Chapter Fifteen

Into The Forbidden Forest

By Empathicallychosen.

"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it."-- William James

(o)(o)(o)

"I still don't get it. How come we have to stay in a secret room," Harry whined as James summoned the Room of Requirementss.

"Yeah we want to stay with you," Ron insisted. "We need to take care of Moony. Where is Moony anyway? Doesn't he like his present?"

"Moony loves his present, but ever since Moony got better the reporters want to talk to him and if they found out about you they'd take you away and we'd never see you again," said Sirius gloomily.

It was an ugly little fact, but it was the truth. How many times had Aidan insisted that if the Ministry were to find out about Harry, Ron and Hermione they would take the children away and study their intense magical abilities? Sirius hated scaring them, but there was no way to sugarcoat it. They couldn't allow the kids to sneak out to visit Remus in the hospital wing. Immediately Harry became oddly pale. It was clear he didn't need any more persuading to go into hiding.

"Does this mean we won't get to play with Aidan and Cali," asked Hermione sweetly.

James frowned. Accalia and Aidan had arrived at Hogwarts first thing that morning, but they were so busy fending off reporters James highly doubted that they would have any time to deal with much else. But how could he tell that to Harry and the others? How could he tell them that Aidan and Accalia were elated that Remus was no longer a werewolf and even though Harry, Ron and Hermione had done a wonderful thing, they would be too busy to spend time with their future grandchild? While James tried to think of something to tell Hermione, Sirius went to go check on what the Room of Requirementsss had become just to make sure it was what they needed.

"Sure you will and, in the meantime, Grams brought Tiramisu to take care of you," said James trying to create an air of excitement.

It worked. Harry was so happy about getting to see Tiramisu again he forgot all about the possibility he could be taken away. James chuckled. It amused him to see Harry so delighted to be reunited with the House-elf, considering how tentative he had been around her the first few weeks James had seen them together. Although James couldn't say he was surprised at the turn around. Tiramisu was great with children. James used to love it when his parents left him with Tiramisu.

It was right around this point in James's musings that Sirius returned looking at his brother in sheer amazement.

"What in the name of Merlin did you ask for," whispered Sirius gesturing toward the Room of Requirementss.

"Nothing. Just some place they would be comfortable and have fun while the reporters are lurking around. I didn't want it to feel like a prison. Why? Is there something wrong with it," asked James, anxiety beginning to show rapidly on his face.

"Oh no, I don't think they'll be uncomfortable here at all."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Come have a look," Sirius replied retreating back into the Room of Requirementss.

It was simply spectacular. The room had divided into four different rooms, all of which were enormous. The first room was filled with all sorts of toys, games and activities, there was even a model unicorn that Harry, Ron and Hermione would be able to ride on. The second room was the bedroom Hermione would be staying in. On the walls was a magnificent mural of Hogwarts, complete with miniature students. There were also numerous stuffed animals as well as a doll village that looked exactly like Hogsmeade. It even included the Shrieking Shack. The bed was a rosy pink canopy bed that appeared to be tailored just for Hermione.

Harry's room was connected to the left of Hermione's. It was just the kind of room James would have loved to have growing up. The walls were littered with posters of every Quidditch team currently in the league. The head and footboards of Harry's bed looked like Quidditch goal posts. The sheets even looked like the pitch. Hanging from an antique wardrobe was a pair of pajamas that looked like Quidditch robes. They even had Harry's name printed on the back. To the left of this room was Ron's room. These walls were lined with posters as well, posters of various magical creatures all of which were very powerful and fiercely protective. Twinkling spheres of light hovered around an enormous bed, the four posts of which resembled chess pawns.

"Well, I guess they won't mind staying here after all," said James, watching as the boys started jumping on Ron's new bed as if it were a trampoline.

"Have a problem? Did you see that carousel in the playroom," said Sirius in disbelief. "I'd love it if I could stay here."

Harry stopped bouncing at once and landed on the bed with a huge flop.

"You're not staying," Harry whimpered.

"Well no, we need to go to class and we're already late for Dumbledore's big announcement in the Great Hall," said Sirius sympathetically.

It was just then that Tiramisu came rushing over screeching, "Master Sirius, Master James your father is saying that they are needing you in the Great Hall!"

"But --"

"You is not needing to worry Master James, I is taking good care of Master Harry for you," said Tiramisu confidently ushering them out the door.

Healed At Hogwarts

17-year-old werewolf Remus John Lupin is cured writes special reporter Eloise Griffon.

Remus Lupin was afflicted with lycanthropy at age six at the hands of one Fenrir Greyback. But this was not the end of the tragedy in Remus's life. At the age of 15 Remus's mother Jocelyn died of cancer (a malignant Muggle disease). After the death of his wife, overwrought with grief, Fraidos Lupin abandoned his ailing son on the doorstep of Accalia and Aidan Potter.

Since then Remus's luck has changed. He has recently been adopted by the Potters and miraculously has been cured of a disease healers once thought was incurable. On the morning after the recent unexpected second full moon this month, Remus was helping his friends brew a rather difficult potion in preparation for their N.E.W.T.s. Unfortunately something went dreadfully wrong and, according to healers, when young Mr. Lupin drank the potion it stripped him of his lycanthropy. While Remus and his companions are unable to remember the exact contents of the potion . . .

Disgusted Remus crumpled up the newspaper and let it fall to his feet. Ever since those awful healers and parasite reporters had gotten involved Remus's life had been turned upside down. It was a nightmare, every day the same routine. Remus had to report to the Hospital Wing, where various healers from around the world would spend hours prodding and poking at him in hopes of finding a cure. Meanwhile various reporters, like Eloise Griffon, would try to sneak past Aidan and Accalia for an exclusive. If he was lucky, Remus could catch one or two of his classes before he went to the library to catch up on the classes he missed.

Life at Hogwarts had changed for Remus. Everywhere he went people were whispering behind their hands. Every morning at breakfast Remus received hate mail, which he would of course discard without opening. But not all of the talk about Remus was negative. In fact, his popularity with his female classmates had never been better. He had acquired a tragic sense of mystery that caused many of the girls to get a serious case of the giggles. Greatly in need of a distraction, Remus turned his attention to his friends. Sirius was discussing Quidditch with James and Peter, but for some reason Remus couldn't focus on that, so instead he turned his attention to Lily, Victoria and Olivia.

"So then Hermione tells me I never told her she couldn't bite Ron, just that she wasn't supposed to hit him," Victoria told Lily and Olivia who unsuccessfully fought to hide snorts of laughter.

"How are they doing," asked Remus casually.

"I can't believe this. You're the most popular student here and still the only thing you want to talk about are those brats," said Peter appalled.

James opened his mouth to say something, but stopped deciding it was better to confront Peter away from Lily and the Slytherins, who had taken to mocking Peter because he had ' taken a backseat' to the trio. After all, even though James found Peter's treatment of the children to be lacking, he was still their friend and the last thing James wanted was for Peter to be ridiculed.

"Face it Wormtail, I'm the most popular student because of Harry, Ron and Hermione," whispered Remus in an offhand sort of away.

Peter's face went red and he ate in silence for the rest of the meal.

"Er great -- they're having loads of fun," replied Victoria twirling her raven curls and staring determinedly into her kippers.

Remus had known Victoria for a long time, much longer than any of the others. Their fathers had come to school together in their day and they had grown up only two houses down from each other, so of course he knew the moment she started twirling her hair that she was lying to him. Casually he turned his attention to the Quidditch debate, which was now becoming rather heated, while he waited for the opportune moment to confront his friend. Finally, when most of the people were clearing out of the hall, he asked, "So how are they really doing?"

"What do you mean? I told you they are fine," said Victoria blushing profusely.

"You know if you pull on those curls any harder your hair is going to fall out," said Remus pointing to the strands of hair that were coming loose from her head.

Immediately Victoria's hands fell to her side, but she wasn't ready to give up the charade. Mainly because, although Remus hated to admit it, at times Victoria knew him just as well as Remus knew her and knowing Remus so well she knew that he would feel extremely guilty if he knew they were having a terrible time in their new environment. So James and the others were forced to listen to several of the back and forth arguments between the two before Olivia finally lost it.

"Oh for pity's sake Tori, give up. You know he knows your lying and I can't take this anymore," she snapped angrily.

"Look, Remus, the truth is that considering they have every toy in the world at their disposal they're not too happy," said Lily honestly.

Remus frowned.

"I'm sure they'll be fine once this all dies down. They just miss you is all. Besides it's almost December and no one can stay sad at Hogwarts in December," said Olivia when she had calmed down enough to be compassionate.

Despite not having Remus around to play with, Harry and his friends were having a good time (most of the time), they got to play with more toys then Dudley had in either of his bedrooms and Tiramisu often treated them to extravagant magic tricks that made them get very excited to see what kind of things they could do. Unfortunately, they didn't have as much control over their magic as Tiramisu, so every time they saw the Marauders, Harry, Ron and Hermione were covered in new scrapes and bruises. Luckily for the children, the biggest injuries they received were to their egos.

On this particular day, nothing had changed. They were still hidden in the Room of Requirementss and they were still dividing their time between doing magic and playing games. When James showed up with the girls after class, Hermione had figured out how to combine both. They were racing with each other and suddenly Hermione stopped, stood very still and split in two. Her body slumped over while a projection of herself appeared at the finishing spot.

"No fair, no powers allowed," pouted Ron.

An argument was just about to erupt between the two friends when Harry noticed James and the others standing in the corner. The mood in the room changed immediately from a climate of contention, to one of excitement.

"Prongs, did you see my magic," asked Hermione, obviously very pleased with herself.

"Excellent astral projection my little pipsqueak," nodded James smiling down at the young girl.

"What's astr-astro -" frowned Hermione.

"... Astral projection," repeated James. "That's what you call it when you pop away from your body like that."

Hermione seemed very proud of acquiring such a complicated power. At once she started talking very fast, asking James question after question about the new ability. Ron however was not pleased at all. In fact he seemed rather annoyed that Hermione was monopolizing all of the older boy's time.

"That's nothing," said Ron dismissively. He dashed over to the windowsill and retrieved a potted plant. "Look what Tiramisu taught me."

"She taught you how to garden," said James puzzled.

"This morning it was a seed," said Ron delighted. "Here Lily you can have it."

"Thank you sweetheart," replied Lily.

Hermione didn't seem happy about having to share the spotlight. In no time at all she and Ron were fighting about which of the tricks was more boring, astral projection or the ability to grow plants in seconds regardless of outdoor conditions. While James tried to convince them that both powers were equally impressive, Victoria turned her attention to Harry who was shuffling his feet and staring down at the carpet bashfully.

"What did you learn today big guy," she asked kneeling down to look Harry in the eye.

"I can't do fun stuff like that," he said noticeably upset as he gestured towards Hermione and Ron.

"Nonsense," said James. "You're a Potter kid, all of us are incredibly powerful."

"I can't believe I'm going to marry you," said Lily rolling her eyes at James.

Harry shook his head adamantly.

"Look Harry, what I think James is trying to say, in his own pompous way, is that everyone has something they are good at," said Olivia shaking her head at James.

"Not me," replied Harry.

"Yes, even you Harry. In fact, I'm sure there are loads of things you are good at. The thing is, there are so many different talents out there that some people have to look harder than others," said Lily compassionately.

"Lily's right little man, but don't worry, I'm sure you'll find something you're good at soon enough," said James in true parental fashion.

Harry's demeanor was cheerful once more and he was happily engaged in a magical game of follow the leader when Sirius entered the Room of Requirementss.

"You're late," announced Ron who seemed flustered that the Animagus had been so late for their play date.

"Sorry Squirt, but I had some top-secret Marauder business to take care of," said Sirius ruffling Ron's hair affectionately.

"We do secret stuff too," said Ron.

Ron stared angrily at his makeshift guardian, apparently highly offended that Sirius was keeping being secrets from them. Hermione however seemed unperturbed by the concealment.

"Guess what...I can do astronaut rejection," she said skipping over to him excitedly.

Sirius clearly didn't have the faintest idea what Hermione was talking about, so he was extremely relieved and slightly alarmed when she showed him.

"I think you mean astral projection honey," said Sirius when she had returned to an upright position.

"Yeah and it's way more fun then some silly flower," she said.

Immediately Ron and Hermione took up their argument again and only dropped it when James threatened both of them with timeouts. Then they started arguing over which one was in more trouble, so they not only ended up in timeout, but Lily decided it would be best if they were put on a magical restriction until they could learn to get along better.

"Where's Moony," asked Harry curiously.

"He's still with the doctors mate," said Sirius, tickling the boy mercilessly to combat the tears that had begun to well up in Harry's eyes.

Once Harry was happy again, Sirius and James started talking about going to the Forbidden Forest (in hushed voices so that the girls could not hear them), to brighten Remus's spirits. Harry thought that this was an excellent idea. He had seen Hagrid go inside it at least a dozen times, he knew that it was an activity that James talked about often. Harry had always wanted to go into the woods and have an adventure like the older boys did. He wanted it so much in fact, that by the time everyone had left Harry had talked himself into thinking that it would be a wonderful present to Remus if they surprised the Marauders by sneaking away when Tiramisu wasn't looking.

Tiramisu raced into the boys' dormitory just as the boys were preparing to leave. Everyone stared at her, the look of horror on her face would be forever plastered in James's mind. She was so frantic her body was shaking and she was panting with the effort of scurrying all over the castle.

"Master James, Master James the children is missing," she screeched as soon as she had caught her breath.

"What," replied James horrified.

"I is looking everywhere and is not finding them," Tiramisu said her voice rising to an uncomfortable pitch.

James's first thought was that the kids were just playing hide and go seek or practicing another power, but deep down James knew better than that. He knew that if they were playing a game they would have jumped out of their hiding places the moment they realized that Tiramisu was worried about them.

Immediately James threw down his cloak and darted over to his trunk and started throwing things out on to the floor.

"What is you doing? You is supposed to be looking for Master Harry," shrieked Tiramisu staring at the mess in disgust.

"Come on, come on, come on, where are you... I know it's here somewhere," said James ignoring the House-elf and continuing to throw things on the floor.

The House-elf was both mortified and insulted. James took no notice however, as he continued rummaging through his trunk until he found a fairly wrinkled piece of parchment stuck to the pages of an old-school book.

"You're wasting your time, he probably got a hold of your invisibility cloak or something," said Peter completely unaware that the cloak was resting at his feet.

"I'm sure they just wandered off somewhere, but we can't very well wander off into the forest with Tiramisu hanging around can we," whispered Sirius logically.

"This'll just take a second," mumbled James as he scanned the Marauders Map thoroughly.

"Gotcha! You're bust-... oh no."

James sunk onto the bed, turning several different shades of green.

"What is it? What's the matter," Remus asked desperately.

"They're headed for the forest," James said in barely more than a whisper.

Tiramisu went ballistic. Her eyes popped out of her head and she just kept rambling on and on about how angry James's parents were going to be with her. After several minutes of pounding her head up against the wall she seemed to realize that the fury of her masters was nothing compared to what would happen if Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't make it out of the forest safe and sound.

Without warning she prostrated herself on the floor screaming and crying about how the world was doomed if anything were to happen to them. As horrified as James, Remus and Sirius were to see their House-elf behaving this way, they were even more shocked when she stopped just as suddenly as she had started. Even though she was still shaking, even though tears of anguish were still streaming steadily down her face, she spoke as calmly as if she were talking about the weather.

"I needs to find them," she said incessantly.

"Calm down. I'm going to go out there and get him," said James at once. Knowing that the elf was in no condition to challenge the creatures that lurked in the forest.

"No Master James, you must not. My mistress would be furious with Tiramisu," said Tiramisu adamantly.

"Look, Harry is my responsibility and it's my responsibility to go and get him," replied James stubbornly.

Tiramisu shook her head, but James, Remus and Sirius were all out the door before she could stop them. James raced along corridor after corridor without even a glance at his surroundings. The closer they got to the Entrance Hall the more James sped up until he heard something that made them all stop in their tracks.

It was the mewing of a cat. The sound was almost inaudible. Another student might not have even noticed it, but all of the Marauders had been in trouble often enough to recognize the noise. It was Mrs. Norris, a cat that belonged to the waspish caretaker Argus Filch. Mrs. Norris was just a kitten, but Filch had her trained to follow them around for days at a time just waiting for them to step out of line. If Mrs. Norris had caught up with them it was a fair assumption that her master was not far behind. Sure enough no more than 30 seconds from the time the cat had found them the caretaker came into the Entrance Hall looking winded, but altogether happy.

Well, well, what do we have here? Out past curfew again are we? Up to no good I'm sure. Well Dumbledore will hear about this I assure you," mumbled the caretaker, sounding positively giddy.

"Go jump in the lake you rotten squib. Can't you see we're busy," snapped Sirius impatiently.

Filch looked flustered for a moment and then started calculating whether he would rather hang Sirius in one of the dungeons by his toes or give him 40 lashes with a whip coated in some flesh eating acid. This was, of course, before he noticed the Marauders Map in James's hand. Old Filch had been after the thing for almost a year now. He didn't know what it was exactly, but he had his suspicions and it was the suspicions that caused him to salivate if he even got within feet of James's rucksack.

When Filch snatched it away from him James didn't react. It had already been wiped clean so the horrible squib would never find out how to use it and they were wasting time as it was.

Without thinking about the consequences, without thinking about anything but Harry and what horrible things might be happening to him at that moment, James pushed Filch to the floor and sprinted toward the forest.

The Forbidden Forest was nothing like Harry had expected. It was dark, cold and he could have sworn several ominous looking plants were following them. Harry was starting to think that his plan wasn't such a great idea after all, when Ron called out in pain. Thankfully he had only tripped over a hidden tree root.

"This adventure is no fun," Ron pouted while he nursed his elbow.

"Maybe we should go back," said Hermione, trembling as an unknown beast let out a bloodcurdling cry.

Harry really wanted to find Moony, but he was starting to get really scared so he nodded his consent and they turned around. Unfortunately the threesome had not gotten so much as a foot up the path before they were blind-sided by a terrifying creature with cloven feet and tattered robes that were caked with a tremendous amount of blood.

Hermione involuntarily used her astral projection power, Ron screamed and Harry tried to turn, he tried to run, but his feet wouldn't move. They were going to die. The monster was going to eat them and all he could do was brace himself for the worst. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, but nothing happened. The monster was no longer looking at them. A loud growl rang through the air, followed by the sounds of hoofs rushing towards them.

Suddenly Remus's Animagus form leaped in between them and Prongs and Padfoot attacked the creature. After an intense struggle and an indecent amount blood, it was all over and the strange creature limped back into the depths of the forest whimpering in pain.

With a pop James, Remus and Sirius turned back into men. Without warning James rounded on Harry. Harry was a little taken aback. He had never seen James this angry with him before.

"You are in so much trouble young man," he snarled.

"But James-"

"No buts mister, now get yourself up to the castle. Lets go!"

It was clear that it was no time for a debate, so still shaking with fear he, Hermione and Ron followed the Marauders back to the castle. No one said anything as they walked, except for James who went on and on about how disappointed he was. The only sound Harry made was the chattering of his teeth as the cold wind blew through the forest. He was terrified that he had really crossed the line with James and, largely because of the abuse he had suffered, he was more afraid of this than he had been of the monster. Finally, by the time they were almost out of the forest, he finally got up the nerve to speak.

"Um, James?" Harry asked timidly. "What we did was bad right?"

"Yes Harry, it was," James replied seriously.

Harry shivered. Harry wasn't sure if he should continue to ask questions, but by the time they had reached the border that separated the forest from the castle, confusion and curiosity overpowered him.

"W-well how come it's not okay for me to do it, but it is okay for you," he stammered.

"Yes James, I think we would all like to know the answer to that," said a voice sharply.

James looked up. Lily, Victoria and Olivia were all standing there. Lily was waiting for them in her nightshirt with her arms folded and tapping her foot against the grass.

----

After Lily pointed out that Harry had only been trying to emulate James, he couldn't in good conscience punish the children as harshly as he had intended, but James did send them to bed after a very long talk. Furthermore, they would spend a good deal of time in timeout before they were allowed to play with any of their toys.

James had calmed down considerably, but apparently his anger had left an impact on Harry, because after only a few hours of sleep he was shaken awake by Tiramisu.

"Can it wait until morning," James asked sleepily.

"I is sorry Master James but Master Harry is needing you very much," announced the elf.

So slowly, James stumbled out of bed, but not before waking up Sirius and Remus. If he had to get up, so did they. Immediately when they entered the room, they saw what Tiramisu had been so worried about. Harry had wet the bed and he was curled up in a ball, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Hey, hey what's the matter mate," asked James softly, while Sirius cast a cleaning charm on both Harry and the bed.

"I had a bad dream," muttered Harry weakly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Remus.

"No."

"Please," said Sirius, eager to get back to bed.

Harry considered his Godfather for moment before saying, in barely more than a whisper, "James was mad at me and he turned into Uncle Vernon and..."

"I think we get the picture Harry. Listen to me, okay. I know I was mad at you today, but no matter what you do I would never hurt you," James interrupted firmly.

After another long talk, James and the others told Harry that they would stay with him until he fell asleep, but they fell asleep long before he did and it was morning before any of them realized it.