A/N: Thanks for the follows and the review! It's very much appreciated - I was like knowing what people think of my stories. I also apologise for the short length of this chapter - I'm working on being able to write longer ones, I swear.

It's 9:43 am on Saturday morning. The full moon came and went, leaving the Marauders relatively unscathed. Remus has a new scar encircling his fourth rib in his left ribcage, but other than that, it was a pretty smooth night.

As for the third floor, which was turned into a bog at 4.12 am, it's having a pretty rough time. After all, it has entrapped a Ravenclaw, two Gryffindors, half a Hufflepuff – her foot became stuck as she tried to pull out her friend – and, unfortunately, absolutely no Slytherins.

The Marauders survey their prank with disappointment.

"Y'know, maybe the third floor was a bad idea. No one's even on the third floor! Shoulda done the dungeons. " Sirius runs his hands through his hair.

"Oh shut up, you berk. It was your idea!" James is balancing precariously on one leg. They're all standing at the edge of the bog, pretending to be as shocked as their peers, watching in amusement as Filch attempts to rescue the students who wandered bleary-eyed into the bog on their way to breakfast.

Peter glances around nervously. There's far too many people here for his liking and more and more teachers are appearing every minute. "We should get outta here!" There's sweat beginning to appear on his brow. Not for the first time does Peter wonder just why exactly he joins in with these pranks. He hates attention and getting into trouble, yet the two go hand-in-hand when a Marauders prank is pulled. Next time, Peter vows to stay out of it. At least, he hopes he will.

Remus is silent, watching Filch pull Xenophilius Lovegood from the bog. The Ravenclaw, rather than thank the caretaker from saving him from the awful-smelling goop, wanders off down the stairs in search for a Mackled Malaclaw. Remus doesn't have the heart to tell him that he won't find one. Absent-mindedly, he fiddles with the shiny Prefect badge pinned to his robes. He can feel annoyance radiating from Sirius. Sure, the prank actually worked, it just didn't work the way they'd wanted it to. The Slytherins were unscathed, and poor Gaspard Shingleton and Dirk Cresswell had fallen prey to the blog instead.

"I agree with Peter. We should definitely leave now," Remus murmurs. He doesn't mind that the teachers are furious, and that McGonagall is most likely going to give them detention for eternity. No, what prompts Remus to urge the others to leave is the appearance of a pretty redhead on the opposite side of the bog.

And she is livid.

Lily Evans prides herself on three things:

1. Her enviable collection of music records

2. The fact that she has read the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes novels seven times, and

3. Her ability to keep her fiery temper under wraps.

Unfortunately, Number 3 on the List of Things Lily Evans is Proud Of comes undone whenever James Potter is in the room. He infuriates her like no other being on the planet, and has done so for the past five years. It's getting ridiculous.

Lily smells the bog before she sees it. It smells as if a wet dog and a pile of fresh poo had mated, with the bog being its love child. In certain parts, it smells even worse. It takes all of Lily's will not to throw up. Of all the Infuriating Things James Potter has Done, this bog is edging its way up towards the top, second only to Interrupting Lily's Fourth Year Valentine's Date with a Fat, Hairy Cherub who sang Old Italian Love Songs.

She's yet to live down the humiliation, and Tilden hasn't been able to look her in the eyes since.

Lily spots the four arbitrators on the run, and her fury is quadrupled. Remus is there – Remus Lupin the prefect – and she hopes, no, she's prays that James Potter and Sirius Black blackmailed and threatened Remus to the point of breaking, and that he hadn't decided to help create the blog just because he could.

She pushes through the crowd, nearly causing poor Daisy Hookum to fall face first into the bog. Thankfully, Tilden catches her before she falls. As Lily makes her way through the crowd, she can hear Daisy's fervid "thank you"s and Tilden's abashed "it was nothing"s.

The boys have disappeared by the time Lily rounds the corner of the third floor, and she stops short, her hands curled into fists by her side and her cheeks flushed. All she can think about is the slow, painful ways she will torture and punish James for this. Though, she thinks, he'd probably enjoy it. His constant attempts to gain Lily's attention scream masochist! Obviously, he enjoys causing himself pain.

Lily lets out a deep breath, travelling mentally to her happy place – the Beatles concert she attended with her dad a few years prior. This whole ordeal needed mulling over. If teachers had caught them, it would be a whole different problem, and Lily wouldn't have to worry about it any more. But no, she's caught them (well, as good as, anyway), and she's the one who has to bring them to some kind of justice. She's no tattletale, and refuses to tell the teachers who the perpetrators are (especially with no proof), but she cannot let this slide relatively unnoticed.

She glances around the corridor once more; sure she just heard a noise that sounded not dissimilar to a sneeze, but seeing nothing, turns on her heel and leaves. The teachers are going to need all the help that can get if they hope to rid that third floor of the bog before dinner.

Hidden beneath James's invisibility cloak merely seven feet from where Lily had been standing, the Marauders let out a collective sigh. James taps Peter sharply upside his head.

"Berk! She nearly found us! Why'd you have to go and bloody sneeze?"

Peter screw up his face in indignation. "Maybe if you'd wash this thing once in a while, it wouldn't be full of dust and bugs and Merlin knows what else!"

Sirius coughs. "Traces of perfume, Pete. S'probably what made you sneeze. Girly perfume too. I can smell it. Have you had a bird under here, Prongs? Bloody hell mate, I hope you didn't, you know…" he raises his eyebrows at James, who has turned slightly pink, "because if I find you have, and I've touched this thing, I'll kill you. Orright?"

James nods, artfully avoiding the question. "Well! Operation Regain-Our-Dignity was only partially a flop, so I propose we go to the kitchens to celebrate! Butterbeer all round, and whatnot! C'mon lads, it's party time!"

They set off, and Remus, who has been very quiet for the past while, glances back towards where the bog is. He wonders how long it will be until he grows out of this stage; until he finds more mature friends; until he finds a girlfriend or something, but Sirius's hand pushing him forward ever-so-slightly reminds Remus that his friends aren't all that bad, even if a little immature.

After all, they accept him for what he is and have done more than he ever would have expected just to make him feel normal and accepted.

Remus smiles. Sure, they have their faults, but who doesn't? This, right here, the four of them, is true friendship. And nothing, ever, could come between the Marauders.