Peter Pettigrew

Sometime later, (James wasn't sure how long) he felt his body convulse as someone shook him mightily.

"Are you O.K," said a haggard looking Gwen, "You've been out for two days."

"I'm quite fine," James groggily, as the world slowly came into focus for his golden eyes, "I just had a little fall."

"You really need glasses James," said Felix, "because a hundred feet doesn't seem little at all to me."

Madame Medica, the school nurse, was a large, dour woman. She was frantically waddling around the infirmary muttering things like, "Brooms, should be banned from school forever."

"What happened to the cloak?" whispered James as Madame Medica wobbled into another room.

"Lupin took it," said Luke grimly.

"Great," said James feeling a touch of anger swell up inside him, "I took a hundred foot dive for absolutely nothing."

"I'm feeling your little isn't about to help Gryffindor much," said Felix grimly, "Lupin wants to talk to you later."

James gulped loudly, before Luke added, "You still have a day before he has to talk to you. Plenty of time to make up some good excuses."

"At least we know one thing," said Felix, "you're amazing on a broom, you're definitely a natural."

Madame Medica reentered the room and sent his friends scurrying. Apparently their company was bothering his rest and relaxation.

Before James had the chance to argue otherwise, she shoved a vial of something up his mouth without notice. James spluttered madly but most of the stuff went down his mouth anyways.

"Dreamless sleep potion," explained Madame Medica but James was feeling a little too drowsy to listen to what she was saying.

Though he wasn't kicking and screaming, James was feeling quite disgruntled while he was being dragged into Lupin's office. He wondered about how many different ways Mike could torture him after he'd just cost Gryffindor a hundred points. There was one thing James knew: he desperately wanted to keep that invisibility cloak.

James passed by to sniggering Gargoyles and was tossed headlong by Madame Medica into Professor Lupin's office. Professor Lupin was smiling gently as James sat onto a comfortable purple chair.

"Have some soda," suggested Lupin handing James a coke, "don't worry, its just a normal muggle coke. I must say, I find them quite refreshing."

Without bothering to take even a sip of the drink, James launched himself immediately into a half-hazard defense of his actions. James knew he made about as much sense as a dog arguing for Marxism.

There was no raging fury, or sudden bursts of anger from the headmaster. Professor Lupin only smiled sadly, and with a gesture calmed James down.

"I saw everything that happened," said Professor Lupin calmly, "and I know you wanted the invisibility cloak."

"Please sir, -,"

"The invisibility cloak, I must say is quite valuable," said Lupin, cutting James off, "and you'll probably use it only to create mayhem."

"But sir-,"

"But it means more to you doesn't it," said Lupin waiting for James to nod his head.

"I realize you do not hold many memories of your family," said Lupin, "and I know your friends have become family to you. But still, I understand that the value of this cloak is far greater than its cost in Galleons. Remember one thing, use it well."

With a smile and a nod of his head, Lupin handed James his cloak.

"Thanks," said James as he passed by the shocked Gargoyles, but the word thanks couldn't convey his gratitude.

"You can't be serious," was the reaction of everyone when he announced what Lupin did.

"The man is daft," said Luke proudly, just feeling the invisibility cloak. The cloak had a strange feel; it had the feel of water. James ran his hands through the shimmering cloth, trying to imagine the adventures his parents had been through; adventures he had plans on reliving.

Finally, James put the cloak on. He sprinted to the nearest mirror to see that half of his body wasn't visible anymore. James felt a bit like a superhero at that moment. He'd learned how to and become invisible in just one day.

"Congrats," said Mary, grinning from ear to ear, "I was worried you three were a little behind on the magical mischief making thing, but you just nicked an invisibility cloak."

James shoved his hands into his pockets feeling a bit abashed. James noticed a small sheet of paper in the pockets of the invisibility cloak.

"Basilisk Fangs," read James aloud.

"That's quite strange," said Phil, tossing the piece of parchment aside.

Hogwarts was wonderful day after wonderful day; James thought to himself as he fell into his bed. Had James something so stupid and reckless at the Goldman's they would probably be testing Chinese Water torture on him right now.

"So what's the plan for tonight," whispered Luke as he picked Bluemoon grass, in Herbology.

"Be careful not to take too much," warned Professor Longbottom, "We don't want to waste anything."

"Well, what are we going to do tonight," whispered Luke, this time a little more urgently.

"How about sleep?" suggested Gwen meekly.

"Where's the fun in that," said Felix, "We have an invisibility cloak, and the marauders map and the most excited thing you can think of is sleep."

"Sleep is good," responded Gwen in an eve meeker voice.

"Hogsmeade," suggested James, "Let's see what that place is about."

"We could get in trouble," pleaded Gwen, but ignored her. Even Gwen, who normally didn't like getting into trouble, was finding the new magical mischief making an interesting occupation. Anyways, the boys were bound to do something idiotic without he watching over them.

"Hey Augustus," said Luke as Augustus, (James must have somehow broken his arm because he was carrying it in a sling), "Get beat up by a twitchy first year."

Augustus gave a menacing growl, and probably would have knocked Luke out had it not been for the fact so many teachers were watching.

"Let's get going," whispered James as they walked out of the Gryffindor common room, "We've got places to go and things to do."

"And Lestrange's to prank," added Luke, though not before Felix gave him an elbow. They were laughing loudly, as Peeves passed them by, entering a suit of armor and trying to trip them.

"Peeve's," shouted James, but he had disappeared.

"He's crazier than you are," James told Luke as they kept on walking.

"I think we take a right here," said Felix, glancing at the Marauders Map.

"You could lost inside a box," replied Gwen, turning the map which Felix was holding upside down right side up.

"Thanks," he said grinning sheepishly.

Gwen only sighed, grabbing the map from his hands.

"Take a left," she slowly said, "No wait, go right. Crabbe's coming by this way."

"Shh," whispered James, draping the invisibility cloak over all four of them.

An angry Crabbe stalked past them, muttering wildly.

"Get out of that invisibility cloak," he said loudly, "I know you have it. Just wait until I find you and I'll give you detention until Christmas. You'll be begging for mercy when I'm done with you."

The four stood petrified in fear, but Crabbe couldn't see them. And so Crabbe skulked away, never getting too close.

"We better keep quiet, and stick to the cloak," said Felix, and the crew agreed.

They were soon safely through the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, and entered a small dank passageway.

"I wonder who made these secret passageways," conjectured Gwen, as she crawled.

"Gnomes," suggested Felix, "humans weren't made for something this small."

"Maybe an army of midgets was trying to lay siege to Hogwarts," said James jokingly.

But his back was in no moods for joking. The first few minutes of crawling wasn't too bad; but the snail's pace at which they were moving and the bodily convulsions he had to make to keep moving had his body screaming with discomfort.

Finally, James felt his head hit something hard. Normally a lump on the head wasn't something James looked forward too, but the trapdoor James bumped his head against was quite welcoming.

The four crawled out of the secret tunnels and slipped past a series of large crates and bottles. They darted through a staircase and into the counter of what was by James's estimation, the eighth wonder of the world.

All four lit their wands to get a better view of the place. Succulent sweets lined the dozens of shelves. James's jaw dropped as he admired the creamy chunks of Nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, caramel crunches. There was an entire row of special effects sweets such as Drouble's Best Blowing Gum, (which filled the room with blue colored bubbles that refused to pop for days,) and Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black pepper imps (breath fire for you friends) and a whole lot more.

"I think I'd like a sugar quill," said Gwen as she examined the candies.

"You know I think me and my brothers should have a bit of a reconciliation," suggested Felix out of the blue.

Luke nearly dropped to box of pepper imps when he heard Felix's solution.

"I think I should offer them a present," said Felix, "I think cockroach clusters, or acid pops would do."

"I think we'll take some of those too," said Luke grabbing some acid pops. James scooped a handful of every flavor beans, shoving them into his mouth to see what mixture of flavors he'd get.

"Mustard, chocolate, sardine," said James, "not half bad." Gwen was gagging at the thought of eating something like that.

"We can take some candy on our way back," recommended James, "Let's see the rest of Hogsmeade first."

A blood curdling scream reverberated through the village just as they were about to step outside the door.

The blood drained out of James's face and Luke was fidgeting nervously as he stood behind the box.

"Check the map," ordered James curtly.

"Its Chump," said Felix looking aghast, "And someone called Pettigrew. I think they're fighting. I think someone attacked Chump."

"Oh my god," uttered Gwen, her hands shaking.

"Pettigrew is coming over here," said Felix as calmly as he could, "and Chump isn't on the map anymore."

"Back to the tunnels," said James, as they scurried in to the tunnels as fast as they could.

James grabbed the map from Felix's hands taking one last look before he too would escape into the tunnels. According to the map, Pettigrew in the shop. James looked, and unfortunately he was there. A short spectral figure walked into the room, laughing maniacally. He was short, balding, and slightly pudgy. Normally, James figured Pettigrew wouldn't have looked frightening, yet the blood stained Pettigrew had depraved gleam in his eyes that frightened James.

"Come on," said Gwen, tugging his sleeves, "before he sees us."

The journey back took far less than the journey to Hogsmeade. Though they didn't have the dreams of sumptuous candy to sustain, the fear of the deranged Peter Pettigrew was motivation enough.

Gwen broke the silence of the tunnels when she said, "we have to tell Lupin about this."

"But we'll be in so much trouble," countered Luke half heartedly.

"There was a murder tonight," said James, "Lupin has to know."

They crawled out of the passageway, scared and exhausted. The four stumbled towards the gruff gargoyles.

"Let us in," cried Felix banging on the doors but the Gargoyles wouldn't budge.

"Do I hear something," said one gargoyle, to the other.

"Nope," said the second, ignoring James's desperate appeals, "Probably a fly."

Luckily, though the Gargoyles seemed deaf, the Headmaster's hearing was quite acute.

"Come on in," said Professor Lupin, ushering them into his office. Despite the fact he was still wearing pink bunny rabbit pajamas, Professor Lupin cut an impressive figure.

"Sir, would you know where the caretaker is?" asked James.

"Well, no," said Professor Lupin, his face contorting with confusion.

"I think he was killed," said Luke.

James explained everything, covering ever detail, of what happened that night.

"I'm glad you came to me," said Professor Lupin once James finished his story, "normally the repercussions for what you did would be strong, but I don't want to stop you from telling me important information. But I need the marauders map."

James handed him the map, biting back the urge to argue. It would be churlish not to accept Lupin's generous offer.

"Do you know who Lupin is?" asked James.

"All to well," said Professor Lupin, his old age suddenly becoming more evident under the flickering light of a lamp, "he was once a friend of mine, not anymore."

"Just promise me one thing," continued Professor Lupin, "Please, do not do anything rash about this under any circumstances. Pettigrew is a dangerous man and I will do everything I can to solve this mystery. Keep your minds somewhere else, class, Quidditch even pranks. No one needs to know about what happened tonight. Good night."

The good night had a finality that told James he was being dismissed. Luke gave the sniggering gargoyles outside a nice hard kick, though Luke ended hurting himself more than he hurt the gargoyles resulting in even more sniggering.

James dreamed of Peter Pettigrew that night, dreamed of Pettigrew laughing mercilessly as he hacked away at Charlie Chump. He woke up sometime the next morning, his eyes searing with pain. He decided against telling his friends what he saw; it was just a nightmare.