Disclaimer - Usual. I'm just having fun.

Chapter 48

When Remus entered the common room a short while later, Peter and James were building a house of cards with an Exploding Snap deck and Sirius had his Cheshire grin in place as, with his eyes, he followed Remus until he sat down.

"So," James started casually. "How did it go?"

"Fine," Remus said, just as casually.

When he didn't comment any further, Peter huffed, "Are you still together or what?"

"Yes," Remus answered simply.

"That girl has the patience of a saint," James said, shaking his head. Remus just smiled.

"But," Sirius began, still grinning, "what we really want to know is: were there lips involved? Snogging? Are we going to have to set a curfew?"

"Curfew? Look who's talking Mr. I-never-came-to-bed-last-night."

Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "I fell asleep. It's something in the food. You didn't answer the question."

Remus stood up and returned Sirius' grin. "No. I didn't." And he turned and headed for the dorm.

The three remaining Marauders looked at each other, then took off after Remus, leaving the house of cards for some unsuspecting passerby. They stormed into the dormitory.

"So what happened?" Sirius insisted.

"It's none of your business." Remus was smirking. The next thing he knew, Sirius dove for him. The flying tackle landed them on Remus' bed and, once Sirius had Remus pinned, he started punching him in the arm.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow. All right! All right!" Remus laughed. Sirius relented and got up off Remus and the bed. "Really, nothing happened. We talked. We're still together. I walked her back to her common room. We said goodnight and… there was a small kiss goodnight."

"What do you mean by 'small'?" Peter asked.

Remus was amused as he looked around. He felt like a teacher reading a story to little kids. Peter, Sirius, and James had all given him their rapt attention. "It was… small. Nothing big. Simple. Nice. And that's all the description you're going to get out of me," he said with finality.

Sirius sighed. "For all that effort, next time you better have something more to share."

"Even if I did – I wouldn't."

"Saint," Sirius shook his head in disgust, but his tone was jovial.

"Cretin," Remus answered back.

The next morning at breakfast, Aden came over and joined their table for a few minutes.

"Good morning," Remus smiled at her.

"Good morning," she smiled back.

"Aden!" Sirius greeted enthusiastically.

"Good morning, Sirius, James, Peter." They all grinned back at her, delighting in their friend's happiness.

"So," Sirius said, making conversation, "Ancient Runes today." Gillette walked passed and mussed his hair. "Hey!" he called after her. "The hair." She and Lily laughed and kept walking.

"Yup," Aden answered. "Did you get the essay done?"

"Of course. You think I'd spend the whole summer with Moony and not have my work done?" Sirius grinned at his friend.

"Riiight," Aden smirked. Turning to Remus, she said, "I was wondering if you'd like to meet at the Library tonight. After supper?"

"Yeah. I'd love to," Remus smiled.

"Good. See you later, then." Aden walked back to her table.

"Please tell me you're going to take her on a real date sometime," James joked with his friend.

"Yeah. 'Cause the library. Wow. Good times," Sirius snarked, causing Peter to snort.

"Very funny. And just where do you suppose we go?"

"Hmm…" James ran his hand through his hair as he thought. Then he and Sirius exchanged mischievous looks. "We'll think of something."

"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of." Remus shook his head, but he appreciated his friends' intentions.

Fourth-year Gryffindors had Defense Against the Dark Arts that morning. The Marauders wondered if this year's professor would be anything like Odium. The door to the classroom was locked when they arrived and their classmates looked around expectantly.

A young witch, in her early twenties, walked briskly up to the group. "Attention class. My name is Professor Ogden – and no, I and not related to the Ogden of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey; so don't ask. Follow me, please."

The class followed, wondering what was going on. Professor Ogden led the students to an unusually long, narrow classroom. Once everyone was inside, she conjured the roll-call scroll and made sure everyone was in attendance, then vanished it again.

"Right. Now, I'm sure you're all aware that life outside these walls is getting increasingly dangerous. I am going to do my best to prepare you for what's coming." Glances were cast between students. Her comment raised questions about what was going on, not the least of which being the indication that the civil unrest was ongoing and not isolated as many hoped. "As such, I have been given permission to reform the Dueling Club." A cheer went up among the students. Ogden waited until the cheers had died down. "I mention this in class because, if you attend the Dueling Club meetings and can prove an aptitude with the things you have learned by the end of the school year, I will grant extra credit for your final grade." Another round of excited comments rippled through the students. "We're going to start today with a simple blocking spell. I'm sure many of you know this already, as it's fairly basic, but sometimes it's the simplest things that determine whether you live or die. Line up!"

The class got into a single-file line. Initially, she stood so that the line spread to her left and right and she could see all of the students. Then she demonstrated the proper way to perform the blocking spell and had the students practice. She then walked to the end of the line and faced the students so they were waiting to take turns in front of her. She cast a fairly harmless tickling spell so as not to hurt anyone, but it caused enough of a reaction that the student knew he or she had not properly blocked.

Those who achieved the block on the first try were separated from those who didn't. The first group was re-tested to make sure they had a grasp on the spell, then she allowed those students to help the others practice and learn proper casting.

Toward the end of class, James raised his hand. "Professor?"

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"What about non-verbal and wand-less spells? I mean, it's one thing to be able to see and hear a spell coming, but how do you block a spell you can't see or hear?"

Professor Ogden smiled. "Very good point, Mr. Potter. Five points to Gryffindor. We will get to that later this year..." James started to protest the lack of an answer, but she held up her hand. "However, briefly… Non-verbal spells still use a wand. You can therefore follow the wand movements. As for wand-less spells – I'm afraid that is a matter of experience. Fortunately, there are very few wizards and witches who can consistently cast wand-less spells – especially in succession. Wand-less spells take a great deal of concentration and energy. It is very unlikely that you would have to defend yourself against those."

"Do you know any?" Sirius jumped in.

Professor Ogden studied her student for a moment before answering, "It's not a question of knowing any; it's a question of being able to perform them. Class dismissed. Oh, the next class will be held in the usual classroom. Please meet there. Thank you."

As the group of students walked down the corridor, Sirius said, "I like her."

"You would," Lily retorted.

"Have trouble getting out of bed this morning, Evans?" Sirius responded. Lily rolled her eyes. "No, what I meant was, she seems to know what she's doing."

"And she's very hands on," James added. "I think we could learn a lot from her."

"She's rather attractive, too." Peter threw out the comment, causing the guys to chuckle, and Lily and Patty to shake their heads in disgust.

Professor Ogden set up her class so that each Tuesday she had a lecture and each Thursday she had a practical lesson. Sometimes the two were related, other times they weren't. One week, she brought in an Auror to discuss safety with the students. Another time, she had a Ministry official come in to discuss the Unforgivable Curses. She would, on occasion, bring in Daily Prophet clippings and discuss incidents of attack. What happened? What, if anything, could the victim have done differently? As unanimous as the dislike for Odium had been the previous year, the same was true for how much students enjoyed Ogden's classes.

The Dueling Club started the first week of October. This meant that James had Quidditch practice twice a week, the Dueling Club one night a week, and the gatherings with the Marauders to continue working through the animagi process. Friday nights were no longer being used to explore the castle. Not only was there little left to map, but this was Remus' dedicated night to give Aden his full attention. And then, of course, there were detentions. All of this left James struggling to find time to do his classwork.

Remus was trying very hard to balance time with Aden and time with the Marauders. The guys seemed to understand that he wanted to spend time with Aden, but also with them, and they refused to plan anything during times he was not available.

The first Hogsmeade weekend was posted for the first Saturday in October.

"Evans…" James called.

"No," Lily answered without thinking, then, "Potter! I have a boyfriend. Stop asking me."

Unperturbed – much – James smiled while Sirius and Peter shook their heads. "So… Are you and Gillette going?" he asked Sirius, who was examining a section of the Marauders' Map.

"Nope. She's going with… Wilkes."

"The Ravenclaw prefect?" Remus asked.

"Yup."

Peter looked at Sirius incredulously.

Feeling Peter stare at him, Sirius looked up. "What?"

Shaking his head, Peter said, "I just don't get you two."

Sirius chuckled and returned his attention to the map. "I'm thinking of asking Jazelle, though." Jazelle was one of the few other students who had spent the summer at Hogwarts, so the guys had gotten to know her a little.

"Jazelle?" James asked in surprise. "I thought she was dating someone on the Quidditch team."

"No. You know, we should put a spell on this so only we can see it."

"You do know that you're the one looking at it in the middle of the common room," Remus pointed out.

"I like that," James said. "We could have a code phrase to make it appear and then another one to make it disappear."

"We still have to work on how to get the map to change with the castle," Peter reminded them.

"Wonder if a binding spell would work," Remus suggested.

"Jazelle has a friend that would love to go out with you, James," Sirius changed the subject again.

"Mm. I don't know," James said, glancing at Lily.

"It's one date, and then, with the two of us going, we're pretty much guaranteed to have a good time."

"I'll think about it."

Peter shifted uncomfortably. Remus was going to go with Aden. That was a given. If James and Sirius went on dates, that would leave him alone. He might as well not go to Hogsmeade at all then. On the other hand, he knew the guys would meet up for lunch and he wanted to be there for that, at least. He sighed, not sure what to do.

"Peter," Sirius said, still not looking up from the map. "When are you going to ask Gwen to go out?"

"What?!" Peter blushed furiously.

"Oh yeah," James smiled. "That cute little Hufflepuff that checks you out each Herbology class. You should ask her."

Peter had, in fact, noticed Gwen. When you don't get checked out by every girl in the castle, you tend to notice when one does look your way. He hadn't known what the others thought of her, so he had kept it quiet. But James had called her cute and they obviously noticed she was friendly toward him. He might have to consider asking her out. Peter smiled shyly, "Maybe I will."

"Good for you…" Sirius voice trailed off. "Where does this corridor go?"

Peter took a quick glance at the section of map at which Sirius was pointing. He grabbed a different piece of parchment. "Here."

"Genius," James said, and it was unclear if he was referring to Peter for knowing the map that well, or Sirius for not being able to figure it out. "We really need to get this better organized." James shuffled through a couple of other pieces of parchment.

"We could do a series of folds and cuts," Remus suggested. The others looked at him, confused. "Uh… Like this." He took a sheet of paper and meticulously folded the parchment in on itself several times, cutting it here and there. With each fold he drew a simple shape so the levels could be seen. Once it was folded, he showed them how each time they unfolded a portion of the parchment, it led to another level and would be useful to show the seven main floors of the school and how passages led to different areas.

"That's perfect!" Peter exclaimed. He could already picture how to draw out the floors and was starting to imagine where some of the more unusual folds and cuts needed to go.

James chuckled. "I'm glad you got that. Maybe you and Remus could work on that part of it. Remus, did you have a specific binding spell in mind?"

"No, but that book Sirius bought had a couple in it that we might be able to use - with a little modification."

"All right," Sirius began, "So, tomorrow night, we practice spells, look up the binding spells, and Peter will have asked out Gwen by then. Am I missing anything?" Everyone nodded agreement, except Peter who blushed and suddenly felt queasy.

- - - - -

A/N – I realized that I've made my map resemble the one in the movies rather than the one in the book, which appeared to be a single piece of parchment, but I have a hard time visualizing that, so I went with the movie version - unless it works like one of those really cool computer screens that allow you to drag the edge of a picture and zoom in to the next level... hmm...

Thanks again to all of you who took the time to review and to those of you who added me to your alerts and/or favorites list. See me blush. Welcome to the new reviewers, even if you've been around a while. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks also to my beloved editors and beta - Mom, mei mei, and J.A. Carlton. Love ya.

Nonair - Thank you for another lovely review. And I'm glad you like that they're social. I figure, if they're really as popular as is indicated, they'd probably get along with a lot of people even if they saved their closest interactions for each other. I also think that their sphere of influence would expand as they get older and become less self-involved (despite their egos :) ).

A lot of years pass between Remus of the books and the Remus from school. I'm glad you think he's realistic though, growing out of his insecurities - at least somewhat, by the time Harry meets him.

And thanks for liking Sirius and Gillette. :) Hee. That makes me smile.

Emy - Welcome, welcome. I wasn't sure if I could e-mail you at the address on the review (may I?), so I'm responding here. Thanks for taking the time to review. And I'm thrilled to hear you're enjoying the story. And thank you for thinking it's realistic, despite all the fantastic. I appreciate it. It's good to know it's believable. Thank you.