Chapter Two

James led his gang into their least favourite class- potions. It wasn't that the actual class was bad; James loved blowing stuff up in his cauldron. No, the real problem was their teacher. He was missing an arm, seven fingers and both his eyes had the clouded over look of a blind man and yet, he had ears like a fox. James had once called him and old coot from the very back of the classroom and this had resulted in James testing his Shrinking Solution in front of the whole class. The professor had refused to give him the antidote until the very end of the day so James had looked very foolish, especially as the incomplete solution had only shrunk his head. Despite the fact that they were sure he had lost his memory at some point, the professor would often go into long, elaborate tales about how he had lost this appendage or that body part in some awful war. He had once told them he had been Bertie Bott's best friend friend, when, in fact, he had only met him at a book signing once. He had missed a week of classes when his good friend died of a heart attack because he claimed he had been asked to write the eulogy (sp?).

Now James took his usual seat at the back of the classroom. Sirius sat down next to him and Remus and Peter took their seats at the next table. Halfway through class when James and Sirius were supposed to be brewing a boil reduction potion, James noticed a certain redhead two seats in front of them. He nodded at Sirius, flicked his wand and a 'kick me' sign appeared on Lily's back. Lily, apparently oblivious, got up to get another ingredient. James followed. As he came level with Lily, he stuck his foot out to trip her but before he could, she spun around and whacked him hard on the nose. The whole room heard the crack as James's nose broke.

"Damnit, Evans!" he cried from the floor where he was trying to stem the flow of blood.

"Don't even try to mess with me, Potter," she sneered. Just then the professor came up behind Lily.

"Oh my," he said as he saw1 James. "You know, something similar to this happened to me once during the Goblin Rebellion, the second one, in 1625." James rolled his eyes through the pain. There was no way Professor Grossfische was alive in 1625.

"Sir," said James, "shouldn't you be punishing someone?" He shot a look at Lily who was pulling the sign off her back.

"Oh, yes. You both will haven detention together. I will Owl you aout it leter but right now, Mr. Potter, you should be getting to the Hospital Wing," he turned back to his desk.

James wasn't moving. "Both?!" he cried.

"Together?!" Lily looked close to tears.

Sirius stepped between the two and offered James his hand. "Let's just get you to the Hospital Wing, mate," he urged.

"It's just my nose, I can-"

"No, I'll help you. You must be in a lot of pain and you look a little confused, let's go."

"Oh, right. I am kind of woozy," said James, catching on.

As soon of James was outside the classroom, Sirius whacked him on the head.

"Ouch! Talk about kicking a guy when he's down, jeeze," James muttered, still pinching his nose.

"What were you thinking?" he put on his 'James voice', "both?! I mean c'mon, how happy are you to get this detention?" Sirius appeared to be rambling. James had learned to tune him and out and what to say in the gaps.

"I don't know what you're talking about; I'm furious," he replied.

"But you may have a point," Sirius had just reached the point on the "conversation" where he began to see what James was doing, even if James didn't.

"I always do," James said mechanically as they turned the corner to theHospital Wing.

"Ok, here's what you. Go into the detention acting like you hate being in this detention but not so much that you hate being in it with her. But don't act too much like you do like being with her. But..." he continued with all the do's and don'ts James had heard a thousand time but never actually bothered to listen to.

"Thanks, mate. I'll keep all that in mind." He patted Sirius on the back and headed in to see Nurse Cadman.

The next day James sat at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast when an owl dropped a piece of parchment on his bacon.

Mr. Potter,

Your detention will take place at 7.00 P.M. on Friday night. Please meet me outside the classroom.

Have a nice day!

Professor Grossfischcolor

colorblue"Damnit," said James, throwing down the parchment.
"What?" asked Sirius. James nodded at the note.

"Detention at 7 on Friday!" he said.

"That's the night of Remus's surprise party, he can't do that!" Sirius whispered back.

"Well, I guess he can and he did. Now what are we gonna do about it?" he pulled his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Well, we'll just have to stall as long as possible. Professor Grossfisch never supervises his detentions. You'll just have to get out as soon as possible. Make sure to let Remus think that it's no big deal that it's that night, so he won't suspect anything. We can just make him think we forgot his birthday," Sirius said. James nodded.

"What about Evans? I can't just leave her in detention, she'll squeal," he asked. Sirius shrugged.

"So that her with you," he replied.

"Yeah, that'll go well. 'Evans, we gotta skip detention for a party.' She's Head Girl, Sirius, she'll never do it," said James.

"You never know. Moony's Head Boy and we all know he's no saint," Sirius had a point. "And if she does come, you'll probably get points for inviting her to a party," he added.

"We'll see," James replied as they headed off to Transfiguration.

The week went by in a blur of classes and assignments; All the Marauder's were looking forward to Friday. When James woke up on the day, he made sure to act just like it was any other day. They all tried to pretend they didn't notice the spring in Remus's step as he headed to the bathroom. Once he was safely out of earshot, James turned to the fifth boy in their room.

"Jason, you know what to do?" he asked.

"Sure do," he replied, giving the thumbs up.

"Great."

When Remus walked back in, he smiled and looked around.

"Morning, James, Sirius, Peter, Jason," he said, nodding to each.

"Yep," replied Peter as he made busy dumping books into his schoolbag.

"Mornin'," added Sirius in a distracted tone as he searched for a pair of clean socks.

Lupin's smile faded and James nodded at Jason when his back was turned. Jason went to cross yesterday off his calendar and pretended to look amazed at the birthday sticker on the 'Friday' box.

"It is, isn't it? I had completely forgotten," he said in a bemused voice. He walked up to Remus and gave him a pat on the back.

"Happy Birthday, mate" he said as he swung his bag over his shoulder and walked out.

The other three took very obvious looks at their calendars, too.

"Hey, Jason's right. Happy Birthday. I gotta find that History of Magic book, I'll see you at first," said Peter, quickly exiting the room before Remus could open his mouth.

"I forgot, too. Well, Happy Birthday, then. You guys ready for breakfast?" added James. Remus sighed heavily.

"Yeah," and they left for the Great Hall.

The day passed with no major events. Remus received a check for 30 Galleons and a letter saying there was another present waiting for him at home.

Classes went fine but Lupin was still feeling pretty down because they hadn't played the traditional birthday trick on him yet.

Dinner rolled around and soon James was saying good-bye to the other three and heading down to the dungeons. Lily was sitting outside the classroom when he got there. She was writing something as he approached. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. Lily looked up. When she saw James she hurriedly stuffed away the book she had been scribbling in but she wasn't fast enough to keep James from reading the word 'Journal' on the front.

"Potter," she snapped.

"Evans," he replied, nodding politely. He wanted to be on good terms with her so he could get her to leave with him. They stared at each other silently until the professor arrived and let them in.

"You see the potions on the table there? I want you to test them all on the three items next to them. Write down your observations and leave them on my desk. Clean up when you're done and lock the door," he instructed. "Good Luck."

James surveyed what they had gotten done over their half an hour in the dungeons. Only two potions were done and they still had four to go.

"This is taking too long," he sighed heavily. Sirius has said he could probably buy them 45 minutes- an hour at the most.

"And what are you in a hurry to get to?" Lily asked as she dropped a bit of green liquid onto a piece of parchment and jotted down the results.

"We have to get to Remus's surprise party," replied James.

"We? "she looked up from her paper to throw him a confused look.

"Well, I can't just leave you here," he said as nonchalantly as possible, checking his watch again. 7.42.

"Maybe if you didn't some of the work we'd be out of here sooner," Lily offered.

"Fine," he grabbed one of the potions and got to work.

Much to James's displeasure, the time it took to finish was much shorter after Lily's advice. As soon as the last potion was tested, James grabbed the notes, dropped them on the professor's desk and hurried out of the classroom.

He and Lily ran down hallways, up stairs and around corners. As they finally turned onto the hall that led to the Gryffindor common room, James heard Remus's voice.

"Sirius, I really have to get into the common room. You've already delayed me enough with all the reviewing you made me do with you," he said in and exasperated tone.

"Can you please just go over the charm once more?" pleaded Sirius. Remus sighed.

"Fine. Just once more and then you'll let me in?" he replied.

"Promise," said Sirius.

James peeked around the corner to make sure Remus's back was turned before grabbing Lily's hand and pulling her to the other wall.

"What-"James threw his hand over Lily's mouth. Sirius rolled his eyes as he saw the two scurrying behind Remus's turned back.

"I know another entrance, let's go," said James. Lily didn't even bother to reply, she just followed him down the hall.

A minute later they arrived outside a blank portrait. James grabbed the side and pulled it open. He shoved Lily through and followed behind her. Inside was a sort of mini-chamber. A table sat next to the far wall and a blue orb floated above it. James tapped it with his wand and muttered something Lily couldn't hear. The orb turned red.

"7th year Gryffindor boy's bedroom," James appeared to be instructing the orb, which floated to the top of the wall and attached itself. Then, very quickly, it spread down the wall like a weird goo. James stepped around the table and pulled Lily through the "door", which was now purple. The two appeared on the other side of the wall in the boy's room.

Lily looked back at the wall, as if expecting the goo to still be there.

"How did you know about that?" she asked.

"We made it," James replied, offhandedly.

"You made it?" Lily repeated.

"Yup," he reached for the door handle and held it open for her.

They were greeted by strange look from people in the common room. Peter raised his eyebrows as they made their way over to him.

"Long story, don't ask," James said. It didn't help that Lily was still a bit flushed and out of breathe from running.

Just then the portrait swung open.

"Never ask me for any more help," Remus started as he and Sirius walked through the portrait hole, still in conversation.

"SURPRISE!" interrupted the whole of Gryffindor.

Remus looked up. A smile spread across his face as he saw the gifts and food. He punched Sirius in the arm.

"I shoulda' known something was up when you asked for help with your schoolwork," he joked.

James made his way over.

"And you thought we forgot," he said.

"You fooled me!" replied Remus.

Sirius waved his wand and loud party music pumped through the whole tower. "Let the party begin!" he shouted.

ok there it is so please review and I'll try to get a new chapter up asap but you know how hectic school gets!! whoever had the idea of Saturday classes should be hunted down, lol.

ps. I sorta though remus was a bit gullible so sorry if to you, this chapter wasn't very beleievable.

Jes