“Act normal,” hissed Sirius to Peter, who was sweating and looking around, twitching.
“I’m t-trying to, S-Sirius,” he said, voice shaking
Sirius rolled his eyes, annoyed.
“Look this is really important. We could be expelled if anyone sees this, so you have to act like nothing is going on. I don’t know how the charms will work, we can’t exactly test them on someone, it will give the whole thing away,” he muttered.
The map was on the table in front of them. It was well past midnight.
“What should we call it?”
“How about… the Marauders Map?” Remus suggested.

“He’s such a bore. He just sits there like a Rat. Well, as a rat. I mean, he doesn’t even join in, he just sits there watching us,” Sirius was saying to James.
“I know, but he had to be small so we could actually get into the shrieking shack. I think you’d probably eat him if he were to join in with us, anyway.”
Sirius laughed, “Yeah I probably would.”
“He’s not that much of a bore, really. Every group needs that person to do the dirty jobs. He does them without complaining. He’s a good, loyal friend, Sirius.”

James was chasing the quaffle. They were in the lead against Slytherin, and he was anxious for the seeker to find the snitch. He wanted to give the Lions as many points as possible though, to win the cup. His Lions were doing well this game, all of them.

The crowd was going insane! He looked down to see both seekers; his Lisa and Slytherin’s Regulus chasing the Snitch.
“CHASE HER REGULUS!” Slytherin were shouting.
“GET IT LISA, GET IT! GO-GO-GO-YES! YES!” James yelled, chasing after her. He threw his arms around his seeker and lifted her into a hug.

“I dare you to find Snivellus with your cloak on and speak Parseltongue again,” Peter said to James.
He nodded and smiled, “No problem!”
“Here, take this,” Sirius said, handing him the map.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” he said, tapping the map. There he was, in the library! Easy.

“Sssss-orsssss-assssstissssss,” James whispered into Severus’ ear. He was sitting at a table, his oily nose pressed into a book.
“ARGH!” Severus screamed, jumping up.”
“SHH!” The librarian hissed at him.
James laughed and ran back to the common room, certain his legs were uncovered briefly.

James climbed back into the tower, half hidden by the cloak.
Sirius, Remus and Peter were all bent over the map, laughing their heads off.
“THAT WAS-TOO-FUNNY!” Sirius said, between laughs.
“His icon jumped when you approached him!” Remus laughed.
“That was funnnnnyyy!” Peter said.

“Remus, I can’t believe you’re egging him on like that! You’re a prefect, for Merlin’s sake.”
“Oh Evans, I didn’t see you there,” James said, running his hands through his hair, smiling at her.
“Oh Potter, why are you always making trouble for yourself?”
“No trouble, Evans, just entertainment,” Sirius added.
Lily rolled her eyes.

After dinner, the Marauders left the Great hall towards the towers, when someone stepped out in front of them.
“That was cruel, sneaking up on me like that at the Library.”
They all laughed.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I saw your feet! I know it was you Potter. “
“You don’t know anything.”
They pushed past him to keep walking, but James felt something hold him back.
“OI-gerrof!”
“Apologise,” Snape sneared. Then, “OUCH!” He let go and staggered away.
“Sirius you can get in serious trouble for punching,” Remus warned him.
“Seriously?” he replied, with a mischievous wink.

History of Magic was the last class of the day, and the last before Christmas Break.

“What was the name of the Goblin who defied Gravity, and why did he do it?” Asked Professor Binns.
James shot his hand up in the air, quicker than Lily. HA!

“That would be the Goblin Mrawk who defied Gravity by jumping on a trampoline and being picked up with a gust of wind,” James said, a smug look on his face.
A few students laughed loudly, most of them just snickered quietly.
“No, Prewitt, incorrect. Anyone else?”

Sirius decided to have a go.

They had the common room to themselves. Well, almost. Remus rarely went home, not wanting to burden his family with his transformations. Sirius and James stayed behind, too, as he had more fun at Hogwarts over Christmas. Peter had gone home, as did most of the students.

“We’re going to have a hoot!” Remus exclaimed, fully stretching out on one of the arm chairs.
“Hoot?” James asked.
“What’s Hoot?” Sirius joined in.
“Are you pretending to be an owl now?”
“Not much fun being a werewolf?”
“I don’t know, Sirius, a Were-owl sounds like more fun.”
Remus couldn’t stop laughing.

“Oi! Evans!” James yelled, walking briskly after her.
She didn’t reply.
“EVANS!” He yelled louder, climbing through the portrait hole after her.
She didn’t reply, and instead retreated to the girl’s dorms.
“Can’t follow her into there, mate,” Sirius said.
James looked around. There he was, sitting on an armchair.
“Did you know she didn’t go home?” he asked.
Sirius shook his head, “She usually does.”

James flopped down next to him. “Remus? Do you know why?”
Remus looked at him and paused.
“Oh come on, tell me!”
“She had a fight with her sister.”
“Her sister?”
“She’s a muggle.”

Rather than go down to the Great Hall, Dumbledore decided they should have Christmas Eve Dinner in the common rooms, with the Head of Houses. McGonagall appeared, wearing scarlet dress robes.
“What are these, Professor?” Sirius asked, holding something up.
“They’re bon-bons,” Lily said.
Sirius frowned.
“You crack them open. There’s usually a party hat, a joke, and a toy inside.”
He looked confused.
“Professor?” Lily asked, holding hers out to McGonagall.
There was a loud BANG.
“What do you call a bear with no teeth?”
Everyone stared at her, waiting.
“A gummy bear,” she said, and they all laughed.

The Gryffindors sat in the common room, overly full after dinner. Sirius and Remus were playing chess together, Remus winning.

“Oh, I think I’m going to bed now. Goodnight everyone,” Lily said, pulling herself off the couch and heading for the girl’s dorms.
“Lily, wait,” James said, getting off the couch and heading towards her. He put his hands through his hair, instinctively, and stopped in front of her.

How should he say it?

Maybe he didn’t need to say it.

He leant down and kissed her softly on the lips.

Behind him, Sirius wolf-whistled.

Lily smiled up at him.

Something hit James on the head.

“Ouch,” he mumbled, reaching out to put his glasses on.
It was a gift.
“What was that for?” he asked, noticing Sirius smiling mischievously at him.
“It’s Christmas, sleepy head!”

There were a lot of gifts there. Ignoring the one Sirius threw at him, he reached for one in red paper. It was rather small.

‘Merry Christmas James.

From, Lily’

He opened the present, revealing a small jar with a cork lid. He lifted the cork and smelled it; lilies, pine, and old parchment. It was Lily. This was exactly what Lily smelled like.

“Oh, hurry up and move, don’t just stand there mooching.”
“I’m not mooching!” James said.
“What are you doing, then?” Sirius asked, “I want to go to the quidditch pitch.”
“I’m just waiting for Evans to come down,”
Sirius rolled his eyes and threw something, which hit James between his eyes,
“JAMES! Come on!” Sirius said, getting annoyed. “You have to stop mooching, waiting, whatever, and come with me. Lily will come and find you if she wants to talk to you!”
Sirius reached out and yanked James away by his arm.
“I just wanted to say hello to her.”

They were just taking a nap, that was all.
They had been up early that morning, and wanted to watch the fireworks over the Black Lake.

Sirius, Remus and James were all sleeping, spread out across three armchairs.

He was kissing a Veela. It was a beautiful Veela. But she had red hair.
“James?” it asked him, shaking him gently. Veelas don’t sound like that…
He opened his eyes.
It wasn’t a Veela!.
“Evans, hi! I was just-we were just… having a nap,” he explained.
She smiled. “Are you watching the fireworks? They’re about to start.”

“Oh, are they?”

“Happy New Year,” they all said together.

James snuck a kiss in with Lily whilst the others pourred Butterbeer.

“Oh, here, try this,” Sirius said, handing James something.
“Ooze,” he read off the label, “What’s this?”
“Just try it!”
He squeezed the tube, and red slimy stuff oozed onto his finger. He licked it.
“Yum! What is it though?”
“It’s this muggle sweet my auntie sent me. It’s raspberry ooze.”
“Where did your auntie buy a muggle sweet from?”
“Oh, she got disowned. She married a muggle.”
That made sense.
“Try some Lily,” Sirius said, squeezing some onto her finger.

“Pace yourself, you’re going to make yourself sick,” Remus said to the two troublemakers.
“Can’t. Got to hurry. Hungry,” they said together, shoving as much breakfast as they could into their mouths.
Remus rolled his eyes and waited for them to finish. They had to find Snape. He was lurking around one of their secret passages, probably up to no good.

They ran up the stairs and into Snape.
“What are you doing?” he asked them coldly.

“BLEUGH!” Sirius yelled, vomiting all down Snape’s robes.
“EUGH!” Snape yelled, obviously disgusted.

“WHAT are you boys Doing?” asked a stern voice.
McGonagall.

“HE VOMITED ON ME!” Snape yelled.
James snorted, trying not to fully laugh.
Sirius wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Remus stood there shaking his head.

“Professor I feel sick. I was running back to the common room when Sniv-Severus walked in front of me and got in the way. I didn’t mean it,” he said, feigning weakness.
“Right, Lupin, Potter, take Black to the Hospital wing for an antinausea potion. Snape, I should think you will go to your dormitory and get cleaned up.”

They did as she said. Trust a Professor to quell their plan.

“Potter, Good Luck for today. I know you’ll win us that cup,” McGonagall said to him at breakfast.
“Thanks Professor. Don’t worry about it, it’s ours!”

Sirius clapped him on the back, barking a chuckle. “Yeah, it’s ours. My poor brother will probably cry when he loses the snitch.”

Half an hour into the game, and the Gryffindor seeker and caught the snitch, the cup was theirs!
James almost fell of his broom from surprise.
ROAR! He heard in the crowd.

He looked down and saw Sirius in front of the megaphone, roaring into it, surrounded by Scarlet and Gold.

SLAP!

Sirius woke with a start.
“Ouch,” he muttered, rubbing his cheek.

Ha-ha-ha!

He opened his eyes and saw the Marauders surrounding him.
“What was that for?”
James shrugged, “You were asleep.”
“So? Let me sleep!”
“No, can’t. Snivellus is out wandering.”

He sat bolt upright and looked at the map. He was there all right. First floor, right near the bathroom.
“I wonder what’s in there?” he asked.
James shrugged again, “One way to find out.”

They jumped off the bed. Remus, Sirius and James got under the cloak with great difficulty, and Peter morphed into his rat form.

“It’s his last chance he’s got until September,” Sirius whispered.
“But what’s he doing?” James whispered back.
The cloak shook from three shrugs.

He was there, all right. Pacing the hallway, right in front of the girl’s bathroom. Peter, as a rat, quietly snuck up to Snape, trying to hear or see what he was doing. Not knowing there was a rat there, Snape stepped on it. It squealed. Loudly!

They all jumped, spooked from the noise. Snape let out a muffled yell and ran off in the direction of the dungeons, and Peter scurried back towards the Gryffindor Tower.

“Peter, did he recognise you?” they asked, returning back to the common room and untying the cloak.
“N-no, I don’t th-think so,” he stuttered.
They had been worried. Surely Snape knew the rat was Peter?

“Oh well, he can’t say anything anyway, he’d have to admit to being out of bed this late just like we were. And he can’t prove it, anyway. What are they going to do, make us morph?” Sirius asked.
Remus and Peter both looked frightened.
James reassured them, “He was in the wrong, not us. Look how scared he was! He won’t be telling anyone.”

“UGH! He just vexes me SO MUCH!” Sirius growled.
“Yeah, we know, we know,” James taunted him.
“I just want to know what he’s doing! He prances around acting like the top student, but there’s something going on. I know it.”
“We all know it. Of course there’s something going on. He’s in with Voldemort, I bet you anything.”
“And what does he want in Hogwarts? You recon he’s doing Voldemort’s dirty work for him?”
“I do.”
Peter was trembling.
“Peter, just sit here near the fire,” James said, getting worried about his friend. “Are you okay?”
Peter nodded subtly.

“Peter, can you please get me a pumpkin pastie from the trolley?” Lily asked, handing him some money.
Peter nodded and hurried off.
“You lazy sod!” Sirius teased her.
“No, shush. I want to warn you. Peter’s been acting very… odd. I saw him in the library the other day and he was muttering to himself about lying to his friends. I don’t know what he was talking about, so I went up to see if he was all right, and he had been crying! And have you noticed him change? He’s so thin now, and his hair’s thinning out.”

“Here,” Peter said softly, handing Lily her pasty.
“Thanks,” she said, giving him a hug and leaving the carriage.

“Peter, are you okay?” Sirius asked.
“Y-yes, wh-why wouldn’t I be?”
“Look, we just heard some people are concerned about you, and we wanted to extinguish any rumour people might have heard. We’re worried about you, mate,” James said softly, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder.
Peter flinched. James removed his hand.

“J-James, I’m f-fine.”
James nodded, disbelieving. “We’re here for you if you want to talk.”
“Yeah mate, the Marauders are here to help!” Sirius added.
“Th-thanks for your c-concern.”

“Welcome home, boys,” Mrs Potter greeted, giving both of the boys a hug as they walked in. “I baked some yodels for you.”
“What’s a yodel?” Sirius asked, frowning.
“Oh dear, it’s a sweet biscuit. My secret recipe, though, so don’t even think about getting the recipe,” she said, smiling.
“Oh wicked. You’re the best cook!”
She blushed.

“Mmm yodels are FANTASTIC!” Sirius said, approvingly.
“Well don’t eat them all, mate, they’re for everyone!” James said.
“I’m not hogging.”
“You just shoved seven into your mouth!” James yelled, jokingly.
“Well they’re good,” Sirius replied, his mouth bursing full of yodels.