A/N: Awww! Thanks guys for your reviews! And Hello to new reviewer!


James and Lily ran into the Common Room with a sickening feeling deep in their stomachs. Someone sounded like they were being murdered, a painful drawn out death because the person continued to scream. They followed the screaming, Lily slightly ahead of James before leaving his side to run up the girls' stairs. James was left with no choice but to wait at the bottom of the stairs and he could do nothing except keep looking up above and hope that everything would be all right.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind the screaming came again, this time louder followed by screeches, grunts and yells. He could see movement just further beyond the top of the stairs but the most of it was out of his view. Doors slammed and he could hear struggling. Lily was talking rapidly to someone, almost having to shout it over the voices of others. She was saying soothing things but the screams continued to wail. Behind him the boys were filing out the boys' dormitories wondering what was going on.

Sirius and Remus were the first to reach James. "Bloody murder!" Sirius said rubbing his head but alert and awake. They all looked to the top of the stairs. They could see the girls now but could only watch as they clearly shuffled about trying to restrain another girl who wouldn't stop struggling against them. James could also see Lily now. She was caught up amongst the mess of arms and legs and desperately trying to hold onto the girl now revealed to be Yoanna.

Yoanna looked like she was fighting for her life and was doing a very good job at it too.

"Lily!" James watched in horror as Lily and Yoanna took one step too near the steps and they began to fall. At the same instant James instinctively leapt up the stairs but as soon as his foot touched the first step all of them flattened out making a very wide and very slippery concrete slide. Lily, Yoanna and James slid down to the bottom landing in a heap. Remus and Sirius had tried to break their fall but they fell at such a speed that it took them off their feet too.
"Yoanna!" Lily pulled herself up to a sitting position and untangled Yoanna from Remus.

The silence from the girl brought about another kind of fear in Lily. "Yoannie?" Lily brushed the girl's hair away from her face. Her fingers were frozen and locked as if she had been trying to claw at something. Her eyes were blank and wide. Catatonic. Lily thought.

James stood up. "Everyone, back off to beds. We need space." He waved his arms making the students back up. Some students protested wanting to know more but James was firm and slowly they slumped off. Cerise lingered in the background with her arms crossed her expression unreadable. By this time Yoanna had recovered somewhat and was whispering in broken sentences.
"Don't let him. Don't let him get to me. Don't..."

"Yoannie?" Yoanna was looking at her but she wasn't focusing.

"E very night...I see him. I see!" she gripped Lily's hand. "And he...he! He wants it back!"

"What is going on?" McGonagall demanded. She was dressed in a billowing dressing gown with her cloak hastily thrown over. Her lips pressed into a straight line as soon as she saw Yoanna. Stooping over she placed a warm hand on Yonna's sweaty forehead and after a few seconds she straightened up. "James, Lily. Come with me. We need to get her to Madam Pomfrey. The rest of you boys, back to bed." James nodded and picked up Yoanna up who had fallen silent. And they followed McGonagall out.

James and Lily returned twenty minutes later to find Remus and Sirius waiting for them in the Common Room. There wasn't much more that they could tell them. Madam Pomfrey had given Yoanna a potion to sedate her and send her into a dreamless sleep. The only conclusion the nurse could draw was that Yoanna was having a particularly bad nightmare caused by the stress of losing her foster parents.


The next day, the Marauders and Lily headed straight for the ward to find Yoanna sitting up in bed. She looked tired and very pale but she nonetheless she smiled widely when they walked in.

"Hi! Are those for me?" Remus nodded and handed her a bunch of yellow flowers that he and Sirius went out to pick for her. Yoanna thought they were very pretty and couldn't help but hold them to her nose. The scent was lovely and fresh but it provoked a sneeze almost immediately.

"Here, give me those." Lily took them and placed them in the empty vase beside her bed. "How are you feeling?"

Yoanna half shrugged. "Okay, I guess." A few awkward moments passed. "I'm sorry if I caused you guys trouble last night. I...don't really remember what happened though." Remus and Sirius nodded. After an unfortunate adventure during their third year they had both ended up in Madam Pomfrey's hands and had tasted the same potion. Not only had it knocked them straight out but it had also erased a good deal of their recent memory and they couldn't quite remember their own names for about a week after. Yoanna seemed to be doing very well but then Sirius did suspect that he and Remus had been given an overdose on purpose to serve as part of their punishment.

"No problem, Yoannie." Lily smiled. "We're just glad that you are okay." Yoanna nodded, grateful that she had them as her friends and sneezed.

"You must have some sort of pet! I know you do!" she accused Remus who stood close by her side. "I know it's not your cologne because Peter sometimes uses the same one and I never slneeze when he's around me and you can't have that much pollen sticking to you."

Remus looked taken aback and started stuttering. "I...urm...I..." Sirius stepped in.

"That's it, you've blown his cover." Everyone turned to look at him. "He does have a pet. But it's..." he lowered his voice to a hush. "It's highly illegal." He finished with a conspiratory wink.

"Right, he does." James confirmed with a convincing smile. Yoanna leaned in happy that she had just been let in such a big secret. "Ooo, what pet is it?" Sirius hesitated. He hadn't expected her to ask that, she really hadn't seemed like the type to want to be involved in trouble and especially something illegal.

"It's a...a big black dog!" James was trying very hard not to laugh as Sirius expression fell and he gave him a pointed look.

"A black dog?" Yoanna was apparently not impressed with the illegal pet.

"Yeah, I'm not supposed to have him because he's, urm, very very big." Remus was rapidly catching on.

Yoanna looked back at him. "Do you think I could see him?" she asked excited once again. Remus pretended to consider it and then nodded. Sirius had gone quiet. His little white lie had completely backfired upon himself. James turned with a grin and even Lily was trying very hard not to laugh at Sirius.

"I rekon I can sneak him in here. Where's Pomfrey?"

"I think she's gone to speak to McGonagall." Yoanna said.

"Brilliant. Sirius, come with me, you and I will go get Remus' pet." James grabbed a handful of Sirius's robes and pulled him towards the door.

"Maybe, the dog doesn't want to come in here!" Sirius said indignantly as he got dragged out. Minutes later a large shaggy dog appeared followed by James. He padded in with his head and tail held high and made a point of ignoring James.

"Aw he's gorgeous!" Yoanna exclaimed and climbed out of bed to pet him. Sirius the dog stood stiffly prepared to endure the humiliation of being petted. But Yoanna stroked him lovingly and the others could see that he was clearly enjoying it. Lily also patted him gingerly, it was the first time she had seen him as a dog up close and unlike Yoanna, she knew who he was. "He's so adorable." Yoanna sneezed but she didn't let go of the shaggy dog. "What's his name?"

"He's called Snuffles!" James said quickly. Remus and Peter almost choked. "Remus was going to call him Fru Fru but decided that it wasn't manly enough."

Yoanna looked over to Remus. "And Snuffles is manly enough?"

"It's better than Fru Fru at least." Snuffles growled at James and snuggled up to Yoanna.

"Snuffles!" Remus warned. "Don't get your drool over Yoanna now." The dog glared at Remus.


Sirius stomped ahead of them down the corridor. The four Marauders were on their way to the Room of Requirement to work on a new invention.

"Why couldn't you say Wormtail was his pet?" he demanded. Peter stopped laughing immediately and fell quiet. James and Remus were still laughing about the incident earlier.

"Because, Padfoot! Last time I looked having a rat for a pet isn't illegal!"

"How 'bout you then?" he pointed at James.

Remus snickered. "You'd think people would notice if I was hiding a stag."

"Fine! But don't expect Fru Fru to start a petting zoo!"

"It was Snuffles." James cracked up unable to stop laughing. Sirius also grinned.

"Whatever, Prongs."


A/N: I enjoyed writing that end part!