February 16th, 1972

It was the worst day of the year; the anniversary of the day a monster snatched up his life and tore it to shreds. And Remus was struggling to keep his temper in check. He was always in a crappy mood on February 16th, but this year was proving more challenging than most. Every other year, he'd been at home. His mum understood why he was grumpy and left him alone. But at school, getting alone time was near impossible. His friends were being clingy after their falling out two days ago. They couldn't understand why he was being off with them, and they would not stop trying to cheer him up. He knew they meant well, but it was grating on his every nerve.

The morning free period hadn't been too bad. They'd spent an hour in the beach room practising for their next match, and it had been almost therapeutic. Blasting sand wasn't as satisfying as destroying something more substantial would be, but it went a little way towards taking the edge off his mood, and fighting didn't allow much space for conversation. Plus, he won, so there was that.

But their second-period lesson, History of Magic, had taken him right back to pissed off. Lycanthropes were mentioned several times in relation to the addition of clause 73 into the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy. And every time Professor Binns said "werewolf" Remus wanted to scream. He didn't even take any notes.

Charms wasn't much better. Werewolves weren't mentioned, but the spell they were practising was the one he used every month to lock himself up. Each time he muttered, "Colloportus," and the padlock on his desk clicked shut, the sound caused a chain reaction in his mind, and he was forced to relive one of his transformations. Such pleasant memories, he just loved being reminded of them.

All morning, every time his friends tried to speak to him, he either brushed them off or responded with some sarcastic, cutting remark, and he knew they were concerned. He couldn't fail to notice the glances they kept shooting each other, and the silent conversations going on behind his back. Lunch was proving to be unbearable. With no classwork to use as an excuse for his silence, the attempts to cheer him up were relentless.

'I finished the first chapter of that book you lent me,' Peter said. 'It's really exciting.'

'Wow, Pete. Is that the first book you've read by choice? You must be so proud,' Remus said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Peter's near-constant smile vanished, and Remus' stomach squirmed with guilt. He didn't want to be nasty, Merlin knows, Peter didn't deserve it, but he couldn't stop.

'For fuck's sake, Remus,' James snapped. 'Why're you being a dick? Peter didn't deserve that.'

'James,' Sirius said in a warning tone. 'Don't.'

'No. I've had enough,' James said, slapping his hand on the table and glaring at Remus. 'What the fuck is wrong with you today?'

Remus' barely controlled rage bubbled over, and he glared right back at him. 'Fuck you, James,' he spat. Remus grabbed his bag and jerked to his feet. 'Just leave me the fuck alone, yeah?' He turned and stomped his way towards the Entrance Hall.

'Like fuck are we doing this again!' James shouted after him.

By the time Remus reached the Entrance Hall, his temper was already cooling, and the guilt was setting in, making his eyes burn with unshed tears. He'd probably ruined everything. James would never speak to him again, and who could blame him?

'Remus! For fuck's sake. Will you just talk to us?' James barrelled into the Hall mere seconds behind him with Sirius and Peter on his heels. They must have abandoned their lunch without hesitation to have caught up with him so fast. Maybe there was still a chance he could repair the damage he'd done.

'Aw. What's the matter, Lupin? You had a falling out with your boyfriends?'

Remus stiffened. He would recognise that slimy drawl anywhere. It belonged to the very person he least wanted to see when he was in such a state. Bloody Snivellus.

He turned around and saw the familiar sneer beneath the curtains of black, greasy hair. The boy was repulsive, inside and out. His only redeeming quality, as far as Remus could tell, was that he was kind to Lily. But that didn't excuse all the vile things he did the rest of the time. Anyway, Remus needed a target that wasn't his friends, and Snivellus was there.

Remus whipped his wand from its holster and pointed it at Snivellius' sneering face. Before he could react, Remus whispered, 'Furnunculus maxima,' and watched with satisfaction as the hex hit him square in the face. Boils sprouted up, beginning on his nose where the spell had made contact but quickly spreading over his face and down his neck. They would continue to spread under his clothes, not stopping until his entire body was covered in them.

'Nice one, Remus,' James said. 'Quite the improvement.'

Sirius barked a laugh. 'Aren't you going to thank him for helping you look your best, Snivellus?'

'Yeah, Snivellus,' Peter said. 'It's polite to say thank you when someone does something nice for you.'

'Who's responsible for this?' Professor Slughorn's voice echoed through the Entrance Hall, and it took Remus a moment to spot him striding over from the direction of the dungeon stairwell.

'It was Lupin, sir,' Snape mumbled through his hands.

'Thirty points from Gryffindor, Mister Lupin. And detention. I'm very disappointed in you.' Slughorn put his arm around Snape and led him away towards the hospital wing, leaving Remus alone with his friends.

'That was awesome!' Sirius said, turning to him with a look of glee on his face. 'You have got to teach us that spell.'

Remus smiled his first genuine smile that day. After attacking Snape, his anger had all but disappeared. He decided not to think too hard about that. 'I can teach you the weaker version. You won't be able to cast that one yet without killing yourselves.'

'Are you going to tell us what's wrong with you?' James asked. He had his arms crossed and his chin in the air, but he relaxed his stance when Remus faced him. 'Look, you said before that you regretted not trusting us as much as we deserved. So trust us with whatever this is. Maybe we can help.'

Remus sighed. James was right, and he clearly wasn't going to be distracted from the issue. He had to tell them something.

'In the dorm,' he said. 'Not here.'

James nodded. 'Fine, let's grab some food first, though. We left our lunch behind for you.'

Fifteen minutes later, they were crowded on Peter's bed—he was the only one who didn't care about crumbs—and three pairs of eyes were staring at Remus expectantly.

The time it had taken to get upstairs had given him time to think, and he was ready. 'It's the anniversary of the car accident today. I can't stop thinking about it. The memories, you know?' He looked down at his hands and shrugged. 'It's hard.'

Sirius' eyes widened with understanding. 'You should have told us. We could have helped.'

'At the very least we wouldn't have been hounding you all day,' James said. He glanced around the circle at the others, pausing briefly on Peter. 'Does anyone else have any difficult anniversaries we should know about? You don't have to say why it's hard if you don't want to.'

Peter nodded. 'Um, the 3rd of May is hard for me. But I don't want to get into why right now.'

'That's fine,' James said, offering him a reassuring smile. 'We'll put it in the Notebook, so we'll remember to be extra nice to you that day.'

Remus wondered if that was the day Peter's dad got sent to prison, or if it was something else, and the thought flooded him with guilt. He'd been a complete arse. Selfish. Wrapped up in self-pity and taking it out on people who'd been nothing but good to him. And they each had their own problems. Sirius' home life sounded awful from what little he'd shared, and Peter had something painful in his past. On the surface, James seemed to have it easy, but Remus had deduced from listening to his stories that before Hogwarts, James' life had been almost as lonely as his own. And James hated being alone. If they could all manage their pain without being assholes, then he had no excuse.

'I'm sorry for being such a jerk all day,' he said.

'It's forgotten,' James said, waving his hand dismissively. 'There's no room for holding grudges in the Marauders.' He gave the others a meaningful look. 'Right?'

Sirius and Peter both nodded their agreement.

James clapped his hands and rubbed them together. 'Now, what are we going to make for the merpeople?'

Their discussion that afternoon was fruitless. None of them could think of anything good enough. But in art club on Thursday afternoon, the prefect in charge mentioned a spell that allowed an artist to pack a painting into a box and transport it to a new canvas. It was precisely the sort of thing they were looking for. Unfortunately, she couldn't recall the name of the spell and had no idea how to cast it. As Chief of Research, Remus assumed he'd be delegated the task of finding the spell, but he was wrong. With so little time left before they absolutely had to begin brewing the potion, James and Peter would be joining him in the library to search, while Sirius worked on the design for the painting. Not wanting to be left out, Sirius lugged his art set down to the library, and they set up shop in a quiet side room.

'Do you think an underwater scene would be best? Or something the merpeople won't ever have seen before?' Sirius asked when Remus returned from the main library with a stack of books.

'Something new,' Remus said. 'They see underwater scenes all day.'

Sirius nodded. 'I was thinking the same.'

James entered with his own stack of books—a considerably smaller stack than Remus'—and Peter came in behind him.

'I found this book called Useful Spells for the Professional Artist,' Peter said. 'Thought you might be interested, Sirius.'

Sirius took the book and flicked to the contents page. 'Thanks, mate. This looks great.'

Peter grinned. 'I already checked. The spell we're after isn't in it, but some of it sounded pretty cool.'

'I'll check it out when we leave and look at it later,' Sirius said, putting the book to one side with what looked like an enormous amount of effort. Remus felt a little proud of him for showing so much self-control.

They soon settled down to their tasks, and the room was silent but for the sound of their breathing, the turning of pages and the scratching of Sirius' quill.

Half an hour later, the silence was broken by a quiet murmur from James. 'Interesting.'

Remus looked up from his book on moving house wizard style. 'You have something?'

'I think so,' James said. 'It talks about infusing an object with your own personality.'

'Like a chair?' Sirius said, sounding excited. 'Could I make a chair act like me?'

'No, like a picture,' James said. 'It has to have the ability to portray you.'

'That must be the spell they use on the portraits,' Remus said. 'If you put us in the painting, then we can add our personalities. A piece of each of us.'

Sirius hummed, looking down at the parchment in front of him. 'Yeah, I think I can do that.'

'What do you have so far?' James asked, leaning over to peek at Sirius' sketch.

Sirius shrieked and hid the paper with his hands. 'You can't look until it's finished. Don't you know anything?'

James held up his hands in surrender. 'Sorry. Sorry. I didn't realise you artists were so neurotic.'

'I'll give you neurotic,' Sirius said. He eyed James warily. 'Just write down the spell, research boy.'

James snorted. 'Research boy? Is that supposed to be an insult?'

'Shut up,' Sirius said with a laugh.

James copied the instructions for the spell into the Marauders Notebook, and Remus returned to his book. He found what they were looking for a few chapters later.

'I've got it,' he said. 'We need… a box made from pine wood… carve the runes on the surface… potion… Nothing hard to get, but we'll have to raid Slughorn's supplies again… and the spell itself is a level eleven, so I can cast it.'

'Brilliant!' James said. 'Well done, mate.'

Remus copied the instructions down, and they returned all the books, except for Sirius' art one, and went back to their dorm room.

It was another two hours before Sirius was satisfied enough with his sketch to show it to them. The breath-taking scene was worth the wait, though. It showed the clearing in the forbidden forest where the mooncalves lived, complete with fairies, and the four boys were sitting in a circle in the very middle. It was dusk, and the sky was awash with colour.

'It's beautiful,' Remus said, meaning it with every fibre of his being. 'I'm actually sad we have to give it away.'

Sirius beamed. 'I can paint a second one for us to keep.'

We'll have to get more paint for that,' Peter said. 'I don't think we have enough for two murals.'

James shrugged. 'Sirius and I can run into Hogsmeade and get it tomorrow while Remus is helping you with Charms.'

'We're still going to talk to Emhio in the morning, though?' Sirius asked.

James nodded. 'Morning, sneak into Defence. Afternoon, sneak into Hogsmeade.'

'Good job we're experts at sneaking,' Peter said with a chuckle.

Early the next morning, Sirius woke Remus up by whispering his name inches from his ear. Remus decided not to call him out on the blatant theft of his favourite method of waking late-sleepers because it was actually rather pleasant. He considered hiring Sirius as his personal alarm clock, but that was a terrible idea. Sirius was rarely awake before him these days.

They used one of the snitch-o-scopes Remus had made for Christmas to sneak down to the Defence classroom, but it didn't light up once on the way there. No one else was around so early on a Sunday morning. Getting in was simple, Remus was an expert at the unlocking charm, and they slipped inside quietly and closed the door behind them.

The classroom was gloomy; the torches hadn't been lit since there was no class that day, and though it was past dawn, the sun was on the other side of the castle. Remus pulled out his wand, lighting it with a whispered, 'Lumos,' and his friends followed suit. They hurried over to the pool at the front of the room, but it was empty.

'Shit!' James said. 'Where is she?'

'In the lake, I guess,' Sirius said, shrugging. 'Stupid of us to assume she'd be here, really.'

'Dammit, I thought this one would be easy.' James scowled at the tranquil water as if it had personally offended him.

'So what now?' Remus asked.

Peter tilted his head slightly to the side as he stared at the empty pool. 'We could check the water.'

'We can already see she's not here,' James said.

Peter rolled his eyes. 'Not for Emhio. For hair. She spends a lot of time in there. Maybe she left some behind.'

James' eyes went wide with understanding. 'You're right! Come on.' James pulled off his socks and shoes and was just starting on his robe when he realised no one else was moving. He looked at them quizzically.

'You want us to get in there?' Sirius asked, wrinkling his nose.

Peter shuddered. 'I bet the water's freezing.'

James put his hands on his hips. 'Pathetic, both of you. We can shower after, Sirius. And Pete, a little cold won't kill you.' He turned to Remus. 'And what's your excuse?'

Remus took a step back. 'I… er… I…'

'He doesn't want to take his clothes off, obviously,' Sirius said, answering for him.

Guilt flashed in James' eyes. 'Right. Of course. Sorry, Remus.'

'It's alright,' Remus said, feeling a little dizzy with relief. He'd been worried James would force the issue, but he should have known better. He perched on the edge of the white stone wall and took off his shoes and socks. 'I can still help you look.'

'Good man!' James said. 'Take a good look, you two. This is what a real Marauder looks like.'

Sirius huffed. 'Urgh, fine. But if I catch some horrid disease, I'm blaming you.' He pulled off his socks and shoes before pulling his robes off over his head. James followed suit, and they both stood in their pants and looked expectantly at Peter.

'I can see I'm outnumbered,' Peter said with a sigh, unbuttoning his jeans. 'But I'm keeping my shirt on.'

'You and Remus should tie your hair back,' James said to Sirius. 'We don't want to contaminate the water with your hairs.'

Sirius pulled one of the hairbands off his wrist and offered it to Remus. 'You okay with that?'

'I guess,' Remus said. They had already seen that scar. And he knew they wouldn't make him uncomfortable about it. He took the elastic from Sirius and pulled his hair back into a messy ponytail, quite certain he looked ridiculous.

When they were all ready, they gingerly waded into the murky water. Peter's prediction about the temperature was wrong. It was cold, but not unbearably so. It wasn't deep, only reaching Remus' chest, and they waded around skimming their hands across the surface of the water, hoping to snag any hairs that were floating on it.

Remus dragged his fingers through the nearby water for what felt like the hundredth time, but this time when he raised his hand, there was a single silvery-white hair wrapped around his fingers.

'I got one!' he yelled.

'Finally,' Sirius said. 'This is so gross.'

'Oh stop your whining,' James said, splashing Sirius with water. 'Put it in the vial, Remus.'

The water hit Sirius in the face, and he spluttered. 'Urgh. It went in my mouth. I'll get you for that.'

'Don't start fighting or we'll never find the hairs,' Remus said, unwinding the hair from his fingers to deposit it in the potion vial.

'I've got another one,' Peter called. He was on the other side of the pool from James and Sirius. A wise decision on his part, as it turned out. Although it wasn't hard to predict that the two boys would start fighting. They were always fighting.

'One more and we're done,' James said.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. 'And then you better watch out.'

'Ooh, I'm so scared,' James said with a laugh.

Sirius said nothing. Instead, he stuck his nose in the air and turned away, continuing to search for kelpie hair. James found the last one they needed after another ten minutes and waded over to the edge of the pool to deposit it in the vial. Sirius followed him at a distance. James sealed the vial, before climbing out of the pool to put it in his bag. The moment the vial was safely stowed, Sirius got his revenge.

Remus and Peter had seen it coming and were watching from the safety of the back of the pool as Sirius cupped his hands below the surface and scooped a large quantity of water over James' head. And over the floor of the classroom.

James spluttered and whipped around to face Sirius. He pushed his now sopping wet hair out of his eyes and glared at him.

'Bit much, don't you think?'

'Nope,' Sirius said, grinning.

James went completely still for the span of half a second and then with a whoop loud enough to wake the dead he dived back over the wall, landing on Sirius and dragged him under the water.

When they surfaced, both boys were laughing. Sirius glanced towards where Remus was standing with Peter and his eyes twinkled with mischief. He whispered something in James' ear, causing a shiver to run down Remus' spine right before they turned towards them with identical evil smirks.

'Uh-oh,' Peter said.

'Don't you dare,' Remus said as James and Sirius advanced towards them.

'You're not getting out of this one, Remus,' Sirius said. 'You obviously don't mind water.'

'Bugger.' Remus tried to run away, but running while chest-deep in water is impossible and, being taller than him, his attackers were able to move faster.

Moving in sync, James and Sirius pushed their hands through the water and caused a mini tidal wave to envelope Remus and Peter.

Remus smoothed his hands over his hair to squeeze the water out and stop it dripping in his eyes, before sneering at James and Sirius. 'You're going to wish you hadn't done that.'

'Oh yeah?' Sirius smirked. 'Bring it, nerd boy.'

Remus forced his own mini tidal wave in their direction, before launching himself to the side and trying to swim away. Unfortunately, heavy jeans and a baggy jumper were not the best clothes for swimming, and the weight of them pulled him under. He panicked for a second or two before managing to get his feet back under him. Spluttering, he broke the surface to find all three of his friends watching him with worried faces that melted into laughter once they were sure he was okay.

'Thought I was going to have to haul you up by your ponytail,' James said.

'I was thinking the back of his collar, at least that wouldn't hurt,' Sirius said, frowning at James.

'No, it would just strangle him. Much better,' Peter said. He shrugged at Remus. 'I was going to use your belt.'

Remus took a second to appreciate that all three of his friends had come up with different ways to rescue him from drowning without needing to touch his body. (They were so considerate.) And then he flooded them with another wave and bolted.

With their laughter ringing through the empty classroom, they followed after, launching wave after wave at him. But he was ahead of them now, and he'd almost reached the edge.

In between the echoing laughter and the splash of the water, Remus' sensitive hearing picked up a high-pitched creak. The noise was out of place; it didn't belong. All other sounds seemed to fade into the background as his senses zeroed in on the danger, and his head turned towards the door.

Professor McGonagall stood frozen in the doorway with her hand still on the door handle, and her mouth slightly open as if she'd begun to speak, but the words somehow got lost on the way to her mouth.

Buggering bollocks, they were in trouble now. At least James had put the vial of kelpie hair in his bag out of sight.

Professor McGonagall's mouth opened and closed twice before she finally spoke. 'What in Merlin's name is going on in here?'

At the sound of her voice, the others finally noticed they had company and stopped splashing him. Remus heard a quiet, 'Crap,' slip from Peter's mouth behind him.

'Err. We fancied a swim?' James offered.

Professor McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose. 'If you "fancied a swim," Mister Potter, as you so eloquently put it, there is a perfectly good swimming pool right next to your common room. A fact I know you're aware of, being as it was you four that found it.'

'The water in that pool is too warm,' Sirius said. Remus couldn't see him, but he could easily imagine the careless shrug that no doubt accompanied the words. 'We were looking for something a little more... bracing.'

'You were…' Professor McGonagall shook her head. 'Never mind. You two put some clothes on,' she said, pointing at James and Sirius. 'Then all of you go and get dried off and report to Mr Filch for mops and buckets. You will clean up every last drop of water. Without magic.'

James and Sirius groaned.

Remus nodded, accepting the punishment was fair. They had made the mess; it was only right they clean it up. 'Sorry, Professor. We never intended to make a mess; things got a little out of control.'

'Maybe so. But breaking into the classroom was intentional,' McGonagall said, her expression stern. 'I'm surprised at you for going along with this, Mister Lupin. I thought you had more sense.'

If Professor McGonagall thought delivering that line before sweeping from the room would make Remus rethink his behaviour, she was mistaken.

As soon as the door closed behind her, he chuckled and climbed out of the pool. 'Really, James? "We fancied a swim." Was that the best you could do?'

'Shut up,' James said, laughing. 'She caught me by surprise.'

Sirius picked up his robes, which were soaked, and looked at Remus. 'Why are the teachers always surprised when they catch you doing something wrong?' he asked. 'You get into trouble almost as much as the rest of us.'

'It's that innocent little face of his,' James said, laughing. 'Everyone thinks he's just a quiet little bookworm.'

'Little do they know,' Sirius said, smirking, 'that behind that nerd-like façade, beats the heart of a Marauder.'

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' dramatics. 'You use words like "façade" and have the cheek to call me a nerd?'

'Façade isn't a nerdy word,' Sirius said, sticking his nose in the air. 'It's French.'

'Yeah,' James said, his voice rivalling Remus' for sarcasm, 'because knowing French isn't nerdy at all.'

Much to Sirius' annoyance, it had taken most of the day to clean the Defence classroom to McGonagall's satisfaction, meaning he and James had to delay their trip into Hogsmeade until Tuesday afternoon. He was itching to get started on the mural. But he consoled himself with the fact that they couldn't realistically begin until the next weekend, anyway. It took so long to reach the cave that there was really no point in going unless they had a good few hours available. And in the meantime, they had a few more items to collect, so the extra few days wouldn't be wasted.

While Remus and Peter napped on Wednesday afternoon, Sirius and James searched the edge of the Forbidden Forest for pine wood to make the box. Then on Friday night, the four of them raided Slughorn's supplies before heading to the kitchens to stock up on food. With everything they needed for project merperson in hand, they made the long trek down to their cave, set up their new tent and got the fire going to warm the place, having yet to find a more effective way to do it.

They were prepared to spend the entire weekend in the cave. Time was running out; if they didn't begin brewing the Spectral Essence soon, it would never be done in time, and the merperson scales were one of the first ingredients.

With only two beds in the tent, they planned to take it in turns to sleep. So on Friday night Sirius and Remus turned-in first, while James and Peter worked together brewing the potion to create the painting transportation box. Despite their small size, the beds in the tent were surprisingly comfortable, and Sirius slept like the dead, waking up on Saturday morning feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Although, he could have done without James leaping on him with a cry of, 'It's my turn to sleep, lazy arse!' as a wake-up call.

After spending an hour smoothing out a section of the cave wall for Sirius to paint on, he and Remus worked in companionable silence, each of them focused on their own part of the project. Remus was working on carving the box from the pine branches they'd collected. It had to be made by hand, not transfigured, or it wouldn't be able to hold the magic, and Remus had volunteered himself for the task. Sirius secretly suspected that Remus had done so because he knew he would heal fast if he hurt himself with the knife. So he made a point of not looking at Remus too often, keeping his attention on his painting instead.

Using a special ink he'd picked up in Hogsmeade, Sirius outlined the image he wanted to create. The ink was designed so the artist could easily alter a line after it was drawn. With the tip of your wand, you could push the ink a little one way, or a little the other way, or nudge a line in the middle to adjust the curve. Getting the tiniest detail just right was an absolute breeze, and Sirius considered it the best investment he'd ever made.

By the time James and Peter emerged from the tent rubbing the sleep from their eyes, the outline of the mural was complete. And Remus had a small collection of smooth-ish, almost-flat slabs of wood ready to be soaked in the potion before being assembled into a box.

'Wow, you guys have been busy,' James said, wandering over to the wall to examine Sirius' masterpiece. 'This is going to look amazing. I wish we could keep it.'

Sirius grinned. 'I'll paint another, even better one for us.'

'That's what I was hoping you'd say.'

'Lunch is served,' Peter called from next to the fire pit where he was sitting with Remus.

Sirius' stomach growled at the delicious sight of sandwiches, fruit, and cake spread out on a blanket next to the fire. He bounded over and grabbed a ham sandwich from the pile, ripped it in two and stuffed an entire half into his mouth before he sat down.

'Mmm,' he moaned through the mouthful of food. 'I'm starving.'

'You did a great job with the wood,' Peter said, looking at Remus. 'Did you hurt yourself at all? I brought some dittany along just in case.'

'I'm fine, but thanks,' Remus said. He made a show of checking his hands for scratches, before holding them out to show Peter. 'See, all good.'

Peter examined the perfectly smooth, unbroken skin with a frown. 'That's pretty impressive. You don't even have any nicks from the splinters.'

Remus pulled his hands back a little too fast. 'I was careful,' he said. 'Is the potion ready? The wood needs to soak for a few hours, so we should put it in as soon as possible.'

As subject changes went, it was far from subtle. But if Peter noticed anything odd about it, he didn't let on.

'It needs another three minutes,' Peter said after checking the timer. 'What are we going to do while we're waiting for the wood to soak?'

'Practice the personality spell,' James said. 'We don't want to ruin all Sirius' hard work by doing it wrong.'

When the timer went off, they lowered the slabs of wood into the cauldron, careful not to make it splash. They didn't know what would happen if the potion touched their skin. Sirius sat down and drew a quick sketch of each of his friends for them to practice on and then returned to his mural.

He filled in the background first, painting the sky with colour-changing paints in purples, pinks and reds. The trees he coloured in deep greens and browns, with intimidating shadows between them, contrasting sharply with the lightness of the clearing which he painstakingly recreated using the brightest colours he could mix. He was putting the finishing touches on the wildflowers when his friends arrived at his side.

'Aw, you haven't painted us yet,' James said.

'We're the focus,' Sirius explained. 'I'll do that last.'

'I love the sky,' Peter said. 'I can't stop looking at it.'

Sirius beamed at the praise. No one but Reg had ever complimented his art before he came to Hogwarts. His parents always said it was a waste of time and money, and his cousins were downright cruel and just poked holes in everything he did. But his friends were always admiring, and he couldn't get enough of it. Every nice thing they said about his art made him feel like he was floating. It was better than any euphoria potion could ever be.

'Thanks, Pete.' Sirius said, turning away from the mural. He wanted to let the paint dry before he worked on the figures in the centre or he risked smudging it. 'How did you guys get on with the spell?'

'See for yourself,' James said, offering him the James sketch.

The little drawing of James was no longer stationary but stood in the middle of the blank space with one hand on his hip and the other running through his hair as he looked around with a bewildered expression. When the James-sketch noticed Sirius watching him, he grinned and waved before sticking his tongue out.

Sirius chuckled. 'It's so lifelike.'

'I know,' James said. 'Haven't been able to make it speak, though.'

'I don't think we really need them to.' Sirius turned to Remus. 'Can I see yours?'

Remus handed him the parchment with a chuckle, and when Sirius looked at it, he saw why. The sketch of Remus was the epitome of calm disinterest. Sitting with his back against the edge of the parchment, his full attention was on the book resting against his bent knees. The utter stillness of the image made it seem as though it had been drawn that way. That was until sketch-Remus raised his left hand and tucked his hair behind his ear in a perfect imitation of the real-life Remus.

Sirius barked a laugh. 'It's so you! What's yours doing, Pete? Please tell me it's produced some food from somewhere.'

Peter laughed. 'I wish. Is "enjoys food" even a personality trait?'

Remus hummed in thought. 'No, I don't think it is. James' sketch is looking around, agitated, but cheers up whenever someone looks at it. I think that's because he hates being alone and loves attention.'

'Hey!' James said.

'He's not wrong,' Sirius said. 'Own it.'

Remus ignored the interruption and continued. 'Mine is sitting reading a book because I like being alone, and I'm quick to accept my situation and make the best of it. And Peter's is—'

'No, don't tell me,' Sirius yelled, cutting him off. 'I want to see.'

Peter handed him the parchment without meeting his eyes. 'It's kind of embarrassing.'

Little sketch Peter was sitting on the bottom edge of the parchment hugging his knees. His whole body was visibly shaking, and his eyes darted about nervously. Sirius felt an immediate sense of empathy with the drawing, knowing exactly how it felt to be trapped and all alone.

'Oh, gods. Someone get me a quill. This is horrible,' he said.

Remus handed him a quill, and Sirius hurriedly added a sketch of James, Remus and himself to the parchment.

'Show me how to do the spell.'

Remus coached him through the process. It took him quite a long time, but he was eventually successful—his concern for the Peter-sketch motivating him to get it right. He was pleased to see that his sketch-self immediately went to comfort the frightened Peter-sketch when the spell finally took.

Peter was delighted with his animated Marauders sketch, and James and Remus asked him to add the rest of the group to their pictures too. Sirius drew a fourth picture for himself, and they all got in a bit more practice with the spell activating the drawings. Sirius tucked his away inside his History of Magic textbook to keep it from getting creased. The little part of his friends contained in the image would help him survive the summer holidays.

'You two should get some sleep,' James said. 'Pete and I will do the runes on the wood and decorate it. I reckon it'll be easier to do that before it's assembled.'

At the mention of sleep, Sirius yawned. He'd been on his feet most of the day, and the weariness reached right into his bones. 'That sounds really good, actually.'

The second night in the tent proved to be just as comfortable as the first, and Sirius woke refreshed and ready to finish the mural. James and Peter had worked hard during the night, and the slabs of wood were roughly carved with all the necessary runes and some rudimentary decoration. It was hardly professional looking, but it would do the job, and that's what really mattered.

After eating, Remus, James and Peter set to work assembling the box, and Sirius returned to the wall to paint the figures in the mural. By mid-afternoon the mural was finished, the magical container was ready, and all that was left to do was add a part of themselves.

It proved to be a little more difficult with the mural than it had been with the sketches, but one by one, they brought the images to life. Remus' was predictably first. His likeness blinked and stretched, before rising, rather gracelessly, to his feet and looking around the clearing with interest. He raised an eyebrow at the three frozen figures still seated on the grass, then shrugged and made himself comfortable on the ground at the edge of the clearing with his back against a tree.

Sirius returned his attention to his own image and concentrated. The process was straightforward but surprisingly challenging to achieve. First, find your magical core. That part was easy, they did it all the time in class. Second, search your core for the spark that embodies everything you are. That part was a little harder, but they managed it reasonably quickly. It was the third part that gave them all some trouble; once you find your spark, focus in on it and allow yourself to feel everything that makes up who you are. And fourth, once you have the feeling, let it flow out through your wand and into the painting.

Since Remus had taught him to meditate, Sirius had been practising regularly. Maybe not as often as he should, but he tried to do it at least once a week. So he was familiar with the process of focusing internally. It was a little different honing in on his core instead of melting into his mind, but it felt similar, and that definitely made it easier.

Focusing in on the spark at the centre of his core, Sirius allowed the sense of his being to flow through him. The bulk of the feeling was a sense of warmth; it was the canvas that the masterpiece known as Sirius Black was painted on. And he knew it to be loyalty. He'd been surprised when he first identified it. Not realising he even possessed the quality before he arrived at Hogwarts, nevermind that it was his most dominant trait. But when he thought of his friends, it made sense. He wouldn't hesitate to jump in front of a wand for any one of them.

Laced throughout the heat—making up the background—there was an ache, a deep longing, to prove himself good. He knew this was where his bravery stemmed from, and he was grateful for it. Without it, he wouldn't have been placed in Gryffindor and would never have found the happiness he had now.

On the surface lay an itchiness; a need to always be doing something fun or exciting. It was the part that made him reckless and got him into so much trouble. He used to hate that part of himself, but since meeting James, he'd learnt to stop fighting against it and instead harness and embrace it. Mostly for rule-breaking, but still.

Dotted throughout, making up the details, there were hints of pain and touches of something that felt like hope. They were too small to identify, but he acknowledged them, letting each sensation flow down to his wand and into the painting on the cave wall.

His likeness perked up. His eyes darting around and zeroing in on Remus sat under the tree. Sirius chuckled when he saw Remus' doppelganger had managed to locate a book from somewhere and was oblivious to his painting self's presence. Painting-Sirius rose to his feet slowly and crept towards Remus in a half-crouch. When he was inches away, with his face right behind Remus' book, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth. No sound emerged, but Remus jumped and smacked painting-Sirius in the face with the book.

Sirius laughed as his likeness jumped around, clutching his nose, tears streaming down his face.

Peter's likeness had come to life at some point during the attack on Remus, and he rushed to help painting-Sirius, offering him a tissue for his bloody nose. Painting-Remus got to his feet, pulled out his wand and waved it. A swirl of colour flew from the end and hit painting-Sirius in the face. He lowered his hands, smiling, his nose had been fixed. Episkey didn't look anything like that in reality, but—Sirius mentally shrugged—artistic licence.

James' doppelganger finally joined the others a few minutes later. He was not one for introspection and had the most difficulty with the spell out of all of them. With all the inhabitants of the mural awake, Remus performed the spell to pack the painting into the magical container.

It took him multiple attempts to get it right, but when he did, the sight was mesmerising. The ink and paint floated off the wall, swirling together in a cloud of colour which was somehow mixed all up together and distinctly separate at the same time. The cloud streamed into the box, and the lid slammed itself closed. The gift was ready.

They returned to the castle with a sense of trepidation. It had been easy to forget about it in the seclusion of the cave, but there was a slight chance their absence had been noticed. If it had, they would be in serious trouble. It had been bad enough when they'd been missing for a single lesson, never mind an entire weekend. They saw no signs the castle was in search mode on their way back to Gryffindor tower, though. All was calm, and they reached their dorm without incident, immediately stashing the box inside James' underwear drawer and issuing instructions to Cosmo to guard it.

By Monday morning, Remus was already showing signs of the coming full moon. Sirius did his best to distract the others, and it worked for a while. James was easy, his mind flitted about so much anyway, but Peter was more difficult.

His luck ran out in Herbology on Tuesday morning. He'd been doing so well, but his attempts at redirection were no longer enough when Remus could barely stand upright to prune his flitterbloom bush.

'Are you okay?' Sirius heard Peter whisper to Remus. 'You look terrible.'

'Hey, Peter. Watch this,' Sirius said, thinking fast. He pulled out his wand and transfigured James' notes into a tiny broomstick before flying it around the room with the levitation charm.

'Hold on, Sirius,' Peter said, leaning in closer to Remus. He whispered something Sirius couldn't hear, and Remus nodded.

Peter straightened up. 'Back in a sec. Remus needs to go to the hospital wing; he's sick. Just gonna tell Professor Sprout.'

'What's up, mate?' James asked. 'You're looking very pale.'

'Dunno,' Remus said. 'Maybe it was being in the cave all weekend. I just feel really weak and tired.'

Peter returned before Sirius could say anything in reply.

'Right, come on then. Let's get you to Pomfrey.'

'I can take him,' Sirius said quickly.

Peter picked up Remus' battered and overfilled bag and shook his head. 'No, I've got it. I'm done with my bush anyway; you still have loads to do.'

Remus was already on his way out of the door, and Peter didn't give Sirius a chance to argue before he followed after him. Sirius was left standing in the greenhouse, not quite knowing what had happened. It had all been so fast. One minute Remus was there, and there was plenty of time, and the next, he was gone. And Sirius didn't even get to say goodbye. Or find a way to secretly say good luck, I hope you don't get hurt.

The rest of the day dragged by. Remus hadn't looked good when he left, and Sirius was worried sick about him. Had he overdone it this month using so much magic? Would that make the transformation harder for him? Would the wolf be angry because of it? The questions swimming through his head were endless, and he wanted to scream. It was a relief when dinner time finally arrived.

James wanted them to head into the forest as soon as they'd eaten, so they could get to the clearing before it got dark and find a good position to watch from. He didn't want to risk them arriving at the wrong moment and startling the mooncalves before they danced. It made sense, but it caused a problem for Sirius. He knew that Remus and Madam Pomfrey would be heading down to the Whomping Willow around six o'clock and he didn't want James and Peter to see anything odd, so he ate fast in the hopes of being across the grounds and in the forest before Remus came outside.

Thankfully, James and Peter were just as eager to get going, and Sirius saw no sign of Remus and Madam Pomfrey as they passed the Whomping Willow. Once they were inside the treeline they stopped.

'Since Remus isn't here, I guess we'll all have to try to cast the charm, and hope one of us gets it,' James said.

Sirius had anticipated this, knowing that Remus wouldn't be able to make the trip, and had been practising the charm whenever he was alone. So he held his hand out flat and placed his wand on it, saying, 'Loco ad Locum.' James and Peter copied him.

It didn't work the first time like he'd been hoping it would, but after a few attempts Sirius's wand spun around on the palm of his hand, stopping when the tip was level with his ring finger, and they set off, pausing periodically to check they were still going the right way. They reached the clearing just as the sun was setting and found themselves a comfortable spot opposite the mooncalves' burrow. After covering themselves with the invisibility cloak, they settled in to wait.

An hour and a half after moonrise, the creatures finally emerged, noses twitching, into the moonlight. The bulging eyes were what Sirius noticed first; they looked silver in the moonlight, but he knew from his Defence lessons that they were blue. They had cute, flat little faces perched atop long necks, and fat bodies with short spindly legs. Sirius kind of wanted to take one home as a pet, Cosmo wouldn't know what to make of it. The mooncalves spread out throughout the meadow and, one by one, rose onto their hind legs and began to dance.

Sirius had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, and he could feel James and Peter on either side of him shaking slightly as they both struggled equally hard to control themselves. The mooncalves looked absurd. Their legs didn't look strong enough to support their bodies when they were standing on four of them, but on two, they looked like they might snap at any second. With their noses pointed straight up at the sky, they wiggled their necks in the air and waddled around the meadow in random patterns. Sirius watched with anticipation, expecting at any moment for one or more of the weird little creatures to topple over. But they never did.

Twenty minutes later, the dance was over, and the mooncalves returned to their burrow, leaving the three Marauders alone in the silence of the dark clearing.

'Let's get the grass and get out of here,' James whispered, pulling off the cloak. 'This place is so creepy at night.'

'Lumos,' Sirius said. His wand tip lit up, and he shone it around the clearing. 'Huh. Guess their dance wasn't random at all. Look.'

Trodden into the grass of the meadow was a perfectly symmetrical pattern.

'Well, that makes it easy,' James said, crouching down and plucking seven blades of grass from a trodden patch. Peter dug in his pocket for the bottle, and James placed the grass inside.

'Can we go now?' Peter asked, pulling out his wand. His eyes were darting around nervously, never settling in one spot for more than a heartbeat.

James armed himself and nodded. 'Yeah. The castle's this way.'

James strolled back into the trees, and Sirius and Peter followed him, trusting his tendency to plan everything to the tiniest detail meant he knew where he was going. It took another half an hour before they emerged from the forest to the welcome sight of Hogwarts. Only a few of the many windows were lit, but the ones that were shone like a beacon through the night.

Sirius let out a relieved breath. They were home.