Here comes the serious part. We are nearing the end. Dun dun dun….

Dark clouds drew near to converge in on top of the small house. Lightning flashed its bright veins across the sky and thunder tore through the air as if wanting to shake the ground apart.

A lone shape dressed in dark robes advanced silently to the front door and unlocked it with a swish of his wand. Screams and shouts tore through the once peaceful household.

The man was easy to get rid of. He went first. Then came the woman and the baby. The woman screamed, her red hair flashing in the dying light, as she attempted to protect her child.

The wizard killed her anyway and lowered his hood to observe the baby, revealing pale skin, red eyes, a snake-like nose. He stepped over the dead body of the woman to point the wand—.

"Ahhhhhh!" Harry sat up with a start, sweat dripping down his face. His head ached and he felt nauseous. Ron's familiar freckled face appeared in front of him.

"You okay mate?"

"Yeah." Harry took a deep breath, closing his eyes against the blinding sunlight. "Yeah. It was a dream. Just a dream."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Looked like more than just a dream mate. You were screaming bloody murder."

Harry looked around cautiously. The room was otherwise empty, beside Peter who was still asleep. He took a deep breath. "It was—." He stopped. It felt too weird to talk about it.

Harry stood up, rubbing his scar. "It's okay. It's nothing. We should get down to the common room."

Ron hovered around anxiously while Harry threw his robes on over his clothes. "Are you sure? It wasn't…you-know-who…was it?"

"It was nothing!" Harry snapped. Immediately he felt guilty. "I'm okay." He said in a softer tone. "Let's go find the others."

Ron slowly nodded though his face showed his disbelief. The two boys exited the room towards the common room.

Behind them, Peter Pettigrew's eyes snapped opened and his gaze followed them out the door.

The Gryffindor Common Room was loud and noisy as usual. It made Harry's head ache.

Ron looked at him sympathetically and scanned the room. "Hey, there she is."

Hermione struggled in through the doorway, among a gaggle of 2nd year girls. "Hey, you two." Her eyes lit up when she saw them. "You sure slept in. It's almost 10." She stuffed a ginger bread cookie in each of their mouths from the giant stack in her hands.

"You sure look happy," Ron commented, swallowing the rest of the cookie in one bite.

Hermione shrugged, her eyes shining. "Really?"

Harry extracted the cookie from his mouth and had to swallow several times to get rid of what seemed like the overly sweet taste in his mouth. He felt the opposite of whatever Hermione had stimulating her. His skin felt clammy and his head was hot. "Hermione, I have to—I just—I had the weirdest drea—."

"That's a lot of cookies."

"You want one?" Hermione leaned back into a pair of arms.

Sirius shook his head. "No thanks, I—oomph!"

Hermione laughed as Sirius struggled with an overstuffed mouth. She turned back to the other two boys. "What were you saying, Harry?"

Ron stared.

Harry sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing. Never mind." He didn't want to spoil Hermione's unusually cheerful mood.

Before, Hermione might have argued, but now she nodded agreeably. "Okay then. You guys should get ready though. We're going to—."

"Hogsmeade!" Lira shrieked from the bulletin board. "There's Hogsmeade today?"

"That." Hermione said, leaning back into Sirius' arms.

Ron looked at them suspiciously.

"Oh." Harry rubbed his eyes. "What is with all these parties? First the dance, now Hogsmeade…"

"What's the matter? Why worry?" Sirius asked. He waved an arm about. "It's a sign. A sign that Hogswartian students were meant to party."

Hermione snorted, punching him in the arm. "Hogswartian?"

Sirius shrugged. "What, you want Hogswartinese? Hogswartonian?"

Harry smiled feeling some of the tension in him loosen. Sirius could make anyone relax. He took another deep breath, feeling better for the first time that morning. A pair of arms wrapped around him. "Gaaah!"

Sammi laughed. "You're nervous."

"I'm not nervous." Harry smiled despite himself. "Hi."

Sammi smiled back. "Hey."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What's with this 'hi' and 'hey' business? C'mon let's get going—wait, has anyone seen James?"

"Great Hall with Lily." Sammi said absently.

"Gryffindor Common Room behind Padfoot." James said, appearing behind them with Lily and Peter following closely behind.

Sirius jumped. "Geez, you scared me."

"Are you nervous?" Harry asked with a grin. Sirius looked confused, but Sammi punched him in the arm.

"We've been waiting for you guys for hours." James yawned. "Hogsmeade is the best. You have to try out Honeydukes…and Zonkos. The two best places in the world."

Ron looked confused. "What are you talking about? We've been there loads of—."

"Oh, that's right!" Sirius exclaimed. "You guys are from out of town. He looked at Hermione. "You have never tried a butterbeer before?"

"Er, no." Hermione said, looking like she was going to burst out laughing.

"I'd love to try." Ron said quickly. "I've always wanted to, um eat chocolate frogs and those every flavor beans."

Peter looked confused. "You've never had those? I heard they were being produced all over the world. International candies."

Oops. "Well, my aunt and uncle don't let me eat much candy. So I can finally have a chance away from home." Harry said quickly. That had actually been true.

"That sucks..." James shook his head. "What about your parents?"

"M-My parents?" Harry's breath caught in his chest as he remembered the dream from last night. "I-I don't—."

He didn't know what to say. Both Ron and Hermione were looking at him as if stricken.

"They're always away traveling." Sammi said. "He doesn't see them much." She squeezed his hand.

"I wish my parents were always traveling," Sirius sighed. "I—."

"We know, Black." Lily cut in, rolling her eyes. "You hate your parents' guts."

"Brother too."

"No you don't," Remus was behind him. "You know you don't completely hate them."

"What is with people just popping out of nowhere?" Sirius asked in annoyance. Evidently the discussion about his family was not putting him in a good mood.

Remus looked confused.

"And I do too hate them, Moony." Sirius added "Not everyone's a saint like you."

"I'm not a saint-." Remus began.

"I hear Hogsmeade calling." James said pointedly.

The group began to move towards the door.

"Thanks for covering for me," Harry whispered.

Sammi shrugged. "No problem."

"Wait, how do you know?" Harry asked.

"Know what?"

Harry hesitated. "Umm, what to say?"

Sammi shrugged. "I didn't. Not really. You just looked really uncomfortable, so…I made something up. Why?"

"Oh nothing. I just—."

The group suddenly stopped. "What's up?" Sammi called.

Hermione's eyes were wide. "We don't have Hogsmeade forms."

Harry stopped. "That's right, we don't. We, uh, didn't receive them when we were making the exchange. I guess the teachers forgot about it or something."

"Well let's go talk to them." James said. "We can't go without you three!"

The trio exchanged looks.

Hermione looked down. "No good. Our parents couldn't sign it today, anyway."

"Couldn't we go as a group?" Sammi asked. "Maybe Filch will miss them…"

"No good. Filch does each individual person. That's why the lines take so long..."

James snapped his fingers. "That's right." He exchanged a look with Sirius. "Remember what we do when the lines get to long?"

Sirius's eyes lit up. "Oh!" He smiled at Remus. "We could…do it. Right?"

Lily looked uncomfortable. What's going on? What are you doing?"

James smiled. "You'll see." He leaned towards the group. "Listen, we know umm, a way to get Harry, Hermione and Ron into Hogsmeade. Can't tell anyone 'cause you're not Marauders , but I think we can get them through for today."

"You're showing them the passage?" Peter demanded.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"It's fine," Sirius said, looking at Hermione. "They wont' tell anyone, right?"

Ron shook his head enthusiastically. "Of course not."

"But no one except the Marauders know!" Peter protested.

The other Maruaders looked uncomfortable.

"We're exchange students." Hermione said softly. "We'll be gone soon. Hogwarts secret passages won't mean anything to us then."

"That's right!" Sirius said brightly. He looked at Hermione a moment longer as if contemplating, then shook himself. "Let's get going."

"What is going on here?" Lily demanded.

"Okay." James said, ignoring her. He gestured at the rest of the 6th years. You guys go and try to clear the hallways. Peter, go with them to make sure no one tries to follow us. Mmmm, actually, Moony, go with him to make sure he doesn't mess up.

Sirius beckoned with his finger. "Okay, you three, come with us."

Hermione turned around and gave a pointed look at Harry. She'd also figured out what was happening. Harry quickly put on a confused expression as he hurried to catch up with Sirius' long strides.

James caught up with them halfway down the hall. "Everything's good," he panted. "Moony's got them in order, and everyone else is downstairs." He grinned at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Wait till you see this. We discovered it our second year." He sounded very smug.

They arrived at the statue of a one-eyed witch. James glanced up. "Is anyone watching?"

Everyone looked around. It was only the five of them in the deserted hall. Harry thought he heard commotion from downstairs. He looked at Sirius who grinned back. "Distraction accomplished."

"Okay." James pulled out his wand with a flourish. He looked like he had been looking forward to showing this off for quite a while. "Dissendium." The hump on the witch instantly opened, revealing a small hole.

Harry pretended to be amazed. Hermione and Ron stared. There was a gasp that emitted from behind all of them. They whirled around, James and Sirius with their' wands raised.

James relaxed, though slightly. "Evans! I thought you'd be downstairs with the others!"

Lily stepped out from behind a column looking slightly sheepish, but determined nonetheless. "It was obvious you were breaking school rules. I had to see what was up…" Her voice faded as she stepped forwards to touch the sides of the hole in the statue. "This leads to Hogsmeade?"

James nodded proudly.

"How'd you find this?"

"Second year. It was all me of course…" James trailed off as he caught sight of the look Sirius was giving him. "C'mon, she won't tell anyone right?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "And what event over the past 6 years is leading you to believe that?"

James bit his lip, looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione for help.

They decided to keep out of it.

"I won't tattle."

Lily's voice surprised all of them. She looked at them. "Presuming you aren't sneaking into Hogsmeade to shoplift all the time…are you?"

James shook his head quickly. "Of course not!" He smiled brightly. "Want to check out this amazing tunnel?"

"I don't see what's so amazing about it," Lily sniffed. She peered inside cautiously. "There's nothing living in there, is there?"

Sirius shrugged. "Can't say exactly. We never did find out what had sucked Peter's shoe clean off his feet. Or the strange slime that looks suspiciously like sali-." He stopped, feeling Hermione's hand in his. "Of course, you're safe with us." He added hastily.

James rolled his eyes, and hoisted himself into the hole. "C'mon, or one of the teachers will be coming."

Lily followed without hesitation. Then came Harry, Ron, Hermione, and lastly Sirius.

The sensation was the same. It felt like sliding down a long, stone slide. Upstairs, James and Sirius showed them a few tricks to make it into Honeydukes without being seen from behind the counter.

"Wow!" Hermione murmured. She caught Harry's eye. "So that's how you came up to me and Ron that time in third year," She whispered.

Harry nodded, reveling in the sugary warmth of the shop.

The trio ended up buying a whole bunch of candy under the pressure of James and Sirius. (Try these Pepper Imps! Peter almost wet his pants the first time I showed them to him)

"Harry!" Sammi appeared out of nowhere at his shoulder. "So you got through? What was it?" She added in a lower voice.

Harry hesitated, looking at James who stood nearby, greeting the rest of the pack who were pushing through the doorway.

"Secret passage." He whispered. "James said a spell and a hole opened up." He shrugged, pretending not to know more.

Sammi's eyes widened.

"Hey look! It's Dinas! And Malfoy!"

The Gryffindors looked up as Sirius pointed towards the Slytherins. James' eyes narrowed.

There were a bunch of Slytherins in the shop. The green and silver crowd muttered to each other as they crowded near the door.

"Hey! If you aren't buying, then clear the doorway!" Someone yelled.

The Slytherins looked around threateningly, but couldn't seem to come up with the person. The group exited the shop, overturning containers of candy as they went.

"Let's go!" James pushed after them, jumping over a pile of chocolate bars as he went.

Peter followed him eagerly.

"Potter! What are you doing? James?" Lily called, looking frustrated.

Sirius shrugged at her. "Hey, he hasn't gotten back at them yet. C'mon, it's not Snivelus this time."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh bother." He motioned towards the others. "We better keep them out of trouble."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "C'mon, she whispered, leading the way out the door.

The air outside was stinging compared to the warmth of Honeydukes. There also happened to be a full-fledged snowball fight going on. Sirius whooped as he hurled a lump at one of the Slytherins, efficiently knocking off his hat. Sammi joined in, laughing. She'd been part of the quidditch team too, after all. Her aim was deadly. Snowballs were even easier to throw than quaffles.

Lily stood by uncertainly as even Nina bent to pack together some snow.

"Hey look, it's the mudblood!" A Slytherin shouted.

James launched himself at the person, while Lily's face turned red. She took out a wand and caused an avalanche of snow to dump itself on the nearest Slytherin. Hermione looked surprised at her actions. Harry and Ron joined in the fight eagerly.

"Sammi's a beast," Ron panted as he rubbed his frozen hands,

One of Sammi's snowballs hit a tree so hard that chunks of bark came off. Harry smiled proudly. "Yeah. Bet she gets in the pros."

A snowball landed in the snow near them and they turned to see Hermione packing snow determinedly.

"Hermione?" Ron exclaimed in shock.

She smiled. The smile quickly dropped off her face. "Watch out."

The Slytherins were getting very mad. Wands were coming out rapidly. Harry and Ron pulled out their own as spells flew in every which direction. Innocent passer byers screamed at the sight.

A group of teachers could be seen coming towards their direction. Harry saw McGonagall's tight knot and her thinning lips among them. It occurred to him that things might get very confusing if they were to be caught..

"Run!" Sirius shouted. The crowd immediately scattered. Harry, Ron and Hermione ran twisting through the streets, laughing and clutching their sides.

"Are we safe?" Hermione panted as she leaned against a brick wall for support. Harry realized they were outside the dirty building of the Hogs Head, where the DA had met less than a year later. He felt himself quickly grow serious as he remembered the events that followed.

"That was wicked!" Ron whispered. Snow was encrusted in his bright hair but it didn't seem like he cared.

Harry smiled reluctantly. Things were always fun around James and Sirius. Even Lily was proving to be more and more willing to break rules. Harry hadn't seen that coming.

"Oh crap, there's Slughorn!" Ron hissed.

The three peered around the corner. Sure enough, the potions master was ambling down the street, looking not at all like he was out to catch some misbehaving students. Better safe than sorry though.

"Let's get in." Harry crept out and pulled open the door to the Hogs Head, praying that Slughorn wouldn't look over.

He didn't. They went inside.

The air was dark and musty.

The few people in the pub looked up suspiciously as the three students crept in. There were 2 hags, murmuring by the window, and a group of adult witches and wizards in black robes consulting in a corner. A large, ogre-like man nursed a drink at the bar.

"Umm, three butterbeers please," Hermione said, with a bright smile.

The bartender cast them a dirty look as he extracted there dirty bottles of butterbeer from a cabinet below him.

"What do we do?" Ron whispered, looking outside. They took a seat near the group sitting in the corner, as far away from the ogre as possible.

"Wait here until things die down I guess," Hermione whispered back. She tasted the butterbeer gingerly.

Harry took his own and sat back. The pub was very quiet compared to the chaos outside.

The door opened and a sweaty wizard walked in to join the group in the corner.

"Where are they?" A witch snapped impatiently.

The wizard looked around. "..most of them…caught…can't come…" He whispered behind a cupped hand.

The group murmured.

Ron tried in vain to dry his hair. Hermione wrung out her own and quickly caught his bottle as his elbow knocked into it.

"You think Sirius and James are okay?" Ron whispered..

Hermione shrugged. "McGonagall's got to know it was them-."

"Hold on!" Harry interrupted them. He listened. He could have sworn the group in the corner had just said 'Pettigrew'.

"This is stupid!" The witch remarked, not bothering to keep her voice down this time. "Some stupid fight, and we've just wasted our time here."

"Shut up!" A man hissed, looking around.

Harry pretended to be engrossed in a stain on the floor.

"He's…rat. . .come anyway….wants this bad…."

Harry strained to hear, but they were talking too quietly. Basically the group was waiting for some people, who weren't going to show up. And someone wanted someone badly…Harry felt goose bumps crawl up his arm.

He took another swill of the disgusting butterbeer.

"…Pettigrew…" There it was again! Wormtail's name. Harry had a bad feeling in his stomach. He scanned the group and felt his heart contract as recognized someone. The face was slightly younger but just as vicious as the face that had looked out at him from the daily prophet, proclaiming escaped prisoners. Lestrange, Bellatrix's husband was in the crowd.

One wizard stretched lazily and the tiniest part of an image could be seen under his sleeve. But there was no question about it.

Harry felt Hermione's cold fingers clutch his hand. She knew it too.

They were Death Eaters.

Dun dun, dun, as I said before. We are coming to a closing of the story. Harry has to make his choice.

Oh, thank you so much to the wonderful reviewers. I am using up my vacation time to write this story for you guys.

Fanfiction isn't letting me view the reviews right now so I can't answer, but we have officially gone over 100! Yay!