"Yes!" exclaimed James, untying a brown paper package from his owl's foot, "it's here! I knew Dad would let me have it."

"What is it?" asked Sirius, dunking a soldier into his boiled egg.

"Not here," said James, leaning in towards Sirius and Peter and lowering his voice "this is top secret, if this is what I think it is this castle is going to be ours, we'll open it back at the dorm."

It was Sunday so the students were having a leisurely breakfast instead of hurriedly eating toast while finishing off last night's essay. Remus was still sick in the Hospital Wing, Peter was beginning to worry about him, surely he should be better by now? He was also beginning to feel a bit lonely. He had spent Saturday with James and Sirius and they had had a good time exploring the castle some more, looking for the fabled kitchens and even a secret passage way into Hogsmeade which James was adamant existed, though Peter wasn't so sure, it sounded like a story someone could have easily just made up. But although Sirius and James were kind enough to let him come along they seemed to absorbed in each other's company to pay him much notice. He couldn't believe that they had only met on the train ride up to Hogwarts, they were already laughing at things that made sense only to them, leaving Peter feeling that maybe he was just to slow on the uptake. He really needed Remus there to see whether it was just him, or whether James and Sirius were really off in a world of their own.

Now though, all three boys were united in anticipation of what was inside James's mysterious package. They hurried back to the dormitory, annoying Nearly Headless Nick by running right through him. When they opened the door they were surprised to be greeted by a "hello". They all turned to the source of the sound and saw Remus sitting on his bed sorting through a pile of papers and books.

He still looked a bit ill, or so Peter thought, his face looked thin and pale and he had faint tired circles under his eyes. Nevertheless, he was smiling and looking curiously at James's parcel.

"What have you got in there?" he asked.

"A key," said James, "the key, more precisely, to our success as supreme rulers of this castle. With this we can do whatever we like without the slightest possibility of getting into any trouble."

"Oh," said Remus, "bit big and floppy for a key isn't it?"

"Get your butt over here and all will be revealed," said James, "you feeling better then?"

"Yeah, much better thank you," said Remus.

"What was wrong with you?" asked Sirius, rather bluntly.

"Err... I don't really know, Madam Pomfrey said I just had a fever and... yeah, well I'm fine now. So, are you going to open it then?"

"Prepare, gentlemen, to witness magic at it's best," said James, and with that he theatrically ripped open the paper, revealing a pile of silky fabric.

"What's that?! A pair of silk pyjamas?!" cackled Sirius.

"No you numnut! Watch."

James stood up, picking up the cloak and twirling it round himself.

Three jaws dropped simultaneously.

"Brilliant right?" said James's floating head, his eyes sparkling with mischievous glee behind his glasses.

"That's an invisibility cloak!" breathed Peter.

"Ten points to Gryffindor for that excellent observation Mr Pettigrew," said James.

"Bloody hell," said Sirius, "and your parents just let you have this?"

"Well, they said if I was good I could have it on my birthday, or if I was really good then maybe Christmas, but I knew they'd weaken sooner than that. I've asked about it every time I've written home."

"This is amazing," said Remus, "can I touch it?"

"You can wear it if you want!" said James, "here, I wonder if we can all fit under it. Come on!"

After much stumbling and wobbling in front of the mirror the four boys found that they could, in fact, all just about squeeze under the Invisibility Cloak so long as Sirius, tallest of the four boys by a good half a head, bent down slightly. Then of course they had to master the delicate art of walking under it without tripping one another up and causing all four of them to tumble out from under the Cloak and fall in a tangled mess on the floor. They spent a good hour or so just walking around their dorm, giggling shamelessly and throwing good natured insults at one another when someone got in their way. Remus knew he should be catching up on the work that he had missed, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the others when they were having so much fun. It was less fun of course when they fell over and he found himself getting kicked and elbowed. With another squirm of guilt he thought about what Madam Pomfrey or his parents would say if they saw him now, his mum and dad were always nagging him about being careful not to hurt himself when he was playing after the full moon, and Madam Pomfrey had warned him only this morning not to play rough with anyone until his wounds had healed fully. But none of them understood, none of them had experienced the amount of pure concentrated pain Remus underwent every month. And consequently none of them understood that small amounts of physical pain like this were nothing compared to the overwhelming wealth of happiness he was feeling right now.

Eventually, when the boys had had enough they all fell back onto Sirius's bed, laughing and listening to James regaling them all with his grand plans of expeditions to the unexplored depths of the castle, but he also had more immediate missions in mind.

"We should start off by going to Filch's office," he said, "I bet he has loads of cool stuff in there that he's confiscated off students, dung bombs, biting envelopes, you name it I bet he's got it. We'll go tonight, it'll be quieter then so it'll be easier to move about in the cloak, I know a charm that can unlock doors, I doubt he sleeps in his office so we'll have the run of the place!"

"Your parents are wicked James, make sure you tell them that in your next letter," said Sirius.

"I will, so you fellers up for it?"

"Definitely!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Us too?!" asked Peter.

"Of course," said James, "the more the merrier, we'll need lookout anyway, and we can all fit under the Cloak so it's not like anyone needs to stay behind. You up for it Remus?"

"Err..."

"You don't need to sorry about getting in trouble," said James, "there's no way they'll be able to catch us under this, even if they know someone's there there's no way they'll be able to know it's us."

But it wasn't being caught Remus was worried about. It was all well and good not being all that careful of his wounds when he was playing, but Remus knew that he should really get a good night's sleep tonight if he didn't want to be tired for his lessons the next day. Before coming to Hogwarts he had promised his parents that he would take care of himself, he had been working hard ever since Professor Dumbledore's visit to prove to them that he was mature enough to look after his own and others' safety while he was at Hogwarts. And now, after only the first full moon he was going back on that promise. Well, not really, going back on it, he thought, of course now he was at Hogwarts he wouldn't be able to take as good care of himself as he would do at home. He had work to do for one thing, that had to come first, and then there was Peter, Sirius and James, weren't they important? One day, if he tried very hard, these three boys might even want to be his friends. If they were being kind to him by offering to let him come with them on a midnight adventure it would be downright rude to refuse, and his parents had always told him that good manners cost nothing but have great value.

"Sure," he said, "I'd love to come, thank you."

"Great!" said James, "hey, have you eaten? It might be time for lunch soon if you want to head down to the Great Hall?"

"Um, it's okay," said Remus, "I had breakfast already, I need to catch up on some of the work I missed."

"Oh don't worry about that," said Sirius, "if you're sick the teachers can't make you do the work, that's just not fair."

"I... I think I'll just do it anyway," said Remus, "just to be on the safe side, can't do any harm."

"Fair enough," said James, "but if you get bored make sure you come and find us, you don't want to be sitting inside on a lovely day like today. We were going to go outside and find something to do weren't we?"

"Yeah," said Sirius, "you're welcome to join us if you get fed up of work."

"Thank you, I'll come and find you if I finish," smiled Remus.

The three boys said their goodbyes and Remus went back to his work, his spirits considerably lifted. It really was a lovely day.