Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else that J.K. Rowling created.
Warning: This story is AU due to the fact that I've ignored book five, The Order of The Phoenix because the end of book four was a much better place to start this fan fiction.
Take Backs
Chapter 6: Devising A Plan
By Rhiane Raine
The next morning James awoke to the voices of Remus and Sirius. After he had fully awoken, James was able to catch part of what it was that they were saying in the kitchen.
"-but you were the one who decided to celebrate James's resurrection or whatever you want to call it. It's not my fault you got drunk and fell asleep on us. Nothing big happened after I put you to bed."
"You tucked me in, Moony? Aww, that's really sweet of you," Sirius grinned with cheeky sarcasm despite whatever his earlier mood- that had inspired Remus's response- may have been.
"Sirius you know very well that waking up on the floor with a hangover only to see your long dead best mate sleeping on the couch in the same room would not have been a pleasant experience for any of us in this house. That's why I made you sleep in my room. And to think I assumed you'd be thankful!" Remus mutter
"Yeah, I know. Actually waking up at all was enough. I kept thinking that I had just had a really great dream at first. It was almost as if the dream would fade away if I opened my eyes." James heard Sirius whisper.
James smiled to himself. He knew the feeling. He had gone threw the same thing when Lily finally agreed to go out with him. James had also felt that way after Harry had been born.
The door to the kitchen opened to reveal Remus and Sirius each carrying a part of breakfast.
"Wake up there, sunshine!" said Sirius brightly.
"Yes, we've decided that you earned a breakfast in bed," Remus grinned.
James smiled as he remember the Marauder tradition of sneaking meals up to the other Marauders who had been up all night devising their next big practical joke.
"I thought Remus was on thinking duty last night?" James asked.
Sirius set the tray of eggs and toast that he had been carrying onto the coffee table. Then he promptly threw himself onto James's bed causing James to laugh and whack his friend's arm in playfulness.
"So, Jamie, whad'dya say we get start devising our plan while we eat this nutritiously balanced meal, complements of Moony?"
James mock glared at Sirius, who had draped his arm around James's shoulders. "I think you should not call me "Jamie" if you want to live long enough to help me break my son out of that muggle house."
Remus smiled his agreement as he placed his pitcher of pumpkin juice on the coffee table and sat down on the edge of James's bed.
"Well Mr. Moony, Mr. Prongs," Sirius said throwing his free arm about Remus's shoulders, bringing the three of them close together. "I do believe it's time to do what we Marauders do best!"
The plan itself was quite ingenious, really. Or so, James thought. Remus had expressed his concerns but all in all it would work.
Engineering a plan that was so flawless that not even Dumbledore would be able to unravel it until it had already unfolded proved more of a challenge for the Marauders than they originally thought. But, once they got the train rolling the rest came to them fairly easily except for one of the minor details.
"James, I'm sure that Dumbledore's going to know that we're planning on kidnapping Harry. He may not say anything, but he'll know. I think we should come up with something more solid to work on him."
"Moony, this will work! Besides, what's the difference in Dumbledore knowing our plan before or after we've pulled it off? He's kept his mouth shut about our pranks before! Remember when James and I snuck into McGonagall's quarters and magiked everything that was red to gold and the gold to red? He knew we were going to do that and never said anything to her about it," Sirius pointed out. "I doubt she even knows today that we were behind it." he scoffed.
The plan was for Remus and Padfoot to floo in to the Headmaster's office at sunrise the next morning. After declining the offered lemon drops, Remus was going to explain to Dumbledore that he had suspicions that a few Death Eaters were going to raid Diagon Alley soon. This, of course, was true in all aspects. There probably would a raid and Remus did have suspicions about it happening soon.
Dumbledore would most likely send all over the Order that he could to stealthily add some protection spells to Diagon Alley. As it was a Saturday most of the Aurors had the day off unless they were called in due to emergency.
After the Dumbledore had deployed Moody, Tonks, Shaklebolt, Arthur, and perhaps even few of the newer members, Sirius was supposed to make a slight scene of acting out of character. Remus would then confess to the Headmaster about how he and Padfoot had snuck out of the cottage the night before (against Dumbledore's wishes for them not to venture out where prying eyes could see them) to morn James and Lily at their graves. That part of the plan was crucial, as they would have to be very specific about seeing an empty grave and about how the coffin had been opened and emptied.
If things went as the Marauders planned, Dumbledore would find James's empty grave odd enough to research while Harry was being "kidnapped".
"Yes, Sirius, but this isn't the sort of prank that he will get a laugh out of. He put Harry at the Dursleys for a reason." Remus held a hand up to cut off any impending arguments. "I do believe that there are many better options for Harry's living arrangements, but neither Sirius or I are in any position to change it. James, however, has every right to decide where Harry lives and who with. The only problem is, is that I know the both of you are nearly out of patience already and it will take too long for us to get Harry the proper way."
The three men smiled at one another, mulling their plan through, each trying to find a kink or bug. Almost five minutes later Sirius pointed out that Dumbledore would probably want to see one of their memories of the gave through his pensieve.
"I guess you could always borrow mine, except it was pouring rain when last night. I doubt very much that the weather will be like that tonight." James pondered, his chin in hand.
Remus sighed, "I'll go to the grave yard tonight and look. He'll most likely ask for mine, anyway."
"Why wouldn't he ask for mine?" Sirius demanded.
"Well, for starters you'll be in Padfoot form. Secondly, Mr. Olivander hasn't finished making your secret illegal-to-possess-because-you-are-a-convicted-criminal wand yet and thirdly, because you were. I mean are James's best friend. Surely finding your best friends gave empty will have more impact on you rather than me."
"Good thinking, Moony," said Sirius after thinking it through. "Not to mention I've been in Azkaban. Most people assume I'm crazy and all. Who wants to see thoughts and memories from a crazy person's mind"
James peered closely at Sirius. Out the corner of his eye he could see Remus watching him stare at Sirius. James couldn't help but realize that during his absence from the earth, Sirius had matured. Perhaps not grown up, but matured.
Later that night Remus took a long hard look about his house before laying down the ground rules for James and Sirius, who had dug out an old deck of exploding snap and were playing with renewed vigor despite the fact that they were quite tired from thinking all day.
"While I'm gone there are to be no pranks pulled on me, my house, my things, or anything that has to do with me. No imbibing alcohol, no races, no duels, no destruction, and do not leave the house. In fact, the two of you have an assignment while I'm away," Remus said suddenly.
"What's that, Professor Moony?" James asked in a mock childish curious voice.
Remus gave a playful glare at the jab as Sirius, not to be outdone, whined, "Please don't make us alphabetize your knicker drawer again! We did that last week!"
"Laugh if you will. You will like step three of your assignments, I promise. Firstly, you both need to go over the plan again and make sure it's flawless. Secondly, we need to figure out exactly how we kidnap Harry and how we go about telling him that James is alive."
"Yeah, yeah. What's the part that we'll like?" Sirius's face was alight with impatience. James couldn't help but agree with him.
"Well, from what I can tell Harry has some pretty good reason to dislike the Dursleys. I think perhaps they deserve a little something for their… kindness, don't you?"
James grinned. There was an identical evil smile on his best friend's face as they mentally postponed stages one and two in favor for step three, for the time being.
