For my best friend. We're just ignoring the war and all the bad stuff in this story, to make more room for fluff.
"You guys are crazy," Sirius said. "We've got the whole world, and out of everywhere you're dragging me to Scotland, the one place where we've been all the time! I mean, we've finally finished school! I could have been in Aruba or Cuba or other places ending on 'uba'!"
"Do you ever stop whining?" James asked with a sigh.
"Yeah, if you wanted to be somewhere else so badly, then why are you here?" Remus said, grinning.
Sirius moaned dramatically. "I can't go there on my own, can I?"
"No. Then who would listen to your nagging and get ordered about like your slave?" Lily nodded.
"Maybe it would be easier to get the slave part somewhere else though," Remus mused.
"Don't know about that." Sirius gave him his killer smile and Remus rolled his eyes.
"So, where are we going to set up our tents?" Peter asked.
"Tired?" James teased.
"No, but it's getting dark. We don't want you to accidentally step off the mountain and fall into oblivion, do we?" Peter retorted.
"Hmm… Don't know about that. As long as it's James…" Sirius mused.
Lily poked him. "Be nice, boys. What about that spot over there? It looks a bit flatter. If we'd put our tent here, we'd all roll over to one side and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that."
"Me neither," Peter said.
"As long as we don't camp in the lake this time, I'm okay with everything," Remus said.
"Oh, come on, that was an accident!" Sirius said dramatically, while James was chuckling.
...
Setting up the tent went surprisingly smoothly, for a great part thanks to some good thinking from Lily's side.
Sirius' most useful contribution consisted of course of throwing himself on the ground in front of the tent when everything was in place. "Ugh, I'm looking forward to the civilised world."
"Oh, me too," James winked. "Apart rooms for every couple rather than all of us sleeping cosily together in a mosquito-infested tent. Suddenly I can see the appeal of civilisation."
Remus snorted. "Does anyone have an idea if we are allowed to make a fire here?"
James shrugged. "Who would notice?"
"The sheep?" Peter suggested.
"I'm sure they won't be bothered." Sirius jumped up and called down to the meadow at the foot of the hill. "Oy, sheep! Do you mind if we make a campfire up here?"
The sheep didn't answer.
"See, no objections. Go ahead, Moony!" Sirius said cheerfully.
Remus shook his head. "Well, then I need a volunteer to find some wood, and since you're already on your feet..."
Sirius moaned miserably. "No, not physical labour."
Remus gave him a genuinely surprised look. "First time I hear you complaining about getting physical with me."
...
After an evening filled with marshmallows that magically changed colour, they tried to go to bed early, since they still had a good walk before them to get to the train station in the morning. Of course they could easily apparate there, but from the start they had decided to do as many things as possible the Muggle way, just because it was fun for a short while not to use everything they had been learning for seven years. Remus and Lily made sure the others behaved during the ride to Edinburgh, and in the end, the only one who accidentally scared a little old lady was Remus, when he was eating a particularly agile chocolate frog.
Once they had arrived in Edinburgh, they all decided to break their rules just once, because no-one was extremely fond of the idea of getting their luggage in the bed and breakfast by foot, through the maze of little streets they had seen on the map. They apparated a street away from the B&B, and then still had difficulty finding it, so there was good reason to congratulate themselves on that decision.
They couldn't immediately find a bell, so James was all too pleased to make use of the old fashioned door knocker.
"Look how ugly it is," he said happily.
"Yeah, looks a bit like you if you ask me," Sirius nodded.
Their hostess opened the door and welcomed them enthusiastically. "Oh, I love getting young people over. You've rented all three of our rooms. Two double rooms and a single room, right?" she asked friendly.
"That's right," James nodded.
She handed them the keys and started showing them around to the breakfast hall and their rooms.
While they were walking through the corridors, Lily pulled Peter a little back from the others. "Are you sure you don't mind? We don't make you feel like the fifth wheel, do we? Because if you ever feel like that, please tell us, we really don't mean to-"
"It's alright," Peter laughed, making the worry disappear from her face. "Really, Lily. I'll enjoy the rest and freedom of a single room. I've slept in the same room as these boys for long enough. Besides, if I see someone I fancy in the city, I can just bring them along," he grinned.
...
As soon as she and James had settled in, Lily jumped into Sirus and Remus' room. The inhabitants were already making good use of the bed, snogging each other senseless.
"You two really don't let a moment get wasted, do you?" Lily asked with a giggle.
"Maybe you should have knocked," Remus mumbled from under Sirius.
"Come on, there's plenty of time for that." She waved at the two of them. "I want to go sightseeing."
"Then go sightseeing," Sirius shrugged, licking his lips to attack the tasty prey beneath him again.
"You also want to go sightseeing," Lily pointed out.
"Urgh."
"So we'll go sightseeing," she smiled.
"That may work on James, but we're not James," Sirius said.
Remus sighed. "She's got a point though."
"I am deeply disappointed in you, Mr. Moony. To have the most enchanting sight right above you and not acknowledge it… Deeply disappointed," Sirius nodded.
Remus pushed him off him. "Come on, pretty sight, put your shoes back on."
...
They spent a day exploring Edinburgh, ate in a pub and then discovered the World of Illusions, where they didn't stop giggling for the duration of four floors. It was always hilarious to see what Muggles called magic. Nevertheless, distorting mirrors were even funnier than a Riddikulus spell.
As they were on their way back to the B&B, they discovered a rather attractive cocktail bar, and in less than 30 seconds it was decided that they had to explore a little more of it.
"And a Death in the Afternoon for me," Sirius said, after Remus had simply ordered the first thing he found that was based on chocolate liqueur.
The girl taking their orders nodded and was off.
"Well, today was a success," Lily smiled.
"Would have been just as successful if you had just left us alone in our room," Sirius said haughtily, taking Remus' hand under the table.
"Oh, come on, Sirius. It won't hurt to admit that you had a great time somewhere else than in my arms," Remus sighed.
"So you're fine when you're not with me!" Sirius called out, his eyes big in shock.
"He was with you," James said, looking amused.
"That's not the point!"
"Padfoot, behave." Remus rolled his eyes.
"Right." Sirius looked up, let go of his hand and gave the boy behind the bar a radiant smile. Remus ignored him.
...
"What if the universe existed of lemons only?" Peter asked, sucking on the olive in his martini. He always got a little philosophical when he was drunk.
"Because lemons make perfect Christmas baubles. Everyone would get confused about the time of the year," Sirius said earnestly.
"But everyone would be a lemon," Peter pointed out.
"A confused lemon," James nodded.
Peter sighed dramatically. "What a sad world it would be."
"Well, it's not always sad to be confused," Remus said, earning himself a look from James and Sirius because he really seemed to take the philosophizing seriously.
Lily giggled.
"It's been ages since we had a food fight," Sirius said after he had emptied his glass. He sounded alarmingly thoughtful.
"There are lemons and limes behind the bar," James shrugged. "Almost nothing else. Wormy was right."
Peter looked horrified. "It's starting..." he whimpered.
Lily patted his shoulder. "You'll be alright," she soothed. "Don't be afraid of the lemons."
"Not so sure of that," Remus sighed with a wince as Sirius enthusiastically jumped up from his chair.
"Oh dear, I've inspired him," James said cheerfully as he followed his friend.
Lily lifted her handbag to take out her camera and Remus groaned. "You're encouraging them."
"They're going to do what has popped up in their tiny brains anyway. Better make sure they never forget," Lily grinned.
"Idiots," Remus muttered.
James and Sirius were talking to the boy behind the bar now, who frowned and shook his head. When he turned away to get back to work, Remus saw that his two friends were whispering conspiratorially. A moment later, James "subtly" took his wand out of his pocket. The basket of lemons on the counter flew towards him and he grinned triumphantly.
"Hey, you can't keep them all to yourself!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Of course not!" James threw one of the lemons against Sirius' head.
"Ow! You bastard!" Sirius ran after him and threw the lemon against his back.
Soon they had evolved into a fierce lemon battle on the way back to their table. As Sirius threw one to Remus to get his attention, the other boy simply caught it and put it on the table.
"But Moooony! You're no fun!" Sirius complained, throwing another one against Remus' shoulder.
Remus sighed, picked it up and threw it back. Sirius looked as happy as a puppy whose owner finally wanted to play with him. And was hit on the back of his head by James' lemon.
"Hahaa, you're so losing, Black!" James sang.
"Don't target heads!" Sirius complained, stroking his hair before he launched three other lemons at James.
"Yeah, he's crazy enough as it is!" Remus grinned, earning himself another lemon hit, including a few drops of juice because the poor piece of fruit had already gotten battered on the field.
Peter just sat watching sleepily and Lily now and then dodged a lemon from James.
The girl who had brought them their drinks came by and unhappily looked at the floor.
"Gentlemen, can you stop this?" she asked.
James turned around at her and Sirius was only just in time to catch his wrist and keep him from throwing a lost lime at her, thinking she was one of them.
"Excuse them," Lily said. "They just don't know how to behave. I promise they will clean everything up and you won't even see that anything happened here. And we'll pay for the lemons of course."
"You'd better make it so, or we'll have to throw you out," the girl said sullenly, before returning to the bar.
"Now bring them back the lemons," Lily said sternly to Sirius, "and you clean up the mess," she told James.
"Alright," Sirius pouted, stealing a quick kiss from Remus before he obeyed.
James sighed and gave a bored flick with his wand. "Oops," he giggled as Peter slowly touched his upper lip and found a brand new blond moustache.
"Oh dear," Lily sighed. "I just have to do everything myself, don't I?" She solved Peter's hairy little problem and then quickly cleaned the floor and walls where they had fallen victim to the lemon fight.
"Cleaning spells are difficult when you're drunk!" James complained.
Remus was still giggling at the sight of Peter with a moustache. "You've missed something!" he told Sirius when he was back.
"Yes, you." Sirius gave him soppy eyes and tried to sit down on Remus' lap.
"Not here," Remus hissed, pushing him off and feeling a little more flustered than he cared to admit.
"Shall I order another round of drinks?" James asked.
"Yeah, but the last one," Lily said. "Some of us have had enough." She gave Peter a thoughtful look as he ordered another daiquiri.
"Don't mind Peter. He was never able to hold his liquor," Sirius shrugged.
"Yeah, and you aren't drunk at all, right?" Remus asked, looking amused.
"But I've drunk twice as much as he!" Sirius said.
"Yeah, be proud of it, Pads." Lily rolled her eyes and joined James to help him carry the drinks.
…
Remus woke up happily, his nose against the soft skin of Sirius' shoulder and both his arms around him. The other boy was still dead to the world. No wonder with everything he had drunk. Remus snuggled closer.
"Ungh."
Ah, the sound of a hungover Sirius returning to wakefulness.
"Uurrrh." The creature rubbed its face, then blinked and winced. "Wha' the hell happened?"
Remus smiled. "Good morning."
Sirius frowned and was processing something for the next few seconds. "… And where are my pants?"
Remus grinned innocently - something that never really worked. "I dunno. Do you need them?"
Sirius pondered on this for a moment. "S'ppose not?"
"Good." Remus pulled him closer for a kiss.
"My Moony," Sirius mumbled happily.
"All yours." Remus tangled his hands in the long dark curls and rolled on top of him.
…
"Well, you're late," Lily grinned at them when they finally entered the breakfast room.
"Huhmmf," Sirius answered.
"Good morning to you too," James smiled, "as far as we can still speak of morning of course."
"Oh, it was quite fun that you all gave us the opportunity for a romantic breakfast on our own," Lily said. "Peter is also still in his room."
Sirius wasn't sure his head could handle all of her cheerfulness right now. He and Remus sat down and Remus took a cold piece of toast.
"What are we going to do today?" Lily asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Want to eat first."
"I don't think I was asking you," Lily said. "Your answer is always the same." She glanced at Remus, who smiled.
"How about Arthur's seat?" he proposed.
Sirius' eyes went wide. "I am not going to be active."
"Threw too many lemons?" James asked.
Sirius nodded and laid his head on Remus' shoulder to show how tired he was.
Peter entered the room with a big yawn. "Morning guys."
"Ah, if it isn't Mr. I-Could-Bring-Anyone-To-My-Room-If-Only-They'd-Und erstand-My-Drunk-Snoring," Lily grinned.
"Shut up," Peter mumbled, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"We were just discussing our plans for today," Lily said.
"How about we just walk around and see what we'd like to do?" James suggested.
"Sounds good," Remus nodded.
"But no more cocktail bars, right?" Sirius asked from against his shoulder.
"No more cocktail bars," James promised.
Only the next evening, Sirius had completely forgotten his hangover and all he remembered were the lemons. Somehow he could convince all of them to return to the bar.