Dear Mum, 
I have a bit of an odd request, but I hope you'll be able to help me out. Could you possibly stop in at a muggle bookshop and owl me some books? They are a part of a serial of them, stories about a muggle investigator called Apple Mackenzie. Evans and I have the first five books but we were hoping to get the others as well. I will, of course, expect it to come out of my allowance, or else will pay you back when I can get a job next summer. We would most appreciate it, as we've been reading them together and we'd like to keep on with it, but we're near to the end of the last book that we've got here at school. Thanks in advance.
I love you, and miss you and Dad. Sirius says hullo, and so does Remus, and now Peter does, as well. Evans isn't here right now, but if she was I'm sure she'd say hullo, too, so I'll just say it for her: hullo.
See you at holiday, looking forward to roast and cakes and such. Perhaps we could have the Evans around? Lily and her mum? And I suppose her sister as well if we must? Just a thought.
James Potter

"As if we don't know who he is," chuckled Charlus, shaking his head, looking over the signature at the bottom of the letter James had sent home.

Dora shook her head, "And as if we're taking a cent from him! Just imagine - James, reading a book! On purpose!"

"That's got to be Lily's doing," Charlus said. Then, "I hope he's keeping up with his quidditch training, rather than spending all his time reading books!"

Dora swatted Charlus's shoulder, "You sound exactly the opposite of a normal parent, Mr. Potter!" she accused.

Charlus grinned, "Whenever have I done anything that a normal parent would do? For that matter, when have either of us?"

Dora shook her head dismissively at this question, not even dignifying it with an answer, and as she waved her wand, with a spark of gold letters that faded to black ink, the Apple Mackenzie books were added onto her shopping list that hung on the refrigerator door.

The letter had been sent by owl timed so that Jame could pick the books up at the post office in the village of Hogsmeade, on the first trip of the year. James and Lily had agreed (rather, been coerced by their friends) to not spend the day together, and rather meet up to walk home after spending a good deal of time with their neglected mates.

"Were you always so specky?" Sirius asked, looking James over, inspecting him thoroughly as they walked toward the village.

"Always," James replied. "At least you've always said I was at any rate."

Sirius shook his head, "No, I suppose that's true... I can't put my finger on it exactly, but you've definitely changed since we last saw you."

"What, since last night in the dormitory?" James laughed, "Shut it, you see me every bleedin' day."

"In glimpses, yes," Sirius said, "But I haven't the opportunity to properly inspect you since you've gone and gotten yourself hitched to Lily Evans."

"Hitched!" James hooted indignantly. "It isn't as though we're married."

Sirius snorted, "Might as well be."

"I might not as well be," snapped James, rolling his eyes, "You bloody wanker. "

Remus pushed into Sirius's shoulder, "Stop picking on 'im."

Sirius ignored Remus's admonition, continuing, "Perhaps you ought to convert to gay, Prongsie. You can date Peter and the Marauders will be a complete circle."

Peter squeaked, "But I'm not gay. I'm seeing Wendy."

"I thought you lot broke up?" Sirius rounded on Peter in surprise, James's changed whatever momentarily forgotten as he twirled about to walk backwards and stare at Peter in surprise.

Peter shook his head, "No. Not that I've heard about if it has."

"Not that you heard about?" Sirius demanded, then, "As half the concerned parties, shouldn't you be at least in the loop of any relationship status termination?"

Peter shrugged, flushing, "I mean of course, which is why I know we're still dating."

"Well why aren't you ever bloody with her then?" Sirius asked rudely.

"Perhaps," injected Remus, seeing Peter's uncomfortable expression, "Because you make such a fuss when any of us aren't available at your beck and call for your nonsense adventures?"

"NONSENSE ADVENTURES?" Sirius wailed, dramatically flaying his arm across his eyes, "You wound me, Moony!" Sirius dropped into Remus's arms in a false swoon, and Remus only just managed to hold him up.

"Oi, careful there," Remus said, hoisting Sirius back up to his feet.

"You lot didn't think any of my ideas were nonsense adventures while we were doing them!" Sirius declared.

"Yes we did," all three of the others said in unison.

Sirius blinked in surprise, pausing walking a moment - the others continued on so that after they'd gone several paces, Sirius jogged to catch up, then flung his arms about Remus and James's shoulders as Peter scurried to keep up on James's other side. Peter was slightly out of breath because their pace (even Remus's, since it wasn't the peak of moon cycles) was faster than he naturally walked, so that it gave the impression that he was constantly trying to keep up with the other three.

"Ah it's just been so long since we've done this," Sirius sighed as he draped himself amongst his two favorite people in the world. Then, "I know what it is that's changed, Prongsie - you're taller. Did you grow since you've been gone, dating Evans?"

"No, Sirius," James said tiredly, "I didn't grow ." He wondered if Lily's friends were giving her as hard a time as his were, as he rolled his eyes to Remus over Sirius's shoulders.

"Absolutely every single detail, leave nothing out, or I'll hex you," Marlene Mackinnon said, brandishing her wand about. The entire gaggle of girls giggled as Lily flushed deeply and her eyes fluttered with nervousness. "You owe us that much after always being busy for over a month!"

"ALWAYS," Ali said, nodding, "Even... in the middle of the night?"

Lily's flush deepened as the other girls chorused ooooooh at this revelation. Lily cleared her throat, "It isn't like that, when we go out in the middle of the night. We... we're reading."

"Reading!" Marlene hooted, "What a terrible euphemism."

"It isn't," Lily argued. "We literally go for a quick broom ride, which is always lovely, he's such a good broom handler --"

"Also a terrible euphemism, by the way," Marlene injected, grinning wickedly.

"Hush!" Lily interrupted herself, "That is also not one!"

"Well what are you waiting for? I'd be reading his brains out by now," Emmaline Vance giggled, her cheeks so scarlet from even suggesting it that they all knew she was too shy to ever read anyone's brains out, ever.

Marlene looked back at Lily, grinning.

Lily said, "We literally only read at night, I swear it upon Merlin's shining silver beard. It's a muggle book series, the Apple Mackenzie books... We've been reading a chapter every night together, and it's lovely. We take it in turns to read, and it's just... the most soothing, wonderful thing..." She sighed happily.

Ali looked about at the others. "That's really sweet," she ceded. 

"It really is," Marlene said. Emmaline nodded vigorously. "Could you duplicate James a couple times over and give the clones to Em and I?" she asked.

Lily laughed.

"I'm telling Frank we need to read," Ali said decidedly.

"CAN Frank read?" Marlene teased, "I would think he might've been hit in the head a few too many times with a bludger to do tricks of that sort."

Ali giggled, "I mean, he'd prefer the other sort of reading to it but," she shrugged.

Marlene said, "Most boys would."

"Most boys are pigs," supplied Emmaline.

"It's true," Marlene nodded.

Regulus and Maryrose were walking together with Wendy toward Hogsmeade, and he was sort of absently wandering beside them as the two girls talked rather excitedly about various grooming spells that they'd learned from Witch Weekly, when they came about a turn in the path that brought them around close to the lake's edge, just a small banking of trees separating them from the crystal surface of the water.

"I wish somebody would come up with a decent hair coloring spell," Wendy was complaining. "For anyone who isn't an metamorphmangus, it would be awfully nice to be able to get the color you really want."

Maryrose laughed, "I'm sorry they haven't. Muggle women use a sort of tonic to do it that burns the pigment in... or something," she supplied. "Have you considered trying the muggle method?"

Wendy shook her head, "Mum and dad would never allow that... But if it was a spell I could reverse when I wasn't at Hogwarts... well, what they don't know, right?" She winked.

Suddenly they both paused as Maryrose looked back. Regulus had stopped walking and turned to face the lake, a strange look upon his face as he peered over the water's edge. Maryrose glanced at Wendy with concern, then back to Regulus. "Reg?" she called, "You alright?"

Regulus didn't reply, he was staring too intently, his eyes wide with... surprise? fear?... Impossible to tell. 

Maryrose spotted Lily and the others up the path a bit, coming their way. "Listen, Wendy, I'm going to talk to Reg, but I see the other girls coming there, you're welcome to join them and I'll catch you lot up at the pub." She waved to the others, then said to Wendy, "I need to see what's wrong with Reggie."

"Alright," Wendy replied and she waited for Lily, Marlene, Emmaline and Ali to arrive - joining in with them and their conversation about Lily and James's reading habits.

Maryrose meanwhile hurried over to Regulus's side by the lake's edge for he'd stepped through the small cluster of trees and was on the sandy-rocky banking, staring away toward Hogwarts at the far side of the lake. Maryrose touched his shoulder gently as she came up beside him, trying not to startle him, but he startled at her touch just the same and turned to look at her.

"Can you hear that?" he asked her in response to the questioning stare she was giving him.

"Hear what?" she asked, eyes searching the lake's edge for a sign of anything that might be making a sound, but other than a cluster of reeds, there wasn't anything there.

Regulus's eyes were distracted, searching the surface of the water, "The hissing. It's like... it's like the water's carrying the sound." He leaned closer until he was on his hands and knees, his ear nearly touching the water.

Maryrose hesitated, looking back over the path to Hogsmeade, then shrugged and lowered herself beside Regulus, listening, but there was no sound from the water other than typical watery noises. She looked at Regulus with concern. She didn't doubt that he heard something, you could tell by the look on his face that he was truly hearing something. But she wasn't sure exactly how to tell what it was, or where it was coming from without being able to hear it, too. That didn't stop her from trying.

"It's just... hissing? What sort of hissing?" she asked, kneeling beside him as he lifted his face from the water. "Like a snake?" she looked around, disgusted and alarmed.

Regulus's eyes lit up. "Yes, sort of like a snake or like --" and it struck him where he'd heard that sort of hissing before very suddenly and it made him feel extremely icy cold all over and he stumbled backward from the water, falling onto a rock a couple paces back. "No, it can't be. But how? Where?" His brows furrowed as he glared over the water.

"Reg?" Maryrose's voice pinched nervously, "Regulus, what is it?"

"I didn't think - not after what happened last year - but I s'pose, done it once, maybe a second time? But who? I know -- no, he's real, I know he is, and so's -- but -- maybe a student? But no, that doesn't make sense that it'd be coming from the lake, then..."

"Regulus, what're you talking about?" Maryrose pleaded, very scared because as he spoke, Regulus was beating himself silly in the head, knocking his forehead with the heels of his hands, trying to jog his brains, but Maryrose's panic only rose higher the more he wouldn't answer or look at her and she tried to grab onto his hands, but he wouldn't stop... and then she heard their voices.

"No, Sirius, I didn't grow," James Potter's voice carried down the bank from the path above them. "I'm exactly the same bloody height as I was yesterday, and the day before that as well. Which, by the way, you've seen me on all of those days."

"Well darling then you'll need to explain why it is that I suddenly feel all wonky lopsided draped up here between you and my Rey-Rey," Sirius drawled dramatically.

Remus said, "Perhaps it's because I'm taller."

"Fuck off, I'd know if you were grown. I know everything about you, you stupid wolf."

Remus muttered, "Only what you shut up long enough to hear about, you mean."

Maryrose looked at Regulus, who was still muttering, floundering and knocking his head, and she leaped up the banks to the pathway. "SIRIUS," she yelled.

All four Marauders, who had passed the spot she came up from, turned about, Sirius's arms falling from James and Remus's shoulders and Peter doubled to grab his knees and use the pause to catch his breath a bit after he scrambled to their sides, thankful for the stop. 

"Maryrose," James said, "What's the matter?"

"It's Regulus," she pointed down the banking to the waterside.

Remus, Sirius, and James looked at one another and hurried to where Maryrose was, Peter hesitated, then dawdled after them, and they all looked over to where Regulus was sitting on the rock, bent forward, knocking his head.

"OI," Sirius shouted, "Stop hitting yourself, you little shite!" 

But Regulus didn't even pause.

James jumped forward, skidding down the banking to where Regulus was, his glasses falling off in the process. "Accio glasses," he said with a flick of his wrist and pushed them back up his face.

"What're you doing, Potter?" Sirius said, "The little bastard's just being stupid."

"He's not being stupid," Maryrose snapped, "Something's the matter."

"He looks like he's being stupid to me," Sirius answered, "Seriously, stop hitting yourself you numbnut." He drew his wand and waved it, a silent spell, but it froze Regulus's hands up from knocking anymore. Sirius looked at Maryrose, "There. Fixed it." He turned to Remus, "Let's go."

Remus looked at Sirius, concerned, "But obviously something is the matter."

James was to Regulus, and kneeling down to be on height with him, and their eyes met, panic in the younger boy's dark brown-nearly-black pupils as he stared into James's warm gaze. "What's the matter, Regulus?" James asked, his voice low, so that if Regulus chose, he needed only to answer James, and it wouldn't matter if anybody else heard.

Which was exactly the way Regulus answered, "Listen," he whispered. "Do you hear him? Voldemort?"

James listened.

And sure enough. He heard it. He heard the hissing. He glanced at the lake, as cold as Regulus had felt, and he looked back at Regulus. "But -- how? Where could he be?"

"I dunno," Regulus answered.

"OI ARE WE GOING TO HOGSMEADE OR ARE WE SITTING HERE TANNING ALL DAY LIKE A BUNCH OF GIRLS?" Sirius yelled down the hill, impatient, and not hearing the words passing between his brother and James below.

James turned around, fed up with Sirius's nagging from the entire walk from the castle and his disregard for -- well, anything -- about his brother's well being. "IF YOU BLOODY WANT TO GO TO THE VILLAGE INSTEAD OF HELPING YOUR BOTHER, THEN GO YOU INSENSITIVE BASTARD," James yelled back, "SOMETIMES THINGS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOING TO THE BLOODY JOKES SHOP!"

Sirius stared in surprise at this outburst - so did Remus, Peter, and Maryrose, though Regulus stayed panicing and staring down at his knees, muttering, his lips moving as he spoke, though his arms - still frozen from Sirius's spell, stayed still. Sirius's mouth floundered like a fish for a couple of long seconds, trying to find the words to reply.

"It's a bloody miracle," Remus muttered, "He's speechless."

Sirius glanced at Remus, then looked back at James. "Fuck you," he said thickly, and he turned and stormed off down the pathway in a hurried pace.

Remus sighed, "Bloody hell, here we go..." and he ran after Sirius.

Peter hesitated.

"Go on with them," James snapped, not wanting to have to deal with Peter under foot. "I'll take care of Reg."

Peter continued to hesitate, mostly because he didn't fancy having to run again to catch up with the already disappearing backs of Remus and Sirius -- and also because Sirius in a good mood was liable to attack Peter, not to mention Sirius when he was pissed. Peter turned though, and ran down the path, because he could see it in James's eyes that he wasn't wanted there, either.

Maryrose watched them go, then went down the bank, "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to cause --"

James shook his head, "Doesn't matter..." he muttered, and he turned back to Regulus quickly. "Get your wits about you," he commanded, "We're figuring out where he is, and when we find him we're going to bloody kill him."