Chapter 4: The Full Moon

Sirius Black

Sirius awoke several days after the Marauders' first attack on Severus Snape feeling refreshed and happy. Breakfast went by well for him and his friends (Sirius burned the letter from his mother immediately upon receiving it), and class began with a fun Charms lesson.

"Good morning, good morning!" squeaked Professor Flitwick when the Gryffindors had all been seated. Sirius smiled and paid attention for once, just because he was in 'that kind of mood.' "Today we're going to learn how to levitate objects with a simple spell." Ah, the payoff. Patience thus far revealed a great lesson. Sirius raised his hand.

"Could we, maybe, levitate people?" he asked innocently, shooting James and Peter a look that obviously spelled 'Snape' in a clear form, for they grinned and turned back to Flitwick for an answer. Remus was with Lily, as was normal recently, and he only sighed when Sirius asked this question.

"Well, no, I don't believe you could… I think you could levitate me, but I wouldn't want you to get any ideas or reason to… thus, we'll only be working with small objects and will work our way up form there, okay?" Flitwick smiled, but Sirius, James, and Pettigrew lost their cheery dispositions at once. Sirius smiled again and James looked at him quizzically, to which Sirius mimed throwing an object at someone, and James grinned again, repeating the message to Peter.

"Now," Flitwick began, "you all have your feathers, I presume? Yes? All right, the motion is a simple swish and flick, like so"- he demonstrated –"and the incantation, Wingardium Leviosa! Try it! Wingardium Leviosa!"

Sirius swished and flicked, then spouted the incantation, but his feather didn't budge. He looked across the room at Remus for assistance. The boy sighed and mimed the swishing and flicking, which Sirius repeated with no results, and Remus motioned that his feather wasn't going anywhere either, shrugging in apology. Sirius' partner, Wendell Hart, was trying to get Sirius' attention with quiet mentions of his name.

"Um, Sirius… Sirius… Si- uh Sirius… I… uh…"

"Wendell, what the bloody hell is so important?" Sirius asked angrily, turning to face the meek little boy, holding his wand in a position that made Wendell uncomfortable.

"Well, you see, your incantation is wrong," said Wendell nervously. He nodded at the feather.

"Oh really? How should I say it, then?" Sirius looked at him, doubting that Wendell could possibly do any better than he.

"Well, let's go syllable by syllable, shall we? First is Wing, which is easy enough, then gard, which is also easily pronounced. Next is ium, which is just as it sounds. Now, Lev-i-o-sa. Got it?" Wendell smiled, urging Sirius to try it.

"All right, Wendell… it's time for your redemption… Wingardium (swish!) Lev-i-o-sa!" With the flick of his wand, the feather began to soar towards the ceiling and Flitwick almost fell off of his stack of books once he realized who was casting the spell. "Huh… thanks Wendell, I owe you one."

"Don't mention it… but I will hold you to that…" Wendell looked at Sirius with a businesslike face.

"I'm a man of my word…" Sirius turned to look at Peter and James, both of which were trying to pick their jaws up from the floor. Sirius shot Remus a glance, and saw that he was having a laughing fit and pointing to Sirius' feather. Lily was in on the joke as well, as she was clutching her sides in giggles as well. Sirius grinned proudly until class ended later on.

"How'd you do it?" Remus asked as they all met in the stairwell before lunch.

"Wendell taught me. Watch," Sirius looked around for a poor, smaller kid nearby, swished his wand while muttering the incantation, and watched as the boy's books floated out of his hands and up, up, up, perching finally on a staircase high above them. Sirius quickly hid his wand and watched as the boy spouted a stream of curse words and stormed off angrily to collect his books. "Only problem is that I 'owe him' or something."

"Well, was it worth it?" Remus asked, attempting to cast the spell and succeeding marvelously in lifting that same boys books and moving them to the top of another staircase. Peter and James then began to take turns moving the books from staircase to staircase, just as the boy got close to them. They laughed quietly when he began to cry, but stopped all the same.

"Oh yeah, definitely… well, I suppose it depends on what he asks me to do," Sirius shrugged and began to lead them all down to lunch.

After they had eaten, the Marauders headed up to History of Magic, got some well-deserved rest, and trekked to Transfiguration, where their brains began to hurt. Sirius didn't want to ask Wendell for help again, so he tried to figure out how to change a dove into a belt on his own. Remus had figured it out within minutes and taught James and Peter how to do it before asking Sirius if he wanted help.

"No thanks, I can get it!" Sirius said, prodding the dove, which in turn cooed angrily.

"All right," Remus muttered in response, waving to Lily as she greeted him from across the room. Sirius muttered the spell again and did the motions that McGonagall had mentioned, and voila! A white belt now stood before him.

"Ooh! Fashionable!" Sirius said aloud, getting a round of laughter from the room.

"I'm kicking you out of the band, mate," said James. The Marauders laughed, as being 'kicked out of the band' for questionable clothing was a new inside joke of theirs.

"Oh, I did it without help Remus!" Sirius grinned, pointing to the belt proudly.

"What do you want me to say?" Remus asked. "Congratulations on doing exactly what you were supposed to do?"

"You're such a buzz kill, Lupin…" Sirius muttered.

Peter Pettigrew

The days passed quickly, with the Marauders learning new spells here and there and using them everywhere else on unsuspecting victims. Remus had been disappearing once every few weeks for some reason, but he was still keeping his promise in researching for Peter's map, James was still hitting on Lily, and Sirius was flaunting his new affinity for spell casting. Peter had nothing to do but help the other three with their tasks.

"Sirius, what are you trying to learn now?" Peter asked his friend one day, a week before Halloween.

"Oh, just a curse that puts your insides on your outside and vice versa…" Sirius said casually, turning a page. Peter winced and Sirius chuckled, "No, not really… everyone knows you can't do that till third year. Anyway, this is called a Summoning Charm… brings things to you… I hear that it's fourth year magic, but I want to give it a go right now, when I'm good. Something on the other end of the room… Remus' book! Accio book!" Sirius raised his wand, then a strange sound erupted as every book in the common room swarmed around he and Pettigrew and buried them both. "It needs work…" Sirius said as he pushed a book with Miranda Goshawk written in silver lettering on the spine.

"Definitely…" Peter moved over to Remus, placing one of the books he pulled off of Sirius into his outstretched hand. Lupin flipped to the page and put half of his attention in Peter. "So, Remus… you've been ill a lot lately… why is that?" Remus fumbled his book suddenly and began to stutter.

"Ill? I… uh… I've been… I don't know… bad immune system?"

"Ah, okay!" Peter replied. Remus gave him a look that said 'Oh my god he is that stupid,' but Peter didn't recognize it. "So… found anything?"

"Close… I found this one spell that can label things on a map, and it gives every person within an enchanted area a label… it's very complicated magic and it requires a potion to soak the parchment through with… I'd have to get Lily to help me with that bit… plus we'd still need the people themselves to appear on the map… I don't know Pete, give me time," Remus explained, waving Peter away to go see James.

"Hullo James!" Peter said.

"Go away Pete!" James replied, mocking Peter's excitement.

"Sorry…" Peter turned away from him and walked over to the fire, sitting in a chair and grabbing a chart that a fifth year had left on a table. "Hey! There's going to be a full moon on Halloween! How cool is that?" Nobody noticed that Remus twitched and looked up exceptionally quickly when Peter mentioned the words 'Full Moon'.

"Wow, that's pretty cool! Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking?" James asked.

"Befriend some werewolves?" Sirius asked, getting a look from Remus that made him suspicious for a moment.

"No! Bewitch the moon!" James pulled out his wandand pointed out the window, flashing a devious grin at his friends.

"Like how?" Peter asked.

"I dunno, I guess it's a little unreasonable…" James frowned. "Well, it was a thought."

"Maybe not, James," Remus said, snapping and motioning for him to look at the book he was reading, "it says here you could make any light-giving source give off a different colored light. You thinking…"

"Red?" James asked. Remus grinned.

"Alright… we should practice the spell then… we'll definitely need all of us to do it, if not more." Remus Lupin stood up and, still looking at his book, said the incantation while moving his wand in wild directions. The fire suddenly sent out a bright blue glow, rather than its typical orange warmth.

"Awesome, Remus, just awesome," Sirius grinned, pulling his wand out and getting closer to the book.

James Potter

Halloween came around a week later and Remus was absent again, like clockwork, leaving the three remaining Marauders to bewitch the Halloween moon themselves. Breakfast that morning was uncomfortable for the three boys, as they were all itching to get out by themselves and make the moon shine red. James especially couldn't contain himself.

"So, here's what we'll do. We'll be the last ones into the castle before the feast, and before everyone's in we start casting the spell!" James grinned at his simple plan.

"Yeah, that seems easy enough. Well, let's get going. I'm full and I want to mess with Severus," Sirius grinned and stood up from the Gryffindor table slowly, following James and Peter just as sluggishly.

They had just reached the castle doors when Lily Evans ran up and intercepted them. She looked worried and concerned about something, and James jumped right in, seeing a perfect opportunity. He attempted to hug her and said, "It's okay. I'm here now… don't worry…"

"Shove it!" Lily pushed him off of her and he waved apologetically. "Where's Remus? I haven't seen him at all today."

"Us either! You tell us if you learn anything… and likewise." James waved goodbye and pushed the doors open. Lily grabbed his arm and stared him straight in the eyes.

"Leave. Severus. Alone!" she said angrily.

"Why should we? After the rubbish he's pulled?" James pulled his arm free and continued down the stone steps of the castle.

"Because he goes whining to me about everything. Please, I don't want to have to deal with him tonight… I'm too busy with Remus," Lily said. She covered her mouth as soon as she said this, however.

"Oh, what? I thought you didn't know where Remus was? And you're busy with him? For Pettigrew's sake, Lily, we're eleven! Are there no morals in the world?" James glared at her.

"I meant that I was busy trying to learn something about him… don't blow it out of proportion," Lily said quickly, stalking off before James could strike another sentence on her use of the word 'blow.'

"The nerve of her…" Sirius muttered, following James down to the lake.

"And just for that, I'm messing with Snape…" James said, looking around, "Where is that slimy little git anyhow?"

"Accio Snape's Shoe," Sirius muttered. Sure enough, Severus Snape appeared, being dragged along in the grass on his back by his left shoe. "Found him."

"It's gotten better," James said.

"Thank you," Sirius smiled.

"And just what do you lot want? And where's Casanova?" Snape asked angrily.

"One: We want to make your life a miserable hell just for the fun of it. Two: Who?" Sirius replied simply.

"Ugh… Lupin… that foul little-"

"Hey, I'll be the one to say who's foul and who isn't, and you, my slimy little friend, are very foul," James pointed his wand at Severus and muttered an incantation, but before he had finished, Snape pointed his wand at James and sent him hanging in the air by his ankle.

"What's this? A nonverbal spell? You're beyond your years, Severus… I'll get you for that one…" James stared at him simply, trying to reach his wand on the ground, which was just out of range. Sirius kicked Snape in the arm and James dropped to the ground, straightening up quickly and brandishing his wand immediately. Snape only stood up and left abruptly, going to cry to Lily, James guessed.

"Well, who'd've thought that ol' Sevvy would know a nonverbal spell? I thought Pete here had a better chance, no offense." Sirius motioned to the third boy, who he now noticed was quite a bit pudgier than he had been at the beginning of the year. "Hey, Pete, have you been Power-Eating again? You look like you've gained a few pounds…"

"I got hungry a lot… I'm sorry…" Peter frowned.

"Don't worry 'bout it…" James shrugged and walked with his two friends until night fell.

Sirius Black

Sirius, James, and Peter gathered at the far end of the lake when the moon began to rise. Their little prank was about to be played and their names were sure to go down in some sort of history. The Whomping Willow was nearby, batting away at something that was moving around near it. It was probably a poor, unfortunate, also stupid, student.

"Okay, here we go, alright? The moon is right there… now, we all begin, in three, two… RUN!" Sirius shouted as the two boys began to raise their wands. They turned to see what he was looking at and saw that a large, furry creature was bounding towards them from the Whomping Willow at a quick pace.

"What the bloody hell is that?" James asked as they made for the castle.

"I think it's a werewolf! I've heard that they live in the woods!" Peter answered, jumping over a large rock in his way, albeit with difficulty because of his new weight. The werewolf was quickly catching up to them; they could see his eyes as faint glimmers in the night. James tripped over a tree root, but before the others could help him up, the werewolf was only yards away. It slowed down to get a good look at its prey, then stopped moving completely for a few moments.

"Stupefy!" came a cry from behind them. A large, red light sped past the Marauders and just missed the wolf, which ran away howling. Dumbledore emerged beside them, clutching a stitch in his side and breathing heavily. "What are you doing out of the castle!?"

"Well, you see sir," began Sirius.

"Save it… get back inside! You could have been killed! Twenty points from Gryffindor!" Dumbledore shouted, watching for a returning werewolf.

"What? Twenty? Come on! It's not like we knew there was a vicious werewolf on the loose around campus…" Sirius pleaded, getting a half-nod from the headmaster.

"While that is true, you were still out later than you should have been… might I ask again what you were doing?" he asked.

"Well, you see, we wanted to do something fun for Halloween, and Remus found this spell that…" Peter began.

"Remus?" Dumbledore asked quickly.

"Yeah… Lupin, you know? He found a spell that changed the color light that something emitted… we wanted to make the moon shine red for Halloween…" Peter continued after being interrupted.

"How interesting… however, it's highly impossible to bewitch the moon… a nice effort though, and I commend you…" Dumbledore smiled.

"With points…?" Sirius asked.

"I think… thirty points, for an excellent prank…" Dumbledore winked and led the Marauders back to the castle, where Sirius retold the story to every soul who'd listen, changing it to make him the slayer of the werewolf. He was also shirtless. And muscular.