Disclaimer: I don't own the Marauders, and I don't care about anyone else.

I want Order of the Phoenix so that this can all be proved wrong.

Sirius

It's a simple spell. Remus knew it, but wouldn't try it. He wasn't sure whether we should do magic outside of school. Obviously, he was in shock and completely panicked. He had no idea what to do.

Peter didn't know it, but I taught it to him. He picked up on it quickly.

I had to keep calm. For Prongs, I told myself. For Prongs. For James.

I had James' wand. His parents had handed it to me shakily, his mother crying. Do you think it could be the Dark Lord, Sirius? They were asking me. Me. I felt like a weight had been dropped on my shoulders. Usually it's in Dungbombs.

But this was James' life we were talking about.

I hadn't answered them.

Remus

Sirius arrived just after Peter did, to be followed shortly by Dumbledore.

I was panicked. And Albus Dumbledore was in my house.

My mother practically fainted. Dumbledore had a potion, for strength, and he gave it to me. My father thanked him pompously and my mother babbled with tears in her eyes. She loved James. He was a good influence, she said. I had snorted.

Sometimes I hated my parents.

Sirius used a Locator on the letter just before Dumbledore arrived. It didn't work. I sat on the edge of my bed, dressed in an untidy manner that Sirius might have approved of some other time. Peter was wringing his hands and shooting suggestions every way, Sirius looked like he was on drugs, blinking and looking around and jumping if anyone touched him, and I pretended not to have seen him wipe his face, from sweat or tears. Whatever it was, he was ashamed of it. We were, respectively, sixteen and seventeen. We were boys. We didn't cry.

I think it was tears.

Peter

I couldn't help but wonder if we'd ever see him again.

The thought made my eyes sting. I wouldn't cry, but I could come close. I wasn't any good to them. I kept trying to think of something, but without much effect, Sirius just kept tapping his feet and shaking his head, eyes darting around.

Remus was the good-natured one, and Sirius was the witty one, but James was the one who would listen and give advice. Remus would too, but more reluctantly. James was a better teacher, as well - he simply knew more. Remus and Sirius were both brilliant too, but neither of them were really teachers.

It was James who had stayed up all night when Sirius and he were ahead on becoming Anamagi, and helped me with the last steps. James who had smiled easily whenever I made a mistake and told me it was no big deal, even when I ruined his prized Quidditch book. It was James who had listened to me cry when everything seemed wrong and I had failed Potions first year, and he who had helped me catch up. It was James who hadn't left my side when Snape and his cronies had cornered me after dinner and hexed me until I couldn't move. It was James who always stood up for me, no matter the consequences, and James who had taken the blame - and the two weeks of detention - for my botched revenge on Snape.

And now it was my turn. I would pay him back.

Somehow.

And so the three Marauders sat, quieting after a time while Dumbledore paced Remus' spotless floor. They sat together next to Remus, a chain missing a link. Brothers missing a sibling. They sat silently together, waiting.

Waiting.

**

AN - I apologize for not updating for so incredibly long. Thanks to Niggler for helping me out a bit with the Messr. confusion. Thank you also to jeswin and Fang. Please review, I need food for my thoughts! Yes, it was supposed to be confusing. Don't worry.