Chapter Four:

Dumbledore opened the door to his office, and let the three students file in before shutting the door again. He then moved round his desk, and said, "Please, have a seat." As he himself sat down. Sirius, James and Peter did as they were told, without a word as they had done so all the way from the grounds below. Their wands were back in their pockets, and Sirius had cleaned up the blood of his sleeve, and all that was left were some small rips. He wasn't the most comfortable with the headmaster, but he kept his feelings well covered, as did James. They two of them had been before Dumbledore a number of times in the past, but Peter had never been alone with him. He looked very nervous and slightly twitchy, and he kept casting worried glances at his two other friends. He hardly had the time to look around himself at the different items and the portraits of different headmasters and head mistresses.

"What I ask from you," Dumbledore began is a quiet voice, his fingertips together, and his elbows of the arms of his chair, "Is an explanation as to what happened."

"Sirius and I can only tell the story from the middle, Professor." James said in a polite, though calm voice. "We cannot tell you how it started." He glanced to his left where Peter had realized what was coming, and shifted uneasily in his seat. A few moments passed in silence, as Dumbledore let his gaze fall of Peter who wouldn't look up, and stared down at his feet.

"Peter?" Dumbledore gently encouraged.

"C-can't R-Remus tell the story when he g-gets out of the Hospital W-Wing?" Peter said, playing his hands and shifted even more. "I –I'm sure it w-won't be long, p-professor."

"Remus needs to rest for the time being, Peter." Sirius replied, thinking he would feel less twitchy if his friends spoke instead of the headmaster. "You know what happened as well as Remus, so there won't be a difference if you tell it."

"When you get to an area we're familiar with," James added, "We'll take over from there. You just need to start it."

Peter stared hopelessly at Sirius and James, then finally raised his eyes to meet Dumbledore's gaze. He inhaled deeply, as if trying to collect his courage. "Alright. W-when c-class ended, Remus and I went o-out into the grounds, and walked for a few minutes, when the professors started to gather the students in alarm. A-and then we saw why, when the ground vibrated and we saw the three giants make their way out of the forest. W-we were about to run back to the castle, when we saw on the edge of the grounds, a group of first years who hadn't seemed to noticed. They were talking in a hushed tone, near the forest, but far away from where the giants were." He seemed to become a bit more at ease as he continued. "Then we saw the beasts lurk out of the forest, and leap towards the students. Remus dashed in to ward them off, and ran back to where I was with the others. He created a group shield charm, though it wasn't very strong. So he had to strengthen it at a certain place if a creature leaped our way. I was also bearing some of the weight, but I think he held most of it. He ran up the slope, with the beasts just following up at first, but then they surrounded us, and it became difficult to move. And then one of the students shouted something about seeing a Thestral, and on his instructions, Remus tried to stun it, but it was difficult. Our pace fell, and then weren't moving at all. The spells those first years knew of were very, very limited, so it was only Remus and me. And then the next thing I knew, was that James and Sirius were there, and Remus had given me the full weight of the shield charm and he was trying his best to get rid of the Thestral."

Dumbledore nodded, and then looked to the other two. James met his gaze, as did Sirius and James started. "Sirius and I were in our detentions – " Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in inquiry. He had kept silent while Peter had told his part, but he knew that James wouldn't mind. "We made two mice squeak a bit louder than we were meant to." James explained, and this brought Sirius a quick, half grin. "We were taken out of charms class and Professor McGonagall gave us detention…" He went on to explain things, while Sirius joined in at times to tell something James wasn't too clear about, or about things in the dungeons. But they were both careful to keep the mirror out of the discussion. When they had finished, Dumbledore sat still, and the silence fell around them again.

James and Sirius knew very well that to disregard a teacher's command of staying in the castle was quite some rule breaking, but they had told the headmaster the situation Remus and Peter were in, and that the professors wouldn't have noticed before they were all dead. Finally Dumbledore broke the silence that hung a bit too uneasily around them. All that could be heard were the light snoring of the portraits.

"Where did you get the wands, James, when you and Sirius's were in Professor McGonagall's office?" He asked.

"Oh, I, uh, got it off two prefects that I found in the Great Hall." James answered, leaving out the names.

"Very well." Dumbledore replied, with a somber face. "I understand." Then he sighed, and rose to walk over to the phoenix that was perched on his stand in the corner. "It has been an uneasy afternoon." And Sirius couldn't help but wonder if he was talking to them, or the Phoenix. "We have some clue as to why this is all happening, but to get three giants and nearly two dozens of beasts into Hogwarts ground, one must need much power and skill." Then he turned around, and walked back to his desk. "I thank you for telling me what happened. And I – "

There was a knock on the door, and when Dumbledore said, "Come in." McGonagall walked inside. James, Sirius and Peter turned around as one, but were slightly disappointed to see that Remus was not with her.

"Lupin is resting in the Hospital Wing." McGonagall informed, as if she knew what was on their minds, "The wounds were not too bad, and Madame Pomfrey has fixed them up. He just needs to rest." Then she directed her attention to Dumbledore. "We have informed the Ministry about this, and they should be coming soon to examine the grounds. We've left a few professors in the grounds with the downed giants and the students are now all in the Great Hall, except the ones Flitwick took to the charms classroom."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well." He repeated. "Have you told the students what is happening?"

"We have told them the basic idea, but not the details. Should we send them to their House common rooms, or shall we keep them in the Great Hall, headmaster?"

"Keep them where they are, Minerva." Dumbledore replied. "It won't be long until dinner, and then we can explain everything."

"Are we allowed to go see Remus?" James asked.

McGonagall looked to Dumbledore, who answered, "Yes, you may, but let him rest, and leave before dinner."

Sirius raised his eyebrows, and turned to look at McGonagall. "We were meant to be given dinner between our detentions, professor." He reminded, just curious as to see what would happen to them.

"They will be postponed to a later date." She answered shortly.

"But this doesn't count as breaking the rule does it, when the lives of a dozen first years and two of our best friends were at stake?" James asked, casually, though he was half dreading the answer.

"No, it doesn't, Potter," McGonagall answered again, "But you must be reminded not to act so quickly upon rashness. You could have come to us, or gotten out attention instead of sneaking behind our backs to save them yourself." And at this, she gave the two stern looks, that reminded the two that it had only been a couple hours ago that she had been furious with them for increasing their mice volumes too much. Sirius and James nodded their understanding, and within a few minutes, they were walking out of Dumbledore's office, and towards the Hospital Wing. McGonagall had stayed to talk to the headmaster, but soon left as well.

When the trio entered the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey looked around the door of her office to see who it was, then recognizing them, pointed to a bed with drawn curtains, then disappeared behind the door again. James, Sirius and Peter went over to where she had pointed, noticing that all the other beds were empty. Well, of course. James thought, It's only the first day of school. And that had quite an impact, knowing that all they had done, and it was still the first day back.

Sirius tapped the hangings around the bed, "Moony?" He said quietly, before drawing the cloth back, and the three entered. Remus lay peacefully of the bed, his eyes closed, but he hadn't been sleeping. When they entered, he opened his eyes, and smiled, which they returned. The three pulled up some stools, and Remus pushed himself up into a sitting position. A slight throb was still present in his chest where the wound had been worse, but he ignored it.

"So what happened?" Remus asked.

"We just went up to Dumbledore's office and told him what happened." James answered.

"I see. And what about your detentions? I never dreamed that you two would come." Remus added with a grin.

"Well, you know," Sirius replied, trying to sound innocent. "We Marauders are bound by a bond."

James snorted, "He would never have known. He was down in the dungeons marking papers. I ventured to an empty classroom and looked down at the grounds. Then he kind of borrowed two wands since McGonagall still has ours."

Remus raised an eyebrow, "Borrowed, Prongs?"

"Ok, fine, it wasn't very polite, but still." He ended lamely.

"Whom did you borrow these from anyways?" Sirius asked curiously, pulling out the wand he had used.

"To be exact, I borrowed them from a Ravenclaw prefect, Anne Johnson, and a Gryffindor prefect. Must I say more?"

"No need, dear Prongs." Sirius replied, covering his eyes in mock disgust.

"Anyways, we have to go." Peter reminded, and the other two nodded. "When will you be able to get out?"

"Oh, very soon. She just told me to stay here until dinner. It was only a few cuts anyways." Remus answered.

"Good." James said, rising, "Then we'll see you in the Great Hall for dinner."

"Alright. See you soon."

And with that, the three left, and Remus settled down again to doze off for the remaining hour before dinner. Meanwhile, Sirius, James and Peter dropped by the Trophy Room and Sevires's office (which were both empty) and picked up James and Sirius's bags, and went back up to the Gryffindor Common Room ("You're meant to be down in the Great Hall." The Fat Lady warned) to drop them off. Then they finally made their way down to where all the other students were gathered. The Head Boy met them when they pushed open the heavy doors.

"Where were you? All the students were meant to gather down here by the others of the professors." He demanded.

"We were with the headmaster." James replied, not even stopping to face him. Sirius followed him, but Peter glanced back to see the Head Boy scowling at them. He hurried to catch up with his two other friends. All the long house tables had been moved to the sides of the huge room, and the whole place had been made into one big common room. Squashy, multi colored armchairs and tables were strewn all over the place, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Prefects patrolled the whole area, the Head Boy and Girl could be seen at the doors, and professors came in once in a while to check if everything was alright, and to speak to the two at the doors.

Barely had Sirius, James and Peter sat down in a corner and settled in, when James got a large, cushion thrown into his face, followed by a hand smacking his head. "Arg! Hey!" He stuttered, taking the cushion away so he could see, while he stood up abruptly.

"James Potter!" Lily growled, glaring at him. "Give them back." And James noticed that behind Lily, was the other prefect he had taken a wand from. They both seemed rather cross, but Anne seemed to think Lily's reaction quite amusing.

"What?" James asked innocently, and he felt, more than saw the other two grinning with amusement. His left hand came up automatically to ruffle his hair.

"Our wands, you arrogant brick head!" Lily snarled, taking a step forward.

"What about them?" He asked again, trying to keep his face neutral, and biting down on the smile that tried to creep up his face.

Lily glared at him that had the effect of her sending needles in his direction. Then without warning, she closed her eyes, opened them the next second, smiled sweetly and stepped closer to James that had her almost touching his chest. James tensed slightly, wary as to what might come next. Something did happen. Without so much of a warning, and with such speed, Lily's hand came flying towards his face, ready to slap him hard. But James had been alert, and above that, he had great reflexes. The moment he saw her move, he moved his own left hand up, and stopped the smack half an inch from his face. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You know, girls shouldn't be that violent, Evans." He said lightly.

"I don't care, just give our wands back, before I have to descend to your level, steal someone else's wand and get it back that way." She said through gritted teeth.

"You think you can beat me with magic?" James asked, with a mildly amused look. Sirius behind him rolled his eyes, and slouched into his seat. Looking at Anne, he found her staring at him, and when he looked over, she quickly looked somewhere else.

"Perhaps I could, but that would be after you've had another couple sessions of detention added to the ones you were having before the giants came." She whispered in a dangerously low voice. Finally James smiled.

"Alright, alright!" He said, laughing quietly, "here." He took Lily's wand out of his pocket, and Sirius tossed the other one over to Anne with a grin, who made eye contact with him for a moment, then blushed and looked away. Lily snatched her wand back and stormed away, while Anne cast one last look at the three, smiled, though not looking at Sirius, and followed Lily into the crowd.

"Well," James said, "That was something."

"That was nothing more than entertaining, Prongs." Sirius replied, "If anything, you've made the waiting time a bit longer than it had been this morning."

"Oh, you're just jealous since you don't have anyone you want to impress, Padfoot," James said, leaning back into his armchair.

"That's because all the girls practically grovel at our feet. I'm just not interested in girls like that." Sirius answered casually.

"But what about your own wands?" Peter suddenly asked.

"We'll get them back from McGonagall when we see her again." James said with a shrug. "You're talking about girls like Anne?" He asked, glancing at Sirius.

"Yeah. Did you see her? Every time I just looked at her, she turned brighter than a tomato and looked away. I bet they'll do anything I say." Then his face broke into a grin. "It's a charm I have." He added.

"Oh." James answered, his words dripping with sarcasm. "A charm better than the one that makes all the girls blush and turn away?"

"Yep. Unlike you, Prongs, it doesn't at least repel girls."

"Ooh. I think someone's asking for a challenge here."

"What's the point in challenging someone I know I'll beat?"

"Prove that!" And within the matter of seconds, the two were wrestling each other on the floor, the chairs around them knocked over and Peter hovering a little distance away, but laughing. Sirius rolled up on top, and made to punch James in the stomach; but James got his own move first, knocking Sirius's legs and making him lose his balance. James rolled over, and pinned his friend's arms on the ground.

"Aha!" He called with a grin of mock triumph.

"Yes, 'aha'." Sirius answered, bringing his legs up and beneath James and pushing him away. And then they were at it again. A whole crowd had begun to form, and even though some of the prefects tried to stop them, they wouldn't listen. And it served as entertainment anyways. But Lily was careful to stay away, not wanting to even look at the git's face again.

"My, my, my." A sudden voice drawled out over the quiet cheers from the crowd. "A Black, and a Potter, caught up in such a Muggle styled fight? A shame to the pure blood that runs in our veins."

Immediately, James and Sirius came apart, and with cold, dangerous eyes, their gazes fell onto the speaker. She had dark, smooth hair that ran down just past her shoulders; cold eyes gleaming with a smug look in them. A thin, smirk playing at her lips.

Though Sirius had been glaring at her for a few seconds, he closed his eyes like a shrug, and when he opened them, a slight smirk came into his features, and his eyes were of a cold, humorless smile. He slowly raised himself from the ground, pushing his hands into his pockets. James also turned his glare down, and sighed casually, also pushing himself up to stand next to Sirius. "Bellatrix." Sirius said, "It's a surprise that you're even dealing with us. I thought you'd be off in a corner, reading certain books and planning your future with your slimy friends."

Bellatrix, even though she was two years older then Sirius, he was about the same height, if not slightly taller. Bellatrix chuckled coldly, "At least doing that is better than messing around with your petty things you call friends."

"I wouldn't be talking, Bellatrix." Said James, quietly, but with distinct coldness. "I heard you were 'recruiting' new members to your…friends list."

"Your mouth should be shut and sealed, Potter." Bellatrix hissed, turning to look at him, "Your parents, such fools, proud of their young wizard and his idiot friends. Blind to the stupidity you carry."

"Oh look," Sirius said, "Your backup is coming, to help you win this argument that you're losing in." And indeed, Bellatrix was soon flanked with two others. One had sleek blond hair, carefully smoothed back, his lean face split into a smirk. The other had a long, pale face, with brown hair that was long enough for him to tuck behind his ears. "Malfoy and Dolohov, I do believe?"

"I could curse until you would beg me to stop, if we were someplace else, Sirius." Bellatrix said quietly, eyes narrowing, "And even now, I could make you dance and sing Christmas carols with Potter here, since you don't seem to have your wands here with you. What happened to them? Lost them in a bathroom somewhere?"

Everything had become silent over the past few minutes, and the crowd had become a little apprehensive about all this strange talking and mocking. Naturally they knew that the Marauders and Bellatrix's gang never got along, but it was probably the first time that they saw such a thing happen. And no one dared to stop them.

"Try, Bellatrix." James replied in a dangerously soft voice. Both he and Sirius heard Peter give a frightened squeak behind them, and several people stepped back. The two kept their gaze on the three before them, alert.

Behind Bellatrix's back, Malfoy and Dolohov pulled out their wands, and white hot blasts of light streaked towards the two. Peter gave a shout and dived behind a chair, even as Bellatrix whipped out her own wand, and muttered, "Cilania." A shower of red sparks flew out of the tip of her wand. Sirius and James both ducked under the first two spells, but Bellatrix's curse flew towards Peter's head that happened to be peeking out of the chair he was meant to be hiding behind. James saw this coming, and flung himself to intercept the curse. The red jet of light hit him in the chest, hurling his body backwards. He knocked over a couple chairs and tables, and skidded to a halt quite some distance away.

"James!" Sirius called, glancing back, barely managing to be missed by a singing hex. Bellatrix raised her wand again and blocked Sirius's way to the crowd to get a wand. Malfoy and Dolohov moved around to encircle Sirius. During which time, the crowd was between the decisions of either helping Sirius, or daring to challenge Bellatrix.

"Intacta." They all said as one, and Sirius was forced to literally dive to the side to avoid them from crushing his body. He had barely managed to get up again, when he saw them raise their wands again –

"Expelliarmus!" Someone yelled, then it was quickly followed by, "Accio wands!" Sirius scrambled to his feet, and saw Remus coming towards them, breaking through the crowd. He held his own wand, and three others. Off to the side, and saw someone helping James to walk over.

"The professors are coming back any moment now to start dinner." Remus said in a calm voice. "If you all don't want punishments for what you've done, I'd say to stop this now."

"Fine." Bellatrix said curtly. She wasn't stupid enough to keep fighting with the teachers around. "Wand."

Remus tossed each of their wands back, and the three made their way away. The crowd also started to disappear, muttering and going back to talk about what had just happened. The person who was helping James lowered him into a seat, and James thanked him before he too, went away.

"What was all that about?" Remus asked, sitting down opposite to James. Peter pulled himself out from behind a chair, and sank into one on the left of James, while Sirius sat on his right.

"Bellatrix and her group." Sirius explained darkly. "There should have been more. All of them are buried in their books about Dark Arts."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Snivellus is a part of it." James added.

"And what did you two do to get into that brawl?" Remus asked.

"Nothing." James and Sirius replied truthfully. But their discussion ended there, since the doors to the Great Hall opened, and the professors came in. In a matter of minutes, everyone was seated down at the house tables, and the Hall was back to what it had always been. But the students were talking and discussing about what had happened, about the trolls and the wild beasts, and then about the fight between Sirius and James and Bellatrix, Malfoy and Dolohov. During the dinner, Sirius and James got their wands back from McGonagall who told them they would receive instructions the next day. Everyone was still talking when they all left and went to their separate common rooms.

"You aren't going out again, are you?" Peter asked nervously as they arrived into their dormitory, and James had closed the door.

They thought about this for a while, Sirius and James holding an eye contact for a little while. "No." Sirius said, "Not tonight. Too much has happened, and it's still the first full day of school."

"We'll have plenty of time during the year." James added.

"And not enough detention ideas." Remus put in, who was leaning against the wall side of his bed. "If you continue like this, getting two to three detentions per day, they'll run out of detentions to give."

James and Sirius laughed. "Well, I must say, we got a little too much today." Sirius admitted, "Guess we were a little overjoyed at being back." He gave a wink to James.

"Yeah." James agreed, grinning, "We'll be more careful. No problems there."

"And if nothing big happens tomorrow, we might as well go out and practice some things, eh Wormtail?" Sirius said.

Peter grinned excitedly, "Yes, I hope we do. You'll come with us, won't you, Moony?"

Remus hesitated a moment, but nodded. The four talked a little more, and then fell asleep.

At breakfast the next day, Peter received a letter from his parents, and Remus got his usual Daily Prophet. Sirius and James were talking about their classes and rule breaking, when James noticed that Remus's face had grown dark and he was very intent on reading something. Usually, he would just skim through the paper, but today, he wasn't.

"Anything wrong, Moony?" Sirius asked, noticing his friend's strange behavior as well.

Remus nodded, and kept his voice very low as he leaned towards the two. Peter was still reading the very long letter. "Voldemort." He explained. Tom Riddle's rise to power had started nearly two years ago, with his followers, and strange deaths in the Muggle world, as well as the wizarding world. "The Ministry of Magic found 14 dead Muggles with 3 wizards, 1 witch." He said, keeping his voice low, "They were found on the outskirts of London, and the Dark Mark hovering over the place of their bodies. There's also an article about the trolls and creatures in Hogwarts. It's not too accusing to Dumbledore, but it explains that Voldemort probably sent them here. That's quite unnerving to know that He's daring to do stuff right under Dumbledore's nose."

A lot of the witches and wizards had already started to call Voldemort You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He was feared, and the Ministry couldn't control him. People were dying every day, and witches and wizards were often under the Imperious curse. No one knew who to trust, no one could walk down a road without fearing some danger. But never before now, had Voldemort sent anything to Hogwarts. Things were changing. It was growing darker every day.

Sirius and James nodded, without speaking, and Remus folded up the newspaper, and they all finished their breakfast without much more talk. The day was quite uneventful, and though articles about Voldemort had come up in the Daily Prophet, most students didn't mention it, and neither did the Marauders. James and Sirius were quite quiet that day, keeping to themselves, fighting the urge to do pranks. At lunch they got a message, telling them that the rest of their detention would take place the following evening.

H