Disclaimer: How much of this do I own, apart from my characters and the plot? Nada.

Ok, rare moment of weakness. Here are chapters 7 & 8, out up on the same day as chapter 6. Be happy, cause I doubt you will get three chapters together again. Now, I have to write chapter 9 but I have writer's block. I shall see what I can do but I'm not promising anything. It might not be up for a week.

Chapter 8: Meanies vs. Marauders

(Whoa! 8? Already? Jeepers Creepers)

Melbourne, Australia

James, Sirius, Remus and Harry had been left to guard the luggage while the girls had gone to the toilets to "freshen up and make themselves beautiful and presentable for Helen and her family" as Lily put it.

"Don't know what Lily was talking about. She's always beautiful," James said, trying and failing to understand the female mind.

"Great, we've been here ten minutes and James is going mushy on us. Moony help," Sirius said sighing and giving James an exasperated look.

Remus, who was helping Harry to eat his Dixie Cup of ice cream (Harry was eating it, Remus was just putting it on the spoon), looked up at his two friends and was just about to tell James to stop being a hopeless romantic in front of his son, stopped when he heard someone yell out.

"Remus?" a familiar voice cried out, "Remus!"

Remus handed Harry to James just in time to grab his older cousin around the waist as she pulled him in for a hug.

"Helen, how are you?" Remus asked his favourite relative.

"Fine, fine. Yourself?" Helen asked.

"Good. Helen, this is Sirius Black," Sirius held his hand out to shake Helen's before she gave him a big bear hug. Smiling, Remus continued, "James Potter," James got a hug too, "and James' son Harry."

Helen smiled and rubbed her hand against the child's cheek, "Hello adorable."

"Hello" James answered promptly, knowing full well that Helen had been talking to Harry. Helen smiled and tickled Harry, who began to giggle.

Amy, Lily and Samantha appeared from the bathroom just then, so more introductions were made. Helen then took them outside to her car, a blue Nissan patrol that had been modified with magic to hold a lot more people, and got them all settled. Remus took the front seat, Harry, James and Lily took the middles seats, and Amy, Samantha and Sirius took the back seats.

"Everyone settled?" Helen inquired, getting into her seat.

Sirius put his left arm around Amy, his right around Samantha and answered, "Yep, all set."

Amy swatted him on the arm. Remus, looking in the review mirror, grinned. Sirius cowered and moved close to Samantha, who kissed him on the cheek. When Sirius kissed her back, James called out from his seat,

"I think we need to separate Sirius and Samantha. They might get a bit frisky."

Everyone laughed, except Sirius who shrugged and Samantha who had turned a brilliant shade of red.

They stopped off at Subway for lunch, before continuing their trip to Helen's house in Somerville. There, they met Helen's husband Adam, her sons, Dean, Michael, Earl and Kevin, and her daughter, Amanda. Remus, being a werewolf with highly developed senses, immediately sensed something about the boys. Or at least Dean, Kevin and Earl. Dean was about to Remus' shoulder, with dark brown hair that fell in his brown eyes and an evil grin on his face. Kevin was the same height with short hair, and an identical grin. Earl had almost black hair, and looked more evil then the other two. Michael, just a bit shorter then the others didn't look evil at all. He was standing slightly behind his mother, Remus could smell his wariness. While the other boys we standing together, whispering about pulling a prank on the newcomers, Michael stood away, obviously the usual victim of the pranks. Amanda stood with her father, glaring at the boys, the look one her face was one that plainly said, "try anything and you will pay."

The three boys whispered something about "the Meanies striking". Remus figured this must be their nickname. Great, Remus thought, Helen will have her handful with the Marauders too. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

James had also noticed the young boys talking. He couldn't hear them, but he saw the look on Dean's face. It was the look that Sirius got whenever they were plotting a prank. James glanced at Sirius to see if he had noticed. He had. Sirius was frowning slightly at the boys. Uh oh, Sirius is up to something. And I don't want to be a part of it, James thought, Lily will hurt me. Or refuse to cook dinner when we get back. I won't even be able to escape to my mum's, Lily will tell her.

The Marauders didn't have to wait long. At dinner, Remus heard the boys discussing their pranks. Helen smiled at the look on her cousins face. She had neglected to tell the boys that Remus had better hearing and smell then any dog or human. While Sirius couldn't hear their plans, Remus could and by the intense look on his face, he knew what they were up to. Sure enough, when Kevin flung his potato in James' direction, Remus caught it. The boys were shocked. Never had any adult been able to stop their pranks, not even their parents. But the worst was yet to come.

The Marauders were much more experienced at pulling pranks then the 12 year old boys were. Little did the Meanies know, the Marauders had not yet begun to fight.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Wow, Chapter 8. Seeing as only Chapter 2 is up on the Internet, I had better post a few more, hey. If anyone hasn't noticed due to the dedication of one of the previous chapters, the five kids and Helen's husband are named after members of my TAFE class. Dean and Kevin pull jokes on Michael and Amanda can do some pretty nasty looks. Earl is apparently evil. He says he is and he is occasionally. Hello, lord Osmodious.