A/N: This story follows the Marauders seventh year and will feature the fateful day in Godric's Hollow, Hallowe'en 1981.

Marauding Reality

Chapter 1

Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed?

"Blithering Balderdash."

Seventeen year old Sirius Black muttered the Gryffindor Common Room password. The portrait of the Fat Lady frowned in irritation at being woken up after hours, but swung open begrudgingly.

Ignoring her grumblings, he slipped past her into the barely lit Common Room. Quickly closing the portrait shut, he cut her off before she could give his position away.

Sirius had been exploring the castle after hours again. His favourite pastime.

This evening, like many other evenings lately, he had spent his time perusing a place he liked to call 'The Room of Requirement'. The fact that the mysterious name managed to annoy his friends was a bonus.

They preferred to label it as a junk room, due to the fact it seemed to contain all of the lost and unwanted items from back when Hogwarts school was first erected.

But they just didn't get it. It was almost as if there was something drawing Sirius to it. Like there was something in there he was supposed to find, and it wouldn't let him rest until he did.

Pulling his cloak closer to his body, he made sure his latest discovery was properly concealed in the inner pocket. He had spotted it stashed between a discoloured old tiara and an ugly old pock-marked stone warlock, and he had only looked at the seemingly ordinary glass dome to catch a brief glimpse of his own reflection.

Except, the very second his warm flesh had touched the cool glass, something had changed. The previously clear contents were exchanged for what he could have sworn was the hazy image of...well, he couldn't really be sure.

But whatever it was, it had made him double look, narrowing his eyes at it suspiciously.

As if it had felt his focus on it, the image inside the dome had disappeared almost instantly, reverting back to its innocent transparency as if nothing had happened.

Without a second thought, Sirius had shoved it into his pocket and stalked out.

.o.

Making his way further into the dark, deserted Common Room, he found himself momentarily surprised by the sight of two lone figures seated on the sofas near the fireplace. He felt his breath release like a perforated balloon when he realised who it was.

Lounging in front of the still-lit fireplace, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew's limbs were flung in every direction.

Sirius's mouth quirked up at the corner at the sight of his dozing friends. The side of Remus's sleeping head was resting precariously on his hand, with tufts of his fine sandy hair poking out from between his fingers. Peter on the other hand had gone one further; putting his shoe-covered feet up onto the sofa cushions as if it were a make-shift bed.

Padding silently over to them, Sirius paused in front of the spare seat cushion next to Remus. Backing his calves against it, he glanced behind him to check his trajectory and readied his bodyweight. Raising his arms like an expert skier, he swung them once, back and forth, before dropping down as heavily as he could.

As his backside hit the sofa with impressive velocity, Remus's elbow slipped from the arm of the chair and his head plummeted downwards. Waking up with a start, he released the loudest snort Sirius had ever heard.

There was a beat before a loud, barking laugh erupted from Sirius's mouth.

"Waa-?" Peter's eyes sprung open at the commotion and he tried to raise his body into a seated position, flailing like a beetle stuck on its back.

The sight did not help curb Sirius's amusement.

"Ah Merlin, you two should start a comedy duo or something," he said with a shake of his head. "You could make a killing."

Remus was the first to realise what had happened, peering across to find Sirius's smirking face looking at him. He rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his hand and squinted at his watch.

"2am?" he wheezed.

"Flattered you stayed up for me, boys," Sirius said with a grin.

"We must've fallen asleep playing Wizard's chess," Peter mumbled, finally righting himself and sitting up.

"You don't say?" Sirius glanced over at the chess figures now fighting amongst themselves on the chequered board.

He removed the strange dome object he had found from his pocket. "Since you're here-"

Without issuing any warning, he lobbed the heavy glass item in Remus's general direction. As it hurtled towards his face, Remus grasped at it clumsily, his expression irritated.

"What is this?" he demanded, feeling like the early hours of the morning was in no way a proper time to put up with his friend's nonsense.

"I was hoping you might be able to tell me that," Sirius replied easily, prodding lazily at one of the arguing chess pieces with his finger. It shook its tiny fist at him.

Remus looked down at the apparently lifeless glass item with waning interest. "No idea."

Sirius glanced hopefully up at Peter before thinking better of it. "Where's James?" he asked instead.

"He went to bed ages ago," Peter replied with a yawn, getting ready to do the same himself.

"Ah, but you are mistaken my dear Wormtail! For James Potter is never asleep if there is adventure to be had!"

The three boys turned around just in time to see James Potter make his dramatic exit from the Head of Years' Dormitory staircase out into the common room, his arms extended majestically.

"How does he always do that?" Peter marvelled, open mouthed at James's apparent sixth sense for any sniff of action.

James strolled over and grinned at him. "'Tis a gift, Wormy," he said with a wink.

"For Merlin's sake, will you all just keep your voice down?" Remus shook his head tiredly, wishing he'd made his escape to the Dormitory when he could. "If McGonagall catches us up at this time again she'll have our guts for garters."

"I've told you before," Sirius said, "Don't mention McGonagall and garters in the same sentence again. That's a mental image none of us need to go to bed on."

James eyed up the strange glass object. "What you got anyway?" he asked, grabbing for it still clutched in Remus's hands, which the other boy relinquished gladly.

Brandishing it upwards in a single long-fingered hand, James pulled it right up to his face, frowning at it behind his black round-rimmed glasses.

"Huh," he said simply.

"Huh?" Sirius asked, feeling like a measly 'huh' did not quite cover the extraordinary enigma of his find.

"Huh," James repeated with a careless shrug. He tossed the glass back to Sirius, "You've really got to stop bringing back rubbish from the junk room."

He dropped theatrically into a chair, "To think I got out of bed for that...a glorified paperweight."

"I think I saw a face in it," Sirius murmured, looking into the glass. "A girl's face."

Remus rested his head back on his hand, feeling his eyelids droop. "Are you sure it wasn't just a reflection, Padfoot? You were probably just tired and seeing things."

"Unless I was being followed around The Room by a girl, Moony, I'm fairly certain it wasn't a reflection." Sirius looked back into the glass and rubbed it like a genie's lamp.

"Are you serious?" James asked, "You don't really think-"

But they would never find out what James was going to say, because the glass let out a roll of vibration.

Even though the movement was near imperceptible, what could not be mistaken was the fact it flung itself high from his grasp and fell heavily to the floor with a loud clunk.

All four boys froze, stunned by the sudden surge of life. Remus was wide-awake now.

"O-kay," James said finally, unsure if he was the one dreaming now. "You all saw that too, right?"

Three other heads all nodded silently, still staring at the dome as if it might leap up again and attack them.

A black substance had started to fill the space inside, pulsating around like a trapped jellyfish. It rippled throughout the glass, and it took them a minute before they realised it looked like black sand.

It wasn't long before the sand began to spin furiously inside, as if preparing itself for something. The minute grains moved angrily, whipping themselves up into a miniature tornado.

"Fetch it, Pete," James ordered, forcing his mouth into action.

Not wanting to go anywhere near the aggressive looking object, Peter hesitated, but when Sirius snapped a quick "Hurry up!", he found himself scrambling obediently to his feet.

Approaching it gingerly, he picked it up in his fingertips, being very careful to touch as little of it as possible through fear it might suddenly explode.

Taking it back over to his friends, he held it gratefully out towards Sirius.

Clenching his jaw, Sirius grasped it fearlessly in his palm. They all watched as the sand gradually cleared and an image finally emerged.

.o.

Remus's eyebrows knitted together as he peered at the picture of the tiny, but perfectly proportioned room inside of the dome.

Long simplistic plastic and metal tables ran the length of it, and a large white board was stuck to one of the equally white walls much like one of their familiar black chalkboards would be. It was unlike anywhere they had ever seen before.

On each of the chairs surrounding the taupe plastic table tops sat a collection of boys and girls, most of them slumped in boredom.

At the head of the table a middle aged man placed his hands down firmly on the desk and loomed towards his disinterested subjects.

"It's so, beige." James observed.

"It's a Muggle school," Remus realised in a low voice.

Suddenly they became aware of a disturbance in the scene.

The older man they had presumed to be the teacher had singled out one of the students. He seemed to be asking her a question, but he did not look at all pleased.

As the object showed them a shimmering close up of the unfortunate girl's face, the realisation hit Sirius.

"That's her," he said, unable to believe his eyes. "It's the girl I saw earlier. A reflection, eh Moony?" He shot him a satisfied look.

Remus ignored him, keeping his eyes on the dome, watching it carefully.

The girl's face stared back at her teacher like a deer trapped in headlights, and the older man's head had started to turn a frightening shade of beetroot pink in what appeared to be rage.

Just like the four boys, the rest of her class were now completely engrossed by the uncomfortable exchange.

James glanced at Sirius. They had both been on the receiving end of a teacher's displeasure before; Professor Slughorn wasn't too fond of jokes, particularly while he was trying to teach.

"We should do something," he stated impulsively.

Remus looked up at James, officially snapped out of his reverie, "You are joking?" he said. "We don't even know when this occurred. If it's little more than a memory."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Merlin, Moony you can be such a bore."

Remus sighed, knowing now that his resistance was futile, as it very often was.

There was an audible crack and bump from an upstairs chamber that made them all stop in their tracks.

Sirius let the animated glass slip from his hands onto the table, just about missing the angry chess pieces, pricking his ears for any further sounds.

All that followed was a heavy silence.

"What was that?" Peter breathed finally, his small eyes betraying his fear.

Sirius got to his feet. "Only one way to find out."

.o.

The Boys' Dormitory should have been empty. Their only other roommate, Simon, was stuck in the Hospital Wing with a Quidditch injury.

Sirius knew the bump had to have something to do with the object he had stolen from The Room.

Shaking his head, dark silken hair began to grow rapidly from his face and body.

His human feet stretched and twisted until paws now issued imperceptible footfalls on the floor. Whatever had made the crashing noise he was almost certain he would be safer as his canine Animagus, Padfoot.

Setting one soft padded foot onto the Dormitory staircase, he began to lead the way up towards the source of the row.

Following quickly in his rodent disguise, Peter inadvertently issuing frightened squeaks as he mounted the stairs.

"Lumos," James murmured, holding his lit wand aloft.

Padfoot reached the large wooden door that separated the staircase from their bedroom only to find it stood slightly ajar. Stopping momentarily, he found himself inadvertently preparing for what they might find inside.

Even though his senses were telling him one thing, he knew that it couldn't really be true.

It was impossible.

Sensing his friends close behind him, waiting for him to take action, he lifted a heavy paw and pushed the door until it swung open just enough for them to get through.

Sticking his hand out in front of him, James shone his illuminated wand around the room. They scanned the area quickly, looking for any signs of movement, or any changes in furniture position that would explain the deafening noise. Perhaps a chair had toppled over, or a bludger fallen from the top of Simon's wardrobe.

But there was nothing there. It was a mess, just the way they had left it.

Delving further into the room Sirius strained to unlock his canine instincts to their full potential.

No, the room was definitely empty.

Turning back to his friends, he inadvertently let out a whine of confusion, but he was surprised to find their faces twisted unnaturally. He jumped to one side when Peter let out a sudden burst of screeching squeaks.

Padfoot knew the pitch of that squeak like the back of his paw. He had heard it many times during Remus's monthly transformations. For some unseen reason, Wormtail was terrified.

The large black dog scanned the room again, a sense of foreboding sweeping over him.

Finally he saw it.

Running all along the centre of Remus's bed was a large bulging lump. Someone, or worryingly something, was hiding among his sheets.

"I take it that doesn't belong to you, Moony?" James whispered, shining the light on it.