Forever Yours
Remember the time when we stole the whole day
And nobody knows it, we took it away
And it will be forever mine
And it will be forever yours
Now we own the night and it can't be undone
We'll never forget how it feels to be young
Coz it will be forever mine
And it will be forever yours
Alex Day – Forever Yours
Fingers traced his arm, running up, down, back up again. Once, Remus would have jerked away as nimble digits caressed his scars, but now he just smiled as he gazed into Sirius' grey eyes. Sirius' other hand found its way to Remus' hip.
"End of school tomorrow," Sirius murmured.
Remus nodded reluctantly. "I'm just glad the exams are over."
Sirius' laughter was a short bark. "You're glad? What's the bet you get twenty 'Outstandings'?"
"I didn't take twenty subjects, Padfoot," Remus laughed. His hand inched up to wind itself in Sirius' long (far too long) hair. Sirius hummed in pleasure. "There aren't even twenty subjects to take."
"They'll see how well you did in the subjects you did take and they'll throw in 'Outstandings' in all the rest of the subjects. And to make it up to twenty, they'll take subjects from some of those overseas schools. I heard they do some different ones to us."
Remus grinned. "And where did you hear that?"
"I think you told me."
"Well, you've got an impeccable source then."
A gentle silence fell on the pair of them. It was the beginning of summer, but already the heat had descended upon the castle in waves. James, as Head Boy, was occupied with Lily and the Heads of Houses in order to decide on next year's head students. Peter was most likely hiding from the incredible heat in the comparative cool of the castle. Both Sirius and Remus had decided to take advantage of the quiet to spend what might be their last quiet moments with each other.
They, like numerous other students, were lying in the grass by the cool of the lake. While the air was heavy with heat, occasionally a small breeze would disturb the quiet waters, bringing with it glorious relief from the insufferable temperatures.
"It's all going to change, isn't it?" The question was soft, far from Sirius' usual boisterous tones. "What James said last night…"
Remus knew the conversation Sirius was referring to. The night before, James had sat them all down in the common room – Remus, Sirius, Peter and Lily – and had laid out a plan.
"We'll join the Order," he'd told them, his certainty complete. "Be proper members."
Sirius snorted. "Of course we will, Prongs, that's a no brainer."
"No," James had insisted. "We can do it full time. No jobs; just the order."
"And how are we supposed to survive if we've got no jobs?" Remus asked. He knew he'd probably have to get a muggle job anyway – with fake schooling and references. It wasn't something he was looking forward to, but it was necessary.
"My parents left me money – more money than you can imagine," James said. "It's all in investments and stuff as well. If we're careful, the five of us can live off it for years. Think about it," he said quickly, before anyone else could speak. "We're in the best situation imaginable to fight the war. We're young, we know what's right, and this way we can take the missions no one else can. I mean, we all know McGonagall's in the Order, and all the other members are probably like her: people with jobs or families to tie them down. We're unattached, we're young, and this way we'll be able to spend all our time fighting!"
He was gravely serious – a sight that Remus was still getting used to. It seemed that, in the past six months, Remus had seen James in sombre moods more times he had over the entirety of their past six years of schooling. 'We're growing up,' he thought with dismay.
This year had made them all grow up – fast. Peter had lost his little sister at the start of the year. Death Eater attacks had increased; it went from occasional reports in the paper to weekly articles to an attack a day. The Daily Prophet now reserved the second page of the Saturday paper for obituaries dedicated to those who'd died at the hands of Voldemort. Sirius had watched his brother turn, in front of his eyes, from a Slytherin nobody into the next generation of Death Eater.
Perhaps the person who'd grown the most, though, was James. Sometime over the last summer holidays, James had realised that the way to win Lily over was to stop acting like a petulant child. It had been a shock to all when he came back for his seventh year, as Head Boy, and had calmly walked past Snape without so much as a snide comment. At first, the Marauder's had thought he was sickening for something; they changed their prognosis to 'someone's cast the imperius curse on him' when this behaviour didn't change.
Sirius had been heartbroken; his best friend had become mature.
Then his father had died over Christmas – natural causes, thank goodness. James had been devastated, but he'd borne the burden well. Sadly, that wasn't the end of it; his mother died a few months later. She'd been unwell long before his father passed away, so it hadn't been as much of a shock; all the same, it had made him grow up in ways that Remus could only imagine.
And as for Remus himself? Well, Remus supposed, he'd probably grown up the least of the Marauders, if only because he'd already been well aware of the unfairness of the world. Sure, he'd become smarter as he became older. His outlook had matured and he'd learnt to accept he'd never have a proper place in society. But he'd always known that his life after Hogwarts would be harsher and harder than those of his friends.
Remus couldn't deny the logic of James' plan. "I've got some money saved," Sirius said slowly. "It's enough for a small flat and to live off of, for a while anyway. I don't know how long it will last…"
"When that runs out, we can support you," James said confidently. Remus looked down to see James' hand intertwined with Lily's; he hadn't missed the "we" part of the statement.
"I assume you'll be living together?" Remus asked James and Lily dryly. "And not even married. What would your parents say?"
James shot Remus a look that clearly said "Shut up or you'll regret it", and the werewolf realised he may have put his foot in something.
"Like you can talk," Lily pointed out. "Where'll you be living, Remus?" Her tone was sweet, like she already knew the answer. She thought she did, but she'd be wrong. Remus and Sirius had yet to discuss what would happen after Hogwarts; Remus hadn't wanted to push things, instead choosing to remain in the rosy honey-moon period that was currently their relationship. Sirius hadn't brought it up either, and it had become an unspoken agreement that they lived in the now, and spent little time actually making plans for the future.
"He'll be with me, of course," Sirius said, taking Remus completely by surprise. He grabbed his hand. "Where else?" And Remus realised then that his 'unspoken agreement' had been completely in his head. Sirius, of course, had assumed that living arrangements after Hogwarts went without saying.
Perhaps the werewolf should have been annoyed that Sirius hadn't consulted him, but he knew that the animagus meant no harm. It was Sirius, after all. He'd probably just assumed that Remus would have no problem with it, and that was the matter sorted.
James cleared his throat. "Yes, quite," he said dryly. "But back onto the original topic of conversation. What do you think of my plan?"
Peter hadn't voiced an opinion yet, but he then took the opportunity to speak up. "I can live with my mum until she gets sick of me," he said. "She won't like what I'm doing, but she'll put me up for a while."
Remus knew that was the truth. Peter's mother really was a lovely person, even if the death of her daughter had unhinged her just a little bit.
"So it's sorted," James said, satisfied.
The other four nodded.
"Yeah, it's going to change," Remus said, entwining his fingers with Sirius'. "But we'll stay the same. We'll make sure of that."
Sirius looked at Remus and smiled. "Then I guess I don't mind so much."
AN: PLEASE READ THIS.
Usually I use the Author's Note to beg for reviews, but this time I'm going to ask you guys to do something else. If you liked this story, or if you didn't like this story but usually like my writing, and you live in the UK, go to alexdaymusicdotcom and listen to the music on the first video on there. If you like it, please buy it on iTunes BEFORE the 25th of December! It's the song that I wrote this fanfiction to and lots of us who follow Nerimon on youtube are trying to get to the Christmas number one in England. And, as extra incentive (if you need it) you can email me the receipt to (featheredxwings at hot mail dot co dot nz), and I'll write you a oneshot with a pairing and/or subject of your choice!
Thank you anyone who does this!