A/N: Sorry for the wait, I've been up to my neck in school work and my aspirations for becoming a pro snowboarder.
This is a longg update, hopefully you'll like it :D.
"Okay, we should really go to the library and take out some books to study from," Remus said, adjusting the strap of his overloaded bookbag on his shoulder. "Only two months left."
Sirius replied, "Who cares? It's not O.W.L.s, 4th year doesn't even matter." He rolled his eyes at Remus' serious expression. The four boys turned a corner and headed down the 4th floor corridor.
"Well we have nothing better to do I guess," James shrugged. "Haven't seen Evans lately, and she did promise to tutor me a bit in Charms..."
Peter raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Nah, you can't get within 5 feet of her without dodging a Bat-Bogey," Sirius guffawed.
"Then she starts yelling," Remus added.
"Yeah, she'd be a right screamer in bed," Sirius broke into a fit of bark-like laughter.
"Been shagging Mudbloods, have you?"
Sirius and James whipped around, wands brandished. Lucius Malfoy sneered coldly back at them, flanked by a few of his Slytherin cronies.
"How dare you call her a mudblood!" James snarled, narrowing his eyes.
"I'll call her whatever I feel like," he drawled. "She's going to die soon anyway, the Dark Lord doesn't take pity on such worthless individuals. Nor those who... adore them."
"I'm going to mess you up so bad you're going to wish you'd never met me." James' voice was venomous.
"Such big words, from a little fourth year none the less," Lucius retorted sharply, his smile curdling into an unpleasant simper. "I'd watch your arse Potter, one day your words will catch up to you."
"Oh really? What are you going to do, hex me? Well go for it, I'm, not scared," James snapped back. Sirius waved his wand threateningly by James' side. A couple of Slytherins brandished their own wands, everyone glaring each other down. Even Remus, feeling vulnerable, slipped a hand inside the pocket of his robes and felt around for the wand within.
"Black, Potter, Malfoy, Rookwood, Avery, what on earth do you think you're doing?"
All heads suddenly snapped to Professor McGonagall, who was standing at the foot of the marble staircase. Her hands resting on her hips, she sported an aggravated expression etched on every single line of her face.
The boys all lowered their wands. "Sorry Professor," James muttered.
Her nostrils flared. "Everybody here, detention in my office tomorrow night, and 50 points per house," Professor McGonagall said sharply. "Now get back to your common rooms, curfew is approaching."
Malfoy shot James one last dirty look before turning on his heel and marching off down the corridor, sneering cronies in his wake.
"He's like the ring leader of the future Death Eaters," Remus murmured, reluctantly slipping the wand back into his robes.
James nodded. "Gits. I'm going to get Malfoy back one more time before he graduates."
"Like something bloody huge," Sirius added. "Something he'll remember for the rest of his life..."
The Marauders began to journey back to the common room.
"Oh and Potter?"
James looked up at Sirius.
"We all got detention, so I'm still two up on you," he smirked.
"There he is!" Peter squeaked, pointing a pudgy finger at the Marauder's favorite, greasy-haired target. "He's walking behind Thompson."
James leaned over the banister of the staircase, peering around the crowded entry hall. "So you think this spell will really work?"
Sirius chuckled. "Hell if I know. I hope it backfires and kills the git."
"It'll be fine if you just aim it well," Remus replied, also leaning over the banister to get a good look at the students flocking from the Great Hall. "Just hurry up before he gets away."
James extended his wand arm, aiming carefully at Snape. He muttered a short string of incantations, and a jet of white light shot out of his wand. It soared through the entrance hall, nailing Snape square on the foot.
Whooping loudly, James ducked down out of view with the others.
"He probably doesn't even know what hit him." Smiling eagerly, Sirius inched forward to try and peek over the ledge. Remus tugged him back by his untucked shirt tail. Sirius let himself be dragged backwards, and he took a seat on Remus' lap.
"Let's take the long way to Potions," commented James, who was still craning his neck to see. Peter nodded in agreement, leading the way up the remaining stairs.
Peter could barely control his spazmatic chuckles as the Marauders made their way to the dungeon of the castle. Upon catching sight of Snape's shoes, he completely lost it and burst out into hysterics.
"Nice shoes, Snivelly," Sirius cheered, smirking broadly.
Snape, who was already flushed a delicate pink, muttered darkly under his breath.
"Diffinio," James yelled, causing Snape's robes to tear at the knee and further expose the horrible old pair of bowling shoes in place of his trainers. "Ah, I see the switching spell did work!"
"Bowling shoes! Brilliant, eh Avery?" Sirius winked at him, causing the Slytherin boy to scowl. "Thank goodness James is in Muggle Studies or we wouldn't have enough new material to make Snivelly's life miserable!"
The small crowd converged around the scene sniggered. Sirius continued to egg on Snape, aided by James. Peter seemed to live for these occurrences, he was laughing jovially, and Remus just stood aside and took a spectator's view of the mischief.
"Has your hair possibly gotten greasier since the last time I saw you?" Sirius asked malevolently. "Be careful and take a shower once in a while, you don't want sea slugs to be living in there."
"I'm quite a fan of your dirty socks, too," James said loudly. "What'd you do to piss off the house elves that do the laundry?"
Peter was now howling with laughter and amusement, slapping himself on the knee. A small frown spread across Remus' face as he studied Snape's features, which were contorted with rage and embarrassment.
"Bloody gits," Snape mumbled, having flushed an even deeper shade of crimson. He began to fish around in the pocket of his robes, undoubtedly for his wand...
"Gonna hex us are you?" James asked. Snape's hand froze. "That's what I thought. Now if you don't want to be hanging in the air by your ankle, I suggest you-"
"Oi, Potter, just leave him alone," Lily Evans had just arrived to the queue outside the Potions classroom, flanked by a couple of friends. Her green eyes glinted angrily.
"So nice of you to join us, Evans!" Smirking at Lily, James innocently flicked his wand. Snape doubled over on the floor, and began to barf up massive, writhing green slugs.
"Finite Incantantem!" Lily had brandished her own wand, lifting the curse from Snape. He hastily scrambled back onto his feet.
"Don't make me report you to McGonagall again," Lily threatened, stowing her wand back into her robes.
"Aww, were just having some fun," James continued, the trademark grin plastered on his lips. One of Lily's friends seemed to be swooning. "Now don't you look pretty today, Evans. I love it when the color of your cheeks matches your hair, it's just dashing."
Lily narrowed her shockingly green eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but The heavy oak door of the classroom swung open.
"Oh, hello everybody!" Slytherin Head Professor Slughorn emerged into the hallway, proceeded by his pot belly. "Come on in," he said heartily, and the students ambled into the dank room, thus ending the little squabble. Lily, still fuming, sat at the first table and roughly dropped her bookbag onto the floor. The Marauders notoriously seated themselves farthest from the front of the room, Remus settling in at a cauldron next to Sirius.
"Very nice shoes, Severus. We all need some comical relief in such dark, threatening times as these," Professor Slughorn said amusedly, taking his seat at the head of the dungeon.
Scattered giggles and chuckles sounded through the room, and Snape slumped down further in his seat.
Lily, Snape, and Remus may have been taking diligent notes while Professor Slughorn drawled on in lecture format about what simply stunning uses a drop of dragon blood plays in the art of potion brewing, but the remainder of the class found other ways to amuse themselves.
James had fallen asleep, and Sirius was busy poking his best mate's hair with a wand. The unruly black mess continually tangled itself into dozens of little braids.
The Gryffindor girls seated by Lily sat gossiping, flipping through an issue of Witch Weekly and curling their eyelashes using their wands.
The remainder of the Slytherins seemed to be brooding darkly and passing around sheafs of parchment, occasionally signing it or scribbling down a footnote and recirculating it around. One boy even charmed a spare sheaf to fold itself up like a paper airplane and hit Snape in the head.
Not even the Slytherins like him, Remus mused silently, letting his gaze wander astray from his notes. Sirius nudged him with his elbow.
"Remmy, if you don't take notes, we all fail," Sirius complained, a smile lingering on his lips. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Oh boy, we're a little restless today," Slughorn chuckled, finally noticing the class' inattentiveness. "We'll just get straight to today's Potion, Draught of Peace. If properly brewed, this potion will cause the user to feel immediately calm and carefree. The five senses will be dull and the user will become drowsy-"
"Sounds like we're smoking pot," Sirius whispered to Remus, who merely nodded in reply, but found himself grinning.
"-And possibly fall asleep like Mr. Potter," Slughorn smiled. James continued snoozing, his whole head engulfed by miniature braids.
"Oho, no matter. Instructions for the Draught of Peace can be found on page 143 of your textbook, so get started everyone. I'll be around to help."
Sirius smacked James on the back and he woke with a start, rubbing his eyes from under the notorious wire-rimmed glasses and grinning. They headed over to collect ingredients from the supply cabinet with the rest of the class. Remus, chuckling to himself, flicked his wand and set James' hair back to normal.
Slughorn meandered around the room, observing the potion-making that shortly followed. Some students were failing miserably, earning a disapproving glance. Remus had managed to brew his draught to a sea foam green color, adding dashes of chili powder in an attempt to brighten the shade to a sky blue, as depicted in the textbook. James and Sirius were lazily administering various charms and transformations on their gurgling and sputtering potions, enjoying the variations of color and texture they were able to produce.
"So, you guys, I was thinking yesterday," James said casually, skimming through the Charms textbook hidden under Potion Maker's Guide to Herbs and Spices.
"What is it?" Peter rested his head on his desk, having given up on rectifying his potion halfway through the period.
"Well, for the most part, I have Malfoy's death trap planned out," James hastened to keep his voice low.
"Sweet," Sirius was grinning mischievously. "When do we start?"
James, looking uneasy, poked his wand into the cauldron. Small bubbles began to boil at the surface of his potion. "Erm, well, I was kinda gonna fly solo on this one," he said lamely.
Sirius' grin faltered. "You mean I'm not going to help?"
"It's a personal thing. I need to whip Malfoy on my own," James replied uneasily. "You heard the way he talked about Lily, and I'm not going to stand for it."
"Oh." Sirius shifted the expression on his face, attempting to look unfazed. "It's cool. Go for it."
Peter snorted, disgruntled that he probably wouldn't be involved in James' plan either. "Your way too protective over a bird that wants nothing more than to hang your arse on the wall like a stuck pig."
Remus gave Peter a really weird look.
"Oh Evans, brilliant work!" Slughorn stopped at Lily's cauldron, beaming at it's contents. His gingery mustache was practically bristling with delight. "I know this is very difficult work, maybe even O.W.L. level, but there's no reason why I shouldn't be seeing more potions as distinctly fine as Lily's!"
"Mr. Potter, yours seems acceptable as well," Slughorn meandered on, peeking into his cauldron. James raised his eyebrows, grinning down at as his potion, which had a lavender hue and was emitting a faint smell of burnt rubber.
"Thank you, Professor," he replied, forcing a smile. James had attended way to meetings of Professor Slughorn's 'Slug Club' meetings to expect any less recognition.
"Talk about playing favorites," Sirius found himself whispering in Remus' ear as Slughorn made his way to the front of the dungeon.
"Chill out, it's okay, Sirius," Remus muttered in return.
"Well, anybody care to try theirs? We have 10 minutes left," Slughorn declared, rocking back on his heels.
Lily hesitated, and appeared to be consulting a friend on whether or not to give it a go. Smirking slightly in spite of himself, Sirius flicked his wand discreetly under the desk, aiming at a Slytherin boy sitting next to Snape. His hand shot up involuntarily into the air.
"You prat," muttered the Slytherin, looking uncertainly down at the chunky black, soup-like substance in the bottom of his cauldron.
Slughorn chuckled, "Oho, since you've kindly volunteered Mr. Rookwood, then maybe you'd care to try it as well Mr. Black?"
Sirius stopped sniggering.
A/N: Since you've gotten this far, please review. It really does make my day to get some feedback from you lovely readers. Also, I'm going to Florida tomorrow with the band! Buhbye snow and hullo Disney World!