A/N Couldn't wait until tomorrow, enjoy :)

Tuesday, 18th January 1972

The rest of the weekend passed in a flurry of homework and planning, and by Tuesday afternoon, they were ready to complete Peeves' second task.

Sirius was hidden under the cloak with James outside the door of Filch's office, waiting for him to leave. Peter and Remus were one corridor away, preparing to set off the decoy to draw him out. It was debatable who had the riskier job. Peter and Remus, who would be leading Filch through the castle on a merry chase and keeping him distracted for as long as they could. Or Sirius and James, who would be wrecking his office while he was away with no idea when he would return. Both teams would be in severe trouble if they were caught.

The sound of distant explosions ripped Sirius from his thoughts. That would be the fireworks going off. Any second now… Yes! The office door opened, and Filch emerged, his face contorted in an angry scowl and his cat close on his heels.

'What have those little monsters done now?' he muttered as he stomped up the corridor. Sirius and James slipped through the door into the office before it closed behind him. Sirius glanced around, trying to decide where to start. There wasn't much in the room to destroy apart from the many filing cabinets, so they began there.

Sirius pulled open drawers and pulled out papers, throwing them into the air and scattering them throughout the room. James joined him and, within a few minutes, they had emptied the filing cabinets of all student punishment records and the office was a complete mess of parchment. Next, they turned to the desk.

Sirius grabbed the ink bottle off the top, opened it and poured the ink out over the carpet of parchment. James pulled open the top drawer and started pulling things out.

'Hey, look at this,' James said, waving a folded sheet of parchment. 'I think it's a love letter. It's got little hearts all over it.'

Sirius snorted. 'Who's it to? His cat?'

James laughed and opened it, then he wrinkled his nose. 'No, it's to him.'

Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'Who would be writing a love letter to Filch?'

'Someone with bad taste?' James suggested with a chuckle.

Sirius took the parchment. It looked ancient and worn. Like Filch had read and reread it thousands of times.

16th July 1955

Argus,

I've missed you this summer. I long for September when we return to school and I can see you again. I have told Mother and Father about you and they are supportive but insist that I finish my education and complete my Mastery before we can marry. Do not worry, my love, I will work hard to complete it as soon as possible so we can be together.

Yours always and forever,

Selima

'Filch isn't married, is he?' Sirius asked, looking up from the letter.

James shrugged. 'Don't think so.'

'Wonder what happened,' Sirius said. 'Seems like she really liked him.'

'That's not important right now. Let's finish up so we can get out of here before he gets back,' James said, pulling out the next drawer down and dumping the contents on the floor.

'You're the one that picked up the bloody letter,' Sirius said. He was about to drop the parchment on the floor with everything else when he paused. Filch had kept it for over fifteen years. It was clearly important to him, and as much as Sirius disliked the grumpy caretaker, he didn't feel right destroying something so personal and precious. Student files were one thing. A letter from an ex-lover whose fate was unknown? That was something else entirely. Sirius folded the letter back up carefully and put it back inside the empty drawer.

James raised an eyebrow. 'You're just a big softy really, aren't you?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Someone loved the guy once. Let's not take that away from him.'

They finished ransacking the office and left. Sirius' stomach squirmed at the state they left the room in. After reading the letter, Filch seemed more human to him. But they needed the ectoplasm, and that was the only way they could get it. So he swallowed down his guilt and walked with James under the cloak to the pre-arranged meeting place. James tapped the discoloured brick in the fifth floor east-wing corridor three times, and the wall between classrooms 2 and 3 opened up to reveal a large alcove and Peter and Remus blinking at them.

'Success?' Remus asked.

'Complete,' James answered with a grin. 'Let's find Peeves and find out what the last task is.'

It took them an hour to locate Peeves on the second floor. They found him hiding inside a suit of armour and scaring people who walked past.

'Filch's office has been well and truly desecrated, Peeves,' Sirius said with a bow. What is your final request?'

Peeves emerged from the suit of armour cackling. 'Oh, I have to see this.'

He disappeared through the floor, and Sirius shrugged at the other Marauders. 'I'm sure he'll be back soon.'

Peter sat down against the wall. 'What?' he asked when the others looked at him. 'I'm knackered after all that running.'

Peeves returned a few minutes later, laughing with glee. 'Oh, you naughty boys. Filch is so mad,' he said. 'The final task is the hardest of all. I think you might fail this one.'

'What is it?' James asked.

Peeves did a somersault and blew a raspberry at them. 'You have to create an enormous mess in all four common rooms,' he said, cackling madly and flying away before they could respond. He clearly thought the task impossible, but he was underestimating them. The Marauders would prove him wrong.

They decided to wait until the following week to complete the mission to make Peeves think they were having difficulty with it. Wednesday morning went by quickly. History was as boring as ever and they were working on a medium level cushioning charm in Charms. It was a lot of fun. Professor Flitwick gave them all a dozen eggs, and they were supposed to cast the charm on their desks and then drop the egg. Sirius kept doing it wrong on purpose so the eggs would break and his desk was a complete mess by the time the lesson was over.

After lunch, Remus and Peter both wanted to get some sleep before Astronomy, so Sirius dragged James outside. They were sitting by the Great Lake and flicking stones as far as they could with their wands.

James cast depulso on a stone and watched as it pinged into the air and splashed down into the water. 'So, we've not had much time alone recently. How are you doing with everything?'

Sirius sighed and laid back on the grass. 'Okay, I guess? I'm still sad about Reggie. And pissed at my mother. But it's easier with you guys.'

James reached out and squeezed his shoulder. 'I'm glad we make it better. Hopefully, you can speak to Reggie about it all when you get home.'

Sirius sighed. He knew it was unlikely he'd be allowed any time alone with Reg when he went home, but he didn't want James to know how bad he expected it to be. There was no use in both of them worrying about something that couldn't be changed.

'Yeah, hopefully,' he said. And then to change the subject. 'Hey, you want to try to get the Whomping Willow bark while we're out here?'

James took the hint and stood up, brushing the dirt off of the back of his robes. 'Sure. Could be fun. Race you there.'

'Cheater!' Sirius yelled as James shot off towards the tree while he was still scrambling to get up. James' only response was wild laughter. Sirius smiled and launched into a run after him. There was no way he could catch up—James was far more athletic than he was—but that didn't mean he wouldn't give it a bloody good try.

James slowed down as he got closer to the tree, and Sirius saw him leap backwards out of the way of a swinging branch. He skidded to a stop next to him and bent over to catch his breath.

'Any ideas how we're going to do this?' James asked.

Sirius knew exactly how it could be done, but he had no way to explain how he knew it to James, so he couldn't tell him. 'Nope.'

James grinned. 'Trial and error it is then.'

James launched himself forwards towards the tree and dodged one branch and then a second before a third swung from the opposite direction and knocked his feet out from under him.

'James!' Sirius shouted, darting forward to where James lay on the ground. He leapt over a branch that came his way and grabbed James' hands, dragging him backwards out of the way. Just in time. A second later a branch thunked down, hitting the ground where James had been lying a moment before. Fuck!

'Thanks, mate. Think you just saved my life,' James said, getting to his feet. His voice sounded shaky.

Sirius shrugged. 'What are friends for, if not to pull you out of life-threatening situations just in the nick of time?'

James laughed. 'Well, yeah.'

They took a moment to catch their breath and let their heart rates slow down.

'So, the run-in-with-no-plan-whatsoever plan didn't work,' Sirius said.

'No, and it usually goes so well for me,' James said. 'I feel betrayed.'

'Understandable,' Sirius said. 'What about if we attack from two sides? Do you think the tree can split its defence?'

James shrugged. 'What is it you always say? There's only one way to find out.'

Sirius grinned. 'You go around the other side then.' He made a shooing motion with his hands.

James didn't argue, much to Sirius' relief. At least if James reached the trunk on that side, he wouldn't be able to see the tunnel.

'Ready?' James called.

'Count of three?' Sirius yelled back.

'One, two, three!' James shouted.

When James said "three" Sirius rocketed towards the tree, dodging and weaving through the attacking branches, but a few feet in he was forced to retreat. The branches were too thick and too fast. He couldn't get through without risking his life. Dumbledore really had chosen a perfect guardian for the tunnel.

'You alright?' he shouted to James.

'Yep, had to back off though, you?'

'Same.'

'What are you two doing?'

Sirius looked up and saw a couple of second-year Gryffindor boys approaching them.

'Seeing how close we can get to the trunk,' Sirius said, thinking fast. 'We made a bet. Whoever can get a piece of bark wins ten galleons.'

The two boys glanced at each other. 'Can we join the bet?'

'Do you have ten galleons?' James asked.

'No,' he said.

'That's okay. How much do you have?' Sirius asked.

'Five sickles,' one of them said.

'Eight sickles,' the other said.

'Alright, new bet. fifteen sickles. The winner gets five from each of the others. Deal?' Sirius said.

They all agreed and the "game" began in earnest. Sirius thought five sickles a small price to pay if they got the bark they needed.

Unfortunately, none of them could get close to the trunk, and after more than an hour of trying, they were too exhausted to continue that day. They all agreed to continue the bet. If anyone succeeded and produced the bark, they would get the fifteen sickles.

Sirius and James took a slow walk back up to Gryffindor Tower and stayed in the common room talking until a sleepy Peter emerged from the dormitory staircase to let them know they were awake.

Remus woke up on Saturday morning to Cosmo nuzzling his face. She was a playful little kitten, and Remus adored her, but he wished she wouldn't insist on waking him up so early every day. Sitting up, he pulled her off his chest and plonked her down on the bed, giving her some fuss before lighting his wand with Lumos and playing chase the light with her for a few minutes. After a while, though, the pressure in his bladder became too much to ignore, so he crawled out of bed and padded across the room to the bathroom.

On the way, he glanced at Sirius' bed and was surprised to find it empty. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and Sirius usually took great pleasure in sleeping in on weekends now that he finally could. Remus pushed the bathroom door open expecting to find Sirius inside, but the bathroom was just as empty as his bed had been.

Remus completed his business and left. As he walked out of the bathroom, he had a clear view of James' bed. The curtains were open, and Sirius was curled up next to James, who had an arm flung around his waist. Remus smiled a little at the sight of them. There must have been a storm last night. He glanced out of the window and sure enough, everything outside was drenched. He'd slept right through it.

Remus fed Cosmo—who had been mewling piteously at her owner's severe neglect in making her wait for breakfast until he'd used the toilet—and returned to his bed to read while he waited for the others to wake up. He didn't get much time for pleasure reading lately, and he missed it. Maybe he wasn't as cross with Cosmo waking him early as he'd thought.

The other Marauders woke up an hour later, and the dorm was a hive of activity as they prepared for their trip into Hogsmeade.

'Have you got the cloak, James?' Sirius checked as they were about to head down to breakfast.

'Of course, I've got the cloak,' James said, backtracking to his trunk and pulling it out before shoving it into his bag. 'What do you take me for? A complete idiot?'

Remus chuckled. 'I think it's safe to say nobody here thinks you're an idiot. The rest of the school on the other hand…'

Peter nodded. 'We just know you're not great at remembering things. That's why we remind you. Marauders help each other, remember?'

James grinned. 'Okay, so am I forgetting anything else?'

'Money?' Sirius asked, and James patted his pocket and nodded.

'List?' Peter said.

'I've got that,' Remus said, pulling it out of his own pocket. He'd copied it out from the Marauders Notebook while everyone else was showering.

'At least someone's organised,' Sirius said.

'I think that's all we need,' Peter said.

'Oh crap,' James said, running back to his bed and picking up his wand.

'Merlin, James. Honestly, you'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on,' Remus said.

'Well, let's all be grateful that it's securely attached. A headless James would not be a pretty sight,' Sirius said, laughing.

Forty-five minutes later, they had full bellies and were loitering in the third-floor corridor, waiting for two Hufflepuff students to leave so they could open the statue and make their escape.

'We could drop a stink pellet,' Peter suggested. 'Make it less likely anyone will be here when we get back too.'

James cocked his head. 'That's a great idea.' He started rummaging in his bag. 'I think I've got some here somewhere… Yes!' He pulled out the packet and opened it, handing one to each of them and taking one for himself. 'Spread out and set them off at either end of this corridor and the ones leading to it.'

Remus took his stink pellet and meandered up the corridor, trying to act innocent. He dropped it when he reached the corner and continued on, circling back around and passing Sirius on the way, who winked at him. By the time he returned to the corridor with the passage to Honeydukes, the Hufflepuffs had scarpered, and the corridor was filled with a noxious odour that clogged his throat and made it difficult to breathe.

James was covering his mouth and nose with his school tie. 'Let's get out of here, shall we?' he asked before tapping the statue of Gunhilda with his wand and saying Dissendium to open the passage. They all clambered through and slid down the stone slide, regrouping at the bottom and taking deep satisfying breaths of the clean, if a little stale, air.

It took close to an hour to walk the full length of the passage and climb the endless stairs to Honeydukes cellar. If they wanted to be back at the school in time for the Creature Hunt lessons, they would only have an hour in the village. They had planned their route beforehand so as not to waste time on the day making decisions, and they would be hitting the apothecary first, as that was the main purpose of the trip. Depending on how long that took, James and Sirius had voted for Zonkos to be the second stop, and if there was any time left after that they would stop at the pub to stock up their butterbeer supply. But that wasn't a priority. They knew the barmaid wouldn't snitch on them if they snuck into the village another time.

Sneaking out of Honeydukes was a lot more difficult this time. The shop was crowded with students, and it was impossible for three of them together to squeeze through under cover of the cloak, so they were forced to make the trip in pairs. James and Sirius went first and then Sirius returned, first taking Peter out and then Remus. The whole process took ten minutes of their allotted hour. And they assumed the return trip would be just as difficult. So they only had forty minutes in which to shop.

Once they were finally all out on the street, they hurried to the apothecary. Peter had split the ingredients they needed to purchase between them in a way that wouldn't raise eyebrows, and James went in first to buy dragon's blood and Chinese chomping cabbage, two ingredients in the third-year healing potion. He returned after a few minutes clutching a bag.

'No problem. Didn't even look at me funny,' he said with a grin, bouncing on his toes.

'Excellent, I'll go next,' Sirius said, taking the money pouch from James. 'What am I buying?'

'Horned slugs and snake fangs,' Peter told him. 'They're both ingredients in the cure for boils, which we'll brew in third-year.'

Sirius nodded and entered the shop. They waited in tense silence, knowing if the shopkeeper thought anything funny was going on he had an obligation to report it.

Sirius returned a few minutes later, holding his own bag and grinning. 'He seems pretty stressed out with so many customers. I don't think he's taking much notice of what people buy.'

'That's a relief. The pearl dust might draw some attention. It's only really used in advanced potions,' Peter said, before turning to Remus. 'Remus, you're buying lionfish spines and billywig wings for a wide-eye potion. It's a second-year potion, so if he asks, you're failing and doing extra credit work.'

Remus nodded. 'Shouldn't be hard to pretend I'm bad at potions.'

Sirius chuckled and handed him the money pouch. 'Not to worry, everyone's bad at something.'

Remus walked into the bright and airy apothecary and meandered up and down the aisles looking for the ingredients he'd been tasked with purchasing. He found the lionfish spines easily, but the billywig wings were a little harder to locate. The shop was busy, and he had to wind his way through other shoppers. It was nerve-wracking, but he'd been prepared for it and was wearing the hood and gloves the other Marauders had bought for him.

A few minutes later, he spotted the billywig wings and grabbed a jar off the shelf, before joining the back of the queue at the counter. His hands were shaking, and he knew he needed to calm down or risk drawing unwanted attention to himself. He closed his eyes and took several deep and slow breaths to settle his nerves. Someone joined the queue behind him, and his heart rate sped up. He was sandwiched between two strangers, and that was a dangerous place for him to be.

The queue moved forward as someone left and the person in front of Remus moved up to the counter. Just a few more minutes. His internal struggle to stay calm in that enclosed space highlighted for him just how much he had come to trust his friends. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt nervous around them. They'd never used his "phobia" against him, not even teasingly. Rather, they went out of their way to make sure he was safe and comfortable at all times. And it wasn't just him that allowances were made for, which might have made him feel uncomfortable about it. Everything was taken in stride with them: Remus' fear of touch, Sirius' fear of storms, Peter's difficulty with History and Defence, and his occasional bouts of anxiety, and James' forgetfulness. Each Marauder had their issues, and the group supported them in any way they could. Remus was beginning to wonder if that complete acceptance might even extend to his lycanthropy. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be too much for his extraordinary friends.

Remus was drawn from his thoughts when the person ahead of him moved away from the counter. He stepped forward and placed his items on the desk. The shop-assistant looked at them and then at him.

'These ingredients aren't used in third-year,' he said.

Remus swallowed and shuffled his feet. 'I'm failing Potions and doing extra-credit work. Professor Slughorn wants me to have another go at the wide-eye potion,' he said.

To Remus' relief, the man nodded and put the ingredients into a bag for him. 'That's 1 Galleon, 11 Sickles, 6 Knuts.'

Remus handed the money over and left, trying his best not to walk too fast and arouse suspicion. He stepped out into the cold street and let out a relieved breath.

'He questioned me, but seemed to believe the extra-credit story,' he told his friends as he handed the money pouch to Peter. 'Good luck, mate.'

'I'm going to need it. Pearl dust is used in amortentia,' Peter said.

'What's that?' James asked.

'Super powerful love potion,' Peter said.

James whistled. 'What are you going to tell him?'

'I need it for a cleaning solution. Problem is we won't make that until fourth-year, and I'm clearly not a fourth year,' Peter said, waving his hand up and down to indicate himself and the inherent lack of fourth-year-ness. 'Why don't you guys head to Zonko's so you're out of the way if he gets suspicious? We don't want to lose all the ingredients.'

Remus nodded. 'I think that's a good idea. If he thinks Pete's up to something he might come outside to check for accomplices.'

Remus, Sirius and James said goodbye to Peter and strolled down the street towards Zonko's. Peter joined them ten minutes later, having sufficiently convinced the shop-keeper he was a third-year taking advanced classes in Potions by displaying his knowledge of the subject.

They stocked up on joke shop products but didn't have time to visit the pub before they headed back to school. Someone would have to return another day to replenish their butterbeer stash.

After returning to the school and completing the convoluted dance of getting everything up the stone slide, they dumped their purchases in their dorm, dashed down to the Great Hall to grab some food and hurried back up to classroom 12c for their lesson.

There were fewer people present that week, a lot of the first-years having been told it wasn't safe for them to learn second-year spells yet, and the room was a little less crowded. They spent an hour learning to cast the shield charm protego and then were told to split into pairs to try stupefy, the stunning charm. Remus paired with Peter because Sirius and James had a tendency to start being silly once they got the hang of something, and he thought Pete could use someone who was taking it seriously as a partner.

They took it in turns to cast stupefy at each other while the other practised protego. Every now and then, someone would drop to the floor having failed to get their shield charm up in time, and the Chiefs in disguise or one of their upper-year helpers would stroll over to revive them.

By the time the lesson was over, they all had a good grasp of the shield charm, and even Peter was able to cast stupefy every two out of three attempts. They had two more lessons before the Creature Hunt, but they planned to get in a lot more practice than that.

Two days later, Remus took his seat next to Lily in Defence. He had chosen to continue sitting with her in that class rather than joining the Marauders because it didn't feel right to desert her when she'd been so kind to him during those first few horrible days at school.

'Hey, did you finish the matagot essay?' she asked when he'd finished getting his things out for the lesson.

'Yeah, why?'

'I couldn't remember all the ways to tell the difference between a matagot and a cat. I got the short whiskers and the lighter pads on their feet, but I think there was one more?'

Remus smiled. 'Their tongues aren't rough.'

Lily smacked her hand on the table. 'That's it! Thank you,' she said, already pulling out her essay to add the information.

'No problem,' Remus said. 'I've not seen you all weekend. How are things with Petunia?'

Lily groaned. 'I'm pretty sure she's not answering my letters anymore. It's been three weeks.'

Remus wanted to offer her comfort, but he didn't feel comfortable touching her and he didn't even have his gloves. 'I'm sorry, Lily. That must be really hard for you.'

Lily nodded and offered him a sad smile. 'We were so close when we were little. Nothing could separate us, but now…'

'She's rejected you for something that's beyond your control,' Remus finished for her. He thought about his dad. Yes, he knew exactly what it felt like to be rejected by someone you love for something you couldn't change. It was soul-destroying.

Lily let out a half-suppressed sob and then sniffed and wiped her eyes with the end of her sleeve. 'I just don't know what I can say to convince her I'm still the same person, you know?'

Remus nodded. 'I don't know if there is anything you can say, Lils. All you can do is hope she sees it for herself.'

Lily slumped in her seat. 'You're probably right.' She offered him a watery smile. 'Thanks for listening. How are things with you?'

Remus shrugged. 'Can't complain.'

'Really?' Lily asked, raising an eyebrow. 'I heard your "friends" roped you into annoying McGonagall two weeks ago and earned you four weeks of detention.'

Remus tried valiantly to suppress his grin. That had been so much fun. 'Well, yeah. That happened. I don't mind though.'

'You put up with far too much from them,' Lily said, shaking her head.

Remus glanced over to where his friends were sitting and caught Sirius' eye. The other boy winked at him, and Remus smiled back before turning back to Lily. 'They're worth it.'

Lily gazed at him with narrowed eyes. 'If you say so.'

The Defence lesson turned out to be about merpeople, and Remus listened to the lecture with interest. They needed merpeople scales for the potion and the lesson might include some information that could help them in that quest.

'Merpeople are often xenophobic and antisocial towards outsiders, mostly because they have been poorly treated by wizards in the past,' Professor Hawthorne said, pacing back and forth across the raised stage area as he lectured. 'Like many sentient magical beings, they've been hunted mercilessly, both for potion ingredients and for sport.'

There were gasps around the classroom.

Professor Hawthorne nodded, his expression grim. 'I'm glad to see most of you are horrified by that. Merpeople are a highly intelligent species, and to treat them as though they are less than humans is a grave insult. They have their own culture, language and beliefs. Mermish is an interesting language. The innate magic of the merpeople causes their voices to sound different below the water than above it. When above the water their language sounds like animalistic noises to the human ear, which goes some way to explain why they were believed to be non-sentient by humankind for so long. Under the water in their natural habitat, however, their magic translates their language to whichever language the listener speaks. It is quite remarkable.'

So if they wanted to communicate with the merpeople in the Great Lake they would need to go underwater. He shivered. The water would be freezing at that time of year. No doubt Sirius would volunteer for the task. Reckless endangerment of life was his forte.

'Mermish culture relies heavily on music and trade,' Professor Hawthorne continued. 'It's considered good manners to present a gift when making a request of a merperson, and the gift should represent the value of the request. If the merperson feels the offering to not be valuable enough, they may take it as an insult against them and become hostile, so one should take great care when choosing an offering.'

James raised his hand.

'Yes, Mister Potter?'

'What sort of things are valuable to merpeople? I assume it's not the same things humans value.'

Professor Hawthorne smiled. 'Are you planning on making a request of the locals?'

Chuckles sounded throughout the classroom, and James joined in with the laughter. 'Of course not, sir,' he lied. 'I'm just interested.'

'Hmm,' Professor Hawthorne hummed, looking unconvinced. 'Well, in the interests of safety. Merpeople value music above most anything else. They also value many things that cannot be found under the water, but only if it still functions underwater.'

James nodded and made a show of writing it down. 'Makes sense.'

After the lesson was over, Remus joined his friends for an early dinner before they congregated in the dorm room to make plans.

'I don't see how any of us can swim down to where the merpeople live,' Remus said. 'I don't know of any spell that can make us breathe underwater.'

'Maybe we can lure one up to the surface with music,' Peter said. 'Do you know any waterproofing spells?'

'No, but maybe we can buy a wireless that's already got waterproofing?' Remus said.

'We need something to trade for the scales too,' Sirius said. 'Something they'll view as incredibly valuable. We really don't want to offend them. I mean, we're asking for a part of their body.'

James nodded. 'That is going to take some careful thought.'

'Let's make a trip to Hogsmeade tomorrow afternoon,' Sirius said. 'Dervish and Banges might have something.'

'Good idea. Tonight, I believe we have some destruction to cause,' James said with a wicked grin.

Remus and his three friends snuck out of the dorm at midnight. It was going to be exhausting hitting all four common rooms in one night, but it seemed like the best method. Monday night was the quietest night for common room use, with everyone worn-out from the weekend, and if they only did one a night, there was more chance of being caught.

They decided to tackle Hufflepuff first; it being the furthest from their own, and Remus and Sirius led the way to the barrel entrance. They weren't planning on putting much effort into the task. The purpose was to make a mess that would satisfy Peeves, not impress the students with fancy displays of magic. So they went around the common room, casting diffindo on the soft furnishings to rip them open before spreading the stuffing around as much as possible. It only took a few minutes to thoroughly destroy the room, but they'd done it in such a way that it would be easy enough to clean up. They had nothing against the Hufflepuffs.

Since they were already in the dungeon, they attacked the Slytherins next. Peter had spent an hour hanging around the entrance to find out the password earlier that day, and they slipped inside, moving as silently as they could. Remus noted with relief that the common room was empty, and they spread out, making short work of the furniture and soft furnishings. As an added bonus, especially for the Slytherins, they set off several dungbombs on their way out.

Ravenclaw was the hardest of the four. They had no way to make sure they could gain access ahead of time. The riddle changed as soon as someone solved it. Remus took the lead and knocked, causing the voice to ring out.

'What is both desired and feared but never arrives?'

Remus turned around to face the others and shrugged. 'Any ideas?'

James frowned. 'What's the point in being scared of something that's never going to happen?'

'I think that's the point,' Peter said. 'It does happen, but we call it something else.'

'Of course!' Sirius said. 'Like the future becomes the present.'

'Or tomorrow becomes today,' Remus said.

'So which is it?' James asked. 'The future? Or tomorrow?'

'It probably doesn't matter,' Remus said. 'They both work.' He turned to the door and crossed his fingers. Gods, he hoped he was right. 'The future.'

'That is correct,' the door knocker said, and the door swung open.

They made quick work of ransacking the Ravenclaw common room and left as soon as they could. Time was getting on, and they wanted to get at least a little sleep before they had to get up and go to class. When they reached their own tower, they quickly shred the furnishings on their way through, before climbing the stairs to their dorm. Remus flopped down on his bed fully clothed and fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, Remus was the first to wake thanks to Cosmo. It was still early, and he climbed out of bed before pulling back the curtains on his friend's beds and calling their names to wake them. They thanked him with groans, but when he reminded them that they needed to find Peeves and report their success before the destruction was cleaned up, they changed their tunes.

They searched for an hour before they found the poltergeist bouncing around the trophy room.

'Good morning, good sir,' Sirius greeted him with a bow. 'We're here to report our success. All four common rooms have been thoroughly ransacked.'

Peeves stopped bouncing and swooped down to hover in front of them, cackling madly. 'You four firsties are naughtier than I thought,' he said. 'I didn't think you'd be able to do it. But a deal's a deal. How much ectoplasm do you want?'

Peter pulled a vial from his bag and handed it to Peeves. 'If you could fill that up?'

'Come back here after your first lesson and old Peevsy will have it ready for you.'

'Thank you, Peeves. I hope we can collaborate with you again in the future,' Sirius said.