AN – Well, I've had this chapter written for a while now, but I had never gotten around to posting it. So sorry, and shame on me. Thanks to all who reviewed! I can't tell you how much I love them, so thank you! Ciria – I'm sure James and Sirius pulled pranks on each other, or anyone else. The way I read the Three Broomsticks scene in POA, it always seemed to me that James and Sirius did most of their 'adventures', or whatever you want to call them, themselves. Remus and Peter were, obviously, a part of the group, but they didn't do as much as the other two. Plus, when Remus mentions to Harry the number of times he saw James disappear under the cloak, again, I've always read that as Remus not taking part in things. So, in this story, it's mainly going to be James and Sirius doing all of the crazy stuff; Remus kind of separates himself because he's a werewolf, and Peter separates himself, but I won't tell you why, yet. : ) Sirius and Peter are fairly comfortable being in each other's company by now, but that will change in a few chapters. James couldn't see the tower because of where he was sitting, that's it.
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It was difficult for the boys to get used to walking under the cloak, but they soon figured out a certain way to walk that made it go a little easier.
"Uh, James, where are we going?" Sirius whispered to his friend.
"To that tower you were looking at." James whispered back.
"Yeah, but how do we get there?" Sirius asked, and James stopped. Remus, who was behind him, ran into him, causing James to stumble forward. Sirius, who didn't know that James had stopped, kept walking, until Peter grabbed his cloak and pulled him back. This caused Sirius, who had neglected to put on shoes before they left, to slip and fall, bringing Peter down with him. Remus was pulled down by the cloak that the two boys were still holding, and he fell into James, who was still trying to regain his balance. James shouted out in surprise, and they hit the ground. All four boys were now on the floor, struggling to get out from under the invisibility cloak. James managed to get out from under it first, and he looked up to see Filch's cat, Mr. Grey, looking blankly at him.
"Mr. Grey, shhh, please..." James said to the cat, but the cat let out a loud "meow". Throwing caution out the window, James yanked the cloak off the other boys and helped them up while yelling, "Run!"
Sirius was the first one up, and he ran as fast as he could to Gryffindor Tower. He reached the painting of the Fat Lady, checking behind him to see the other three boys running fast.
"Say the password!" Remus yelled. Sirius turned back to the painting and groaned when he saw she was asleep.
"Wake up!" He yelled. Behind him he could hear Filch's voice and running feet. The other three boys skidded to a halt behind him, and they started shouting the password.
"Casus belli! Hurry up!" James yelled, and the Fat Lady swung open after finally waking up.
"You didn't have to be so rude about it!" She said as they rushed inside. They slammed the door shut and collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"Never again." Peter said, trying to catch his breath.
"I don't know." James said, and the other three looked at him like he was crazy.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Remus said and stood up. Peter also stood, and he made his way to the staircase.
"I'm going to go to bed now that I've been scared to death." He said and started climbing the steps.
"Aw, Pete, it wasn't that bad!" James said, but Peter just stopped and shook his head before continuing to climb the steps.
"What did you think, Sirius?" James asked his friend, who, like him, was still lying on the floor.
"I think we should go again. Maybe not tonight." Sirius added after James broke into a wide smile.
"Yeah, we should at least plan where we're going, and, next time, please tell us when you're going to stop, James!" Remus said, and the other two laughed.
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The next day, Filch kept staring at the four boys whenever he saw them. As far as Filch was concerned, the boys should have been thrown out of the school, but Dumbledore maintained that, since the boys weren't caught, there was no proof of their guilt. The boys, especially James and Sirius, found it all very amusing, and they set off a few dungbombs that Sirius had brought from home in a hallway before they went to bed.
That night James and Sirius started to make plans for the next time they would go out. Peter feared that they would be caught again, and he refused to go.
"Remus, will you be going?" Sirius asked.
"When are you going?" Remus asked, and Sirius turned to James.
"When are we doing this?" Sirius asked and James shrugged. Sirius turned back to Remus and said, "We don't know." Remus smirked and nodded.
"All right, just let me know when we're going and what we're doing." He said and returned to his homework.
"Excellent, so we're going to have to go on a night where we can see without a lantern or anything." James said.
"That means the full moon, if the weather permits." Sirius said, and Remus's head shot up.
"What?" Remus nearly shouted before he could stop himself. Sirius and James looked up at the other boy, puzzled.
"Didn't catch that last bit, sorry." Remus said, quickly, sliding down a bit in his seat.
"Oh, I just said that if it's not cloudy we'll go on the full moon. There's more light that way, so we can see." Sirius explained, and Remus frowned.
"Why can't you just light your wands?" Remus offered, and James smacked his forehead.
"How could we forget that!" James exclaimed.
"Wow, I feel like an idiot now." Sirius said, and Remus started to laugh.
"Well, in that case, we can go tomorrow!" James said and stood up. "Now that that's taken care of, I'm off to bed."
"Did you do your homework already?" Remus asked, and James shrugged.
"Yeah, I finished it in class." He said and headed for the stairs. Remus scowled at James's retreating back, and he turned to Sirius.
"How could he finish this in class?" Remus pointed, frustrated, at his Transfiguration homework.
"What? You didn't?" Sirius asked, and Remus groaned.
"No, sorry, I'm not geniuses like you two." He said, and Sirius smirked.
"Well, I'm not the whiz that you are in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so don't worry." Sirius said and headed toward the staircase.
"G'night Remus." Sirius said, and Remus waved, mumbling about his homework. A few minutes later, which seemed like an hour to Remus, he finished his homework and went to bed.
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Potions had become the four Gryffindor boys' least favorite class. It wasn't the teacher that made it unbearable, and it wasn't working with potions, it was the Slytherins that had the class with them. One in particular, who quickly became James's enemy, was Snape. Snape was very gifted, it seemed, when it came to potions. He considered it an "art", and he often told Professor Rosse that. Snape was Professor Rosse's favorite student, and she would often praise him on his work, much to the annoyance and frustration of James.
James did well enough in the class, and he received good marks, but Professor Rosse took no notice, as she didn't with any other student besides Snape. Remus did well, but was mainly average in the class, but Sirius and Peter constantly struggled. Sirius didn't seem to have what it took to make potions, and he would always complain, saying that when he would need them, he would just have someone else make them. Peter would often get his ingredients confused, and he would constantly mess up his potion. Professor Rosse tried to help him the first few weeks of school, but she gave up, and spent the rest of her time either helping other students, who really didn't need help, or praising Snape.
The next day in class, Professor Rosse decided to pair up Gryffindor students with Slytherin students.
"It's about time you all got to know each other better." The thin witch said in response to the loud groan.
James didn't mind his partner, neither of them talked to each other, they just worked on their potion in silence. Remus made an attempt at conversation with the Slytherin girl that was his partner, but it seemed that the girl wasn't too keen on carrying on a conversation with a Gryffindor, and they also worked in silence. Sirius ignored his partner, and after a while he just sat back and let the Slytherin, who apparently knew what they were doing, do all the work. Peter, unfortunately, was paired with Snape. Remus had frowned when Professor Rosse announced this, James kept glaring at Snape, and Sirius would occasionally throw a toad liver or a rat tongue at him.
Snape held his tongue, and he didn't call Peter any names, mainly because Professor Rosse was always standing over him, admiring his work. When she had left the two alone, Snape finally turned to Peter and sneered.
"Would you mind if I just did the work?" Snape shot at the short boy, and he took Peter's ingredients without waiting for a reply. James was waiting for something like this to happened, and he started to open his mouth to say something, but Professor Rosse stopped him when she came to his table and stood over him.
"Mister Potter, going well, I presume?" She said in a cheery voice, and James put on his best smile.
"Yes, Professor." He said, and Professor Rosse tested the potion on her hand to see if it would discolor her skin like it was supposed to. The skin on her hand where she had put the drop of the potion turned a bright yellow color.
"Good work, Mister Potter." She said and left to go to another table. James sat there with his mouth open.
"Good work? That's it?" He muttered to himself, and his partner looked a little disappointed as well.
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" 'Good work!' Can you believe that! She was practically singing Snape's praises, and she only told me 'good work'!"
"James, shut up."
The four boys walked to the Common Room after their classes, and they went up to their dorm. Sirius fell onto his bed and lay sprawled out, staring at the ceiling. Remus dropped his books onto his bed, and Peter sat down.
"James," Sirius said after a minute, "why do you care if she only told you 'good work'?"
"Because." James said, as if that explained everything.
"Have you ever considered not striving to be the very best at everything?" Remus asked, and James shrugged.
"I guess it's just… My parents expect a lot from me." James said as he sat on his bed. Sirius sat up so he could look at James.
"I'm sure they're happy enough, you do really well in practically all of our classes." Sirius said.
"Perhaps you should just relax, James." Remus suggested.
"Yeah, you do fine, you really do. Look at me, what am I good at? It all comes naturally to you, James." Peter said, and James looked at the shorter boy. James knew they were right, and he knew that he shouldn't let small things get to him, but he didn't know how to change that.
"Thanks, yeah, I'll try to relax." James said, managing a weak smile. Sirius grinned and jumped out of his bed.
"So, about tonight." Sirius said, rubbing his hands in excitement. James's smile widened, and he pushed the whole conversation they just had out of his mind.
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I've got part of the next chapter already written. Please review and tell me what you think!