Tuesday 20th March 1973, 7:12 pm

Regulus locked eyes with James across the circle as his Father raised his goblet and spoke the incantation. The boy hadn't made any obvious mistakes so far, though there was a moment around four o'clock when he'd disrupted the ritual with what appeared to be a coughing fit. Regulus had held his breath as the entire family stared at him, but he'd merely straightened up when it was over and apologised politely. Hopefully, no one but Regulus had noticed him slip his hand into the pocket of his robes a minute later, the firelight reflecting off the glass bottle hidden in his fist.

The ritual was the easy part, though. Short of doing something completely stupid, there was no real way to mess up standing quietly and not moving, and Regulus was confident James wanted to succeed enough to not be stupid, but this was the moment when it might all go wrong. Sirius had needed extra encouragement to drink his potion the previous year, so Mother would be watching him and he already knew James disliked the idea of consuming the dark magic it contained.

Staring back at him, James raised his goblet in Regulus' direction for the briefest of moments before bringing it to his lips and tipping it up. If he was pretending, he was a better actor than Sirius by a wide margin, but perhaps he'd decided, with the Core Cleanser available, drinking it was safer than risking drawing attention to himself. Regulus smirked and returned the gesture before draining his potion, trying not to pull a face at the taste, and depositing his empty goblet on Kreacher's tray as he passed.

The family began to file inside, and Regulus manoeuvred himself until he was next to James. 'So far, so good,' he murmured.

'The hard part comes next,' James muttered back.

Regulus ducked his head, letting his hair shield his face, and smirked at him. 'Losing your confidence?'

From his observations, James was very similar to his brother, and as he'd calculated, the insinuation was enough to provoke his competitive spirit, bolstering his nerves. James' shoulders relaxed and his spine straightened. 'Not a chance.'

'That's what I thought,' Regulus replied, letting a little humour into his tone.

They entered the drawing-room, moving towards the table of refreshments laid out by the house-elves. Kretin was behind the table, serving drinks, and Regulus offered him a small smile as he took his goblet. The elf looked better than he had at Christmas, but there was still sadness in his eyes if you looked for it. When they'd both been served, they headed for a quiet, but not too hidden, part of the room to converse. If it looked like they were trying to avoid notice, they were more likely to be harassed.

The plan worked for a little while. Regulus saw his mother looking their way a few times, but she seemed to be satisfied that he was keeping Sirius out of trouble and left them alone. Regulus fielded conversations with both of his grandfathers and his great aunt Cassiopeia, and James was doing wonderfully, even managing to use the word 'mudblood' without flinching several times, but when Regulus noticed a new person approaching them, his stomach sank.

'Sirius,' Orion said, as he came to a stop before them. 'Can I have a word in my study?'

'Of course, Father,' James answered calmly, giving Regulus a wink when Orion turned his back on them. 'Don't worry. I'll be fine,' he whispered before following Orion to his study. Regulus could do nothing but watch as he disappeared through the doors. Watch, and hope it wasn't all about to go to shit.

As Orion turned to follow Sirius to his desk after letting the heavy door bang closed behind them, he glanced at the coiled glass snake on the mantelpiece. It was a habitual thing he did whenever he brought someone into his private space, a quick glance at the innocuous item to see if his visitors were who they appeared to be, and it had been so long since the eyes of the serpent had been anything other than yellow that he'd been beginning to wonder if it was broken. But they stared back at him now an accusatory red and he blinked twice, stunned, before pulling himself together. It wouldn't do for the interloper to know they were caught.

The person pretending to be his son had clearly acquired enough knowledge of his family to pass for Sirius and they had taken a position in front of the desk, their hands clasped behind their back and their spine straight, just as his boys had been trained to do. It was convenient, he thought, pulling out his wand from the inside pocket of his robes and pointing it at the imposter's back. 'Imperio.'

The person's stance slackened as they gave their will over to him and he smiled as he rounded the desk to face the person wearing his son's face as a mask.

'Tell me your full name.'

'James Fleamont Potter.'

Orion's eyebrows went up in surprise. 'Tell me why you're here.'

'To pretend to be Sirius and complete the ritual.'

Orion rolled his eyes. The compulsion could be so literal during interrogations. He needed to make his orders more specific. 'Tell me why Sirius isn't here himself.'

'He was too weak to be sure he would make it through the ritual.'

The spark of fear that shot down his spine at the response made his back straighten. 'Why? What's wrong with him?' he blurted, forgetting for a moment that the magic required orders, not questions, to work. 'I mean, tell me what's wrong with him.'

'Muscle atrophy,' James said, maddeningly.

'Oh, for fuck's sake,' Orion muttered. This method of interrogation was taking far too long. He lifted his wand again, pointing at the boy standing before him. 'Legilimens.'

As he spoke the incantation, his consciousness rushed across the space between them, entering the boy's mind but instead of the whirling mess of thoughts and memories usually found within an untrained mind, he was presented with a large manor house set within manicured grounds and barricaded by golden gates shaped into the heads of lions. The boy's home, perhaps? He couldn't be sure. Much to his wife's displeasure, they'd never been invited to the Potter's.

The curated mindscape was unexpected—he hadn't thought the Potters were the type to keep to the old ways and teach their child occlumency—but it wouldn't pose too much of a problem. They clearly hadn't trained him how to fight the Imperius curse yet, if they intended to at all, and the boy was still very much under his control.

'Let me in,' he said. 'Unlock the gate.'

The door to the manor house opened and a young boy with dark, messy hair and glasses stepped out and waved before crossing the expansive lawns, ignoring the path entirely in preference for a more direct route. 'Come in,' he said, when he arrived, pulling his wand from a garishly ornate holster at his hip and directing it at the lock. Then he paused. 'Letting you in seems like a rather stupid thing to do, to be honest.'

The rebellion was impressive if a little irritating. Sirius had chosen his friend well. This boy had a strong will, but he doubted it would hold up against a little pressure. 'You can trust me. Let me in.'

James tilted his head to the side, considering him for a second, then tapped his wand against the lock. 'Alohomora. Come in, then.'

'Thank you,' Orion said, pushing the gate open and stepping inside. 'Please show me where you keep your memories of Sirius.'

James shrugged. 'There are many places. Which would you like to see?'

'Show me how he was harmed.'

James nodded, and suddenly the manor house was behind them and they were entering a patch of woodland. The tree he pointed to was strangely blurry to Orion's eyes, as were a few of the others scattered nearby, and that was not something he'd ever encountered in a mind before, trained or otherwise. He tried to press his hand against it, but it passed straight through. 'Why can't I access this memory?' he snapped, before realising that wasn't an instruction and adding, 'Tell me.'

James shrugged again. 'Must be the magic.'

'What magic? Answer me.'

'I can't say.'

'Tell me why you can't say.'

'I can't say.'

Orion growled with frustration. 'Fine, show me a memory that explains what's wrong with my son, that I can actually access.'

James nodded and their surroundings changed again, so quickly that Orion was unable to pinpoint the exact moment it occurred, and they were inside the house, standing in a corridor before a door that James pushed open. The room behind it was painted light brown with a single wall of gold. A four-poster bed sat against one wall, made up with covers the same shade of brown as the walls, and a desk was positioned under the window, scattered with a random assortment of items. Paintings hung on the walls, and he recognised Sirius' style in the images with a smile. His son was an accomplished artist, much to his wife's annoyance. She considered it a waste of his time, but he'd overruled her when she'd suggested forbidding him from indulging his interest in the hobby, arguing that the skill would be a point in his favour with prospective matches when the time came.

'That one,' James said, pointing to one of the paintings which showed a pale child lying in a hospital bed. No, not just any child, Sirius. Orion crossed to the painting and reached up, brushing his fingers against his son's painted face, and he was immediately sucked into the memory. He watched as the school medi-witch shook James awake, telling him Sirius would awaken soon and startled as much as Sirius when James told him he'd been in a coma for a month, feeling anger flood him. Why had the school not informed them?

Sirius' next question surprised him. Who was Remus? And why was Sirius more concerned about his whereabouts than what had happened to put him in a coma?

'It was the full last night. He's still at the Shack,' James told him.

'Has the moon set?'

'Yeah, a couple of minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey wanted to make sure you were okay first. It's alright. Moony had a good night. He's not hurt.'

It didn't take a genius to work out what they were talking about. Remus. As in Remus Lupin? Cold fear flooded his veins, but he forced himself to remain calm and listen to the rest of the conversation. The medi-witch's claim that a family member had been informed confused him until Professor McGonagall clarified that the family member had been Regulus. The look exchanged between James and Sirius at those words had explained the rest. The children had conspired to keep him and his wife in the dark, a wise decision considering the cause of Sirius' condition. His son had been made a Chief of Entertainment. The knowledge made him glow with pride, but he knew Walburga would not approve. She'd never attended the Games at school.

The memory had answered his initial questions, but he lingered there as the medi-witch returned and his fears were confirmed. Remus was Remus Lupin. Remus Lupin was a werewolf. And his son seemed to care for him a great deal. Hope and fear warred for dominance in his chest. If he played it right, this could be the opportunity he'd been looking for, but if he made a mistake, it could devastate his son beyond anything he'd ever suffered before.

Pulling himself from James' mind and back to his own, Orion sighed with exhaustion and moved back to the door of his study before completing the process of removing the memory of his interrogation from the boy's mind and lifting the curse that kept him obedient.

With James now unaware his true identity had been uncovered, Orion acted as if nothing had occurred and returned to his desk to carry out an innocuous and boring conversation with his son's friend, and when he complained of a headache, he called Phunguss to bring him a pain potion. The pain was likely caused by his intrusion into the boy's mind, and he didn't deserve to suffer for his loyalty to Sirius.

'Yes, Mother,' James murmured, trying not to pull a face as he dropped a kiss on Walburga's powdered cheek. 'I understand. No fraternising with mudbloods,' he forced himself to say the vile word for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, 'I've learned my lesson. I promise.'

The bitch nodded with approval and passed him the dish of floo powder. 'Well, you had better be going, then. That dunce of a headmaster is no doubt waiting for you.'

The knowledge he was about to leave made it easy to form Sirius' mouth into a smile as he took a handful of powder. 'Goodbye Mother, I look forward to returning home in the summer,' he said, truthfully, before stepping into the bright green flames. 'Hogwarts.'

'Welcome back, Mister Potter,' Professor Dumbledore greeted, making James stumble as he stepped out of the fireplace. 'I trust everything went according to plan?'

'How did you…?'

'As I told Mister Lupin your first Christmas here, you'll find very little gets past me.' Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as James stared at him. 'Were you discovered?'

He shook his head as the fire flared behind him. 'No.'

Dumbledore only inclined his head in acknowledgement as Regulus stepped from the fireplace. 'Welcome back, Mister Black. I trust you had a pleasant visit with your family?'

'It was as expected,' Regulus replied, brushing soot from his robes before looking up. 'We should hurry, Sirius. There are only ten minutes until curfew.'

'Yes, don't let me keep you,' Dumbledore said with a smile. 'I'm sure you're both tired after your festivities.'

'Well, that went better than expected,' Regulus said once they were far enough from the stone gargoyle not to be overheard. 'Perhaps you should take Sirius' place in the summer, too.'

James shuddered dramatically. 'No thanks. I think I'll just stick with the plan to get him out of there as much as possible.'

Regulus nodded. 'Understandable.'

They paused as they reached the top of the Grand Staircase. 'Well, bye, then,' James said, suddenly feeling awkward.

'Yes,' Regulus said, turning away. 'Goodbye.'

He had taken no more than three steps before, 'James?'

He turned back. 'Yeah?'

'Thank you. For protecting him.'

James smiled. 'Thank you for letting me know how much he needed protecting.'

Regulus nodded, his face an expressionless mask, and turned back to continue his descent to the dungeons. James watched him for a moment before continuing on his own journey to Gryffindor Tower. He found his friends, predictably, holed up in their dorm room together, all back in their own bodies and Sirius and Remus looked particularly cosy cuddled up together, sharing a book.

'How did it go?' Sirius asked, looking up at his entrance.

James crossed to his bed and sat down as he answered. 'Reg figured out I wasn't you almost immediately, but no one else noticed anything.'

'Thank the gods for that,' Sirius said, letting out a relieved breath. 'I can't believe you pulled it off.'

'You never have any faith in me, Twinkles. Regulus even suggested I take your place in the summer. I think he likes me more than you.'

'If he liked you more, he wouldn't have suggested you spend the summer at our house, would he?' Sirius said, laughing.

'Hmm, good point.'

'Here,' Remus said, picking up a bottle off his bedside table and chucking it at him. 'That'll make you you again.'

James caught it and peered at the contents. 'My Polyuice?'

'Yeah, we found out if you drink your own when you're being someone else, it turns you back.'

'Brilliant.' James pulled out the stopper and downed the potion. He'd drunk so much of the stuff recently, he was starting to become accustomed to the taste and it didn't make him grimace anymore. The return to his own body was swift and a little uncomfortable, but nowhere near as painful as transforming into someone else was and when it was over, he grinned at his friends, pulling his legs onto the bed and crossing them. 'So, I think it's time you told us how this,' he pointed, moving his finger back and forth between Sirius and Remus, 'happened.'

'Well, that's a funny story, actually,' Remus said. 'Sirius was drunk and thought it would be a brilliant idea to kiss me.'

'Best idea I've ever had,' Sirius said, smirking at Remus and leaning closer to kiss him softly. The sight made James' grin widen so much his cheeks hurt.

Remus chuckled as he pulled back. 'I think I have to agree.'

'At the Christmas party?' James asked, the pieces slotting together in his mind. 'Is that why you weren't talking to each other the next day?'

'Mhmm,' Sirius hummed. 'Remus thought he took advantage of me because I was drunk, and I thought he was mad at me for kissing him.'

James shook his head in despair. He'd thought his friends were smart, but apparently, they were complete idiots. 'And you didn't think talking about it might be a good idea?'

'Well, sure, in hindsight,' Sirius said. 'But at the time, it wasn't that easy.'

Peter cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him. 'I don't understand what you were so worried about. A blind person could see you both liked each other.'

'A blind person could see Mary liked you, but you still didn't believe us when we told you,' Sirius said.

'Fair point,' Peter agreed, laughing. 'And then you have James who's convinced Lily likes him, despite all the evidence that says otherwise.'

'When did this become about teasing me?' James asked. 'I thought we were teasing the love birds over there.'

'Sunshine,' Remus said. 'Haven't you noticed, yet? It's always about teasing you.'

'Well, I think it's time we put an end to that. I propose a new rule. All Marauders must be subjected to an equal amount of teasing. All in favour…'

Sirius and Remus glanced at each other and then at Peter before they all shook their heads.

'I think you've been outvoted, Sunshine,' Sirius said.

'Dammit. Fucking democracy.'

'I know,' Sirius agreed. 'I didn't get my hourly compliments and daily chocolate rule, either. It's a real pain in the ass.'

'That was a stupid rule.'

'I disagree.'

James rolled his eyes. 'Anyway, let's talk about Remus and James day, shall we? Has anyone told Sirius about the ship yet?'

'What ship?'

'That'll be a no, then. When you were in the coma,' James paused when Cosmo jumped into his lap. 'Hello. You don't usually pick me. Is it because my clothes smell like Sirius? That's probably it, isn't it?' he scratched her behind the ears, making her purr and curl up on his lap.

'James? The ship?'

'Huh? Oh right, sorry. So, when you were in the coma, Bubbles decided that leading Moony and I into an ambush would be a fantastic way to cheer us up—.'

'And I stand by it,' Peter said. 'It would have cheered you up.'

'But on the way there, we fell into a tunnel. There was a storm at the time, and we think it weakened the ground. Anyway, we followed the tunnel. It was filthy. You would have hated it. And it led to this huge room filled with muggle weapons and an enormous ship. We figured we could explore it for Remus and James day.'

Sirius had sat up while James was talking, and his eyes shone with excitement. 'That is so cool!'

'Right? Don't worry, either. There's another entrance inside the school. You won't need to go into the filthy tunnel.'

'If I got to explore an ancient muggle ship at the end of it, I think I'd even brave the tunnel,' Sirius said. 'I can't wait. You haven't been on it yet?'

'Without you?' James asked. 'Course not, mate.'

Sirius grinned. 'You guys are the best.'

They were all pretty knackered after the full moon—and Sirius because he was still recovering—so they didn't stay up late that night, and James even managed to refrain from commenting when Sirius climbed into Remus' bed instead of his own. There'd be plenty of time for teasing once they were more comfortable with their relationship being out in the open. James didn't want them to think he was anything other than completely happy for them.

The next morning, they made their way to Herbology after breakfast, but as they approached the greenhouses, surrounded by other students from Gryffindor and the Hufflepuffs they shared the class with, James felt a weird numbness moving across his body. It passed in just a few seconds, but when he looked around, everyone was staring at him.

'Mate, your skin's turned green. What the hell?' Sirius said. He started laughing but stopped suddenly. 'I feel funny.'

'Sort of numb?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, the girls sure didn't waste time.' He scanned the crowd, and sure enough, Evans was smirking at him. Gods, she was beautiful when she was triumphant. He shot her a wink and turned back to his friends, the sight of which pulled a laugh from deep in his belly. Sirius was just as green as he was, but it seemed the Malediction had tailored the effects to the individual, because Remus and Peter weren't green, they were sparkling in all the colours of the rainbow and they both looked mortified by the attention it was gaining them.

To our now-dried-out-and-crispy competitors,

Bravo!

You didn't waste any time, did you? We weren't expecting an attack quite so soon, but we've scored your efforts as follows.

For creativity, we give you eight. Tailoring the effects to the individual for maximum impact was a nice touch.

For execution, we are delighted to award you maximum points. We have no idea how you pulled this off.

For skilled use of magic, we are unable to provide a score because we don't know what you did.

For impact, we award you a nine. Sirius was not happy to be sporting Slytherin colours for two hours and Remus and Peter did not enjoy the attention their sparkling drew their way. James, however, didn't mind the choice of colour, and advises for future reference that he really doesn't like mustard yellow.

Congratulations. That puts you in the lead with a total of fifty-two. If you provide an account of how you managed to dye our skin without us noticing, we'll update your score.

Yours in anticipation

Your colourful-and-sparkly opponents.

-o-o-o-o-

To our colourful-and-sparkly opponents,

You trapped your dorm door, but you neglected the window. After that, it was a simple combination of a potion, a little transfiguration, and a few charms to achieve the desired effects.

James, your preference for mustard yellow has been noted.

Your not-so-crispy competitors.

-o-o-o-o-

To our crispiness-yet-to-be-verified competitors

Dammit. We knew we'd forgotten something, but James assumed it was his wand as usual.

Your score for skilled use of magic has been updated to an eight. Spiking our shower potions with a time-delayed potion combined with transfiguration was a dirty trick, but clever.

Your total now stands at sixty, to our pitiful twenty-nine. So it looks like we have some major catching up to do.

Stay vigilant,

Your no-longer-colourful-but-forever-sparkly opponents.

'Happy Remus Day to you!' a chorus of voices sang, pulling Remus from his dream of finding an enormous chocolate cake in the middle of the Forbidden forest moments before he could taste it. 'Happy Remus day to you!' He pulled the quilt over his head with a grumble and screwed his eyes shut tighter, trying to re-enter his dream. The cake really had looked divine. 'Happy Remus day, dear Remus. Happy Remus day to you!' The quilt was ripped from him and suddenly he found himself buried under teenage boys instead.

'Wake up, Moony!' Sirius said. 'It's Remus day!'

'And James day,' Remus growled. 'Go bother him.'

'I'm here,' James said from somewhere within the pile. 'We decided you'd get the song today, and I get it on my birthday.'

'Next year, can I just not have a song?'

'Not an option. It's tradition,' James said, his voice muffled.

Peter giggled, squirming. 'That's my foot, James.'

'Ew, gross. Get it away from my mouth.'

'I can't move.'

Remus heaved himself up, making all three of them tumble off him to the floor with a series of thumps. 'There, now shush, so I can eat my cake.'

'What cake?' Sirius asked.

'The one in my dream.'

'You can't eat dream cake,' Sirius said, laughing.

James popped up from the floor, grinning. 'We have real cake for you, though.'

'James! That was supposed to be a surprise.'

'I'm surprised,' Remus said. 'We're not normally allowed sweets before breakfast.'

'You know James relaxes that rule on birthdays,' Peter said, climbing to his feet. 'And if you eat them while he's in the shower, he doesn't know about it.'

'Bubbles!' James gasped. 'I'm shocked that you'd go behind my back in such a way. Utterly shocked. What do you have to say for yourself, hmm?'

Peter grinned back at him. 'It was worth it.'

'It was worth it, he says. It was worth it.' James shook his head as if despairing of Peter's behaviour. 'I don't know, Bubbles. I do my best to keep you healthy and you just betray me at every turn. First, you try to lead me into an ambush, then I find out you've been eating sugar-filled crap before breakfast. What's next, hmm?'

'At least he didn't kiss your boyfriend,' Sirius said, joining Remus on the bed and ending his words with a good morning kiss.

'That was an accident and you know it.'

'Doesn't mean I'm not going to bring it up at every possible opportunity for the rest of your life.'

James nodded slowly, moving towards his bedside table. 'I see how it is. Everyone's just ganging up on me.' He reached out and picked something up off the table. Remus couldn't see what it was, but he could take a good guess, so he slipped his own hand under his pillow and pulled out his wand, keeping it hidden beneath the covers.

Suddenly, James spun around, his wand pointing at Sirius. 'Rictusempra!'

'Protego!' Remus cast immediately.

James' spell ricocheted off of Remus' shield, arcing back across the room and hit Peter square in the chest, making him drop to the floor and curl into a ball as he giggled uncontrollably.

'Well, that was unexpected,' James said, staring at Peter's twitching form. 'What are the chances of a deflected spell hitting the only other person in the room, do you think?'

'Finite incantatum,' Remus said, pointing his wand at Peter. 'Extremely low, I would think.'

'Just my bloody luck, isn't it?' Peter said, sitting up and wiping the moisture from his eyes. 'Thanks, Moons.'

Remus nodded to him in acknowledgement before turning to look at Sirius. 'So, I'm assuming there are presents?'

'Of course, there are presents,' Sirius said, kissing him before jumping up to fetch two wrapped parcels from his desk drawer. Peter climbed to his feet and grabbed his own two parcels, taking a seat at the foot of Remus' bed, and James joined him after retrieving a single gift from under his bed.

'Alright, Sirius won the best present competition on Moony day, so he can go first,' James said.

'I don't remember there being a vote on that,' Peter said.

'No, but Moony definitely likes the ball the most.'

'Yeah, but he loved the meat, too. He completely destroyed it. Pomfrey said it went everywhere.'

Flooded with embarrassment, Remus' face was burning and he tried to hide it behind his knees. 'Can we not talk about what I did to that poor hunk of meat?'

Sirius squeezed his thigh. 'You didn't do anything to it. Moony did. And it's completely normal and natural for him, so you have nothing to be embarrassed about.'

'It's why I bought it,' Peter added. 'So he could have fun ripping it up.'

'Yeah, don't worry about it,' James said, shrugging. 'Moony got to enjoy himself for once. It's a good thing. But I still think Sirius wins. The meat only gave him fun for one moon, but the ball will keep him entertained for years.'

'Until we can go play with him,' Sirius agreed. 'Then he won't need it anymore.'

Remus rolled his eyes and tried not to smile. He still didn't think they'd actually achieve the animagus transformation, especially while they were still at school, but their determination when they spoke of it always gave him warm and fuzzy feelings in his chest. 'Unless you all turn into fish.'

'Do we seem like fish to you?' James said. 'Anyway, I'm sure Moony can swim. He's a wolf. Wolves can swim, right?'

'They can. And fast, too,' Sirius said. Remus looked at him with raised eyebrows and he shrugged. 'What? I looked it up after the last time you suggested I might be a fish.'

'You're all mad,' Remus said. 'What's your plan exactly? Hang out in the Great Lake on the full?'

'I was thinking of a swimming pool, actually,' Sirius said. 'We could build one somewhere remote and make it secure.'

Remus stared at him, unblinking, for several seconds, before shaking his head. 'Bonkers. Absolutely stark-raving mad.'

'I can't help it, Moons,' Sirius said, nuzzling his neck. 'You make me crazy.'

Remus pushed him back. 'Don't you go blaming me for it. You were crazy when we met.'

Sirius grinned. 'We met when you were four. How would you know I was already crazy?'

'He's got you there, Moons,' James said, laughing.

'Are we ever going to open the presents?' Peter asked. 'Or are we just going to stay here all day watching these two flirt?'

Sirius grinned and handed his presents over to Remus and James. 'Yes, presents. I hope you like them.'

James looked at Remus. 'How are we doing this? Same time, or taking turns?'

'Same time,' Remus said.

'Take turns,' Peter and Sirius both said at the same time.

Sirius shrugged. 'I want to see your reactions and I can't watch both of you at the same time.'

'Fine. You go first, Moons. Your birthday already happened.'

Remus nodded at James before turning his attention to the thin rectangular gift that was obviously a painting and tearing the paper off.

'We planned to tell them about us on your birthday,' Sirius said. 'So…'

Remus nodded absently as he stared at the image on the canvas. Sirius had painstakingly recreated their meeting on Christmas morning. The two of them were standing millimetres apart, facing each other. Sirius' hands were on his hips while Remus' arms were wrapped around Sirius' neck with his fingers tangled in his hair, and they gazed at each other with expressions of complete adoration. An eternity later, he tore his eyes away from it to meet Sirius' anxious gaze. 'It's beautiful, but I don't know what I'm going to do with it during the holidays. I can't let my mum see this.'

'I'll take it to my house,' James said. 'No worries. But if you're keeping this quiet, we're really going to need to make sure the girls can't break in here again. If they see that, it's going to be pretty obvious you're into each other.'

Remus shook his head. 'I cast the trapping spells on the window when you were all at flying lessons. They won't be able to get in again. Sorry, I forgot to tell you.'

'Oh. Cool. Where are you going to hang it then? I think it'll look great above your bed.'

'Yeah, me too.' Remus smiled at Sirius before leaning in to kiss him. 'Thank you.'

'You're welcome.'

James clapped his hands together once. 'Right, my turn.'

Leaning precariously off the bed, Remus slid the painting onto his desk before turning his attention to James, who was already tearing the paper from his much larger and bulkier present, and he couldn't help but let out a groan when the contents were revealed.

'Really, Sirius?'

'No using it before the full,' Sirius said, looking at James.

'Obviously,' James said, picking up the book that came with the gift and flicking through it. 'This is so cool, Twinkles. Thanks.' He put the book down and flipped the latches holding the case closed, lifting the lid to admire the shiny Gryffindor-red guitar housed inside. 'Merlin, it's fucking beautiful.'

When he started experimentally plucking at the strings, Remus reached for his bag, pulled out his notebook and pen, and flipped to his to-do list.

'What are you writing?' Peter asked.

'Research soundproofing spells,' Remus told him. 'Hopefully, I can find something that'll work on the bed curtains.'

'You watch,' James said. 'I'll have the hang of this in no time.'

'Well, when you can play it properly, I'll stop soundproofing my bed.'

James fiddled with the guitar for another couple of minutes before putting it away. 'Right, your turn, Bubbles.'

Peter grinned and handed each of them an identical package that was wrapped with a twist of paper at the top.

'Potions?' Remus asked.

Peter nodded as Remus pulled the paper off. 'Sorry, it's not the moon sickness potion. I'm still working on it. But this will help a bit, I think. It's Invigoration draught. There's enough there for about six months. You'll still be in pain, but you'll have more energy.'

'That's brilliant, Bubbles. Thanks. I'll be able to stay in class for longer.'

'Trust you to think that's a good thing,' Sirius said, nudging him. 'Why not skip class anyway and enjoy yourself?'

Remus rolled his eyes. 'Because you all still have to be in class. What am I going to do by myself?'

'I don't know. Something fun.'

'The next full moon's during the Easter holidays, anyway. I'm sure we can find something fun to do,' James said. He'd pulled the paper off of his potion and was examining the golden contents. 'What's mine do?'

'Improves your memory while it's in effect. So anything you do for an hour after drinking it, you'll remember perfectly forever. It's illegal to use it for exams, though. So, don't take it before you revise or anything.'

'But I could use it to learn the guitar faster,' James said. 'That's really cool. Thanks, Bubbles.'

'That's the idea, yeah. Me and Sirius may have conspired a little. There's enough there for ten hours.'

James grinned. 'That'll be plenty, I'm sure. I'm a quick learner.'

'No one's that quick a learner,' Sirius said, laughing and leaning across the bed to flick his ear. 'Honestly, sometimes you can be so full of yourself.'

James shoved him, making him fall back into Remus. 'Don't be mean to me on James day.'

'Both of you stop before this turns into a fight and the presents get ruined,' Remus said, placing his crystal vial on his bedside table. 'You almost made me drop my potion.'

'Shit, sorry, Moons. Here,' James said, handing the last present to Remus. 'It's not homemade, but I bought us all the same thing too, so you can't be mad at me for spending money on you.'

Remus raised his eyebrows as he took the bulky package. 'Interesting. Yours is in my desk. Top drawer.'

James leapt up to fetch it, and Remus examined the present while he was waiting. It was soft and squidgy, but big, and it didn't make any noise when he shook it. If he was forced to guess, he'd say it was probably clothing. He really hoped James hadn't bought them matching jackets or something equally ridiculous.

'Found it!' James announced, shoving the drawer closed before returning to the bed clutching his prize. 'Go on, then. Open it.'

Inside, on the top of the pile, was a black tricorne hat. Remus picked it up, looked at it, then at James. 'Okay…' he said before putting it on his head and continuing to inspect the rest of the items. Next was a belt with a large shiny buckle, followed by a frilly white shirt, a waistcoat, skintight black trousers, and last, a long black coat that looked like it would reach his knees. 'What am I looking at?' he asked finally, thoroughly confused.

'It's a pirate outfit,' James said excitedly. 'There are boots and swords too, but they didn't fit in the package.'

'Why?'

'The sword kept ripping the paper and the boots are just too big. They come up to your knees.'

'No,' Remus said, shaking his head. 'Why did you get me a pirate outfit?'

James looked like he couldn't understand why Remus was confused. 'Because we're going to spend the day on a ship?'

'So that means I have to dress like a pirate?'

'Not just you. Like I said, I got one for all of us.'

'So, we're all going to dress like pirates?'

'Exactly! It'll be fun.'

Remus had been dubious about the idea at first, but when he glanced at Sirius and imagined what he'd look like in the outfit, he came around to the idea quickly. 'Yeah, alright. It could be a laugh, I guess.' He paused, and then, 'They're not real swords, are they?'

James laughed. 'No, they're blunt. But that doesn't mean we can't sword fight with them.'

'Where's mine?' Sirius asked. 'Can I put it on now?'

'We'll look a bit strange going to breakfast dressed as pirates,' Peter said. 'I think we should wait until we get to the room with the ship.'

'There are probably private areas for sleeping,' Remus said. 'We can change onboard.'

'They're all in my trunk, but I agree with Peter. We should wait until we're out of sight to put them on,' James said.

Sirius huffed but relented. 'Fine, be sensible. Open your present then, Sunshine. If you're going to make me wait to put it on, at least hurry up.'

'Alright, alright,' James said with a chuckle. He was grinning as he pulled the paper off, but when he saw what was inside, his smile turned into a frown of confusion and he picked up the tiny drawstring bag for a closer look, glancing at Remus as he did so. 'Because this is from you, I'm assuming there's more to it than just a basic money pouch?'

Remus smiled. 'Took me a while to get it right, but I got there in the end.'

'What did you do to it?'

'An extension charm,' Remus told him. 'Not a huge one. I'm not strong enough for anything extreme, but there's enough room in there for your cloak and a few other essential tools for mischief-making.'

James' eyes widened. 'That's illegal!'

'So's becoming an animagus.'

'Touché.' James grinned and leaned across the bed to give Remus a hug. 'This is awesome. Thanks, mate.'

Remus hugged him back. 'You're welcome. Now, where's that cake I was promised?'

An hour later, after a fat slice of chocolate cake followed by a more normal breakfast in the Great Hall, the four boys were gathered in the middle of the under-lake cave, staring up at the enormous ship.

'So,' Sirius said. 'Any ideas how we're going to get onboard?'

'Have some faith in me, Twinkles. Of course, I thought about how we would get onboard.'

'How?'

James grinned. 'I have my broom. Right here,' he pulled the drawstring pouch from his pocket, 'in this nifty little bag Remus gave me.'

'There's no way your broom fit in there,' Sirius said, watching James pull the top open.

'Well, I had to shrink it first.' He reached inside with his thumb and forefinger and pulled them back out with a miniature broom pinched between them. 'See. I've got the cloak, my Snitch-O-Scope, and a fanged frisbee in there too.' He tucked the bag back into his pocket and pulled out his wand, pointing it at the broom. 'Engorgio.' James smiled brightly as the broom swelled back to its full size. 'Well, that's my Charms homework done.'

'Like any of us needed to practise that spell,' Sirius said, laughing.

After tucking his wand back into its holster, James mounted the broom and jerked his head at Peter. 'On you get, Bubbles.'

Remus watched them fly up to the deck of the ship, moving out of sight as they landed but quickly reappearing, peering over the side. 'Your turn, guys,' James called down. 'Wingardium leviosa.' The broom floated back to them on a cushion of James' magic and Sirius grabbed it out of the air.

'You alright with this?' he asked. 'You hate flying.'

'I don't hate it quite as much when I'm with you,' Remus said, smiling at him. 'I'll be fine. It's not far.'

Sirius pressed a kiss to his lips. 'Alright, let's go.'

Remus hadn't been being completely honest when he said he'd be fine. Flying was still terrifying, especially after he'd fallen from the air twice, but it was less scary when he was pressed up against Sirius' back with his arms wrapped tightly around his waist and his eyes screwed closed, breathing deep lungfuls of Sirius' scent. It didn't hurt that Sirius' flying was both fast and smooth, and they were landing on the deck of the ship in just a few seconds.

As he swung his leg over the broom to dismount, Remus looked around, noting that they'd landed on a higher section of the deck at the back of the ship. Looking towards the front, he could see three other areas. The one right at the front was at the same level as where they stood, but in between were two sections at a lower elevation, one more so than the other. 'Shall we go down?' he asked, indicating the stairs.

'Yeah,' James said, already moving towards them. 'We need to find somewhere to change.'

They all dutifully followed him, and it didn't take them long to find what they assumed to be the captain's cabin, through a door beside the stairs. They assumed it was the captain's cabin because it contained only one bed and was decorated far too ornately to belong to a member of the crew, though time and salty air had somewhat spoiled the effect.

Remus and Peter took turns to change in the small room while James and Sirius did the same on the deck, not bothered about having an audience, and Sirius looked even more gorgeous in the pirate outfit than Remus had predicted. It was quite difficult to keep his hands off him, not that he tried very hard.

Once they were appropriately dressed for the quest, they proceeded to explore the rest of the ship, finding everything from crew sleeping quarters and storage to what they thought was probably a treasure hold, though it was sorely devoid of gold. It was while they were making their way back up to the open-air to try their hands at sword-fighting that Sirius suggested what their next big project could be.

'Wouldn't it be cool if we could fix this up and enchant it to sail underwater? Where did you put that book on sailing magic we bought last year, Moons? I bet there are some spells in there that could help.'

Tuesday 27th March, 2:00 am

Sirius woke with a start. He didn't need to wonder what had woken him up. His necklace was vibrating in the same pattern as when the Malediction had broken into the dorm, which meant someone was in their room. He felt the mattress move as Remus slowly sat up, and Sirius joined him, pulling his wand out from under his pillow. They glanced at each other, barely able to make out more than a silhouette in the darkness. It must still be the middle of the night, and he couldn't hear any snoring or even heavy breathing, meaning James and Peter had both woken up too.

Suddenly a wave of magic swept through the room and the bed-curtains ripped themselves open. 'Protego!' Sirius cast instinctively, shielding him and Remus from whoever was attacking. He heard James and Peter both cast the Shield charm at the same time as he registered who was standing in front of the door.

'Evening, Professor,' James said. 'Fancy seeing you here.'

'This is an interesting trap you've set up,' Professor Tenebris said. 'Shame it doesn't stop me using magic, though. Brachiabindo. Brachiabindo. Brachiabindo.'

The first jinx was aimed at James, and it passed straight through his shield, hitting him in the chest and immediately wrapping him tightly with invisible cords. The second was aimed at Peter and did the same, but by the time she turned her wand on Remus to fire the third spell, he was already on his feet, with Sirius beside him. They both dodged the spell, heading in opposite directions to split her focus, and pointing their wands at their bound friends with a shout of, 'Emancipare!'

They didn't need to waste time discussing who would free who. All possible combinations and pairings had been decided back at the beginning of the year, and in the current situation, the plan was for Sirius to rescue James while Remus rescued Peter. Professor Tenebris nodded with approval at their actions but didn't let up on her attack for a second, despite being rooted to the floor. Using her wider range of knowledge and experience to her advantage, she cast the same spell she'd used during their first private lesson with her, conjuring fifteen new opponents into the room and surrounding them.

'Shooting star!' James yelled as he picked his wand back up. The instruction to split up was unnecessary, but the codename also designated their roles in the separation, and while Remus, James, and Peter turned their backs on the teacher to deal with her conjured minions, Sirius—being the fastest Marauder in a duel—moved into place to fight her one on one.

'Expelliarmus,' he tried first. She was still rooted to the floor, unable to move from her position by the door, but she deflected his Disarming charm with a flick of the wrist and smirked at him.

'You'll have to do better than that, Sirius. Locomotor wibbly.'

Sirius dodged left to avoid the jinx—she seemed to be sticking to spells he couldn't shield against, which was a little annoying—spinning as he did so to see what was happening in the rest of the room. His friends seemed to have things under control, so he returned his attention to Professor Tenebris. 'Stupefy. Depulso. Flipendo. Indestio, Rictusempra!'

She threw a shield up to deflect his first spell, holding it through the second, but unfortunately, his plan to hide a jinx in the middle of his attack string failed and she ducked to avoid it. The Stinging hex bounced harmlessly off the shield and the Tickling charm did the same. But in the time his attack had taken, the cries of 'Stupefy' surrounding him had gone silent, and Professor Tenebris found herself suddenly outnumbered.

Remus stepped up beside him but slightly closer to Tenebris and tilted his head to the side, 'Wolfpack.'

Moving as one, they all aimed their wands at her and sent a barrage of spells her way. It was carnage, and within seconds she was disarmed, bound with rope, and giggling madly. Sirius surveyed the scene with satisfaction before looking at his friends.

'Should we let her go?'

'At least lift the Tickling charm,' Peter said. 'That thing's torture.'

'Finite incantatum,' Remus cast, causing the giggling to halt abruptly. 'Stupefy. Spongify.'

'Remus!' James gasped as Professor Tenebris crumbled to the slightly softened floor.

Remus looked at him with an innocent expression. 'What?'

'You… you just stunned a teacher.'

'She attacked us in our beds in the middle of the night.'

'Well, yeah, but she was already disarmed and incapacitated.'

Remus shrugged. 'I just wanted to make sure.'

'Would be funny to leave her somewhere with a bodybind on her like she does to us,' Peter said. 'Don't you think?'

Sirius grinned at the mental image the words evoked. 'I think that might be the best idea you've ever had, Bubbles.'

'What time is it?' James asked. 'We don't want to get caught. That would definitely raise questions we don't want to answer.'

Remus checked his watch. 'Just gone two.'

'Perfect,' Sirius said. 'No one but Filch will be around at this time. Shouldn't be too hard to avoid him.'

'I'll bring my Snitch-O-Scope,' James said. 'And we can cover her with the cloak. But how are we going to move her?'

There was a period of quiet as everyone thought about it, but it was finally broken by Remus. 'We could shrink one of our mattresses so it's just big enough to hold her, and then levitate it between us?'

'Let's use yours,' James agreed. 'Seeing as you're not using it.'

Remus stripped the covers and pillows from his bed and shrank the mattress with a wave of his wand, and Sirius helped him drag it over to where Professor Tenebris lay in a heap in front of the door. Moving her onto the makeshift stretcher was a little awkward, she was quite heavy, but they managed it without any mishaps, and a few minutes later, she lay invisible, covered by James' cloak with only the corners of the mattress visible, and each of the Marauders had a wand trained on one of them.

'After three,' James said. 'One, two, three.'

They all cast the Levitation charm at the same time, and it was lucky for Professor Tenebris that they'd had so much practise in working together, because the mattress rose smoothly into the air between them, remaining perfectly level. Once the corners of the mattress were floating at the height of Sirius' waist, they all reached out and pulled the ends of the cloak over them, making their cargo completely invisible, and then Peter opened the door.

As tempting as it was to leave her somewhere extremely public—like the Great Hall, for example—they decided (Remus insisted) it was more sensible to leave her somewhere she was less likely to be discovered before she could escape. And so, twenty minutes later, they were rolling her off of the mattress onto the floor of a hidden alcove behind the portrait of Linfred of Stinchcombe on the ground floor.

'Petrificus totalus,' Remus cast, watching as her arms snapped to her sides. 'Shall we leave her wandless too? She always leaves us wandless.'

'We'll have to put her somewhere else if you want to do that,' James said. 'She'll need her wand to get out of here.'

'Damn, that's true.' Remus pulled her wand from his pocket and placed it on the floor beside her. 'Let's go.'

They closed up the alcove behind them and the trip back to Gryffindor Tower was perhaps a little noisier than was advisable when traversing the castle at three in the morning, as they kept breaking into giggles from the thrill of what they'd done, but they managed to avoid being caught out of bed after hours. The high lasted right up until breakfast the following morning—contributing a newfound gusto to the chorus of Happy James Day that they began the day with—but it began to diminish at the sight of Professor Tenebris' empty chair.

'Do you think she couldn't get out?' Peter asked once they were alone again, crossing the grounds to the greenhouses for Herbology. 'What if she's still trapped there?'

'There's no way she couldn't escape,' James said, reaching out to squeeze Peter's hand. 'She's probably just trying to scare us.'

'Well, it's working.'

'Let's check at break time,' Remus said. 'Just to make sure.'

Sirius thought it was a waste of time (he agreed with James. She definitely would have escaped), but he didn't argue. If Peter needed to see the empty alcove to put his mind at rest, then they would go look at the empty alcove. And it was indeed empty when they arrived there at break time. However, she managed to avoid seeing them at all during the day, not attending lunch or dinner, so it was with a higher than usual level of trepidation that they approached her door for their private lesson that evening. And they always approached with a decent amount of it.

After Remus had checked the door for traps, Sirius pushed it open, and they walked inside, wands in hand, just in case. Professor Tenebris was standing at the window, staring out, with her back to the door, and they glanced at each other nervously.

'Which one of you stunned me?' she asked without turning around. Her voice was completely neutral, giving no indication of her mood.

'I did,' Remus said.

'And whose idea was it to leave me bodybound in an alcove?'

Peter swallowed. 'That was me.'

'Fifty points to both of you,' she said, finally turning around and smiling at them. 'I'm so proud of you. I was fully intending to resume my attack the moment you released me and returned my wand, but you avoided that completely. Now, let's talk about the weaknesses in your defences, shall we?'

'I thought they worked pretty well,' James said. 'They stopped you.'

'But they could be better,' Professor Tenebris said. 'If the trap had kept me from performing magic, you would have neutralised the threat a lot quicker.'

'I couldn't find a way to do that,' Remus said. 'Nothing I could cast yet, anyway.'

'It doesn't have to actually prevent magic from being cast. It just needs to be sufficiently distracting.' Professor Tenebris smirked. 'I'm sure you can think of something along those lines.'

Professor Tenebris' encouragement inspired them to spend their next two afternoons in the library looking for anything that could potentially be distracting enough to prevent an intruder from attacking or defending themselves long enough to disarm them. And late on Thursday evening, they finally found something they thought might work.

Sirius wasn't really paying attention while James and Remus were adding the spell to the network of magic already covering their door and window. He was too busy trying not to notice the storm brewing outside the window. So he wasn't entirely sure what happened next. He heard Remus and James' voices saying the incantations at the same time as the room lit up with a flash of lightning and Remus (who was standing by the window) ended his words with a yelp of pain and his wand clattered to the floor. There was a rush of heat through the room, followed by the rumble of thunder outside, and then it was as if every cloud in the sky decided to release its entire stock of water at the same time.

'You okay, Moons?' James called over the noise of the torrential rain.

'Yeah, my wand just got really fucking hot for a second. It burned me.'

'I felt something weird right after,' Peter said. 'Like the whole room got hot.'

Sirius tried really hard. He did. But he couldn't hold back the shriek at the next flash of lightning, and all three of his friends turned to look at him at the sound. 'Sorry,' he muttered, pulling his knees up to his chest and hugging them.

Remus immediately joined him and wrapped him in a hug, and a moment later, James was on his other side, doing the same. Peter drew the curtains across the window and put on some music, turning it up loud to drown out the noise of the storm before joining them on Sirius' bed and pulling the bed curtains around them.

They must have fallen asleep at some point because when Sirius woke up the next morning, they were curled up together like a pack of… well… wolves. Sirius chuckled at his own thoughts as he disentangled himself from the heap and left to take a shower.

It was when they opened their dormitory door that they realised something was very wrong. It might have been the screams, or it might have been the spell-fire. Sirius couldn't be sure which was the first thing that tipped him off, but something had definitely gone very wrong with their spell-casting the night before because when they entered the Common room it was in chaos. Every single person there had giant bat-shaped bogeys crawling out of their noses and attacking them. Everyone except the Marauders, that is.