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'Remus, wake up!' James' insistent whisper dragged Remus from a dreamless sleep. Remus wasn't happy about that. Dreamless sleeps were his favourite type of sleep – it meant he didn't have visions of the moon, or howling forests, or the bloody bodies of his friends and family.

It was still dark outside; James was blinding Remus with his lit wand tip.

'James!' Remus hissed, checking the clock on his bedside. 'It's 3am!'

'I know, I know, bear with me while I wake the others up,'

Remus threw himself back down onto his pillow while James woke Peter and Sirius. Why me first? He thought to himself.

Remus fumbled for his wand where it lay on his bedside cabinet.

'Lumos,' he whispered and the wand tip lit up.

'Okay, so now we're all up,' James was back on his bed, wand light casting shadows everywhere.

'Yeah, why're we all up?' Sirius yawned.

'I'm getting to that.' James shone his wand in Sirius' face. 'We didn't get to finish our talk about what we're going to do with my invisibility cloak.'

'I wondered when you'd get back onto that,' Remus sat up in his bed.

'And you had to tell us now?' Sirius groaned.

'You said you already had an idea,' Peter reminded James.

'I do Pete,' James grinned, ignoring Sirius. 'I reckon we should use it to sneak out of the castle and into the dark forest!'

There was a moment of silence.

'Yes!' Sirius exclaimed, tiredness forgotten. 'When?'

'Hold on,' Pete shushed Sirius. 'Isn't the forest forbidden? I thought there were werewolves in there.'

'There aren't any werewolves in there,' Remus assured him. He didn't mention how he knew that, but Pete didn't ask either.

'But there's other stuff right?' Pete asked nervously, his voice almost squeaking. He glanced out of the window opposite his bed that showed a view of the Forbidden Forest.

'That's why we're going to explore it!' James explained, as though it was the most obvious reason. 'To find out what's in there.'

'C'mon Pete,' Sirius urged, 'where's your sense of adventure?'

Pete grimaced in what may have been an extremely weak smile and mumbled something that sounded to Remus like, 'not in the forest.'

'So who's in? Sirius?' James looked to the bed on his left.

'Hell yes!'

'Pete?'

'I guess so,'

'Remus?'

Remus had been caught up in an internal battle of thoughts. Should he say no and risk losing his closest friends? Or should he say yes and risk getting a detention and letting down Professor Dumbledore? He hadn't been able to decide while left to his own thoughts, but in the face of James' question and his friends' expectant faces he blurted out his answer.

'Y-yeah, okay!'

'Sorted!' James punched the air. 'So how about this weekend, Friday night? That's a plan then!' James cast an excited grin around the dormitory. 'Night lads!'

They all extinguished their wands and were asleep in moments. Well, except for Remus, who was now kept awake thinking of all the things that could go wrong in the forest.

Friday evening came quicker than Remus would have liked and James held them all to their word.

The four friends waited until the Gryffindor Common Room was empty before sneaking down and putting the cloak over the four of them.

'It just about covers the four of us, so no one make any sudden movements or have any growth spurts before we get down to the forest, okay?' James whispered as they tip toed through the portrait hole.

'Hello?' The Fat Lady called down the Seventh Floor corridor. 'Hello?' She seemed confused by being opened and seemingly no one exiting the dormitory.

Remus and the others carefully trekked down all seven floors of the Grand Staircase without slipping from under the cloak. Remus found it totally bizarre to think that nobody could see the four First Years as they made their way out of the castle. It was particularly odd when they had a close call with Professor McGonagall in the Entrance Hall.

'I wonder why she's up so late,' Sirius hissed before being shushed by James who was in front.

They took their route across the grounds more swiftly. The night sky was black except for the starlight, so no one could have seen the odd shoe or hem of a robe appearing from nowhere and vanishing in an instant.

In minutes they had reached the border of the forest. Tall oak trees leered down at the four first years. In the shadows of the trees James whipped the cloak off the group.

'Let's not light our wands until we can't see Hagrid's hut okay?' James whispered to them, drawing his own wand. 'Let's go.'

He led them in. James and Sirius went first; Peter and Remus proceeded rather more hesitantly.

'I don't think I like this,' Peter hissed, jumping at a rustle of the leaves overhead.

'Me neither,' Remus agreed, minding his step as the roots at his feet became thicker and more pronounced. In the light of their wands every shadow looked sinister and every blow of the wind through the trees reminded Remus of a howl. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled.

'What's that?' James asked. At the edge of his wand light, to their right, something glittered. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a small stream running deeper into the forest.

'Let's follow it,' Sirius urged, already picking his way along the bank.

'I don't think we should…' Remus began, but they were already off. He instead kept a cautious eye on the depths of the trees on either side. Pete sniffed a few times, his foot slipping into the icy waters twice. Soon, the small stream had widened and wound its way to a large pool of water.

'Looks like we found the watering hole,' James grinned. 'Let's see what comes out for a drink.' He ducked behind a large bush and peered through it to the lake.

Sirius' face was identical to James' as he crouched beside his best friend.

Remus sighed. This was probably the most stupid idea he'd ever heard, but he couldn't stop himself from joining them, the curiosity that had been subdued since that night four years ago was struggling so hard to get out. Pete followed Remus, his breathing loud in the relative silence of the forest.

'Pete, shut up,' Sirius hissed as they watched the edges of the water for any creatures that might make an appearance.

'I can't help it. It's cold.'

'Guys, you do realise that nothing's going to be coming for a drink at this time of night, right?' Remus pointed out after ten minutes of watching. 'Anything that would have has already been and gone hours ago.'

James looked doubtful. 'I guess you're right.' He conceded picking himself up from the leaf strewn ground. 'Let's get back to the trees.'

'My arse is going numb,' Sirius informed them as he stood.

'Because we really needed to know that,' Remus muttered, following James into the trees. This time it was Sirius bringing up the rear with Pete.

Not five minutes away from the lake Remus, whose senses were ever so slightly heightened by his lycanthropy, hissed for everyone to hide behind a massive fallen oak. He waited for several tense minutes.

'Remus, what-' James began. Remus cut him off with a wave of his hand. He could hear something coming closer. A rather large something to be exact. And a few seconds later the others heard it too.

'What the hell is it?' Sirius asked. Pete whimpered quietly.

They found out shortly as a herd of what Remus first took to be men on horseback burst through the trees.

'Centaurs,' Sirius breathed as a ray of moonlight flashed upon a palomino body.

'Wow,' Pete sighed. All four of them peered over their fallen trunk and stared in fascination and wonder as the herd galloped past. Half of them were armed with bows and arrows. As the last chestnut hindquarters vanished into the darkness on the other side of the clearing Remus let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

'That. Was. Amazing.' James breathed.

Sirius started laughing from the broken tension.

'Let's get back to the dorm,' Remus told them, urging them to keep their voices down as they wound their way back through the trees.

'Did you see the way they moved? It was like nothing I've ever seen!'

'What, you've never seen a horse before Pete?'

'But it was more than a horse, it was crazy!'

'Shhh-AAAH!' Remus found himself being dragged towards the sky.

'REMUS!' Sirius yelled, spinning around. The three friends stood with their jaws dropped as Remus hovered in the air, held up by the massive hand holding his robes.

'What the blazes are you four doin' in 'ere?' Hagrid whispered gruffly. The four Gryffindors mumbled various excuses, none of which were plausible.

'Sleep walking.'

'Got lost.'

'Centaurs.'

'I quite like trees.'

Hagrid set Remus back on his feet and glared at them through the darkness.

'I'm takin' you right back to the castle,' he growled, 'an' you can tell your excuses to Professor McGonagall.'

Remus exchanged a worried glance with Peter; he was looking very pale and even more rodent-like than usual. Remus was still trying to calm his racing heart down.

'Follow me,' it was only then that Remus noticed that Hagrid was armed with a crossbow.

'What's that for?' he asked the giant.

'Cause there's dangerous creatures in that forest! As well as sneakin' First Years!'

'So why were you in there?' Sirius demanded to know, jogging to keep up with the giant's stride, 'if there's dangerous stuff in there?'

'It's my job,' Hagrid replied stonily, 'and it would be a hell of a lot easier if students didn't come wanderin' into the forest. It's forbidden for a reason, you know!'

'We're sorry,' Remus mumbled, Pete nodded anxiously.

'Fat lotta good that'll have done if them centaurs had spotted yer.' He glowered.

'What would they have done?' James asked.

'Depends who was there. Most of 'em woulda shot yer. They're not too keen on Wizards right now. There's not many of 'em who woulda helped you on yer way, let alone let you go without a scratch.'

'Why are they here then?'

'Hogwarts has always been a place for magical creatures like centaurs and merfolk. When the Ministry started restricting their lands to stop Muggles noticin' 'em the centaurs got pretty riled up. The herd here was about half what it is now, but it's getting' bigger all the time.'

They broke from the shadows of the forest back onto the grounds.

'How did you four get out 'ere anyway? You're not meant to leave the castle.'

They cast a quick glance at James. 'We were really careful,' he lied. 'It took ages.'

Hagrid grunted. 'There's reasons for yeh all not to be out at night.'

He escorted the four Gryffindors to Professor McGonagall's study. She answered the door wearing a tartan nightgown and her hair loose, as opposed to its usual tight bun.

'I found these four wanderin' the forest.' Hagrid told her.

'The forest?' she repeated, obviously surprised. 'I'll take them from here Hagrid.'

'Right y'are Professor.' He left, swinging his crossbow onto his shoulder as he went.

'You four. In. Now.' She ordered. Opening the door wide enough for them to file in. 'What were you thinking going into the forest at this time of night? At all, in fact!' She glared at them across her desk.

'Well professor, we just wanted to explore,' Sirius began, loading his voice full of charm and confidence.

'Quiet Black.'

'Yes professor.'

'I expect better from my students.' She told them. 'Nothing gives a student the right to be out of bed and walking around the forbidden forest. All four of you will serve detentions and twenty-five points shall be taken from each of you.'

'Twenty-five?' James repeated, appalled. 'But we're in your own house!'

'Exactly. Your own welfare obviously doesn't seem to matter to you, so perhaps this will help you sort out your priorities in the future.'

James and Sirius were aghast. Remus and Pete looked shamefully down at their shoes.

'Dismissed.' Professor McGonagall watched the four traipse out of her study.

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