

Cookie growled at the newcomers as they walked in, but as she had the day before, seemed to take her cue from her human friends and didn't attack. She did, however, watch them warily, and they stayed by the door, not wanting to stress her more than they had to.

'So here's the plan,' James said, keeping his voice low and soothing so Cookie wouldn't get upset. 'When you're ready, one of us will stun Cookie and place her in the carrier. Then we'll take her to her new home and revive her. We're confident the mooncubs will accept her, but if not, there are enough of us to stun them all before Cookie can be hurt. If that happens, we'll bring her back here and come up with a new plan.'

'Do we have to stun her?' Arie asked.

Sirius nodded. 'It'll be better for her that way. She won't like being in the box, and the stunning spell doesn't hurt. I'm sure you've experienced it yourself in class.'

'She's right, Arie. It won't hurt her,' Dani said. She looked up at Sirius. 'Can you give us a couple of minutes to say goodbye?'

'Of course.'

The Marauders filed out of the room, giving the Hufflepuffs some privacy for what would probably be a tearful parting, and waited to be called back in. Barely two minutes passed before the summons came, and Sirius told the others to wait for him. It would be easier on Cookie if there was only one new person in the room, especially since the four of them looked and smelled identical right then, which must be confusing for her.

'Hey,' he said, closing the door behind him. 'Are you ready?'

Arie was seated on the floor with her back against the wall and Cookie curled in her lap, and Dani and Cole were on either side of her. All of them had red eyes and tear tracks on their cheeks. But they nodded, even as Arie's arms visibly tightened around the chimaera.

'Be gentle?'

'Of course,' Sirius said, approaching slowly. He crouched down next to them and moved his wand so the tip was almost touching Cookie's back. He didn't want the light of the spell to spook her. 'Stupefy,' he whispered, and Cookie immediately went floppy in Arie's arms.

'She's asleep,' Sirius called, letting the others know they could come in, and a moment later, one of them was next to him with the carrier. He couldn't tell who it was by sight alone, but the way they smiled at him when he made eye contact made him think it was Remus.

They loaded Cookie into the box, latching the little door closed securely, and Cole and Dani picked it up between them.

'Right,' someone (James?) said. 'We need to be quick and quiet. If we get caught now, we'll probably be expelled. And none of us wants that.'

Sneaking out to the forest with three Hufflepuffs and a baby chimaera in tow was possibly the most nerve-racking after-hours excursion Sirius had ever made, but they made it to the treeline without a hitch and once they were safely hidden from the windows of the school, he breathed a sigh of relief.

'Good evening,' Firenze's voice said from deep within the trees when they came to a stop. The Hufflepuffs all jumped and looked towards the voice with wide eyes, but the Marauders all grinned, except for one, who looked a little apprehensive (Sirius made a mental note; that one was Peter).

'Hi, Firenze,' one of them (definitely James) said. 'Come out. You're scaring the Hufflepuffs.'

There was a chuckle, and Firenze emerged from the trees, smiling broadly. 'My apologies. I could not resist. You must be the chimaera keepers.'

'Guys, this is Firenze,' James said. 'Firenze, this is Dani, Cole, and Arie.' He pointed to each of them in turn before indicating the box. 'And that's Cookie.'

Firenze moved closer, bending to look inside the pet carrier. 'Ah, yes. She should be young enough. I don't think we're going to have any problems. Shall we go?'

They made an odd group as they strolled through the Forest to the protected zone—four identical women, one teenage centaur, and three children carrying a chimaera—but a few minutes into the journey, Arie found her courage and engaged Firenze in a conversation which they all soon joined in on and the time passed quickly.

A howl, followed by two more, made them all fall silent, and they all looked at Firenze, who smiled reassuringly back at them. 'I think they've noticed our approach. There is no need to worry. They won't hurt you if you're not a threat.'

And that's when Sirius spotted them, three pairs of eyes, glowing in the reflected moonlight through the trees.

Firenze stopped, holding out an arm to keep everyone from moving any closer, and his voice was low when he spoke. 'Give Cookie to…' he paused before pointing at the person Sirius knew to be Remus, 'this Marauder.'

'Why?' Arie asked.

'Trust me,' was all Firenze said before turning to Remus. 'Take her out and place her on the ground about halfway between us and them. Revive her and then back away. Do not turn your back on the mooncubs.'

Remus nodded and took the pet carrier from the Hufflepuffs. Sirius saw his throat bob as he swallowed, but a moment later his spine straightened and he began moving slowly towards the mooncubs. For several seconds, Sirius heard no one in the group take a breath as they watched Remus lower the pet carrier to the ground, open the door on the front and lift out the peacefully sleeping Cookie before placing her on the ground. Reaching around to his hip, he drew his wand and pressed it against the fur at her neck.

Due to the darkness of the forest, they were able to make out a dim flash of light as Remus cast the spell to revive the chimaera, and he immediately straightened and backed away quickly as Cookie lifted her head and shook out her juvenile mane.

The mooncubs watched all this unfold from the trees, slinking closer until Sirius could make out the shape of their bodies in the darkness, but their body language remained non-aggressive, ears pricked up with curiosity and tails wagging. As soon as Remus began to back up, they whined and moved closer, sniffing the air, and Cookie stiffened, jumping to her feet and crouching defensively.

Cookie's response made the Mooncubs pause, cocking their heads in question, and there was a collective intake of breath in the group of watching humans, each of them raising their wands, but the mooncubs merely glanced at each other, their whining growing in volume as they tucked their tails between their legs and flattened their ears.

'Wait,' Firenze cautioned, quietly.

Cookie's ears perked back up, and she straightened a little, sniffing the air, before drawing back up to her full height. The mooncubs took that as a signal, yipping happily and moving closer to sniff at the newcomer in their territory. It was difficult to see what was happening in the blur of fur and scales, but there were no noises of distress, so Sirius assumed the greetings were going well.

It only lasted a few seconds before the animals broke apart and the mooncubs turned to walk back into the trees, with Cookie following. Just before she went out of sight, she paused and looked back briefly and the Hufflepuffs all waved, then she turned around, breaking into a run to catch up with her new friends.

'That went very well,' Firenze said, quietly. 'I think she's going to be very happy here.'

'They definitely seemed to like her,' James agreed, before turning to the Hufflepuffs, who were huddled together. 'Are you guys okay?'

'We'll be alright,' Cole answered for all of them. 'It was the right thing to do. We're just going to miss her.'

'Where did you get her, anyway?' Sirius asked, triggering Arie to recount the tale of how she'd discovered an abandoned chimaera nest while staying in Greece during the Easter holidays. Apparently, chimaeras don't leave their nests until their eggs have hatched unless there's a threat. So, concerned, Arie searched the immediate area and found the mother's body, ripped apart and half-eaten by Merlin knows what. Realising the eggs wouldn't survive without her, she'd taken all three of them and brought them back to school with her, but only one of them had hatched. Sirius was privately glad about that, not to mention relieved that Arie hadn't come across whatever the hell had killed the mother chimaera.

And they called Gryffindors reckless.

It was close to 2 am by the time they crawled back into their beds and they all slept late the next day, missing breakfast entirely. Thankfully, it was a Saturday, so they didn't need to worry about classes; exams were over, so there was no schoolwork to do; and everything was already set up for the party the following day. The only thing they had to do was work on Peter's potion, and for what they had in mind, a decent night's rest was needed.

After spending a few luxurious minutes making sure Remus knew just how much he enjoyed kissing him, Sirius stumbled his way to the bathroom and took a shower before parking himself in front of the mirror to sort out his bird's nest of a hairdo. He was halfway through the process of taming it when he noticed, freezing for a moment before turning his head one way, then the other, and back again.

It wasn't possible.

But he was certain.

His ears were definitely bigger than they had been the night before and they were sticking out at a more severe angle than they used to. But why? Why would anyone go to the effort of cursing his ears, of all things?

Peter was rubbing the sleep from his eyes when Sirius burst from the bathroom wailing, 'Moony! Why didn't you tell me?'

'Tell you what?' Remus asked, sounding thoroughly confused.

'About my ears?'

Peter drew back his bed curtains in time to see Remus frowning at Sirius, who had his hands covering his ears.

'What about them?'

'Don't pretend you didn't notice.'

'I'm not pretending.'

'They're bigger! And they stick out like… like,' Sirius looked around wildly for inspiration. '… like James',' he finished, pointing at James, who was sitting on his bed staring at them with a book resting in his lap. It looked like one of the ones on soul magic Professor Tenebris had given him.

'Rude,' James said. 'You try wearing glasses your entire life and see how much yours stick out.'

'Let me see,' Remus said, his tone far more patient than Peter could have managed. Really, Sirius needed to get a grip. These meltdowns over his appearance were getting old.

It took Remus a good half a minute to coax Sirius into dropping his hands, but when he finally lowered them, Remus held his head in both hands and turned it from side to side, thoroughly inspecting his ears before releasing him.

'They look as perfect as always.'

'They don't,' Sirius insisted. 'How can you not see it?'

Remus shrugged. 'I don't know what to tell you. They don't look any different to me.'

'Maybe it's some kind of perception spell,' Sirius said, walking over to the mirror by the door for another look. 'So only I can see it. But that doesn't make sense. You can all see my hair and the spots, and… well, maybe it's a different person behind it this time.'

Peter exchanged a glance with James and Remus, all of them rolling their eyes and shaking their heads in despair, but it was James that spoke up.

'I thought we'd put this to rest, Twinkles. No one is cursing you.'

Sirius whirled around. 'That was before. How can this be anything else?'

'Are you sure you're not… you know? Imagining it?'

'I'm not,' Sirius said, annoyed enough to stamp his foot. 'I know what my ears look like, James, and they don't look like this.' He pointed at his ears with both hands.

James sighed. 'Alright. We'll look into it, okay? But not today. We've got plans, remember? The full's next week and today's the last chance for us to get this done in time.'

Sirius glanced at Remus, the corners of his mouth turning down. 'Well, yeah, I didn't mean we had to do something about it today.'

'We could wait until after the summer to try again,' Remus said, because of course he did. The self-sacrificing fool that he was. 'A few more months isn't going to make much of a difference to me.'

'Don't be ridiculous, Moonbeam. This is much more important than my ears.'

'Too right,' James agreed. 'Go get ready, Bubbles. We can't do anything without you.'

So Peter obediently climbed out of his bed and went to shower before they all headed downstairs for an early lunch. While there, Peter spoke to Mary, making arrangements to attend the end-of-year party with her, and James took the opportunity to let Lily know that Cookie had been taken care of. The girls all knew about Lily and James' investigation into Sunshine's identity (but not about the werewolf) and when James mentioned the protected area of the Forest, Dorcas lit up like a Christmas tree.

'Ooh, Marls and I have been there. Aren't the mooncubs gorgeous?'

'We couldn't see them very well in the dark,' James told her. 'But I'm sure you're right.'

'I think they're fascinating,' Dorcas said. 'That such a beautiful creature can come from such a horrific disease. Nature really is incredible sometimes.'

'I don't understand how it works,' Lily said. 'How can a human give birth to a wolf?'

Dorcas shook her head. 'They don't. The human and the wolf are separate beings. The wolf gets pregnant, and the human carries the baby when they turn back, but it won't be born until the full moon two months later.'

'Isn't that dangerous?' Lily asked. 'What if the wolf cub scratches or bites the woman?'

'It's so rare, there's not much information about it, but I would guess the woman's magical core protects her somehow.'

Lily nodded. 'That makes sense.'

Remus was looking distinctly uncomfortable at the conversation, and Peter tried to think of something to change the subject, but Sirius got there first.

'You know what we should do to make this party more interesting? Sorry, I realise that was a very sudden change of subject, but I got excited.'

'If the next words out of your mouth are "get drunk" then I am going to slap you,' James said. 'As successful as the Christmas incident was for you, I really don't think you should try it again.'

Sirius laughed. 'No, it's… Lily, do you have much polyjuice left?'

Lily raised her eyebrows, clearly not having expected that question. 'Yeah, at least ten doses. Why?'

'Excellent, we'll only be needing eight. I thought we could play a game. See how well we all know each other?'

'What sort of game?' Marlene asked, sounding suspicious.

'We get eight doses of potion—we'll put them in opaque bottles so we can't see the colours—each of us adds some hairs to one of them, and then we mix them up and hand them out, right?'

'So we each have a dose, but none of us will know whose?' Lily said.

'Exactly, then we go into a room that has more than one door… we can just use our dorm, actually. We start in the bathroom, one of us goes into the dorm, takes the polyjuice and leaves, then the next one goes out, and so on. Then we have as long as the potion lasts—'

'About an hour and a half,' Lily interrupted.

'—to decide who everyone really is. We write our answers down before the potion wears off and see who got the most right. Winner gets bragging rights.'

'You'll only need seven,' Remus said. 'You know I'm not going to the party.'

'Six,' Dorcas said. 'I'm not going either.'

'Well, I think it sounds like a good laugh,' Marlene said. 'Count me in.'

'What's to stop people, you know, taking advantage of the situation?' Lily asked.

'You mean looking at things they shouldn't?' James asked. 'I don't know. Honour? Respect? Trust?'

'What about clothes?' Mary asked. 'What we're wearing might not fit after we've transformed, and we won't know who we're changing into in advance.'

'I can help with that part,' Remus said. 'Since I'm not playing. You all can choose an outfit and leave them in the dorm. I'll make a note of which potion colour is who, and then when you come in to transform, you can change into the right outfit first.'

'Perfect,' Sirius said, grinning. 'So apart from Remus and Dorcas, is everyone in?'

James, Marlene, and Mary all nodded, and Lily said, 'Yeah, alright. It could be fun pretending to be someone else for a while.'

Peter looked at them all, thinking. He didn't think any of them would make fun of his body if they got his polyjuice, and Remus would make sure that the person that turned into him was respectful about it when it came to putting on his clothes before they transformed. 'Yeah, why not? I like winning things.'

'You can't act for shit,' Sirius said. 'We all know I'm going to win.'

'Ah, but it's not the acting that matters. It's your ability to notice the little things, and that's what I'm good at.'

Mary laughed. 'You and me both. Want to team up?'

'Only if we can figure out who each other is first.'

'No fair,' Sirius said. 'No teaming up allowed.'

That triggered a discussion about what was and wasn't allowed (teaming up, no; embarrassing the person you were impersonating, yes; getting them into trouble, no), and Remus offered to enchant some parchment for them so it couldn't be written on after a certain time (to keep anyone from cheating).

Once lunch was over, the two groups went their separate ways, the girls saying they "had things to do" which was mysterious and intriguing, but saved the boys from being equally mysterious and intriguing, so they didn't ask questions. After a quick stop at the Den to grab everything they needed, spreading the weight equally amongst their bags, the Marauders headed to the fourth floor and through the mirror to the cave.

It was the only private location they had that was big enough for what they needed to do, but Peter was a little concerned about the weakened ceiling of the passage. Hopefully, it wouldn't collapse, but if it did, they would just have to go back to school via Hogsmeade. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

The plan was simple. Or as simple as a Marauder plan ever was, anyway. Peter, Sirius, and James would work on brewing the potion while Remus cast the spell to conjure a storm. It was a much stronger version of the spell they'd used on the Malediction, made more complicated because Remus would be linking it to his own emotions, but he didn't want it to follow him. The most difficult part would be for him to become furious at the exact right moment. But he assured them he could do it.

To make sure the lightning would strike the potion and not somewhere else, they'd rigged up a makeshift lightning rod set perpendicular in a glass lid which fit the top of their homemade cauldron perfectly. Sirius had a, quite frankly, enormous umbrella to hold while they were brewing, but the lid would keep the rainwater out of the potion when they had to step away.

Before they started, they cleared away the tent and took everything they didn't need out into the passage (well away from the weakened part of the ceiling just in case), making sure there was nothing in the cave that would attract the lightning other than the cauldron and work table, and then they spent thirty minutes prepping all the ingredients in advance, until, finally, there was nothing left to do but brew.

'Are we all ready?' Sirius asked, grinning at them as if this was the best fun he'd had in years.

'Slightly, very terrified,' Peter answered. 'But yeah, I think so.'

'It's going to be fine,' James said, patting him on the back in a reassuring manner. 'Moons knows what he's doing.'

'Glad you have so much faith in me,' Remus said, pulling out his wand. 'Wish I felt as confident as you sound.'

Sirius grabbed the umbrella and opened it. 'Whenever you're ready, Moonbeam.'

At first, it was fine. They got through quite a few steps as the clouds formed above their heads, soft and fluffy in the beginning, but gradually growing darker and angrier as Remus thought about Merlin knows what to create the necessary emotion to cause a storm. Each time Peter took a second to glance his way, his frown was deeper and the expression in his eyes was darker. Things became a little more difficult when the clouds broke and the rain poured down around them. It was loud and made it hard to hear each other, but the umbrella did its job, keeping the water off of them, and off of the ingredients still waiting to be added, but most importantly, it kept the rain out of the potion. Even the smallest amount of additional water could throw off the balance and ruin it.

'Almost time, Moony,' Peter shouted when he was getting ready to add the murtlap tentacles. 'Are you ready?'

'Yes,' Remus snapped, and the rain increased in volume. Peter didn't take it personally.

James was already holding the cauldron lid with the added lightning rod, and Peter picked up the dish of finely diced murtlap tentacles, watching the pink simmering potion for the right moment. The moment the potion swirled from pink to purple, he dumped the contents in the centre and ran. He was the slowest of all of them, so he couldn't afford to wait. He heard James bang the lid down, and then the sound of running feet behind him, followed by a scream of absolute rage from Remus.

They all turned the corner, hands covering their ears right as there was a blinding flash of light and a deafening bang. Peter blinked, and his vision returned in time for him to see Sirius grab Remus by the arms and pull him into a passionate snog.

'Is now really the time?' he choked out, laughing with relief that they were still alive. Either the sound of the lightning had actually deafened him, or the rain had stopped because there was no sound coming from inside the cave.

Sirius pulled back and smirked. 'How else did you expect me to calm him down, so we'd only get the one bolt of lightning?'

James laughed. 'Fucking brilliant. Let's go see if it worked, shall we?'

The cave ceiling had survived, thankfully, and they were able to jog back in without a problem. There were no clouds left. The only sign that they'd ever been there in the first place was the sopping wet ground. But best of all, the cauldron was still in one piece, and the fire below it hadn't gone out. Peter hurried over and used the sleeve of his robe to cover his hand as he gingerly reached for the lid. It was warm, and the glass had cracked, but it didn't burn him through the fabric, so he gripped it properly and lifted it off, staring down into the liquid.

'It's silver,' he said, pulling his wand out to tap the rune for low heat.

'What colour is it supposed to be?' James asked.

'Silver,' Peter confirmed, looking up to grin at Remus. 'It worked, Moony.'

'It's finished?' Remus asked, eyes wide. 'Really?'

Peter nodded, smiling broadly. There were butterflies going crazy in his stomach. Nothing had ever made him feel this good about himself before. 'It just needs to simmer for a few more minutes until it takes on a golden tint, and then we can bottle it.'

'Holy shit,' Remus said. 'If it works… Holy shit, Bubbles.'

Sirius hugged him, hard, before pulling back with a grin. 'You're a genius, Bubbles!'

'I could literally kiss you. I'm so happy,' James agreed.

'Um, please don't,' Peter said, stepping away from James and his puckered lips.

'Fine, how about a huge bag of goodies from Honeyduke's instead?'

Peter grinned. 'That sounds like a much better reward.'