Disclaimer - Yeah... still don't own, certainly not making any money, but getting a lot of joy out of it anyway.

Chapter 58

The start of term was fairly typical, though many students were not only glad to be reunited with their friends, they were relieved to be back at school where they were confident they were safe.

It was announced that Professor Ogden was no longer the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, much to the dismay of most of the students. She had been accepted into the Auror training program over the summer and, so, was moving on from teaching. Their new professor was one Mr. Samuel Whistler. There was a polite round of applause for the new professor, and the feast went on.

Afterwards, while Remus and Lily led the first-years to the Gryffindor tower, the Marauders followed behind imparting wisdom and giving "helpful" hints.

"Remember when Peter got caught on the trick stair," Sirius started.

"Yeah," James chuckled. "Was stuck there for nearly the whole day."

"At least I didn't get trapped behind the painting on the fifth floor," Peter countered.

"Right, well. That's only because Peeves was chasing me down, lobbing various parts of a suit of armor at my head," Sirius continued.

"Oh. Remember that toilet that exploded on me? I still think Mirtle had something to do with that."

"Just goes to show you, ghosts have feelings too," Sirius said.

The Marauders continued hinting at various "terrors" throughout the castle until the first-years were practically bug-eyed and sweating in fear.

"Do you mind?" Lily said angrily. Turning her attention back to the first-years, she said comfortingly, "Honestly, the castle's not that bad. These dolts are just magnets for the weird and improbable."

Once they had been sent to their dorms, Lily turned on Remus, who had been smirking through most of the journey. "Would you please keep your friends under control?"

"Teachers haven't been able to do that. Why do you think I'd have any more success?" Remus wasn't sure if he should be laughing at the idea he might actually be able to control his friends, or upset that Lily would even make him try… or perhaps guilty because he knew that, even if he could control them, he wouldn't.

Lily sighed. "I don't know. Hope springs eternal, I guess."

The Marauders and Gillette and Stacey had taken seats in the chairs and on the couch by the fire. Lily came over and squeezed herself between Gillette and Stacey.

"Are you joining us?" Gillette asked happily.

"For a few minutes," Lily leaned back and closed her eyes. "I have rounds tonight."

"You look beat," Remus said. "Why don't I take them tonight? You can do mine sometime."

"Yeah?" Lily opened her eyes. "That would be great. Thanks Remus." She struggled rather comically to disengage herself from the too-tightly packed couch, before James got up and lent her a hand. "Thanks. Goodnight."

A round of "night" followed her up the stairs. Stacey and Gillette soon followed, leaving the Marauders alone.

"You know, I never did get a chance to find out about what you all did over the summer," Remus stated.

James answered first. "Mine was pretty normal. Oh! My parents are thinking of buying a beach house."

"Very nice!" Sirius said.

"I've never been to the beach," Peter commented.

"You'd love it," Remus said. "It's very relaxing." James and Sirius looked at Remus as if he had suddenly sprouted a second head. "What?"

"Relaxing?" Sirius asked. "Honestly, mate, you have got to learn how to have a good time."

"And I thought we'd come so far with him," James sniffed, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye. Sirius nodded in agreement, frowning gravely.

"Shut it. So what about you, Sirius?"

"Well, I was sent to live with the ever-so-friendly Malfoys…"

"Ew!" Peter interjected.

"Yes, exactly. Actually it could have been a lot worse. I was treated pretty much like a slave; and they use magic as punishment. I think they hoped to whip me into shape, so to speak… but really…" Sirius chuckled. "I'll tell you what made it bearable, and even fun – well, two things really. I met an odd little house elf named Dobby. He's a young elf, still rather impressionable. He's being groomed to become Lucius' house elf when he marries Narcissa." There were grunts and a "huh?" at this statement. "Oh, forgot to tell you that. Yes, Narcissa and Lucius are to be married. Yippy," Sirius said less then enthusiastically. "So I did my best to corrupt him - Dobby. I even got him to agree to help me perform a few pranks. And the other thing – the Malfoys aren't nearly as paranoid as my family. So I was able to get away with more and even sneak out on occasion. My poor parents… What will they think of next that will fail to get me to conform?"

James had frowned momentarily with the mention of punishment. With all of the letters and times that he and Sirius had chatted, Sirius had never mentioned being punished for anything. When James exchanged a quick glance with Remus, he knew that Remus had caught that part of the summer rundown, and he also hadn't known about any punishments. But as Sirius went on, he was so casual about the summer, even smiling and joking about it, that James let the information slide – for now.

"Oh, and I happened to notice that Andromeda had been blasted off the family tapestry. When I asked about it, I found out she's pregnant, so I guess my parents figured that meant she's going to stay with Ted and it was time to remove her from the family line."

"She's pregnant? Really?" James asked smiling. "She and Ted Tonks were married last Christmas, right?"

"Yeah." Andromeda had sent Sirius a letter last year telling him about the marriage. She apologized for not inviting him, but she figured he wouldn't have been allowed to attend anyway.

"Good for her. Tell her congratulations… from all of us," Remus added.

"What about you, Peter?" Sirius asked

"Mmm. Nothing exciting. Rather boring actually. Remus?"

"I, uh… I went home… Briefly." There was a stunned silence following this statement, and the others waited for Remus to continue. "It was… weird – going home. Madam Pomfrey had gone there last summer, after… Well... and cleaned things up a bit. Then she sealed the house to intruders and to keep everything safe until I decided to return. She went with me. I decided I'm going to keep it for now. I'm going to need a place to go to transform once I'm out of school, so…" Remus looked around at his friends. They were all giving him that pitying look that he hated so much. "Would you guys say something?"

"Uh…I think you made a smart decision," James said, having no clue what to say.

"You have a whole house to yourself!" Sirius added, his face breaking into a grin. "Excellent! I say turn it into a bachelor pad – better yet, the Marauders' pad… Parties every night… Food. Fun. Girls. Eh?" Sirius nodded enthusiastically as he imagine a future home for the Marauders.

"Okay, come on back to us now, Sirius," Remus laughed, nudging Sirius's leg with his foot.

Peter, who had been lost in his own thoughts, shivered, "I don't think I could go home if I knew my mum wouldn't be there… let alone died there." The mood immediately swung back to the morose.

"Yeah. It felt very empty."

The group fell into silence for a few minutes, before Sirius spoke again. "All right. How much longer until we're done with the transfiguration thing?" Sirius asked.

James laughed, thankful for the change of subject, "My thoughts exactly. Remus, when are you free to practice some more?"

"We can start tomorrow but, really, you guys don't need me. I don't have to learn this last bit," Remus answered.

"Tomorrow night then," James announced. "And we want you there. We're in this together. Besides, if we all transform, you're the only one who will be able to… un-transform us if things don't work out."

"Or get Madam Pomfrey," Sirius muttered.

Remus shrugged. "Okay." But he was thankful for his friends' insistence on keeping him involved.

"Oh, I was thinking about the map, too," James spoke up again. "I was wondering… would it be possible to give the location of every individual in the castle. That way we'd know where the teachers and prefects are so we can avoid them. No offense."

"None taken," Remus smiled. "And that should be doable. We'd have to adjust the spell slightly to account for changes in staff and students as time goes on."

"Excellent!" Sirius chimed in.

"Can you believe it's year five?" James commented absently.

"Can you believe it's year five and we're still not done with the map or… the other thing?" Sirius asked, his tone somewhere between real and joking frustration.

"Well, we're so close. I don't know how we wouldn't finish both this year," Peter said confidently.

"Right. So we begin again tomorrow," Remus said with finality.

Only, the guys hadn't counted on the new volume of classwork with which they were about to be hit.

The first week back was rather sobering for all of the fifth years. Almost every teacher began class with the same speech about this being a very important year for them. It was the year they would take their OWLs and, as such, determine the course of their future study and, ultimately, their careers. In preparation for these very important exams, homework was piled high and thick.

The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was interesting. Most of what the class did was book work. That was actually good in the eyes of the fifth-years, since much of what would normally have been assigned as homework, could be done in class. But there was a secondary assignment. Professor Whistler had put forth a challenge. Each class was told they had to defend a very important magical object - a large cement egg. The class was then to come up with a defensive strategy to keep said egg from being stolen. The classes were given until the end of October to come up with the best possible defense they could.

The hardest part of this project was getting all the students in a class together to discuss it and what work had been done. Lily quickly took control of the fifth-year Gryffindor class and determined that they should meet once a week in an abandoned classroom. That was the best way to ensure privacy. She was smart, academic, good at delegating, and everyone was willing to listen to her. Remus, Sirius, James and Lily quickly became the heart of the group. Remus and Lily were excellent at research and coming up with ideas for defenses, while Sirius and James pointed out ways around the defenses, if they could, thus ensuring the most solid defense possible.

As an added bonus, most of the fifth-years worked so well together that they started sharing the classwork load for other classes as well. It wasn't that each student didn't do his or her own share, but they collaborated quite a bit where possible. This was especially helpful to Lily and Remus who had prefect duties, and James who, as Quidditch captain, needed time for practices and planning.

In the meantime, two weeks into the school year, James watched over the hopefuls trying out for the team. He set up skirmishes between those trying out and those already on the team. He paid close attention to reactions – how upset were they if their team lost, or if they made a mistake. How quickly did they recover? He did not want kids who would take the loss too hard and display unsportsmanlike conduct. On the other hand, he wanted players who cared a lot about the game and would try hard and be willing to sacrifice to win. He obviously was also looking for skill and potential as well as quick thinking and the ability to adjust to new situations. He even watched how they interacted away from the Quidditch pitch. He spoke with such confidence and handled himself with such skill, that no one questioned his ability to lead the team.

The returning team consisted of James – chaser and captain; Jules – seeker; Stacey – keeper; Jones – chaser; and Gudgeon – beater. James added Andy Johnson, a fourth-year, as chaser and Anna Timms, a second-year, as beater. This was slightly unusual, since beaters were usually the larger players on the team and both of Gryffindor's were smallish; but James had been highly impressed with her skills with the bat and getting the bludger to go where she wanted it. When he asked her how she had learned to handle the bludger and bat, she explained she had played softball for as long as she could remember, and it wasn't unlike hitting a ball with a bat.

James confided in Sirius later that he was more than a little nervous. He didn't honestly think he could pull out a winning team this year since he and Jules had been playing the longest, and both of them were only going on their third year. But he figured that, by his seventh year, the entire team would have been playing together for nearly three years – although Jules was a sixth-year and he'd have to replace her in his seventh year.

Sirius assured him that as long as he tried his best, no one would be too upset with him. "And don't worry. We, your dear friends, won't let anyone insult you or bother you. That's our job," Sirius grinned.

"Gee thanks. That's so reassuring." But it really was. James knew he had the support of those that mattered most to him.

With everything going on, and trying to make adjustments to new schedules and responsibilities, it wasn't until the third week back that the guys had an evening in which they could get away and explore. It was a Friday night and the full moon was the next day. The guys sat in the common room waiting for Remus to get back from his usual Friday night rendezvous with Aden.

Sirius was looking over the map. "What do you suppose this room is for?"

"The Room of Requirement?" James asked

"Yeah, I noticed that," Peter added. "I don't remember ever seeing a room there."

"I say we check it out," Sirius suggested.

"But we have to practice… You know," James said.

"Like Remus said, we can always practice that without him. I say we do some exploring. If it turns out to be nothing, we can still go work out that other thing."

At that point, Remus walked into the common room. He had a sort of wistful look about him. The others watched him with amused expressions as he plopped down onto the couch next to Sirius. "Do you know we've been together for over a year now?"

"Wow!" Sirius said, shaking his head.

James asked, "Did you celebrate?" At this, Sirius and Peter sat up a little straighter, waiting for details.

"No. I don't really know what to do," Remus said, looking crestfallen.

"Huh, that's too bad," Sirius said. "Well, ready for some exploring?"

Remus cast Sirius a slightly annoyed glance. "I see your attention span improved over the summer."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… Let's go." Sirius stood up, trying to speed things along.

Sighing, Remus stood up to leave. "Honestly, you're worse than James sometimes."

"What?" both James and Sirius asked in unison.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, also standing up and heading for the portrait hole. Peter followed behind.

"Nothing," Remus said, realizing that he was being a little more touchy than usual. "Sorry… I think I'm just cranky."

"That time of month, eh?" Sirius grinned and gently pushed Remus toward the portrait hole.

"Shut it!" Remus growled.

Sirius and James started snickering. Remus turned around and started toward the boys dorm.

James grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around, then directed him toward the portrait hole. "We're sorry, Moony. Come on. No more jokes about you, PMS-ing." At this, Sirius burst out laughing.

Peter looked uncomfortable with the whole conversation. Not only was he uncomfortable with the possibility of others finding out about Remus' lycanthropy, but he didn't like discussing… feminine issues.

Before Remus could turn around again, which would have been difficult with James pushing him out of the common room, Sirius, who had calmed down enough to form words, asked, "So what did you have in mind. I mean… if you could do anything, how would you want to celebrate your one year of bliss?"

Bringing the subject back to what Remus had wanted to talk about, relaxed him enough to walk with the others without needing extra incentive. "I don't know. Something romantic. Music, dinner, just the two of us… I don't know. How does one normally celebrate a one year anniversary?"

"Well, considering you're the first one to reach that mark, we can't really help you," Sirius joked.

"What would Aden like?" Peter asked thoughtfully.

"That's an excellent question," James complimented Peter, who smiled and blushed slightly at the praise, causing Sirius to roll his eyes.

Remus thought about the question for a while before his thoughts were interrupted by Peter. "It's not here. The Map must be wrong."

"Impossible," Sirius said. But sure enough, while the room appeared on the map, there was no door, or any indication at all, that the room existed. James even walked up to the wall and banged on it a few times. The others searched the hall for a secret lever or entrance.

After a few minutes, they all gathered around the map again. "Well, how do we get in?" James asked.

"If the room even…" Peter started, but he was cut off when words appeared on the map.

Right next to the Room of Requirement, a small rectangle, like a dialogue box in a muggle comic strip, appeared. "What do you require?"

"I don't get it," Sirius said, scratching his head.

Remus started pacing, as he often did when trying to solve a problem. He was muttering to himself as he walked down the corridor a short way, came back to the group, then walked away again.

Sirius was watching Remus and was about to make a comment when he noticed a door appear out of nowhere across the hall from them. "Blimey."

The other Marauders looked at Sirius, then followed his gaze and saw the door.

"That wasn't here a minute ago, right?" Peter asked.

James, whose mouth was hanging open in disbelief, shook his head slowly.

Remus nervously walked up to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. "Shall we?" The others joined him at the door before he opened it.

They stepped inside and discovered the perfect room. It had everything they needed to study magic and practice spells; and, upon examining the books, Remus saw that there were rare titles that he had not found in the school library, all having to do with becoming an animagus.

Sirius was also looking around at the volumes of books that lined only one wall of the room. His eyes immediately rested on a volume dealing with occlumency and legilimency. He fingered the spine and a chill ran through his body. "Does this strike any of you as odd?"

"Which part?" Remus snarked. "The room that appeared out of nowhere, or the fact that it's perfectly suited for the four of us?"

In addition to the books, there was a table with various snack foods on it. Chocolate was stored on another shelf with a few minor potions – obviously in case of minor magical mishaps. There was a dueling mat along the wall opposite the bookshelves, and even a desk full of supplies for doing classwork.

"Well, this is what we required… I wonder…" James said thoughtfully.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Nothing. So, shall we get started?"

The guys agreed that, since they were all doing wand-less magic, at least somewhat, they were going to move on to the spells involved in the animagi process. Each of the spells had to be performed only once, but in a specific order. And there was one spell that was repeated before each of the other spells. Remus thought this spell was used so that after the first transformation, the process could be repeated at will, without having to duplicate the entire process again.

Time moved surprisingly quickly. While Peter, James and Sirius worked on pronunciation, with occasional input from Remus, he glanced through several of the books on the shelves. He found one on map making, which made him chuckle since it was a little superfluous now, and he found mention of a locator spell. He wondered if they could alter the locator spell and use that to keep track of all of the people in the castle.

At one in the morning, they decided it was time to head back to their dorm. When they left the room, the door immediately disappeared.

"Hold on," James said. "I want to see something." Concentrating very hard on his need for sleep, James stared at the wall. When nothing happened, he decided to imitate Remus. He traveled up and down the corridor. The third time he passed the room, the door appeared in the wall. When he opened it, he smiled. "You guys have got to check this out."

Curious, the others stepped forward. Collectively, their eyes widened in shock at what they saw. The room appeared to be much smaller than when they had entered it last time. Right in the middle, taking up the majority of the space in the room, was a huge round bed - the sheets were satin, the pillows and comforter were down-filled. The lights were just bright enough to see the bed, but dim enough to make sleeping comfortable.

James ran into the room and dove onto the bed. He rolled over and sighed contentedly. "You guys have got to try this!"

Sirius was next to dive in, while Remus and Peter walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.

Lying down, Sirius commented, "Well that was just mean, James." Chuckling, James asked why. "Because why on earth would I ever want to sleep in the dorm again?"

"Well, for one, because we're supposed to. I know how convincing a reason that is for you, but…We also don't know who else knows about this room. So one night while you're snoozing away, someone else may well walk in on you." Remus answered logically, if a bit sarcastically.

"Oh Moony," Sirius sighed. "You do know how to suck the joy out of things, don't you?"

"It's my duty as prefect," he deadpanned.

The Marauders left the room, Sirius giving a final mournful glance back at the room. "Why a bed?" Sirius asked abruptly.

"Because I was thinking about what I required, which was sleep."

After a minute of silence, Sirius said, "I wonder what would happen if someone was in the room and somebody else required something entirely different. Would the room change?"

"Mmm," Remus groaned noncommittally.

"Moony?" Sirius tried to get his friend's attention.

When Remus glanced over at Sirius, he saw that Sirius was wearing his Cheshire grin again, causing Remus to flinch inwardly. "What?" he asked warily.

"I was just thinking about your anniversary." Sirius glanced at James, who was also suddenly smiling.

"Perfect!" James agreed with whatever Sirius had not yet spoken.

"And?" Remus continued in his guarded tone of voice.

"You know, for being the smart one, you're kind of slow sometimes," Sirius commented. "The Room!" Sirius gestured over his shoulder indicating the Room of Requirement, even though they were no longer near it.

"What… Oh," Remus' wary expression turned slowly into a smile. "Yes. That could work."

"Atta boy." Sirius patted Remus on the back. Sirius loved being part of the magical world. The things they could do seemed almost limitless. He wondered vaguely if things would be this easy when they were no longer sheltered in these enchanted halls.

- - - - -

A/N – This chapter was written before Deathly Hallows came out, so I did not know, at the time, that the room would not conjure food. I would have changed it, but it affects the next chapter as well, so I'm leaving it. Hope y'all will forgive that minor detail.

Once again, thanks to all who take the time to leave me a little (or large :) ) review. I appreciate it. And I love my editors, too - Mom, mei mei, and J.A. Carlton. Thank you, thank you, and thank you some more.

Nonair - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the train scene. Who knew that would be such a fun setting? Thank you for the encouragement with Peter as well. He's still a tricky one as he moves from friend to foe (though, not for quite a while yet, of course). But to make it believable is my goal. Oo, I think you pegged Gillette pretty well there. Family is important, but it's much more fluid to her than to others. It's part of what, in my opinion, makes her a good fit for Sirius.

Wow. Year five. More than halfway through their school career and yet barely halfway through this part of the story. Hee hee hee hee.