The Marauders go to the Beach!
By Cat of the Shadows
It was a bright sunny day and the four marauders were bored. They were sitting on a beach on the Southeast of England and had already done all the beachy things they could think of. They had built massive sandcastles, based on their favourite castle Hogwarts, and entered them into a sandcastle building contest. They would have won as well, if it weren't for the age limit. They had dug deep holes in the sand and laughed as unsuspecting muggles, and their dogs, fell in them. After that they had gone swimming in the cold English water before attempting to loose Peter by burying him neck deep in the sand and running off. However he had managed to find them eating ice cream and watching the sea.
"Told you he would find us. You owe me a galleon." Declared Prongs, pointing and laughing at Padfoot.
"Aww man, I forgot he can always find us." Moaned Padfoot, sadly handing over said galleon. A few minutes passed as they licked their ice creams watching the tide go in and out. Remus had conjured Peter one after watching him fail hopelessly to do it himself a few times. They had moved away from the sandy part and were sitting on pebbles. The beach was now divided up with groynes (wooden fences). There was hardly anyone in their section, just a couple of girls sunbathing over the other side and them.
"I'm bored." Moaned Sirius."Me to." Wined James equally bored.
"Hey! I know what you can do!" exclaimed Moony.
"What?" demanded James and Sirius simultaneously, crawling over to kneel in front of the werewolf.
"Well, you could see if you can run from one post to the other without getting wet." He suggested, a smile forming on his face. 'This could be fun' he thought. The other two boys looked at each other and grinned.
"Okay, how would we do that?" asked James.
"Well, first you go to that side, over by that post, and when I say go, run as fast as you can to the other side." Moony instructed them happily.
"Shouldn't be to difficult." Sirius said running to the post with James right behind him. Peter however stayed with Remus; he was already slightly wet from earlier and didn't fancy getting wet again.When the two boys got to the side, Remus watched the waves for a while, getting back into their rhythm. Then he started to count slowly under his breath, when he got to 7 he shouted, "GO!"
James and Sirius ran as fast as they could, just making it to the other side before a big wave came, almost knocking them off their feet. They managed to jump to the safety and dryness of the wooden fence thanks to their amazing Quidditch abilities, although they almost fell off again with laughing too much!
"Again!" they shouted and Remus complied. They carried on like this for a while. Eventually one of the two girls got up and left. The other, a redhead with green eyes, had joined Remus and Peter. She was watching the other boys, James in particular, waiting for one, or both, of them to trip up. She had been waiting for this ever since she had realised who the boys were. Finally after quarter of an hour of waiting she decided to speed up their humiliation a bit. Leaning over she whispered something in Remus' ear, both grinned evilly and a flash of gold passed hands. This time when Padfoot and Prongs shouted "Again!" the cycle was started a few seconds later. When they were halfway across it looked like they were going to make it, perhaps they would have if it weren't for a simple tripping jinx sent by a certain revenge seeking red-haired witch. Before the two pranksters knew what hit them, they were both on the ground soaking wet and moaning slightly, this time in pain as falling onto pebbles hurt. Making their sorry way up to the laughing figures of Moony and Wormtail, they noticed something, or more accurately someone.
"Hey, isn't that your Lillykins with our fellow Marauders?" asked Sirius.
"I do believe you're right. I wander what she's doing here." Replied James.
When they got to their friends, Sirius turned into his dog form and dried off by getting everyone else wet!
"Thanks, I really wanted to get wet." Remus told him sarcastically.
"You deserved it. You made us trip and got us wet." Sirius pouted glaring at Remus.
Here Lily blushed and muttered something. This caused James to stare at her, him being the only one close enough to here what she said.
"Uh, Lily? Can you repeat that? I don't think I heard right." James said shocked. Lily blushed more and complied grudgingly.
"I sent the tripping jinx. And bribed Remus to give you the wrong times. Consider it payback for all the times you pranked me." She told them defiantly, before hiding behind Remus, afraid that they would be angry. However the two pranksters were far from angry, they were estactic, not that they were going to show it, at least not yet.
"Did I hear right?" boomed Padfoot, towering over Lily. Moony had moved out the way, so was no longer a shield for Lily. Seeing this, Lily sent one of her best glares to Remus, who was looking slightly apologetic, before looking a mixture of bemusement and horror at the two still wet boys standing over her.
"I think we did." James told him, looking disappointed. Suddenly they both broke into a big grin and pulled Lily up into a hug."Our little Lilykins, all grown up. I'm so happy." Sirius sobbed dramatically.
"Me to," James agreed, twirling Lily around. "Lets have a party to celebrate!"
"That's the best idea you've had all day mate! So Moony, Wormy, you up for it?" Said Sirius recovering quickly.
"Yeah" squeaked Peter happily, jumping up.
"Well, someone's got to look after you lot when you get drunk." Remus sighed but smiled looking forward to it.
"So, where to go, where to go." Prongs muttered.
"Hogsmeade!" Padfoot shouted before having a look around. Seeing no muggles he disapparated, Peter and Remus looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and following Sirius.
"And have I got any say in this at all?" Lily asked slightly annoyed.
"Nope!" James grinned, threw Lily over his shoulder and followed his mates to the party.
They arrived in Hogsmeade and went into the 'Three Broomsticks' where the others had got them a table and several alcoholic drinks. Amazingly they had even managed to get Lily to have a few. Within a few hours all were drunk and had got kicked out of the pub for 'unruly behaviour'. That mainly consisted of Sirius singing badly and dancing on tables and Peter laughing so hard he fell off his chair, breaking it and when trying to fix it, causing it to tap dance around the room. Anyway, they all ended up drunk with no place to go, so Lily suggested the beach and they ended up back there. Peter was so drunk he almost ended up in the sea, which everyone else found hilariously funny.
Somehow they managed to decide to take a walk to clear their minds a bit. This caused an argument between James and Lily on which way they should go.
"Left" shouted Lily.
"Right" shouted James.
"Left"
"Right"
"Left"
"Right"
"Left"
"How bout we go left and you go out with me?" James reasoned.
"Okay" Lily shrugged and kissed him on the cheek. This proves how drunk she was as she never would have agreed otherwise.
Fifteen minutes later it was very late and very dark and they were a couple of hundred meters down the beach. Lily had already passed out and was snoring gently while being carried over James' shoulder. Remus and Peter also looked close to passing out, Sirius however was happily skipping along the sand singing very off-key at the top of his voice, James was very happy as well but couldn't skip merrily on the sand as he was carrying his unconscious girlfriend over his shoulder. Soon Peter fell into a smallish wooden rowing boat with a small crash, which really was bound to happen sooner or later, and immediately fell into a deep and heavy sleep. The others, minis Lily, heard this and decided to see what had happened to their friend. It didn't take too long to find him curled up on some blankets in the boat sleeping off his drunkenness. James and Sirius, in their drunken state decided it would be great fun to push the boat out to sea. So engaging Remus' help they managed to launch the small dingy out to sea, this was actually quite hard for them as firstly, James had never thought to put Lily down and secondly, they were all so drunk they kept missing the boat.
The next day Lily woke up slowly and the first thing she realised was that she had a massive hangover. The next was that she was really comfortable and that the pillow she was sleeping on was moving. The fourth was that she wasn't in her room. Moving her arm over her eyes to shield her from the sun she took a look at her surroundings and screamed. This caused her 'pillow' James to wake up groaning. "Wastamatta?" he yawned opening his eyes cringing at the light. Slowly he tried to sit up, only to realise that he couldn't.
"I'm paralysed!" he yelled before realising that he could now move and that he had a massive hangover.
James' shout had caused Lily to jump and fall out of the pig trough that her and James had slept in making her yelp and James to look over a thin wall of metal to where Lily was sitting in mud looking slightly dazed and about to throw up. Which she did as soon as James had clambered out of the trough. James immediately pulled her hair away from her face so that Lily wouldn't get anything in it. Once she had finished James handed her a tissue that he found in his pocket, Lily took it gratefully and wiped her mouth before muttering her thanks. Then she had a thought; the last thing she remembered was falling asleep on a beach with the rest of the Marauders and this was definitely not the beach and she could only see one Marauder.
"So what happened?" Lily asked James who was now stroking her hair absentmindedly.
"Well last thing I remember is coming across a farm with Sirius and Remus, I was carrying you, then tripping over something. I must have passed out. Hey! That means they must be around here somewhere." He told her, his memories of the past night slowly coming back to him.
"What about Peter?" Lily asked, as much as that boy sometimes annoyed her, she was positive he had been with them before she fell asleep.
"Umm," James racked his brains before "I remember, he fell in a boat so we pushed him out to sea!" he laughed at this before clutching his head in pain, causing Lily to laugh at him before she too clutched her head in pain.
"Oww" they both moaned together before they remembered where they were. They were currently sitting in some mud beside a pig's food trough in some field along the English coast, with hangovers. At least they could remedy that, but first they had to find their, well mostly James', friends but that could wait until the world stopped spinning.
After a few minutes they rose unsteadily to their feet, Lily stumbled a bit but James caught her before she fell. 'He's not really that bad' she thought.
"I suppose we better go and find Moony and Padfoot before they get themselves into to much trouble." James said somewhat reluctantly, he was enjoying himself being alone with Lily, who hadn't hit him once yet.
"Yeah. We'd best go and bail them out" she agreed.
The two of them wondered aimlessly around the farm until they came to a foot sticking out of a large haystack.
"I think we found them, well one of them at least." Said Lily. James grinned, grabbed hold of the foot and pulled. Within seconds Remus' groaning body landed unceremoniously on the ground. Immediately he tried to crawl back to the darkness of the haystack, but James still had hold of his ankle so he just ended up with his face in mud. It took a few minuets but finally Remus was back in the world of the living and they were all sitting on the haystack.
"So what happened after you left us?" James asked Remus.
"Well, we carried on going, I don't think we even noticed you weren't with us! Sirius was still singing and talking about flying when I tripped and fell into this haystack and I must have fell asleep. So where did you end up anyway?" Remus replied.
"A pig's trough." James admitted as Remus broke down in laughter, then in pain as the headaches kicked in, causing Lily to giggle in the middle of a yawn. They were quiet for a while, trying to think where Sirius could be.
"Wait did you say fly?" James asked, as Remus nodded then looked shocked.
"You don't think?" Remus questioned.
"I do. Think about it, he almost jumped off the astronomy tower when sober trying to fly. So now he's drunk there's no telling what he'd do!" James finished.
"Well, we'd better go find the highest point then." Lily reasoned. The two boys looked surprised that she didn't go on about Sirius' attempted 'flying without a broom' lesson. It wasn't like he was in any danger though, James and Remus' 'Wingardium Leviosa' was pretty good, but still.
It took a little while, but finally they had found themselves at the foot of a tall barn. They quickly circled it though they saw no trace of the wayward teen. Circling it again they found a ladder leading up to the roof, looking up they could just make out what looked like a hand and the top of a head.
"So who want's to go get him?" asked James looking around.
"He's your friend" Lily told him shaking her head, but not too fast, she still had a headache. Remus just raised his eyebrow. James sighed and started climbing the ladder. When he got to the top, a mischievous grin spread across his face. Drawing out his wand, he whispered a few words and a jet of freezing cold water soaked a sleeping Sirius, waking him up immediately.
"What's going on?" Sirius shouted jumping up before falling back down. Back on the ground Lily and Remus were rolling around on the floor shaking with laughter and pain. James was also laughing hard at his best mate while trying to stay out of his way. Sirius retaliated by soaking everyone with water before making his way back down the ladder to join the ground; James followed soon after.
"So how are the two lovebirds this morning?" Sirius asked staring pointedly at Lily and James, ignoring the discouragement Remus was giving him.
"What are you talking about Pads?" asked James confused while Remus brought his hand in front of his face, shaking his head.
"Only about last night, Lily finally giving into your question." Sirius stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I did?" Lily asked slowly, Remus nodded once, telling her all she needed to know. Deliberately she turned to James and looked him in the eye.
"We don't have to if you don't want to. It was wrong of me to ask you when you were drunk." He said quickly.
" Yes it was." She told him, then almost shyly carried on "But, now that we are, then, well, maybe, we could give it a chance?"
James cheered, swung her up and gave her a kiss.
" I swear you won't regret it" He told her happily.
"So, what do we do now?" The boys and Lily were sitting with their backs to the barn.
"Well I don't know about you but I would love some breakfast and maybe a hangover potion." Sirius stated, causing the others to stare at him. "What? What's wrong?" he asked nervously.
"It's just that's a really good idea." Remus stated in amazement, the others nodded their heads in agreement. This caused Sirius to frown, stick his tongue out at them and start sulking for about 10 seconds.
"So who has any hangover potions?" He asked brightly, causing the others to once again shake their heads at him.
"Um, I do. But we can't have breakfast there." Lily notified them inducing the stares of amazement to be focused on her, making her blush.
"We can have breakfast at mine." James told them, taking the spotlight off Lily.
"To Lily's!" shouted Sirius and apparated away, leaving the others to follow.
"Um, maybe you guys should stay here." Lily told the guys uneasily. They were standing outside her house about to go in for the hangover potions. The boys however had other plans.
"No way! We want to see your room!" James told her. Lily sighed.
"Okay, but you have to be quick and quiet, I don't want anyone noticing that we're here." Lily whispered, opening the door and taking a quick glance around, beckoned the boys in. once everyone was in the hall she closed the door and they made their way up the stairs. Soon they reached a door that had a plaque saying 'Lily's Room' with two lilies. The guys smiled at it and made their way in.
Inside was nothing like what they were expecting. The walls were a pinkish colour with a lighter pink carpet; it was obvious that she hadn't redecorated in a while. It was messy, yet organised, they could tell that she knew where everything was. Her trunk was at the end of her bed, half-packed with her 'witch' things. Parchment, muggle pens, quills and paper littered the desk as well as a few half-done essays. Part of the floor and the chair by the desk were covered in muggle clothes. Some of these she hastily put away with a blush (they were her underwear) before rummaging in one of her cupboards for the hangover potions. But the things that surprised them were the wizarding photos of the marauders, her friends, Hogwarts, James, Griffindor common room, the lake, James, her dorm-room, James and even some of herself. And the doll sitting on her made bed. It was a tiny plush replica of James. Seeing this Sirius smirked gleefully and bounced over to the bed and grabbed the mini-James.
"What's this?" he asked Lily holding up the doll in front of him. Lily's face turned the colour of her hair.
"It's my voodoo doll of James." She told them defiantly. James winced but Remus and Sirius shared a knowing glance, before Sirius pocketed the James-doll. "Anyway, I've got the potions, now can we get out of here?" the boys nodded and made their way to the door.
"Why do you want to get out so quickly anyway?" Remus asked whispering once they got to the top of the stairs.
"My sister." Lily whispered back. As if of cue a loud voice echoed from the hall.
"Oh Lily dear, is that you?" Lily sighed, it was only her mother, she could still get away.
"Yes mother, but I'm going out again, I might be back later." Lily called back, continuing her way down with the three marauders following.
"Aww, are these your friends, Lily dearest?" Lily's mother simpered, seeing the boys. "Which one's your boyfriend? You do have a boyfriend by now don't you?"
"Yes mother," lily answered turning a pale pink and pulling James infront of her. "This one, his name's James, now we really must be going." With that she half-pushed and half-pulled the boys past her mum and out the door.
Five minuets later they had arrived at James' room after stopping at his kitchen for some food and drink to wash down the hangover potion. They were all feeling a lot better after it and ready to face James' room. Surprisingly, it wasn't anything like what Lily had thought it would be, for one, it was actually clean and tidy! He also had many photos of people around his room; many of them being family and the marauders, however the majority were of a particular red-haired girl. When Lily noticed this, she turned bright red, causing Sirius to laugh and pull out the James doll, Remus smiled brightly. James had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. It was quite a large room with an on-suite bathroom leading to Sirius' room, as he was a permanent residence there.
After a while of just lounging about, Sirius disappeared to go get something from his room and probably some food as well. Seeing that he had gone, Lily pulled herself up from beside James on his bed and charmed all the entrances into the room. James and Remus, seeing what she was doing added a few additions to her work as well. It wasn't long until they heard footsteps and jumped into their previous positions. It took just a few seconds for most of the charms and spells to set off (the last one wouldn't be set off till he walked into the great hall at Hogwarts, causing him to reappear in his outfit and do ballet like a professional for the whole school to see). The end results had everyone, bar Sirius, laughing in hysterics. His hair was hot pink and long and curly. His clothes had transformed into a pink and peach tutu and tight pale pink leotard. His shoes became pink ballet slippers. Cameras surrounded him and took dozens of pictures before disappearing being replaced with a large bucket of freezing cold water.
Sirius froze. Slowly he looked at each one in turn. Even more slowly he walked up to Lily. Suddenly he grabbed her hand.
"This is the start of a beautiful friendship" he stated.
A few years later, when they had forgotten all about Peter, a dirty man dressed like a pirate, complete with peg leg, knocked on the door of Mr and Mrs Potter. A surprised James answered it and was shocked when he recognised it was Peter Petagrew, aka Wormtail. Apparently, when he had fallen into the boat he had lost all his memory. A group of pirates found him and he stayed with them, until just a few days ago he had regained his memory. However because the Potters knew that Voldermort was after them, they thought that this was just another trap, so they oblivated him and chucked him into another boat. This time Peter spent the rest of his life as a pirate drinking rum.
The End.