War n. [mass noun] A sustained campaign against an undesirable situation or activity.
'There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.'- Niccolo Machiavelli.
No matter when it happens, war takes the best of us and leaves us grieving our losses.
Lily and James should have known that from the very beginning.
Because a war is a lost battle from the moment it starts.
Chapter 1- 'Puzzles'
August 31, 1975.
In the beginning of this story the four, so-called, 'Marauders' were still carefree. They were sitting together at a coffee shop's booth in central London, called 'Puzzles'. Weird name for a cafeteria, one would think. But there is an interesting and ,mostly, funny story behind the name choice. Isn't there always one, when it comes to the marauders?
'Remus, mate, pass me the sugar!' shouted black-haired Sirius Black.
'Oi' there, Padfoot. No need to shout!' Remus Lupin did as he was requested with a wide grin.
They were sitting at their favourite coffee shop, one they had come to love in the course of years. Placed in London, their home town, and close to Remus's house it was the perfect place for a meet-up for the four boys, as well as an 'amazing chick-magnet.' Or so James and Sirius said.
On the outside, it was painted bright pink, with the letters of the name being green. Normally, the marauders would have just made fun of any building painted with such ridiculous colours but this particular one had caught James and Sirius's attention because of one reason; It was full of girls.
There were about ten tables inside the cafeteria and almost all of them were occupied by several girls in their teens. The two boys never denied an opportunity to hit on birds, or, mock them like they used to do back when they discovered the ,now called. Puzzles so of course they entered the shop and it quickly became a favourite. Was it due to the very tasteful drinks or to the ladies? Knowing the marauders, it was probably both, since those were their two favourite occupations in the world; food and birds.
'Hey, Prongs, remember what the store was used to called before we changed the name?' Sirius asked, taking a sip from his drink.
'T'was something like 'Terrence's Coach', wasn't it? Hey, Terrence!', he waved at the old man by the fireplace. 'What was the shop called before you decided to rename it?'
'Terrence's Corner, my boy. It was a good name, one I had came up with.' he replied, longing for the past in his eyes.
'Obviously.' whispered Peter to Sirius, causing him to laugh which turned the attention on him.
'What caused you to change it then, if you liked it so much?' he said, a mischievous look on his face.
Then the man's expression went blank. James turned to Sirius.
'Padfoot! Now we have to put the spell on him again! What do I always tell you? Stop teasing the poor guy!'
He seemed angry at him but Sirius knew he was amused. 'Remember that night, though, Prongs? Good times, weren't they?'
'Yeah. The best,' James replied with a grin and rushed out of the cafeteria, in search for his older cousin.
July 24, 1973. [Terrence's Corner.]
'Lee! You have to try out 'Terrence's special'!' James was looking at the boy across the table, a pleading look on his face.
Liam Potter, an 19-year-old with hair in the color of chocolate, looked at his cousin with pride. He remembered himself at James's age, so carefree and at ease with everything. Now, on his second year of training to become an Auror and with Voldemort on the rise, his life had become a nightmare. At least, he still had James and his friends who always helped him take his mind off things with their stories about life at Hogwarts and the pranks they always played on their classmates.
'Is it really special or is the title simple propaganda?' He inquired with a smile, knowing he would confuse the four boys.
'Well, it isn't butterbeer but it's still good! Pretty good I'd say, since that's what everybody drinks here.' Sirius was also on the task of getting the other boy to try their favourite drink.
He had always been James's best friend, even though they were pretty close with Remus and Peter too. So naturally, he was also the one Liam knew the best out of the three of them. He and James always looked up to him, turning to him for advice, whether it was about girls, quidditch or anything else.
'Alright, alright! I shall try that special drink of yours but it'd better be good, I'm warning you all!'
They stayed there for a good hour before they finished their drinks. They then fell into conversation and found themselves discussing about shops' names. Don't ask me how, it's the marauders we're talking about.
'I, for one, would never name my shop after me.' Remus declared.
'But why? 'Remus's Fury Little Shop' would be the perfect name, don't you think?' Remus playfully punched James in the arm. They hadn't told Lee about that yet and they didn't intend to either.
'Oi' mate, that hurt!' James protested though they all knew he hadn't felt a thing. That boy had 'skin made of iron', as his dear mother said.
'Oh my god I just thought of the coolest name for as shop that has ever been invented!' Sirius shouted with glee in his eyes. He looked at them, thrilled that he'd made such a big discovery.
'Don't keep us in the dark then! What is it?' James said with excitement.
'Drumroll please!'
Peter grabbed two forks and obeyed Sirius's demand joyfully.
'Ladies and- Oh wait, no. Gentlemen the name is... puzzles!'
'Puzzles. Huh. It has a certain ring to it. But why would it be called puzzles?' Lee wondered.
'Don't you see?! That's the puzzle!' Sirius explained, disappointed that they hadn't made the connection themselves.
'Mate that's the best idea ever! But, what if we named this particular shop Puzzles? Wouldn't it be amazing? I can already picture it in the green font with the pink background! Everybody will look at it because of the colours and then they'll have to get inside because they're going to wonder why the heck-' he stopped for a second, correcting himself. 'I mean hell,' he continued, 'it's called puzzles!' James high fived Sirius and the other boy whispered something to him. They both turned to face Liam, identical pleading looks on their faces.
'Oh no. No no no no, I'm not using magic for this, you nutters. No.' He tried to protest but they all knew they had him.
August 31, 1975.
Two hours, a renewed spell, three (mostly friendly) fights and several drinks later the marauders and Liam decided to finally part ways and, since their departure to Hogwarts was happening tomorrow, they were all going back to their houses to prepare. Well, Sirius wouldn't actually go home, since he had run away from it at the beginning of the summer. Ever since he had been staying at the Potters', after spending two nights at his neighbour, Ginerva's, house alongside with her eleven cats.
The two Marauders, Sirius and James, were on their way back to James's house. Sirius was trying to crack a joke but James was deep lost in his thoughts.
'Can you believe Remus is going to be a Prefect? I mean, he was an obvious choice but how can he continue to play pranks with us when he is supposed to punish the ones who do them?' James interrupted Sirius, who hadn't noticed that his best friend wasn't exactly listening to him.
'We're going to figure something out, Prongs. Don't over think it or you're going to miss all the fun!' He smiled and James looked relieved.
He knew he could count on Sirius. They both had the reputation that they always got what they wanted. Well, almost all of them.
James had been trying to go on a date with Lily Evans, a red-haired bird in his year and house -Gryffindor- at Hogwarts, since the beginning of their third year. He always came up with a different way to ask her out, like that one time that he took the polyjuice potion and disguised himself as her boyfriend, Marcus. It had seemed like a good plan in his head and making the potion had proved to be quite easy but he hadn't calculated well and the potion wore off as he was telling Lily about going together to Hogsmeade on their next visit to the village. Let's just say, Lily wasn't so happy to find out who she had been talking to and had kissed -fortunately- on the cheek.
That bird hated James to the core and he knew that perfectly well. Maybe it was her friendship with Severus 'Snivellus' Snape, a bloke from Slytherin whom James despised deeply, maybe it was his confidence that he could have every bird at Hogwarts with a snap of his fingers but James wouldn't give up on her, not yet.
They had now reached their destination and were in search for their room. They didn't turn the lights on since they both knew Olivia, James's mother, would wake up immediately.
When they found it, it was a big relief. They fell on their beds, yawning in exhaustion.
'Big day tomorrow, huh?' Sirius covered himself with a black blanket.
'Yeah, huge. 'Night, Padfoot,' said James, turning to face the wall.
'Nighty Night, Prongs.'
James turned the switch off and darkness filled the room. The only sound that could be heard was the boys' snores, as they dreamed about the next day and what their fifth year at Hogwarts would bring them.
But of course, they had no idea about what was going to happen in the next 365 days.
They would have never dreamed that their lives would be a stake. James wouldn't have imagined that he'd make a good friend, one that was a bird, no less. Sirius wouldn't have imagined that he'd no longer have his best friend accompany him on their occasional cigarette break. They wouldn't have imagined the riots, the protests or the deaths that were going to follow.
But more on that later.
So as you can see, I deleted my previous story which I wasn't fond of. I hope you guys like this one.
By the way, the title is a tribute to the song 'Things We Lost in the Fire' by Bastille which is what inspired me to write this story.
Reviews are more than welcome.
Credits to JK and Burdge for the cover picture.