Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show so please don't sue.
A/N: Summerlovin9191: Well here is the chapter. It did take slightly longer since I was away for a bit, but hopefully the extra length will make up for it! Thank you for your review, you were the only one for the last chapter!
The response from Remus and Peter had been immediate. The next morning, Remus had floo-ed in, prepared with a lecture on how to call when accidents like this happened before giving him a hug that would have been a lot harder if James was feeling better, but settled for making it longer to convey his worries. Being in Switzerland meant Peter couldn't see James until late August when they returned, and so got three Owls to carry what must have been a pound of Swiss chocolate in the hopes it would have good healing qualities. The other Marauders, Carla and Lily had been impressed, and so instantly began work on the sweets with James' claim they all needed healing, and there was no way without being very ill he would ever be able to finish all of it!
It had been a few weeks since the accident, and with Lily and Remus' visits as well as Peters letters, James was gradually getting better. The pain had lessened, his bruises were almost gone and he was awake for a lot longer, the tablets making him a lot less drowsy, but that wasn't to say Carla was letting James out of her sight too much. Other than the hospital visit, the only time he was allowed to leave the house was to sit on the swing outside in the back garden. Although it had irritated him to begin with, he could understand her concern and so didn't complain too much about it, no matter how much he wanted to be able to fly.
The sound of a person falling out of the floo jerked James out of his musings over the past three weeks. Looking up from his book, there really wasn't a lot he could do, he smiled when he saw Remus dusting himself off.
'Hey Moony, you alright?' James asked as he swung his legs off the sofa and putting the book down beside him, remembering to put the book mark in. Remus gave a weak smile, his face pale and tired. It was the full moon that night, and Carla had allowed the young werewolf to stay over. Since there was plenty of room for him and Sirius to run around with no danger to other people as the land was very heavily protected with various wards, it made a perfect place to go for the full moon.
James had admitted everything to his Mum when she caught him with antlers in his room one summer. She had immediately lectured him about safety before giving him a much more in depth book about becoming Animagus' and setting up multiple wards that would allow Remus to run about on their land without a chance of his escaping. The moment when the two Potters had gone to the Lupin's had been tense when they explained that they knew, but it had soon calmed down when Carla had revealed her plan, as well as the children's plans. Remus' mum had been worried about such powerful magic at some age, but Mrs Potter had calmed her when she said how far James had gotten in his transformation and that there was no way back at that point. It seemed to bring the two families closer, resulting in Mr and Mrs Lupin often visiting at different points during the summer, especially during the full moons.
'Not too bad, and you?' Remus answered as he let his small bag by the fire and slumped onto the sofa next to his friend.
'Same old same old. Leg and ribs still gives me some trouble, but other than that, pretty good.' Remus nodded in understanding before leaning his head back and closing his eyes. 'Did you want me to go out with you tonight?' James asked; he was pretty sure he'd be able to manage it, even if he couldn't stay the entire night, he'd be able to do most of it. Remus;' eyes flew open.
'NO! You're not going out tonight! It's far too dangerous!' Was the immediate response the dark haired boy received.
'It's no different than any other time we do it!' James argued back, determined to be there for his friend.
'It is different, you're injured. Do you really think you can walk without your stick or run about on it? And what about your arm, it's in a cast and broken?' Remus sighed at the disappointment on his friends face, as well as the guilt before reassuring him. 'Look, I know you want to be there for me, but this once you can't. It's like me trying to get to one of your Quidditch games right after a full moon, its simply impossible. I don't blame you at all for not being there.' Looking into James' eyes, Remus could see the relief, the relief both for not having to suffer the entire night in pain, but also being forgiven for not being there.
'Thanks Rem, and I really am sorry.'
The floo roared again and Remus' parents stepped through effectively stopping the two teen's conversation. Since Mrs Lupin was a muggle, she had to travel with her husband, but managed to step out of the floo better than some Purebloods, much to their chagrin. The Potters house, as well as most magical things always fascinated her, while whenever the purebloods visited her house, she was always amused to see how they reacted the same way as she did, but towards the muggle things she kept in the house, such as the washing machine.
'Hi Mr and Mrs Lupin.' James called over cheerily, the two adults smiling back.
'James dear, how often do we have to tell you to call us John and Mary?' Mrs Lupin asked, mock exasperatedly as she made her way over to the two boys, and hugged the injured boy.
'I don't know, why, have you kept count?' James retorted; he got on very well with the Lupin's, even if he did refuse to call them by their first names.
'I believe you're up to 32 times by now.' John replied with a straight face as he joined his wife. 'How are you feeling?' He asked with a touch of concern as he studied the boy. The bruises had all but vanished while the cuts had disappeared into small silver marks as they left a scar. The only hint he was injured from an outside look was the walking stick next to him, and the cast on his arm. The bandaging around his ribs was hidden by the tee shirt he was wearing.
'Pretty good, should be back to Quidditch and causing mischief in no time at all!' Prongs answered with a grin.
'Well, let's keep the mischief to a minimum; I'm sure it's your influence that has Remus in so many detentions.' Mary told him, not entirely seriously, like Carla, she enjoyed the inventiveness of the boys when it came to pranks, although two Owls a week about the pranks they'd pulled was a little too much in her opinion. James gave a look of hurt.
'Mrs Lupin, how could you blame me? I'm led astray by your son, who constantly pulls pranks on everyone he meets and you blame me!' Remus gave an incredulous look while John and Mary laughed. They knew exactly who the leading forces were, but they were thankful Remus had such loyal and dedicated friends who would do so much for him, as well as bring him out of his shy shell most people saw.
'Where's your partner in crime and Mum?' Mary looked around, not seeing the other dark haired boy that was rarely a few feet away from his brother.
'I think Siri's still in bed, either that or he's in the shower.' James tried to remember whether he'd seen Padfoot that morning, and deciding he hadn't, said the places he was most likely to be found. Remus rolled his eyes, only Sirius would be asleep at 11am, especially knowing people were coming around that morning.
The week before, James had been practicing going up and down stairs more, and so the two boys had moved back to their own bedrooms. It was a moment all of them had been pleased with since it meant the boy was healing, a fact they were all very happy about.
'Mum's in the kitchen, I think you know your way there!' James then added, grinning at the last sentence. It was true that they had been there so often, they knew the house almost as well as its occupants.
The two adults left the room after promising to see them later, going instead to find James' mother. There was silence for a few minutes as the two teens enjoyed the presence of each other and the comfort they found before they were interrupted by a yell.
'REMUS! REMMY! REMMY! REMMY!' Sirius yelled, causing the adults in the kitchen to laugh while James and Remus winced at the volume, while running over to his friend, sitting on the poor boys lap and hugging him tightly.
'Nice to see you too Siri,' Remus wheezed as he tried to breath, but slowly turned blue.
'Padfoot, let him go before he turns completely blue!' James scolded his over active friend, who grinned sheepishly before letting go.
'So what's the occasion, I mean I was here two days ago.' Sirius shrugged.
'I need a reason to be happy to see my friends?' There really was nothing either boy could say to that, so decided to push Sirius onto another part of the sofa, and off the sandy haired boy. Facing the other two, Sirius stretched his legs over the two of them and lent back against the arm of the sofa, finally calming down slightly. 'So, what we doing today?' The grey eyed boy asked, bored already of the silence that had descended once again.
'Well, I thought maybe we could go and do the tango followed by trying out for the marathon, what about you Moony.' James answered innocently, earning a snort from the other two.
'Really? I was planning to prank every person in the neighbourhood.' Remus followed James' lead and gave the most improbable situation he could think of. Although he may normally be initially reluctant to pull a prank, he was the one who could help find the right spells, he just rarely initiated the idea of pulling a prank.
'Oh, that a shame; I was really looking forward to sitting quietly on this sofa for the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing.' Sirius gave his answer, before the three of them gave up the act and started laughing.
'You know, seriously, the pranking idea may have some credit to it.' James mused, his mind already churning out a few ideas, Sirius grinned at him while Remus put his head in his hands.
'Yeah, I like it, but on who? It's not as though there's any neighbours to pull one on and I don't think Mum's going to let us out of her sight.' Sirius realised, thinking hard on who to use their ideas on. James' grin only got bigger.
'I don't think we need to leave the house at all, I think a little light heartedness is needed after everything, and before tonight,' he added as an afterthought, looking at Remus and Sirius who instantly caught on.
'No; no! no! no!' Remus chanted as though it would make the idea go away, meanwhile the Marauder side of him thinking how great an opportunity it would be and which prank would be best to pull. Sirius lay back laughing with glee at the idea before becoming more serious; the three of them huddled up and began exchanging ideas, feeling better already, or at least James and Remus were, the excitement overpowering any tiredness or pain they were feeling.
Sneaking to the outside of the door, James peeped inside, spying the three adults who were all sat around the kitchen table, drinking cups of what could either be tea or coffee and chatting about the local gossip as well as how well their children were doing. Prongs gave a nod to the other two who gave him a thumbs up.
Stepping into the kitchen, James pulled out three mugs and placed them onto the work surface before speaking to the other adults. 'Hey, I'm just making us a drink; did any of you want another cup while I'm here?' As he expected after seeing how much they had left in their mugs, all instantly agreed.
Pouring the other Marauders some hot chocolate, he made sure they were out of the way on another tray before filling the adults' mugs, with coffee as well as a special Marauders potion. Trying not to smile, he passed out the mugs again before floating his own tray out of the room and back to the living room, receiving a murmur of thanks as they briefly broke their conversation and sampled their drinks.
'So?' Sirius demanded as he grabbed his own mug, trying not to bounce in excitement so as to keep the hot liquid in the mug. James gave a nod.
'Part one, complete. How did part two go?' The smiles on the others faces were enough of an answer as the injured boy sat back and drank his own drink. All they had to do was wait now.
All too soon it came about. The raised voices of the adults coming towards them caused them to struggle to keep back their laughter as they waited to see the potions results. The door banged open and three very unimpressed parents glared at the teens.
'Hello Mum, is there a problem?' James asked politely, amazed at his own restraint. The glare he received was enough to kill.
'Esrever. Ti. Won!' Mrs Potter demanded, glaring at the three boys, stating each word carefully and tonelessly as though she was finding it very difficult to keep from shouting.
'I'm sorry Mrs Potter, I don't understand,' Remus tried, keeping up the clueless act, 'is that English your speaking?' It was his own parents that turned their attention to him this time.
'Sumer Nipul, uoy wonk yltcaxe tahw ev'uoy enod, esrever ti won!' Mary demanded, equally as forcefully. Unfortunately it was then their slim control on their laughter broke, hearing their parents telling them off while their words were backwards was too much for them, setting them off into hysterics, James holding onto his ribs as hard as he could to keep the pain to a minimum. The adults watched them, annoyed but glad to see them laughing again. With so many depressing things happening, James' injuries, Remus' werewolf problem and Sirius' family problems as well as the rise of Voldemort, it was nice to see laughter, even if was at their own expense, not that they would EVER tell them that! It was a far too inviting offer to being the victim of more pranks than they could count for the rest of the holidays; they really weren't that stupid!
As the laughter finally finished, the three of them reluctantly nodded, before releasing the spell with the code words.
'With the words of the Marauders, may the mischief be done.' The words they spoke together causing a misty stag, shaggy dog and werewolf to seem to appear faintly before disappearing again.
'Thank you boys, now, may we return to our conversation?' Mr Lupin asked, far too politely to be happy, but not wanting to push it, knowing what was going to happen next, they all nodded, and waited until they had left the room before dissolving into more laughter.
'Oh boy are we in trouble when they find out what part two is!' James managed to get out as he gulped in breaths. Thos sobered them up.
'How about we go to Lily's? They can't get us there.' Sirius suggested, finally coming up with a good plan.
Remus and James shared a look. 'Sounds good to me.' They both agreed before summoning their shoes and a bag of money. Sirius darted into the kitchen, telling them where they were headed before helping the other two to move quicker by floating them to the road where they summoned the knight bus.
'Phew, that was close!' James gave a sigh of relief as the three of them sat down.
'How long did we have left?' Remus queried, not remembering exactly how long the time release on the spell was for.
'Three minutes.' Sirius worked out as he studied his watch. They winced in unison at how close they had been before enjoying the rides there, they had been on the fast bus so many times they found it exhilarating instead of terrifying as most people did.
The bus finally jolted to a stop on the otherwise quiet neighbourhood, and the three boys got off, waving goodbye to the bus driver.
Bounding up the stairs, Sirius rang the doorbell, then finding out what kind of noise it made, rang it repeatedly, trying to make it into one of his own tunes while James and Remus followed slowly behind. The door swung open to reveal a very irritated woman, Holly Evans James recognised.
'What do-' she cut herself off as she recognised James from when he first turned up on her doorstep those few weeks before. 'James Potter, how nice to see you looking so well, come in!' She changed her attitude to welcoming.
'Sorry just to show up like this unannounced, we were hoping to see Lily.' He suddenly caught that he hadn't introduced his two friends. 'Oh, this is Remus Lupin and the doorbell ringer is Sirius Black.
'Havre you never rung a doorbell before?' Holly asked curiously, shocked when he shook his head.
'No, how does it work? Is there a house elf in there that plays the tune each time? Or is it that elekatissity stuff or-' Sirius rambled excitedly, enjoying the muggle invention while Remus shook his head in despair, Holly and James looking at him in amusement.
'Mum, who was the nutter at the door' Lily's voice cut Sirius off as she shouted from somewhere in the small (well, compared to James' house most houses seem small!) house.
'I believe some of your friends are here dear.' Holly called back, trying not to laugh while the three boys tried to decide whether or not they should be insulted.
'I'm insulted,' Sirius declared after a few moments of pondering, the footsteps of Lily coming closer to the door.
'I'm not,' Remus and James chorused.
'How can you not be?' Sirius demanded incredulously, glaring at both of them.
'It wasn't us who was ringing the doorbell, so she wasn't talking about us.' Remus explained.
'And you have to admit, you really aren't all there,' James picked up before the two of them added together.
'But we love you anyway.'
'Aww shucks, I may blush!' Sirius tried to look dramatic causing his friends to snort in amusement while Holly looked on in amazement at the three wizards' behaviour.
'You blush? The world must be coming to an end!' Lily's voice interrupted them, 'so you're the doorbell choir.' She added, leaning against the open door. Sirius nodded with a grin causing Lily to roll her eyes. 'Is there are reason you're all here or is it simply to see what tunes you can play on our bell?' She asked after no one volunteered an explanation, only her smile giving away that she wasn't cross. The boys looked slightly sheepish.
'Well, you see, we thought it may be best to leave the manor for a few hours due to an…' James trailed off trying to think of the correct term.
'…Incident,' Remus finished, the three of them trying, and failing, to look innocent. Lily raised her eyebrow at this, having a very good idea what they had done, but allowed them in anyway. Holly smiled to herself as she made her way back to the kitchen where she had been reading the newspaper knowing the four of them would be fine without her.
For Holly, it seemed only minutes before a loud yelling came from the livingroom where she had heard the teens go earlier, only belatedly realising she'd been reading the paper for 2 hours; rushing into the room, she stared in horror at the scene.
Sitting on the floor, James, Lily, Sirius and Remus covered their ears at the yelling from the red Howler that had caught on fire as it exploded after the small owl had dropped it.
'REMUS JOHN LUPIN, JAMES ARISTIDE POTTER AND SIRIUS ORION BLACK, YOU THREE ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE WHEN YOU COME BACK, AND YES YOU WILL BE COMING BACK HERE VERY SOON! IF WE DON'T SEE YOU BEFORE THREE O CLOCK THERE WILL BE EVEN MORE TROUBLE, ESPECIALLY IF WE CAN'T FIND THE COUNTER CURSE, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD YOUNG MEN? I CANNOT BELIEVE AT YOUR AGES YOU WILL STILL PULL THESE PRANKS,'
'Of course playing them at school is far better' Mrs Potters voice cut into Mrs Lupin's rant at a much lower volume, she seemend alsmot amused by the incident, but the other decided it must be their imaginations; it was almost possible Mrs Lupin's eyes rolling at this comment, but it didn't seem to deter her in the least as the volume increased once again.
'WHILE THEY MAY SOMETIMES BE AMUSING, CAUSING US TO STICK TO OUR CHAIRS AND GIVING US GREEN AND PINK MOHAWKS IS CHILDISH AND INCONVENIENT.'
'Ah, so now the real reason for the howler comes about, but boy has your mum got a good set of lungs!' Sirius commented, 'but not as good as The Old Hag who some people think is my biological mother,' he then added on the end, causing him to get a number of eye rolls since none of them were particularly bothered by the howler.
'Siri, as far as Mums concerned, she gave birth to you!' James told him wryly, causing Padfoot to grin at this, he always loved the love and affection Carla gave to him; it made him feel as though he really did have her as a mother and not the Old Hag he had run away from.
'SO REALLY, THE SOONER YOU GET HOME THE LESS THE PUNISHMENT WILL BE,' the letter shredded itself and the flames finally went out, leaving only an ashy pile of shredded paper on the carpet.
'Well that was unexpected.' Holly commented before going off to a different part of the house to retrieve her book that she knew she had left somewhere; she had decided quite early on there were something's in the magical world there really weren't explanations for, and screaming letters seemed a good place to draw the line.
'So I guess your plan for hiding out here didn't work?' Lily asked as she removed her hands from where they were covering her ears.
'Nah, worked fine. It meant she couldn't hex us or shout at us to our faces.' James answered with a grin, causing Lily to chuckle at their theory.
'And it means by the time we go back, no matter what they say, they'll have cooled off.' Remus added. Lily could only shake her head at this; there really wasn't anything else possible at that point.
Limping their way back up the driveway to the manor, the three boys crept into the house, which was only spoilt when James' walking stick slipped and sent him almost crashing to the ground had Sirius not grabbed him, but the damage was done as the noise they made could be very clearly heard throughout the house.
James gasped and gulped in air as his ribs were jarred severely as his friend caught him, clenching his eyes closed, he waited for the throbbing pain to die down. Sirius held him not so tightly it hurt him more, but enough so that he wouldn't fall while Remus ran to get the adults, while also checking they had managed to free themselves.
Carla, John and Mary hurried into the room, seeing the pain the young boy was in, and so quickly gave him another pain relieving tablet while Remus handed him the water. James really couldn't wait to be able to take the pain relieving potions, they worked far better and quicker than the muggle tablets, but he did have to admit, the potions tasted far, far worse. 'Sorry,' James looked downcast that once again it had been his injuries that had messed things up again. The good feelings from the enjoyable day, and lunch, spent with Lily evaporating fast.
Trying his best to not sound too exasperated, although failing Sirius also tried not to slap his friend (something he didn't fail at) around the head as he spoke. 'James, once again, it is not your fault. Accidents happen, this was simply an accident.' Remus nodded in agreement as the two of them led the scruffy haired teen into the livingroom and helped him sit down onto the sofa, the adults following them into the room. A small smile crossed James' face and stayed as he lent into his friends, resting his head on Sirius' shoulder on one side while Remus did the same on the other; the effects on the full moon already beginning to affect him.
All too soon it seemed for everyone, the moon rose and the sound on two canines howling to the moon could be heard. Shivering slightly, James sat upstairs in his room, the window closed in front of him and wrapped in a thick blanket while sitting on his bed, watching them play together in the moonlight. Just because he couldn't be with them didn't mean he wasn't going to watch over them as he always did. He was the pack leader, for him not to watch over them would never do, and besides, he mused, they'll know he was there. Moony always commented, as well as the other two, he could always feel the Stags presence no matter how far away he was, must be a pack thing James decided, keeping up his vigil. The other adults were downstairs, nursing many drinks to help them through the night, no one able to sleep while their sons were outside.
'James, James.' A persistent voice nagged at the edge of his fuzzy mind. James. That was a familiar name, it was his name. Someone was calling him.
'Wa' was all he could get out, before feeling something cool touching his forehead.
'He's burning up! MUM! MUM!' The voice yelled, cutting straight through the fuzz and causing his head to pound even more. It felt as though every nerve ending was beginning to heat up. There was something pushing down on him, something making him hotter, he pushed off the offending blanket and gave a small sigh at the coolness that rushed over his body, but it was too cold now. He needed the blanket back. Grabbing the blanket, he pulled it back over his aching body; Merlin did he feel awful.