Sure enough, Sirius's money pouch was precisely where he'd left it, hanging on the branch in the camp behind the old Dumbledore property. He stuffed it in his pocket and the two boys disapparated back to the treeline behind the old house, walking through the tall grasses, back to the road.

"So you're only a few days from being all knotted up with Remus, ey?" James said in a casual tone as they walked along.

Sirius nodded, a wildly happy grin upon his face, "Indeed. My Moon. Ah, what a lucky somuvagun I am!" He feigned at swooning and James laughed. "I reckon I'm probably the first gay husband to a queerwolf, yeah?"

"Possibly, dunno if that would be in the history books to research it." James suggested, "'Ey, write to Professor Binns, reckon he knows!"

"Yeah no I've heard enough of Binns's droning," Sirius replied, making a face.

"Aaaand innnn the yeeeeeearssss of the Greaaaaaat Gobbbbblin Waaaaars ooooof ollllllllld," James drawled in an excellent impression of the ghastly history teacher, making Sirius snort and slap his palm against his knees as he walked.

"Brilliant!"

James took a bow.

Sirius pulled out his motorbike from his pocket then and chucked it onto the ground, swiping his want expertly to engorge it to full size as it fell, landing perfectly upon it's wheels. He grinned, expecting a reaction from James on his magnificent feat, but James's praises did not come. Rather, James had come to a full stop there on the road.

"What's knackered you, mate?" Sirius asked.

James stared straight ahead, a funny look on his face.

"Prongs?" Sirius looked about. They stood before an old, rundown house with a crumbling stone wall and a broken gate, several shattered windows, and a chimney only half assembled. "Prongs?"

James had stepped up to the broken gate and climbed over, heading up the cobbled stones to the wooden front door, which hung a bit loose on its hinges. Sirius leaned against the stone wall. "Oi, Prongs, what're you--" But James had pushed opened that creaky old wooden door and gone inside.

"Bloody hell," murmured Sirius, and he shrunk down his motorbike again, dropped it into his pocket with the sound of a great crash of things being knocked over in there, and tossed himself over the crumbling wall, sending a stone falling to the pavement. "You do know this is breaking and entering, yes?" Sirius called as he squeezed through the gap James had made in the opening at the door. "Prongs?" He stepped around a big wide puddle of muck on the floor, cringing and sending a scouring spell onto the toes of his boots. "It's like a fucking swamp in here, Merlin's tit."

James was on the stairs, about halfway up, when Sirius found him.

"This house," he said, his voice far off as though he'd mentally transported to some other place, "It's - I need it. I need this house for Evans." He stuck out his palm, touching hideous floral wallpaper.  James looked at Sirius. "She - it's the one she wanted, when we kissed, she said she liked this house. And the fountain - Godric's fountain, it's right outside..." James's eyes were mystic filled.

Sirius looked about. "Dunno if you notice mate but this place is a fucking dump."

"Right now it is, but when I'm done it won't be."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

James turned and climbed the stairs quickly. Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes, swiping his finger over the book shelf and he found there was a good sized layer of dust on everything. He looked up the stairwell, which went up straight to a midway landing before curving out of Sirius's view. "James?" he called.

"Mate, it's perfect." James came back down the stairs, each step creaking terribly as he descended. "It's so bloody perfect."

Sirius said, "Minus the swamp and smell of rotting dead rat, yeah?"

James looked up. "Ohhhh shit!"

"What? What shit? Is there actual shit in here?" Sirius looked around in disgust.

"Shit shit shit shit!"

"WHERE?"

"Peter!"

"What?"

"We forgot Peter! For the full moon. We promised him on the train that we'd get him to go with us full moon nights still and we bloody forgot - on the very first one."

Sirius blinked and said, "So there's not any shits laying about in here, then?"

"Blast us!" James all but ran down the last couple stairs and pushed back through the gap in the door, followed by Sirius. James led the way, running 'round the side of the house, through an extremely overgrown garden patch full of weeds and knee high grass. Sirius followed, like a good dog should, until James reached the wooded area behind the house, in which they'd camped as kids many times, and shouted, "I'm going to Peter's house!" before disapparating.

Sirius came to a stop at the edge of the trees and bent double, breathless from the running and leaping through the house and large yard to the trees. "Fucking rat," he murmured, "Why can't you just come on your own, why're we always having to fetch you?" And he turned on the spot, following after James.

Peter's house was small and in a quiet neighborhood. James rushed up the walk after apparating in front of the cottage. He heard Sirius appear behind him several moments after he'd already knocked on the door with an impressive brass knocker that hung upon the door. Sirius was panting when he caught up with James.

"How are you not bloody winded?" Sirius asked.

James shrugged.

The door opened and there stood Honey Pettigrew, a pale, skinny woman, with a long face and sad, distant eyes. She stared blankly at them for several seconds. When she spoke, her voice was flat. "You're Peter's friends," she said.

"Yeah, is he in?" James asked.

Honey nodded and stepped back to allow them passage, her movements kind of stiff and jerky the way an old woman's would be, though Honey was probably only in her late 40s.

James and Sirius hurried up the stairs to what they knew from previous visits was Peter's bedroom. Inside the room was immaculately clean, which James thought was rather unlike Peter, at Hogwarts Peter's bed had always been left unmade and the floor beneath was full of old wrappers of various sweets he'd eaten.

"He's left, I bet," Sirius said, "Whatever Honey says."

"What's told you that? A lack of him being in here?"

"He could be in his r-a-t f-o-r-m," he spelled.

James looked at him. "You know his parents can s-p-e-l-l rat form, you git?"

Sirius said, "Sorry, I forgot. That's how you lot do to me when I'm Snuffles."

"That's because you're a dog," James replied, looking around, "And a terrible speller so that we can get away with it."

"Fuck you," Sirius laughed.

"Fuck you forever," James answered, laughing too.

"Fuck you for eternity," Sirius declared.

James shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Help me look for him incase he is in r-a-t f-o-r-m."

Sirius started looking, though bot as thoroughly as James, who was on his stomach beside the bed, looking under at a clutter of books and quills, wrappers and the sort of stuff Peter usually had under his bed at school. But no rat was visible.

"Oh Peter," Sirius called, "Come out, come out where ever you are. C'mon out and play!"

"I don't think he's here," James declared. "His divination tools are gone. And look here, he took a photo out of this frame by his bed. Also there aren't any snacks stashed about or anything... I reckon he might've left to try and find us."

"Well he's an idiot if he didn't go to the camp! Where else would we be if not there?"

James thought a moment. "Maybe he tried to find the flat?"

Sirius shrugged.

"Well, we've got to find him, so let's go check back at the flat, and we'll -- dunno, we'll make a plan then," James said. Then, "Actually, let's split up and look. You run back to the flat, you can check on Remus while you're there, and see if Peter's been. Meanwhile, I'll go check 'round Diagon Alley."

"Alright," Sirius agreed, eager to see Remus and check on him.

James and Sirius rushed back down through the house without seeing Honey or Cecil Pettigrew anywhere. They went outside and disapparated, each off to their own destination.