A/N: Okay, this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest, but I do like it and I had a lot of fun writing it. Enjoy!
Chapter Six: A Meeting of Odd Proposals
After James had left the party, everyone else slowly started to wander off as well. Remus and Peter went back to the common room, but Sirius, not really in the mood to go back just yet decided to head out for the astronomy tower. He needed a bit of time to himself, especially after what just happened. Usually the Halloween party consisted of nothing but those three unusually hyper Ravenclaw girls jumping off the walls until they faint from drinking too much spiked punch. This year had been quite different, and not only in terms of the party. Sirius had known it from the beginning, Lily and Sora would change the way Hogwarts ran from then on. Ever since the war had begun, nothing had been quite the same.
Slowly climbing up the stairs, Sirius thought back to how the Marauders even began. He and James had been best friends ever since he helped James steal the sorting hat the first day of school. Both of the boys had gotten into major trouble and had created an impenetrable friendship in the long months of detention. They had also become the heroes of their class. Remus, they met just a short week later when they were assigned seats next to him in Charms. At first they thought he was a bit nerdy, but soon they found out that he had a sharp, clever mind and a dry sarcasm that he could use to set the whole class up in uncontrollable laughter with just a few words. Peter, they hadn't really noticed until the end of their first year when James and Remus had saved him from being killed by the giant squid. He had latched himself onto the three from then on, but he was a painfully loyal boy and his odd sense of humor appealed to the rest, so they didn't mind him being in their group. From then on, they had called themselves the Marauders, and every year that passes the greater their acclaim grew and the more ruthless they became. This year they had all learned to become animagi and now they had even more escapades and more chances to sneak into places. It was fun, Sirius had to admit, but he wondered how much more he could handle everything. Being one of the four most powerful boys in school wasn't as glamorous as everybody seemed to think.
Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Sirius new someone was already up there. He caught a smell of the familiar scent of oranges and cream before he even saw Sora standing near the ledge, looking out at the dark sky. He was just about to turn away when Sora started to talk.
"I'll leave if you want me to, Black" she said, not turning around.
"How did you know I was here?" Sirius asked her
"Magic" Sora suggested, turning around, her blue eyes shining with laughter. Sirius just shook his head.
"Party to dull for you?" Sora asked the boy, eyebrows raised.
"Too interesting. It put me off balance" he answered, only slightly sarcastic.
"Ah yes, can't have you enjoying yourself too much, can we now?" Sora retorted "It might lead to trouble, and it would be a shame for such a well behaved boy to get in trouble" she added, her own answer dripping with sarcasm.
"How right you are- I'm practically a saint" Sirius said, not bothering to hide his grin. Sora shook her head, her mouth curving into a half smile.
"Did everyone leave?" Sora asked.
"If you mean to ask if Lily left, then yes she did" he said. Sora frowned a bit.
"But it's too early for the party to be over" she said.
"Well Lily needed to go change into some dry clothes" Sirius answered. Sora's frown grew deeper.
"Dry clothes?" she asked. Sirius told Sora the whole story about what happened at the party, casually leaving out the part about James and the towel. He and James weren't on the best of terms at that moment, but Sirius was still loyal to him and wouldn't betray his secret.
Sora's eyes flashed with anger as Sirius told her the whole story. She had known the three girls were bad news from the beginning.
"I have to go now" she said after Sirius had finished.
"Where to?" he asked. Sora looked at him blankly.
"My best friend just got pushed into a pool. Where do you think I'm going? To go murder Molly, Emily, and Grace, of course!" she said, her tone serious but her eyes still dancing with mirth. Sirius couldn't help but laugh.
"Maybe you should help Lily out first" he offered. Sora scrunched her nose.
"Yes, and I'll really be taking advice from a person who was about to dump purple ink all over Lily's sister just a few weeks ago" Sora answered. For some reason, Sirius felt hurt.
"That was James!" he cried.
"Your guilty by association" Sora said smugly before turning on her heels and flying down the stairs, fire in her eyes. When she got her hands on those three prissy little girls…
The next day Molly, Emily, and Grace were nowhere to be seen. Word got around school that someone had dyed their hair a ferocious shade of lime green overnight. When Sirius first heard the news he was at the breakfast table. He laughed so hard that milk sputtered out of his nose. He snuck a glance at Sora, who was sitting a few seats away with a satisfied smirk and a trace of hidden laughter in her eyes. James, too, was rather happy at the news. He didn't know who had dyed the girls' hair at first, but he followed Sirius's gaze and upon seeing Sora's smile knew it had to have been her. After learning this, James decided to act upon the thought he had been having all of the night before. He turned to his friends.
"Meeting tonight, room of requirement" he whispered to them. All of them were curious, but just nodded their heads, knowing that James would give nothing away until that night.
When Remus, Peter and Sirius went to the room that night they found that James was already there with a folder in his hand.
"What's that?" Remus asked, nodding at the folder.
"It's the Marauders Official Folder" James said, making the flimsy paper holder seem very important indeed.
"Since when have we had an official folder?" Peter asked.
"Since I decided we needed one!" James answered, scowling. Sirius just shook his head and sat down next to James.
"So what's on your mind, mate?" he asked James.
"Nothing really…" James started
"Rubbish- we haven't had a meeting in ages! You only call one when there is something important to discuss" Peter said. James frowned at him.
"You have no sense of dramatic build up, do you Peter?" James asked.
"Get on with it already James" Remus said. James looked flustered.
"Well fine then- the first order of business today is the discussion on the induction of two new members into out group" James said. His statement was met with utter silence from his three friends.
"Two new members?" Peter said finally, breaking the awkward silence.
"Two new Marauders?" Remus echoed. James nodded his head, taking out two pieces of red paper from his folder. Each had a golden flower drawn on it.
"Invitations" he explained to the three boys. Sirius looked at the papers intently and then glanced up at James.
"Well, who are they for?" he asked James.
"Who do you think? Lily and Sora, of course" he answered.
"What!" cried Peter "why in the world would you invite those two into our group. They've been nothing but trouble for us!" he said.
"Exactly" James answered "you have to agree that it would be more beneficial to us to have those two girls on our side than against us." He said.
"You do have a point" Remus said slowly.
"I know I do! Lily and Sora are smart and they are brave. They stood up to us countless times- they'll be perfect assets to our group" James said.
"But they have too many morals. They can never be like you" Remus retorted. James scoffed.
"Of course they can't be like me, nobody can" James said.
"Very modest, mate" Peter said sarcastically. James just ignored him.
"How in the world are you going to get them to agree on joining with us? They hate anything that has to do with the Marauders" Sirius said, brining up the most crucial point. James drew in a breath.
"Well, I was thinking about that and I decided to offer them an offer." James said.
"If I remember correctly, the last time you offered those two something, you and Sirius got called gay and they ran out on you" Peter pointed out.
"You know what Peter, your negative attitude is not helping anybody" James said. Peter just shrugged.
"Just trying to be realistic" he answered.
"What's the offer?" Remus asked.
"They join our group and we surrender to them" James said.
"Surrender as in lose the war?" Remus asked. James nodded.
"Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen the great James Potter willing to lose anything" Sirius said, eyebrows raised.
"If they agree to the offer- then it's not like we're really losing anything" James said.
"Except our pride" Peter said.
"Peter! I have…"
"I think it's a good plan" Remus said, interrupting James before he blew up on Peter. Sirius nodded his head.
"We could give it a shot" he said. James beamed at the two and then looked down at Peter.
"Well what do you have to say, Mister McNegative?" James asked. Peter fake pouted at him.
"There's no harm in trying" he answered.
"Then it's unanimous! We will deliver the invitations tonight!" James said. Peter, Remus and Sirius shared an amused look with one another over James's excitement.
"This is bound to be lovely" Remus said.
A/N: Okay, loves, so how was it. You finally got to see the Marauders in a more informal setting. It was fun to write them interacting with each other and I hope you had fun reading it. Review please- I love to hear your comments.