Standing There By You

Ch. 11- Shocking Surprises

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The Marauders sat in their dormitory, Remus reading and Peter spectating James and Sirius's uneventful game of gobstones. Just as the night sky began to darken, Remus checked his watch. "Well, I better go," he said, hopping off of his bed.

"Where are you going?" Sirius inquired, standing up beside him.

"Visiting my mum," Remus quickly replied, avoiding his friend's eyes, "I- I'll see you guys later."

James looked at Sirius uneasily, and once Remus had left the room, spoke up. "Do you think.. something's going on?"

Sirius nodded slowly. "Kind of, I mean, he's supposedly visiting his sick mum so frequently, and she didn't look remotely sick at the train station."

James frowned. "Yeah, I know. But, he wouldn't lie about something like that, to us, would he?"

Sirius shook his head in a determined matter, as if trying to convince even himself. "Nah, he wouldn't. C'mon, I'm hungry, let's go visit the kitchens."

The three boys vanished under the invisibility cloak, and carefully made their way to the kitchens. They decided that since they were already out, they might as well do a little exploring. They found a couple of new discoveries, and by the time they were ready to head back, the hallways and corridors were pitch black.

"Peter!" Sirius whispered fiercely. "Stop stepping on my toes!"

"Sorry," said Peter, "I-"

Peter was abruptly cut off as James clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shh," he said in a nearly inaudible whisper. "Look."

Up ahead a tall figure walked through the darkened hallway, a light streaming from the tip of his out-stretched wand. The three invisible boys held their breath until the man walked past them, and turned around a corner out of site.

Once they were sure he was out of ear-shot, Sirius whispered, "Who was that?"

"I dunno, it was too dark." James responded, looking in the direction the person had gone. "What do you think they're doing up this late?"

"I don't know, but I do know one way to find out..."

James grinned and in a flash the three were following the path the unidentified man had taken. They walked as fast as they could, and in a several moments they could see the familiar beam of light. They followed at a safe distance, and in 10 minutes or so he finally stopped at the Hospital Wing. He muttered an unlocking spell, opened up a door, and disappeared inside. James, Sirius and Peter crept quietly up to the door, and noticed he had left it slightly ajar. Listening closely, they could hear two people talking, and found that one was their very own Professor Fides, but they couldn't distinguish the other quiet voice. They listened for a couple of minutes, but still couldn't determine the second party. After awhile, their Professor seemed to be making a departure, and they feared they would never find out.

"You'd better get some rest then," came Professor Fides distinct voice. "If Madame Pomfrey catches me here I'm a dead man." He chuckled softly, and then the creaking of a bed sounded as he stood up. James, Sirius and Peter reluctantly started to walk away, disappointed they hadn't heard anything interesting. They quickly turned a corner, just as Professor Fides came out the door. Grabbing the doorknob, he closed the door softly, but not before saying one last thing.

"Goodnight, Remus."

James's jaw dropped open is surprise, and although not visible, he knew Sirius's had as well Next to them, they heard Peter draw in his breath, as if about to call out to Remus. Before he could, however, James and Sirius both clapped a hand over his mouth, and pulled him away. Sirius whispered briefly for him to be quiet, and they all hurried off back in the direction of their Common Room.

Once back in their dormitory, they whipped off the invisibility cloak and stared uneasily at each other.

"Okay, so I was wrong," James said finally. "He would lie to us."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Sirius, a puzzled expression upon his face, "but... why?"

James shook his head. "I don't know. But we're going to find out."

From that point on, James and Sirius began to investigate Remus's mysterious situation further. They asked him if he had in fact gone to visit his mother that night, in case there really was some sort of reasonable explanation, but Remus just stuck to his original story. James and Sirius made a secret vow that by the time they came back from the upcoming Christmas vacation, they would surely find him out.

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"Well I was thinking," Grace began, as she sat cross-legged on top of her bed. "That the main part has got to be shock. They're going to be so surprised that we pulled one over on them, and that'll be the main factor in our prank."

"Mmm hmm..." Julie agreed. "But, there's still the matter of actually deciding what the prank should be."

"Yeah," Grace nodded glumly. "There's that."

The two girls currently sat in their empty dormitory, brainstorming for the boy's much deserved retaliation. Well, more like sat stumped, desperately hoping for an interesting thing to come to mind.

"Well maybe we could-" Julie abruptly cut off as Lily walked into the room.

"Hey guys," she greeted, walking over and plopping onto her bed. "Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing," Grace and Julie replied quickly.

Lily looked at them suspiciously. "What are you so uppity about?"

Grace and Julie glanced sideways at one another, then back at Lily, grinning innocently. "Nothing."

A/N: Oh, wow, that chapter was extreeeemely short, sorry 'bout that. I promise to make up for it, I'll post the next chap. as quickly as possible. Just remember, the more reviews.. the quicker I'll post : )

Jess- Hey there, glad you liked 'em, thanks for the review!

Siriuslivs1488- Yay! everyone check out When Somers Turned to Black, it's great!

IrishMaiden- Thanks for the review : ) I think you're rad too.

Suji- Hey, thanks for the review! Yeah, don't worry, the girls will get them back. Eventually...

MidnightPrincess- Wow! So many reviews.. I'm honored! Woooo, congrats on being the 100th, : )

Manny2003- Hey, thanks for all the great ideas! the names are awesome, but i'm not quite sure i want to give the girls one. The girls don't really pull pranks and act mischeivious like they guys do- and aren't nearly as good at it (although they could give them a run for their money, if they wanted to) basically, the girls aren't goodie goodies (xept Lily, she kind of is) but they're not into rule breaking like the guys are. Thanks mucho for the suggestions, tho, perhaps i'll keep them in mind for a future fic : )

RavenSiriusBlack- Hola! Thanks mucho for the review, but what'd you mean hurry up so you can block the spammer? does my updating defeat all ugly spammers? if it does.. awesome! My posting powers will distinguish all spammers... mwahahahaha

Aerandir- Really? What was the incident? Thanks for the review... btw!

Sam Gamgee 1973- Aww.. thanks for the wonderful review!!

Oksana- Hey, thanks as usual for the spiffy review!!

Thanks mucho, A. Lenz, for pointing out the whole Ch. 9 under Ch. 10 thing.. : )

READ AND REVIEW.... please : )