Hi all! I've returned a lot sooner than even I expected! Anyway, chapter 7 is underway and I figured it'd be a good idea to update before it's finished. We're nearing the end of this tale wipes away tears I might do a sequel but I'm more inclined to drop Harry from the original timeline into this one and see what happens. Tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: takes a mouthful of tea What? Oh right…yeah I don't own 'em.

Thoughts

Flashbacks (I'm using them in this chap!)

Scene/time changes

Sirius turned from the window as Remus entered the room. He rushed over and helped him put the hot teas down.

Remus smiled. "Cheers."

Sirius shrugged. "No problem."

Remus sat down, his eyes never leaving Sirius. I can't believe he's really alive! Sirius waved his hand in front of Remus' eyes. "Helloooo? Earth to Remus."

Remus blinked and grinned apologetically. "Sorry, miles away."

Sirius laughed. "You're just as bad as some of the kids I have to teach. Honestly, if I didn't know any better I'd say it's my boring voice."

Remus stared at him wide eyed. "You teach?"

"Yeah, French to 11-16 year olds. Why?"

"Well it's just…I'd never have thought you'd be one to teach." Remus shook his head in amazement. "I teach too."

"Really? At Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Sirius was just about to ask what that was when James and Peter came in with a trunk floating between them. They gently put it on the floor in front of the sofa. James sat next to Sirius, who looked anxiously at him. Peter flicked open the trunk. It was full of neatly filed photograph albums, bundles of letters and several mementos from past trips. Peter pulled out two black photograph albums and sat down cross-legged on front of Sirius, who had James on one side and Remus on the other. He placed one on the floor and opened one in his hands. . The first page showed four boys jumping and waving at the camera. Sirius looked closely. The first two were Remus and Peter, next to them was James with his arm thrown companionably around a younger Sirius' shoulders.

"That's us in third year." said Peter. "After we'd found out about Moony here." he pointed at Remus who smiled at the memory.

Sirius frowned, James filled him in. "We'd all been friends for three years nearly and we noticed that Remus disappeared once every full moon. We confronted him and sure enough, our theory was proved to be right. Remus is a werewolf."

Sirius rubbed his temples. "I vaguely remember that."

Peter ran to keep up with Sirius and James. "Guys." he panted. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Couldn't we do it some other way?"

James sighed. "We've tried Peter."

Sirius nodded. "Besides, if we show him the evidence he won't try to avoid our questions."

Peter fell silent and followed them through the fat lady and up to the boys dorm which was, thankfully, empty with the exception of Remus. He looked up as Sirius, James and Peter entered the dorm.

"Hey guys what's…" the words died in his mouth as James dumped a moon chart on his bed and Sirius dumped a book opened on a page entitled 'werewolves'.

"We want the truth Remus." panted James.

Remus looked at the book then the chart and paled. He swallowed thickly and tears came to his eyes. I'm going to loose them. They'll never want to speak to me again. He sniffed. "It's true, I am a werewolf."

"Why didn't you tell us before Rem?" asked Sirius softly.

He looked up sharply. "Because you'd hate me. I didn't want to loose you guys, you're the only friends I've ever had."

Sirius and James looked at each other and then at Peter who gave them an 'I told you so' look. They sat down on the bed.

"Remus we'd never hate you." said Peter.

"Yeah Rem, I came from a looooong line of dark witches and wizards but you guys didn't judge me because of it."

"We'll find a way to keep you company on a full moon." offered James.

Remus broke down. "Thanks guys."

Sirius patted his back. "That's what we're here for, Rem."

"Didn't we become animagi?" asked Sirius as Peter turned the page.

"Yeah. Peter was a rat, James was a white stag…"

"and you were the grim." interrupted James.

Remus smiled. "Yeah, what James said."

"So how'd we all meet?"

"Now that is an interesting tale." began Peter.

BOOM! Purple smoke erupted from the compartment. Malfoy coughed and opened the window, scowling at the laughter echoing from down the passage.

"Potter has gone too far this time." he glared at Sirius who was trying very hard not to laugh. "It is not funny Black." Malfoy snarled. "just for that you are going to hex Potter." he grabbed Sirius and threw him out into the passage.

Sirius straightened his robes and set off in search of the scruffy haired, bespectacled boy and his blond haired accomplice. He came across the giggling pair near the end of the train, Sirius entered the compartment. James looked up and glared at him.

"What d'you want Black?"

Sirius looked up and down the corridor before closing the doors behind him. "I want many things but as my Uncle Albert said, God rest his soul, I want never gets."

James rolled his eyes. "Get to the point Black."

Sirius put on a mock hurt look. "Ok. Can I sit with you because Lucy is soo annoying…" James smiled at Malfoy's nickname. "…and I can't cope with Snivilus going about what a failure to my family I am."

James waved his hand at the seat opposite. "Be my guest."

Sirius gratefully sat down. "Great show by the way, Lucius was fuming."

James grinned and shook Sirius' hand. "You're not like the rest of them. I'm James and this is Peter Pettigrew."

"Sirius. Thanks, I hate being compared to my family."

"I would too." said Peter in pity.

The compartment door slammed open and closed. A brown haired boy sat down, gasping for breath. He hid from view as several Slytherin's rushed past. He jumped when he saw James, Sirius and Peter. "Sorry, I'll go somewhere else."

Sirius grabbed his sleeve. "Hey wait, stay here. The more the merrier and besides they'll find you if you go out there." the boy sat back. "I'm Sirius Black. This is Peter Pettigrew and he's James Potter."

"Remus Lupin." they all shook hands.

"And so the marauder's were born." ended Peter dramatically.

They laughed and James clapped him on the back. "You can really tell a tale Peter."

Remus smiled. "Bring back any memories Padfoot?"

Sirius smiled at his nickname. "Yeah, but it's a bit fuzzy."

Peter shifted round to face them. "What was the last thing you remember?"

Sirius' face darkened. "Voldemort telling Malfoy to take me to my room." he sighed. "I think I ought to fill you in."

They shifted to get comfortable. Sirius took it up from his room, to being moved to Malfoy Manor, then about the raid, his escape and how he met Eloise, who introduced him to Mark and got him the job at the school. When he'd finished they sat there looking at him wide eyed.

Remus was the first to break the silence. "So…you've got the mark?"

Sirius sighed. "Yeah." he rolled up his sleeve causing Remus and Peter to gasp. He rolled it back down. "I made up a story for Eloise and Mark, I wanted to forget about what had happened."

The clock struck midnight and they all stretched. Sirius yawned widely. "You can sleep in my bed." offered James.

"What about you?"

James shrugged. "I'll sleep on the couch." Sirius got up. "It's the first on the right." Sirius nodded goodnight to them and disappeared upstairs.

They heard the door close upstairs. Remus got up and cleared away the cups, Peter closed the trunk and sat down with a sigh next to James.

"Well he's clearly been obliviate." Said Remus as he re entered the room. They nodded.

"There has to be a way of getting his memory back." whispered James.

Remus and Peter looked at him worriedly. "I can't think of any way except showing him photos and taking him to where we used to go."

Peter frowned. "We could always ask Dumbledore after the half term break."

"D'you know Wormtail, that's not a bad idea." Remus got up. "I don't know about you guys but I'm off to bed."

Peter yawned. "I think I'll turn in too."

James smiled sleepily. "Night then."

The house fell dark and silent. The wind blew softly as the four marauders slept and somewhere the Dark Lord paced his study.

Sirius awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon. He sniffed the air eagerly and fell out of bed with a thump. Sirius got to his feet and went downstairs to the kitchen.

"Is Prongs still asleep?" He asked Remus, Peter was busy eating.

"Yeah. He won't be eating if he doesn't get up soon."

Sirius smiled mischievously ad snuck into the living room. James was snoring gently, Sirius instinctively transformed into Padfoot and snuck up on him. He jumped onto James and began licking his face.

"Argh!" James tried to push Sirius off. Sirius stopped and barked before transforming back into his human form. He ran into the kitchen. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT PADFOOT!" The three men laughed into their breakfast. James joined them and glared at Sirius who smiled innocently back.

Remus grinned. "Well now that we're all here I'll tell you today's plan. I think we should go to Diagon Alley."

They all finished their breakfast and got their cloaks, or in Sirius' case coat, on. James went up to his room and came back down with a wand. He handed it to Sirius. "Your wand. Do you remember how to apparate?"

Sirius nodded. "I'll need to go to York first though. I expect Trix'll be hungry."

"We can bring him here." suggested Peter. "Err he doesn't eat birds does he?"

"Nah! He's a softy."

They apparated into the kitchen where Trix was sitting expectantly. He mewed and rubbed his head against Sirius' foot. "I'll be right back." Sirius disappeared upstairs. Trix jumped up onto the table and purred in Remus' ear causing him to jump. Sirius came back down with another wand. He picked up Trix and they apparated back to Peter's.

Remus scratched him behind the ears. "Aww isn't he cute."

Peter laughed. "How camp did you sound just then!"

Sirius shook his head and gave Trix the tuna he'd picked up. "So where in Diagon Alley are we going?"

Remus straightened up. "Gringotts first then you guys can decide."

Peter and James grinned at each other. "ZONKO'S." they yelled together.

Sirius looked at Remus in question. Remus sighed. "Don't ask."

They apparated with a pop at the entrance of Gringotts. Sirius followed James, Peter and Remus inside and up to one of the goblins. The goblin led them to a cart. Remus shot James and Peter a 'don't' do anything stupid or else' look before they got in. One roller coaster ride and a lecture about safety later found them walking down the street towards Zonko's. That was when Sirius became aware of the shadow. He decided to keep quiet about it and enjoy himself whilst on the alert. They took him from Zonko's all the way up the street saving the bookshop for last. Finally they reached the bookshop which, to Sirius' relief, was crowded. He was fed up with the person following them so he went in despite his friends' protests. He pulled them into a dark corner. "Apparate, I'll explain at home." They disappeared with a pop just as their shadow turned the corner.

Lucius Malfoy growled in frustration and apparated to Riddle Manor to report his findings. He appeared with a pop in the entrance hall to the Manor right in front of Severus. Malfoy pushed past him up to Voldemort's chambers not noticing that Severus was following him. He knocked and entered at Voldemort's command, closing the door behind him. Severus looked up and down the corridor and leaned in to listen to the conversation on the other side.

Meanwhile at Peter's

The marauder's appeared in the kitchen of Peter's house. Remus, Peter and James turned to Sirius for an explanation. Sirius checked that the coast was clear before answering their puzzled expressions. "Malfoy was following us, he had been ever since we left Gringotts."

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded James.

"Because I didn't want him to know that I knew he was following us." he winced and grabbed his arm in pain.

"Sirius what's wrong?" asked James in concern.

"The Mark. It burns every so often."

Remus frowned in thought. "Maybe that's how he calls his meetings.

Sirius nodded. "That's what I thought. If so, then he's calling at least one a month." Sirius rubbed his arm as the pain faded. "So where am I sleeping tonight?" he asked with a change of the subject.

James led him upstairs to the spare room and helped him prepare the bed. That night as they lay asleep Voldemort had dismissed his Deatheaters with a new mission. Find Sirius Black and bring him to Riddle Manor alive.

Animagi. Me, Loz (my beta reader) and Loz's mum decided that it should be animagi. I don't know whether it's mentioned in the book but I decided it sounded better than animagus'.

Forrest.

don't you think Sirius would be a little bit more freaked out about being kidnapped?

Seen as he'd been kidnapped before I reckoned he'd try to stay calm so he could escape. Also he subconsciously knows that James wouldn't hurt him.

didn't Voldemort tell him that James was the one who wiped his mind.

Again, he subconsciously knew that James didn't do it…and he distrusted Voldemort anyway.

does Sirius's dark mark burn when Voldemort calls his little meetings together?

That bit of the story went in just for you!

Your story rocks!

Blushes Thank you!

I hope you guys liked this chapter and I am hoping for a few more reviews for this chapter. Thanks for reading and don't worry, chapter 7 will be up soon!

Nooka.