Disclaimer: We own everything you don't recognize (unless you just didn't know about it, and JKR still owns it).

Author's Notes: Look, I'm on time and everything.

Chapter Three: The Power of Wishes

An entire universe away, four boys were playing with fate. Well, they were playing Truth and Dare, which, considering who they were and their typical dares, could very well change the fate of the world.

"Okay, Pads, it's your turn. Dare or Dare?" a messy haired boy asked jubilantly, his hazel eyes twinkling merrily behind oval glasses. He stared at the boy in question, who was sitting on the other end of the bed with a roguish grin that turned his face into a playground of fantasies any girl could get lost in.

A thin, tired-looking boy with brown hair prematurely streaked with gray rolled his eyes before saying dryly, "Whatever happened to Truth, James?"

"Marauders don't ask for Truth!" James exclaimed with a grin. When his friends bursts into giggles (very manly giggles worthy of the four seventeen year old boys, of course) he deflated a bit. "Well, not in Truth or Dare," he said defensively.

"He's right, Moony," a second dark haired boy said as he clapped his friend firmly on the shoulder. Unlike James' wild locks, this boy's hair in no way looked like he had forgotten to brush it for the past three or so years. "A true Marauder never chooses Truth, and, as a true Marauder, I challenge Prongs to come up with a dare worthy of such a person."

"And I accept that challenge!" James replied. Opening his mouth to speak, he came to a sudden realization, paused, then frowned to himself as an expectant silence descended upon them.

"Don't tell me you don't have a Dare, Prongs," the fourth boy said in a disappointed voice. He was smaller than his friends (although, unlike them, he was also slightly on the plump side) with thin blond hair, and watery blue eyes.

"Of course I have a dare, Wormy; I have loads of dares," he said. "I'm just identifying the proper one for our dear Mr. Black." He snapped his fingers suddenly, his face alight with a look that, on some, would indicate insanity. Luckily, James just looked excited. "I dare you, Sirius Valentine Black, to wish for the perfect girl!" His triumphant smile slid off his face as his companions groaned loudly. "What?" he defended. "Wishes can be very powerful in the Wizarding World."

"And we all know that you've been wishing for the kind affections of the generous Miss Lily Evans for the past four years, which is never going to happen, so pardon us if we've lost faith in their magnificently almighty power," Sirius said in what would've been considered a kind voice if not for the content of his statement. James began to sulk, as he did whenever they brought up his dismal luck with his red-haired love. However, instead of moping, as he generally did when alone, he directed his frustration at his friend.

"Just do it, Black," he muttered as he scowled at the other boy.

Sirius grinned widely and stood up, placing his wand hand over his heart. "I, Sirius Valentine Black, alias Messer Padfoot, the most intelligent, clever, handsome, charming, brilliant, powerful, spectacular—"

His friends knew he could go on like this forever, and, as they had done dozens of times before, simultaneously shouted, "Padfoot!"

Sirius didn't miss a beat. "Do wish for the girl who would be my perfect companion. She must be witty, intelligent, funny…"

His friends were, this time, shocked at the mere fact that he hadn't mentioned any sort of physical requirements yet, and didn't say anything "…with legs that go on forever, and a figure that just makes you want to—"

"Sirius!" It was Moony who decided that that was going a bit too far; a faint blush colored his cheeks even as his eyes shined with the quiet amusement that defined him.

"Love her forever and ever and—"

CRASH. THUD.

Sirius stopped reciting his rather dramatic appeal to whichever deity granted wishes and pulled his wand out of his back pocket. The other three boys did the same and were soon standing next to him. They exchanged quick glances and James looked out his window, which had a nice view of the front door.

He was so surprised by the sight that he beheld that he merely said, "I think we better go downstairs."

"Why?" Sirius asked. "It's not…?" He trailed off with a dark look that disappeared when James shook his head.

"No, but I still think we should just go."

They did so, and, in seconds were standing behind James' front door. He took a deep breath (hoping that he hadn't just had one too many butterbeers; his friends would never let him live it down if that was the case) and opened the door.

"What the bloody freaking hell?" Sirius said loudly, astonishingly enough not waking up the two unconscious, pajama-clad girls who had been deposited on the doorstep.

The blond boy frowned, and, as the only one not staring at the two girls, felt it was his duty to bring up an important point. "I thought Prongs said one girl?"

Moony snorted softly, nudging the shorter one with his toe. "Peter's right; Prongs did only say one girl, Padfoot."

"Well, you know me; I'm a bit of an overachiever," Padfoot said in an almost absent way.

A wry smile crossed Moony's face as he turned towards his friend. Peter was letting his wand dangle by his side, ready to attempt defense if need be. James himself was furiously rubbing his eyes, half hoping that he had just drank too much and half hoping that what he was seeing was very real indeed.

The two girls were just barely touching, black hair mingling almost artistically with brown curls, and they continued to sleep, completely unaware of their audience. Sirius briefly wondered if they should take them inside (it was a rather chilly English night, summer or not, and they didn't have much clothing on), but decided against it and leaned back. Unfortunately, either he had forgotten where the doorframe was or it had moved sometime since he had last seen it (which tended to happen in a place like the Potters' Manor) and he completely missed it. His eyes widened as he fell backwards through the doorway.

THUD!

Bridget groaned softly to herself before she sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Merlin, Gumi, what the bloody hell are you doing? I'm trying to slee—"

Her eyes widened to an almost comical degree once she realized that it wasn't, in fact, her friend who had made the noise, but the handsome, dark-haired teenager who was currently sprawled on the floor. All the blood drained from her face.

Neither the clumsy boy, nor the two others who were glaring at him seemed to notice that Bridget was awake. The fourth boy, who was shorter than the other three, kinda mousy looking, and the closest one to Bridget and Kagumi, had noticed and was trying to gain the attention of the dark-haired boy who was still standing.

Bridget didn't scream, but she started to shake Kagumi rather hard in an attempt to wake her up. She remembered, just in time, that Gumi didn't like to be woken up in that fashion. In fact, if it could be avoided, she didn't like to be woken up at all. As soon as this thought occurred to Bridget she ducked. Unfortunately Mouse-Boy (as she had so graciously dubbed him in her head) had neither experience nor knowledge of Gumi's violent tendencies, and was punched hard in the gut.

The boy doubled over with a small groan of pain (Gumi could punch hard) and finally received his friend's interest. Actually, he received the attention of all three of his friends and promptly lost it once the brown haired boy (not the one on the floor—hereafter known as Clumsy One— or the one Mouse Boy was trying to bother) noticed her awake state.

Gumi turned back over (still fast asleep) and mumbled something to herself as Bridget slowly turned red. She gulped before saying, in a rather small voice, "Um, hi."

Four pairs of eyes widened (seemingly shocked that she could speak) and Jet reached over to shake Kagumi again. This time she couldn't bring herself to exert any more energy, and just managed to grip the other girl's forearm firmly.

A grunt issued from the pale girl as she attempted to shake off Bridget's hand, and she made a vaguely threatening noise as she realized that Bridget wasn't going to let go anytime soon. Gumi turned as if she was going to burrow into a pillow that wasn't there.

"Where the hell is my pillow?" came a throaty voice as Kagumi sat up and began rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Not there," Bridget managed to croak out although she didn't turn away from the boys.

"What did you do to my pillow, you evil fien—oh my God."

Kagumi shot straight up and the sudden movement seemed to startle Mouse Boy (understandably twitchy due to his earlier encounter with her).

"Stupefy!" he squeaked as he pointed something at Gumi. A bright red light hit the girl and she crumpled to the ground.

The brown haired boy pushed Mouse Boy's arm down. "Peter!" he hissed. "What's wrong with you?"

Meanwhile, Bridget was staring between Gumi's still form and the stick Mouse Boy (Peter, she vaguely realized) was holding. He had just stupefied Kagumi. He had—he had just used... magic. Oh dear.

Sirius Black stared at the girl who had just fainted on his best friend's doorstep. This was one of the very few times in his life that he didn't know what he should do, but sitting there seemed to be a good idea for now.

"I think," Remus said after a few moments of silence, "it would be prudent for us to bring them inside."

When no one moved, Remus sighed, shoved James to the side, and, with surprisingly little effort considering his slight build, picked up the poor girl Peter had stupefied. Sirius scrambled to his feet and out of Remus' way at the boy's glare; he knew better than to mess with Moony when he was in a "mood." He noticed that the other girl (who was quite pretty) had been left behind and, in a moment of chivalry (he was a Gryffindor, after all), strode over and swept her into his arms, only slightly surprised at how light she seemed.

"Make sure you lock the door on your way in, Prongsie, and you should probably ice that, Wormy."

Sirius heard the door shut a few minutes later, just as he was placing the girl on the sofa in front of the main fireplace.

"What do we do now?" James asked from the room's door.

"Dunno. At least you're parents aren't coming home tonight."

For the second time that day Bridget woke up to a loud noise. This time, however, she was on a much more comfortable surface, and, not unusually, it was Kagumi who had caused the noise.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" she was yelling at the brown haired boy from earlier. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE! WHERE THE HELL AM I?" Bridget wasn't paying much attention to her rant, though. She was, instead, staring at the handsome boy from earlier, and he was staring right back at her. "WHERE'S JET? WHAT DO YOU WANT WI—"

Kagumi was cut off by a loud swooshing noise and another female voice. "James!" it yelled. "Jamie, where are you?" The woman sighed. "Warwick, I told you that we should try the main fireplace first. He's obviously not in his room at this early hour; it's only half past ten."

The brown haired boy had his hand over Gumi's mouth, and she was surprised enough to have stopped speaking. The three boys (she briefly wondered where Mouse Boy had wandered off to) gave each other worried looks. The brown haired boy and the boy who had been staring at her nodded at the third boy with the messy hair (she really needed to learn their names).

Within the next ten to twenty seconds a few things happened in quick succession: the brown haired boy picked up Kagumi, with his hand still over her mouth, and carried her into the next room; the boy nearest to Bridget picked her up and deposited them both on the other side of the couch, keeping one arm around her arms and stomach and his other hand on her mouth; and there was a sudden flash of green and the same swooshing sound she had heard only a few seconds ago.

Bridget struggled valiantly against his grip. Unfortunately (and she knew this) he had her pinned rather tightly against his own body and she didn't have much of a chance of hurting him badly. What a shame.

"James, there you are!"

"Hi, Mum," she heard the messy haired boy say (thank God she had a name to go with the face now). "Is something wrong?"

"Oh no, dear, I just wanted to check on you boys. Your father says that I'm being ridiculous, but these are dark days and I know what kind of trouble you boys get into."

"Trouble? Us?" James said in an innocent voice Bridget knew (from experience) proved his guilt. "We don't get into trouble, Mu—"

There was a loud crash from the other room and a masculine grunt. Bridget could only assume that Kagumi had made more progress in her attempt at freeing herself. She could hear noises that distinctly hinted at some sort of scuffle and resumed her own efforts towards freedom.

"Will you stop it?" the boy holding Bridget hissed in her ear. As she couldn't voice her refusal to comply with his wishes, she took the more physical route and elbowed him in the stomach hard enough to make him grunt.

"What's that?" James' mother asked sharply.

"Nothing, Mum."

"Don't lie to me, James Nathaniel Potter," she continued in a dangerous voice.

"Remus is keeping a girl we found on our doorstep hostage in there. I think she just broke free, but he probably petrified her by now." Bridget was astounded at his audacity until she remembered that the best way to lie was to tell the truth as if it were impossible. It had worked before for her.

"And what are Sirius and Peter doing while Remus is restraining this mysterious girl?" And, apparently, it worked with his mother.

"Peter's upstairs nursing the wounds he received from the girl— she's rather violent, you know, I think she's American— and, I'm sure Sirius has some poor girl pinned behind a couch somewhere."

"Just don't kill anyone, James."

"We don't kill, Mum, we maim and injure."

"Good-bye, James."

"Bye Mum."

There was another swooshing sound and Bridget could hear James sigh in relief.

"You can get up, Padfoot," he said. "Moony! Coast's clear!"

Sirius let go of Bridget and she stood up, straightening her clothes (which she belatedly realized were pajamas). She saw a battered-looking Remus walk into the room with Kagumi flung over his shoulder, kicking and hitting him as hard as she could; Bridget gave him credit for being able to hold out this long. However, this also reminded her of her own unpleasant encounter with Sirius and Bridget spun around. She pulled back her arm and punched him squarely in the nose, creating a satisfying crunching noise.

"Don't ever do that to me!" she hissed.

The boy clutched his nose (it was bleeding heavily) with a slightly dazed expression. The other two boys and Kagumi (who had momentarily stopped her flailing) stared at her and Sirius as she sat him down on the couch and pulled away his hand.

"Damn, it's not broken," she muttered as she gently examined the nose. "I thought I could punch better than that. Here, pinch there, and tilt your head back a little." She showed him how to do so with her own slightly bloody hand. "There you go; it should stop soon enough."

For the third time since their unexpected arrival, Bridget woke up to a loud noise. This time, however, it wasn't due to a clumsy teenager, or Kagumi's angered shouts, but because of a heated argument occurring outside.

"How much Dreamless Sleep did you give them, Moony?"

"He was supposed to give them a Calming Draught, not Dreamless Sleep."

"Prongs should've known better than to have me administer any kind of potion, especially unlabeled ones."

Bridget was momentarily distracted by a pillow smacking her in the back of the head. She turned and threw the pillow back at Kagumi who had, obviously, woken up at some point. Gumi glared back at Bridget and gestured at the door in a somewhat violent fashion. Bridget gave the door a thoughtful look before nodding, and they both stood up.

"Go on, Padfoot, you're the one who made the wish."

"But you're the one who dared me to; you know I can't pass up a dare!"

Someone sighed. "Will someone just go in?"

"Moony, make Wormtail do it."

"Yeah, make Peter do it, Remus."

Kagumi and Bridget exchanged wide-eyed looks, half hoping that they had lost their minds (or were in a very vivid dream) and half hoping that they were listening to who they thought they were listening to.

Bridget gulped before pushing the door open. There was a loud 'thud' and…

"BLOODY HELL, MY NOSE!"

There were four boys standing outside the room: a short, roundish, mousy-looking boy with blond hair and startled blue eyes; a thin, amber-eyed boy with graying brown hair; a tall, thin boy with messy black hair and oval glasses perched on a somewhat long nose; and a—

"Oh my God," Bridget gasped as she knelt down beside the fourth boy, who was on the ground, clutching his nose, his gray eyes watering a little. "Did I do that? Crud, I'm so sorry."

"What the hell is your problem with me?" he said in a muffled voice.

Bridget felt her face heat up. "Well, the first time you had had me pinned behind the couch, but this time it was an accident." She gave him a sheepish look. "Sor—"

"James, son, what is going on…"

"Oh, crap, it's Dad," the boy who was presumably James (although they had never been formally introduced) said in a worried voice. He grabbed Gumi's arm and pulled Bridget up before shoving them both into a conveniently nearby closet. As the door closed with a snap, muted footsteps signaled a parent coming around the corner.

It was small, uncomfortable, and rather dark. All in all, it wasn't a half-bad place to discuss their options. If only she could get Gumi to shift her elbow a bit more to the right.

"Hey Dad," James said as he leaned on the closet door as his pajama'd father walked towards the Marauders. "Something wrong?"

"Your mother and I heard some noise down here. Is everything al—Sirius, what did you do to your nose this time?"

"He walked into the door," James put in hurriedly. He glanced at Sirius' shocked face before continuing. "You know how he is, clumsy as a troll in an apothecary."

"I am—" Sirius was cut off by Remus' discreet, but painfully well-placed kick, "—a very clumsy person, Mr. Potter. I'm utterly ashamed of myself. It's horrid."

Mr. Potter gave the four innocently smiling boys a searching look before deciding that it was too late to be sorting out any of his son's many problems. "Alright then." He pulled out his wand and, with a rather tired flick, repaired Sirius' nose and cleaned up the blood. "I'm going back to bed. Keep it down."

James nodded, visibly relieved as he moved away from the door to pull Sirius off the ground.

Meanwhile, in the closet, Kagumi and Bridget were having a rather interesting whispered discussion. (It is neither relevant nor necessary to know who said what.)

"Are they—"

"I think so. How d'you—"

"I have no idea. Do you think we—"

"I dunno. What should we—"

"No idea. Oh, maybe we should—"

"Yeah, that sounds good. What if—"

"Okay, but how will we—"

"And we don't have any—"

The closet door swung open in a fashion eerily reminiscent of slow-motion film, and the two girls fell out. They landed in an ungraceful heap at the feet of a tired-looking man in a bathrobe who looked remarkably similar to James.

Warwick Potter turned, oddly unsurprised, towards his son, who happened to be covering his rather red face with a strong hand. With a searching look, he asked a suitable question, given the situation.

"Boys, why were there two girls in your hall closet?"

"Oh crud."

Author's Notes: There it is, the boys have finally made an appearance (and they shan't be going anywhere anytime soon, either). I'm, personally, quite proud of this chapter, I only took an hour or two to write the bulk of it as I had inspiration strike at around three in the morning Pacific Standard Time. So, please, please review. Um... yeah, thanks. -Jet

Thanks to FoxLuvr for the review.

Next chapter should be up in... one week. I know, shocking, isn't it?

First Posted: 7/1/07

Last Edited: 7/1/07