"You killed my iguana!" James hissed at Lily.

"Yea, well you broke my desk!"

"Your desk was a giant kimono dragon trying to eat me!" he retorted angrily.

Lily shot James a glare that could knock out a dementor and settled down into her bed. In the last twenty minutes, James and Lily had hexed two reptiles, three teachers and each other. Neither reptile was left alive, the three teachers had quickly repaired the damage the weak spells had done to them, and James and Lily were both now housed in the Hospital Wing, covered in hexes and reptile bites. Even Madame Pomfry had been speechless for a moment when they'd been dragged half conscious into her infirmary by Professor Nackle and Professor Binns after Professor McGonagall had taken one hundred points from her own house and walked away muttering about detentions until seventh year for both of them, carefully favoring the arm that had been bitten by the kimono dragon a few moments prior.

"I'm never talking to you again," Lily shot at James and rolled over in her bed to stare at the wall.

"Well good riddance." James settled back into his bed and groaned. That ridiculous dragon had nearly eaten off his entire foot and regrowing bones was dreadful business. I really should've listened to Remus, James thought. Then I wouldn't have been in this mess… and I'd have all my toes right now. He glared over at the lump with the messy red hair sticking out of the top. Then he picked up his wand and cast a simple spell to make the curtains close around his bed. When he put his wand back down, he noticed a book sitting on the little table and picked it up. Well, maybe this can keep my mind off of some of the pain, he thought as he began to page through Hogwarts: A History. About an hour into it, he heard the door open at the end of the ward and brisk steps.

"Ms. Evans," came the brisk voice of Professor McGonagall through the curtain, "May I ask you what on Earth you were thinking?"

"I suppose I wasn't, Professor," she replied meekly.

"Where, in the name of Merlin, did you get a kimono dragon?"

"I transfigured my desk," she said is a voice barely above a whisper.

"You transfigured your desk," McGonagall replied shrilly, in his mind James could already see the teacher raising from her chair and waving her arms a bit wildly. There was a moment of hesitation and then she repeated, in a voice filled with the slightest hint of awe, "You transfigured your desk?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lily replied. "Like the way you turned your desk into a pig on the first day of classes. I've been working on it for a few weeks straight and well… it finally worked tonight."

"That's advanced magic, Ms. Evans," Professor McGonagall said, at a loss for more words at the moment.

"Um, yes, Professor, I know…" she trailed off uncertainly. Then in a very quiet voice, "Do I… I mean… do I really have detention every day till seventh year?" She sounded near ready to cry.

"Not quite, no," the professor said. "But for the remainder of this year, yes. You will spend every evening in your dormitory unless otherwise specified by myself or another member of the faculty. Several of those evenings, you will help tutor other first years who are not as… advanced as yourself, in the Great Hall. Some you will spend cleaning various areas of the castle. I'm certain I will not see a repeat performance of what happened tonight again."

Lily nodded vigorously.

"Very well then, Ms. Evans, I expect to see you in the Great Hall tomorrow after supper, provided Madame Pomfry had seen fit to discharge you by then."

James could hear her shoes clicking as they retreated from Lily's bed and headed toward his own, a moment later the curtain rustled.

"Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall addressed him.

"Professor," he replied, his eyebrows knitting together in worry.

"I'm sure you were able to overhear Ms. Evan's punishment."

"Yes ma'am."

"Yours is the same. Your first evening out of here, I expect you in the Great Hall, tutoring students. You're very talent, Mr. Potter, these pranks are a complete waste of said talent. One hundred points have been taken from Gryffindor for yours and Ms. Evan's actions this evening, it is highly unlikely we will win the House Cup now. Keep that in mind, Mr. Potter. You're capable of so much more than this." Then she turned on her heel and marched out of the infirmary, leaving Lily and James to contemplate the rest of the House's reaction tomorrow when they saw that they were now in last place for the House Cup.
---

The following day, James endured plenty of teasing from the other Marauder's, especially regarding the dragon bites which the other three took to calling "love bites". He was almost relieved to escape them for a few hours to go down to the Great Hall and tutor a few of the other First Years. Shortly after he left, the other three opened their textbooks and began working.

"This is absolutely useless," Sirius muttered. "Really now, in everyday wizarding life, how often do you need to understand the finer parts of a potion that makes writing wiggle. I ask you, is there a point to all this?" He looked at the other two.

"Wiggling writing?" Remus repeated and tapped his chin while a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Nope, not at all. Exist just to bother you, Seer."

"Just wanted verification on that point, thanks Remmy," Sirius replied as he dropped his head back into the book. A few moments later though, he gave up with a sigh of disgust. "That's it, I don't even understand all this."

"So go ask James to tutor you then," Peter snapped as he grabbed his History book. He was writing a very dull essay on vampire hunters of the twelfth century.

Sirius broke out into a wide grin, "Smashing idea, lads." He grabbed up his books and headed for the portrait hole before the others even realized what had happened.

"Oi vey, poor James," Remus said with a grin.

"Poor everyone trying to get anything done in the Great Hall," Peter corrected and then leaned back in the overstuffed armchair he was sitting in. "I don't think I can do any more of this tonight. It's putting me right to sleep."

"I sympathize," Remus said, gesturing at his own History book. "Just wait till you start the Herbology homework."

Peter groaned.

Suddenly, Remus sat up straight. "I have an idea. Want to see a passage way I found while you were in the hospital?"

"A secret one?" Peter asked, his eyes shining.

"Yup, I told the others, but we never actually went to explore it. What do you say, acromantula survivors unite, then?" Remus grinned.

"Sounds like a plan, let's go," Peter jumped up.

"Grab your wand, mate, I have no idea where this passage winds up. For all I know, I found a secret exit out of Azkaban," Remus said, looking quite serious. His eyes narrowed in thought for a moment, "Come to think of it, Pete, maybe we ought to wait for the others, who knows what will be at the other end."

Peter made a face at Remus.

"There's just safety in numbers, you know that."

"Well, Azkaban's quite a bit away, what if we just walked into it for a while and see what happens. I'm sure we'll be fine, the worst I can see happening is it emptying into Nackle or Filch's office," Peter said as he reached for his wand and headed for the door.

"Come on Remus," he whined. "Whatever happened to acromantula survivors unite?" he asked as he gestured towards Remus's hand, which had a nasty scar going across it and his own neck where the wounds were still bright red around all the scars.

Remus sighed and then grinned, "Alright, I double even Dumbledore would allow a passage straight to Azkaban."

The two walked out of the Common Room and headed towards the third floor corridor.

"I don't remember what side it was on," Remus said. "You look on that side and I'll look on this side. It's a statue of a witch with a really ugly hump."

"Lovely," Peter murmured. "Keep an eye out for Filch, Remus." He started down the corridor.

"And that bloody cat," Remus added before moving more towards the wall.

The two slowly made their way down the long corridor, after nearly ten minutes Remus made an 'ah-ha' sound, but before he could even call out to Peter he heard the ominous soft sound of a cat's meow.

"Bloody hell," he muttered as the cat shot off down the hall. "Oi, Pete," he said louder. "Over here and hurry up, the cat found us and I think it's still mad about the whole hair thing."

Peter ran over to Remus. He looked and Remus and then the statue. "Well, what do we do now?"

Remus took out his wand and tapped the witch's hump. "Dissendium." The witch's hump parted and Peter gasped. "Watch out now, it's like a slide sort of thing." There was a distant meow. "Go, Pete. No time to double think this now!" Peter jumped through the hole in the statue, quickly followed by Remus. A moment later the gap in the statue closed and the boys were sliding briefly though the dark.

"Oi," Peter yelled when he hit the ground, a moment later Remus landed on top of him.

"Sorry Pete."

"There's no lights, how are we supposed to see where to go?" Peter asked.

"I told you to bring your wand," Remus commented as he pulled his out of his robes. "Lumos." As he said it, his wand began to glow at the end, casting a faint light into the tunnel.

A moment later, Peter muttered the same word and the two headed down the dark corridor.
~~*~~

"Peter, how long have we been walking?" Remus asked after what seemed like hours of walking along the narrow, stone lines passageway.

"I don't know…" Peter hesitated. "Exactly how far away is Azkaban?"

"It's an island Pete. We'd need to cross water somehow and I don't think we're far enough intro the ground to be below the water. Anyway, I was just…" he was cut off as he tripped over a set of steps and smashed into a wall. "Ow! Pete, help."

Peter reached over and helped Remus untangle his legs from the steps, handing him back the wand he'd dropped.

"Are you alright, Remus?" Peter asked with a very worried expression on his face.

"Son of a sea dragon," Remus swore and shoved his hand into his mouth. While breaking his fall, he'd cut open his hand in the same spot where it was scarred from the acromantula.

"Here," Peter shoved his handkerchief towards Remus. "It's clean."

"Thanks." Remus wrapped the cloth around his hand tightly.

"Restraintus." As he muttered the charm, a few wispy ropes shot out of his wand and tied the cloth to his injured hand. "Wherever we are, it'd better be good."

The two both looked around and saw that the steps Remus had tripped over led up to a panel in the ceiling. They both walked up the five steps together and paused.

"Well then, shall we?" Remus asked quietly, bracing a hand against the panel.

"Right," Peter murmured quietly and both pushed the panel out of the way.

"Wait," Remus said suddenly. "Nox." He waited a second, looking at Peter. "Oi, Pete, put out your wand for a second."

"Oh, right, right then," Peter repeated the incantation. "Now?"

"Now," Remus said and they pushed the panel out of the way. "I'll go first," he whispered to Peter.

"Okay," Peter said with an anxious edge to his voice.

A moment later Remus had hauled himself up onto the floor of the unknown house. "Come on, Pete," he hissed a moment later.

Peter grabbed both sides of the hole and hoisted himself through. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. Keep your wand out. I'm going to shine some light…" Remus sounded very nervous. "Lumos."

Both boys gasped collectively as their heads began to swivel around the basement they were standing in.

"Great Merlin's trousers…" Peter whispered in an awed tone of voice.

"Honeydukes," Remus said, bursting into a wide grin.
~~*~~

"Where are those gits?" Sirius muttered to James a few hours later.

"You get both of us kicked out of the Great Hall, when I'm already there serving a detention and you have the nerve to call them gits," James snarled at him while chucking the first object he could grab, a bottle of ink, at Sirius's head.

"Still on about that, are you?" Sirius said in a chipper tone as he ducked, causing the ink bottle to smash on the Common Room wall behind him.

"Oi, what's this now?" Melissa asked as she crossed the room over to where the boys were. James crossed his arms and glared at her. "You can be as angry as you like with Lily Evan, James, but you had better not bridge that out to include me. I certainly don't possess the skill to turn a desk into a dragon, nor the imagination to even suggest it."

"It was not a dragon, it was a tiny little kimono dragon. Doesn't take much skill to do that," James said as he grabbed up his books and headed for the boys dormitory. "No skill at all."

"What a git," Melissa mumbled as she took out her wand. For one wild moment, Sirius thought she was going to hex him. "Reparo." The shards of glass from the ink jar jumped back together onto the desk. "Scourgify." The ink running down the wall and pooling onto the floor disappeared.

"Thanks Melissa," Sirius said, gesturing to the now vacant seat James had left in his wake. "Want to sit?"

"No," she said, starting back over towards her friends. "Speaking of gits, Lily has threatened to disown us if we dare to socialize with any of you Marauders. Bit of a hypocritical rule if you ask me, as she keeps on talking to Remus… still, at the moment I find it wiser to stick with her. Wouldn't want a six foot kimono dragon showing up in my bed while I'm sleeping, or somesuch nonsense, now would I?" She tossed Sirius a wicked grin and departed.

He chuckled and took a deck of cards out to build a card house, hoping he could at least get three layers on before it would blow up. On his sixth attempt, the portrait creaked open and he looked over to see Peter and Remus scurrying into the Common Room looking beside themselves with delight.

"And what have you two gents been up to this evening?" Sirius ventured casually, tilting his chair back on the last two legs and running his hand through his hair, flattening it. The two exchanged a glance. "What's this?" Sirius shot his chair forward and leaned in towards them. "Come on now, lads. Be mates and do tell."

Remus reached into his pocket and dumped a few Fizzing Whizbees onto the table. Peter reached into his own robes and drew out two Sugar Quills. Sirius reached for them.

"Leave one for James," Peter said.

"I thought you were out of Fizzing Whizbee's," Sirius commented to Remus as he popped one in his mouth.

Remus grinned widely. "I was. I definitely was."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Admittedly, sugar is something worth getting excited over, but this is a bit much, lads. Now, what are you two so excited about."

"Because we'll never be out of sugar again," Peter said in a hushed voice as he dropped into the chair James had vacated and leaned forward.

"Oh, how do you figure?" Sirius asked, leaning in forward.

Remus stepped forward and sat down; perched on the arm of the chair Peter was sitting in. Then he leaned forward until both of his elbows touched the table. "Because, we've just come back from Hogsmeade."

"Right, and I'm the Tooth Fairy. Just let me run upstairs and grab my spare set of wings, the House Elves are washing my usual pair," Sirius said with an annoyed look on his face. "Will you two please tell me what you've been up to? I've been bored out of my mind all evening."

"We went to Hogsmeade, you dolt," Remus reiterated. "The passage in the third floor corridor goes to Honeydukes!"

Sirius looked into both of their faces, searching for any sign that they were having at him. Seeing none he leaned back on the two legs of the chair again and stared vacantly out a window for a moment before returning to the table.

"Honestly? On your mother's wands?"

"Should both of them be hexed until they croak like frogs," Peter said solemnly.

"Sweet Merlin…" Sirius said.

"You can say that again," Remus said beaming.

"We've got to tell James. This just might make up for this evening," Sirius said, jumping up and sweeping the Sugar Quills and Fizzing Whizbees into his hand.

"This evening? What happened thing evening?" Peter asked cautiously.

"Only the usual…" Sirius began running towards the steps to the boys dormitory. "Murder, mayhem, mystery…"

"Oh, well if that's all," Remus said and the three Marauders ran off grinning and laughing like only carefree First Years can.
~~*~~

Two weeks, four trips to Honeydukes and ten tutoring sessions later, James was walking back from the Great Hall. He'd spent his evening reviewing with three Hufflepuff's for their Transfiguration final coming up the following month. He reached the junction between the library and the corridor leading off to the Gryffindor Common Room. Rather than heading for his House, as he usually would, he turned into the library and pulled Calming Charms for the Claustrophobic off the shelf in the Healing Potions section and followed the hidden corridor to the Astronomy Tower. He made a quick glance of the room before stepping into it, happy to find it free of the usual hormone driven upperclassmen. He assumed that with the upcoming O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s that the Astronomy Tower was rather neglected these days.

One month left, he thought as he crossed the room and settled onto a ledge, looking out across the grounds. This time a year ago I was so worried that for some crazy reason, I wouldn't even be invited to Hogwarts. That, even though I showed some magical talent, it wouldn't be enough to get me admitted. He chuckled at the recollection of himself pacing his room, trying to levitate various objects or turn them colors with occasional success, yet still convinced that Hogwarts would overlook him. He laughed even harder when he remembered his mother bursting into his room and telling him off for breaking her third vase that he'd borrowed for 'practice'… he'd spent the rest of that evening de-gnoming the garden.

Suddenly, three faces floated through his mind and, if possible, he grinned even wider as his eyes slowly traveled up towards the sky. The Marauders. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I'd find friends like them. I mean, Sirius Black, whoever would've thought that I'd be best friends with the first Black to not be, well, evil. He shuddered at the thought of the rest of the Blacks, who were aptly put in Slytherin. Then he winced, remembering the Howler Sirius had received the day after they'd been sorted about being a failure… he imagined that Sirius would probably not have the best summer. I'll have to remember to invite Sirius over for a few weeks this summer… all of them actually. Peter still has a lot to learn about the magical world and Remus will probably collapse in ecstasy when he sees our library.

James shifted his legs a bit, shaking the left one, which had fallen asleep. He glanced up at the moon. Full tonight. He laughed remembering another childhood memory. I suppose Dad was right, it wasn't made of cheese. He glanced back at the moon again. It probably would've tasted really good though. I think it would've been cheddar like. He laughed at himself again. Amazing, all the things I used to think… amazing all the things I've learned this year. For Merlin's sake, I can transfigure tons of small objects now, even some of the larger ones… surprised McGonagall with that. If she thinks Evans is the only one who can… ugh, Evans. She gives the term witch a bad name. Well, I'll show them both, from next year on I'll have the top marks by far in that class. A desk into a kimono dragon…they haven't seen anything yet. He glared angrily at Mars. That stupid Lily Evans. He shook his head, trying to clear this thoughts.

Don't think about Evans, think about… Remus. He's sick again. Maybe Seer is right. No one gets as sick as that boy. I think he's allergic to himself from all the allergies he claims to have. James looked up at the full moon and smirked. The lad might as well be a werewolf for as often as he's sick. He chuckled a bit at the absurdity of the thought, a werewolf at Hogwarts. I should find him a book from the library or something that he can read while he's in the Hospital Wing. I swear, no one reads as much as him. He'll be Head Boy in our Seventh Year, I bet. Wow, Seventh Year… that seems so far away, but this year went so fast. Between learning all that news stuff and all the stunts we pulled and all the hours in detention and Peter and Remus… He winced at the memory of that particular Care of Magical Creatures class and the ensuing weeks. He remembered the fear that he'd felt running towards them, the cold feeling of emptiness that he'd felt upon waking each morning, knowing that any moment Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall might show up to tell him and Sirius that Peter or Remus had… He tried to shake the memory out of his head and swung his legs off the ledge and onto the classroom floor, making his way to the door.

Don't think about that, James, he chided himself. Think about… Honeydukes. Who on Earth would've expected Remus and Peter to come bursting into his room and jump onto his bed, babbling about a secret passage to Hogsmeade? He grinned again as he walked down the spiraling steps out of the tower. Well, I certainly didn't. I almost hexed them into next year thinking they were Sirius, back to bother me again. Four and a half weeks, is that really all that I have left here? It will be Seventh Year before I know it. His eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind. I can try out for the House Quidditch team next year. He unconsciously danced a slight little jig as he walked along, dreaming of flying high above the castle. I bet Sirius will try out too and we've both got a shot really, they're loosing four members this year. Four! That just about never happens. Both beaters, a chaser and the keeper… but I'm sure next year, with us on the team, we'll win the cup. Remus isn't too bad on a broom either, I bet he'd make a good keeper. Yes, that's just what'll happen next year. And James Potter, his head far above the Quidditch pitch, made his way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, daydreaming about the fantastic future that was headed his way.
~~*~~

"Ummm, not quite, Peter," Cortessa mumbled, running her hands through her hair, with a look of determined resignation on her face. "But we'll get it yet."

James chuckled as he noticed that the hair Tessa had been running her hands through was not its normal shade of black, but rather pink, for a moment, then purple, then green. James watched, mildly amused for a moment before Alice looked up from her own book.

"Goodness," she said and pulled out her wand, muttering what James assumed was the countercharm. He had to bite back a chuckle as Cortessa's usually very straight hair, turned into a mass of bouncing curls. From the look on her face, she was clearly regretting offering to study for the impending Charms final with Peter.

Peter glanced over at the table across the Common Room where James, Remus and Sirius were cramming for their Transfiguration final tomorrow morning, to be followed by a Charms examination the same afternoon, sending a 'get me out of here' look to James.

James just shrugged at him, then pointed back at Tessa. Peter swiveled and sighed in relief as Melissa showed up.

"Oh bloody hell," she muttered and returned Tessa to her normal state.
"Thanks, Mel," Cortessa said glancing up at Peter. "Could've happened to anyone, I suppose, Peter." She didn't quite sound like she believed what she'd just said.

"Maybe I'd best go over and work with James and the others," Peter said quietly.

Melissa sat down, "Nonsense, if Tess, said she'd help you, then she will. You just hit one of her many vain spots, spends hours on that hair each morning she does. I'd venture a guess that you just made her worst nightmare come true."

Cortessa slapped Melissa hard on the arm.

Melissa looked puzzled. "Not all of us roll out of bed and into the Great Hall, Mel," Tessa addressed her and then looked her up and down slowly. "Obviously."

Melissa's eyes widened. "And what, exactly are you implying? Miss I Spend Two Hours Getting Ready Every Morning? I tremble to imagine how bad you'll be by our Fourth or Fifth Year."

"Oh really? Well, Miss My Hair is Bushier Than Your Average Shrub, some of us would actually like to attract an occasional member of the opposite sex." Tessa slammed the book she had on her lap onto the table in anger.

"Right then," Alice jumped in. "So we've established that you're a narcissist, Tess, and Mel, you're a… tomboy? Oh the horrors of it both. For Merlin's sake, you're both best friends and you're acting worse than Slytherins. Maybe you'd both best just head up to bed, I think the studying had warped both of your brains."

"Who'll help Peter then?" Tessa spat out, still glaring at Melissa.

"I will," Rebecca said, walking up to the table, clearly having overheard most of the argument. "Anything, and I do mean anything, has got to be better than Lily in exam mode."

The other three chuckled.

"Sorry Tess, you can spend as much time as you want with the mirror… as we've clearly ascertained it's not my favorite piece of furniture in our dormitory," Melissa said with a grin.

"And someday I'll actually get you to spend some time in front of it and those Gryffindor boys won't know what's coming," Tessa commented back, glancing first at Peter and then over to the Marauders huddled in the corner studying. She hugged Melissa. "Sorry, Mel."

Peter sat there wide eyed, having listened to the two girls insult each other and then suddenly burst into laughter was very odd. His eyes darted around as he tried to figure out how to escape the madness.

"You know, Tess, you mock my tomboy ways, but we'd solve all our problems considerably quicker if we just took a few swings at one another when we're annoyed," Melissa observed as she began to gather up her books and quills.

"Very true, but if women started doing that, therapists would be out of business," Tessa agreed as they stood up from the table.

"No, not as long as we've got our mums," Melissa concluded following Cortessa up the stairs, where Peter could hear their conversations, faintly, as it continued amicably.

"I never would've pegged them to become best friends when we first got here," Alice commented.

"Why not?" Peter asked, startled, but still happy for the study break.

"Are you daft, man?" Rebecca said as she settled in across from Peter. "The only person in this place who is possibly more narcissistic than Cortessa is probably Narcissa Black, I mean, she was aptly named. Now, don't get me wrong, we love Tessa dearly, but she's not quite all there upstairs, if you know what I mean, at times. Her head is on boys and make up and clothes… I'm sure it'll only get worse before it gets better. Mel, on the other hand, only looks in the mirror to make sure she hasn't got toothpaste on her face in the morning, and even then that sometimes slips her mind. She's crazy about books, any kind, and probably knows more about the world political situations than the Ministry of Magic and Parliament combined. Can you conceive a stranger match for two best friends?"

Peter grinned. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe two loud, smart, obnoxious pranksters, a quiet bookish boy and an agreeable, if somewhat slow, Muggle born wizard?"

"I guess that answers your question, Becca. He's as daft as they are," Alice gestured lightly towards the staircase Melissa and Cortessa had just ascended.

"There are worse things than being daft," Peter commented.

"That there are, Peter," Rebecca agreed. At that point, a certain red head made her way through the portrait hole and over towards her friends, looking as thoroughly disheveled as she had the first time she's spoken to James and his friends. Before she even managed to sit down at the table, Peter noticed Sirius and James had made a hasty retreat from the Common Room, leaving Remus alone, looking slightly puzzled.

Remus glanced over at Peter, who gestured towards Lily, and his puzzled look melted away into one of exasperation. For the past month and a half, since the fateful 'Day of the Dragon' as the Marauders referred to it, neither Lily nor James had uttered so much as a syllable to one another. Remus gathered up his books and walked over to where the girls were seated.

"May I join you? It looks like I've been deserted," Remus said, shuffling his feet next to the table.

"Of course," Alice moved several of her parchments out of the way, to clear a spot for him. He sat down next to Peter and pulled back out his Transfiguration book and notes. The group worked quietly for a few minutes, Rebecca trying to teach Peter the correct charm for changing something's color. After a few tried, he succeeded and he began to concentrate on a charm that had similar effects to the Wiggling Writing potion that had given Sirius such a headache a few weeks earlier.

Nearly two hours later the group looked up as they heard the thuds of footsteps on the girls dormitory steps. Melissa came bounding into view wearing her pajamas, her hair, usually pulled back in an extremely messy ponytail that made her head look very odd, was billowing around her face. She bounded up to the table and looked at Remus, cocking her head to get a better look at what appeared to be his hand.

"Is that my quill, then?" she asked him and then yawned sleepily.

Remus's eyes went wide as he stared at her. He normally found her quite pretty, but now. Her hair was longer than he'd thought, and when it was out of that stupid ponytail, it looked stunning. His gaze dropped a bit and he realized that she slept in boxer shorts. He could see her legs. Sweet Merlin, she has legs! he thought and then fought the urge to laugh. Of course she has legs, you dolt, she walks, doesn't she? He looked back up to her face framed by that hair and her hazel eyes, surrounded, as always, by those familiar glasses.

"Remmy, is that her quill?" Peter nudged him and repeated. Remus took in a breath sharply and then looked down at the table.

"Uh, no Mel. This is my quill." He picked up the quill lying near his parchment. "This one yours?"

"Yes," she said and smiled sleepily. Remus decided right then and there that he could stare at her smiling sleepily forever. "Thanks." She reached to take the quill and brushed his fingers retrieving it. Her touch shot through her like lightening. When he looked up again she was already halfway up the steps. She stopped and turned back to the group. "You lot do realize how late it is, don't you? You're supposed to get a decent night's sleep before a test." She grinned again and disappeared from sight.

Apparently their whole exchange had not been noticed by most of the group. Rebecca looked over at the grandfather clock against the wall. "Great scott," she exclaimed. "It's nearly one thirty!" Rebecca and Alice both quickly gathered their things and headed towards their dormitory.

"Coming, Lil?" Rebecca shouted over her shoulder.

"In a bit, Becca," Lily said, gesturing towards her notes. "Just want to finish this bit."

"Right then. Night boys," Rebecca said and started up the stairs.

"Goodnight, Remus," Alice said. "I'm sure you'll do just fine tomorrow, Peter. See you in the morning."

The moment they were out of sight, Lily rolled up her parchment and looked up at Remus. "Well then," she said with a trace of a smile.

"Well what?" he muttered. "I thought you wanted to finish your notes."

"I'm just concerned about you, Remus." Peter looked up at this and then over at Remus.

"Huh? Why?" Remus looked honestly confused.

"Well, when someone is as red as you are right now, they've either got an insanely high fever that will probably kill them, or they're in love," Lily said, sitting back as she crossed her arms and grinned.

"Well, I'm not in love," Remus said firmly and reached for a new quill even though his current one was fine.

"Then we'd best rush you off to Madame Pomfry, eh Peter?" Lily commented.

Peter tried to bite back a grin.

"I'm quite alright, thank you very much, Lily Evans." Lily chuckled when Remus used her full name, a habit he had when he was annoyed with whomever he was addressing. "It's just a bit hot in here, is all."

"Right Remus," Peter said, as he shivered and slipped into a sweater. He chuckled at the excuse since earlier some overzealous upperclassman had attempted to put a cooling charm on the Common Room and had overdone themselves.

Lily laughed quite hard at that comment and began to gather her things. As she stood up from the table, she stopped. "I don't know what you're angling for with her right now, Lupin, but since you don't seem to be up for any sort of commitment at the moment, I feel quite secure assuring you that she didn't notice your attitude towards her. God bless her, but Melissa can be really out of regarding such things most of the time. Evening, boys."

With that, Lily exited the Common Room, leaving behind one shivering, laughing eleven year old and one thoroughly overheated and confused twelve year old.
~~*~~

"It's official," Sirius stated as they walked out of their last exam, History of Magic. "I'm abysmal at that class."

"Abysmal?" James pondered. "No, I've got to get a slightly higher grade than I just did to achieve a rating such as abysmal. We'll talk when you hit lower than flobberworms on the food chain."

"I didn't think it was that bad," Peter comment cheerily.

"The bloody boy's got a death wish," Sirius said, turning on him.

"Professor McGonagall, hello," Peter yelled happily and waved over the other three boys shoulders. Sirius and James stopped dead in their tracks and spun around to say hello to the head of their house.

"Hello, Prof…" James started to chirp, quickly realizing that Professor McGonagall was nowhere in the area. "Pete!" he thundered and looked at the slowly shrinking form of one of his best friends running towards the Entrance Hall, cackling madly.

"Get him," Sirius roared and turned to Remus and James. "The penalty for dissenting during the required 'I failed that test' rant is death by tickling hex." He pulled out his wand and started off after Peter, James quickly drawing his wand and following him.

"You've got to be kidding me," Remus said, more to himself than anyone else, then shook his head grinning.

"Kidding you? Why never!" Frank had just walked out of the classroom. "If I never hear about another Goblin Revolt or Giant War it'll be too soon."

"Or it'll be September," Remus quipped back with a grin. "See you in the Great Hall, Frank." Remus took off at an all out run and rather quickly caught up to Sirius and James, who had nearly caught Peter.

"How do you run so bloody fast, Remmy?" James asked. For someone he'd never consider very athletic, Remus could run faster than any of the others in the group.

Remus turned midstride and began to run backwards as James and Sirius ran forwards. "Natural talent," he grinned, not even winded.

As the came upon the lake, the three were so intent on catching Peter that the other two didn't even notice for a second when Remus fell, until something caught James around the ankle and he went flying, followed half a second later by Sirius. The three lay on the ground for a moment getting their bearings.

"Gerroff me," a voice came from below Remus and he felt something sharp dig into his arm. He yelped and jumped up. Below him was a Slytherin girl, she looked familiar, but he could only see the back of her head.

"Let me go, or I'll hex you," came the sound from under James, who quickly jumped up looking apologetic.

"Hex me? I'm not holding you on purpose," James said, looking bewildered.

Sirius was already standing at this point and was glaring at the sight before him. Two Slytherin girls were sprawled across the ground. Remus, although he had initially had a hand pressed to his arm where the girl had dug in her finger nails, was now offering his hand to the girl he'd knocked over. She ignored him and stood on her own, straightening her robes. The other girl was still on the ground, but had pulled herself into sitting position. Both girls had heavy lidded eyes and far too much make up on. Although either one could be considered pretty, there was something about them that made them, to the three boys present at any rate, ugly, in a way. One had blonde hair so blonde it was nearly white, while the other had thick black locks. Leaning against the tree they'd just run around were two other girls. One was tall and thin, like you could snap her in half if you had the mind to, with straight black hair. The other was very large and seemed to be sporting a unibrow of sorts, with greasy, dirty blonde hair.

"Put your wand down, Bella. It was an accident," Sirius said coldly. "And stop glaring at him Cissy," he addressed the girl with the blonde hair now, who was straightening her robes still. She made a face at him. "I just said it was an accident."

"Do not call me, Cissy, you disgrace," she nearly spat at him. She had a look on her face like someone who had just stuck their hand into a dirty toilet to unclog it.

"Fine, whatever. Come on guys," Sirius muttered.

"Well, well, well, whatever have we got here?" A cold voice came from behind the group. Remus winced and thought What a lovely end to a dreadful day of testing… and where the bloody hell is Peter?

"Malfoy," Remus addressed him while glaring. He could see Sirius reach for his wand and James grip his own more tightly.

"Are these little boys bothering you, Narcissa?" he looked to the blonde girl. "Bellatrix? Shall we take care of it for you?" Malfoy gestured to his group of cronies. Crabbe, Goyle and Nott all stood behind him menacingly.

Narcissa put a pout on her thin lips and her hands on her hips, "That one knocked me down." She pointed to Remus.

"Well for Merlin's sake, you've just about scraped a layer of skin off my arm with those nails, I'd say we're even," Remus retorted, glaring at her.

"It was an accident," Sirius reiterated.

"I'll show you accident, Black," Malfoy spit on the ground and then lowered his voice, "This is payback for the incident by the kitchens." He pulled out his wand.

"What do you think you're doing?" A high pitched voice came from behind the entire group. A Hufflepuff prefect came storming up to them. "Have you all lost your minds? Split up this instant before I start taking points from your Houses!" The thin, blonde girl glanced around at the motley group in front of her, then her eyes widened. "You let him and his friends go, or I'll tell mom. I'll owl her the instant I get back to the castle." Most of the others looked slightly taken aback.

"Like she'd care, he's a disgrace to the family name. As are you, nothing you say matters anymore," Bellatrix spat out.

"Well, come on then," the prefect said to the boys and pushed them ahead of her.

As they departed the three boys and the girl could hear Nott say loudly, "Sister? In Hufflepuff?!?" and Narcissa's quiet comment, "Well now you can see why we don't speak of her." Remus looked at the girl and saw her wince at the other girl's remark.

"We could've gotten ourselves out of that, Andie," Sirius muttered to the girl.

"Right, like last time, huh? You're not going to come out on top every time, Sirius," the girl said as they made their way across the lawn back to the castle.

"You know one another?" James asked.

"This is my cousin, Andromeda Black," Sirius told the others. "She's graduating this week." He smiled up at her. "Top in her House."

She patted Sirius's arm and grinned at the other two. "We're the black sheep. The only two in the family in eons not to be in Slytherin… Don't have much of a chance to talk here though, do we?" A look flittered over her face. "I didn't tell you!" She gasped.

"Is everything alright?" Sirius asked her, looking worried.

"Yes, yes," she beamed. "I'm getting married. I went home over Spring Holiday and well… I told the family. They blasted my name right off the family tree. Proudest moment of my life, perhaps."

"To that Muggle you met last summer?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Yes, Ted," she looked ecstatic.

"Do they know?" he jerked his thumb over his shoulder gesturing towards the Slytherin group back by the trees.

"I told the two of them when I got back. They asked what House he graduated from, I think they were almost hoping Slytherin… but maybe I'm kidding myself. They probably didn't even care that much. I think I got half of the word Muggle out of my mouth before they turned tail on me and walked right out of the room," Andie gave a sad glance backwards.

"They're not worth it, Andie," Sirius said.

"They're my sisters, Sirius… no matter what, they'll always be worth something to me," she said sadly as they entered the castle. "Avoid the whole lot of them though, alright? I'd rather not have to take points from my favorite cousin's House for fighting right before graduation." She gave him another pat on the arm. "I'll owl you over the summer, maybe you can come for the wedding. We're going to do it the Muggle way, since it matters so much to his family and ours… well…" She looked away.

"I'll do whatever I can to get there, Andie," Sirius said as he and the other two Marauder's headed towards the Great Hall.

She grinned and disappeared in the direction of the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"I had no idea you had so much family at Hogwarts," Remus commented.

"Only her," he said quietly. "And she's leaving anyway. I don't count the other two…" He trailed off and stalked towards their table where the three were surprised to find Peter working his way through a heaping plate of treacle.

Sirius smacked him upside the head.

"Oi," Peter said, coughing of some of the treacle.

"Where were you?" Remus asked him as he and James sat down across from Sirius and Peter.

"Just now?" Peter asked, looking down at his plate.

"Yea, just now. With the Slytherins," James said, dumping several chicken legs on his plate.

"I thought I'd just get in the way, so I came in here to save us all seats," Peter said, gesturing to each of them as though to indicate they had seats, didn't they.

"Bloody loony, you are," Sirius said. "You wouldn't be in the way, we could've used you."

"Well, you all got out of it alright," Peter replied.

"Yea, cause Sirius's cousin saved us," James muttered.

"Bellatrix saved you?" Peter asked as his jaw dropped.

"No, Andromeda," Sirius said, digging into a bowl of vegetables.

"Andwho?" Peter asked.

"My cousin Andromeda, she's in Hufflepuff. She's a prefect, showed up and saved us. Even you could see why I wouldn't wish to associate with a prefect, Pete," Sirius grinned and dug into the food.

At the other end of the table, still staying as far away from James as she could get, Lily and her group slid into their seats and began to eat.

In the library, Frank Longbottom and his friends Rob Cage and Rob Davis marveled over how destructive the Crutacius Curse could be and discussed how their Defense Against the Dark Arts exams had gone.

Sitting on a couch in the Hufflepuff Common Room, Melody Smith, twin sister to Alice Smith, was discussing the merits of Crabby Christie's Cover-All Curls potion versus Sleekeasy's Hair Potion with Elizabeth Fortescue and Olivia O'Brien.

Out by the lake, seven Slytherins were listening to Lucius Malfoy make jokes about Mudbloods, Gryffindor and the Marauders.

And in Minerva McGonagall's office sat one small Ravenclaw First Year, curled up in a chair crying tears she never thought would stop while her aunt hurried around the desk to try and comfort her.