James' hand gestured lazily. "Well obviously, Moony, you're a werewolf and we all go running about in the forest once a month," he replied briskly.

Sirius nearly dropped his wand in shock. "Bloody hell," he moaned, slapping his forehead and approaching James cautiously. "Prongs, is that you?"

James laughed. "Of course it's me, Padfoot. Could youplease lower your wands, you're worrying me."

"Perhaps you should be worried – er – Prongs. We need a mirror," Peter murmured. A mirror conveniently appeared in his hand, and he offered it to James tentatively.

James nearly fell off his table. Recovering himself, he turned to Sirius.

"What the hell did you do?!"

Sirius shifted from foot to foot, like a small child who needed to go to the toilet. "I'm sorry," he muttered quietly, staring at the floor. "Merlin, how do we fix this?"

James suddenly smiled. "How about – we don't? Won't be a moment, lads!"

"Hello!" James said to the Carved Witch, smiling brightly. "Could you ask Lily to let me in, please?"

The Carved Witch eyed him suspiciously before vanishing to the other side of the door. James could have sworn he heard her mutter something about his cheerfulness. She sounded sarcastic, for a block of wood.

The door opened, and James wandered in easily, to find Lily lying on the lounge studying. She looked up at him brightly. "Hello again!"

And before James knew it, she had stood up and kissed him.

James froze, watching as the Head Girl resettled herself on the lounge and looked at him expectantly. "Anything you wanted?"

James coughed. "No, just to see you," he told her weakly, settling hesitantly down beside her.

Lily smiled again (this must be a record, James couldn't help thinking). "That's so sweet," she practically purred. "What's gotten into you?" she asked as an afterthought.

James shifted uncomfortably. "Ummm… I just want to spend time with my girlfriend," he replied warily.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Ok, who are you and what have you done to Art?" she joked. "Really, what has gotten into you?" she repeated, before shifting closer. "Not," Lily continued, "that I mind in the slightest."

And then, much to James' horror, she kissed him again.

James leapt up, dancing away from the couch. "I – I – Ihavetogotomydormitorynow." James stammered, casting one more alarmed look at Lily's hurt expression before hurrying back out of the Head's tower.

Emmeline, Alice and Isadora were busy studying in the Gryffindor common room when someone appeared above them. Much to their surprise, it was Lily, and she was looking as white as Nearly Headless Nick.

"Are you ok?" Alice asked instantly. Being Alice, she seemed to have a sort of radar that picked up that sort of thing.

Lily shook her head slowly, back and forth, back and forth.

Emmeline stood and slung a comforting arm around her shoulders. "How about we go up to the dorms?"

They settled Lily on her old bed, and surrounded her. Emmeline's hand's massaged her back soothingly, while Alice held her hand.

"He – he ran away!" Lily sniffed. She really couldn't understand it. Art had been acting (strangely) sweet and caring, and as she hadn't seen that side of him for quite some time, Lily had only tried to express her appreciation. Or so she explained to the girls.

Emmeline raised her eyebrows. Since when had Art Scamander treated Lily with kindness or affection? In fact, Art struck Emmeline as someone who treated Lily more like a possession or a convenience than anything else. Not that she'd ever been able to say this to Lily.

As Lily continued to explain the incident, something began to niggle Emmeline – that, in fact, Art sounded as though he was behaving just like James Potter.

Sirius, Peter and Remus were gathered around James' body when the Head Boy returned. Slamming the door, he rested with his back against it and looking, it seemed to the boys, deeply traumatized.

"Went well then?" Sirius asked with false cheerfulness as James made his way back to the table.
"Disaster," he muttered, lying back down. "Change me back, Padfoot."

Several hours later, and much to James' alarm, Sirius had been unable to reverse the spell. He sat with his head in his hands, muttering to himself in the corner of the Room, while Peter and Remus sat either side of James on the table, watching over James' inanimate body.

"We had to stun him – you," Remus whispered after a while. "You – he – woke up and Merlin he is insufferable!"

"Except to Lily," James responded dully, not bothering to elaborate. "Are you sure you can't reverse it, Moony?" he repeated.

Remus shrugged, the look in his eyes deeply apologetic. "I don't think I can, Prongs."

"I can't believe it's you!" Peter prodded Art's body, still amazed. "What does it feel like?"

"Obviously no different, since he didn't even notice," Sirius' voice responded dully from his corner.

James slid off the table and approached him, crouching down beside his friend.

"This isn't your fault," he murmured bracingly. Sirius simply scoffed.

Peter cleared his throat, and they turned to look at him expectantly. "This might seem like a stupid idea," he began hesitantly. "But have you considered trying to end the spell?"

There was silence as the other three boys considered it. Suddenly Remus smiled, cuffing Peter gently over the head. "Brilliant, Wormtail," he murmured, looking questioningly to the other two boys. "I think it just might work."

Sirius stood up slowly, and a hesitant smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. "Perhaps," he agreed. "Go on Prongs, back to the table."

"James? James, are you in there?"

James blinked and opened his eyes slowly – and realised that quite to his alarm, he couldn't see properly. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, but this still did not seem to fix his sight.

"Well, am I back?" he asked anxiously.

Sirius, Remus and Peter exchanged looks of amusement as Peter slid James' glasses back onto his nose. "Apparently so," Sirius murmured in his dry way.

James grinned. "Awesome."

Sirius helped him to stand. "I'm so sorry, Prongs," he murmured, patting his shoulder awkwardly.

James gave him a nod of understanding. "It's all right, Paddy. Just think - if it wasn't for the brilliance of Wormy here-" Peter beamed. "Anyway, let's just forget it ever happened."

"One problem," Remus murmured, gesturing to Art. "What do we do with that?"

"Madam Pomfrey!" James yelled, sprinting into the Hospital Wing with an unconscious Art Scamander levitating in front of him. The nurse took one look at the floating young man and gestured that James set him on a bed. "I… I found him in… in a broom cupboard," James panted.

Madam Pomfrey sighed, and shook her head sadly. "Hogwarts these days… well thank you, Mr. Potter, your prompt reaction may have saved this poor young man from the worst of… well, whatever it is."

James nodded, clutching his chest exhaustedly. After declining her offer of a pepper-up potion, the nurse dismissed him kindly.

The Marauders were waiting in the seventh year dorm, and each startled as James entered, grinning.

"It worked, then?" Remus asked hopefully.

James nodded confirmation. "Hook, line and sinker."

James was leaving via the boy's staircase when he ran into Emmeline levitating a sleeping Lily down into the Gryffindor Common Room. Emmeline sighed with relief when she saw James, who walked over to them, looking concerned.

"Thank Merlin, I thought I'd have to get her back somehow. Poor thing's had a bit of a rough night," Emmeline confided. "You couldn't take her back with you, could you?"

James nodded, biting his lip and trying to push away the guilty feeling that was once again rising in his stomach. "Of course," he replied softly, picking Lily out of the air and settling her in his arms. "I'll see her to bed. Good night, Em."

Emmeline watched James carry Lily out of the common room wistfully, before turning to ascend the girl's staircase, shaking her head.

"How're you feeling this morning?" Remus asked as James joined the boys at their usual spot in the Great Hall the next morning.

Helping himself to bacon and eggs, James grinned. "Good as new," he reassured them.

Sirius looked relieved. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but at that moment, the owls arrived with the morning post. A large, tawny owl landed in front of Remus with the Daily Prophet, as it did every morning. Remus gave the bird a slice of toast and paid it, watching it soar back off with a slight smile on his face. "It's nice to havesome regularity," he murmured appreciatively, unrolling his paper.

James nodded happily, glancing at Sirius beside him for agreement. But Sirius didn't seem to be paying much attention. He was staring at the regal grey owl before him with an expression of great apprehension.

"You ok, Padfoot?" James prodded him, concerned.

"Get out of it," Sirius muttered, his heart not in it, as he reluctantly freed the letter from the owl's leg. Before flying off, it pecked his finger quite viciously.

Slowly, with great trepidation, Sirius opened the letter. The boys watched him closely, mildly alarmed at his hesitancy; who was this boy and what had he done to the cynic they all knew and loved?

Sirius' face became suddenly impassive: he closed over completely; shuttering his dark eyes and stretching his long, narrow mouth. Another thing – he had gone awfully, awfully pale.

"Padfoot, are you-"

Sirius stood up abruptly and walked briskly out of the hall. At this point, it was not only the Marauders who noticed Sirius' odd behaviour. In fact, the entire Great Hall seemed to have paused in their breakfasting to stare at Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain as he made his hasty exit. Searching the crowd of faces, James noted that even Lily's lips were pursed in concern. James turned to gaze at Remus, amazed. The werewolf mirrored his look. Only Peter seemed mildly unaffected. Still munching on his toast, he managed to murmur:

"Now what was that all about?"