Thank you to everyone that has read this story up to this point. I am honestly astounded when I see the number of people reading this. It simply amazes me. Considering that I started out with about ten people reading new chapters consistently, to have close to a hundred after only a few days is amazing to me. So thank you all.

This chapter, while it isn't a filler, is a bit of a more relaxed chapter at some parts. There is one part where I didn't realize how creepy it was until I said it out loud at night to make sure it sounded like I wanted it to and I think I actually scared myself a little bit.

That's all I have for notes/comments about this chapter. Without further delay, please enjoy.

It was about four in the morning, the sun was just barely breaking over the mountain range, casting a soft almost fuzzy look to everything. The entire castle for once seemed in perfect peace. No students were running through the halls, frantically trying to get to class on time. The bitterest of rivals weren't sharing hate filled insults. All of the teachers were still lying in their beds, grateful that it was the weekend.

There was a fresh fall breeze that swept through the castle's open corridors, giving the castle a bright feeling of anticipation. The portraits were just beginning to wake up and greet each other, speaking of their elaborate dreams (well, as elaborate as dreams could be for a portrait) and their plans for the day. When the Fat Lady woke up from her slumber, she immediately started warming up her voice to greet the children living in the Tower she protected.

In the Forbidden Forest, the woodland creatures, magical or normal, began to awaken from their sleep while some nocturnal animals finally closed their eyes and rested. The Whomping Willow's branches swayed back and forth, sashaying in the wind. Her leaves were not unlike the dress of a dancer, moving to the music of Mother Nature's symphony.

It was then, all the way across the grounds, in the fifth room of the second highest tower, a young man was tossing and turning in his sleep. Sweat formed on his brow and his eyes were clenched tightly together while he shook his head back and forth, as if that would stop the horrific dream that plagued his rest.

He was sprinting down the hallway, screams of pain and fear deafening him. His heart beat out a painful, torturous rhythm against his chest as he tried to will himself to move faster. No matter how fast he moved his legs, no matter how much strength he used, he never seemed to get closer to the chillingly familiar voices screaming.

Then there was dead silence.

All of the voices stopped, the flashes of light coming from the doors disappeared. He opened his mouth and tried to shout out but in his dream he had no vocal chords. Finally he was able to move forward. He ran to the first room and wretched at the sight. In a bloody mess were the barely recognizable bodies of Ursula and Ben. Their bloody and mutilated hands were a mere inches from each other; they looked as if they died holding hands. A pool of blood was quickly forming under their bodies, reaching out to him. His mouth was open in a silent scream. He tried to move away from the horrid sight but he couldn't.

Then to his horror, their heads turned to stare at him with their unnatural eyes open. Both of their mouths opened and began to ask, "Why? Why? Why?"

He stumbled back, hyperventilating, crashing into a room adjacent to the last. He yelped in shock. Sirius's and Remus's severed heads were lying on a table while their bound bodies were still chained to the wall. His heart tried to escape from his chest when Remus and Sirius opened their eyes and their mouths, blood pouring grotesquely out of all the orifices on their heads, as asked, "Why? Why? Why?"

He turned and ran as fast as he could. He frantically looked for a place to escape this hell when he tripped on something and went sprawling across the floor. The uneven stone cut into his hands and knees. He looked over his shoulder to see what tripped him and he quickly scrambled forward to try to get away from the partially liquefied body of Peter. With half his face melted off, Peter looked up and began to ask, "Why? Why? Why?"

Unable to stand it any longer, he speedily got to his feet and ran faster than he ever had before. He could see anymore. There was no one left to see except for one more.

But he was wrong.

He ran into the first empty room he saw, only to see an open coffin on display in the middle of the room. He tried to run away, he didn't want to see her in a coffin; he was going to change that. But an invisible force yanked him forward. He fought against it; he grabbed into the doorframe and tried to fight it but it was like there was like he was under the imperious curse.

His mouth opened in a silent scream when he saw who lay in the coffin. Lily's beautiful red hair fanned around her head and her elegant hands that were so adept at potion making where folded over her stomach. She was wearing the gold sweater he loved seeing her in. The only thing wrong (not that anything could truly be wrong with her – she was perfect in every way to him) was a cut right underneath her chin, reaching from right under her ear to about her jaw. He felt range surge through his veins. His hands gripped the edge of the coffin as he sobbed at the love of his life lying dead. He bowed his head and although he couldn't make a sound, he sobbed and apologized to Lily over and over again. Soon, he was all out of tears and let his head fall against the cool wood of the coffin.

"Why? Why? Why?"

He sprang back with impossible speed and watched the ghastly sight of Lily sitting up in the coffin and turning her head at an unnatural angle to ask him that one question that haunted him.

He escaped from the room and slammed the door shut behind him. He felt his heart hammering against his chest as he leaned heavily against the door. His knees shook and his hands were clammy. His knew without looking that his eyes were bloodshot and his skin was paler than the moons.

A new voice, softly singing in an infuriatingly taunting voice, caught his attention. He ran after it, ready to make the person pay dearly for what they had done to his friends.

"One by one and two by two

All your friends will die for you.

Three by three and four by four

You cannot prevent this gore.

Five by five and six by six

They see past your childish tricks.

Seven by seven and eight by eight

You cannot stop what is fate.

Nine by nine and ten by ten

This will always be the end."

The voice got louder and louder as the child (it sounded like a child to him) sang its sing-song rhyme. He came to a skidding halt when he turned the corner and saw the person.

Elyse stood there perfectly fine, just singing that song. When he came into view, she stopped her rhyme. Before he could say anything, Elyse said, "James, why didn't you save us?"

James tried to answer but his voice still wasn't working.

"Why, James? Why? You knew this would happen? You promised us you would protect us, but we all died! Why? Why?" Elyse asked sobbing.

James saw the figure approaching her from behind. He tried to run forward to protect her, to warn her, to take her spot, but he was frozen in his place once again. The figure lifted its wand and hissed, "Avada Kedavra," before disappearing in black smoke.

Elyse was illuminated in a horrifying beautiful green for just a second. Her eyes locked with James's once more before she asked, "Why?"

James sat up with a gasp. His heart was painfully beating against his ribcage and his lungs felt like they were on fire. He frantically groped for his glasses, ignoring the sharp pain when he accidentally hit his hand against the corner of his nightstand, and quickly put them on, checking in the dim light that all his roommates were where they were supposed to be. Remus was still snoring loudly in his bed, Sirius was mumbling something about bikes and brooms, Peter apparently wanted some cheese, and Ben was dead to the world minus the tapping the noise he made when he tapped out the occasional rhythm with his foot.

Still anxious from the terrible dream, James grabbed the Marauder's Map and quickly opened it, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

He unfolded the paper and looked at the girl's dorm where the names Elyse O'Brian, Ursula Black, and Lily Evans were exactly where they were supposed to be. James fell back against his pillows and took a few relieved deep breaths. It was all just a dream.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, James quickly got dressed and snatched Remus's Prefect badge (having a friend who was a Prefect had some perks) in case he got caught somewhere he shouldn't be.

Deciding that Snape was always a favorable target, he made his way down to the Slytherin Common Room. He didn't know the current password so he was going to have to improvise and just have to think of something only based on spells. Once in the dungeon area, James looked around for inspiration. It didn't help that the hallway was barren and as boring as hell. It was nothing like the Gryffindor Common room that had all the changing staircases or the Ravenclaw Common room that had the door knocker. Hell, Hufflepuff's had to be the most interesting one since it was nearly impossible for anyone to get past, except for Hufflepuffs that is. Yet Slytherin's was just a cold stone hallway.

Stone hallway. It was mildly uncanny how similar this hallway was to the one in his dream. He remember tripping on the stones and thought about when he was flying through the air. A devious grin spread across his face. Pulling out some of the supplies he brought, he created a small pressure sensor (nothing too technical) and magically lifted the stone right in front of the entrance. The second someone put even the slightest bit of pressure on the floor, they would go flying.

Satisfied with his ingenuity, James stuck his hands in his pocket and whistled himself a little tune as he walked to the kitchens for an early morning snack. He would be going to Hogwarts later that day with Ursula and he was a growing boy who needed his nourishment, therefore two breakfasts didn't seem too bad to him before a nice meal at the Three Broomsticks.

Unbeknownst to him, Professor Dumbledore was coming towards him, taking an early morning stroll. James nearly jumped out of his skin when his headmaster's airy voice greeted him, "That is a catchy tune, James Potter. Perhaps your friend Benjamin is not the only musician of the group."

"King's not my friend," James immediately responded.

Dumbledore nodded and stroked his beard in thought before commenting, "Yet you still refer to him by his nickname."

James seemed taken aback by that observation, thinking back to his nightmare that included Ben's death. Dumbledore seemed to be able to sense what had happened and nodded thoughtfully, "Sometimes it does one good to speak of dreams. Though they do not hold much value, they often show us our deepest fears."

"It's nothing Professor," James said stubbornly.

Dumbledore shook his head, "It was truly nothing, you would not be so upset."

"It's nothing," he bitingly said, "because it isn't going to happen."

The older man regarded the younger for a moment, "The future is a fickle thing James. Your friend Elyse knows that better than anyone else in this castle."

"She doesn't even remember so she doesn't know," James said sarcastically.

Dumbledore looked perplexed, "Is she forgetting her visions?"

James shook his head and decided that if there was anyone he could go to about this, not all of it though, it was Dumbledore, "She made a prophecy. I was the only one to hear it."

"Would you tell me what she said?" Dumbledore pressed.

There was something off about the question. James hesitated, something telling him not to tell his headmaster the prophecy. "No. It doesn't matter because like I said, I'm going to stop it."

Dumbledore seemed to deflate slightly, like a child that wasn't allowed to know a wonderful secret. "Just be wary, James, when one tries to change a prophecy, there is always the risk of inadvertently causing it." With those last words, Dumbledore excused himself, stating he forgot his lemon drops in his office.

James just shook his head, thinking the headmaster's advice was pointless. How could he ever accidentally cause Elyse's death when trying to prevent it? Shaking his head, he made his way to the kitchen ready to get his pre-breakfast breakfast.

Hogsmeade was unlike it was ever before. Usually James's trips consisted of him stopping at Zonko's and restocking on pranking supplies, tripping a couple of underclassmen discreetly, annoying Snivellus, getting an unhealthy amount of sweets from Honey Dukes, and finishing the day off drinking his weight in butterbeer. The day would be spent with his best friends, causing mayhem as they lived up to their self proclaimed title of the Marauders.

Currently, he was sitting across from one person from said group of friends in the most uncomfortable silence he had ever found himself in. Ursula was sipping on her butterbeer while they waited for their meals to come. James kept running in hand through his hair, trying to think of something, anything, to say. Merlin, it had never been this weird between them before. Then again, other people had always been around. This was truly the first time they were trying this and alone.

Finally sick of the silence, James slammed his hands loudly on the table, "I can't take this anymore! I'm breaking up with you!"

Ursula slumped back into her seat, "Thank Merlin. I thought you would never say that."

James feigned looking offended, "What's the supposed to mean?"

She smirked, "It means that I didn't want to be the one to end it because I remember a certain arrogant prat asking me if I would ever break his heart."

His entire face up to his ears flushed red, "That's not to be spoken of to anyone ever again." He pointed his finger in her face, fully intent on making his point made.

Ursula laughed, feeling more at ease than she had in weeks in James's presence, "So what do we do now? Moony, Sirius, and Lucky said they wanted to check out the Shrieking Shack and maybe attempt their transformations, sans Remus."

"Wormy's on his date…" James trailed off, looking like the epitome of mischief. "I have the cloak; we could always go check up Wormtail and make sure his date's treating him right."

Ursula rolled her eyes as she stood, "Other way around Prongs. Knowing Peter, he's probably making a fool of himself."

"I thought that was assumed. Come here, Love," He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her close to him before discretely throwing on the cloak. A pained yelp caused a few surrounding patrons to look up for the source of the noise.

"What the hell! That's my throwing shoulder!"

"Don't call me Love." She retorted simply as they walked without a care towards the door, not stopping as they knocked into other wizards and witches who were baffled by the invisible object they ran into.

"Alright, Sweetie." James teased.

There was a grunt and the cloak almost fell off the pair as James double over in pain, "Damn, Ursula, you don't hit a bloke there!" James said, his voice a few octaves higher than usual.

"You don't call me Sweetie." She quipped before grabbing her complaining companion's shoulder, yanking him out of the restaurant.

~Earlier that morning~

Peter paced back and forth in front of the courtyard, waiting for Claire to show up. His friends (really just Sirius) hadn't been supportive of his date with Claire. He didn't know her as much as he knew Ursula or Elyse and he felt like he was about to be sick. He didn't do good with spending time with other people. Being friends with some of the most charismatic people surprisingly didn't leave him with knowing how to charm a girl or even hold a conversation with someone outside of their group.

His nerves were going haywire at this point. She was fifteen minutes late. What if she didn't want to go with him? What if she agreed only on a dare? Maybe she realized she was going on a date with him and came to her senses. Did she say that he was supposed to pick her up from her common room? Peter frantically searched through his panicked thoughts and tried to remember anything she might have ever said to him.

He was nearly about to give up and walk back to the common room in shame from being stood up when someone cleared his throat behind him. He turned around his heart decided to choke him. She looked…stunning.

Claire, known for being dowdy, was simply beautiful. It wasn't like Lily's elegant beauty, Ursula's distinctive beauty, or Elyse's quirky beauty; it wasn't anything he expected. And it took his breath away.

"Claire, you, you look b-b-beautiful," he stuttered as he stared at her.

She flushed bright red and pulled the hair away from her face. It was down, he had never seen it down before, and framed her rosy face. Her eyes weren't hidden behind her glasses anymore. "Really?"

Peter nodded fervently, "You're beautiful." He said with much more confidence.

She turned even redder and looked at her shoes shyly, "No one's ever said that to me before."

His jaw dropped, "Really?"

"Yeah."

They both shuffled awkwardly, unsure as to how to continue. Peter went to offer his arm to her, thought better of it, then decided to motion towards the door, "Do you want to go to Hogsmeade now?"

She nodded and walked out of the door. Peter nodded to himself, quite proud that it wasn't going as bad as he thought it would, before realizing that he was standing alone in the doorway. He jumped slightly and rushed after Claire.

When he caught up to her, they walked in silence towards Hogsmeade. McGonagall gave Peter a mildly surprised look when he walked past. He flushed slightly, not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. Ahead of them, Peter saw Remus and Elyse standing by the side of the path to Hogsmeade. Remus smiled at him and Elyse waved happily at the pair.

Peter looked questioningly about the whereabouts of the third of that group and Elyse rolled her eyes and motioned subtly up where Sirius was climbing the tree while trying to carry a bucket full of water balloons (Peter would know, he only got three hours of sleep last night because Sirius asked him to fill all of them with water) up to the top.

"Oi! Peter!" Sirius shouted down. "Think fast!"

Before he could react, a water balloon was dropping directly towards his head. He flinched, waiting for impact and the humiliation of being pranked by his friends in front of his date, but the impact never came. Remus pulled out his wand and levitated the balloon about ten feet above the pair.

Remus turned towards Peter and Claire, ignoring Sirius's complaints, and said, "I apologize for him. We're still trying to tame him. It's a long and painful process for all parties involved."

Claire giggled at Sirius's indignant shouts. Peter shuffled, indignantly shouting in his head, furious that his friends were able to get more of a reaction out of his date than he was able to.

Elyse seemed to pick up on his want for it just to be him and his date. "Remus, shouldn't we try ter get Paddy out o' teh tree?"

The sandy haired boy sighed, exasperated. "If we must. Then again, we could just leave him there."

"Leave me up here and I'll kill you in your sleep."

"I'd love to see you try, Paddy." Remus said sarcastically, the strain of the coming moon already affecting his health.

"Shut it Moon Boy."

Peter grabbed Claire's hand and quickly walked away from his friends. Once they were in town with Peter still holding her hand, he flushed red and quickly let go of her hand, mumbling, "I just wanted to get away."

Claire laughed genially, "Why would you want to get away? They seem like wonderful friends."

He shrugged, "They're a bit much to handle at times," he admitted, courage building in his chest.

"It just seems like you are always with them causing mayhem. I heard that it's you and your friends who did the thing with the ceiling at the Sorting Feast. That was really impressive. Were you responsible for that?"

"Just a little bit," Peter admitted. Her eyes widened and he felt immensely proud of himself. Here he was impressing a girl.

"That's amazing! I wish I was as good at magic as you. All I can do is put a couple of numbers together and create spells. Whenever I try them, they literally blow up in my face," her face flushed with embarrassment from admitting her lack of magical skill.

Peter nodded, "I'm particularly good at Charms. I even help out Sirius sometimes with the subject," he lied through his teeth. What Sirius didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Really?! I never thought that Sirius was bad at charms. Not that I think you're lying; why would you lie about your friends? And I don't want to sound stalkerish, but I've always been fascinated with you so I kind of stayed close to you in classes we shared so you would notice me and I thought it was Sirius helping you. It's not that I thought you were dumb – I struggle in classes – but I assumed that it was you."

Not really sure what to say to that, Peter shrugged bashfully. They continued to walk down the path, stopping occasionally to look at something in one of the storefronts. Every so often they would exchange shy and awkward glances before one of them would turn red and start walking again. They were only interrupted once when Elyse walked up to them.

"Sorry fer interruptin' yer date but've either o' yeh seen James o' Ursula? They's both gone missin' an' no one else's seen 'em."

Peter shook his head, "Are you sure they didn't just go somewhere private for their date?"

Elyse jumped slightly and turned to look at something before relaxing. She seemed to be listening intently to something before nodding her head slightly before refocusing on Peter and Claire, "Never mind. See yeh later Wormy, Claire."

She smiled brightly at them before flouncing off to find Sirius or Remus. Claire shook her head in amusement, "She's an interesting character, isn't she?"

Peter chuckled and thought off all the 'mildly interesting' qualities that could be applied to Elyse. "She's a special girl."

"Damn, Wormy, your date looks mighty fine," a voice whispered to him. He nearly jumped a foot in the air, startling Claire as well.

"What is it?" She asked him, worried that something was wrong.

He shook his head, "I thought someone touched me."

"Tisk, tish, Wormtail. Lying to your girl? I'm ashamed." James mocking chastised.

"Ignore him, Peter. He's just being a pain in the ass because we passed Lily with Snivellus on our way over," Ursula explained from behind him.

Peter asked, as subtly as he could when Claire was distracted looking at some of the candy in front of Honeydukes, "What are you two doing here?"

"Well after Prongs here broke up with me, we decided to shadow your date. Make sure things go perfectly for you."

"Then why did you bring James?" Peter mumbled to himself, thinking about how James had ruined almost every chance he ever might have had with Ursula. When she broke up with Ben, he thought it might have been his chance; his one shot. Instead James swooped in and got the girl only to break up with her within a few weeks. It wasn't fair and at this point, Peter was glad that James was hidden at that moment because he sure would have loved to give him a piece of his mind (not that he would ever actually ever have the courage to do that).

A floating hand appeared out of nowhere and slapped him upside the head, "Shut it Wormy or who knows what I might let slip."

Peter groaned. Wonderful. Just what he needed; James and Ursula following him around on his date.

It was a dream bloody come true.

So I really didn't know how to end this. It doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. I just wanted to show the beginning of Peter's date because honestly, Peter's been a slightly neglected character in my opinion so I decided to give him half a chapter.

The next chapter will be focusing on the group as a whole. And when I say whole group, I mean whole group. I hope that you all have some patience after this slightly delayed chapter because I don't see the next one being posted within the next week. Due to school and music conflicts, this is looking like a week/week and a half update estimate. Just a warning.

In the mean time, feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter or even this entire story as a whole. I know I sound like a broken record player, but I honestly do love hearing from you guys because it helps me tailor a story to fit the reactions of you (the reader) so I can make the story more enjoyable. It shouldn't take a lot of your time, just a little bit can help a lot

Until next time, adios and happy reading.