The Marauders Era

Fifth Year

   When they all met back at Platform 9 and 3/4 before term started Remus was very worried what people would say about his new scar. It wasn't exactly hard to miss. He spotted Peter first , who hurried over to him, gave him a hug and engaged him in conversation about something entirely different from the big red cut down his face. Remus knew Peter had seen it, knew that he had purposely not mentioned it because he knew Remus didn't like talking about these things, and the scarred boy was extremely grateful. Remus had of course seen James over the holidays, unlike Peter who'd gone on holiday with his family for most of the summer, or Sirius who had asked over and over, but had simply been jinxed and beaten over and over, until Remus had written to Sirius, telling him to stop asking before he got killed. 

The holidays had been rough for Sirius, every time he asked to see his friends, his parents would punish him, saying it was a disgrace to fraternise with the enemy. By the time all three letters came to him, from all three of his friends saying to keep his head down and stick to his guns until September, Sirius was already to tired to carry on fighting. For the remaining few weeks, he stayed in his bedroom, staring at the large Gryffindor lion on his wall and looking through piles of photos of his friends. 

Peter had had quite a nice holiday, his parents had taken him to Greece, where he had eaten delicious food and learnt about the history of Greek wizards. He enjoyed the views from the island they had been staying and sent photos and letters to his friends every second day. 

James had visited Remus a lot, comforting him about his scar and his condition into the early hours of the morning. He wrote endless letters to Sirius, he usually sent about three a day, Sirius sending back the same amount. Sometimes if James was bored he'd simply send a joke to Sirius, who would send one back, and they'd tell jokes like that for the rest of the day. 

So it was gladly when the four boys met up again on the smoke filled station. Sirius and James jumped into each others arms, catching a few confused looks on other students faces, however Remus and Peter were too used to this to notice. Once James had put Sirius back on the ground Sirius hugged Remus, clapping him on the back, then turned to Peter and hugged him too. 

A month after they arrived back at Hogwarts they were ready. James took several deep breaths and closed his eyes. The other three boys watched expectantly but nothing happened. James opened his eyes again but Sirius simply said "You just stood there with your eyes closed, looking like a dick." and so James scowled and tried again. He tried for an hour and a half and then finally it happened. James heard Peter's squeal and opened his eyes. Sirius jumped around cheering, Peter was half cheering-half sobbing and Remus simply stood there with his mouth open. James transformed back and joined it with his friends' cheers. Then he tried again, he transformed into a stag and walked around their dormitory a bit, though it was difficult because he was so big and then changed back. After another hour or so Sirius accomplished it. They then moved onto the bigger task - Peter.

It took Peter another week to manage transformation but eventually he did it. He was proud of himself, but nowhere near as proud as his friends were. They hugged him and hoisted him onto their shoulders, chanting his name. It was the best moment of his life.

Two weeks later it was time to give the new plan a try. When Remus got up to leave for the Whomping Willow with Madam Pomfrey his friends said goodbye, winked and then Peter tripped over James' feet as he was walking over to take Remus' vacated seat and fell over James and Sirius, spilling a bottle of ink over Sirius' homework and punching James in the jaw as he fell. Remus rolled his eyes, turned around and helped Peter back onto his feet, waved his wand over Sirius' homework and told James to toughen up and stop clutching his face because Peter had punched him extremely lightly. Then he finally managed to leave, leaving his idiot friends to learn how to sort out their own problems.