James arrived at the city centre where Stutton street was and took a taxi.

"Where to young man?" The driver asked.

"Devon bakery" James said.

"It'd be difficult to drive in that weather so don't be upset over the slow speed" The driver said.

James looked at his watch to check the time.

"Would it take longer then an hour and a half?" James asked.

"Not really" The man said.

"Alright then I can pay thirty gal...I mean cents" James said correcting himself before he could say anything stupid.

The driver thankfully didn't pay it any mind and started driving.

It was a really slow drive which James spent in chitchatting with the driver.

"There you are" The driver said after about an hour drive.

James looked at the shop through the front window of the car then nodded to himself before taking out some muggle money and giving it to the driver.

"Thanks" James said.

Then got off the car and started walking over to the shop.

He walked over to the bakery store Remus told him about and went over to the store employee.

"I'm sorry to bother you but I was looking for mister Alphard Black does he live around here?" James asked.

"He's living in a villa close to here actually it's the third one from the left to this shop are you one of his students?" She asked.

"Thank you" James said without answering her question.

Then left the shop and went to the third villa from his left side.

He cleared his throat a few times before ringing the doorbell.

No one opened the door though so he tried again.

"What can I do for you young man?" A voice from behind him asked.

James turned to the person behind him and smiled politely.

"Good morning sir I'm James Potter a classmate of Sirius, You're Alphard Black right?" James asked.

"Yeah what can I do for you?" Alphard asked again.

"Sirius has been missing and this is the last place for me to look so I was hoping that you found him" James said.

Alphard frowned.

"But I haven't found him" Alphard said.

"What? How come? Where else could he be except here?" James asked.

"Come inside young man let's talk about this" Alphard said.

James nodded and followed him inside.

"How come you don't know about his disappearance we've been searching for him for a week now, Me my friends and Reg" James said.

"I swear I had no idea" Alphard said.

"James Fleamont Potter" Euphemia said causing her son to look her way.

"Mother" James said in obvious panic.

"I specifically told you to stay out of this so what are you doing in Scotland?" Euphemia asked.

James regained some of his bravery as he looked at his mother's eyes.

"You know I won't stop until I find my friend so why bother trying to hold me back?" James asked.

Euphemia rubbed her temples.

"It's best to stay calm dear we still need to find the boy, James is perfectly fine so no need to worry about him" Fleamont Potter said as he patted his wife's shoulder.

Euphemia walked over to her son and gave him a hug.

"Don't do something stupid like that again do you understand?" Euphemia asked.

James rested his chin on her shoulder and patted her back in what he hoped was soothing but he knew better then to make promises he can't keep so he stayed silent.

The hug was cut short when they heard the sound of a dog howling.

James took a step away from his mother and rushed up the stairs.

The house wasn't that big so James was able to find the room easily.

He pushed the door open with one hand and put his other hand in his pocket to make sure his wand was still there.

But the sight in front of him made his eyes tear up, There was a badly injured black dog on a bed howling pitifully with its eyes closed but he would be able to recognise that dog anywhere.

"James what are you doing? You can't just wander around in a stranger's house" Fleamont said as he followed his son.

James walked into the room not believing the state his friend was in.

He had bandages all over his chest and head a broken leg but the most important thing was that he was a dog.

James knelt down next to the bed and touched the dog's side with his fingertips.

"Padfoot? Padfoot it's alright now it's me James" James said.

Sirius whined in response but didn't open his eyes.

Fleamont walked into the room and saw James crying next to a dog.

It was a strange sight because it's been long since he last saw his son crying.

"James? What's going on?" Fleamont asked.

He put a hand on his son's shoulder to get his attention but it didn't seem to work.

Euphemia and Alphard walked into the room too.

"James, Tell us what happened" Fleamont said.

James wiped away his tears in his sleeve before turning to his father.

"This is Sirius" James said.

Sirius howled again when James accidentally patted an injury on his side.

"I swear I'll explain later but someone please help" James said.

Euphemia pursed her lips as she looked at the dog.

"We need to take him to St Mungo, The potions I made helped with healing his wounds a bit but I can't turn him back to human, I don't know why but I just can't" Alphard said.

"Right, St Mungo let's go now we can arrive faster if we apparate" James said.

"We can't use apparition on him in his current state James" Euphemia said.

"But what if he dies" James yelled.

Alphard looked at the floor not knowing what to say to the obviously distressed boy.

"What if he dies mother? He's my friend I can't let him die when I can do something about it" James said in a calmer voice.

"We can ask someone from St Mungo to come here instead but James you have to go to school now, You'll miss the train at this rate" Fleamont said.

James shook his head.

"I'm not leaving without him" James said.

Fleamont rubbed his temples in frustration at his son's stubbornness.

"What should I do with you?" Fleamont asked.

"I'm going to ask my friend to come here, She works at St Mungo" Euphemia said.

"You can use my owl come with me I'll show you to it" Alphard offered.

"Thank you for the kind offer but I think apparition would be a lot faster then using an owl" Euphemia said before disappearing from the room.

James turned to Sirius and ran his fingers through his hair carefully.

"James, Calm down he's going to be alright" Alphard said.

Then he knelt down next to the boy and patted his shoulder hoping that it was soothing enough.

After a minute or so Euphemia apparated back into the room with another woman wearing a nurse's uniform.

"Here he is can you do something about this?" Euphemia asked.

James moved out of the way immediately as soon as the nurse knelt down next to Sirius and started removing the bandages to examine him.

"I'll do my best but it's going to hurt and it's going to hurt bad" The nurse said.

"But it'll save him right?" James asked.

"It depends on how strong he is" The nurse said.

Her words gave James a bit of hope though Sirius wasn't that weak, So he really hoped he'd survive this.

The nurse cast a binding spell causing the iron bedpost to curl itself around Sirius's legs.

It unsettled him though so Sirius started howling in what he hoped would sound scary, He only started to calm down when James went back to patting him.

Sirius was too tired to do anything else so he decided to save himself the trouble of trying and closed his eyes again.

The nurse forced Sirius to drink some potions and used advanced healing spells on him.

James watched his friend helplessly as he growled and his entire body shook in pain with only the curled bedposts keeping him in place.

The healing spells did the trick though because by the time the nurse was done all of the wounds on Sirius's body were completely gone.

Sirius couldn't stay awake any longer feeling more tired then before.

"There might be a few scars but he'll be alright, I healed his internal bleeding and broken bones and I also healed his brain damage" The nurse said.

"Will he be able to change into human again?" James asked.

"Yes, Give him a few minutes maybe even hours, He'll have a terrible fever from how fast he was forced to recover though so I advice you to give him these potions to help him" The nurse said.

Then gave James the necessary potions.

"That would be all I should go back or they might notice my absence" She said.

"Thank you for your help" James said politely, The woman smiled at him affectionately then apparated back to St Mungo.

James played with the dog's hair absentmindedly.

"James, You have thirty minutes left you should really go now" Fleamont said.

James nodded then took out his invisibility cloak and wrapped it around Sirius then looked up at his parents.

"I'll leave him at Hagrid's I swear but can you please apparate us both?" James asked.

"Fine but you have to hold onto him tightly alright?" Fleamont asked.

James nodded.

"I think this might help" Alphard said.

Then brought over a bag and used a few spells to widen it from inside.

"You can put him inside this bag I also put some of my old clothes inside he might need them" Alphard said.

James nodded again, He won't mind giving Sirius some of his clothes if he ever asks and he was sure Remus and Peter would do the same as well.

"Let's go now James you're running out of time" Fleamont said.

James slung the bag on his shoulder and made sure that he was holding it carefully then he took his father's hand and they both apparated to the Hogwarts express.

Remus was looking around the entire train station, It was only twenty minutes left until the train arrives and still James was nowhere in sight.

"What are you looking for Remus? You look really nervous" Lily asked.

"Nothing" Remus said hurriedly but he could easily tell that Lily didn't look convinced judging from how she looked at him.

Remus was a terrible liar and Lily obviously knew it.

"Did James and Sirius force you into one of their pranks again?" Lily asked.

"Hey Lily let's go get some chocolate frogs before getting into the train" Marlene said.

Then thankfully took Lily away before she'd squeeze the entire truth out of Remus.

Remus took out his notebook and wrote a message to James.

Where are you? Are you alright? Did you find Sirius? Is he with you now?

But James didn't write anything in the enchanted notebook.

"Bloody hell, Where could he be?" Remus asked himself as he continued looking through the crowd of people.

James finally appeared in his line of sight accompanied by his father and carrying a bag which he held onto carefully as if it contained a precious item.

Remus walked over to him hurriedly.

"Hello uncle Fleamont I hope you had a nice summer" Remus said politely.

"I did, Thanks for asking Remus" Fleamont said.

"Tell aunt Effie I said hi" Remus said.

Fleamont smiled and nodded then left the place.

"I found him Remus, But he'll have to stay at Hagrid's for a few hours so we might have to miss the welcoming speech" James said.

"That's fine, Tell me is he alright?" Remus asked eagerly.

"I sure hope, The healer from St Mungo said that he might take some time to recover" James said.

Then the two boys got into the train and it finally departed.

James put the bag he had with him down on the seat next to his and took Sirius out of it carefully.

Sirius was still too tired to wake up so James placed him on the seat and turned to Remus.

"He's cold, Do you have a blanket?" James asked.

Remus made a makeshift blanket from some of his winter clothes.

"You didn't bring your luggage?" Remus asked.

"I didn't have time to go home and pack my stuff Remus" James said.

"Oh, Right I totally forgot sorry" Remus said.

"Don't be it's alright, On the bright side though my mother said that she'll send them to me later" James said.

Marlene's voice was heard loud and clear as she walked closer to their compartment so James covered Sirius with his invisibility cloak before they came in.

"I'm telling you muggle chocolate is a lot better then wizard made chocolate" Lily said.

"Yeah sure whatever" Marlene said.

They walked into their compartment and Marlene looked at James with a raised eyebrow so James nodded once before turning to look through the window.

"What was that?" Lily asked.

"What was what?" Marlene asked.

"Are you keeping something from me?" Lily asked.

"Of course not, Tell you what how about we go find somewhere else to sit? Let's go find Mary and Dorcas" Marlene said.

"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked frowning as she didn't see the second troublemaker.

"He went to sit with Reg, Said he had something important to talk to him about" James said.

"Let's go" Marlene said before pushing Lily in front of her.

Peter walked in after them and sat down next to Remus.

"So what happened?" Peter asked.

"We'll tell you at Hagrid's, As soon as the train arrives we should go to Hagrid's so we're planning to skip the welcoming ceremony" Remus said.

"Alright" Peter said.

The Hogwarts train stopped moving when it finally reached its destination and James put Sirius back inside his bag before walking over to the castle with Remus and Peter following him.

Lily was still confused as to why she never saw Sirius throughout the entire ride but she supposed that maybe he went off with his brother and a few other friends whom she didn't know about.

She noticed Severus walking through the crowd so she smiled and raised a hand in greeting before walking over to him.

"How was your summer?" She asked.

Then she started telling Severus about how her summer went while Severus asked a few questions as they walked over to the castle.

She decieded to let Severus go when she saw his Slytherin friends approaching.

"I'll talk to you later" Lily said.

Severus only nodded before walking over to his friends.

She wasn't sure if he considered them friends judging by how he never talked about them with her but then again Severus has always been a quiet person.

She just hoped he at least had one or two close friends to keep him company.

Dorcas and Mary walked over to her then took her to the food table just as headmaster Dumbledore walked into the great hall.

Lily looked around the Gryffindor table but couldn't see James and his three other friends anywhere.

"What are you looking for?" Mary asked.

She was now sure that they were hiding something and she had to find out what it was.

"I'm going to the toilet" Lily said.

Then stood up and left the great hall.

She walked around the castle for a bit until she finally heard footsteps so she quickly hid behind a wall.

"Hurry up we need to be quick or someone will notice" James said in a quiet voice.

Remus and Peter followed him as James looked through the map then they all walked past her hiding place.

She got out from behind the wall and followed them until they were all out of the castle.

But Lily's frown deepened when she saw that they continued their way through the forest and stopped in front of Hagrid's house.

Hagrid opened the door expecting to see a teacher who brought his share of the food but surprisingly he saw three of the infamous marauders.

"Can we come in Hagrid?" James asked.

"Alright" Hagrid said then moved away from the door.

Remus and Peter followed James inside and James put his bag down on Hagrid's table carefully before taking Sirius out.

"What's going on here?" Hagrid asked as he looked at the dog on his table.

"I really don't get it, He should have turned back to normal by now" James said exasperated.

"Maybe because he's feverish?" Remus asked.

James took out some of the potions the nurse gave him and forced Sirius to drink one.

"This should help" James said.

"Hagrid we're sorry to disturb you but we were wondering if you can stay with our friend and take care of him until we come back to get him later tonight" Remus said.

Hagrid was too nice for his own good, Lily thought as much as she thought about how the three boys would probably drag him into their new scheme.

"Hagrid, Please help us this is really important and we don't have anyone else to stay with him" James said.

He sounded strangely emotional this time though not a hint of the confidence he usually had when talking to people and Lily never thought she'd hear him say please in her lifetime but here she was, So maybe this wasn't another prank.

"Who is that? And what did you boys get yourself into this time? The year hasn't even started yet" Hagrid said in his ever so friendly scolding.

"It's a long story Hagrid but to make it short this is Sirius and he's really ill so we wanted you to take care of him until we come back to get him" James said.

Hagrid looked at the boys and the dog.

"You children mastered the animagi art?" Hagrid asked with a frown.

James didn't have to look at Remus to know that he was feeling uncomfortable because the other boy rubbed the back of his neck and tweaked his ear as if he was the reason they were all in trouble right now.

"We'll really appreciate it if you keep it a secret Hagrid" James said.

Hagrid was going to say something but got interrupted when everyone heard the sound of a breaking twig.

"Who's there?" Remus asked.

Lily appeared through the window of Hagrid's hut with a sheepish smile on her face.

"What are you doing here Evans?" James asked frowning.

Then folded his arms over his chest as he waited for her to answer.

Lily gulped to regain her composure and looked at James.

"I followed you of course, I didn't see you at the welcoming speech so I went to find you and thought that you were going to ask Hagrid to help you with one of your schemes" Lily said.

James rolled his eyes.

"Right, And miss perfect came here to stop us from getting in trouble by warning a teacher about it" James said.

"Oh come on, You know as much as I do that it's not an us but an only you Potter, You're always the one who causes the problem and then drag your friends down with you" Lily said.

James felt really angry and hurt by what she said after all it was his idea that they master the animagi art so it was partially his fault that Sirius is like that now.

But he decided not to show it.

"No one asked for your opinion and my friends aren't brainless sidekicks I never forced anyone to do what I wanted unlike how you obviously impose your friendship on your poor little Severus when he clearly doesn't want you anywhere near him" James said.

He could tell that what he said also hurt Lily so he turned his gaze away from her face and turned to look at Sirius instead.

"Yeah well, You're still..." Lily started.

"Enough talking you two" Hagrid said angrily causing Lily to stop talking immediately.

"We should go now James" Remus said.

James nodded and the three of them left the hut.

Lily followed them and caught up to James then grabbed his forearm to stop him from walking.

James stopped walking and turned to her.

"Why didn't you tell me about what happened to Sirius?" She asked.

James yanked his hand out of her grip.

"Why should I tell you Evans? What can you possibly do to help?" James asked.

Remus put a hand on James's shoulder.

"That's enough James let's stop talking about it" Remus said.

Then turned to Lily and smiled politely.

"Thank you for your concern Evans, Sirius will be alright I'll tell you when he's back to normal so don't worry" Remus said.

Lily turned her attention to Remus instead of James.

"Thank you Remus" Lily said.

Then walked away from the three boys.

James watched her for a minute then turned to his friends.

"Let's go" James said.

Then the three of them walked back to the castle.

Remus and James went to their shared room to unpack as Peter went to his own room.

Remus started taking out his stuff and noticed that James didn't have anything to wear for the night.

"You can borrow..." Remus started.

"Did I ever force you to do something you didn't want?" James asked.

Remus shook his head.

"No, You haven't you never did" Remus said.

James nodded and sat down on the bed then layed down on his side and covered himself with the blanket.

Remus didn't know what else to say so he stayed silent as he also layed down on his bed.

"Get some sleep, We'll go back to Hagrid's after making sure everyone is sleeping" James said.

They layed down on their respective beds but neither of them could sleep.

After a few hours of waiting James took out his invisibility cloak.

"Should we wake Peter?" Remus asked.

"No need, His roommates might be alerted if we do" James said.

James took out the map and gave it to Remus.

"You look at the map and I'll cover us both with the cloak" James said.

Remus took the map from James then they both went to Hagrid's hut.