Author's note: Due to a lot of things going on I am going to take a very short hiatus. First of all, my new puppy is more of a demon than my previous two dogs ever were and it takes a lot of time and energy to keep the little booger out of trouble. I've hardly had time to write or even edit! Second of all, even though I am not a Thanksgiving person… I know this week is going to be hard on me emotionally. I am sorry about this, but I am just really overwhelmed at the moment.

SO I will be taking a week off and coming back on December seventh with a new chapter.

CW: referred and implied child abuse

-x-

It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. I don't have much money, but boy if I did… I'd buy a big house where we both could live. If I was a sculptor… hah… but then again, no. Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show… I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do. My gift is my song and this one's for you.

It was Saturday morning, and the Marauders were once again out in the sunshine. They were stretched out on a blanket, the others playing cards while Remus took notes on the music. He would have preferred to listen to his album by himself, but when James suggested they all go outside to listen to their Muggle albums, Remus couldn't figure out how to say no. They had listened to Sirius's first (he REALLY liked T-rex) and were now on Remus's.

When the song finished, Remus reached over to move the needle in order to play the song again. He'd have to listen to more of the album, but the very first song was really nice. Especially the line: how wonderful life is when you're in the world. He knew it was supposed to be romantic but he couldn't help thinking about the other Marauders, and how wonderful his own life had become because they were in his world.

Could he write his essay on that? Or would Professor Lewis think he was weird?

They listened to more of the album and while all of the songs were amazing (because Elton John was, in Remus's opinion, one of the best singers ever), it was that first song that spoke to him the most. Before that side of the album finished playing, Remus said they could switch to Peter's album. He had what he wanted. Hopefully.

After Peter played several Beatles songs, they switched to James's The Who album. It was the same album Lily had, so they had heard all the songs before. James purposely played My Generation since he liked that one so much. As the lyrics blasted out, a shadow fell across the blanket where the cards were.

"What the bloody hell do you want," James demanded angrily.

Remus shielded his eyes to look up at Snape. He was hovering a few steps away, with Wicket and Fox behind him. That explained why he had the courage to approach all four Marauders together.

"Turn that down," Snape hissed. "You're not the only people outside, it is unfair of you to force that… noise… on everyone else trying to enjoy the day."

James rolled his eyes but fiddled with the knob of his record player, turning it down slightly. "Sorrry!" he drew out. "I forgot you're half-bat and have super special hearing. Don't want to accidentally ruin your echolocation, you might wind up falling in the lake by mistake."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "You'll get what's coming to you, Potter," he muttered so quietly Remus knew the others couldn't hear him.

"What was that?" James asked.

"Nothing."

Why don't you all f-fade away. Don't try to d-dig what we all s-s-s-say. I'm not trying cause a big s-s-sensation. I'm just talking 'bout my g-g-g-generation!

Snape hesitated as he turned to leave, giving a smirk over his shoulder. "Oh look at that, a song Loopy can f-f-finally s-s-sing along to."

Remus's hand darted out, grabbing Sirius's sleeve as he tried to scramble to his feet. "Don't. Leave it. He's not worth anything," he said, yanking Sirius back down on the blanket.

Snape, Wicket, and Fox went several yards away, still obviously within hearing distance of James's record player. Remus had the feeling they had been farther away, but wanted to come closer just to complain. They kept giving pointed looks at the Marauders.

"What is his problem?" Peter grumbled, hunching his shoulders as Snape stared at him.

"He's a pathetic, boring loser who wants to trample over everyone else to make himself feel important," Sirius said, tossing his hair back. "And he never washes his hair. Greasy git."

"He probably dripped grease all over the blanket, lurking over us like that," James complained, wrinkling his nose as he made a show of examining the blanket. A shadow went across them again. "Oh for Merlin's sake, what the bloody hell is it this time?!" James demanded, looking up. "OH! Er, ah—sorry, thought you were someone else."

This time it was one of the Gryffindor Prefects, raising her eyebrow at James's outburst. "I ought to take points away for that."

James flashed her a grin. "I'm sorry, we were being harassed by Slytherins a bit ago."

"Mm." She turned to Sirius. "Professor McGonagall said you're needed in her office."

Sirius sat up, pointing at himself. "Me? Just me?"

"Just you," she said with a shrug. "She said you need to be there immediately."

The Prefect wandered off while the Marauders gathered their things up. "I haven't done anything since flirting with her," Sirius said, running his fingers through his hair. "Er, well, we did set those fireworks off last night but she'd probably summon both of us for that, wouldn't she?"

"I'd expect so," James said, stuffing his record player in his bag. "We'll go with you and wait in the hall."

Several minutes later James, Peter, and Remus perched on a bench across from McGonagall's office while Sirius knocked at the door. Remus swung his legs, wondering what was going on. As far as he knew the only trouble Sirius had caused was with James, so it was odd that only Sirius was being called in…

The door opened and McGonagall glanced down. "Good morning, Mr. Black. Your father has come to see you. He's waiting in my classroom if you'll go there."

Sirius's body went all rigid like a spell had been put on him. "My father?" he asked in a slight whisper. "Er, th-thank you, Professor." He turned and Remus saw he had gone extremely ashy. He didn't even look at the Marauders as he went down the hall to the Transfiguration classroom.

McGonagall frowned, then cast a glance at the other Marauders before disappearing back into her office. Sirius tapped at the classroom door and Remus heard a heavy male voice bark out an order to come in. Sirius crept in, sliding through a cracked door and slamming it shut behind him.

"What the hell?" James demanded as soon as the classroom door shut.

Remus pressed his fists against his thighs, staring wide-eyed at the classroom door. He couldn't hear anything, which he wasn't sure whether was a good thing or not. Either Mr. Black was talking to his son quietly, or there were spells up to prevent shouting from being heard.

Five minutes passed by without anything happening. None of the Marauders spoke. Remus didn't even know what to say. He simply sat in quiet fear, worried about what might be happening to his friends. The cuts and bruises from the summer were still fresh in his memory. Sirius had insisted his cousins had done it but—

Hurried footsteps and then someone skidded to a stop a few feet away. It was Regulus Black, looking rather pale as well. He brushed himself off, straightening up, trying to pretend he hadn't been running, trying to pretend he didn't look worried too.

"Good morning," he said very stiffly. "I—er—I heard—"

"Yeah, your father's here," James said, leaning back against the wall. "He's got Sirius in the classroom."

Regulus glanced down the hall, pressing his lips tight together. He tugged at his shirt, fixing it, and then stood there in silence. Even though the Marauders hadn't been talking either, it made things feel a little more awkward.

Finally the classroom door opened and Sirius came out. The Marauders all got to their feet, going towards him. He blinked at them, eyes focusing on Regulus past them. Then a man emerged from the classroom. A tall, lanky man with silky dark brown hair, thick mustache, and piercing grey eyes. His gaze swept across Remus and the others, sending an icy chill down his spine.

"Hello Regulus," he said, when he spotted his other son in the hallway.

"Good morning, Father," Regulus said, sounding vaguely pleasant and slightly strained. "Did you need to see me as well?"

Mr. Black pulled the cane out from under his arm, tapping it against the floor. "No. I only needed to speak with your brother." He could hardly disguise the hate in his voice when he said 'your brother'. He gave Regulus a nod before turning, walking away from the group of students.

"Sirius—" James started but Regulus brushed past him.

"Sirius, what—what did he want?" he whispered, grabbing Sirius's arm.

Sirius winced at the touch, pulling his arm away. "Nothing."

"He wanted something—"

"Does it matter?" Sirius snapped.

"It might matter to me!" Regulus cried out.

"It has nothing to do with you, don't worry," Sirius sneered. "You're not in any trouble."

"That isn't what I meant!" Regulus growled out then he realized they were arguing in front of everyone. Ignoring Sirius's flinch, he took hold of his brother's arm again and hauled him farther down the corridor. "Despite what you might think, I do worry about you," Regulus said softly.

Sirius's expression softened. "Yeah. I—" He hesitated, eyes meeting Remus's gaze. A strange expression flashed across his face. Anger? Irritation? Fear? "Come on." He pulled Regulus even farther away from the Marauders. Farther from Remus and his hearing, and Remus felt guilty for accidentally intruding.

"But what did he want?" Regulus asked, his voice growing faint as they strode down the long hallway.

"They found out I'm taking Muggle Studies is—" And then Sirius's voice faded completely as they went around a corner.

James, Peter, and Remus just stood there dumbly. Only Remus had heard the last bit and terror filled his body. He had wondered how Sirius would be able to take Muggle Studies and apparently the answer was by not even telling his parents.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, his voice quavering a little. Remus wondered how much Peter had been able to guess about Sirius's home life. How much James actually knew. "That's never happened before, has it? One of his parents coming here?"

"I don't know." James turned towards the two of them, anxiously raking his fingers through his hair, turning the wild mess into even more of a wild mess. "I have no bloody clue what that was about. I'd say something happened at home, but then why wouldn't they tell Regulus too?"

Remus bit his lip, staying silent. What happened behind the closed door? Was Sirius all right? Surely his father wouldn't have done anything in the school… would he?

A moment later Sirius came back around the corner, running his hands against his thighs as he walked. He looked so pale. Sirius paused when he saw his friends waiting then he forced a smile on his face, straightening his shoulders as he strode towards them.

"Sirius—"

"Didn't mean to make you wait so long," Sirius said, cutting off James's words. "Reg was wondering what was going on."

"So are we," James stated.

The muscles under Sirius's eyes twitched very slightly. "Nothing, really. Nothing important. Let's go find something to do, yeah?"

He was noticeably on edge and occasionally winced in pain, though Remus couldn't smell any blood on him. If he had injuries, they weren't open ones. At one point he did excuse himself, and when he returned he smelled suspiciously like bruise balm. Remus kept his mouth shut, as difficult as it was. He wanted to ask, but knew it would probably cause a blow up between them if he did.

The four of them were outside again, James and Peter wrestling over something unimportant while Sirius, as always, doodled in his sketchbook and Remus read. He kept glancing over at Sirius's profile, trying to figure out how to ask. Did your father hurt you? That'd be a disaster. Did you run into something because you put some bruise balm on… no, that would be all wrong too.

He shifted his gaze to James and Peter. They were rolling around on the ground, laughing more than they were fighting, trying to get one another into a headlock. Remus wasn't even sure what started it, something stupid said on James's part, something snide from Peter as a response.

"Sirius?"

Sirius brushed a few wavy locks from his face, glancing up with his lovely grey eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering from his cheeks. "Yeah?"

Remus swallowed, drawing his knees closer to his body. He couldn't ask. He needed to. He had to! It'd be wrong not to. Wouldn't it? What would Sirius say? What would he do? When Remus tried broaching it over the summer Sirius had gotten so furious. No. No, it would only cause a fight. Remus needed to figure out a different way to get past this problem, he just wasn't sure what.

Because Remus knew now he couldn't pretend otherwise. He couldn't bury his head in the sand. He couldn't find excuses for the things said, the lies given, and the charming smiles meant to convince. Sirius was being abused. Remus felt bad for trying to imagine otherwise before but he simply didn't know what to do about it. Sirius wasn't going to talk about it, he was going to refuse. What was he supposed to do? Did James know? Should he try talking to James? If he tried to do anything would he hurt Sirius?

Maybe… Fawley would know what to do, Remus decided. He had considered talking to her before then lost his courage. But it was the best thing to do. Yes. That was it. He could talk to her. Besides, she might see the memory anyway and come to the same conclusion. It wouldn't really be betraying Sirius, would it?

"What is it?" Sirius asked, a smile playing on his lips when Remus remained silent.

"Who's going to win?" he blurted out, motioning with his chin.

Sirius glanced over at the other two. "James."

Remus shook his head. "That's your blind loyalty speaking. It'll be Peter."

Sirius grinned. "Want to bet?"

"Peter is sitting on James right now."

A pout. A pout that gave Remus wobbly feelings. "James could still win."

"Ten galleons—"

"TEN?" Sirius shrieked. "You little—"

His next words were swallowed up by the sound of an explosion.

There was a very loud whoommph! sound, and Remus whipped around to see blue smoke pouring out of one of the windows of Hogwarts. There were loud cries from all over the grounds and before Remus could react, James took off running. Sirius followed immediately behind and, after a second, Peter and Remus followed suit. Everyone who was out on the grounds were running towards Hogwarts, staring up at the thick smoke billowing through the air. There were bits of stone on the ground near the window, indicating there had been some sort of explosion.

A thick crowd at the nearest doors prevented them from getting in.

"Come on," Sirius said, taking off in another direction. The Marauders followed, going along one of the hills and climbing up into a courtyard. A few students were there, talking about the sound; from the courtyard you couldn't see the smoke, though, so all they had to go on was the sound. When James told them about the smoke, that sent everyone buzzing.

The Marauders dashed inside, joining the surge of students trying to find the source of the sound. On the second floor there stood Hagrid, waving his arms and stopping the group of kids from getting through.

"Nobody's allowed on the third floor at the moment," he bellowed out. "Everything's all righ', go back down ter the lower floors."

James pushed and wriggled his way through the many bodies. "Hagrid, what happened?" he asked, popping out at the front of the crowd. Peter and Remus pressed themselves against the wall to stop themselves from being swept away by the students who were obviously going to try to find another way up to where the boom happened.

"Bit o' an accident, that's all," Hagrid said, lowering his arms. "Don't yeh worry."

"Is anyone hurt?" he asked, peering up at the enormous man.

"Er, nothin' Pomfrey couldn't handle," Hagrid promised. "Go on, then. An' don't ye be usin' any of them hidden ways to get past, ye hear me?"

James suppressed a smirk. "Of course." He and Sirius returned to the other two, James raising an eyebrow to indicate, shall we?

They zigzagged down hallways until they reached the statue of a griffin with one leg raised. Normally it took a lot of effort to open this stairwell, but with Remus there it was easy. It didn't take much of his strength to push the upraised leg down. The other forepaw of the griffin raised instead, and the stones behind it faded into nothing. The Marauders plunged into the darkness, hurrying up the spiral stairwell until they spilled out onto the third floor.

The smoke was already creeping through the hallways and Remus did a few breeze spells to keep the air clear as they began searching for people. The smoke smelled strangely of Floo powder, almost.

It didn't take long to find someone. Unfortunately, it was Professor Sprout who immediately berated them for getting on the third floor. She grabbed James by the arm, hauling him to the nearest stairs. James protested, trying to pretend like he didn't know they weren't supposed to be there but it didn't matter. James was pushed gently into the Grand Stairwell and the other Marauders meekly followed.

"I ought to have known you were involved!"

There were loads of students gathered on the stairs and Remus turned to see Lily, Alice, and Cassie standing there.

"What?" James pushed his glasses up. "We had nothing to do with it!"

"We just saw you thrown out of there!" Cassie pointed out, giving Sirius a frown.

"We were only trying to find out what happened," Sirius said smoothly. Cassie's frown deepened as she considered this.

"We didn't have anything to do with whatever happened," Peter put in. "We've been outside."

"Yeah!" James whirled around, pointing at his butt. "See?"

Lily groaned, giving him a shove. "I am NOT looking at your backside, Potter! I'd rather die!"

"NO! At the GRASS!" James snarled. "I don't want you looking at my arse either! I'm pointing to the grass!"

"Look at the grass and not at the ass," Sirius said with a loud laugh, causing several other nearby students to laugh too. Cassie began giggling and Lily turned rather pink.

"POTTER! BLACK!" A seventh year Gryffindor Prefect was pushing his way up one of the stairs. "What have you done this time?"

James folded his arms. "I was telling Red here we had nothing to do with the explosion!"

"They didn't, this time," said another voice. A sixth year Ravenclaw Prefect emerged from the hallway, the smell of smoke lingering on his robes. Remus didn't know many of the Prefects, however this one he did know. Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had helped Remus once or twice during his second year. He had a very nice voice. "Those involved have been taken to the hospital wing. The third floor corridor is off limits for the time being until we can get everything cleared. "Croughling, help me put a barrier up then we'll need to go through and make sure the floor is emptied."

The Gryffindor Prefect gave James and Sirius a rather nasty look. "Right. Yeah."

He and Shacklebolt moved into the corridor and did a spell, putting up a flimsy barrier Remus suspected he could break through within two or three minutes.

"You really didn't have anything to do with it," Lily said.

James rolled his eyes. "Wow, brilliant observation there. Come on, lads, we've got business to take care of." He grabbed Peter's hand—the nearest Marauder—and dragged him down the stairs. Remus shot an apologetic look to Lily before he and Sirius hurried after, wondering what James had in mind.

As it turned out, what he had in mind was for one of them to hex him badly enough that he'd need to go to the hospital wing.

"You heard the Ravenclaw, that's where whoever did this went," he said proudly. "Go on, hex me."

"Yeah, sure," Sirius said very eagerly, getting his wand out.

"No!" Remus grabbed Sirius's arm. "James, we aren't going to hex you. Besides, Pomfrey is probably very busy taking care of whoever was hurt. We'll find out what happened eventually. I'm sure we'll be told soon."

James looked unhappy. "Fine, but if we can't find out within an hour, Sirius is going to hex me."

"Oh, gladly," promised Sirius.

They wandered down to the Great Hall, where most of the students had already gathered, everyone talking about what might have happened. Nobody really knew what was going on, and no Prefect or member of staff showed up to explain. The clock ticked on and after an hour, Remus groaned when James and Sirius left the Great Hall.

"Not going to stop them?" Pete asked.

"Is there a point in trying to stop them?" Remus sighed.

Twenty minutes later Sirius returned since he wasn't allowed in the hospital wing, though James had been taken in. "I think Slytherins are involved," he said. "I heard Slughorn."

Soon after Professor McGonagall came into the Great Hall, sending a hush across the previously noisy room. She went to the High Table where she turned to face the sea of faces. "As you all know by now, there was an explosion in the castle. This was caused by students experimenting with potion-making, which is against the rules. While no significant damage has been done to the castle, the third floor is currently closed until further notice. You may otherwise go about your day."

There was a burst of whispers at that.

"She said no damage to the castle, she didn't say anything about no damage to any students," Sirius pointed out, rubbing his chin in thought.

"If they're in the hospital wing then yeah, damage has been done," Peter said.

"If they weren't seriously hurt I think she would have said so," suggested Remus, and Sirius nodded in agreement.

Peter furrowed his brow. "Oh. Yeah, you're probably right about that. Experimenting with making potions though… I wonder who it was?"

It seemed everyone thought it was the Marauders, as throughout the rest of the day they were stopped and asked what they did. Without James to be their leader, Sirius took on the role, telling everyone where they could shove their rumors if they kept trying to blame the Marauders.

When James did finally join up with them he had a lot of news. It had been Slytherins as Sirius suspected. He wasn't sure how many but—

"Saint Mungo's showed up as I was leaving," he said, sounding far too excited at the thought of some fellow students being hurt so severely they needed to be taken to the bigger hospital. "Dunno what was going on though!"

During supper Sirius studied the Slytherin table to try to figure out who might be missing but since it was a weekend and students came and went at various times for their supper, it was impossible to tell.

-x-

By the time Sunday morning came, the rumors had grown absolutely wild. The biggest rumor was that the Marauders were involved, or rather that James and Sirius were involved. Then behind that was the truth that Slytherins were behind it. What they were doing, nobody really knew. Some people said they were trying to make explosive potions on purpose, others stated it was a potion gone wrong. Some said they were younger, but most said they were seventh years. Then there were the rumors that everyone involved had ended up at Saint Mungo's, while some people claimed that no, they were still in the hospital wing. All in all it was a big conglomeration of rumors without much hint towards what really happened.

James decided they should ask a Slytherin and since the only Slytherin they really knew was Aegis, the poor boy was ambushed when he tried to leave the Great Hall after having lunch.

James didn't even give him a chance to agree. He simply took hold of Aegis's arm and hauled him off, ignoring his protests.

"It's fine, it's okay," Remus promised, seeing how frightened Aegis looked. He was probably used to ambushes meaning a beating or hexes. "James, let him go."

James released him. "I wanted to talk privately."

"We're alone as it is," Remus pointed out, indicating there was nobody else around.

Aegis rubbed his arm, giving James a doubtful look. "What is going on? Is there something wrong?"

To everyone's surprise it was Sirius who spoke. "We just want to know what you know about what happened yesterday afternoon."

Aegis raised his eyebrows, blinking a few times, not really sure how to react to Sirius's pleasant tone. "Er. I am not entirely sure what happened, I'm afraid." He took a few steps back, eyes darting between the four of them. "I really do not appreciate being kidnapped either. You could have asked nicely."

"Er, sorry," James said hastily. "I don't always think to be nice."

Aegis glanced towards Remus at that and Remus covered his mouth, trying not to giggle. Peter snorted, turning his face away when James shot a glare towards him.

"All I know is that there are three seventh years gone," he finally said, fiddling with the tightly buttoned cuff of his shirt. "I am unsure if they are in the hospital wing or Saint Mungo's. It seems as though they were attempting to create a new potion."

"What sort of potion?" James asked.

"I—I am not entirely sure," Aegis admitted. "The stories differ. One popular theory in the Slytherin common room is that they were attempting to discover a potion that would recreate the effects of Apparition in order to get in and out of Hogwarts."

A teleportation potion? Remus wondered, recalling the smoke smelling like Floo powder. He had his doubts about the authenticity of this particular theory, especially since they were seventh years and in their final year; they could take weekends out whenever they wanted, with Slughorn's permission, and would be graduating. What would be the point?

"However as I said, that is only the popular theory," he continued, as if reading Remus's mind. "There are many other theories. It is difficult to tell what is true and what is not. If I find out anything, I will inform you."

The boys went their separate ways, James and Sirius talking a mile a minute about possibilities, Peter chiming in his thoughts, and Remus silent as he realized how stupid he was being about the whole thing. There didn't need to be a reason why someone made a new potion or spell. It could simply be because they wanted to see if they could, like what he wanted to do. So it was very possible they just wanted to see if they could. If, of course, that part of the rumor was even true, which Remus doubted they'd ever find out for sure.