A/N - And we have at last reached the closing chapter of our Maruadering adventure. In a much more timely manner, might I add lol.

Sunlight streamed through the high arched windows, falling across the rows of narrow white beds. In one particular bed, Remus Lupin discovered that the sun seemed to be quite determined for him to wake up. Which was just as well, really, because he'd been having the strangest dream. Grudgingly, slowly, and wondering why in Merlin's name he had forgotten to shut the bed curtains, Remus pushed back the blankets and opened his eyes. He was not, to his surprise, in his comfortable four poster in Gryffindor Tower. Nor was he wearing his own pajamas, though he had used hospital issue nightclothes enough that he recognized them instantly. Which very likely meant that his dream of chasing Sirius through the castle had been no dream at all. He suspected that the ensuing battle with multi-colored Slytherins had been no dream either. His shoulder ached, and further inspection revealed a thick white bandage wrapped around his chest and shoulder. Memory came hurtling back, of angry Slytherins and the duel with Snape. Pushing Peter out of the way just as the curse was cast. And then there had been pain and cold and...Remus frowned as he realized that he had no memory of reaching the hospital wing. He groaned and fell back against the bed, hands covering his face. He was still maintaining that position, mental ranting about missed sleep and missed classes when a whispered voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Moony?"

Whispered or not, Sirius always sounded as though he were fully prepared to shout if necessary. Remus contemplated feigning sleep, but decided damage to his hearing on top of everything else that had happened was not a pleasant prospect.

"Yes Sirius?"

"Oh good. Prongs, he's awake."

Remus parted the fingers that covered one eye and glared in the general direction of where Sirius stood against the footboard. Then there was a loud thump and the mattress shifted as James leaped onto the end of the bed, careful to avoid Remus' feet. With a heavy sigh, Remus removed both hands from his face and sat upright in bed before either of the boys could decide he needed assistance.

James leaned against the footboard, sitting cross-legged and grinning cheerily, his glasses crooked and his hair messy as always. Sirius had now perched himself on the footboard, balanced precariously in what Remus assumed was meant to be a daringly nonchalant position. Peter stood off to one side, closer to the empty bed to the left and fiddling with the hem of his hospital issue pajamas. In fact, Remus realized they were all sporting the attractive blue and white striped hospital pajamas.

"What exactly happened last night?"

James and Sirius both looked fully prepared to launch into excitable story mode, but Peter's eyes instantly darted up to meet Remus', an odd expression on his face.

"You don't remember?"

"I," Remus shrugged, "I remember parts of it. Something keeps telling me this is all Sirius' fault."

At the mention of his name, Sirius promptly stuck his tongue out and scowled.

"That's not fair Moony. I was on a mission."

All three boys turned very pointed looks toward Sirius now, James watching his friend suspiciously over top of his glasses.

"What exactly did you do anyway, Padfoot?"

"Oh," Sirius gave a casual wave, but no one missed the spark in his eyes. Remus groaned again and shook his head as Sirius continued. "Oh, nothing much. I just took a brief sojourn to the Slytherin common room. Changed the color of some draperies, hexed the portrait to turn anyone who went through red and gold, that sort of thing."

Sirius relayed this story while casually inspecting his fingernails, feigning lack of interest. James, meanwhile, seemed to be highly impressed, and Peter looked to have regained some of his usual eager excitement. Remus, for his part, felt rather confident his eyebrows had reached the middle of his forehead and knew for a fact that his mouth was hanging open. The prefect in him was raving, the prankster was hysterical, and Remus chose to articulate the former of the two reactions.

"You did what?"

"As I said Moony, nothing too terribly dramatic," Sirius grinned now. "Although I think it might be awhile before they fix it."

"I think you need to work on your color charms," James mused, "Snape looked more pink than red."

Sirius nodded dutifully and mimed writing the suggestion down.

"I shall keep that in mind. Now, I have to wonder, after all the earlier protests about being busy, what in Merlin's name were all of you doing out wandering the castle?"

Remus felt color creeping slowly across his face, matched by James' sheepish grin and Peter's suddenly wide-eyed expression.

"Well," Remus traced circles on the bedspread with his good hand, "Well, we decided to come and look for you."

"I'm flattered," Sirius said. "Couldn't you have just used the map?"

"Someone," Remus shot a glare at James, "Decided to make it a contest."

James lifted up onto his knees now, eyes bright and sloppy grin wavering in an effort to keep from laughing.

"What Moony was trying to say is that it was more interesting without the map."

"So you forgot it in the common room," Sirius guessed, one eyebrow raised.

"Ah, yes."

"Well, Moony found me," Sirius observed, which Remus greatly appreciated. "So what were you two doing?"

Peter continued staring at the floor until he realized that all the other boys were watching.

"I-I um, I went down toward the kitchens as Wormtail, and I sort...sort of ran into Rosier and Nott taking Joanna Dearborn from the Hufflepuff common room."

"A kidnapping!" James exclaimed, sprawling across the bed so that his arms and legs hung off the sides. Remus had to admit that he himself found the story to be rather intriguing, but Sirius' dark grin acted as warning that something had not gone spectacularly well.

"I thought so," Peter shrugged, "So I followed them, and they took her to the trophy room, but I hexed Rosier and Nott and...and Regulus...and got her away."

Despite the rush of words, Remus quite easily picked up the mention of Regulus Black, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Regulus and Joanna?"

"Caradoc will be thrilled," James laughed. "He'll probably kill Regulus for that. Joanna must have been upset."

At this, Sirius began to laugh at loud, losing his grip on the bedpost and tumbling to the floor. Peter shot a glare in the direction of his laughing friend and then continued.

"More upset with me. Apparently they're together. You chased Regulus and friends away from the fight when you showed up," Peter grumbled, hand pressed against one side of his face. Remus had a vague suspicion that there must have been yelling and slapping involved, knowing Joanna. Honestly he felt a bit bad for Peter and his attempted heroics but could not help laughing. James, too, had removed his glasses and squeezed his eyes shut as he roared with laughter, the bed shaking.

"So...so you're the kidnapper then Wormtail?" James finally managed, wiping his eyes and replacing his glasses. Peter seemed highly offended by this, and fumed for a moment, seating himself on the far bed.

"I was trying to help!"

"Course you were," Remus winced as the laughter pulled at his bandages and the sensitive, still healing skin. "But maybe you should consider that the next time you ever try rescuing damsels in distress."

"That's fine with me," Peter managed a small smile at that before returning his attention to James. "So what exactly were you doing?"

James sobered immediately, propping his chin in one hand and mussing his hair with the other.

"You see...I went to the Great Hall, and I ran into Kingsley. He and his friends, you know, Frank Longbottom and Edmund Bones, said they'd seen strangers in the castle."

"Bones!" Sirius shook his fist in the air, the only part of him visible from his place in the floor. "You hexed him, didn't you James? Tell me you hexed him!"

"No," James looked truly regretful of this fact, "But I did go with them, to help and all. Thought they might be Death Eaters."

Remus could not help but feel the idea seemed ridiculous at best, but certainly one that would have caught the attention of James Potter. The reasoning explained some things, that much was true. Sirius, meanwhile, had reappeared over the edge of the footboard, or at least his eyes and fingers.

"My dear Prongs, if any of my kind and loving cousins were at Hogwarts, I certainly think I'd know about it."

"Weren't your cousins," James said dryly. "Turns out Professor Kirk likes to invite old Auror friends back to visit."

Remus found himself shaking with laughter once more at the memory of the James' face that the two strangers he had attacked had not been Death Eaters at all. He bit his lip in an effort to keep from actually laughing out loud. Sirius' eyes widened and instantly the rest of him appeared in a blur as he propelled himself over the footboard and onto James. The combined weight drew a groan from the bed as well as from Remus, his injury clearly objecting to all the excitement.

"You hexed Kirk?" Peter's eyes were wide, whether from admiration or shock Remus was unsure.

"Oh not just Kirk," James managed to squirm his way out from under a laughing Sirius. "His friend too. We stunned both of them, Frank and I did."

"Did you recognize the other fellow?" Sirius asked.

"Alastor Moody," Remus said cooly, in between bouts of snickering. "They hexed Alastor Moody."

This brought a fresh wave of barking laughter from Sirius, who resisted James' attempts to shove him off the bed.

"You lot...you and Frank...you hexed one of the best Dark wizard catchers in an age?"

"Apparently so," James looked quite proud of himself for this fact. "I'm amazingly good you know."

"I should think you'd get more points if in fact you had actually hexed Death Eaters," Remus pointed out. Based on the glare the statement earned him, Remus guessed that only his injury kept him from being beaten with a pillow or worse.

"Personally Remus, I find myself wondering what you and Gideon were doing in that classroom," James said airily, leaning back against the footboard again, one leg hanging off the bed and Sirius seated beside him, looking far too energetic for whatever time of morning it presently was.

"Oh, oh I know this one! At least I think I do!" Sirius raised a hand eagerly.

"Hush Padfoot. I want to hear Remus tell it," James said. Sirius pouted for a moment, then shifted into a position that looked alarmingly like a dog at attention, waiting for Remus to begin.

"Well, I found Sirius, and a mob of angry Slytherins chasing him. Only he seemed quite enraptured by a painting, so I tackled him."

"I think that's unfair. I was talking to the painting," Sirius interjected. "And the tackling was highly unnecessary."

"It did at least, get us out of the line of fire," Remus observed, "And we sprinted away down the hall with the Slytherins fairly close behind."

"I am sorry to say we did indeed run, Prongs," Sirius nodded sorrowfully at James.

"You were outnumbered I thought," James frowned. "Mob, didn't you say?"

"Yes! Thank you," Remus said. "Anyway, we rounded a corner and very literally ran into the Prewett twins."

Peter winced visibly, but Sirius was laughing again at the memory.

"Gideon thought you'd broken his nose."

"My knee and shoulder hold no sympathy for Gideon's nose. The twins came with us, and for some reason Sirius was in the lead and he didn't know which way to go. So we split up, and Gideon and I hid out in the classroom," Remus concluded. "Until of course, you found us."

"And Fabian and I began defending the hallway," Sirius put his hands on his hips and grinned in an effort to look important. "Then Peter showed up with the girl, who slapped him."

Peter made some noise of protest, but any words were utterly lost by the once more echoing laughter from the other three boys.

"And then Remus and I showed up with Frank and Gideon and saved the day," James declared proudly, slapping a high five with Remus, albeit awkwardly given the injured shoulder. "Did you see me against Mulciber? And Remus, you were fantastic against Snape!"

Remus murmured a quick thanks, his face coloring rapidly, perfectly content to let the conversation go on without further mention of that particular duel.

"I took on Macnair!" Peter said quickly. "I hexed him, it was brilliant."

"Avery never stood a chance against me," Sirius said, pretending he had a wand and was still dueling from his seat on the bed. "And Frank, Merlin, Frank can fight!"

Remus remained silent, entirely content to listen to the rush of words and laughter and reenactments. Peter had finally come alive, occasionally shooting fleeting glances in the direction of Remus shoulder but otherwise content to listen to James and Sirius' less than factual version of the duels. James and Sirius themselves seemed possessed of an energy that always simmered just below the surface, wild and young and free. Still seated on the bed the duo had launched into an elaborate retelling of the battle, complete with hand motions and sound effects. Sunlight danced over the room, lending a golden glow to the scene, and Remus knew that despite the gash that still throbbed unseen beneath the bandages, this would always be one of his favorite memories.

Then the moment passed, and James and Sirius calmed in a series of deep breaths and contented, sighed, agreements, and all attention turned back toward Remus.

"I didn't say anything," Remus shook his head, smiling. "Feel free to continue."

"Actually we were waiting for our lecture," James grinned cheerily, motioning with his hand for Remus to begin. "Anytime you so choose."

"You hate lectures," Remus' eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Of course we do," Sirius agreed. "But we figure we got you hurt, so we ought to listen to one of your dumb lectures. Oh, and Peter's very sorry for being clumsy and almost getting you decapitated."

Peter blushed furiously at this, and his eyes immediately went to the floor.

"I really am," the agreement was more a breath than a whisper, but Remus still heard. Had Peter been within range of his good arm, Remus would have tried to give the boy's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, some acknowledgement of acceptance. Under present circumstances, Remus had to settle for a crooked smile and an "I know." He resolved to give Peter large amounts of chocolate later.

"Don't worry, I'd push you out of the way again if I had to."

"Remus, you bloody noble prat. Have you ever once considered not being the one to get hurt?" Sirius punched him lightly in his good shoulder. Remus feigned thought for a moment.

"I'm a bit more resilient than the rest of you. I shudder to think what might happen if I didn't intervene. Besides, I'm too much of a gentleman."

"Being a gentleman only applies when girls are involved," James snorted. "We are nearly sixth year Gryffindor males. We have no need of gentlemanly protection."

"Fine. Too much of a Gryffindor then?" Remus offered.

"Much more acceptable," James agreed. "Now come on, lecture, let's have it."

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which he had a feeling matched James' own messy mop at present. 
"Well, since no one was really hurt..."

"Cept for you, of course," Sirius prodded at the bandages as gently as possible.

"And Snape," James admitted with a sideways glance at Sirius. Sirius suddenly found great interest in the intricate workings of the footboard.

"What happened to Severus?" Remus frowned, unable to remember much past stunning the Slytherin down the hall. James seemed to be working very hard not to smile, which never preceded any sort of good news.

"Sirius and I taught him a lesson. Sirius' was just a bit more...berserker style than mine."

Remus fought valiantly to suppress the horrific images of whatever James and Sirius had done to Severus Snape, to no avail.

"You really shouldn't have..."

"Come on Moony," Sirius snorted, "All for one and one for all."

"That's musketeers, Sirius," Remus groaned, "We're marauders."

Sirius shrugged spectacularly and seemed entirely unbothered by the observation.

"A mere technicality."

"Dare I ask where Severus is now?" Remus had an awful feeling the answer would be 'Oh, a few beds down,' and was proven correct when James pointed toward a curtained section of beds a few yards away. There were days Remus wondered if he could have been a Seer.

"Slughorn brought him and a couple other Slytherins in this morning a bit after we got here," James explained. "We were asleep."

Remus had been fully prepared to agree with the logic of that statement until he realized that he actually possessed no memory of reaching the hospital wing.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did we get here?"

"You sort of...passed out, after Gideon tried to heal you," Peter's words were halting and stumbling, his eyes on Remus' shoulder. "James levitated a stretcher up here, to carry you."

"Oh," the explanation seemed quite fitting, although oddly absent of any more exciting embellishments. Remus guessed that probably meant the story was indeed quite true. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," James grinned. "Now, are you going to get on with this lecture or are you going to continue rambling off topic?"

"If this were an essay, you'd be losing points, Mr. Lupin," Sirius agreed solemnly. At least, as solemnly as Sirius could ever manage. Remus rolled his eyes and grinned.

"Alright um...I suppose since we really didn't get into trouble this time-"

"I wouldn't say that," Peter laughed now, shaking his head fiercely.

"McGonagall was not pleased," James agreed.

"We've all got a month's worth of detention," Sirius concluded proudly. "Frank and the Prewetts included. Suppose the Slytherins got it too?"

"Two weeks," James shook his head, "Due to injuries I suspect."

Remus listened to the exchange with little to no reaction, having been entirely too stunned at the prospect of a month's worth of detention. That certainly had to be a new record, even for James and Sirius. He knew the amount was record-setting for him at least. And somehow he could not help but remember that he had been dragged from the common room nearly against his will. Suddenly, lecturing seemed like a very easy thing to do.

"You mean we spent all evening running about the castle, well past curfew, and you," he looked to Peter here, "inadvertently kidnapped someone. You," here his glare shifted to James, "hexed a teacher AND an Auror, and you," Sirius now found himself subjected to Remus' prefect look, "Hexed Slytherins and got them all upset and started a bloody battle in the middle of the school. And dragged me into it!"

"Actually," Sirius tilted his head to one side, "You sort of came running into it. Both times."

Remus clenched his jaw, counted to ten, and hoped Sirius knew how lucky he was to be out of striking distance.

"That's beside the point. Look how much trouble we've gotten into this time!"

James and Sirius did an admirable job of at least looking apologetic and slightly ashamed, Remus suspected Peter's expression was the only truly genuine one in the bunch. With a sigh Remus pressed his thumb and index finger against his temples, willing away the impending headache. Merlin he hated to admit it, but last night had somehow managed to be improbably, ridiculously, fun. His shoulder protested that fact greatly, as did his still aching knee. And his inner prefect seemed inclined to protest that fact as well. But just now his marauder side was winning.

"I was reading," he sighed finally, leaning back into the pillow.

"We know," James grinned.

"We are sorry about that," Peter had scooted closer to the bed now, once again part of the group, as though some sort of unspoken punishment had been fulfilled.

"Sort of," Sirius shrugged before a grin identical to James' stretched across his face.

"Why am I not surprised?" Remus laughed, shaking his head. "Dare I ask how many classes we've missed?"

A look passed between James and Sirius, as though they had been expecting that particular question to arise at some point.

"We're not to leave the hospital wing all day," Sirius pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. "We're sick and injured you know."

"And we're really only just got rid of Pomfrey," James said, casting a look toward the door at the mention of the nurse.

"A day in the hospital wing," Remus grumbled, "What else is new?"

"At least this time, we're here with you," Peter offered, smiling softly and still clearly unsure how much talking he was allowed.

"Suppose you're right," Remus smiled in return.

All of the boys were quiet for a moment, bathed in sunlight and spring air. Peter, hands pressed on the top of the mattress, eagerly waiting for the next great and exciting thing. Sirius, legs stretched across the bed and one arm slung over the footboard, looking every inch like reclining royalty in striped pajamas. And James, cross-legged and bright eyed, hands mussing his hair with great enthusiasm. Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. And Moony, he added with a rueful grin. Moony, with an injured shoulder and a slight irritation at the loss of his reading time, who nonetheless would never have traded his friends for anything in the world. He supposed, after all, that daring rescues, damsels in distress, and midnight battles were what being a Marauder was all about.

Finite Incantatem

A/N (again) So there we have it, everyone safe and happy and cheerful. Until the next adventure that is. I've really enjoyed working on this story, and I think I've come to the conclusion that I plan to write a lot more Marauder fics. They're just really fun characters to write. Special thanks to any and all reviewers, most notably Sarahpop and gurugirl for their advice on chapter 5 (yeah you guys get mentioned again. it seemed like a cool thing to do). And if you've just finished and haven't reviewed, you totally should - I definitely wanna hear what you think. Also, I'm considering doing some art for this story? Maybe? And I think I'm going to do a few oneshots before my next multi-chapter fic (of course, this fic was supposed to be a oneshot, and we see how that worked out. so no guarantees lol). I do believe I've rambled on enough here, so thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!