Do I really need to say this again? J K Rowling IS Harry Potter. If you recognise anything from any movie, TV show, book or whatever else, it's probably because it is from them. If you want my 'full' warning, you can check out either 'Dormant Power' or 'Beginning of the End'.

If you've read both those fics, then you know how my version of it ends…but how did it begin? Again, only some names are mine, everything else is not! I've based this from the Marauders perspective so…well you'll know the story when something happens to a certain someone, even though I don't write about it in this one! Also check out 'The Apprentice', it has some info you won't find in my other two stories (wink, wink!).

I was obviously referring to a certain Mr Wood last time round. Also, there is a 'Lynch' as the Irish seeker in Goblet…but I actually hadn't planned it like that. Having said that, I have now changed his name from Nicholas to Aidan (as the HP Lexicon has that as his first name). It'd make him around 30 by the time that World Cup comes around…still young enough to be an International seeker I'd reckon.

And of course they were going to prank Trent back. Now this chapter was a little bit difficult to write…since it's the first bit of James and Lily together that I've written (it's not a lot…thank goodness!).

Er…reviews are always welcome. They let me know what you guys think is going to happen, and if it's any good :D

Besides, if no one likes it, there is hardly any point in me continuing to post it up here, is there...

Chapter 9 – There's Nothing To Be Nervous About

The four of them were at the back of the large group of students currently making their way to the village of Hogsmeade. Lily was walking with them, while James explained what Trent had done after the other three had left.

"You mean he turned a rock into a Dementor!" Remus exclaimed.

"Yep"

"And you had no idea what was going on!" Peter asked.

"Nope"

"Your Patronus is me!"

"Yep"

"Why Prongs, I'm touched" Sirius said before sniffing, wiping an imaginary tear from his face in the process.

James just rolled his eyes before telling them that Trent would be letting them face a Boggart next time, provided he could find one by then. They reached the village shortly after, and James and Lily quickly broke away from the other three and made their way to Madam Puddifoot's. James mentally grimaced when he spotted the frilly decorations around the windows, before opening the door and gesturing Lily to enter first.

They settled down at a table, and waited in silence for their butterbeers to arrive. James was trying to think of something to say, while Lily found it to be quite amusing.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you this quiet, unless it's during exams."

James smiled. "I know. It's just that I'm not exactly sure what I should be doing."

'Yeah, great going Potter! Like that was what I should've said. Why the heck am I so nervous?'

"You aren't nervous are you, James? You weren't like this last year."

"Er, yeah, I know. Just thinking about Christmas. You know Remus is going to stay with Sirius and me."

"Really? That's wonderful. Has he talked about it yet?"

"No, but I don't want to push him into it. He'll do it when he's ready."

'I hope' he thought.

"You might be right. I can't imagine what he must've felt like after finding out. Remus is a really sweet person, and doesn't deserve what he's had to go through."

"No one does, Lily. But at least we haven't received any of those letters."

"Yes well, that's true" she replied.

They both sipped their butterbeers in silence again, until Lily sighed.

"James, I'm not sure how to say this. I don't want to take things too quickly."

James nodded, although he did feel a little disappointed.

"It's not that I don't like you, it's just that you've been such a prat for so long, and I'm only just now starting to get to know the real you."

"You've helped me a lot with that."

Lily looked surprised at this, but James continued "you helped me realise that I need to take things more seriously than I used to."

"You're saying I deflated your ego" she replied, and smiled at him.

James chuckled. "I guess that's one way of looking at it."

He then leant over and whispered "but we both know I still have a big head when I transform."

Lily smiled again before starting to laugh, something James always liked her to do. He liked seeing her happy, and thought to himself that maybe Trent was right; he didn't want to force her into doing anything she wasn't ready for. They were oblivious to the three wizards who were peering through the window looking at them.

"Can you see them yet?"

"Yeah, they're sitting by the far wall."

"Quiet you two, they might see us! Remember that we promised James we wouldn't hang around them."

"Stop worrying, Remus. We're not hanging around. We just happened to be passing by…"

"Bugger, did he just look over here!" Peter interrupted, quite worriedly.

"Um, no I don't think so. Although, you might be right, Remus. We should get going just in case" Sirius replied in a slightly panicky voice before grabbing both his friends and moving away from the window.

They didn't see James or Lily for the rest of the day, but they didn't really mind as they were too busy looking through all the other shops. Remus and Peter left Zonko's a short while later to go and browse around Honeydukes, leaving Sirius to drool at all the joke items.

The day passed quickly, and before long everyone was heading back to Hogwarts. For the Marauders, their attention turned to whether or not Trent had been able to find a Boggart for them to practice on.

The four young wizards again made their way towards the Quidditch pitch and were a little surprised to see Trent standing by a trunk. They became quite cautious when the trunk rattled and looked like it wanted to flee.

"Good evening gentlemen. Yes this is a Boggart. You all know the incantation to repel one, right?"

They nodded.

"Good, then we shall practice it right now. Peter, would you like to go first?"

Peter nodded and took his wand out. Unfortunately, Peter's hand was a little sweaty and his wand slipped out and hit Remus.

"Ouch!" the young werewolf cried, clutching his face.

"Oh Merlin! I'm so sorry Remus!"

Remus rubbed his cheek and handed Peter back his wand, "don't worry about it. Just…be careful next time!"

Peter nodded and apologised once again.

Trent then spoke up "how about we scratch that idea. I'll just give you a moment to think of your greatest fear, and how to make it less disturbing for when you cast the spell. Oh James, I want you to do what you did last time alright? Try to drive it back into the trunk, that way we can use it to practice on later, ok?"

James nodded in agreement. He then waited and wondered what his friends' greatest fears would be.

Sirius had his eyes shut tightly and his face screwed up in disgust. He muttered to himself "no, I'll never do that. I'm not doing that" as he pictured himself with the dark mark clearly visible on his left forearm. He wondered how he could make it less frightening when he had a thought. He smiled as he knew what he was going to do.

Remus also had his eyes closed, as he pictured the one thing that terrified him; the full moon. He smiled also as he thought about how to make the situation funny, and opened his eyes to see Peter still concentrating.

Peter was having a much more difficult time, imagining how to make his fear less frightening. He saw the dead bodies of his friends, and couldn't bear to think what he'd do if he lost them. Try as he might, he just could not think how to make the vision appear amusing. He gulped and opened his eyes…hoping he was ready.

"You ready, Sirius?" Trent asked

Sirius nodded, made his way over and stood a few yards from the trunk. Trent then waved his wand in the direction of the trunk, and the lid popped open.

James, Remus and Peter stood transfixed as Sirius himself came out of the trunk. The only difference was that this Sirius had a black tattoo clearly visible on his upper arm. James' eyes widened as he realised Sirius' greatest fear was joining Voldemort. He watched as the real Sirius raised his wand and shouted,

"Riddikulus!"

The fake Sirius then was replaced by an older version, dressed in a robe similar to that of Trent's. James smiled as he knew that Sirius wanted to be an Auror, who wanted nothing more than to catch Death Eaters, not join them.

Trent motioned for Remus to step up, and the Boggart-Sirius instantly shrank until a small silvery orb could be seen. James wondered what it was, until he saw shadows move across its path. He then knew what Remus' biggest fear was; the full moon. He briefly wondered what Remus would do to negate it, and wasn't disappointed when his friend cried,

"Riddikulus!"

The silver orb then deflated and started to fly straight towards Remus before wildly changing direction. James wondered what was going on but before he could do anything, Peter stepped up.

Remus' Boggart was forgotten as James found he was staring at himself sprawled out on the ground. He was dead. James felt his eyes widen as he looked over at Sirius and found him just staring at the dead body of his best friend. James then heard Peter squeak,

"Ri…riddikulus!"

James' body was replaced by Sirius'. James looked horrified as Peter once again said the charm and Sirius' dead body changed into that of Remus'. James was brought out of his trance when Trent tapped him on the shoulder.

"Would you help him out, James? Just stand between Peter and the Boggart, it'll change into a Dementor. Sirius and Remus will comfort him."

James nodded and quickly made his way over to Peter. He put a hand on his shoulder then moved between his friend and the dead body of Remus. The image changed, a black cloak rose, and once again James felt his insides start to chill. He raised his wand and thought of his friends, just like he had last time. He faced the Boggart-Dementor and bellowed,

"Expecto Patronum!"

The thick silver mist shot forth from James' wand, which quickly took the form of Padfoot. James then got his Patronus to force the Boggart-Dementor back into the trunk, which Trent then locked.

James then ran over to his friends, and found Peter still shaking with fear.

"It's alright, Peter. It wasn't real. It's just a Boggart."

"James is right. Nothing more than a stupid Boggart. We're here for you, Peter. We'd never abandon you" Remus added.

"I…I know. It's just…it's just that I see that all…all the time" Peter sobbed.

Sirius put his arm around Peter "try not to worry about it. As Moony said, we'll never leave you. We're a team, we'll always stick together!"

Peter wiped his eyes and sniffed, "thanks…thanks guys. Nice Patronus Prongs."

Sirius nodded and grinned, "I'll say. That looked exactly like me, even if it was silver and not black!"

James grinned back, and then turned to Remus, "what did you do to your full moon?"

Remus smiled shyly, "well, I…ah, made it deflate like a muggle balloon."

James and Sirius burst out laughing, and were joined soon after by both Remus and Peter. Sirius then spotted Trent levitating the trunk away.

"Hey, what're you doing? Where are you going?" he shouted.

Trent didn't stop, but answered "I think we've had enough for tonight. I'll give this to your Defence Professor to look after."

"Oh no you don't, you haven't shown us yours yet!" Sirius replied.

Trent stopped and the trunk fell to the ground with a thump. He then looked over at Sirius before talking again,

"Why do you care what my Boggart is, Sirius?"

He shrugged. "I don't. But since you saw ours, it's only fair that we get to see yours."

"And how can you levitate that without a wand?" James asked.

Trent sighed, "I know a little wandless magic, James. I can do most first through third year spells without any trouble. As for you, Sirius, fine I'll show you. I'll warn you though; I'm not exactly sure what it will be. I've changed a lot since I last faced one of these."

Trent then moved away from the trunk. He closed his eyes and pointed his wand at the trunk. Everyone looked up as the lid opened and nothing came out.

Sirius looked at James who had the same blank face that he knew he himself had. Peter looked just as confused, but Remus looked stunned. His mouth was half open and his eyes were wide with shock. Sirius quickly turned back to see what Remus was looking at, but found he was only staring at Trent.

Trent let out a hollow laugh and a shower of sparks came from just in front of him. He then turned to the four students "well, it looks like we can't use that one anymore."

James shook his head, "what was that? I couldn't see anything."

"Maybe it's something that we can't see, like a thestral" Sirius answered.

"No, it wasn't a thestral."

"How do you know that, Remus? Peter asked.

"I've been able to see them ever since I came here. When me and my brother were attacked by…um, and he didn't make it. They're used to pull the carriages across the lake" Remus answered, hoping he had covered the night he was bitten and Romulus was killed, well enough for Trent to not suspect anything unusual.

"Oh, right. Then why did you look so shocked?" Peter enquired.

"Because…no I must be mistaken. That's not possible!"

"What's not possible? What's going on?" James asked.

"I did tell you that I wasn't sure what it would be" Trent said as he came up behind him.

He then added "what Remus means, is that my particular Boggart should not be possible to do."

"What was your Boggart then?" James asked.

Trent sighed, but it was Remus who spoke, "that can't be! I mean everyone has…"

"Remus, listen. I have changed too much, seen too much death during my time as an Auror. I wasn't even sure myself what my Boggart would be, but am just as surprised as you…"

"But what was your Boggart?" James interrupted and asked yet again.

Trent looked straight at James, his face much more haunted than James had previously seen. It made Trent look far older than he really was.

"Nothing, James. You didn't see anything because I fear nothing, apparently."