Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 4: The new Marauders and a friend's secret

A week later, Remus, Peter, Sirius, Miranda, Tina, and Megan were ready to drop everything and scream in frustration. James and Lily would glare at each other whenever they saw each other. James was keeping Peter, Remus, and Sirius away from Miranda, Tina, and Megan, and Lily was doing the same. Two weeks ago, you would have seen them having a great time, laughing about a joke or prank they pulled. Now, whenever they passed each other, Lily and James would glare and pull the others away. The others, in turn, would shrug and sigh. They were getting tired of this.

One night, the girls stepped into the common room and looked around. Seeing neither Lily nor James was there, they headed over to where the boys were sitting. They sat down on the couches with frustrated sighs.

"I can't stand her!" said Miranda. Nobody had to ask who "she" was. "All she ever talks about now is how James is such a liar, how he's so annoying, how much she hates him."

"I know! James is no better!" said Sirius. He was getting very annoyed with his best friend. Miranda was sitting next to Sirius. She looked at him sympathetically.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Sirius as a blond-haired girl walked through the portrait. She looked around, saw the group, and headed over.

"Hey, Sirius," she said, smiling. Sirius smiled back.

"Hey, Beth." Seeing there wasn't a lot of room, Beth sat down on his lap. Miranda stiffened beside them. Beth was a second year. She and Sirius had been going out for a week. Miranda had generally liked Beth…until she started dating Sirius.

"Hi, Miranda," said Beth.

"Hey, Beth," said Miranda dully.

"Is something wrong?" asked Beth.

"Just the whole Lily/James thing," answered Miranda sighing.

"Oh. They're still doing it?"

"Yeah."

"That's too bad. I always thought they would make a good couple."

"If it wasn't for Britney, they would be a couple right now," said Tina. Beth nodded. A girl on the other side of the common room saw her with Sirius, and beckoned her over.

"I'll be right back," said Beth. She jumped up and walked over to the girl. They started whispering, occasionally looking over at the group.

"So anything new with you guys?" asked Megan.

"No," said Remus.

"Well, actually," said Peter, blushing a little.

"Yes?" prompted Megan, smiling.

"I asked a girl out today," he said.

"And…"

"She said yes."

"Whoo! Go Peter!" Sirius shouted. A few people turned to look at him.

"What's her name?" asked Remus.

"Janice," said Peter. "She's in Hufflepuff. Brown-haired with red streaks."

"Oh! I know who you're talking about," said Sirius.

"That's probably because James went out with her," said Peter.

"Yeah, but it didn't last long. I guess she likes you better. Nice, Peter." Peter blushed again. Beth and her friend had apparently finished their conversation and she came back over. For some reason, she looked angry. Sirius was smiling at her, but his smile was wiped off of his face when she slapped him. He put a hand to his cheek, a shocked expression on his face.

"Are you cheating on me, Sirius Black?" Beth asked angrily. Remus smirked and raised his eyebrows at Sirius as if to say "How are you gonna get out of this one?" Just the night before, Sirius had told his friends about how he had cheated on Beth, only once, but still. Remus told him to tell her about it or she would find out some other way and it would be worse. Sirius had said everything would be fine.

Miranda smiled slightly.

Sirius is gonna get dumped! She thought. He'll be single again! But Sirius Black never got dumped. And neither did James Potter who came in at that moment with a girl on his arm. He walked over to the group, seeing that Lily wasn't there.

"Hey, guys," he said. Seeing the look on Beth's face, he nodded knowingly at Sirius and sat down with his girlfriend. They started making out, not caring about anyone else there.

"What are you talking about? Why would I ever cheat on you? You're the best girlfriend I ever had. You're beautiful," Sirius whispered and kissed Beth's neck, "intelligent," he kissed her again, "funny," another kiss, "and many other great things." Beth didn't look angry anymore. She giggled and put her arms around Sirius' neck. The others all knew Sirius would most likely dump her the next day, or in a couple.

If they could be anything, Sirius and James were charming. They were on their way to becoming the biggest players in Hogwarts, and no girl could resist them. Almost.

Miranda scowled. She tried to move away from Sirius and Beth, who had started making out as well, but there was no room. She stood up and ran to the girls' dormitories, tears in her eyes, but she would not allow them to fall. Tina and Megan exchanged worried glances and ran after her. Sirius didn't notice anything. When he and Beth came up for air, he looked around.

"Where did Miranda, Tina, and Megan go?" he asked. Remus frowned at him.

"You are pretty clueless," he said. Sirius furrowed his brows, trying to figure out what Remus meant, when Lily walked in. She scowled at James, who was still attached to his girlfriend.

Lily sat down on the other side of the room and started taking books out of her bag. Apparently she forgot something, because she cursed and ran out of the common room. Beth had gone to bed so Sirius was bored. He decided to play a game. While the others looked on amusedly, he cast a sticking charm on his hands and feet.

Sirius put his hands on the walls of the girls' staircase. When he made sure he was sticking, he put his feet up. Then, with difficulty, he started climbing up. He couldn't make it past the third landing so he got his wand out of his pocket and prepared himself to fall. He did the counter-charm and fell onto the stone steps with an oomph.

The stairs immediately changed into a slide and Sirius slide down, around and around, making him dizzy.

"Wheeeeee!"

When he reached the bottom, he stood up, steadied himself, and repeated the whole procedure. When he reached the third landing, this time, he heard voices. He stayed for a little to hear what was going on. He couldn't tell who was speaking, but he could hear a girl sniffing while she was talking.

"I really like him! And he just starts making out with her in front of me!"

"He doesn't know that you like him, though," said another voice.

"Yeah. Maybe you should tell him," agreed another.

"I guess," said the apparently crying girl. "Let's go, now. I'll tell him if she left." Sirius didn't have time to cast the counter-charm before the door opened and he was looking straight into shocked blue eyes. Miranda let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Er…hi," said Sirius.

"SIRIUS BLACK! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" shouted Miranda.

The people in the common room looked up.

"Um…"

"WERE YOU EAVESDROPPING ON US?" Miranda continued yelling.

"No, I swear. I just wanted to go on the slide…" said Sirius.

"OH MY GOD! NOW I KNOW WHY LILY HATES YOU ALL SO MUCH!"

"Hey! She hates James, and for no reason!" Sirius screamed back.

"Whatever! Since you wanted to go on the slide, here you go!" Miranda shouted and pushed Sirius with all her might. He fell off the wall and started sliding down the newly made slide head first on his back. A couple of girls screamed and Miranda slammed the door. Sirius was tumbling down the slide. He heard a couple of shrieks and saw some girls lying on the floor in front of the slide. They had tried to get to their dormitories when Miranda had pushed Sirius. Sirius landed on top of one of them. She didn't really seem to mind, though.

Sirius groaned. His head was throbbing painfully. He got up slowly and swayed towards the couches the rest of the group was occupying. He fell down onto one.

"That sounded like it hurt," said James. His girlfriend had left. Sirius just groaned in response.

The next morning, Sirius and Miranda were glaring at each other. Lily had heard about what had happened and was glaring at Sirius too. Everyone else was just eating their breakfast. Remus was looking terrible and his friends were concerned. That evening, after classes and before dinner, Sirius, Peter, and James confronted him.

"Remus," said James. "You've looked terrible for a couple of days almost every single month for three years. What's going on? And how come your mother is sick so much?"

"I don't know! It's not like I control when she is sick or not!" snapped Remus. James looked taken aback.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "Anyway, I've decided to share something with you guys. Sirius already knows about it…but now I want to show you and Peter." He went to his trunk and dug under everything in there. He took out the chain he always had around his neck. Attached to it was a little golden key. He stuck it into the bottom of the trunk and twisted it. The bottom of the trunk opened up, revealing a large space. James tucked the chain back under his shirt and pulled out a silvery cloth. He closed his trunk and stood up. Peter and Remus looked on in awe as James put the cloth around his shoulders.

"Oh my God!" Remus gasped. James' body had disappeared. "That's an- an Invisibility Cloak!"

"Yeah," said James. "This is the perfect way not to get caught. I never told you about it before because when we were friends with the girls, there wasn't enough room to fit everyone under. I've been working on enlarging it, and it can now fit seven people."

"Wow!" said Peter.

"So, let's go!" said James cheerfully. They covered themselves with the cloak and crept out of their room. They pushed open the portrait. The Fat Lady looked suspiciously to where they were supposed to be.

"Sneaking out again, Mr. Potter?" she asked. Remus and Peter looked shocked.

"She can see through these types of things," whispered James. "Sirius and I used to sneak out to explore."

"Oh," said Remus. The boys walked outside onto the grounds. There would be a full moon the next day. They sat down in the bleachers near the Quidditch Pitch. Remus looked nervously at the moon. For the past week, his hearing, eyesight, and smell had sharpened. He could know when someone was coming before he could see them and he could even tell who it was. He was already getting some wolf instincts. If someone would be annoying him, he might growl at them menacingly.

"What do you guys want to do?" asked James, leaning back casually.

"Let's visit the house elves," said Sirius grinning. James grinned back and stood up.

"All right," he said. They all clambered under the Invisibility Cloak again and went back inside. James and Sirius led Peter and Remus around for a while before they reached a painting of a bowl of fruit. James stretched his arm out and tickled the pair. It giggled and the portrait swung open.

"Wow!" exclaimed Peter and Remus simultaneously. The kitchens were big and there were four tables, directly under the tables in the Great Hall, in the left. The kitchens were dark, but as soon as they entered, house elves came pouring in from every side. One called Daisy rushed up to James.

"Master Potter!" she cried. "What will you be needing? Cake? Tea? Candy, food?"

"No, thanks, Daisy. We were wondering if you could help us with a little prank," said James. Daisy nodded enthusiastically. "Great! All we need you to do is…" James started whispering in her ear. When he had finished telling her, he brought some things out of his pocket and handed them to Daisy. She took them excitedly.

"Of course, Master Potter," she said. "I'll do exactly as you said."

"Thanks, Daisy," said James. He gave her a chocolate bar (she LOVED them) and they all walked out of the kitchens.

"So…what's going to happen?" asked Remus. James told everyone and they burst out laughing.

"Great," said Peter. They made their way back to the common room, but were almost there when Remus stuck out his arm. They stopped walking.

"What?" asked Sirius.

"Shh!" whispered Remus. Everyone went quiet. "Filch is coming! I can hear him." He pulled them behind suits of armor.

"I can't hear anything," said Peter. James and Sirius agreed with him.

"Shut up!" said Remus. A minute later, Filch came around the corner with his kitten, Mrs. Norris. (A/n: I decided she'd still be alive in Harry's time because she's magical)

"Anyone here, my precious?" Filch was saying. He was holding a lantern above his head. Mrs. Norris meowed and looked in the boys' direction. Filch looked too. "There's nothing here. Let's go check the library." They walked away. Remus waited a little before letting them leave their hiding places.

The boys looked at him strangely.

"How'd you know?" asked Sirius.

"I told you, I heard him," said Remus. It was only then that he realized…it was his werewolf senses. He mentally slapped himself.

"But…" James started, but Remus gave a huge, fake yawn.

"I'm really tired. Let's go to bed, now," he said. He ran to the portrait and straight up to the dormitories. By the time his friends had gotten ready for bed, he was asleep. Or so it seemed.

That was close he thought as he lay in bed with his back to all of them. I'll have to be more careful next time.

The next morning, the boys came down to breakfast anticipating a fun morning. They were watching the Slytherin table carefully. After about five minutes, there were shrieks coming from the Slytherins. Some started jumping up and down like monkeys.

"Itching Powder," whispered James. "Muggle thing." Lucius Malfoy suddenly started feeling his head.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! OH MY GOD!" he screamed. "My hair! My beautiful hair! It's gooooooooone!" Then he stood up and let out a blood-curdling scream. He looked like and over-sized evil baby since he was now bald.

Snape was rolling his eyes at his fellow Slytherins (who were making animal noises now and growing horns) and eating his breakfast calmly. Until he felt something wet on his head. A bucket of water had appeared out of thin air. It had tipped over and spilled on his head. Then a shampoo bottle emptied itself on his hair. Invisible hands started massaging the shampoo into his head. Then another bucket appeared and rinsed his hair out. After that it was time for conditioner. When the whole process was done (which included dying his hair hot pink) a huge sign appeared in front of Snape's nose that said: WASHING YOUR HAIR IS A GOOD THING. Snape tried to swipe it away but it wouldn't leave.

Madam Pomfrey ushered all of the Slytherins out of the Great Hall. All of the other students were roaring with laughter. Murmurs were going around as usual. Everyone was saying "the Marauders finally made up" and turned to look at the Gryffindor table. But instead of the boys and girls sitting next to each other and high-fiving each other, it was only James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius exchanging high-fives.

And from that day on, the boys were the ones known as the Marauders.

Remus wasn't at dinner that night. In second year, James, Remus, and Peter had started marking off the days Remus was away visiting his mother, on their calendar. They found that it happened around the full moon, almost every month. They had done some research and decided that Remus was a werewolf. They knew for certain because of that night they went to the kitchens.

Around the time of their transformations, werewolves' senses started to get sharper. They would be able to hear, smell, and see better. They would get a little temperamental too.

"It's time to confront him about it, guys," said James after dinner. It was still dusk and the moon wasn't out yet. They decided to go to the hospital wing and see if Remus was there. They would take the Invisibility Cloak and follow him wherever he went. Even Peter agreed to do this, without having been forced to.

They got into comfortable clothes and put on sneakers. They covered themselves with the Invisibility Cloak, cast a Silencing Charm around themselves and were ready to go. They crept out of the portrait.

"Why are you under that thing? It's not past curfew!" said the Fat Lady, but they ignored her. Just as they reached the double doors of the hospital wing, they burst open. Madam Pomfrey and Remus were hurrying away.

"We're late!" Madam Pomfrey was exclaiming worriedly. The boys followed their friend and the nurse out onto the grounds. Madam Pomfrey got a long stick and tapped a knot on the Whomping Willow and it froze. "I'm sorry, I can't risk going in with you tonight. The moon will be out soon," said Madam Pomfrey. Remus nodded in understanding. Suddenly a sliver of the moon appeared. Remus began changing. Madam Pomfrey gasped, but Remus was still in control. "Run!" shouted Madam Pomfrey. Remus ran. The Whomping Willow started thrashing about again as he ran under its branches.

The boys stood shocked as Madam Pomfrey headed back. At the doors, she turned around and said,

"Good luck." Then she slipped inside the castle.

"We just saw Remus grow fur," Sirius kept repeating on their way back to their room.

"Yeah," James was in shock. They reached their room and fell onto their beds. None of them slept though.

"Remus!" James shouted when Remus snuck back inside.

"Hey," said Remus weakly.

"Listen, I'm not going to dance around this. We know about your…" James searched for a word. "Lycanthropy." Remus gulped.

"You do?" The other three nodded. "So you're going to abandon me?" They looked shocked.

"No! Of course not!" Peter exclaimed.

"Actually," said Sirius. "We're going to help you and become…drum roll please." James obliged. "Animagi!"

"W-what? Animagi? Have you lost your minds? Thanks and all, but a) you need a license and b) its VERY hard!" Remus said forgetting all about them possibly abandoning him.

"Well, we were thinking about illegally," said Sirius.

"ILLEGALLY?"

"Keep your voice down!"

"Really, it's just a bigger prank, if you think about it," James reasoned. Or tried to.

"NO IT'S NOT!" shouted Remus.

"Remus, please, just let us try," said Peter. He was feeling brave this week. He had decided to have a new attitude. No one's sure, but it is said Peter is the reason Remus let them. He sighed.

"Peter, are you really up to it?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok, then. I'll let you try. But you have to promise, that if something goes wrong, you'll tell someone or stop trying."

"We promise," sad James, Sirius, and Peter in unison.