KATE

With all this chaos and shit going on, it's extremely hard to send off a decent letter. Last week, I had to lock myself in the bathroom, telling everyone I was incredibly sore and needed a long, relaxing bath. They all bought it because, to tell the truth, it wasn't exactly a lie. James and Sirius begged me to go sledding, during which I fell numerous times and have the bruises to prove it. Afterward, James dragged both me and Sirius out back, forcing us to help him practice for Quidditch. This was all going fine until Sirius challenged me to a race and "accidentally" bumped me, resulting in my great fall of twenty feet, with nothing but the frozen solid lake to land on. I still find it a miracle that after all these years with them, I'm still breathing regularly.

Anyway, like I was saying, the letter thing has proven to be a challenge. In their world, I have absolutely no one I could be writing, seeing as the Potter's are pretty much my one true family and anytime we write to Moony and Wormtail, all three of us do it together, so that James and Sirius can pretend like they actually write more then just a few choppy sentences, while I jolt down 'a whole fucking novel' as Sirius would put it. And I can't even pretend to write to Savannah or Sam, because they both know neither of those girls can sit still long enough to write anyone a thing. Seeing as Lilly and I are still not on speaking terms, that wouldn't work either.

I haven't even mentioned the lack of privacy that I get around them, have I? The marauders, myself included, believe that we are already so close; there is nothing any one of us could possibly need to hide from each other. The translation being that James and Sirius have numerously gone through each of our trunks, which one time resulted in a very embarrassing tampon situation on my part back in third year. If any of us sends a letter, the rest should read it; if any of us have a boy or girl friend, the rest should meet them; and if ever any of us seem to be hiding something, they will practically harass that secret-dweller until the secret in question is out in the open for the five of us to discuss. I'm actually rather proud of myself for managing one letter behind their backs.

So now it's time to head back to school and bid fare-well to Mr. and Mrs. Potter. The Hogwarts Express looked as amazing as ever, awaiting us to climb on and ride back to Hogwarts. Peter found us as soon as we stepped on to the platform.

"Prongs!" He squeaked, bobbing through the crowd. "I found a compartment already, let's go!"

James grabbed his trunk and headed towards Peter. I stepped forward to follow, but then caught sight of Sirius. He was twitching his hand against his pocket, a habit he does on the rare occasion when he becomes anxious, searching the platform as though the three of us weren't there waiting for him. "Padfoot," James yelled. "C'mon, Wormtail got us a compartment. Let's go before any stupid first years take it from us."

Snapping out of his daze, he half-smiled, still that look of nervousness in his eyes. "You guys go ahead; I want to make sure Moony gets on okay."

"Whatever, mate. But if you miss the food trolley, don't expect us to get you anything!" James laughed as Sirius stuck out his tongue, reminding me far too well of first year, before running after Peter. I heaved my trunk forward and followed their lead. With a glance over my shoulder, I saw Sirius still searching frantically for Remus. Odd… usually Sirius, next to James, was the last person concerned about the rest of us. Oh well; maybe my boy's just growing up.

SIRIUS

We had all forgotten. How could we forget? The full moon was two days after Christmas and none of us were there for Remus. And now I felt like shit, thinking of him all alone right after Christmas without anyone there to make him feel better.

I searched and searched, looking for him everywhere. It wasn't like him to be late. If anything, Remus was always five minutes early. I knew we all made fun of him when he became prefect, but honestly, it wasn't much of a surprise. And with Remus as a prefect, we always managed to sneak out of serious trouble.

There! I found him, looking paler than normal, heaving his trunk towards the train, with a panicked expression on his face. "Remus!" I called. His face turned towards me and a faint smile crossed his lips. He was wearing those jeans he bought last Hogsmeade trip. I had never appreciated just how good they fit him, 'til now. They made his legs look slightly longer, and they were tighter than most of all his other pants. He should where more pants like that. It looked good.

I rushed over and grabbed his trunk, knowing full well that every book known to man was probably stacked inside. "Merlin, Moony, this thing weighs more than Hagrid. No wonder you're late."

"Thanks Padfoot. But where's everyone else?" He looked around, obviously confused by the lack of smiling faces.

The first whistle blew. "They're on the train, saving us a compartment. No, you take my trunk," I ordered, as he attempted to grab the overstuffed luggage. "It's probably half the weight of yours."

He thanked me again and I had to curse him in my mind for being so damn polite all the time. He should be hexing and screaming at me for being so damn selfish. He should be red in the face, pissed that we all forgot. "I'm so sorry." It slipped out. Remus wasn't the kind to have anyone take pity on him, but right now I couldn't help it. I had already spotted two new scars, on his cheek and arm.

"Sorry for what?" Despite this boy's reputation for being a studious twat, he was more accurately a daft bastard.

"We forgot about you. About the moon," I whispered, making sure no one could eaves drop.

His face fell. It was just for a moment, but long enough for me to see. He forced a smile. "It was fine, really. Just one night; I used to have to go through it alone all the time, remember?"

"Yeah, but that was then and this was now." He shrugged, trying to get me to shut it, I'm sure. "Remus, don't lie; I'm not stupid." I reached forward to brush his cheek, where the new scar lay. "From now on, I promise I'll always be there, okay?"

He gave a sad little smile and I saw the wetness in his eyes. It was the same look he gave all of us in second year when he found out we weren't going to kick him out of the castle and instead embraced his 'furry little problem'. "Thanks, Sirius." An awkward silence grew between us and I realized I was still touching his cheek. I removed my hand, and hastily stuffed it inside my pocket. "We should really try to find James and everyone. They'll think we got thrown off the train and left behind."

"Ha, yeah right. James is probably too preoccupied looking for Evans, and Peter's too busy hunting down the food trolley to notice us gone."

"And Katie?" Remus inquired.

"Hmm…" I thought about Kate for a second. Then an image of her with Charlie Withers flashed through my mind and I hurried down the hall, looking in each compartment. "Hopefully safe and sound without any bastards hanging around her," I called back to Remus.

Sure enough, a fuming Lilly stalked past Remus and I, muttering something about "arrogant pricks". James looked utterly perplexed as we opened the door, with Katie and Peter obviously fighting back hysterics. "What happened with Evans?"

"James, he… he- Oh Merlin!" Peter started, but resulted in a deep, rumbling laughter.

"Oh man, you should have been here!" Katie wiped away a tear, trailing down her cheek. "We were talking Quidditch and I brought up the Goerski Sweep and Lilly asked what it was." She paused to let out a fit of giggles, staring at James. "So Prongs says 'it's a move when you hop on, roll over and ride hard and fast.' And then he goes- he goes. 'I can show you sometime if you want. I know you haven't really done it before, but I wouldn't mind showing you how it's done. '" She bit her lip, holding back more laughter. James was still red in the face, looking somewhat confused. "This is the best part! Lily says, ha; ''James Potter, you disgusting pervert!'' And then she storms out."

Now that the tale was told, she and Peter both fell back into fits of laughter, Remus and I joining in. James stared around at all four of us, obviously offended. "I don't know what I did wrong! If anything I'm being the mature, gallant Gryffindor she wants me to be. Why do girls have to be so fucking hard to please?"

"James," Remus sat next to him, a pitiful expression crossing his face. "I don't think she thought you were talking about Quidditch when you offered her to ride your broom."

He seemed lost for a minute, before his mouth dropped to an 'O' and I snorted, taking a seat next to Katie. "Don't worry, Prongs," she started, "I'm sure one day Evans will change her mind and happily volunteer to go for a ride. Until then looks like your hand is the only thing grabbing hold of that stick of yours."

She smirked when he looked offended. "I don't want to hear my own sister talking about shit like that!"

I snorted again. The idea of an innocent Katie was just too hard to imagine. "Prongs I think you're a couple years late to be giving Kate 'the talk.' Second year, and maybe she'd have turned out innocent… I doubt it, though."

Instantly, Katie chucked a half eaten chocolate frog straight in my face, while Remus and Sirius hit each of my arms and a whole chorus of "Shut up!" rang out. "Just speakin' the truth is all." I mused, eating the rest of Katie's frog.

James shook his head, trying to rid my comments out of his brain, no doubt. "Let's not have that conversation again…ever."

Peter quickly changed the subject to some new pranks on the Slytherins, James happy to join in, while Katie glared at me before shuffling around in her bag for some nail polish. Remus, I noticed, spent a minute at least, watching Katie, with a look I couldn't place before pulling out a book. Six years, and every fucking train ride ends up the same…