Remember that computer virus that I was talking about? Well, it didn't' get fixed, so I couldn't get on.So I got a new computer!!! Now I should be able to update a lot more regularly.

"I never thought one person, could be so stupid." Tess said sourly, "Or such a klutz."

She had no longer said this when a large crash sounded from behind her. Sirius had run into a suit of armor. It was the third time this night. She couldn't help but wince.

"I don't see why you care so much," her best friend stated.

"Because he's such a.a.a stupid person! He doesn't even care about what happens to other people!" Tess moaned.

"There wasn't anyone in the suit of armor; that gives him some credit."

"Lily Evans!" Tess cried out appalled. "I can't believe you're siding with him! And you call yourself my friend!"

"Just a friend? Not say, your best friend?" Lily said with a grin, purposely side-tracking.

"No difference," Tess stated, forgetting about Sirius for the time being.

"Of course there's a difference. When you're in jail, a friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Man, that was fun.'"

"Why would we be in jail?" Tess quirked.

"Hypothetically speaking." Lily said.

"Okay, "Tess said, "Hypothetically, why would we be in jail?"

Lily simply pointed to Sirius. Sirius further proved Lily's point by crashing into another suit of armor. *~*

"Tell me again what happened to our homework?" Remus asked as they walked through the halls on their way to Transfiguration, near two months after the Horacio the Huge and Hairy incident.

"It ate my umbrella," chimed in James.

"How so?" asked an unbelieving Remus.

"Well, wild creatures have a tendency to do that." Sirius stated matter a factly.

"I thought our homework was to simply turn a pillow into a book, not a living animal."

"It was."

"So why wasn't it turned into a book?"

"I messed up the charm." James sheepishly admitted.

"So why didn't you turn it into a book like it was supposed to be after you messed it up? You could have messed around until you figured out the right charm."

"Experiment on Brian? Never."

"Brian?"

"Brian. I named him."

"Ah."

"I couldn't simply conduct experiments on him."

"Why ever not?"

"There was no need. I found out the actual spell."

"And we didn't use it why?"

"James didn't want to kill it."

"It was supposed to be a book. You can't kill inadament objects."

"But we had already given life to Little Brian. That makes him alive."

"It ate your umbrella."

"Your point?"

"Doesn't that count for anything?"

"No. He's just a baby."

"You sound like Hagrid."

"So I've heard."

"From whom?"

"Hagrid."

"Why were you visiting Hagrid?"

"James made me give him Little Brian."

"Except Hagrid said Little Brian was a Brianna, not a Brian."

"That may be the saddest thing I ever heard."

"It truly is."

"So now we have no homework."

"Not true."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I happened to swipe somebody's."

"Whose?"

"Tessa's."

"I thought her name was Tess."

"It is."

"But you cal-Never mind. I don't think she'll appreciate her homework missing."

"I certainly wouldn't."

"Nor I."

"That is why she won't know it was us."

"I'm sure she knows what her book looks like."

"We switched it."

"With what?"

"A library book."

"Oh, Lord."

Remus did not have time to further his interrogation of Sirius and James because they had arrived upon their Transfiguration classroom to find a scene erupting in front of it.

"Let me down!" screamed a terrified boy, who was suspended about three feet above everyone's heads.

"Let you down?" asked a rather sinister looking Slytherin, "Okay," he said with a smirk. The chubby little boy plummeted to the ground. Remus' quick thinking saved him.

"Suspedofy!" Remus bellowed, in attempt to slow his fall. Remus misthought his spell and ended up sending the boy to a screeching halt, giving the boy whiplash, instead of cushioning his fall, causing the group of Slytherins to erupt with more laughter.

"Nice spell, Lupin." A rather greasy haired boy sneered. "Typical Gryffindor, can't even say a proper charm."

Remus instantly recognized him from class. He wouldn't have remembered him if it weren't for the simple fact that he was the teacher's favorite in Potions. His name was Severus Snape. From what he had heard about him from around the school, he hoped that he wouldn't be seeing him much during the next seven years at Hogwarts. He was utterly wrong in his prediction of course.

After eleven years of being the smallest boy in class, Peter Pettigrew had learned to pick his battles, and his friends. When a group of taller, rather menacing boys had approached him, he knew to try to duck into the Transfiguration classroom. He wasn't really the fastest boy in the world either.

While being suspended from the ceiling, a different group of boys he recognized from his house Common Room came to his rescue. It was simply a sign of the Gryffindor Bravery that he had never had.

Perhaps it was because he had never been brave, or from the fact that he was in a time of crisis, and needed saving. Or perhaps it was simply because he had been upside-down too long and all the blood was rushing to his head. No matter what way it was, Peter Pettigrew met his heroes that day. For the rest of his days at Hogwarts, he wasn't quite as quick, funny, smart, charming or good-looking as James, Sirius, and Remus, as though they were angels, and he was a fallen angel, trying to regain his way into Heaven, but he didn't care. Every time someone mentioned one of them, and ignored him, he simply thought of the day back in first year when while falling from the sky, he met the boys who became his real life heroes. *~* (A/N Aww. How sweet and fluffy! You could just eat it right up! Anyway, the purpose of this note is to explain that part above. In the Harry Potter books, it is mentioned how Peter is their friend. I'm going to try to make them as close as possible, despite what Peter does later. Okay? And by the way, I'm not going to have a ton of Author's Notes in this chapter. I promise.)

Christmas was just through the door, down the hall, and around the corner. If you had just woken up after sleeping for thousands of years, you could tell by how the school came alive, that it was Christmas. It seemed as the Holiday's crept closer, the school buzzed louder and louder.

"I think she just ran over my toe!" complained Sirius loudly, as a third year Hufflepuff whizzed by, excited after reading a letter from her parents about her Holiday plans. "Okay." James replied, uninterested. He was reading his own letter from his parents. He would be stuck at Hogwarts this year, due to a nasty bout of flu that was going through his cousins, who were coming to visit.

"What are your plans for the Break?" asked Peter, walking along side Sirius.

"Most likely going home," shrugged Sirius, as uninterested as James was. "Unless Mum's still mad about that whole putting itching powder in the laundry thing. Turns out my sister has a severe allergic reaction to the stuff."

"I thought we did that last week, here at Hogwarts." Peter said, shaking his head.

"Well, I had to give it a test run," shrugged Sirius with a grin. "What about you?"

"I'm going home," said Remus. "My mom wants some help with my little brother. Says he's a little terror."

"And you're going to help with this?" Peter quirked. "Or encourage this?"

Remus grinned, "The latter, but hey, she doesn't know this. Yet."

"Well, my holiday sounds as boring as any of yours. I'm just going home to my parents," said Peter a bit sullenly.

"I thought you said your parents would be out of town that week," Remus replied, setting down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"Yeah," shrugged Peter, "I have to go stay with my Grandparents."

James winced at the thought of this, "I can't stand my Grandparents; they always pinch my cheeks."

At this point in time, Sirius had decided to help himself to orange juice. It unfortunately had other plans in mind and spilt down the front of him. A Slytherin girl happened to walk by and started sneering, causing Sirius to throw the remained of the plate of toast at her.

*~*

A full twenty minutes later, Sirius emerged from Professor McGonagall's office, holding a note detailing when his dentition would be. Unfortunately, it was bound for the following Friday night, on which Sirius had already made plans with James, Remus, and Peter to sort out his Quidditch magazines into the piles of the one that he really liked, and the ones he just liked. Professor McGonagall could see no reason why this should supercede his detention, and issued it anyway.

"I was doing them a favor," Sirius grumbled, throwing his bag down next to James' in the Library, "No one would have eaten that toast anyway."

"Mmm.I'm sure," stated Peter, reading over his essay. "I'll assume the syrup you dumped over her head was also for the general good of Hogwarts?"

"Naturally," said Sirius, his grin slowly reappearing on his face.

"So, I suppose we're going to have to stay up until the wee hours of the night for Sirius to get back from his detention?" asked Remus.

"No need," said James, "After all, detentions only last a few hours, what could go wrong?"

*~* A very angry Sirius was glaring at a laughing James at the moment.

"Stop laughing," he said sourly, "It's not even funny,"

"It's hilarious," Remus replied from his spot on the sofa. It was 11:39 on Friday evening, and Sirius had just gotten back from his detention. His friends hadn't stopped laughing since 11:27 when he had told them what had happened.

"Now really," Peter said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, "You go down to the kitchens for a simple detention, and you come back with a second detention, and the fact that you are now banned from serving any further detentions in the kitchens. How is that not funny?"

"Well, I didn't even get to have some food while I was down there. What's up with that?" a disgruntled Sirius replied, not in the mood for such things and antics as his friends were putting forward.

"We could go get some," said James, remembering he too had a stomach. "You remember where the kitchens are at, right?" "Of course," Sirius said, "Who do I look like? Peter?"

Choosing to ignore Sirius' last comment, Peter said, "Isn't there some rule against that though?"

"Well, think about it. Within the past month, we've gotten more detentions then perhaps the entire student body of Gryffindor. We might as well get good at it." James reasoned.

"Or we could simply stop getting into trouble." Remus rationalized, not knowing if he was prepared to spend the next six-and-a-half years in detention.

"Remus does have a point," Peter argued, "I can't think of any good reason to do this, besides the fact that Sirius wants a midnight-snack."

"Oh, come off of it." Sirius almost whined, "You know you want to."

"No I don't." Peter said shortly, not willing to risk a detention over Sirius' stomach.

"We'll make a deal." James said quickly, hoping his idea would work, "We go out this one time, and if we get caught, we'll walk the straight and narrow from here on in. But if we don't." he trailed off, wondering if friends would go for it.

"We haven't even agreed to go THIS time," Peter pointed out.

"It's a deal," Remus said, shaking James' outstretched hand.

"Hey!" exclaimed Peter, wondering how his resistance had become futile.

"Just make a lot of noise," Remus whispered in his ear as they walked to the portrait hole.

The four boys crept as silently as possible, considering they had never done this before, down in the direction in which Sirius directed them to go.

"Are you sure it's down this way?" asked a worried Peter.

"Dead sure," replied Sirius matter-a-factly.

"I don't think this is how our parents envisioned our education at Hogwarts." Remus said, as they turned into a corridor.

"Perhaps not," James said, "But hey, you're only young once."

"And I would like to be able to live these years in peace," Peter said, "And not wondering if we are going to get in trouble every moment of the day."

"So we just get really good at being really bad," Sirius said, "Then we won't get as many detentions."

"Well there's a little bit of messed up Sirius-logic for you." James commented.

"I'm choosing to overlook that last remark from the peanut gallery, and point out that we have arrived upon the scene of our soon to be crime." Sirius said.

The canvas with the bowl of fruit upon it was entertaining a small girl from a different watercolor that had decided to come for a midnight snack herself. She was apparently trying to take a bite from the apple, which didn't seem to appreciate it much. She had just spotted the group of boys, when Sirius quickly reached up and tickled the pear. The portrait swung open before the girl had a chance to call out to Filch, the caretaker.

"Welcome to the Kitchens." Sirius said with a grin. He couldn't help thinking these next few years would at least be amusing ones if nothing else.

*~*

Free of any pursuers, the four boys climbed back into the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius couldn't help but grin at the fact that they had a successful mission.

"Now wasn't that the best?" asked a rather excited James, "Just.waltzing into the kitchens and wandering the halls while the entire Hogwarts populace was sleeping."

"Speaking of which, my conscience will never be clear after doing this. I will never be able to sleep," griped Peter.

"The good may be able to sleep better," Sirius said, "But the bad enjoy the waking hours much more."

"While I must admit this was an entertaining night, we have to make an appearance at breakfast tomorrow, or we might have this little transgression blamed on us," Remus said, nodding to the boy's dormitories.

Slowly the boys climbed the steps. A simple little escapade into the kitchen turned into a much bigger project. In the morning the House Elves would be in an uproar over the mess and the school would most likely follow suit. The four boys climbed into their night clothes and hopped into their beds. Unfortunately eleven-year-old boys needed more sleep than they were about to get. But in the years to come, there would be loads more nights on which there would be no sleep.

(A/N Instead of ending my story here at 10 pages, I've decided to go on because of all the nice reviews I've gotten and the fact that I haven't updated in forever.)

The next morning the school was in an uproar. Someone had placed biting teacups in the kitchens, and they were not letting up on the campaign to end fingers. The professors were slowly, one by one cursing them to pieces. Because these cups had lain dormant until the food was served, several students had been placed in the Hospital Wing until further notice. The culprits had yet to be apprehended, though a sourly looking bunch of Slytherins seemed to be a little too gleeful for the occasion.

The only people completely aware of the situation upon returning to consciousness were the four perpetrators, who didn't believe all the ruckus was just over their little prank that they had pulled the night before.

They were still grinning wildly when they reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Unfortunately, they didn't make it any further then those doors.

*~*

"No better than common thieves!" Professor McGonagall yelled at the four boys who were sitting in four very large, leather, uncomfortable chairs. "Like a bunch of marauders."

The four boys had yet to utter a word. There was no way they had expected this from the Professor, no matter what her reputation for sternness was. They were looking as though they were about to be thrown on some medieval torture system. (If Filch would have had his way, they would have been thrown on some medieval torture system.)

"A detention and ten points of Gryffindor off for each of you." McGonagall continued, hoping this would deter the boys from any further exploits in the life of crime.

"Yes, ma'am," the four of them barely squeaked out. This was the first time they had been in trouble for something that had been intentional, and they hadn't even thought of the famous Potter Charm, Black Grin, and Lupin Wit that would later get them out of quite a few trysts in the wizarding world.

They slowly slinked out of Professor McGonagall's office and headed to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"At least we'll never go through that again," Remus said, shaking his head, glad the ordeal was over.

Sirius rolled his eyes at this, "What? You don't think we'll ever get caught again?"

"No," Peter piped in, "Because we're not going to be doing anything ever again." "Why the bloody hell not?" James exclaimed, "We're not going to have a detention and forty points off of Gryffindor for no reason!"

"Yes, we are." Remus replied, "The deal was if we got caught, then we wouldn't continue, but if we didn't, we could continue."

"But we didn't get caught last night. We got caught this morning. Big difference there." Sirius put in, trying to prove his point.

"Either way, we got caught," Remus said, "And that means no more pranking."

"Awe, c'mon Remus," James complained, "We're just novices, we'll get better with time. In a couple of years maybe we won't ever get caught!"

"That I highly doubt." Remus said, sticking fast to his points.

"How about we try it for a couple of years and then see if the life of crime really for us?" Sirius suggested

"The deal was for one night!" An exasperated Peter put in.

"And now it's for two years," James said simply.

"Fine," grumbled a disgruntled Remus.

"But man, did you see McGonagall's face?" James asked.

"Like a bunch of marauders," Sirius mocked, using his best McGonagall voice.

*~*

A week had passed since the teacup incident and the detentions had been served. Trunks were packed, and everybody was ready to head home for the holidays and presents. The four boys were double checking everything, and getting into their pajamas.

"You know," said Peter, as he was climbing into his night clothes, "If we are going to be doing this, we should really get an invisibility cloak."

James snorted at this idea. "Yeah, I can imagine, 'Mum? I want an invisibility cloak for Christmas. No reason. Not like I'm going to wander around the school at night and get into trouble and places I'm not supposed to be, I just have an inclination to get one. That's all.'"

Remus and Sirius laughed. There was no way one of them would ever get their hands on an invisibility cloak.

*~*

"You got an invisibility cloak?!?" Sirius half yelled as James triumphantly held it up.

"Yup. Size Double Extra Large. Perfect for fitting more than one person underneath it," James said, grinning madly, "Dad said it is some family heirloom, and I should treat it with respect and all that."

"Forget that," Sirius said, "Think of all the things we can do now! It'll be like we're.invisible!"

"That's what invisibility cloaks usually do," James said, raising an eyebrow at his best friend's course of thought. Sirius had decided to come over to James' house on Boxing Day to give his mum a rest. James couldn't resist showing him the cloak. He could barely wait until Remus and Peter saw this. It would undeniably convince the two of them they would be able to pull the pranking off. This would definitely be an improvement on their lives.

(AN/ Okay Okay, this was a cheesy chapter but hopefully you liked it. Thanks to my beta reader Ember Firecat, and to all of you lovely reviewers! The next chapter is already in the making, so it won't take too much longer for it to come out.)