A/n: Next chapter is UP! Sorry that the first bunch of chapters have been rather boring. I'm getting there - the story should definitely pick up after this! (Ahem, that's not forshadowing...) Read on and let me know what you think!

Chapter 5

By the next morning, Remus had forgiven them, James and Sirius had already polished off all six Butterbeers (giving Peter one, offering one to Remus who refused, but ended up taking it anyways) and they resumed going to classes. Sirius had by no means forgotten about the electric storm on Saturday night, but he was already too busy with homework to dwell on it.

The Marauders got back to their usual pranks the moment they entered class, much to the chagrin and amusement of students and teachers alike.

The day went by normally - quite boring in most aspects - and although Sirius fully expected something out of the ordinary to take place, nothing did.

It wasn't until two days later that something finally happened.

After their last class on Wednesday, the four Marauders were heading back to Gryffindor Common Room and Sirius gave James a small nod. James caught the signal and began talking intently with Remus. Sirius slowed his pace, subtly letting the others move ahead. He gently pulled on the back of Peter's robes, and when Peter stared questioning at him, Sirius put a finger to his lips in a "ssh" manner, and gave him a significant look which clearly told Peter to fall back subtly and silently as well.

They slowed more and more until they stopped, letting James and Remus go ahead, and then Sirius pulled Peter into a darkened doorway.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"Ssh." Sirius shoved his hands deep into his pockets as he talked, and glanced over his shoulder down the hall at Remus and James, who continued walking. He pulled several Sickles from his pockets. "Remus won't let you steal them, so here. James and I put some money together, you can add some if you want." he dumped the money in Peter's hands.

Peter looked down at the silver coins glinting in his hands, then back up at Sirius, a mix of shock and confusion crossing his features. "What do I do with this?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Gosh, Pete, sometimes you can be so thick." he said good-naturedly. "Honeydukes, Pete. Money for Honeydukes."

Peter nodded, understanding finally dawning on his face. "Oh, I get it now. More Butterbeer?"

Sirius grinned. "We just can't wait until the next scheduled Hogsmeade weekend." He clapped his hand on Peter's shoulder. "You got it."

Peter smiled back, proud to be entrusted with such amounts of money. He carefully put the Sickles in his pocket.

"We outta catch up with Moony and Prongs." Sirius said and he and Peter headed back down the hall, the way they had been going moments earlier. "Wouldn't want Moony to think we were up to something." he winked.

Peter was slightly confused - but weren't they up to something? - he said nothing, however, choosing rather to simply smile and follow.

Later that evening, shortly after Remus had decided to head to bed (having finished all his homework hours ago - most of it last night, in fact), James and Sirius (who had not done a single word of their homework for three days straight and were now faced with much of it due the next morning) stayed in the Common Room, scribbling madly away, regretting their previous negligence, but knowing it would surely happen again tomorrow.

Around that time, Peter stood, stretched and announced loudly to no one I particular that he was 'going for a walk'.

James smirked. "Um, no one else is in the Room, Wormtail. You can say you're going to Honeydukes."

Peter's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "How did you know?"

Sirius shook his head. "Dull one, we pooled our money, remember? Me and James?"

Peter looked from one to the other, that same familiar look of understanding moving across his face. "Oh... right. Well, no matter. I will most definitely be back within a few hours or less. I'm only getting Butterbeer - right?"

"And a pack of Drooble's for me." James said, lifting his quill momentarily.

"Pack of Whizzbees for me." said Sirius.

Peter nodded and looked like he was mentally writing the other's requests. "Ok. See you soon!" he fairly bounded out of the Common Room.

James and Sirius looked at each other, and chuckled, pleased with themselves for paying Peter to bring them back candy. Promptly, however, they each heaved a sigh and got back to their extensive pile of homework.

Peter was right that his task did not take too long. As a rat, he scurried down the passageway that lead straight into Honeydukes. At the end of the passage, instead of heading up the stairs as if he were human, he instead hurried up a small edge in the wall, just big enough for him, which took him into a small, rat-sized tunnel, which then led to a rat-sized hole in the far corner on the floor in the basement of Honeydukes. He went upstairs into the main room, and turned into himself.

Within moments he'd gathered the things he needed - two six packs of Butterbeer, a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum for James, a pack of Fizzing Whizzbees for Sirius and a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans for himself (and Remus if he wanted any). He left the pile of Sickles on the counter - it turned out to be just enough, but with a fair amount of change - with a lovely looking note that read, "Thanks very much! Keep the change!' And on the back in tiny print was exactly what Peter had bought, just in case they needed to know exactly.

He descended the stairs, realizing at once that with the items in his arms he would have to stay a human. He shrugged. No matter. However, once he'd reached the basement and headed for the area where the Trap Door for the human part of the passageway was, he saw an inconvenient problem.

Over top of the trap door were several very large crates, full of the store's new inventory. Just beside the crates were several large barrels, also full. Peter had not noticed in his animal state.

He set his things down on the steps and immediately set to work trying to move the crates. At first he tried to move the whole stack of crates, and found that was impossible. They were far too heavy. Next he tried just lifting the top one off and moving it over, but it also was extremely heavy, and what he had thought had been several neatly stacked crates turned out to be two very large, very heavy, very immovable crates, surrounded by light little crates.

Once breaking into a sweat, Peter decided to go the other way he knew. It may be more of a hike, but he clearly couldn't move the crates and he didn't know a charm or spell that could move the crates for him.

'Well that's annoying.' Peter thought and gathered up his purchased things. He headed back up the stairs and at the door used a quick unlocking spell to let himself out. Once outside, he quickly used another simple spell and re-locked the door behind him. He would just go to Hogwarts by way of the passageway in the Shrieking Shack, and inform the others when he got back of the current Honeydukes passageway blockage.

Since the Shack was only used by Remus during his transformations under the full moon, and the occasional Marauder hang-out, and full moon wasn't for a few days yet, it surprised Peter greatly to see lights on and smoke coming from the chimney of the Shack.

'They must've decided to meet me there.' Peter assumed, but couldn't shake an odd nagging feeling in his stomach. He forced himself not to think anything of the yellow light filtering out the broken, unboarded windows.

He opened the door with some force, and it squealed loudly from lack of usage. Peter winced at the noise and hurriedly closed it behind him. "Hello?" he called, and waited a moment for a response. Nothing.

He shrugged and began ascending the stairs, moving towards the room where the light was coming from. The stairs creaked eerily under his weight, and it finally occurred to Peter that something might not be right. That nagging feeling in his stomach had grown steadily, and was no to the point that he was becoming physically scared the closer he got to the room.

"Hello?" Peter tried again, much louder this time, although he was significantly closer to the room than before.

The light flickered suddenly, as if it was candle that had been whipped at by a quick, hard breeze. At the same time, there was the sound of fabric swishing, followed a foot-fall like creak that was not made by Peter who had gone stock still. It was quiet again.

Peter's mouth went dry, his heart sped up and his knees began to quiver. He manoeuvred the parcels around in his arms and instinctively drew his wand, holding it out in front of him. His heart was drumming, and that horrible feeling in his stomach told him something ominous waited in that room. The other part of him reasoned it was just James and Sirius, probably with monster masks of some sort from Zonko's, and they were waiting there, ready to scare the pants off Peter.

He reached the door leading to the lit room, and it was ajar enough that a child could fight through without moving the door, thus letting a significant amount of light into the hall and stairway. Peter shut his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath, desperately trying to clam himself down and listen to his sensible side.

'They're standing there, ready to scare you. Or they have a water bucket over the door, or some other silly prank. Just brace yourself.' Peter thought. 'They're gonna scare the daylights outta you. Don't let them know you're scared - they'll only laugh at you later. Flinch if you have to. Nothing more.'

He opened his eyes, feeling a lot better, and almost ready to go in there and take whatever they had set up for him. He was determined not to scream or cry out, and he pushed open the door.

No one. Nothing.

No water or anything worse fell on his head as he stepped through the threshold. He walked into the room, and no one jumped out to scare him. He waited, and still held his breath, still bracing himself for it. He cautiously turned to his left, towards the window, and saw several candles burning about the room, and two lanterns in the one corner, and one hanging from the ceiling. Unconvinced no one else was in the room, he waited a moment, giving them a moment to sneak up on him.

It worked, for behind him, there was a quick swish of robes and another tiny creak of a footfall. Peter slowly turned around, knowing they were behind him now. 'Here it comes...' he thought.

"Ok guys - " he started, but stopped abruptly as soon as him eyes saw what had been behind him.

It was most definitely not James or Sirius.

A tall figure, nearly seven feet in height, stood there. It was wearing long thick black robes, covered by a long black overcoat, which was really more just a cape and a hood than an overcoat. The hood completely shadowed the figure's face. No hands or feet were visible, but by the lump around the stomach, it was apparent the hands were tucked inside.

Peter was frozen with fear. His stomach turned to ice. "I... I...I..."

The figure spoke in a bone-chilling hiss-like growl. "Are you Jamesssss Potter...?"

Peter dropped the things he was holding and took a step back. He shook his head vigorously. "N–n-n-n-n-no! No! I-I-I-I'm n-n-n-not...!"

The figure took a step toward Peter, leaned forward and sniffed loudly. It returned to its previous rigid posture, seemingly satisfied that Peter was indeed not James Potter. It hissed, "Wheeeere issss heeee?"

"N-n-n-not - I-I m-m-mean, n-n-no - I m-m-mean - " Petrified, Peter could not string a sentence together, only fumbling and stuttering like a blithering idiot.

"Where?" It demanded suddenly and angrily, fed up with Peter's stammering, and took a very threatening step towards Peter.

Peter took two hasty steps backwards and tripped partially on his own feet and partially on the things he'd dropped. He tumbled to the floor, and found he was backed against the wall under the window. Shaking like a leaf and unable to think even slightly clearly, he tried to say something and didn't know what.

"WHERE?" It raised its voice and took another step toward a now whimpering Peter. It revealed an arm from beneath its layers of clothing, and held it up, palm out, as if to receive a 'high-five'. The skin of the hand was dangerously pale, with a slight sickly green-yellow tinge to it. A small swirl of bright blue substance began forming in the center of its hand. "Don't maaaaake me kiiiiill yooooou..." the thing breathed evilly.

"That way!" Peter blurted, not knowing what he was doing, far too scared to think or act even slightly rationally. He pointed in the direction of Hogwarts and the passageway from his position on the floor. His greatest fear was to die, and here it was facing him. He could do nothing else... He gulped hard. "Castle..."

"Yoooooou wassssssste my timmmme." the thing sneered, and even though its face was still deeply shadow, the candle-light caught on silvery, razor-sharp teeth. The blue swirl in its hand was much larger now, having grown to the size of a small volleyball, and was crackling like a ball of neon blue electricity.

Peter trembled. "W-what is t-t-that?" He truly didn't want to know and wasn't entirely sure why he had asked.

The thing hissed loudly like a massive snake about to kill, threw its arm back, then it forward as if throwing a baseball across a pitch.

Peter cried out and the electric blue ball hit him, immediately snapping across his body in high voltage. He felt burning pain, aching and sharp pain, brief numbness and then he lost completely lost consciousness.

'Sorry James...'

A/n: Oooo.. scary! What's going to happen? I guess you'll have to wait and find out! Alright, gimme a review, like it or hate it. Just no flames (they hurt) and no swearing, please:D