The day ahead wasn't without event for Harry as he awaited the oncoming night.
The Marauders and Harry were back on good terms again, which seemed to annoy Severus Snape greatly. Another one of them, and he looked as bad as Potter and Black. Oh boy.
As the group ate lunch, talking about Quidditch (which made Harry more comfortable with being over twenty years in the past), Snape glared heavily at them. He knew the new boy would be up to something, as he had been involved in the Marauder's most recent pranks, such as hiding oversized rats in Snape's school bag. Somehow they had figured Snape's... slight fear of rodents.
Snape wouldn't let them get away with their pranks any longer.
Finally, classes ended with a BANG! as the Marauders and Harry set off a load of fireworks in the hallways directly after classes, earning them all detention starting that night, which drove their deal out of their minds.
They wrote lines about damaging school hallways before they were permitted to go at eleven. As they settled down to do homework in the common room, James suddenly remembered that morning.
"Hey, Harry," James said. "What about that scar of yours?"
Harry jerked his head up, looking at the common room full of people and giving James a death glare. "Later!" he hissed, before turning back to his Potions essay. James arched an eyebrow and looked curiously over at Sirius, who just shrugged and continued writing about the uses of Dragon's Blood in Potions making.
It was past midnight when the five boys finally finished their homework. Still quite awake, they left the near-empty common room and up to their dorms. Sirius and James walked over to Harry's bed, where he was seated and sticking his homework in his back.
"It's later, so spill," stated James rather simply. Harry just sighed.
"Right. But you have to keep your end of the deal," he said, casting a glance over at Remus and realizing nobody had asked if it was okay to spill his secret.
"You sure it's okay with you, Remus?" he asked, his emerald eyes fixed on the sandy-haired boy.
Remus nodded. "Yeah. I mean, we can trust you," he said.
James grinned. "Finally!" he said, plopping himself down on Harry's bed along with Sirius. Remus and Peter sat on the next bed over.
Harry took a deep breath, and began.
"There was a prophecy made before I was born, saying a child born just before the end of July to parents that defied Voldemort three times would equal Voldemort." There was a shudder from only Peter. The others remained still.
"That applied to another boy and me. Voldemort chose me, for whatever reason. He came to my house just after my first birthday and killed my father. My mother begged Voldemort to kill her instead of me, sacrificing herself. Voldemort murdered her and turned his wand on me. Instead of the curse killing me, it backfired onto him and he disappeared, but didn't die. My mum's sacrifice saved me, so I have to stay at the place where her blood lives on- my Aunt and Uncle's house. It provides me protection from Voldemort."
Harry paused, and an eerie silence filled the room. Finally, Sirius said, "Go on. Why did your scar hurt at breakfast?"
Harry took a deep breath, and continued. "Voldemort tried several times to come back and be reborn, finally suceeding. I have a connection with him now, and I know when he's near or when he's angry or happy. He invades my dreams at night." Harry stopped, and looked seriously at the other four. "You had better keep this secret. I swear, if any of you tell..." he trailed off.
The others caught the gist of the threat. There was silence for a few minutes. Harry looked over at Remus. "What about Remus? Was I correct?" he asked cautiously, casting a wary glance at Sirius.
Remus sighed. "Yes, you were correct. When I was a young child, a werewolf bit me. The others found out in our second year and set out to become illegal Animagi. They acheived it just earlier this year. Nobody but you and us know."
"And that is how it shall remain," said Sirius softly. Harry nodded, and cast his eyes over to the clock.
"We'd better get to bed," he said. "Hogsmeade weekend tommorow."
The others nodded, venturing back to their own beds. Silently, the five changed into their pajamas and crawled under the covers.
"'Night," each of them muttered after the light went out.
The morning dawned bright and clear, a lovely spring day. Harry wasn't quite used to the weather, seeing as back in his time it had been summer and the final day of term.
Remus was the first to wake, with Harry following a few minutes after. They each attempted to wake up the others, sucessfully getting Peter up, but not James or Sirius.
Harry had feigned friendliness with Peter, not wanting to arouse suspicion. But in truth, he would've just loved to wring his neck.
Finally, after ten minutes of prodding and poking and shouting in ears, Remus hit the last result; setting off one of the extra fireworks, which not only got James and Sirius up, but the whole tower was awakened, and the five were once again put in detention by McGonagall. But they still could go to Hogsmeade, so none of them really cared all that much.
The five journeyed out of the school, after being let out by the caretaker, and down the cobblestone streets. They went first to Zonko's Joke Shop, loading up on pranks. Remus didn't buy any and preferred to watch the others buy joke items. He still didn't understand why he landed detention with the others when James and Sirius launched pranks, but he lived with it. Detentions were fun when James and Sirius levitated items out windows when the Professor turned his or her back.
Next, the group trotted into the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer or two. After they bought their drinks, the five looked around for an empty booth. James gestured to a booth with only Lily Evans in it, and the others smirked and walked over to it, James and Sirius in the front, Harry and Remus right behind them, and Peter bringing up the rear. They slipped into the booth, and Lily groaned loudly.
"Potter, what do you want now?" she asked, scowling as Sirius sat next to her.
James slid into the seat across from her, with Harry sitting next to him and Remus sitting next to Harry. Peter sat next to Sirius.
At Lily's question, James just grinned. "Can't I sit with a friend?" he asked innocently.
Lily glared at him. "Yes, you can. Now, why are you sitting with me?"
James acted hurt. "You don't consider me a friend? But look at all of the history we have!"
Lily just rolled her eyes, and Harry nudged James in the ribs with an elbow.
"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you right now?" Harry said to James, arching a brow. James just shrugged, and Lily seemed rather grateful to Harry.
"Thanks for calling him off. What's your name?" Lily asked.
"Harry P- Granger," he said, catching his mistake at the last minute.
Lily smiled. "Nice to meet you, Harry," she said, before giving a mighty shove and knocking Sirius and Peter off the bench. She got up and stepped over them and left the pub.
The five paid for their drinks and walked out, being hit with a sudden downpour of rain. They hurried up to the castle. As they walked into the Great Hall, soaked, James seemed to be glaring at Harry. Harry took no notice.
Hmm, now why is James glaring at Harry? Well, I hope Chapter Five cleared up questions of any sort. It'll be about a week before Chapter Six is up.