The Bonds of Spirit are stronger than the Bonds of Blood

Chapter Thirty

The next morning, as the Marauders made their way up to the castle, James laughed and said "That was a brilliant idea, Padfoot! We should run through the forest like that every full moon!" Remus chuckled somewhat weakly, still rather exhausted from the transformation, and said "I never thought the full moon could actually be fun. We definitely need to do that again!" He paused then said "Wait... I didn't hurt anyone last night, right?" He looked from Sirius to James to Peter, nervous that he had blacked out long enough to cause damage to his friends before they could help him regain control of his werewolf form. That was what he hated the most. Every time he transformed, he lost control and blacked out. Suddenly, there would be huge gaps in his memory. He would wake up, laying down in an unfamiliar area, often a forest clearing, and have no memory of what had occurred from the time he had fallen asleep. Luckily he had never actually attacked anyone, having had others secure a safe haven for him, but he always woke up with gaps in his memory. At least, until his friends began to join him every full moon night. He still had small gaps, when his werewolf self tried to take total control, but his friends were able to help him regain control. He wasn't sure how they had figured it out, how they could reach him when even his father could not. But he was glad he had them, and glad they were so willing to stand by him despite the danger he posed. Sirius smiled, placed a hand on Remus' shoulder, and said "Don't worry so much Moony! We're fine! You were perfectly well behaved for a werewolf. Everyone and everything is perfectly alright!" He gave a laugh as Remus sighed in relief, ruffled Remus' hair, and started walking ahead. With a mischievous grin, he turned around, started walking backwards and said "Race ya to the Great Hall! Last one there has to compliment Filch!" Laughing, he turned around and took off running towards the Great Hall. James gave a laugh before shouting "You're on!" He started running, slowly catching up to Sirius. Remus shook his head at the pair of them and started running after them, shouting "Wait for me!" Peter laughed and started running behind Remus, trying to catch up. The race was a close one. Sirius and James were neck in neck as they neared the Great Hall, with Remus slightly behind them, and Peter lagging behind him trying desperately to catch up. The quartet burst through the massive doors of the Great Hall, laughing, just in time to join everyone for the second half of breakfast. Sirius won, sliding into the hall, finally coming to a halt at his usual place at the Gryffindor table. James came in second, sliding just past Sirius, nearly falling over, but managing to regain his balance and take his seat at the table next to Sirius. Third was Remus, slowing gracefully to a halt halfway through the room and walking calmly over to his place at Gryffindor table, opposite of Sirius. Peter was the unlucky final Marauder to arrive in the Great Hall, sliding along the floor and straight into Filch! Sirius laughed at this rather fortuitous encounter and shouted "You lose Wormtail! Pay the price!" Peter quivered in place for a moment as Filch glared down at him before shouting "You have a lovely cat!" Turning around quickly, he snatched some breakfast from the table before running out of the hall. Filch was on his tail, shouting about troublemakers and punishment. This display sent the whole of the Great Hall erupting with laughter.

That evening, the Marauders returned to their mapping quest. They had completed mapping out the grounds fairly quickly thanks to Sirius and Peter, so now it was time to map out the rest of the castle. This time they would split up around the castle. Sirius and Remus would use the invisibility cloak and take one half of the floor while Peter and James took the other half. Before they started, Remus cast the Disillusionment Charm on James while Peter shifted into his animagus form. The rat, formerly the human Peter, set off ahead, counting out steps with a steady, specific, set of squeaks. James followed behind, mapping out the area on a scrap piece of paper, which would be transcribed onto the proper map after this was over. The pair of them headed along the fourth floor, mapping out the storage room, the bathroom, and Professor Binns' office. Remus and Sirius kept themselves shrouded in the invisibility cloak and mapped out the Fourth Floor Balcony, the Fourth Floor Corridor, and the Fourth Floor Hospital Tower Corridor. Once again, Sirius was in charge of counting the number of steps in between each area they needed to map out while Remus was in charge of marking the map accordingly. After stealthily mapping out the Fourth Floor Hospital Tower Corridor, Remus quietly spoke up. "Do you really think this map will work?" Sirius turned around to look at his friend, confused, and said "Of course it will! We're all working together on this after all. With your brains, my footwork, James' clever ideas, and Peter's dedication there's no way we can fail!" Sirius grinned, then paused and said "Well, I suppose failure is always a possibility, but really, when have we ever failed after putting our minds to something and working together?" It was true. Every time James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter put their talents together and followed through with an idea it worked. That was how they managed to become animagi and help Remus every full moon. If they had tried to act alone, or hesitated in anyway, things would have turned out differently. James, Peter, and Sirius would likely have failed to even become animagi in the first place. Or, assuming they succeded, they could have easily gotten caught by a professor or gotten hurt trying to help Remus stay in some sort of control during the night of the full moon. Remus smiled and said "Ah, of course. You're right as usual Padfoot." Sirius laughed and said "You really need to stop worrying so much Moony! Everything is gonna work out in the end! Just you wait!" Remus smiled in response, as he watched Peter and James return to their meeting place near the staircase. "Alright," said James from Sirius' left, "We've still got some night left, so next up we'll take on the Fifth Floor!" Giving a chorus of agreement, the quartet made their way up the stairs as silently as possible. Reaching the Fifth Floor, they pairs split off once more. Peter and James went off to map out the Prefects' Bathroom, the Boys' Restroom, the Muggle Studies Showroom, the Fifth Floor Hospital Tower Corridor, and Classroom 5B. Sirius and Remus split off in the opposite direction to map out the Art Classroom, the Music Classroom, the Fifth Floor Corridor, the Fifth Floor Classroom, and the Wizard Card Collectors' Club Room. Now that all four of them could dedicate their time to mapping out the castle, they were making great progress. Though they would still need to enchant the map when they finished making the map itself, it appeared that they would finish the map sooner than expected.

When they finally reunited Sirius said "This is perfect! At this rate we'll be able to finish the map by the end of the year!" James grinned at this and said "How're the enchantments coming Moony?" Remus thought about it before saying "I may need to do a bit more research for some of the trickier spells before we actually attempt to enchant the map, but it is looking surprisingly possible to pull off!" Sirius laughed and said "Still in doubt Moony? You've got this! If any of us could possibly pull this off, it's you!" Peter piped up here and said "Yeah! You are like some sort of genius! With you leading us on the spell work, there's no way we can fail!" James chimed in, saying "Yeah! Don't you know how this works? You're a genius, Padfoot doesn't like rules, I think I can do anything, and Wormtail encourages us all! With the four of us combined, and all our insane genius, anything is possible! Even something as crazy as this map!" Peter added "Yeah! I may not be as talented as you, Padfoot, and Prongs, but I am good at one thing. Being the support. Someone has to be here to remind you three that you can do the impossible! Especially when everything seems to be going wrong. I can sort of balance out the insanity, while you three pull together your different forms of insanity and do the most amazing things!" Most would be unsatisfied being less talented than their friends, but Peter was different. Peter seemed perfectly content to play the support. He took pride in being able to help his friends while they worked their magic. His spell work was not the best, and he was not skilled at Quidditch. He generally was not particularly creative, though he had his moments. Despite all of this, which could depress just about anyone, he was more than happy to just be with his friends and help them in any way possible. Usually that meant simply giving a few words of encouragement, fetching supplies, or even simply fetching snacks and encouraging the group to take a break. He ran around rather like the mother hen of the group, though if any one asked the quartet would unanimously answer that Remus was the mother of the group due to his constant worrying for their safety. Peter was rather proud of his role. It was not the most notable role. It did not get him recognition from those outside the group. But his role was just as vital as anyone else's. It may have even been more vital, as he was the stabilizing factor that kept the various forms of insane genius in check. Peter wasn't the type to care for the spotlight, so this role suited him rather well. At their words, Remus nodded and said "Of course, you are all right. I know I shouldn't worry so much. I'll try to work on that. But you all have to promise me you won't go rushing head first into a dangerous situation simply because you can!" He levelled them all with a look rather akin to Professor McGonagall's stare, and they all laughed. "You got it Moony! We all promise!" James said, trying to come up with a mother based nickname for his dear friend. "Yeah Moony, don't worry! We promise not to do anything stupid without you!" Sirius said, laughing as Remus shook his head with frustrated affection. "Yeah! Don't worry Moony! We'll stay as safe as we can! I'll make sure of it!" Peter said, giving his most confident grin in the hopes of reassuring Remus. Remus shook his head with a smile and said "Alright then, let's go! I don't know about you three but I am exhausted! Time for some well earned sleep!" The quartet silently cheered at the thought of sleep and made their way back to their dorm.