Winter break started just a few days later. As usual, most students opted to return home for the holiday, and that included Lily -- to James' disappointment. She had apparently previously committed to be home for the holidays upon returning to Hogwarts in September. James could care less about what she had promised her parents, it had been less than four hours since she had left, and he was already missing her. In fact, he had missed her since she pulled away from their goodbye hug to board the train. Alright, in all honesty, he began missing her when she told him she was leaving the day before.

James wasn't the only one who wished she stayed, Sirius was suddenly begining to realize that the only thing worse than having to hear James obsess over how glad he was to finally have her, was having to suffer through him obsessing over how much he missed her. He sighed in agony; during this particular Saturday afternoon, James was comparing her eyes to fire and her hair to the stars. Or maybe it was the other way around; he wasn't sure. Truth be told, he wasn't listening, nor did he care.

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars with satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

"And the way her hair shines in the moonlight--" James continued, sighing into his pillow.

"Bloody hell, Prongs!" Sirius interrupted, angrily, "I can't take it anymore!"

"What?" he asked, innocently, sounding somewhat dazed. He was quite obviously day-dreaming, most likely about Lily's 'firey hair'. Sirius groaned; he was about ready to toss Lily into a fire, maybe then James would give it a rest.

"Stop obsessing," Peter chimed in, agreeing with Sirius.

"I'm not obsessing!" James exclaimed in defense.

"Lies!" Sirius accused. He jumped up so he was standing on his bed before continuing.

"I couldn't sleep last night because you were moaning Lily's name in your sleep. Oh, Lily, Lily," he imitated, putting his hand to his heart, dramatically, "Where for art thou, Lily?!"

Peter and James watched; Peter in amusement, James in annoyance, as Sirius moved his hand from heart to his forehead and collapsed backwards onto the bed. He then proceeded to imitate regurgitation.

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

"Hilarious," James muttered angrily, clearly unimpressed with Sirius' mockery of his love life.

"I bet Moony agrees with me, don't you, Moony?" Sirius lifted his head to look over at Remus, who was lying on his stomach, in his bed, with the covers pulled over his head. He groaned painfully in response.

"Aww, what's wrong, Reemy?" Sirius cooed as he hopped up and darted to Remus' bedside.

Remus groaned again and rolled over, clutching his pillow against is stomach in an attempt to relieve the pain.

"Fuh mu ti'gh," Peter mumbled. His mouth was filled with cheese that he had snuck from the kitchen. Oh, how he loved his cheese.

Sirius looked at him in confusion, "Huh?"

Peter, realizing that Sirius couldn't hear him, attempted to swallow the food in his mouth before continuing. Sirius assumed that he had swallowed to quickly because he ended up rolling on his bed in a fit of coughs.

"Full moon's tonight," James repeated for Peter, who was still coughing.

"Already?" Sirius sighed. Full moons always drained him of his energy, and it took quite a bit of energy to look as gorgeous as he did. He could only imagine what it did to Remus. Sirius put his hand on Remus' back in an attempt to comfort him.

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

Sirius was suddenly struck with an idea. He slowly walked to the foot of Remus' bed and began shuffling through his trunk.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked. He had finally stopped coughing and already resumed inhaling his cheese.

Sirius ignored his question as he continued his search. He eventually became frustrated and began tossing items aside, making a mess of Remus' belongings. As his books fell the floor with a loud, 'thump', Remus slowly opened his eyes.

"Sirius..." he growled, angrily.

Sirius chose not to answer, instead he began talking to himself.

"It's got to be in here somewhere," he muttered, quietly.

"Aha!" Sirius eventually exclaimed, pulling out a bar of chocolate.

"Here," he said as he walked closer to Remus, who opened his eyes again, just long enough to see what Sirius had made such a fuss to obtain.

"Ugh," he moaned, rolling over so he back was now towards Sirius.

"Come on, Moony, you know it makes you feel better."

Remus sighed, knowing Sirius was right. He rolled back over and grudgingly took the chocolate from Sirius' hands, despite the fact that his stomach was too upset for him to even want to think about anything edible. He slowly sat up in his bed, with the help of Sirius who proped his pillow up behind his back. He began to unwrap the bar of chocolate and took a small bite off the end.

And I'm singing,
A, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

Within the next few hours, Remus was beginning to feel better, but the marauders knew it wouldn't last long; there was only less than an hour left until sundown, after all.

Remus sighed unhappily and buried his nose in his book, continuing to take random bites out of his chocolate every so often.

"How're you feeling?" James asked hopefully from the window sill. He had spent the past twenty minutes gazing into the lake below them, thinking about the events that nightfall would bring. He always dreaded the full moon, but Remus was one of his best friends, and he'd always be there for him without hesitation.

"Horrible," Remus replied from his bed. James looked toward him and smiled sympathetically. Remus angrily slammed his book closed and tossed it across the room in frustration. It hit the bathroom door with a 'thwack', and fell straight to the floor.

"I'm going to go now," he said, "I'll see you there?"

James nodded, knowing that he was referring to the Shrieking Shack. Remus slowly stood up from his bed and walked to the door, dragging his feet in the process.

Once Remus was out the door and out of earshot, James turned to Peter.

"Go and keep an eye on him," he instructed. Peter nodded silently and darted out the door to catch up with him.

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light to paradise
Would show the world that they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

James sighed and banged the back of his head repeatedly against the wall.

"Don't lose the last few brain cells you've got," Sirius jokingly warned as he entered the room. He had gone down to the common room for a bit of fun, no doubt to mess with the few remaining first years. James chuckled and sighed again, banging his head one final time before resting it against the wall.

"You ready to go?" James asked, standing it up from the window sill. Sirius nodded, grabbing the Marauder's Map in case of an emergency.

James and Sirius slowly made their way through the castle, which was relatively empty, with the exception of a few Ravenclaws they passed along the way.

As they reached the entrance and stepped outside, James could see that the sun was beginning to set. By the look of the sky, he guessed that they had about twenty minutes until sunset.

They silently made their way to the Whomping Willow. Sirius sighed, hesitating as they approached it.

"I hate this part," he commented. James nodded in agreement.

The pair quickly ran into the entrance of the tunnel near the trunk of the tree, narrowly avoiding the swinging branches that came crashing down behind them.

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing A, Amen, I, I'm alive

Halfway through the tunnel, James heard shuffling behind them. He quickly spun around, on reflex, pulling his want out in the process.

"What are you doing here, Snivillus?!" James exclaimed angrily, knowing he didn't have the time or the patients to deal with him.

"Black told me to come down here earlier today. I was a bit skeptical at first, because, well, it is Black after all. I should have known that it was you that would be up to something," Snape replied.

He then looked past James to Sirius, "Thanks for the tip, Black."

James redirected his attention to Sirius, giving him a furious glare. As he moved to turn back to Snape, he found himself being pushed aside as Severus walked past.

After regaining his balance from being pushed into the wall, James quickly followed behind Severus as he walked past Sirius. Because Sirius stepped to the side as he stomped by, Severus left him untouched; however, when James followed, he elbowed his friend in the stomach, causing Sirius to double over in pain. James ignored his cry of agony and stepped in front Severus.

"There's nothing up there," he defended, "be a good boy, run along and play with your chemistry set."

Severus' face scrunched in anger as he attempted to move James out of the way for the second time. This time, however, James held his ground, preventing the smaller boy from getting around him. After several attempts, Severus pulled his wand out, ready to hex him.

"Your dear old friend disagrees with you. Move."

James refused to budge, instead he looked past Severus to Sirius, who was just beginning to stand up as the pain in his gut subsided.

"Sirius, tell Snivillus there's nothing up there," James demanded. Sirius rolled his eyes, seemingly unhappy with James' previous assault.

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

"James is right," he replied unenthusiastically, his voice slightly dripping with sarcasm, "There's -- There's nothing up there." James shot him another glare.

"No! He's lying!" James exclaimed as Snape looked at him with disbelief.

James, in frustration with his friend, let his guard down for a moment, which resulted in him being slammed into the wall of the tunnel once again. James groaned in pain as his back came in contact with the hard surface. After a moment of pain, he regained his thoughts.

"Snivill--" He was suddenly interrupted by a loud howl that echoed through the walls, causing all three boys to stop in their tracks.

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

Snape's eyes widened with curiosity as the howl reached his ears. The thought of James and Sirius were suddenly forced out of his mind and he sped up, moving closer to the cause of the noise.

James' gripped his wand tightly; he didn't want to resort to magic, but it looked like he had no other choice. He raised his hand, pointing his wand at Snape, before muttering to himself. Snape's only response was to fall to the ground, unconscious, his head resting just inches away from James' feet.

"Oh, what'd you have to go in do that for?" Sirius moaned as he moved closer to James. James ignored his question, focusing on his anger.

"What were you thinking?!" He exclaimed angrily, shoving Sirius shoulder.

"What?" Sirius asked innocently, as he bent down to get a closer look at Snape.

"If he can't mind his own business, he deserved it," he snickered, pinching Snape's cheek.

James rolled his eyes in disbelief, "I don't like him either, but you have no right to lead him into a death trap."

Sirius pulled away from Snape's face, standing up to look at James.

"He wouldn't have died, he would've just gotten… roughed up a bit," he defended.

"You don't know that," James responded as another loud howl erupted through the tunnel. He looked down at Snape's lifeless body, and then back to Sirius. Deciding he could yell at Sirius later, he began focusing on what to do with the unconscious boy lying before him.

James pointed his wand at Snape for the second time that night, and cast another spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he recited, causing Snape's body to levitate, "Just help me get him to Dumbledore."

Sirius followed, unhappily, as they began to exit in the direction they came.

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died