James Potter did not remember the last time Remus Lupin had been so unbelievably anxious before the full moon.
"You need to relax Moony, I'm getting a headache just by looking at you," Sirius smirked.
"I can't help it! What if it doesn't work? What if it does? It's such a big temptation! If it doesn't work after getting me all hopeful, it's going to kill me! And if it does, I might still die of shock!"
James and Sirius laughed out loud.
"Look at it this way Moony, either way we can blame Dumbledore and blackmail him to give us whatever we want to keep your murder a secret." Sirius smirked.
"Imagine having the world's greatest sorcerer at your beck and call! We can get him to abolish Slytherin house, or claim his entire vaults gold and go on a world tour!" James chipped in.
"Seriously? You both are already filthy rich to be able to afford a world tour! And abolish Slytherin house? We aren't even in Hogwarts anymore! If I die, I'm gonna come back and haunt you for the rest of your lives."
"Wouldn't have it any other way buddy! Marauders together till the end!" Sirius added while putting an arm over his shoulders.
"Where did he manage to get it anyways? I have just heard rumours of someone working on it in initial stages. Wouldn't it have been big news if it was going for trials?" Remus wondered out loud what all of them were thinking.
"Do you think 'this' is a trial and they are treating you as a test subject?" Peter was stupid enough to voice out loud.
Remus paled. "Dumbledore would have told me in that case. He said it was a proven thing but the creator didn't wish to be public about it yet."
"Only one way to find out Moony. Cheers!" James said as he handed over the last of the vials for Moony to drink.
It was a week back when Dumbledore had personally come to the flat that Sirius and Remus were renting out and given Remus the best news ever. Apparently there was a potion which would help him keep his consciousness even when transformed. Remus's biggest fear ever was to end up harming someone while transformed. And Dumbledore, out of the blue, gave him a way out of that fear.
If it worked, Remus's life would change forever.
"How fun would it be to actually be around a transformed werewolf in human form!" James mused. He couldn't wait! "We could go to Snape's house and scare the shit out of him!" He thought with a satisfied smug smirk.
…
The next order meeting happened to be a week after Moony's first ever conscious transformation. They had literally blasted through Hogwarts Headmasters office to stop Moony from kissing the life out of the old professor. But Moony, being Moony, ended up bursting into tears the minute he saw the old Professor and thanked him for a full fifteen minutes continuously before he calmed down enough to leave. They all were on a high since then and had partied almost daily in celebration.
Today's order meeting was going to be the most serious one they had had till date. Good thing Peter was stuck home mostly these days to bother taking out time to attend Order meetings. He had a feeling Peter had joined primarily because of the rest of them and had no inclination to put himself through additional effort for world welfare while he had personal family issues to deal with. "Understandable, family should take priority." He thought.
The Granger girl had her hair pinned into a plait today, she was dressed in jeans and a full sleeved black top. Her aura today screamed of a warrior rather than the hesitant but powerful magical one from the last meeting. She seemed to be busy talking to Professor McGonagall with keen interest. The Professor seemed to have an impressed look on her face. "Looks like Remus has some competition in his monopoly of being McGonagall's favourite," he thought humorously.
Moony and Padfoot looked half asleep at the moment though. They all had partied till late in the night and hardly got any sleep. He however was to on the edge thinking about the overload of information from the last meeting to feel sleepy. Lily had been busy with her internship of late and they had hardly spent any time together since quite a few days now. He was surprised that it wasn't bothering him as much as it should. He himself was being bulldozed into a pulp by Moody while training him and the other Auror trainees, including Sirius.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and sat at the head of the table bringing the meeting to start.
"Hello everyone! Thank you for taking out time to attend this meeting. Without wasting any further time, Hermione, if you would… " He looked over at Granger.
"Ah, Okay so…. Horcruxes. The easiest Horcrux to collect is at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement. It's the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw."
"What the hell?" "How do you know that?" "He kept one at Hogwarts!" And a lot of other similar comments from literally everyone followed her saying this. The few who didn't say anything seemed too shocked to comment, him included.
"Yes it's appalling. How I know this isn't important, what's important is that we are aware that it is there and can collect it any time we want."
"What is a room of requirement? We are well aware of all the secret places in Hogwarts but have never heard about such a room." He couldn't help but ask.
"You haven't?" She teased. "Maybe it was essential for people to have a place to escape the infamous marauders," she smirked.
"Hey! We were famous, not infamous!" He protested but felt himself smile.
"True that!" Sirius agreed with enthusiasm.
"We might have been a little," Moony said under his breath.
"You didn't even go to Hogwarts and you still know of us! Need an autograph fan girl?" Sirius smirked.
Moody hit him over the head. "Does it look like I have time for your shenanigans Black? Does it look like this is a joking matter?"
"Okaaay so the second Horcrux," Granger said quickly, once again getting serious. He had liked the smirk on her face when she teased him, it looked like she needed some fun in her life.
"Voldemort hid a ring that he inherited, or should I say forcefully inherited from Slytherin in an old shack that belonged to Marvolo Gaunt. We should be able to find the address in the old records. That ring is the second Horcrux that we can get.
I do not have a confirmation of the next three Horcruxes yet, though I expect to get it very soon."
"How? How do you know all this when the Auror department doesn't have the slightest clue about any of it?" Moody almost shouted desperately.
"Can't go on divulging my information source now Mr Moody," she smiled. "I need to be constantly vigilant don't I," she added Moody's catchphrase with a widened smile making Moody narrow his eyes.
"If looks could kill," he thought. Moody hated not knowing anything. "She is going to put him in such a state and he is going to take it all out on us unfortunate trainees tomorrow," he sighed internally.
Author's Notes: Feedback/Comments would be very much appreciated, even if anonymous. Apologies for the short chapter, part 2 of this chapter/ next chapter very soon.