Chapter Seven: Division

Along the way to breakfast, they encountered five more patches of Anti-Gravity Mist. From what they heard, they could tell the mist had been placed all around the school. With more than their usual gusto, the students at Hogwarts dug into their breakfasts. Hardly anyone noticed that Professor Dumbledore wasn't present at the staff table, but Peter and James certainly did. Once they had managed to get Sirius' attention away from his food, they began to speculate about it.

"Do you think he's stuck in the mist somewhere?" Sirius asked.

James stared. "Are you daft? He's the greatest wizard ever. A bit of fog isn't going to present any problem for him," he practically yelled.

Peter watched timidly. He didn't want to see James and Sirius fight, but he was amazed when Sirius started laughing.

"I had you going, Potter," he said between chuckles. "You really think I'm that stupid?"

Peter watched James' face anxiously as anger flashed through his eyes. But it passed quickly, and was replaced with a broad smile.

"Course I do," James said casually, as he ducked to miss Sirius' fist. Peter smiled and felt much relieved.

The three boys (well, James and Sirius, really) put their heads together to try to come up with some ideas on who the pranksters were and how to catch them. Peter came away from the meeting dizzy and a bit confused. Luckily, on the way to class, Lily ran into them and offered to help Peter with his transfiguration homework. By lunch, however, they seemed to have agreed on a plan that Peter understood: keep their eyes open and note any suspicious behavior. After they had some suspects, they could figure out a way to catch them.

"They had better watch out," James said as they left the table. "They have the Marauders on their tails now."

Peter was glad when the subject shifted from the mysterious pranks at Hogwarts. Thinking about trying to catch whoever was behind it made him nervous. It's probably some nasty Slytherins, he thought with certainty. Big, ugly, 7th year Slytherins. He didn't want anything to do with them, but he also didn't want to make his way to breakfast through Anti-Gravity Mist every morning.

The next morning being Saturday, Peter suggested going to pick up Remus as he left the Whomping Willow and going to see Hagrid, as long as Remus didn't need to see the nurse. The plan was adopted unanimously, so the trio went out bright and early to meet Remus. He was a bit surprised to see his friends standing just outside the tree's reach, but he was feeling pretty good, so he was glad to go with them to visit Hagrid.

"Hello boys," Hagrid warmly greeted them. "C'mon in."

Peter looked around warily to see which dangerous beast he might run into in Hagrid's hut, but seeing none he sighed with relief and took a seat.

"'eard you 'ad some excitement up ah the school yesterday," Hagrid remarked.

Peter nodded, Remus looked confused, and James and Sirius said, "You bet we did!"

"Whoa! Slow down there," Hagrid said, holding up one of his huge hands. "One at ah time, please."

"Wait," Remus cut Sirius off. "What are we talking about here?"

"Another prank," Sirius replied gravely. "This time there was Anti-Gravity Mist all over the school."

"Wha's tha' exactly?" Hagrid said, trying, and failing, to sound as if he knew the main points of it.

James smirked, in a kindly way, then answered, "If you walk through it, it turns everything upside down and you are hanging from the ceiling until you pick up your foot. Then everything is back to normal and you're on the other side of the mist."

Remus let out a low whistle. "That must have caused some chaos."

"Dumbledore didn't even come to breakfast," Peter bravely added.

"He's obviously worried," James agreed. "I think we just need to figure out who's at the bottom of this so things can get back to normal."

"Grea' idea, James," Hagrid said excitedly. "Can I 'elp?"

"Sure," the ringleader answered. "We'll let you know what you can do."

"So have you got any new pets we should know about Hagrid?" Remus asked, eyes twinkling with suppressed laughter.

Hagrid shook his head sadly. "Nope, Remus, no new pets yet. But Ah'll invite you down to see it when Ah do…" He trailed off and smiled.

"Are you expecting one soon?" Peter asked nervously. He'd like visiting Hagrid a lot more if he didn't have to worry about meeting all manner of dangerous beasts.

Shaking his head playfully this time, Hagrid said, "If Ah answer that, Ah'll take all the fun out of it."

"I'm sure it'll be great fun to meet it," Sirius muttered. Hagrid either didn't hear the comment, or he ignored it, for he went on to ask how class was going.

Over an hour had passed when the boys had to invent an excuse to leave Hagrid's, as there was no other way to avoid eating the treats he had prepared, and it looked like it might begin to rain any second. As they entered the school, they passed Fletcher, who was on his way out. Only Remus smiled and greeted their roommate, though he didn't smile back.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Remus turned to them as soon as they were inside.

Peter knew the comment wasn't really directed at him; Remus knew he was too shy to speak to someone outside his friends without being spoken to first, but he still felt ashamed. James and Sirius lowered their heads, too, but Peter suspected it might have been to hide their smirks. Remus must have suspected this, too, because he mumbled something about finding Lily and stalked away.

The friends he left behind continued on, so perturbed that they walked right into Snape's gang. As soon as Peter realized it, he was frozen with fear. He was later pleased to reflect that James and Sirius did not freeze, but held themselves taller and looked ready for a fight.

"What would three Gryffindors be doing outside on a day like today?" Severus hissed at them. Belatedly, Peter realized the storm that had been threatening had indeed begun, and in full force. "They wouldn't be visiting that giant of a servant, would they?"

Anger bubbled up inside of Peter. He couldn't believe Snape would make such an awful suggestion about Hagrid. But Sirius reacted more quickly.

With a hand around Snape's throat, he muttered, "You take that back, Snape."

"I don't believe I will," Snape replied with a smirk. "Please remove your hand from my neck."

"I don't believe I will," Sirius growled back. Two rather large Slytherins emerged from the pack and rolled up their sleeves menacingly. Sirius looked incensed, and Peter knew when he backed down it wasn't from cowardice, but knowing a two on ten fight was hopeless.

"You just wait," he muttered so only the people closest could hear. "You'll get what's coming to you." Then he turned and motioned for Peter and James to follow. Silently, they did. It was a few minutes later before Peter ventured to speak.

"Is it just me, or does his group appear larger than last year?" he asked. "I thought I even saw Fletcher's little sister among the new recruits."

"That sneak of a roommate is too closely related to one of Snape's gang to be a true Gryffindor," James sneered. "I wonder how he ended up in our house."

"And our room," Sirius added sorrowfully. "He's cramping our style just by being there. We can't plan pranks, we can't practice our animagi transfigurations…" He trailed off. Peter didn't respond, but nodded in complete sympathy. He was not comfortable having a stranger in his room.

"I think we could come up with a way to make him spend less time in the room," James said, grinning evilly. "A few well chosen pranks…"

He was about to agree whole-heartedly with James' idea, when Peter remembered how Remus had gotten angry and stormed off when they wouldn't say hi to Fletcher. "I-I don't think Remus will like that idea," Peter said.

James nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, Peter. He wouldn't let us do that." He stopped, apparently stumped.

Sirius suddenly smiled. "But once a month, Remus is gone for a few days. If all of a sudden when he gets back, Fletcher isn't in the room as much, who's going to ask why?"

"Excellent idea, Sirius," James said appreciatively. "We'll wait for the next full moon then. And not a word to Remus about it."

He looked closely at both of his friends. Peter wasn't sure, but he thought James' glance lingered on him a bit longer. Did James think that he would blab to Remus? Surely James could tell Peter wanted Fletcher out of their hair as much as James did. But he shrugged it off and followed his friends through the door to their common room.

Peter wasn't surprised that Remus wasn't in the common room waiting and from the resigned looks on their faces, he could see his other friends weren't surprised either. "Should we try the library?" he murmured. "Remus mentioned finding Lily, so perhaps they're there."

James nodded, looking concerned. "I didn't think he'd get this bent out of shape," he remarked.

Without another word, he turned and marched out the door and back down the hallway. Peter and Sirius followed silently. They found their missing friend in the farthest, darkest corner of the library with Lily. They were deep in conversation when Peter, James and Sirius approached. Remus looked up expectantly.

"We're sorry Remus," James said sincerely.

Remus nodded. "I know you're not trying to be cruel, but you don't know what it's like to be the new guy."

Sirius added, "You know, Fletcher hasn't exactly been friendly to us either, always sneaking around and stuff. Maybe he doesn't want to be our friend."

Looking thoughtful, Remus replied, "You may be right, Sirius, but we have to make an effort."

Peter nodded vigorously, almost ecstatic that no big fight had ensued. Things would work out perfectly, he reasoned. For a month, they would tolerate Fletcher's presence, then they would scare him off and Remus would never be the wiser. As he smiled in appreciation of the excellent plan, Remus smiled back at his friends and so did Lily.

"You guys up for a game of Exploding Snap?" she asked.