A/N: Hey all! I am so sorry I took so long… finals and then my graduation… but I promise it'll be quicker once summer begins (which it already has). Oooo did anyone see Prisoner of Azkaban? I thought Sirius was a bit funnier in the movie… if you haven't seen it, go buy tickets! It's good.

I don't own any Harry Potter related things or any songs a certain Slytherin sings.

Chapter 7: The Unexpected

Sunday morning breakfast was regrettably uneventful. All Gryffindor sixth years were, at the most, half awake; James almost fell asleep in his bacon and eggs. The incident that made James and Sirius' frown turn upside down took place right outside the Great Hall after they finished their breakfast.

Lily Evans was chatting away with Katie Rawson, a sixth year Ravenclaw prefect. She was talking about her O.W.L.s when someone hastily, not to mention angrily, shoved past her and knocked her to the ground. The intruder's books were knocked out of his greasy hands and onto the floor. As he went to pick them up, Snape spat, "Watch where you're going, Mudbloods."

James, who had seen this assault, went to jump on Snape only to have Sirius grab a fistful of James' robes and yank him back.

"Just watch, Prongs," Sirius whispered in James' ear.

Snape continued to speed down the hall. In a viewer's eye, it just seemed as if he had forgotten something and came to a sudden halt. But to Snape, he felt this ball of magic travelling slowly up his throat. He clenched his jaw shut as if to send it back down. The moment he couldn't hold it in, he cursed, "Oh bloody hell," before he burst into song.

"Young man, there's no need to feel down.

I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.

I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town

There's no need to be unhappy."

Snape was rooted to the ground. Damn spell won't let me get out of here, he thought while he sang the second part of the first verse. He could hear the laughter ringing throughout the halls.

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. James just smirked evilly as he went to help Lily and Katie off the ground. In his mind, James thought YMCA was the perfect song for revenge.

Lily knew she could not stop this, since Snape had to end the curse himself. She couldn't stand watching Snape get tormented so she left the entrance hall without another word. Katie hurried after her.

Once Lily and Katie stormed out, James stood by Sirius to watch the embarrassment. Both Marauders just stood a few meters in front of Snape with their arms folded over their chest and arrogant, malicious smirks stuck on their faces. They remained there through verses one, two, and three, and both boys would grow pinker from laughter. When it came to the repeating refrain at the end, Sirius was almost in tears.

"They have everything for you men to enjoy,

You can hang out with all the boys…

Y-M-C-A … you'll find it at the Y-M-C-A!"

Sirius couldn't hold it in. He jumped up and made a 'Y' with his arms just like Muggles did when they danced to the song. 'M' 'C' 'A'!

James rolled his head back in pure jollity. Snape was glaring daggers, swords, arrows, curses, whatever you prefer. If looks could kill, James and Sirius would be six feet under. And Snape singing YMCA while glaring death made James laugh even more.

Snape clenched his jaw shut the moment the song ended. Instead of cursing James and Sirius' guts out, he asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

"What's what?" James asked sweetly.

"How do I get this off?" Snape asked again, his lips scarcely moving.

"Repeat after me," Sirius said smugly. Snape rolled his eyes, he should have seen this coming. "Gryffindor kicks Slytherin arse."

Snape, still glaring, made an impulse to roll his eyes again but held it back. "Gryffindor kicks… Slytherin arse," he muttered so only James and Sirius could hear. "Corpo Ignis!" he yelled at James before the two Marauders could laugh at Snape. James fell to his knees and gave a bloodcurdling scream. Before Sirius knew, he was cursed too. "Impedimentia!" Sirius was thrown up against the nearest wall; some bone in his body gave a sickening crunch. Snape's mouth twitched as if to smile, but thought better of it. Snape ran out of the hall before James and Sirius were well enough to curse him in retaliation.

Hermione then walked out of the Great Hall, finally finished with breakfast. She was hand in hand with Harry, talking quickly about a hilarious story Sirius had told her from their detention. She stopped in her tracks as she heard James' screams. She slipped her hands out of Harry's as she ran over to James.

"James, what happened?" she asked urgently.

"Corpo… ignis…" he said between pain-filled gasps.

Hermione's face hardened; it was a spell that made the victim feel as if his or her body was on fire. She muttered the countercurse. Before she checked to see if he had fully recovered, she caught a glimpse of the near-unconscious Sirius. "Sirius!" Hermione jumped up and ran over to Sirius. He was lying on the ground with his back up against the wall while rubbing his head.

"I'm okay," he said in a strained sort of voice. He slowly stood up. He had to grab hold of Hermione's shoulder to steady himself. "Or I'll be okay."

"You sure?" Hermione asked. She looked straight into his eyes.

He nodded. "With you here, yes."

Harry walked out of the Great Hall, finally finished with breakfast. He was hand in hand with Hermione, listening to her rant and rave about some ridiculous story Sirius had told her. Harry sensed her stop behind him, so he turned around to look at her. He felt her hands slip out of his; she had ran over to help a screaming James.

Harry understood why Hermione would help someone in pain, but the fact that she just left Harry without a thought dug deeper. She just dropped him to help one of the Marauders. Hermione's face as she saw Sirius surprised Harry too; she was genuinely worried. It wasn't the type of worried she had when a classmate of hers got hurt, but it was the face she saved for when Harry was in pain.

Harry jerked himself away from those thoughts long enough to help James. Harry walked over to his young father to help him stand.

"What happened?" Harry asked in what he hoped to be a concerned tone.

"Snape cursed us," James wheezed. "Felt as if my entire body was on fire." James sighed, then straightened himself up. "Bloody, he likes the dark stuff." James shook himself as if to rid the pain. "I better get focused. We have tryouts today!"

Later that day on the Quidditch Pitch

James was pacing in front of a line of his classmates. "All right everyone. As all of you know, we need two new chasers this year. Nam Kirke, Brooks Goldstein, Moria Anderson, and Harry Thewler are trying out for the new position. The rest of you are here to help judge and to watch them in action." He paused. "We will go through a series of trials to test which two shall make the team. You should already know of the three tests since they were posted on the board in the common room awhile ago. Let's get started!" James clapped his hands together. He led all nine people out onto the field.

Harry was amazed at how serious James could act. I guess Quidditch brings the best out of us, Harry thought as he clutched his new broomstick, Nimbus 1001. (A/N: Check Quidditch Through the Ages if you have it, it's in there! I figured it was the newest of the Nimbuses.) As Harry mounted his broom, he heard yells off to his right. He glanced at the stands to find the other three Marauders cheering from the stands. No Hermione in sight.

"They always come to all Gryffindor tryouts and games," said a voice behind him. Harry turned around to see a strawberry-blonde girl standing on his right clutching a beater's bat.

"Yeah, we all know why Sirius comes though," someone said slyly to Harry's left. The boy had another beater bat slung over his shoulder. His hair reminded Harry of Bill Weasley's style, except this boy's was dark brown. They were both fully clad in Quidditch uniforms.

"Oh I wish," the girl replied while rolling her eyes. "I'm Bridget Bell by the way. Gryffindor Beater." She stuck out her gloved hand. Harry shook it. "And this," she prodded the boy with her bat with a mocking disgust, "is Spencer Spinnet."

"Harry Thewler," Harry said politely. "How long have you been on the team?"

"This is our fourth and final year," Spencer answered proudly.

"So you're seventh years?" Harry asked.

"Spinnet!" James yelled. Spencer spun around wide-eyed. Bridget just sniggered. "Stop distracting my Chasers and get your arse up in the air!"

Harry laughed along with Bridget as Spencer flew up into the air cursing about how he always got blamed for talking. Harry pushed off the ground and soared into the air. The wind on his face was something he had missed painfully. He flew over the three hoops to practice.

"Good Harry," James commented quietly as Harry made his fifth goal in a row. "Let's see how you do against our keeper: Zach Wood."

Harry chuckled quietly to himself; there were a lot of familiar names and faces in this time.

Harry ended up getting seven out of ten through the hoops. Nam and Brooks, when adding up both of their scores, got a total of nine goals. Brooks almost knocked out the keeper on his seventh try. Moria scored nine.

On the second drill (passing), Moria still was the best. Nam had beaten Harry at that one. But when it came to the third and final trial (flying/speed), Harry was by far the best. He dodged every Bludger that flew across the path, and swerved around all other players.

Finally, when the tryout came to a close, it was unanimous that Moria Anderson and Harry Thewler were the two latest additions to the team.

James rounded everyone up (he had dismissed Nam and Brooks to take care of Nam's bleeding nose) outside the lockers rooms.

"I give you our team," he said simply. Everyone cheered and went to change out of their semi-sweaty uniforms.

Dinner had already passed when Harry took Hermione to an empty classroom. They both sat cross-legged on the desks while munching on some sweets Lily had given both of them. Harry was reliving his Quidditch tryouts.

"James is taking his job as Quidditch Captain," Harry said. He tore off a piece of a licorice wand violently and started to chew. "Oh, did I tell you about the speed drill?" Harry asked excitedly. He was acting like a hyper little child. Hermione shook her head, trying not to laugh. "Oh, it was the best! I was the fastest there. I even beat James in a side race. We had to make it across the field without dropping the Quaffle and had to dodge the Bludgers too. One of the other guys, Nam Kirke, while flying down the pitch, stopped suddenly to avoid a Bludger, but he ended up smashing his nose into his own broomstick." Harry laughed while Hermione gave a polite chuckle. "It was really fun…" Awkward silence followed right afterward.

"Harry, your mother is really nice," Hermione said after a strenuous pause. She held up one of the sweets as if to show an example.

"Yeah, if only my father was just as nice as her…" Harry said sadly.

"Look, from what I've seen, your father is a nice person and an even more loyal friend, but when it comes to Slytherins…" she trailed off.

"He's as bad as Malfoy?" Harry suggested grimly.

"Not necessarily," Hermione said so strongly Harry looked straight at her. "He's only played pranks so far. Actually, they are sort of funny…"

Harry stared at her.

"What?" she asked, shifting under his gaze.

"You find them funny? The Marauders, who, you know, maraud?" he exclaimed. "What happened to the prank-hating Hermione I used to know?" He was on the verge of hysteria.

"She started to lighten up at the end of her fifth year, thanks to Fred and George," she said sharply. "And anyways, I can't stop them. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Hermione shrugged.

"So you're telling me that you want to join the Marauders?" Harry said. He exactly put his thumb on why he was angry, but inside he flared with irritation

"No," Hermione said quickly. "I just don't see why you're so judgmental. I'm sure they're all rather nice guys…"

Harry froze. "And what do you mean by that?" He recalled the incident from earlier that morning.

"I mean that they seem to be all around nice guys," Hermione said slowly. Why was Harry acting so strange? "Is there anything wrong with that?"

Harry scoffed but said nothing.

"Harry," she said softly, "do you want to tell me something?" Harry folded his arms and looked at the teacher's desk as though trying to move it by thought. "What do you have against the Marauders?"

Harry tried to bottle his anger, but it just rushed out of him like water from a broken dam. "I have something against two certain Marauders who have taken a liking in you!" he yelled.

"What?" Hermione asked. She looked perplexed. "Who?"

"You know, for someone who gives advice about feelings," Harry said almost acidly, "you sure are oblivious to the ones about you." He glared at Hermione, who returned the glare at equal heat. "Remus and Sirius of course!"

Hermione just stared at astonishment. After the shock passed over, she managed to stutter, "Remus and I… we're only good friends. Besides, Lily told me that he likes a fifth year Gryffindor," she added uncertainly. Lily had actually said that a girl liked Remus, but she never said he liked her back. "But Sirius?" She shook her head. "From what I've seen and heard, he's just the flirts-with-everyone guy. You don't need to worry about him." Harry raised his eyebrow. "Saumya told me he's dating a seventh year."

"Saumya?" Harry repeated, distracted.

"Oh, Saumya Kim. She's a friend of Lily's. Also in my dormitory. Actually, she's dating Mundungus Fletcher at the moment."

"Dung is here?" Harry asked, surprised. He forgot about his boiling anger for the moment.

"Seventh year, I think."

They sat there in silence for the second time that evening.

"Still, what about Remus?" Harry asked, his anger revived to full power.

"I think I can handle turning down a boy, Harry," Hermione said impatiently. She could have smacked her head for not thinking this before. "You think I'll leave you for him, don't you?" she asked angrily. "He was my bloody professor, Harry!" Harry was taken aback for Hermione's choice of words. "I'm not going to date a guy who turns out to be eighteen years older than me."

Harry gave a disagreeing gaze that infuriated Hermione even more. "If you can't trust me, well then fine!" She jumped off the table and grabbed some of the sweets. "Talk to me when you're ready," she said huffily as she crossed the room. She swung the door open and ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione sat down in one of the chairs in a far corner. She curled up and just sat there thinking angrily. When Harry entered in the room ten minutes later, she jumped off the chair and, without another glance at him, walked up the stairs that lead to the dormitories.

Harry was expecting this. He sat down next to James by the fireplace and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Good job at tryouts by the way," James said cheerfully.

"Why are you so happy?" Harry snapped as he pulled his fingers from his hair, leaving it worse than before.

"Lily just asked if she could borrow a quill," he said dreamily. He flopped back against the back of the couch with glazed eyes.

Harry's anger was evaporating into laughter as he heard this. "You're happy because she's using your quill?" he repeated, miraculously without any laughter.

James nodded absentmindedly. "Not only that, but she asked me in a polite way. And I was her second choice in this room."

"Has he gotten over Lily's most recent action yet?" Remus asked from behind the twosome. He and Sirius had just entered the common room and spotted the two mats of jet black hair instantaneously.

"I bet you he will put an anti-aging spell on the quill once he gets it back," Sirius joked, "so that he can keep it forever without it rotting away."

Harry didn't know how to act towards Remus and Sirius; he had just accused them of liking Hermione. But then he thought of some wise words that someone had once told him. 'Don't let a girl come between friendships.' Harry did want to patch things up with Hermione, but in the mean time, he wasn't going to treat his father's friends like dirt.

"Yeah, I bet so," Harry joined in. "He'll show it to his kids and say 'Kids, this is a quill young Lily Evans borrowed from me back in my young days,'" he said in an old, almost wheezy voice. Sirius howled with laughter while Remus laughed lightly.

"Oh, very witty, guys," James drawled. "I'll do nothing of the sort because if today it's a quill, then tomorrow it's some parchment, and then before you know it, it's a date!"

"Next thing you're going to say is that borrowing a quill leads to marriage and twelve kids?" Sirius asked while chuckling.

"Well if the shoes fits…" James said revealing a grin.

Sirius laughed, but suddenly stopped. "Does this mean I'm going to marry Moony?" he asked in a serious tone. "'Cuz I've borrowed many quills from him." Remus edged away from his friend. "Naw, I was just kidding!" Sirius barked with laughter again as the releif spread onto Remus' face.

"But seriously," James exclaimed. "The start of Evans' and my relationship could have started over a measly quill."

"Sure thing, Prongs," Sirius said, clapping his friend on the back. "Whatever you say."

James sat up suddenly. "Hey, have you guys seen Peter?"

"How did your mind change from thoughts about Lily to Peter so quickly?" Harry asked bitterly.

"You see, Peter always agrees with me when these two idiots mock my obsession with Evans," James accused in a jesting manner. "I wonder what happened to him…"

"He got jinxed by two Slytherin prats." Peter appeared by Remus' side.

Sirius was the first to look at Peter. "Wormtail, what the hell happened to you?" Sirius asked with half amusement, half concern.

Peter was a mess. There was strawberry and vanilla ice cream melting on his head. But what amazed the group of boys the most was where Peter's arm should have been, there were two unpeeled bananas hanging from his shoulders.

"As I was walking back from the kitchen," Peter explained, "with a banana spilt in my hand, I got jumped by two Slytherins. I think they had too many butterbeers…"

"Who?" James asked impatiently.

Peter bowed his head and avoided all eye contact.

"Come on Peter," Sirius urged. "You can tell us. Who was it?"

"You're brother," Peter said quietly. Sirius' eye narrowed as he glared at the opposite fireplace. "And his new girlfriend."

"That new Slytherin prefect, Callie Snyde?" James asked.

"The very same," Peter answered.

Sirius still said nothing.

"Uh, guys… can you help me out here?" Peter asked timidly.

"Sure," Remus offered as he brandished his wand. "I'd stand back a titch though."

Peter crossed to the center of the room and held out his arms. Remus tried to perform a difficult countercurse, but all he did was add a cheery on top of Peter's head.

James, however, turned to Sirius. "You all right?" he asked softly.

Sirius hadn't taken his glaring eyes off the fire since Peter mentioned his brother.

Harry was about to give some comforting advice about Regulus, but remembered at the last moment that he wasn't supposed to know about the younger Mr. Black.

"What's wrong with Sirius' brother?" Harry asked James.

"He's a git for one thing," Sirius growled. He had still not taken his eyes away from the fireplace, but started to show another emotion than anger. "He's just like everyone else in my horrible family: treats Half-bloods and Muggle-borns like their mud, they would lick Voldemort's shoes clean if they had the chance, and to top it all off, not one of them wasn't a Slytherins." Sirius sighed. "They're pretty much everything I stand against."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Harry said sympathetically, "my cousin is a bullying idiot. Although, he couldn't tell the difference between his own reflection and a pig." Sirius' grim faced cracked into a weak smile as he looked away from the fire. "He used to use me as a punching bag… until I became a wizard of course," Harry continued. "Then I had my fun." He smiled mischievously.

Sirius broke out into a full grin. "Where does he go to school?"

"Er, he's a Muggle, so nowhere you know," Harry said quickly. "Same as my aunt and uncle. I have the ahem, pleasure of living with them."

"So do you hate your, er—current family too?" Sirius asked.

"Completely," Harry declared in a heavy tone.

"Am I the only one who likes my family?" James asked heartily.

"No, I like your family too, Prongs," Sirius said cheekily.

"Guys?" Peter cried out from the center of the common room. "Can one of you take over for Remus?" In addition to the ice cream, bananas, and cherry, Peter now had chocolate sauce and nuts sprinkled all over him and whipped cream covering his chin as to look like a beard. "Remus just isn't helping very much," he said apologetically to Remus.

James chuckled. "Here, let the Transfiguration Master finish the job." He stood up, walked over to the dessert-covered Peter, and pushed Remus aside. James tried the countercurse, but ended up placing a large dessert bowl underneath Peter's feet.

Sirius, while laughing, turned back to Harry. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you live with your aunt and uncle? What happened to your parents?" he asked quietly.

Harry could have smacked his head in total frustration. He didn't know about the real Thewler parents. He was saved from answering Sirius' question; James had yelled out in triumph. He had finally cleared up Peter so he was back to his regular form.

"I told you I was a Master!" he shouted again. "And you doubted me," he said to Remus, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Prongs, keep it down. You're going to wake up McGonagoll if you keep this up!" Remus hissed.

"Oh, you're just jealous that I succeed where you didn't," James said to Remus while they walked up the back stairs. Peter followed after them.

"Shall we?" Harry said.

Sirius yawned. "I could use the sleep."

They both sluggishly walked up the stairs and into their dormitories. Sleep soon took over all five boys.

The next few days proved to be quite entertaining for Harry and Hermione: it was their first days of classes during 1977.

On the first day during Potions class (which Harry found to be a titch easier without Snape breathing down his neck), was disastrous. Peter was aiming one of James' firework into Snape's cauldron, but it accidentally landed underneath the cauldron in the fire. Its explosion was even greater than it would have been. The blast made a hole in Snape's cauldron, so the contents leaked onto the floor everywhere. It took the rest of the class time to fix the mess, because the potion was a Permanent Sticking Potion.

The second and third days were ordinary in the eyes of the Marauders. In the middle of Transfiguration class they tricked a Hufflepuff into setting his pig on fire. The flaming pig ran out into the halls squealing as if it would never squeal again. Finally Professor Flitwick heard the pig outside his classroom and extinguished the flame. Madame Pomfrey grudgingly fixed it back to full health.

Hermione was getting worried. Even though she had been slightly miffed about Harry's accusation, she still wanted to talk to him. But through the past week, all Harry did was hang out with James or Lily. He was also wrapped up in Quidditch practice.

Thursday, deep into the night, Hermione sat alone in the common room curled up in the middle of a couch. Harry was out with James, having a bit of extra Quidditch practice. Lily was asleep in her dormitory. Peter was out watching Harry and James. Who knows where Sirius and Remus were. So Hermione sat alone, her mind focused on Harry. She didn't even notice when two boys came up and sat down on either side of her.

"Hermione?" Remus asked tenderly.

"What's up?" Sirius asked in the same tone.

"Oh just thinking," she said in a would-be blasé tone if her features hadn't given her true feelings away.

"Then why do you look so distraught?" Remus asked, completely unconvinced at Hermione's words.

"I was just… thinking about my old school," she said slowly.

"Oh Reeeemus!" A girl, not much younger than themselves, popped her head through the portrait hole and called out Remus' name.

"Yes Amanda?" Remus said. He stood up.

"Tonight's your night to lead the new prefects around," she said brightly, stepping into the room fully now. "Come on!'

"All right, all right," Remus said impatiently. He turned to Hermione. "We can talk later if you want." Hermione nodded. Remus turned to Sirius. "Goodbye Sirius," he said pointedly, a warning more than anything. Remus turned on his heel and strode out of the common room with Amanda.

"So, what about your old school?" Sirius asked.

"Hm?" Hermione turned her head backs towards Sirius. "What what about my old school?"

"You said you were thinking about your old school," Sirius said. He slid closer to Hermione. "What about it?"

"Oh, just my friends," Hermione said nervously; she eyed the distance between her and Sirius. "I really miss them."

"What about your friends?" Sirius asked in a compassionate tone.

"Harry, Ron, and I had a very strong friendship. And then Sir—someone close to Harry died," she said quickly to covered up her slip-up. "Harry'll never be the same even though I did help him through some difficult times…"

"So what is it between you and Harry?" Sirius asked curiously.

"We, er—I honestly don't know," she answered with a sigh. "We sort of just had a fight. And now he won't talk to me. But I'm not sure I want to be his girlfriend. It was nicer when we were just friends…"

"Well that's good news," Sirius said softly. He inched closer.

Hermione looked at him. "Why—"

But Hermione was interrupted by the most unexpected…for her at least. Sirius leaned in for a deep kiss, taking Hermione completely by surprise. She tried to pull back but Sirius took his hands and placed them around her neck, holding her in. They sat there innocently kissing in front of the faint glow of the fireplace, one in pure enjoyment, the other in absolute puzzlement.

A/N: Oooo a cliffy! Can you stand the suspension? And I noticed thanking and answering all of your reviews (which I love) will take too long, and I'm really excited to write the next chapter, I'll just thank all of you! So, THANKS! I love you guys! I'll love you guys even more if you review!