Chapter 59 Like Old Times

February 1981

"Give it up, Potter!"

"Never!" James rolled away from what could have been a crippling blow and launched himself behind the safety of the sofa. He crouched there, catching his breath and wondering what to do next. Much though James hated to admit it, he was getting tired. He needed to find a way to win this duel, and he needed to do it now.

"I've got you cornered," James' opponent moved toward him, smirking evilly. "Face it; you can't win this one."

"That's what you think," James retorted, and flung a bolster at him as hard as he could. His opponent stumbled, distracted, and James launched himself over the sofa to attack.

It would've been perfect if James hadn't caught his foot. Instead of landing neatly on top of his assailant, he knocked into him as he fell and both of them landed with a loud "oof!" beside Harry's baby seat.

Harry laughed and squirmed in his chair. Even though he was fairly certain he'd punctured a lung, James managed to grin up at his son.

"Uhhh."

James' grin widened at the sweet sound of defeat coming from his opponent's general direction. He opened his mouth to gloat, savoring the words –

"Had enough, Darth? Obi Wan?"

James sat up so fast he knocked his head soundly on Harry's baby seat. Shaking off the stars dancing round his skull, James saw Lily and Remus standing by the door, both of them highly amused.

"How long have you been standing there?" James asked with as much dignity as he could muster. He lay back down on the carpet and closed his eyes, hoping that the little stars would go away.

"Long enough, Remus replied. He tried and failed to hide a smile. "Did you finally kill Sirius?"

"I'm here," Sirius wheezed as he sat up rubbing his rib cage. "That was cheap," he complained to James, then looked round at Lily and Remus. "And what exactly did you call us?" he eyed Lily narrowly.

"Never mind." Lily had given up attempting to explain most Muggle references. Instead, she stepped over James with one foot to pick up Harry, apparently forgetting that she was wearing a Muggle skirt.

"What brings you back here so soon?" James folded his arms behind his head as he admired the view.

"Forgot some papers," Lily explained as she stepped back over James and handed him the baby. She had a meeting with her parents' solicitor to go over yet more paperwork, which had prompted Sirius to come and keep James and Harry company. "I was on my way back in to get them when I ran into Remus."

"I thought I'd pop in for a visit," Remus smiled a trifle uncertainly, as if not quite sure of his welcome.

"We're glad you did," Lily told him as she snatched her papers up from the sofa. "I have to run just now, but hopefully I'll see you later."

"All right," Remus gave his hesitant smile again.

Lily crouched down next to her husband and son. "Bye-bye, Harry," Lily waved exaggeratedly at the baby.

"C'mon, Harry, wave like this," James urged, copying Lily's wave. Harry watched his parents wave at him with a slightly concerned expression, as though he wasn't sure they were entirely sane.

"Oh, sod it," Lily relented as she caught sight of the baby's expression. "He isn't going to do it."

"We have to keep trying," James continued to wave at Harry. "Wave to Mummy, Harry," he coaxed. "C'mon, wave like Daddy."

"Stop trying to turn the poor kid into a trained monkey," Sirius offered his two Knuts from where he still lay on the floor. Harry grinned widely at his godfather as if in agreement, displaying his small collection of teeth.

James scowled, but was distracted from giving Sirius the retort he deserved as Lily leaned over to kiss him. "See you later," she whispered in his ear, then kissed Harry on the nose and scurried out the door, late for her appointment.

James smiled after Lily until he couldn't see her anymore, then turned to find that Remus had joined them on the floor.

"So, do you lot do this often?" Remus asked, lips twitching. At James and Sirius' blank expressions, he nodded toward the toy broomsticks from Harry's Quidditch set that James and Sirius had been using as swords in their epic battle.

"We were just entertaining the baby," Sirius snapped. He stood up abruptly and moved toward the sofa, plucking Harry from James along the way.

"So yeah, we do it sort of often," James added sheepishly and shot Sirius an exasperated glare for his rudeness. He suddenly had the feeling that he was in for a long afternoon.

And that feeling ended up being spot on. Sirius refrained from making any more outwardly rude comments, but his behaviour was decidedly odd and he insisted on holding Harry practically all afternoon. Remus was a bit standoffish toward Sirius as well, and he was often studying him when Sirius wasn't looking.

James, who was decidedly uncomfortable with this new frostiness between his two best mates, struggled to maintain the flagging conversation. It went along all right at first as the three of them discussed Harry's christening, which had taken place the previous week, and then moved onto the last Auror meeting, the latest Death Eater activities, and finally memories of their Hogwarts days. But when even that topic began to sag, James found himself wracking his brains for another one, something he could never recall having to do before with Sirius and Remus.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room as James struggled to think of something, anything to say. "So – " James began, then stopped when he realized he had no idea how he planned to finish that sentence.

"So?" Sirius prompted expectantly. James glared at him.

"So, er, what – where – where do you go during the full moon now, Remus?" James blurted, then fought the impulse to clap his hands over his mouth. Very tactful, Potter, he berated himself. Next you can ask him what color knickers he has on and how much money he earns in a year.

"Er – my parents have a cage for me in their basement," Remus replied, clearly a bit surprised by the question but polite nonetheless. "I've been going there since I came back."

"What!" James was aghast. "A cage?"

"That's what I did before I went to Hogwarts," Remus reminded him. "It isn't so bad; I've gotten used to it again."

James waved this off. "For next month, at least, Sirius, Peter, and I are taking you out," he informed Remus. "Just like old times."

"James, I don't –" Sirius began

"You don't have to –" Remus started in as well.

"We're going," James said firmly, eyeing Sirius. "I'm only sorry I didn't think of it before," he added to Remus. "Or you wouldn't have had to spend all these months in that cage."

"Are you sure this is the best idea, Prongs? 'S'not like you don't have other things to worry about," Sirius nodded toward Harry, who was propped in Sirius' lap playing with a teething ring.

But James refused to be deterred. He felt utterly horrible for forgetting about Remus; it bothered James more than he cared to admit to think of Remus locked in a cage in his parents' basement. James immediately sent an owl to Peter, and he came less than an hour later, bubbling over with excitement and plans.

Peter's enthusiasm proved to be contagious, and eventually even Sirius had come round to the idea. Peter was so enthusiastic, in fact, that he refused to allow James to even think of coming back to spend the days with Lily and Harry.

"We'll make a holiday of it," he coaxed James. "Lily and Harry can stay with your mum and dad or something; it'll be a holiday for them too. C'mon, James; it won't be any fun otherwise."

"All right," James capitulated. This little outing sounded like way too much fun to pass up.

"Brilliant!" Peter beamed. "Where should we go first?"

"I hear there's a vampire meeting at the Hog's Head," Sirius smirked.

"Please, Padfoot," Peter scoffed. "Like I'd be thick enough to fall for that one again."

"Sure you would," James and Remus said in unison.

They all laughed at that, even Peter, and for the first time that afternoon it really was like old times.

February 1981

Peter lay on his bed in his mother's house, one arm flung over his eyes, and willed himself to go to sleep. Everything hurt less when he was asleep, so Peter had been spending most of his time lately either sleeping or attempting to.

He was only just now getting back on his feet without the benefit of any spells, but it still hurt to walk, to laugh, to – well, to do anything, really.

It had been nearly a month since it happened. Peter had been at his boring job in the Improper Use of Magic office, sealing letters and wishing for someone to put him out of his misery, when she'd walked in. Bellatrix.

She'd been in disguise, of course, but it was one she'd used before, so Peter hadn't had any trouble recognizing her. As if anybody else could have had those eyes anyway. And as always, Peter had felt his heart trip just a bit faster.

His pulse had spun out of control when Bellatrix had suggested that they leave together. Looking back on it now, Peter wondered why he'd been so naïve. Bellatrix had seemed just a bit too excited at the prospect of spending time with him; she'd never been that enthusiastic about it before, not even when they'd first begun – spending time together.

Peter had quickly discovered the reason for Bellatrix's eagerness. They'd gone to a dingy house in a remote corner of London and Bellatrix had tortured him for hours. Then the hours had stretched into days. Sometimes there had been an audience – the Dark Lord himself had come fairly often – but mostly it was just the two of them. Audience or no, Bellatrix had relished every minute of it. Peter had never before met anyone who enjoyed hurting people quite as much as Bellatrix did. Or anyone who did it with quite the same flair.

Eventually, she'd told him why he was there. It had been his punishment for his mistake with the Evanses. The Dark Lord had been disappointed, so he'd sent for Bellatrix to "express his displeasure" to Peter. He was pretty sure that was the phrase Bellatrix had used.

By the time it was over, Peter had got the message. It had taken him almost an hour to make his way out of the house so that he could Apparate home. He'd finally managed it and had then had to deal with his hysterical mother when she'd seen the state he was in. Apparently Bellatrix or someone sent her an owl telling her that Peter was on a business trip; nobody had ever said the Death Eaters weren't thorough.

Peter had told his mother that he'd been mugged, begged her not to tell anyone, and then had staggered into his room before the world went dark.

He'd awoken a day and a half later, but it had been another day before he'd been able to make it to work. They were thoroughly pissed off with him in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office for taking so long over his "family emergency;" Peter had had to go to the department head's office and listen to him rant on about unreliability and obligation and common courtesy. And the whole time Peter had had the most overwhelming urge to giggle.

But his Ministry job was more or less safe (not that Peter would have been devastated if it weren't) and he could concentrate on more important matters. After his session with Bellatrix, Peter knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would do whatever it took to avoid displeasing his master again. Whatever it took, even if he had to steal Harry in plain view of everyone. Peter knew instinctively that he couldn't survive another session like that with Bellatrix.

This trip with James, Sirius, and Remus was the answer to Peter's prayers. He'd be with them for three days, he would be able to find out more about how Harry was being protected, who they suspected of being the spy, what James and Lily's schedule was for the next few weeks. And Peter would talk to Sirius and Remus separately, try to convince each of them that he suspected the other one was the spy.

Yes, Peter was looking forward to this little full moon outing. It was just possible that it would provide him with a chance to redeem himself into his master's good graces.

It was two weeks later when the Marauders went to Hogsmeade for the full moon, all of them in high spirits. They Apparated in front of Honeyduke's and then proceeded to the cottage just outside of town that Peter had insisted on renting for the weekend. They quickly dropped their bags there and headed back into town for an early dinner at the Three Broomsticks, Sirius complaining about the cottage Peter had rented all the while.

"Honestly, Wormtail, you couldn't have checked the place out before you doomed the whole bloody lot of us to the place for the next three nights and two days?" Sirius groused.

"Sorry the cottage isn't up to your usual standards," Peter sniffed indignantly as he brushed past Sirius into the pub. "Not all of us have jobs as Aurors and rich uncles who kick the bucket and leave us fortunes, you know."

"My 'usual standards?'" Sirius glared. "It smells like Uncle Alphard died in there!"

"Okay, it's a bit musty," Peter admitted defensively. He turned to appeal to James and Remus. "But it doesn't smell THAT bad, does it?"

"Hate to be the one to tell you, Wormtail, but I have to side with Padfoot on this one," Remus said. "It definitely smells like something died in that cottage."

"Died after boiling cabbage and not bathing for days," James amended Remus' statement.

"Humph," was all Peter could come up with before Madame Rosmerta descended on them with a greeting.

After dinner, the Marauders set out for the Shrieking Shack so that James, Sirius, and Peter could help Remus break in to start his transformation. Once he was safely inside, the other three could change and make their way to the Hogwarts grounds and the Whomping Willow. They'd decided that it was too dangerous for Remus to be seen on the grounds in his human form; even James and Sirius didn't know how they'd explain that one to Professor Dumbledore if they were seen.

James, Sirius, and Peter kept watch from various points around the Shrieking Shack until they saw a stream of red sparks coming from one of the windows, the signal that all was well with Remus. Then James and Sirius went to locate Peter; the less walking about he did in the dark, the better.

James scanned the bushes on the wooded side of the Shack where Peter had been assigned, trying to locate his friend. "Peter?" he called softly.

"Oww!" someone howled from a nearby bush.

"Looks like we found him," Sirius drawled from behind James.

Once they were all assembled and had taken care of Peter's bush-related injury (which had consisted of Sirius telling Peter to stop being a nancy boy about it), Sirius, James, and Peter raised their wands to begin their own transformations.

James closed his eyes and focused all of his energy on the change. Becoming a stag had never been easy, but tonight it was harder than usual. He hadn't done it in a long time, not since he'd married Lily. Weird to think how different things had been before…

Finally James managed it. He stretched, arching his back and rotating his neck in an effort to get used to being a stag once again. After so much time, it felt slightly odd to be Prongs. James took a few hesitant steps; so far, so good.

Nearby Prongs saw Padfoot getting used to his other form as well, scratching his side vigourously against a tree. Peter was still morphing into rat form, frowning and sweating slightly in concentration as he shrank. It had always taken Peter longer than James and Sirius to transform, and required a bit more effort too. But it wasn't something that any of them, not even Sirius, ever mentioned.

At last Peter was gone and Wormtail came to stand in front of Prongs, twitching his whiskers inquiringly. Prongs jerked his antlers in the general direction of the Hogwarts grounds, and Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were off to find Moony.

Padfoot, with Wormtail on his shoulder, crept toward the Whomping Willow. They'd decided beforehand that Prongs should hide at the edge of the forest until Wormtail had deactivated the Willow; a stag would draw a lot more unwanted attention than a dog or a rat.

Wormtail leapt from Padfoot's shoulder as they neared their destination and darted toward the tree. But before he could reach the safety of the branches, a pair of very large, very human hands scooped him up. Wormtail let out a shrill warning squeal and struggled to get down, but it didn't do him any good. Trembling with fear, Wormtail looked up…and recognized Hagrid.

"'Ello there, little feller," Hagrid greeted him as one huge fingertip stroked Wormtail's ears. "Bit far from home, aren't yeh?"

Wormtail stayed very still, trembling in a very rat-like way.

"Who do yeh belong ter, then?" Hagrid asked Wormtail as he continued to pet him. "I 'eard one o' the Gudgeon boys talking abou' losin' a pet rat."

Wormtail's eyes bulged; the last thing he needed was to be turned over to Davey Gudgeon's younger brothers; Davey might have been the worst of the lot, but none of the Gudgeon family were exactly noted for their good sense and intelligence. He let out another squeal and glanced frantically into the shadows behind the Whomping Willow where Padfoot was likely to be hiding.

Apparently Padfoot took this as his cue that Wormtail had suffered enough. He came loping toward Hagrid, his tail wagging.

"'Ere, boy!" Hagrid coaxed, bending down to reach out to the dog. "That's a good boy, come 'ere!"

Wormtail waited till Hagrid bent a bit further, then leaped from his hands, digging his claws in for good measure. Hagrid yelped in pain, but Wormtail didn't look back; he hit the ground running and moved as fast as he could toward the Whomping Willow.

Padfoot caught Prongs' eye, telling him silently to go on ahead with Wormtail and Moony while he distracted Hagrid. Prongs bowed his antlered head once in assent and watched in amusement as Padfoot trotted off in the opposite direction, Hagrid trailing behind.

It was well into the afternoon before James finally managed to wake up enough to even consider getting up. After several false starts, he lurched his way into the cottage's main room to find himself alone. Giving a mental shrug, James went in search of the coffee he was pretty sure he'd brought.

Apparently he hadn't, though, or he would've found it; the cottage wasn't big enough to lose anything in. James was just getting frustrated enough to actually venture into Hogsmeade in search of caffeine when he spotted a piece of paper covered in familiar handwriting.

"Prongs –" Sirius' note read.

"Peter and I went to have a drink at the Three Broomsticks; come join us if you want. If not, you and Moony can meet us for dinner at five thirty."

"Sirius

"PS – We drank all of your coffee."

"Bloody bastard," James muttered, crumpling the note.

"Who, me?"

"Gah!" James spun to find Remus standing by the door, clutching a paper bag. "Oh, it's just you," James relaxed.

"Thanks," Remus grimaced at him.

"Well, it's better than "oh no, not you again,'" James pointed out testily. "Where've you been, anyway?" he nodded toward Remus' bag.

"Thought maybe you could use some food," Remus replied, unpacking enough sandwiches to feed them both for at least a week. He turned to grin at James. "I figured anyone who spent the night with his head as close to that toilet as you did deserved for someone to do something nice for them."

"Ha, ha," James said sourly, and reached for a sandwich. Knowing when to back off, Remus picked up a sandwich as well and silence filled the cottage.

"Why were you sleeping in the bathroom anyway?" Remus wanted to know after a while. "I don't remember anyone doing any drinking, but then my memory of last night is hardly the most accurate."

"Nobody was drinking," James replied around a mouthful of ham. "There wasn't enough room to sleep in here."

"So you slept in the loo?" Remus wrinkled his nose. "What in Merlin's name possessed you to do that? Considering the way this dump smells, you don't think the rest of us would've shoved over a bit so you wouldn't have to have your face near the mankiest toilet ever? You're probably going to need experimental medicine or something."

"I did sleep out here for a bit, but I kept waking up with Peter's arse in my face," James explained. "Since I don't Beat for that team, I decided to go and sleep in the bathroom."

"Um…oh," was all Remus could think to say.

"It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time," James explained.

Remus wisely kept his own council about James' logic and decided to change the subject instead. "Where did Sirius and Peter go?"

"To have a drink at the Three Broomsticks," James' voice was muffled as he ate another sandwich.

Remus' eyes sharpened a fraction. "Whose idea was that?" he asked lightly, toying with a bread crust.

"Dunno," James shrugged and reached for his sandwich again. When he caught sight of Remus' expression, though, he decided to take a smaller bite. "Why do you ask?" James inquired in an equally casual voice.

Remus shrugged. "No reason, it's just that it's only three thirty in the afternoon," he replied. "Thought it was a bit odd."

"Nobody said they were going to down a fifth of Firewhiskey," James pointed out reasonably. "They could've gone for butterbeer or something."

"True," Remus' smile was a bit off. "Forget I said anything."

"Okay," James said evenly, "I'll forget you ever asked such stupid questions about two mates going to have a drink if you tell me what this is really about."

"What do you mean?" Remus gave a fairly convincing impression of innocence. Or fairly convincing to someone who hadn't known him since he was eleven years old, anyway.

"Cut the crap, Remus," James replied. "What's going on?"

Remus sighed. "Do you know anything about wolves, James?"

"Not too much," James admitted impatiently. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you know anything about the way a wolf pack hunts, James? Have you ever seen them do it?" Remus carried on as though he hadn't been interrupted. James shook his head silently.

"I learned a lot about wolves while I was away. When a wolf pack is stalking a herd, it separates the weakest ones from the rest," Remus explained. "The wolves go after the weakest animals because they know that those are the ones they can lure, the ones they can frighten into doing something stupid. And once the weak animals do that stupid thing, it's the last mistake they ever make. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"I'm not sure," James answered, studying Remus' face. "Maybe you'd better spell it out for me; I just woke up, and Sirius stole my coffee."

"I'm just saying that if we see that the weak ones are being isolated by wolves, we should do something before more damage is done to our herd," Remus said softly.

"Sirius isn't the spy, Remus," James stated flatly. "I know he isn't; I'd stake my life, and Lily's life, and even Harry's life on it."

"I know he's your friend, James," Remus sighed. "He's my friend too. But what could he possibly have to say to Peter that he couldn't say in front of us?"

"How do you know it wasn't Peter's idea to go and have a drink?" James shot back. "Hell, how do you know they aren't talking about last night or women or work or the Order or any one of a million other topics that have nothing to do with Voldemort's cause?"

"I don't," Remus replied. "But I don't know that they aren't talking about Voldemort's cause, either. Just like I don't know that Sirius isn't the spy."

"That's ridiculous," James snapped.

"I hope it is," Remus said. "But until we know for sure, James, I don't think you should go staking your wife and son's life on Sirius' innocence."

"Carefully, caaaarefullyyyy…" Lily chanted under her breath as she pointed her wand at another ornament and guided it into the waiting box. She made sure that the delicate ornament wasn't going to tip over before moving onto the next one. "Almost done," she told herself, surveying her handiwork.

Lily was standing on the very top of a ladder, undecorating the Christmas tree. True, Christmas had been two months ago, but Harry had loved the Christmas tree so much that Lily hadn't wanted to take it down.

She still didn't want to get rid of the tree, but it was looking decidedly sad; even the freshening charms she put on it periodically weren't really working anymore. The rug underneath the tree was covered with brown needles, and a person had only to walk by the tree for another shower of needles to fall.

So as soon as she and Harry had returned from the Potters' and she'd gotten Harry to sleep, Lily had seized the opportunity to take down the tree without protests from the baby. She felt a bit guilty, not to mention cowardly, for doing it this way, but it had to be done and Lily didn't want to traumatize Harry or something by doing it in front of him…..

"What in Merlin's name are you doing!"

"Gaah!" Lily jumped at James' unexpected greeting. Unfortunately, the sudden movement proved more than the ladder could take, and Lily lost her balance and toppled to the floor.

"Oh, shit!" James, his Quidditch reflexes kicking in, sprinted forward and caught Lily before she hit the ground.

"Oof!" Lily and James said simultaneously as Lily landed hard in James' arms and James staggered with the impact and struggled to stay standing.

"I think you mashed my lung," James wheezed.

"Serves you right!" Lily snapped at him. "You just knocked ten years off my life with your shouting!"

"How did you think I'd react to seeing you standing at the very top of a ladder!" James defended himself. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to do that? It's dangerous!"

"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to sneak up on people standing on ladders?" Lily retorted. "That's dangerous as well, in case you hadn't –"

Lily broke off as James, struck by the fact that he was wasting a perfectly good romantic reunion, kissed her.

"What was that for?" Lily asked a while later.

"I missed you," James replied, shifting Lily surreptitiously. He knew better than to mention it, but his arms were getting tired. "Where's Harry?"

"Asleep," Lily answered, cottoning on to James' intentions.

"Good," James grinned and made his way across the sitting room.

Lily smiled back up at him. "I missed you too," she said, running a hand through James' hair.

"I know," James smirked, and kicked the bedroom door shut behind them.

Author's Note:

Hi, everyone!

Well, I've updated in slightly under a month this time; that's progress, right?

As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter – I do love to hear from people, and it was very interesting to find out who your favourite characters were. Some of the answers were a bit unexpected.

The character who got the most votes, by the way, was Sirius. Next was James; he only had one less vote than Sirius did. Snape and Harry got more votes than I expected (even I don't like Snape, and Harry's only a baby in my story) but the one that was really surprising to me was Bellatrix. I didn't expect that anyone would vote for her as their all-around favourite. So now you know who the most popular character is, Ashley.

It's really late now, so I'm off to bed. Till next time!