It became clear very quickly that 6th year was not going to be as easy as James had anticipated. The teachers seemed to have gone into full NEWT mode, which was difficult for Sirius to get behind considering that the test was a full two years away… but oh, well, what could you do?

For the first time in his life, Sirius actually had to practice spells to get them down. It wasn't as hard as becoming an Animagus, certainly, but it was plenty difficult. For once, Remus actually had more free time than the rest of them, as he had been working this ridiculously hard since first year and knew how to manage it. It was anyone's guess as to how James was doing it, being Quidditch captain on top of everything. The Marauders were certainly overworked, but they were together, and to Sirius this was by far the most important thing.

They played Exploding Snap and wizard's chess in the evenings when they had the time. Remus could wipe the floor with Sirius and Peter in a game of chess, but James was incredible at it. Lounging lazily in a chintz armchair by the fire, he'd mutter directions to his pieces until suddenly, Remus's king would be smashed to the floor. And no one ever saw it coming.

Sirius felt so at home. He figured wherever the Marauders were, that was home. His mind couldn't help but wander to the future… once seventh year was over… but, then again, that was a ways away. He didn't need to worry about it right now.

"So," James said one night, turning away from the window by his bed to face Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"So," Remus replied, smiling.

"If you'll notice, these first two weeks at school have been- to put it frankly- snoozeville. Fascinating lessons and it's been lovely to see you all again and god, Quidditch is incredible, but prank-wise? We haven't gotten a single detention," James said, putting his hands to his face in mock agony.

"Oh, god this is a travesty," Sirius said seriously.

"It is, indeed, that," said James, pointing at Sirius. "Luckily I, resident genius extraordinaire, have come up with a solution."

"Oh, yeah?" said Peter, hanging on James's every word.

"Oh, god," Remus groaned teasingly.

"Okay, okay, let me explain." James rummaged in his school bag for a few seconds, pulling out a hardbound leather notebook with papers and sticky notes protruding from every edge. He turned to a folded page and began to read aloud:

"Welcome back to school, the Marauder way-"

Sirius cut him off with a snort.

"What?" James asked, slightly defensive.

"Sorry, nothing," Sirius said, gasping with laughter. "You just sound like a- television advertisement-" Remus and Peter chuckled in agreement.

James huffed. "Well, anyhow, after you're all done laughing at me I can explain my prank idea…"

Sirius promptly shut up, leaning forward on his bed with interest, but before James could start talking again, Remus cut in. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, "but I was just thinking- we might not want to cause a ton of trouble this year."

Three faces turned to him in the dark. "Why not?" Peter asked, raising his eyebrows.

Remus sighed. "Well, it's just…" He waved his arms around, clearly searching for the right words. "Erm. Considering the Wizarding War-"

"I'm not going to let Tom Riddle stop me from having a little fun at school," James said stubbornly.

Remus's eyes widened. "No, no, of course not! That's not what I'm saying at all. I just think- if we want to be on the right side of history, here, we want to be friends rather than enemies with our Headmaster."

"Dumbledore," said Peter, nodding. "That's true. He's the only wizard You-Know-Who's afraid of."

"And he's the reason why, as Tom terrorizes Muggles across Britain and senselessly slaughters Muggle-born Ministry employees, he knows to stay far away from Hogwarts," said Remus. "He is the best protection possible, and whether overtly or underground, we can expect him to lead the fight."

"Sure, well, what does that have to do with my pranks?" said James, frowning slightly.

But Sirius understood what Remus was saying, as much as he did not want to hear it. "Okay, guys, remember last year with the whole anti-cheating quills situation?"

The four of them giggled. "How could I ever forget?" James grinned.

"Okay, well, it was fucking hilarious- but it did make OWLS difficult. We may have been expelled a long time ago if Dumbledore could prove we did half the things we were accused of," Sirius explained.

"Exactly. I don't believe Dumbledore has anything against us, but if we want to be an asset in this inevitable war, we must prove ourselves worthy of trust," said Remus, hugging his knees to his chest.

"That makes sense," said Peter reluctantly, and even though the candles in their dorm room had burnt out hours ago, the four pairs of eyes found each other in the pitch black room, waiting for the verdict from James.

"Fine," he said finally. "We won't do anything unnecessarily harmful this year. But I'm still putting balloons full of permanent mud in the Slytherin common room tomorrow morning."

Sirius smiled. "Yes, well, that is entirely necessary."

He leaned back in his bed, trying to ignore the nausea in his stomach. His family was out there, too, torturing and maybe even killing muggles. How dare they? Could he have done something to stop them?

But no, that was ridiculous. Every time he'd tried to challenge his parents he'd end up cursed or jinxed. Fuck, he had the cane to prove that Walburga was not a rational human, could not be talked out of blood supremacy.

It's not my fault, he told himself firmly. Not my fault. I can't control who I was born to, but I can control what I do after that-

He sat up in bed. "Guys, we have to take the Dark Lord down."

"Agreed, mate," said James in a tone that suggested he assumed this was the obvious course of action.

"I mean, seriously."

"Aren't you always Sirius?" said Remus, rolling over with a- frankly adorable- grin.

Sirius chucked a pillow at him. "Okay, but, this isn't something we can just… romanticize and idealize and say, hey, let's have a bunch of teenagers-"

"Almost adults," James objected.

"Even seventeen is still a teenager," Sirius said stubbornly. "Anyways, the Dark Lord is a fucking terrifying wizard. He's powerful, I know it, I've heard my p-parents talking about him," he took a deep breath, "so, Remus is right. That's where our energy should go now. We need to grow up."

"Grow up? We're plenty grown up," said Peter, through a mouthful of chocolate frog.

Sirius simply raised his eyebrows until Peter looked away, realizing he had perfectly proved Sirius's point.

"Yeah, you're right," said James, breaking the silence. "We'll commit. You-Know-Who may have been a powerful wizard in his time, but it's our time now."

"He's just building to the height of his power, James, but sure," said Remus. "Obviously, I agree with Sirius-"

"Obviously," said Peter, grinning suggestively and then ducking as three pillows came pummeling towards his shoulder.