Blood Brothers
Disclaimer: None of the characters used in this story are mine- they all belong to JKR, Bloomsburg, and Scholastic. Don't sue, I can barely afford college as is.
Summary: "We, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, listed in order of age, do hereby swear and vow that from this day forth we shall always be friends."
Rating: PG-13 for mention of a bit of blood- it's not violent blood, but it's there. Don't worry, Sirius doesn't like it either, so it is not very detailed.
Edited 2/10/04 to fix a minor error.

It was dark and cold, and the school was eerily silent.

The four third years, all in their pajamas and dressing gowns and slippers, snuck down the hall, staying to the shadows and drawing to a fearful halt at each noise.

James and Sirius were in the front, their hands full with a parchment, an ink pot, a peacock feather, and a clean washrag. Behind them, Remus and Peter followed closely, Remus carrying a fancy knife in a leather sheath and Peter holding his wand aloft to give them a little light in this dark corridor, a paper sack in his other arm, loaded with sweets and pastries, and a small jug of Pumpkin Juice.

Peter stumbled. Remus grabbed his arm and managed to catch him, and for a moment the two fumbled for the jug, certain that it would crash to the floor and call Filch to them.

But the gods were with them. Remus finally grabbed it and they exchanged wide-eyed looks.

James and Sirius had heard them and exchanged looks as well, amused and relieved. Then they carried on, leading the way.

The room they went to was just a little beyond the library, through a small passageway that appeared if you hit the table in front of it in just the right place and said "Dissendium". This was a hiding place that James's father had passed on to them, encouragement for them to look hard for passageways and rooms and such.

James pulled out his wand and put the peacock feather and ink in his other hand. "Dissendium," he whispered, tapping the table.

With a soft creak, the table slid to the side, and the room was revealed. James dropped down to his hands and knees and led the way in.

Fortunately, it wasn't a long crawl. He set his things on the table in the little room, then took the things from Sirius, then Remus, then Peter as they came in. Peter pulled the passageway shut behind him.

Remus went over to the little fireplace and worked the ever-lasting flame into a decent sized fire, as the castle was very chilly. There was a tiny window, and frost had created patterns across it, and a bit of snow rested on the ledge.

"We can talk now," James said, his voice still a whisper.

"Yeah," Sirius said in a regular tone. "Start talking."

They grinned nervously at each other. This was far from the first time they had snuck out of the tower at night, but this was the first time they weren't even going to post a lookout, or enlist Peeves' aid in distracting those that patrolled the hallways.

"You boys scared?" Sirius asked as he sat down on one of the plush pillows near the fireplace. His tone was cocky.

They all quickly shook their heads. "You?" James asked.

Sirius lied too. "Not at all."

James sat next to him, near the fire.

Peter sat on Sirius's other side, and Remus on his other side.

The knife, parchment, ink, quill and washrag were placed in the center of them.

"I'll go first," James said when they'd all stared at the knife long enough to get a good chill going through them.

They all looked a little pale as Remus slid the knife to him.

"It says everything we want it to say?" James asked, glancing at the parchment.

Sirius unrolled it to read. "We, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, listed in order of age, do hereby swear and vow that from this day forth we shall always be friends. We promise that we shall never act meanly towards each other, and shall never hurt each other on purpose, even if we get really mad at each other. None shall ever make fun of each other for their grades or anything mean like that. We swear to defend each other, especially Peter. We swear we will help Remus with his problem, no matter what it takes. We swear that we won't ever break our promises. We do hereby swear that we are now brothers. Signed in our bodily fluids on this day in our third year, 8 January 1975."

"Sounds right," Remus said after a long moment had passed.

James, Peter, and Sirius nodded.

James unsheathed the knife and hid his face by looking down so that the others wouldn't see how afraid he really was.

"Cut your palm," Sirius advised. "That way you don't leave a funny mark on your finger print."

"Blood for the names," Remus said. "Ink for the fingerprint. Then we all enchant the paper with the spells we looked up and dry it and keep it from ever being ripped up or destroyed. Right?"

"Right," James said quietly. He wet his lips nervously and put the point against his palm, quickly cutting a scratch into his right hand, then his lefts. Sirius saw the blood and quickly turned away, looking green.

Not looking too much better, Peter and Remus watched.

James read the vow out loud once more, then grimaced and let the blood drip on a second sheet of parchment that Remus had produced. Then he took the quill and signed his name, in blood, beneath their vow. There was barely enough to finishing "Potter".

Remus flipped the ink bottle over and then took off the cap, passing it to him. James got his pointer finger wet with ink and pressed down next to his name. Then he wiped away the blood and ink with the wash towel they'd brought.

Sirius took the knife and quickly wiped away the tiny bit of James's blood. He looked relieved that his turn was there- he'd told James a few hours ago that he couldn't stand seeing other people's blood. His own, he was used too- he'd been in too many accidents not to be- but blood from other people made him feel squeamish.

Sirius cut his palms and repeated the same steps as James, not hesitating at all. His voice didn't waver at all when he read their promise, nor when he had to prod the fresh cut to get it to bleed again because he didn't have enough to finish his name.

When he was finished, he and James uncomfortably held hands, pressing their cuts against each others and waiting for the other two to be finished.

As per earlier discussion, they deviated from the oldest to youngest plan- Remus was terrified that his blood would get into Peter's if he went before him, so Peter took the knife now and did as the two before had done, his voice shaking a little when he read from the parchment before he signed, and his eyes filling up as he cut himself. He squeaked and quickly finished up, pale as a ghost, his hands shaking so much that his name was nearly illegible. Sirius again did not watch, looking down at his left slipper. He still looked green, and when Peter squeaked nervously, he clutched his stomach. He took Sirius's other hand and they waited.

Remus was last, of course, and took the knife. He didn't look too worried about cutting himself- it wouldn't be much of an injury compared to what he went through once a month- but there was something on his face that let them all know he was hesitating.

Sirius looked up from his foot. "Do it already, Lupin. Wse're not going to change our minds about being your friend."

Looking a little guilty- he'd obviously been thinking such thoughts, Remus quickly went to work. Sirius winced and closed his eyes until Remus was done reading the the scratching of the quill could be heard.

"Your other hand too," James said when Remus looked finished.

Remus blinked. "But I can't-"

"We looked it up after we talked about it this afternoon," Sirius said. "Werewolf blood is only dangerous to us when it's the full moon. So, hurry up and get this over with, okay?"

Remus still hesitated. James glared at him. Remus cut his other hand and took Peter and James's hands.

The four boys pressed their hands together, hoping that the blood was mixing like it was supposed to be according to their theories. "Frater æternalis!" they all said when Sirius nodded.

"Okay, swap," James said. He leaned across the group and took Peter's hand, and Sirius and Remus took each other's hands, still hoping that their blood would mix. "Frater æternalis!"

Then they all sat back and looked at each other. Remus wiped his eyes.

James patted him on the back, feeling a little emotional too.

"Aw, hell," Sirius said, and hugged James and Peter to his side. They nearly fell over, but exchanged grins. James grabbed Remus's arm and pulled him into the group and for a moment they all forgot that they were too old and too cool for this sort of thing and hugged.

Then they quickly pulled away, feeling foolish and proud and excited because of what they had done. Sirius looked a little sheepish.

He cleared his throat. "Um. Anyway, we brought food, let's eat."

James grinned. "Yeah."

Peter nodded and grinned, and for once there was no hint of his shyness. "Let's eat," he said, sounding very confident.

"You guys," Remus said softly. They all looked at him, each squirming a little at the thought of more mushy stuff. Remus, of course, felt the same way. He gave them a sheepish grin. "I forgot the Sugar Quills."

They all relaxed. Sirius nodded as though he were forgiving him for a horrible sin. "It's all right, Brother Lupin. We shall forgive thee."

James stood and went over to the table, wiping his hands on his the legs of his pajamas. He returned to his seat with the bag of treats and the jug of pumpkin juice.

And they ate and they drank, and they plotted their pranks, and the four blood brothers celebrated their friendship until dawn came and forced them to return to Gryffindor Tower.