I am getting better! Look another chapter! Yay!
"Do you think your parents will give you a chance?" Sirius asked, kicking the rock down the street as the sleepy muggle village slept silently. It was late and the boys had decided to take a walk in the village outside James' home. Remus was lagging behind, deep in his own thoughts, and not offering any input to the conversation, James was far up ahead, wanting to go through to the forest. Peter looked around and blinked.
"What?" He asked.
"Your parents." Sirius repeated. "Not comparing you to Moses or Theo. You were just telling me how they laughed at you wanting to be an auror."
"Oh…" Peter sighed. "Nah. What's the point? They never really cared much for what I did when I was growing up. They won't care that much when I've got a job and making an effort in the world. Hell, I doubt they'd even give a damn when I'm dead and buried."
Sirius watched his friend angrily kick his own feet. He sighed. "We all feel like that sometimes Pete," He said.
"I guess." Peter mumbled.
"Well… Take for instance Remus."
"Someone say my name?" Remus looked up.
"Just using you as an example, Moony old chap," Sirius called.
"As long as you use it well." Remus replied, falling silent once more.
"I mean, look at the bastard," Sirius said. "His parents thought he could never amount to anything, and not because he's stupid-"
"Sirius, that's your first strike." Remus said mildly.
"But he has a genuine condition that prevents him from participating from school most of the time." Sirius continued. "But look at him, one of the top students in our year with girls practically chasing him everywhere he goes!"
Remus snorted in laughter.
"You can be the same!" Sirius said, putting his arm around Peter's shoulders. "Come on, we all have faith in you."
Peter smiled up at his friend.
"OI! PADFOOT!" James shouted, waving a huge branch. "FETCH BOY!"
"Hold on, got to go." Sirius laughed, running off. Peter slowed down waiting for Remus. Together they watched as Sirius bounded and jumped into the great black dog shape and chased after James. He leapt into the air and grabbed the stick from James' hand. James should have let go, but he didn't, so Sirius was stuck in a tug-of-war with him.
"James!" Remus called. "For god's sake! Let the damn stick go!"
"NEVER!" Cackled James. Peter and Remus shared a look of content between them and began to walk over to their friends. Sirius was yelping happily.
"Keep it down!" Remus hissed. "We don't want to be caught by the-"
"Muggles?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "HA! You wish! Muggles don't see nothing. Seriously. I flew on my broom through this town once, no one batted an eyelid."
"Wasn't that at like 3am in the morning?" Peter asked.
"Shut up." James said. "Why must you ruin my cool?"
Remus burst out laughing. "You, cool?"
"Yes, cool as a cucumber." James said, slicking back his messy hair.
Peter shared a look with Remus, who raised an eyebrow. "Is that Lily Evans?" Remus asked, looking past James.
James ducked, ruffling his hair and generally making himself look like a complete prat before looking around wildly and grinning like a maniac.
"That's not fair." James said.
Sirius had wandered off, trotting into the forest. "OI!" Remus called. "Don't wander too far. Merlin only knows what we'll find in these woods."
"Ha!" James laughed. "You wish. But I've hidden the bodies very well. Too well to be found."
"Bodies?" Peter asked.
"Not literal bodies." Remus said. "I'm certain it'll be something completely meaningless like his dead goldfish."
"FINGERS!" James called out, dropping to his knees. "Oh, Fingers, why did you have to die?"
"You named your fish… 'Fingers'?" Remus asked.
"What else are you supposed to name a fish?" James asked.
"Perhaps not after food?" Peter suggested.
"Shut up Wormtail." James said. "Where's Sirius?" He asked, looking around.
"Over here." Remus said pointing to the forest.
"That boy is going to get us all killed." James said. "Could he not have any normal habits and not wander off?"
Remus grinned and followed his friends into the forest. The trees reaching up to the half-moon that had descended across the sky, it was strangely peaceful. Sirius was barking up ahead.
"Shut up!" James called. "We're coming!" He climbed over a fallen tree. A green dart of light came hurtling towards him.
"LOOK OUT!" Remus grabbed James and dived away. The light hit a tree, leaving it scorched and burning. Sirius was running towards them, barking and yelping. He ran off. Remus, James and Sirius all turned to see shadows moving in the dark. Someone was screaming. Another jet of light flew towards them, missing Peter by an inch.
"Move!" Peter roared.
And they were running. Sirius ahead and barking at the figures. James was taking out his wand and sending curses back at them. Remus tripped and landed on the ground, the branches and twigs cutting his cheeks. James stooped down and lifted him up as Remus pulled out his own wand.
"Protego!" Remus shouted, waving the wand high above his head. Curses rebounded on the figures.
"MOONY!" James roared. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? IT'S DEATH EATERS! STUN THEM!"
"Stupefy!" Peter yelled sending a couple of them back.
"RUN!" James bellowed, grabbing their arms and running off. They got onto the main road hoping that that the Death Eaters would stop as soon as they hit the village. But they didn't. Some geared off and attacked the houses, setting fire to them and pulling the muggles from their beds.
James had stopped and was now firing hexes at them, sending them back.
"JAMES!" Remus shouted. "WE HAVE TO GET HELP!"
No use, James carried on, trying to fight the Death Eaters away from a muggle child. Sirius had bounded back and bit James on the ankle. They couldn't do anything, they were just boys.
"COME ON!" Remus shouted. He raised his wand and yelled something that was incoherent over the noise that was being made. Something silver and shining burst from his wand, turned to look at Remus then bounded away into the night.
Remus grabbed James' arm and pulled him away. James was running faster than he had ever run in his life, desperate to find his father and have him put a stop to it. Peter was lagging behind, trying to send as many curses as he could. Remus turned and pulled Peter away, looking out towards the country road. James had disappeared and so had Sirius.
"COME ON!" Remus bellowed, pulling Peter. A great stag galloped in front of them and stood tall and proud. Remus took no chances and jumped onto it's back, helping Peter up. The stag charged towards James' home. Remus slid off as Sirius returned to normal. As he ran towards the door, it burst open to reveal Mr Potter.
"I got your message," He said. "The Aurors are on their way. Stay here!" With that he ran into the night. James appeared from nowhere, panting heavily, cuts and bruises on his face and arms. His mother ran out and grappled him by the neck, pulling him into a tight hug.
"Stay here, sweetheart," She said, making sure all of them were okay then following her husband into the night.
"What the hell?" Sirius panted.
"What are Death Eaters doing here?" James muttered.
"Are you really that thick?" Remus asked. "Your parents are revered wizards. Powerful with enough intelligence in their heads to bring down the entire wizarding world in a second." Remus snapped his fingers to emphasise the point he was making. "But if they were to lose their only son… They would no longer pose a threat to them."
"They were after me?" James asked.
"They were after all of us." Sirius said. "Let's get inside. He checked his bleeding elbow. "Do you have any bandages or something?" He asked.
"Kitchen, top shelf." James grunted, locking the door behind him. He switched on the living room light to see a flurry of owls all carrying official looking letters. Peter picked one up and tore into it.
"Dear Mr Black," He said. "We have received intelligence that you performed a hex on Saturday the 11 of August in the presence of muggles. As decreed by the underage restriction of magic legislation, you are hereby, expelled."
Sirius stared at Peter and grabbed the letter from him.
"You're kidding me." He said.
"They're all like that," Remus said slumping to the sofa, his eyes fixed on the letters he had been sent.
"Okay," James said, taking the letters from his friends and casting them into the fire. "Listen to me. If we hadn't done those charms, those spells, we'd all be dead. There is a war coming, and they can't expel us if we were defending our own lives. Now calm down, dad will sort it out."
"What if he can't?" Peter asked.
"Hogwarts is my home," Remus muttered. "I can't leave."
"Dad will sort it out," James said. "I promise."
Sirius licked his lips before lifting up his elbow and swabbing it carefully. "Remus?"
"Mm?"
"Can I ask what that spell was?" He said. "The one with the message that Charlus got?"
"That was a patronous." Remus replied.
"Those are incredibly difficult." James said, helping Sirius apply some sanitation oil to the fleshy wound. "How did you do it? How do you know how to do them?"
"Do you remember when I first came to Hogwarts?" Remus asked, rolling the hem of his trousers to reveal scratches and cuts. He ignored most of them and went for the larger grazes that looked fresh. "And I was away a lot in the evenings?"
"Yes," Peter grunted, grabbing a face-wipe and cleaning the mud away. "You couldn't help us with that bloody essay."
"Yeah, well…" Remus cleared his throat and tossed his wand onto the table. "I was with Dumbledore. He taught me how to do that."
"Why though?" James asked.
"Because if I needed help getting back up to the school after a full moon…" Remus said. "I just needed to send a message to Dumbledore and he'd send someone down to collect me."
"I've always wondered." Sirius said. "But more importantly." He turned to James. "Did you see that big bloody stag?"
James grinned. "No I didn't."
"Must have," Peter said. "It was huge. Bigger than a horse at least."
"I didn't see it." James' grin grew wider.
"Hold on." Sirius stared at James. "That was you? Wasn't it?"
James nodded.
"HOLY SHIT!" Sirius leapt up and started pointing. "YOU DID IT!"
"Did what?" Peter asked, only half listening.
"He transformed!" Remus said.
"You did?" Peter looked up at the smiling James.
"Yep." James grinned.
"No… Way." Sirius said.
"Yeah way." James said.
"So… That stag that carried me and Peter back to the house… Was you?" Remus asked.
"Yep." James nodded. "You are unbelievably skinny Remus. Peter, cut down on the chocolate."
Peter blushed furiously.
"But can you change again? Properly? Or was it just a one time thing?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know." James replied. "I mean, one minute I was running, the next I was galloping. I didn't get a lot of time to process it."
"But were you thinking that you needed to transform?" Remus asked.
"Nope." James shrugged. "Kinda came naturally."
"So… Can you turn into stag now?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know." James shrugged.
"You're being annoyingly modest for you James," Sirius muttered, sticking some tape to his elbow.
James wasn't paying attention. His gaze had been caught by the commotion outside the window. Sirius patted him on the shoulder.
"Charlus and Dorea will be fine," He said. "They said so themselves. Besides, it's not like you'd starve to death if they died."
"I know," James muttered.
…
Mr and Mrs Potter entered the house a little after 2 in the morning. They were bruised and a little bit cut up, but generally okay. They entered the living room to see all four boys sitting together in silence, huddled over cold cups of hot chocolate. The first-aid kit was open in front of them. James sprang up upon seeing his parents and jumped onto them, hugging them tightly.
Not a word was passed between them as James held them tightly. Mrs Potter kissed the top of her son's head and stroked his hair.
Mr Potter moved away smiling sadly, then went over to the fire. He cast a handful of floo powder and it erupted into flames.
"Minister! I want to talk to you!" He bellowed.
Perceval Gawain, the Minister for Magic stumbled out of the flames, straightening his purple coat and looking on at the boys and Potter's carefully.
"Boys, I think you should go to bed," Mrs Potter said, hugging the four of them tightly.
"But what about our expulsion?" Peter murmured.
"We'll sort it out," Mr Potter said looking at them. "Gawain, explain to me why there are death eaters near my home."
"But, dad," James started.
"Boys," Mrs Potter said. "Please go to bed."
"Dreadful business," Gawain said. "But you seemed to have managed to fix it."
Mr Potter's face flushed with fury. He raised himself to full height. "IT SHOULDN'T BE MY DUTY TO FIX IT PERCEVAL!" He bellowed.
"Boys," Mrs Potter, tugged at them, but they remained footed on the spot.
"Now, Charlus, don't get your blood pressure up." Gawain said, trying to diffuse the situation.
"MY SON COULD HAVE DIED YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SCUM!" Mr Potter roared. "HIM AND HIS FRIENDS! WHY HAVEN'T YOU PUT A STOP TO THESE TERRORISTS?"
"IT IS NOT MY DUTY TO STAMP DOWN ON INDIVIDUAL OPINIONS!" Gawain shouted back. "PEOPLE ARE ENTITLED TO BELIEVE WHAT THEY WANT, CHARLUS!"
Mr Potter took a step back. He was laughing nervously and shaking his head. James was staring at his father, whom he had never seen this angry. It was usually Mrs Potter who fought the battles. "Have you lost your mind?" Mr Potter asked quietly. "Have you actually lost your mind? Attacking muggles, attacking boys, who were no more a threat than you or I? And you say you cannot do anything about it because you don't want to impose on people's beliefs?"
"Charlus, we are living in a difficult time. I don't want to make things worse." Gawain said, pushing his hair back.
"You mean, you don't want to be killed even though it would be the right thing." Mr Potter said.
"Are you threatening me?" Gawain asked.
"I might as well, whilst you're here." Mr Potter said. "Since the Death Eaters have you wrapped around their little fingers."
Gawain stared at Mr Potter with revered hatred in his eyes.
"Leave and do your job." Mr Potter said.
Gawain turned and was about to leave before he turned back to them. "If the boys were involved directly in the fighting, then they deserve a full pardon. Unless… They are death eaters themselves…" He started towards them and Mrs Potter put herself in front of them.
"When Charlus said do your job," She said in a low voice. "He didn't mean accuse 4 fifteen year old boys of a crime they did not commit." She looked thunderous.
Gawain looked at them before turning away again. "Goodnight Charlus. Dorea." He threw Floo Powder into the fireplace and walked into the flames, disappearing with a puff of green.
"Come on," Mrs Potter said. "Bed. Now. I need to write to your parents and let them know you're okay."
"Don't bother with mine," Sirius grunted. "They'd just be disappointed that I wasn't killed at the first chance."
"Don't say that," Mrs Potter said, ushering them up the stairs. "They love you Sirius,"
"Doesn't feel like it." Sirius muttered.
The door behind them clicked open and there was a stomp on the floorboards.
"Alastor," Mr Potter said, taking the auror's hand and shaking it. "Thank you for coming. Where are the rest?"
"Cleaning up," Grunted Mad-Eye Moody.
"Come on boys," Mrs Potter followed them up the stairs and into James' room.