DISCLAIMER: We do not own Harry Potter, the characters or anything related to it. However, we do own our imagination as well as our OC.


Homecoming

"Here we are again," said James Potter cheerfully to his three friends as they arrived at the Hogsmeade station, ready for their fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He breathed deeply, grinning, "Smell the fresh air of the Scottish countryside… aah…"

"That was just pathetic, Prongs," Sirius broke in, cutting James off mid-sentence.

"Hey, love is all around us, Pads!" responded the black-haired boy, no offence in his voice. "Chill, mate! You were like this whole…" way up here, he wanted to say but couldn't as a certain red-head walked by. James just stood there, watching her pass by, with an extremely stupid expression on his face.

Still, after all those years Lily was his ideal. Still he looked at her utterly awe-struck by her beauty. And it didn't matter that in reality she wasn't all that perfect. Of course she wasn't the prettiest girl ever, but the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and he didn't care about her flaws in the slightest. Even those five freckles on her nose, which she hated so fiercely, he thought adorable.

"Oi," Remus waved his hand before his friend's face. "Earth to James!"

James turned his head to the boy, absentmindedly. Suddenly, an obviously brilliant idea hit him, and, huge grin forming on his lips, he ran after the girl, shouting the well-practised words, "Go out with me, Evans!" as if his life depended on it. Without even gracing him with a look the redhead responded in an annoyed voice, "Not in this life, Potter!"

James smile grew even wider, "Oh, come on Evans. You know you love me…" In response the redhead only rolled her eyes and let out a perfectly derisive sigh, then turned on her heel and marched purposefully from him. Even though nobody saw any point in standing there with her already gone, he just couldn't move and remained grinning stupidly at her hastily retreating back.

Sirius patted him on the shoulder and they headed to the castle, talking about the new pranks James and Sirius invented during holidays and wondering how long it would be before they could try out new mischief on Snape.

Finally they reached the school buildings and the four friends were greeted in the Entrance Hall by the proud ghosts of houses and various students. They were probably the most popular, or at least the best-known, guys in school. There wasn't a person who hadn't heard about the mischievous four – even the new first-year students looked at them admiringly.

Now and then in Hogwarts' history there were pranksters, but never once before had there appeared four such troublesome but bright and extremely clever students at the same time. They always got the highest grades and detentions with absolutely no effort. Even Poltergeist Peeves respected them greatly and every once in a while helped them to pull some prank on Mr. Filch and his lovely cat – Mr. Radcliffe. For unknown reasons Filch liked to name all his cats using some kind of title. The rumours had it that a long time ago there was even a sir, Sir Roger in fact.

The School of Hogwarts looked just as they all remembered since it was not a place you would be likely to forget with its grand chambers, high ceilings, living portraits… Each and every step echoed in the cavernous place; even a bare whisper was perfectly audible at the other end of the corridor.

The Great Hall, just as it had been five years ago when they had entered it for the very first time, was almost intimidating, with a star-speckled ceiling reflecting the calm night outside. It was the most spectacular sight in the entire castle, absolutely breath-taking with its dozens of candles floating in the air and heavy draperies covering brick walls. They sat down by the table talking and laughing, James from time to time throwing quick glances at Lily, who was, to her absolute misfortune, sitting across him, making faces at her best friends.

Even after the Sorting Ceremony had begun, James and Sirius' voices did not subside. It was practically a tradition for them to pass comment on every event that had occurred during the holidays. At the present moment James was sitting on the edge of his chair, jumping up and down and gesticulating wildly, much to his friend's amusement.

"…and then I told him to shove that little pimped-up broom of his you-know-where! Yeah!"

At this point he lifted his fist and punched the air triumphantly, smugness visibly written on his face.

"YEAH!" Peter cheered a moment later, probably even more excited than James himself. But when he realised that everyone was now listening to them and throwing him awkward looks, he turned fully pink and cleared his throat. "Ahem, I mean…yeah." The cheering came much quieter this time.

James took no notice, too busy trying to impress Lily and failing miserably to actually pay attention to his surroundings, but the redhead just looked at him with utter disgust. The boy was feeling his ego slipping from him at alarming speed and was desperately in need of his friends' witty (Sirius) and well-reasoned (that's Remus) remarks. To James' disappointment they weren't much of a help at the moment with Remus, throwing nervous glances toward the first-years and Sirius' balancing a fork on his index finger, an unreadable expression on his face.

It was so strange not to hear Sirius' chattering by his side that Remus had to check if he was still there. He looked at the other boy for a while, an amused expression appearing on his face, then, when long moments had slipped by in which Sirius had taken no notice of him, he jabbed him in the ribs. Sirius jumped in his seat, fork falling from his finger and reaching the table with a loud clatter.

"Oi! Why did you do that for??" he whined.

"Dunno," muttered the other boy serenely, as if he was wondering himself.

"You're weird, you know that?" Sirius picked a spoon from the table and was now examining it carefully.

"I'm trying my best," Remus grinned almost proudly. Sirius just shot him a perplexed look and placed the spoon on the tip of his nose. Once again Remus' finger met Sirius' side.

Again, "What was that for?!"

But before Remus had a chance to respond and Sirius to kill him with a look, the headmaster tapped his goblet with the tip of his knife and instantly everyone fell silent. Dumbledore stood up slowly, smiling. "Good evening everyone," he waved at the students. Minerva McGonagall shot him a scornful look from behind her spectacles but he didn't seem to notice as he continued in the same cheerful tone, "I hope you all enjoyed the supper."

"It's over? Already?" asked Peter in a terrified whisper, disappointment painted in his eyes. "What about the desserts?" At this point Dumbledore clapped and said sweets appeared on the four tables. Peter cheered happily and begun to eat, desperately trying to taste every dish possible before it was gone. His friends just stared at him, having great difficulties in suppressing chuckles; then they switched their attention to Dumbledore, who was now announcing the changes in the schedule and the dates of the prefects' meetings. At this point, Sirius and James looked at Remus with half-amused, half-mocking blinks in their eyes but he just shrugged. He got used to their jokes about him being a prefect during the summer.

When Dumbledore appeared to be finished, mischievous twinkles appeared all of a sudden in his eyes. "Oh, I almost forgot. One more thing." He looked around the Great Hall and finally his gaze stopped on James' face. "I'm delighted to announce that James Potter is Gryffindor Quidditch Team's new captain."

Aloud cheer and raucous applause came from the table where the Gryffindors were sitting. Everyone's eyes were now on the black-haired boy. Almost. The Slytherins were, of course, pretending not to notice but most of them failed when the Gryffindors turned to stick their tongues at them. The students dressed in green didn't find it amusing at all. Several of them even started to pull out their wands but they quickly decided against this, obviously convinced that Gryffindors weren't worth their spells. Sirius and Remus were of course the first to congratulate the new captain.

"James, that's great! Congratulations!" they told him, although with slightly less enthusiasm in their voices than the black-haired boy had expected. But he didn't allow the thought to bother him right now.

Damn, he was the captain! The biggest prankster in history. Ok, ok, maybe just in Hogwarts' history, he rectified, with affected modesty. Now, that will show Lily! Who does she think she is?! The most beautiful girl you've ever seen and the one you've been madly in love with since about forever?, answered a little voice at the back of his head. Oh, right. Heck!

Several students sitting close enough started to shake James' hand, huge smiles on their faces. The others were crowding behind their backs, waiting for their turn. Within five seconds James was surrounded by wreaths of people, mostly Gryffindors, and as he realised a second later, he didn't even know half of them by name. Nevertheless he let his hand be shaken and his shoulder patted. He did deserve it after all, didn't he?

James was still beaming, his eyes radiating with pride, when he noticed Lily's horror-struck expression and the smile on his face faded instantly. He frowned and turned away disgruntled. Suddenly he felt something weighing on his arm. He looked down to see Peter tugging on his sleeve, staring at him in awe. James yanked his arm from Peter's surprisingly tight grip and growled, "Get lost!" Peter sniffled audibly and went away utterly broken.

"Now, let's get back to our delicious desserts," stated Dumbledore genially, already placing a piece of chocolate cake on his plate.

"James, what was that?" Remus' accusing look hit the black-haired boy square in the head and he replied stiffly, looking infuriated and outraged.

"He's just…"

Whatever he wanted to say was muffled by the contemptuous voice of a person sitting in front of him, who transpired to be a rather annoyed Lily.

"Isn't it obvious? He's a swell-headed idiot, that's all."

James' eyes caught her gaze and he looked down ashamed, his ego wounded, his happiness banished. Her every word stung him deeply, more than he would ever let anybody know.

"I think he's just upset," started Remus shyly. Lily looked at him, disbelief painted in her emerald eyes. "He didn't say anything that horrible. I cannot believe you have never snapped at anybody," he added in a quieter voice.

The girl remained silent for a moment, then said reluctantly, "Actually… you're right," Nevertheless she gave James another hard look at which he curled up. "But at least I do try to control myself, in contrary to some people here," Lily Evans, if she wanted to, could be truly mean. And she definitely knew how to hit one's weakest points.

Although Remus didn't quite like when she attacked people like that, he had to admit that her argument was logical and very rarely biased. With the exception of James Potter, that is. Throughout all those years, Remus didn't really know whose side to take. On one hand, had been friend with James, on the other hand he had been spending too much time with Lily to treat her only as an acquaintance. That's why he had been trying to convince her to, at least, try to get to know James better before she took a chance to ostracise him. Raised eyebrows and sceptical looks were the only answer he had ever received. So, with time, he just accepted that there would never be truce between those two.

It wasn't really anything new about Lily and James anymore. Everybody got used to those constant scenes of anger almost as quickly as they had begun. Now Sirius was throwing them both amused looks and Lily's friends, Angelica and Isabelle, didn't even bother to cut their conversation. Nobody knew whether it was because those encounters were happening on daily basis or because they would have to listen to her complaints later on anyway.

James tirelessly trying to win her affections, or rather miserably failing to do so, was an extremely sweet sight. Of course, that was if you pretended to overlook his cockiness and self-assurance. It was clearly only caused by Lily's presence, as with any other girl he would be able to carry on a normal conversation, joking and flirting. But whenever she came in the picture he became nervous, extremely nervous. And, as Sirius called it, his coping mechanism was that self-conceited act. Yet she was never to know about any of that.

The only person that seemed to care about the bickering was Severus Snape. He was sitting at the Slytherin table in the other corner of the Great Hall and was watching Lily's responses intently, relaxing every time he saw irritation painted on her face or sparks of anger in her emerald eyes. For the last couple of months his friendship with Lily was like a roller coaster ride. He hadn't realised yet that he was the one tearing them apart with his interests in the Dark Arts and his dark friends. Deep down, they both knew that the very second he was sorted to Slytherin while she had joined the Gryffindors, five years ago, their friendship was to be doomed. Straight from the beginning.

The last months were extremely hard for both of them. Especially with him, being so resentful, starting new quarrels every time a message from James came (so quite often) and her being so frustrated with his behaviour. Because telling him over and over again that those letters didn't mean a thing to her was already getting old. Lately she had been reserved; silence had been accompanying their encounters. Often she would burst out with anger without any particular reason and then leave almost immediately.

He had been hoping, secretly, that they would make up now, as a new school year began. But then he realised that his friends, his only friends, would never understand him being in any kind of relations with a Mudblood. Mudblood; that was how he had been calling her behind her back for months now. Hoping foolishly that she would understand.

He ripped his eyes from the innocently stunning face of the redhead and noticed that Dumbledore was rising to his feet again. What now? He's already said more than enough!, the angry thought entered Severus' head.

Dumbledore for his part bumped his spectacles up his prominent nose, waiting patiently for the cheers, which exploded after his latest announcement and were still vibrating under the high ceiling of The Great Hall, to fade.

"There is especially one subject that I would like to raise now." His voice lost the joyful note it had had before and became serious, his gaze stern. "I'm sure you all know that dangerous things have been happening recently." Suddenly the whole room stopped breathing. No one had thought that even Dumbledore would have a nerve to pick up that particular case. The increasing wave of crimes that had occurred in Great Britain was a taboo subject; nobody, neither newspapers nor authorities had been saying more than necessary, which in that case was practically nothing.

For the last few years the Dark Wizard, who called himself Lord Voldemort, and his followers, had been trying to take over the Ministry of Magic. Over the whole Wizarding World, in fact. The increasing number of disappearances among Muggles and Muggle-borns were almost unheard of due to the Minister's clever excuses. Very often not even a word appeared in the press, suppressed by the authorities. Voldemort was now gathering an army of his trusted followers from among noble pureblood families and other magical creatures, like werewolves or goblins.

The Ministry of Magic was still denying that the situation was getting out of hand. Every public area was under constant surveillance, just in case someone decided to speak up and inform the society. But in the sham safety of their households people were whispering. What would it take for someone to admit the truth? A mass breakout from the Azkaban, perhaps, or maybe a rebel Dementor would do?

Dumbledore continued his speech undisturbed. "You can see that these things happen to common people. Innocent people. It might happen to you. What I need you to realise now is that you're not studying here just to pass your exams but also to be prepared to defend your life, to protect your family. And not only yours but any other person's as well.

"What you will do with this information is your own business. No matter what the Ministry says, it is my belief that you deserve to know." The old man's eyes were wandering from one face to another, engraving his every word in their memory.

"This year Defence Against the Dark Arts classes will be much different than before." Dumbledore wasn't finished yet. "There will be much more practical training. Especially against the Imperius Curse; the older students should know what I'm talking about,"

The whispers abruptly filled the Great Hall; the words 'but it's forbidden' slipped from somebody's lips. At one single look of Dumbledore's the noise stopped. "There is no need to panic!" he bellowed. "It's just a precaution."

There was a long uneasy pause while the students started to exchange unsure looks and nervous whispers. Finally the headmaster spoke once more.

"I hope I haven't frightened you too much. Nothing is going to happen," he said thoughtfully, his calm voice reassuring. "Now I suggest you all to proceed to your Common Rooms. First years," – here, Dumbledore turned to them with a kind smile - "I advise you to follow your Prefects if you don't want to get lost in such a big castle as Hogwarts. Because once you're lost you might not be found," he added with a wink.

"And Prefects, I will expect you by the entrance to my office."

All the teachers stood up and left through the side door situated by their table. Remus and Lily hurried towards the dazed group of first years who were still throwing confused glances around the hall and led them to the Gryffindor Tower. During their walk Remus told them a little about the Hogwarts' history, just enough for their brains overloaded by new sensations and views not to explode.

By the time they reached the Common Room, Sirius, James and Peter had already been occupying the couch placed before the fireplace. As they entered, James immediately sprung to his feet, grinning nervously and scratching his head, his good humour already returned. "Hey Evans, mind me walking you to the Prefects' meeting?"

"Actually, yes," the redhead hissed, shooting him a warning look as if saying; don't start anything with the first years in here. She turned around gustily, facing the first years and starting to explain where the dormitories were, when James' voice caused her to stop in the mid-sentence.

"Why not?"

"Not here, Potter! I've already told you thousands of times – I won't go out with you!" Lily snarled stepping toward the boy. Eyes of the first years' girls were wandering between James' face, staring at him in admiration, and Lily's, shooting her what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-he's-hot looks. Yet Lily chose to ignore them all.

"You didn't give me a chance even once!" James' voice was unusually calm and there was a pleading note to it. "How do you know you wouldn't like the date?"

"How do I know?" the hurricane commonly known as Lily was growing in strength. "Let me tell you then," the girl placed her hand on her hip and took one step more. She was now so close to James that he could perfectly see the flames of anger burning in her eyes. Had the circumstances been different, he would have enjoyed the closeness immensely. "I feel disgusted at the very thought of going out with you and being forced to spend more than five seconds in the presence of your ever-growing ego, don't you get it?"

"I'm not that bad when you get to know me better," James smiled wryly.

"Oh, how modest of you!" she snapped back at him. "What a pity that I don't like the idea at all. But, of course, you just have to always get what you want, don't you? James Potter, the world champion, that's what you think you are! And you know what? You're not. You're just..."

The situation was spinning out of control once again and there was literally no way to stop it. Ignoring the bickering couple, Remus turned to the first years and commanded them to the dormitories in voice filled with such authority that no one dared to disobey. He shot Lily an accusing look but she was too busy screaming her lungs out at James to even notice the reproach. Remus knew there was no point in waiting for the girl so he just shrugged and left.

He was already a good few meters away when he heard quick footsteps behind him. He turned his head to see Sirius walking in his direction. Remus slowed his pace to let the black-haired boy catch up with him. As Sirius did, they started to walk side by side without speaking and with Remus glancing at him questioningly every once in a while. But Sirius' head remained lowered, his eyes tracing the pattern of dark lines on the marble floor. Before Remus came up with something to say, the other boy whispered, his voice flat, "I just didn't want to be alone."

"What's going on?" The golden-eyed boy was concerned. He knew that something really awful must have happened to put Sirius, the always high-spirited all-smiling Sirius, in such a mood. For the first time in his life he didn't see even a trace of playful gleam in Sirius' now shadowy eyes, no elfish grin on his face. But how come? Sirius was the most difficult person to be thrown out of balance that Remus knew. He was always the first to help James recover after Lily's rejection or to cheer Remus up after whenever Snape started spreading hateful rumours. He was Sirius; joy was an essential part of his being. "What's wrong?"

"How was your summer, Remmy?" he asked a bit too airily, though his eyes stayed gloomy and uninterested. "You didn't mention anything about it."

"You're changing the subject," said matter-of-factly Remus, looking at him anxiously. They had been friends for too long now to overlook even the slightest change in the other's behaviour. And Sirius' features had changed so drastically during the summer. He was paler, his clothes loose-fitting… Even his famous grin, when he at last managed one, wasn't reaching his eyes.

"No, I'm not," he muttered, more to himself than to the other boy. A hesitant silence fell upon them for several seconds before Sirius turned a tormented gaze to his friend. Plain misery and sadness were pouring from his eyes, gloomy atmosphere falling over them almost instantly. Sirius seemed to be so thoughtful, so lost. "She's just being so difficult, judgemental. She despises me no matter what," Remus couldn't pretend he didn't know who his friend was talking about. His mother. "I know I've been repeating it for the past five years… It's just… this summer's been nightmarish… dreadful."

In a flash Remus' world drastically narrowed. Suddenly the prefects' meetings, damn it, even the other people didn't matter a thing. He had to help his friend. No matter what sacrifices it meant, no matter how much trouble it would cause later. Because that is how a real friendship works.

"Ever since Bellatrix joined him she's been nagging me… tyrannising me to do the same," At this point his voice abruptly broke, trembling words could have been heard merely seconds later. "It was agonising. To know that she urges me… she wants me to become a… a murderer. A monster." With every word his voice was becoming louder and harsher, yet his eyes were still the hurt eyes of a child.

Remus stopped his pace and was watching the other boy with growing horror. Was it too late? Too late to fix anything? He could see it clearly; the thoughts, the words, the emotions were suppressed for far too long. It was eating Sirius from the inside. Remus was waiting for an explosion. But it never came. There was only silence. He wasn't sure which of them would have been worse. No, he perfectly knew.

Because any emotion would be better than a lack of them. Deep down he hated the mask of indifference that Sirius wore whenever he was broken, but he couldn't do anything about it. And he had tried. What he didn't know, though, was that Sirius never showed his feelings only because of him. Because he knew that Remus had enough to deal with without him getting out of control. Him breaking down. So neither of them spoke.

"Sirius -," Remus managed after a while and trailed off. For once he was out of words. Silence. He wanted to say something, anything. Even a stupid everything's going to be all right, we'll fix it, that silly barefaced lie. He knew words wouldn't fix anything, they both knew it. And Sirius didn't expect them from him, nor from anybody else.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to come back…" whispered Sirius eventually, barely audibly.

Remus reached and pulled him into tight embrace and said firmly, "We'll always be here for you, you know, all of us."

Those simple words were more comforting to Sirius than anything in the world, because he knew, deep down, that they were real. That they were true. He pulled away and smiled weakly.

Yet neither one of them thought of coming back to the Common Room. The atmosphere of joyfulness and happiness flowing around would be too much for anyone after a conversation like that.

Without saying a word they walked out of the castle and headed towards the Forbidden Forest. After such a long time they didn't even have to discuss the matter already knowing what the other one would say. There were many unsaid words of comfort and agreement hovering in the air each never to be spoken aloud. Not because they were unimportant or trivial. There was just no need to express them, the feeling of their presence was sufficient, just enough to console and give strength to go on, to face the reality.

As they walked, hands in pockets, every once in a while kicking small pebbles lying around on the ground, they still hadn't uttered a word. Yet the silence was still comforting and calming and Remus couldn't help but wonder why they had headed exactly for the Forbidden Forest. Filled with old coarse trunks, with shadows forming in the crooks of the rind and thick fog claiming the air so greedily that it was almost hard to breathe, this forest seemed the last place anyone would want to take a walk to.

But it seemed to be more mysterious and scary than their life itself, to say the least. Being there made them think how small and insignificant their problems were, minimising them to practically non-existence. And it felt righteous, coaxing Sirius harassed nerves and letting his frustration burn out. And both of them needed comfort and sedation, a reassurance that no words would provide.

They realised how hard this year would be. And the ones to follow. And they were clinging to the bits and pieces of carelessness and forgetfulness that had been left in them. After all, they were just teenagers. The upcoming situation was too much to any one of them; the light-heartedness was being substituted with concern. It felt like somebody had woken you up from a pleasant dream, a dream of happy untroubled life, and brought you back into reality. The gloomy reality of the frightened world.

"Shit!" Sirius' angry cry broke the silence quite spectacularly coming out from him mouth after kicking a deliberately thick tree-trunk in an act of absolute rage. No harm made to the plant; it was Sirius' foot I would be concerned about. He was then standing in an utterly ridiculous pose (or jumping, to be precise), with his injured foot in his hands, muttering curses of which existence Remus had never heard of.

"Would have told you that would happen if you asked me," said Remus, playful sparks in his golden eyes. Sirius just shot him a meaningful look, the shut-up-and-help-me meaningful look but Remus just stood there leaning against the trunk of an old willow and laughing freely.

"Not funny," muttered Sirius and added something about breaking his friend's bones to see how amusing it would be. So their stroll definitively ended there, though still they had to get inside unnoticed. And sell some likeable story to the nurse, Madame Pomfrey. After all, only Sirius could break something already on his first day of school.

As their day ended and they went to bed, after Sirius had convinced Madame Pomfrey in a rather charming manner, with a possible yet not so probable story, to help him. It was the beginning of the school year, an event that actually everyone truly anticipated throughout the summer, some more and others less, but comeback was still long awaited. For one it was an escape from their past and their problems, for the other it meant forgetting, for ten months, that the world outside really existed, with all its imperfections and inequalities. One could say that only in Hogwarts they felt noticed and cared about. The other one could say it was a place where they could show off, but it would be a white lie. Since the reason why the school was so important in their life was so much more complex. But for everybody it meant spending ten months with people they loved, their friends.

And soon they would forget all of their concerns thrown into the whirl of homework, constant pranks and practical jokes. The world of Quidditch games and Butterbeer. The world where your friends are always there to cheer you up without even telling them about the breakdown you are suffering. The world where your friends just simply are. Always would be. And that was it, a homecoming.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Writing this took us much longer than we originally thought it would. The story is more complex this time and we hope you like it. We promise a cookie for everyone who reviews. Yet the biggest one goes to our Beta Reader – dogstar-ebony. Danielle, we absolutely adore you! Thank you so much for helping us.