James peered around the library door just as students were beginning to leave. Madam Pince was trying to shoo them out. James grinned at her as she put her hands on her hips and sneered down at the three boys.

"Hello," Sirius said almost cheerfully. "We're here to get a book."

"Then come back tomorrow," Madam Pince said.

"Well you see, we can't." Peter picked up. "We need the book tonight."

"And you couldn't have come earlier?" Madam Pince asked, raising a thin eyebrow.

"No," James said. "We were visiting someone in the hospital wing. It's just a book for charms homework that's all."

"And you could not do your charms homework earlier?" Madam Pince asked.

James was shaking his head. "Obviously our three years of trouble making have been wasted on you,"

"We always leave things to the last minute." Sirius said.

"I can see that," Madam Pince said. "You're not getting in."

"Just for a second. We'll be so quiet you won't even notice us slip out." Sirius said.

"What about your book?" Madam Pince asked. "It needs to be checked out."

"Okay, we'll be quiet until the book needs to be checked out." James said.

Madam Pince hesitated before letting them pass. They hurried up the many aisles searching the dusty textbooks. James found one and handed it to Peter before pulling his invisibility cloak out of his bag. Sirius and James ducked under it and hid out of view as Peter went back to the reception and handed Madam Pince the book.

"Where's your friends?" She asked stiffly, checking the book out.

"They must have left." Peter said.

"I didn't see them," She said, handing the book back.

"Well you must have been stacking books or something," Peter said.

Madam Pince looked at him with her steely gaze. She nodded stiffly. "Goodnight,"

"Goodnight," Peter said cheerily.

Sirius and James watched from the bookshelves, and shot each other a gaze. "I can't believe that worked," whispered the latter.

"Me neither," Sirius said.

Madam Pince sat for about twenty minutes checking each book for any vandalism. Once satisfied she got up, books laden in her skinny arms and walked between the aisles puting them back in their shelves. She then moved between each stack of books making sure that no one had misplaced or incorrectly put them in the wrong place.

"That's dedication," James breathed.

Sirius could only nod.

Madam Pince took one last sweep of the entire library before going back to her station and locking up. She took out her thin black wand and waved it once and the lights went out. James and Sirius heard the click of the door being locked and they flung off the invisibility cloak.

"Merlin, I thought she would never leave," Sirius said as James rolled up the cloak and stuffed it back into his bag. Sirius moved towards the door and opened it silently. The heavy doors creaked slightly as he did so. He peered out and saw Peter scurrying towards them with a piece of parchment in his hand.

"What the hell?" Sirius hissed, taking the parchment from Peter. "Where's Remus?"

"He said he would come but the bones in his pelvis are just starting to heal, so he can't walk too well," Peter said. "Madame Pomfrey refused to let him out."

"So?" James asked as Sirius closed the doors behind Peter.

"He gave us a list," Peter said.

"Pfft," Sirius said. "I can never pay attention to lists,"

"You can never pay attention," James smirked.

Sirius grinned as he pulled out his wand from his belt. "You'll pay for that one, Potter!" He cried.

"Bring it! Black!" James teased, pulling out his own wand. Peter cleared his throat loudly.

"I don't want to be the voice of reason," Peter interrupted. "That's Remus' job. But if you don't quit it I will be forced to get Filch."

"Is it nice being in a position of power?" James asked, stowing his wand back into his pockets.

"Yes, it is," Peter replied simply. "Can we just... Can we just get what we need then leave?"

"Scared we'll be caught?" Sirius teased.

"Again, in all honesty," Peter said. "Yes, I am bloody well terrified."

James rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses further up his nose, grinning broadly he took the parchment from Sirius. "Lumos," The tip of Sirius' wand burned brightly lighting the small area where they stood. He held it over the parchment as James began to read.

"We need to go to the restricted section." He said.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Why?" Sirius asked. Only the most dangerous books sat there. Not specifically dark magic, but magic that the three boys were uncomfortable using.

"Apparently there is a book that we can try." James sighed. "It's about how wizards track each other, I think he's hooked on the thought of us being able to track everyone and anyone in the school."

"What? In case Voldemort makes an appearance?" Sirius snorted, ignoring Peter's all too frequent shudder at the name.

"Maybe," James almost laughed. He looked around. "Okay, come on,"

The Restricted section was at the far end of the library and guarded by a large wire cage, locked away from those who wandered in unknowingly. Sirius looked at James with a bright twinkle in his eyes. He pulled out his knife, found the keyhole to the padlock and twisted it right. It cracked open and he pushed at the door. It's hinges whined as he did so. James and Peter scurried in and quickly began to scour the shelves for the book. There was a loud clatter from behind them and all three turned, wide-eyed and hearts pumping. Then there was no other noise. James leaned towards Sirius.

"Should we check it out?" He whispered.

Sirius licked his lips and held his wand aloft. He began to move slowly towards where the noise had come from. James was close behind him and Peter stood behind, clutching at his wand.

Sirius took a deep breath and turned the corner and almost yelled.

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!" Hissed Remus clamping his hand around Sirius' mouth.

James stared at Remus with disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked.

Remus straightened up and let go of Sirius' mouth. He looked better, but was carrying a walking stick in his right hand and leaning on it heavily. He had not bothered getting out of his hospital clothes, just tying a dressing gown over his pyjama's whilst the other three wore their robes. He smiled over at them, looking exhausted, but pleased to be back mischief making.

"Madam Pomfrey may know a lot about healing," He said calmly. "But I know my own body. I know I can walk. Besides, I can't leave you three to try and work out the complexities of a library on your own. It would take weeks to try and explain everything to you,"

Sirius observed the walking stick with some trepidation. "Are you sure you're not going to keel over and break your neck, because that will be something I'd like to watch you explain to Madam Pomfrey,"

"I'm fine," Remus said, limping slightly as they made their way back to the restricted section.

"Good, so I can call you an old fart?" Sirius asked.

Remus gave him a look before using his walking stick to hit Sirius on the back of the knee. Sirius yelped before James turned around to shush him.

"Be quiet you idiot," He hissed. "You'll attract Peeves."

Sirius shrugged. "Peeves loves us,"

"That may be," James said. "But that won't stop him from ratting us out to Filch and I really don't want to spend Christmas in detention. I doubt mum and dad would take to that news that well."

"Well, not from you," Sirius said. "Maybe if I broke the bad news to them,"

"Are you saying you're a better son than me?" James asked.

"Yes," Sirius said. "I rather think I am,"

"But your own family hate you," James pondered. "How could you possibly be a better son?"

"Shut up," Sirius muttered. "Or I'll... I'll... I'll-"

"Stutter me?" James asked. "I'd like to see you try!"

Sirius didn't say a word. Remus decided to ignore their friendly squabbles and limped over to the shelves, his brow furrowed. He put the walking stick onto one of the desks before reaching up to the top shelves. Sirius stepped in.

"Which one?" He asked, stretching up.

"The red bound one," Remus replied, leaning back and rubbing his hip.

Sirius pulled it out and tried to take it away from the shelve only to find that it was chained, much like the rest of the restricted books. James pulled out his wand and pointed at the chain.

"Bombardo!" He whispered. A small bang and the chain broke in James hand.

"Excellent," Sirius said, stowing the book into a bag. "Best we leave the reading until we get out of the library," He said to Peter who looked confused. "Otherwise we might get caught,"

Peter nodded. "What do we need next?" He asked.

Remus had now gotten the list from James and was looking at it patiently. "This would go a lot quicker if we all went after a heap of books each," He said.

"It's a bright idea," James said. "But I don't want to risk anyone going without the cloak. I don't want you in detention,"

"No you want me in detention though," Sirius said.

"Yes," James admitted.

Sirius stuck out his tongue. Peter was reaching towards a dark green book, his mousey features deep in thought. Remus was staring at Peter's hand as it moved, tracing the spine carefully. Sirius and James also had their attention caught by the motion. A slow lullaby started in their minds as Peter pulled the book from the shelf. It was calming and peaceful, but to each, an individual melody that spoke of what they could have, love, acceptance, peace, and respect. Peter's hands moved over the book cover and his fingernails dug into the pages as he opened the book. The soft melody in their minds had now changed into a rhythmic drum. Sirius shook his head.

"Peter!" He cried. "Don't!" He slammed the book cover down almost trapping Peter's fingers in the binding. Remus and James were shaking their heads too as if waking from a deep sleep. Peter looked at the book disgusted as Sirius put it back on the shelves.

"What are they thinking?" James asked. "Keeping a book like that in a library?"

"I suppose it's full of the darkest magic," Remus said. "They have to stock it because of Salazar Slytherin and his views on the school."

"Dark magic?" Peter squeaked.

Sirius shuddered. "Probably." He said.

"Why the melody?" Remus pondered.

"Isn't it obvious?" James asked.

Peter, Remus and SIrius looked at him quizzical.

"It's to lure the most innocent of us into taking the darker route." James said. "It made us feel... Calm... Peaceful... As if all the worries in the world had disappeared from our shoulders. Where Remus could be accepted as a werewolf, Sirius would have peace from his family, Peter would have respect from his peers."

"And you?" Sirius asked.

"That's not important," James said waving away the question. "Let's just stay away from that book."

"I could hardly class us as the most innocent of students," Sirius said after a moment of thought.

"Not in maturity," Remus said. "It must be in heart. About how pure we are. How we haven't been tainted by anything evil."

"Then what about your... Furry little problem?" James asked. "You never class that as a good thing. You've always seen it as a curse,"

Remus looked at his feet. "I only heard a little music," He admitted.

"Oh," Sirius said.

Peter cleared his throat. "Are we getting these books or not?" He asked.

"Yes," Remus said, picking up the walking stick before moving carefully around his friends. "Sirius?"

Sirius followed and looked up at where Remus was pointing.

"The grey one," Remus said.

Remus was easily the tallest and in perfect health could have reached it by himself. However, he could barely move, so Sirius reached on his tip-toes and pulled the book down. It dangled on it's chain for a miserable moment and James cursed it off before tucking it into Sirius' bag.

"I think that's all that we need from the restricted section," James said.

"Yeah," Sirius said. "It is,"

"But we still need a few books from the other sections," Peter said.

"Well we can get them any time," James said.

Peter frowned. "It doesn't make sense to just get a few books and leave the rest for later. What if someone else takes them out?"

"Well I think it's better to concentrate our energy on the complex books we have." Sirius said. "Otherwise we'll be swamped."

"There is four of us," James pointed out. "But along with homework-"

"-And Remus being an old fart-" Sirius interrupted, earning him another whack with the walking stick. Remus stumbled, but James grabbed his elbow as he spoke.

"-We simply don't have time," He said. "Not to mention that animagus thing,"

"I've nailed that," Sirius said proudly, rubbing the back of his knee.

"Oh, really?" James asked. "Go on, transform right now."

"Now?"

"Yes,"

"Right now?"

"Yes,"

"Right here?"

"Yes!" Chorused all three boys. Sirius looked around sheepish before screwing up his eyes and trying his best to transform. Remus rolled his eyes before turning his back. There was a yelp behind him and he turned again. A giant black dog sat in Sirius' place and a pile of robes sat beside him.

James sighed. "You still need to work on the clothes, mate," He said.

Sirius glared.

"Can he do this... All the time now?" Remus wondered.

"It comes and it goes," Peter replied. "He tried doing it the last full moon so he could turn up and surprise you but it didn't work."

Remus looked down at Sirius.

"Better change back," James said. "We better turn, he will be starkers when he changes back."

Remus turned and so did Peter. They waited for a few minutes before they heard Sirius call to them.

"I'm decent now," He said.

James turned and grinned. "Alright," He said. "Now that we've proved a point, can we please go? Sirius and I have Quidditch Practice tomorrow morning and we don't want to fly unconscious,"

Remus shrugged. James pulled the invisibility cloak over them and they left the library as silently as they could. Remus occasionally hitting Sirius on the back of the knee each time Sirius called him old.

...

James stayed up most of the night his wand aloft with a light illuminating his bed. Sirius and Peter had fallen asleep pretty quickly, snoring slightly. Peter seemed to be chewing his pillow. After taking Remus back to the hospital wing they took off again to the common room. So, James sat, cross legged books open in front of him, chewing at a chocolate bar that he had taken from Remus' stash.

The book was long and dull and didn't explain much that he didn't already know. He looked up at the waning moon that hung outside the window. He rubbed his eyes, taking off his glasses and leaning back.

"Bloody waste of time," He muttered, pushing the book to one side. Sirius let out a snort and James looked up. He smiled calmly and rolled his eyes.

He sighed and pulled the books towards him again. "C'mon man," He muttered. "You can get through this. "What would Moony do in a situation like this?" He stifled a laugh, careful not to wake his friends up. Moony would read. That was his solution to everything. Or so it seemed. James sighed. "Fine," He said, now fully accepting that he was a madman for talking to himself. "What would Evans do?" He smiled at himself. "Well for one she wouldn't talk to herself."

He got up, putting his wand down on the bed covers, the light dimming slightly. He stretched lazily, pushing his glasses up his nose. He felt his jaw line, there was a faint line of stuble. Sometimes he forgot how much he had grown since he had first stayed at Hogwarts. He shook his head, smiling and poured himself a goblet of water from the pitcher that sat in the middle of the room. Sirius let out another snort and rolled over to his side almost falling off his bed.

He jolted awake. "Does the feast have pie?" He asked sleepily.

James grinned. "Yeah, Padfoot, there will be pie at the feast."

"Good," Sirius murmured slumping back onto the pillow and falling straight back to sleep.

James took a long gulp and stood there admiring his memories.

N'aw... A moment with James. Love him.

Please leave a review. Thanks guys.