Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or other nice things created by J.K. Rowling, I'm just playing around with her stuff.

June, 1977

The Seventh Year graduation ceremony had been rather a suppressed affair given the circumstances. The eldest students in the school were leaving, that was true, but they were entering into a world in the midst of war. Voldemort and his supporters had been escalating their reign of terror over the Ministry, striking at half-blood and Muggle-born families, and the forboding glimpse of the Dark Mark was becoming an all-too familiar sight for many. Even the Ministry wasn't safe from the dark tendrils of Death Eater influence - the Prophet had broken the story a few weeks ago that dozens of mid-level employees had been discovered under the thrall of the Imperius curse. As paranoia gripped the wizarding world, it was difficult to think about one's future.

At least that was the way it seemed to Remus Lupin as he sat through an uncharacteristically long-winded speech from the unofficial, but undisputed, leader of free wizard Britain. Dumbledore's normally bright purple robes seemed to be a deeper, duller colour than normal, whether to lend some gravitas to the proceedings or due to a darker mood, Remus couldn't be sure. Either way the buzzwords of today's lecture appeared to be 'responsibility', 'preparation', and 'vigilance'. He didn't doubt that many of the students gathered there today knew the reality of the world outside the castle walls, but he was feeling it fresher than most.

He closed his eyes briefly to block out the smokey, flaming images that filled his mind, before forcing them open again. It would not do to dwell on that just now. Peter was giving him a slightly concerned look from the seat next to him, at which Remus shrugged and gave a wan smile. He hadn't yet told his friends about the grisly fate that had awaited him when he'd returned home at Easter earlier that year.

He suppressed a shudder and looked around the cavernous room they were sat in. The house tables that normally occupied the Great Hall had been vanished somewhere, and the benches re-arranged in long rows that faced the space normally filled with the teacher's table, now featuring Professor Dumbledore stood behind a lecturn. The big area at the back of the hall was full of more rows of seats, the back few levitating slightly to provide all of the family and friends a good view. The house colours on the walls had been replaced with the bright Hogwarts crest on black relief. He couldn't tell whether that was standard fare for Hogwart's graduation, or whether Dumbledore was trying to force a little bit of unity on them at the last minute.

Remus felt that he was more than united enough. His friends were gathered around him, even if they were a few seats away. James was leaning casually against Lily's seat, whispering something into her ear that was either hilarious or highly inappropriate, judging by the blush of pink in her cheeks. He'd seen the Potters sat down when he walked in, practically beaming at their only son, even if Mrs. Potter was looking a little frailer than the last time he'd spoken to her. Sirius was sat somewhere behind him, earnestly chatting away at Cathy Midgeon, a pretty Ravenclaw who he'd apparently decided was the only girl in the year that he hadn't attempted to hit on at least once. At least not as far as he could remember.

Peter had walked in with him, a little lost as to what he was supposed to be doing, as ever. Remus had instructed him to sit down, shut up, and stop fidgeting. His friend had managed to follow the instructions with a great pain, sat frozen and hunched over like some kind of petrified woodland animal. Or, indeed, like a trapped rat. He'd certainly dressed up for the occasion; he'd left his school robes crumpled up in the bottom of his trunk after they'd finished exams, and forgotten all about them. The subsequent attempt to iron them this morning had left a rather obvious singe mark on his cuff that Remus had tried not to laugh at too obviously. Much as Peter enjoyed laughing with them, he didn't much like being laughed at...

There were other, less savory, characters around the Great Hall. Remus was loathe to discover that he was only a few seats away from Snape, who was looking as slimy as ever, though he was very careful to keep a neutral face. The greasy git seemed to have his attention fixed on the headmaster, but Remus noticed his eyes darting around the room half a dozen times, always seeming to end up on Lily. Not that, that was particularly surprising, he had just assumed that Snape must have given up on his lost cause by now. He was sat next to an equally sinister character Broderick Avery, eyes as sharp and wicked as any Remus had ever seen.

Together they had been the current leaders of the little band of junior Death Eaters that Lucius Malfoy had left behind in their first year. Spiteful, clever, and violent, the group had tormented Muggle-borns and 'blood traitors' any chance they'd had. What was worse was that as the war had continued and intensified, their ranks had swelled and their knowledge of the dark arts had increased. As much as it was a warzone outside of the castle, Remus had often found himself clashing wands with the group of black-cloaked menaces in defence of younger students. The rest of the time he liked to keep his head down, leaving the broader heroics to James and Sirius.

Of course his thoughts were not completely occupied with his forthcoming graduation, the problems of the wizarding world, and the grisly scene that had been seared onto his retinas. No, part of his mind was dwelling on the immaculately presented piece of folded parchment that was sat in the upper pocket that Remus had stitched into his robe in third year. Red ink in that curiously slanted writing that he had come to know so well, embossed on thick, yellowy parchment that had to be worth a few sickles on their own. It could have been a slightly flashier version of the letter that he'd received seven years ago, telling him that Hogwarts would offer him a position, despite his 'condition'. It could have been, except for the seal on the red blob of wax that kept the note closed. It was not the Hogwarts crest, as it had been seven years ago, but a flaming phoenix in flight.

Remus was well aware what that seal signified, and what would be asked of him in that spidery scrawl that he was so familiar with. The letter remained unopened in his pocket.

'Having said that, I hope that your time here will remain an abidingly happy memory for you in the years to come, a silver beacon of good cheer to buoy your spirits when the aches and pains of the world wear upon you,' Dumbledore said, his speech apparently coming to some kind of close 'I, and the rest of the staff, take an immense amount of pride in congratulating you on your graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And remember - there will always be help here for those that need it,'

Applause sprung up from around the hall from parents, teachers, and students. Dumbledore's eyes roamed over the seats, the bright blue twinkle seeming to bore into Remus' skull in a way that was quite uncomfortable. Off to his left, by the great double doors, he noticed McGonagall looking slightly red-eyed as she clapped, although you wouldn't have been able to tell from the stiff way she stood. James, Sirius, Peter and himself had become some of the forboding Transfiguration teacher's favourite pupils over the years, although he couldn't quite place the reasoning for it. An encounter with her seemed just as likely to lose the house points as it was to gain them.

Dumbledore unfurled a large scroll that had been sitting idle on the podium in front of him, and began to call up the graduating students. Avery, Broderick was summoned to the front of the Great Hall, where the aged professor conjured up an embossed certificate from thin air and handed it to the young man. Dumbledore shook the young Death Eater's hand and said something quietly enough that it wouldn't carry to the rest of the hall, fixing him with those penetrating eyes.

The proceedings continued much the same way for a while and Remus felt himself slowly nodding off. It wasn't that his attention span was that short, but it was quite warm in the hall and he didn't really care about Foyle, Horatio, having not spoken to him once over the seven years they'd gone to school together. Now did not seem the time to start. He did notice Snape's weaselly little eyes light up when Lily's name was read out, and the Slytherin boy watched her get up with a hungry gaze. The only other highlight in the monotonous meeting was watching Sirius saunter up to the podium, completely ignore the parchment and embracing Dumbledore in a bear-hug that lifted the Supreme Mugwump off of his feet. Funnily enough, the old man spent longer talking to him than to anyone else.

And, not soon enough for Remus, his name was called. He stood up and awkwardly shuffled out of his row and walked to the front of the hall, tracked by the eyes of everyone in the room. He was thoroughly aware of how loud his shoes were as they landed on the floor, how threadbare his robes were compared to some of the wealthier students, the beads of sweat forming around his brow. A lifetime of hiding and protecting his...'furry little secret' had left him with an instinctual desire to avoid the limelight if possible.

Dumbledore's bright blue eyes locked with his light brown ones long before he'd actually reached the podium, boring into his skull. Remus took the certificate from his professor with his left hand, and grasped the older man's hand with his right.

'Congratulations Mister Lupin,' Dumbledore said, eyes sparkling 'You've completely justified my faith in you, and your ability to thrive within these halls. Let the cheeks of those who ever doubted you burn in shame,'

Remus gave a weak smile. It had taken a while to get used to the professor's...unique sense of humour, but the monthly post-transformation meetings had given him enough opportunity to get used to it. Dumbledore had been shaking his hand for an almost uncomfortably long time now.

'T-thank you professor,' he stammered. Dumbledore nodded, looking thoughtful for a second, before asking a question that he clearly already knew the answer to.

'You've not looked at my proposition yet, though, have you?' the aged teacher said.

'I think I know what it's going to say. Sir,' Remus said, remembering at the last minute who he was talking to 'But I will think about it,'

'See that you do, Mister Lupin,' Dumbledore said, the smile returning to his face 'I'd hate if I were not able to reap the rewards of my investment,'

As he walked back towards his seat, Dumbledore's words weighed down on his shoulders almost as heavily as the letter in his pocket.

The Seventh year Gryffindors had decided that their last night in school should be celebrated through the medium of dance, drink, and music. Lesser folk would have called it a party, and to Remus it did indeed share some of the characteristics of a party. However, as a founding member of the Marauders, he knew that this wasn't a real party. A real party was the Long Valentine's Weekend debacle, which had come together out of Sirius' newfound legal ability to buy alcohol, Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday, and James finally getting together with Lily. A skipped lesson and three full days of drinking later, Remus wasn't entirely sure of his name, let alone what he had done.

In comparison, this was more of a soiree. The Sixth years had joined them for a light beverage, and Remus had turned off his patented 'Prefect Glare', so he couldn't possibly have noticed that some of the Fifth years were having a drink too. Talk turned, perhaps inevitably, to their glory days. James and Sirius had gotten their brooms out inside and were re-enacting their famous two year old Quidditch victory against Slytherin. Sirius was doing this whilst drinking Butterbeer from the bottle. Remus supposed that this was impressive.

Remus, Peter, Lily, and Mary MacDonald had moved the comfy armchairs into a ring around the fireplace, and Peter was regaling them with his ferocious stand against Mulciber in their Fourth year.

'And then I tied his trousers round his ankles and he fell right into the puddle!' he shouted to laughter from the assorted crowd. Remus put on a faux-thoughtful face.

'I thought it was Sirius that did the trouser thing,' he said 'And you did the stinging hex,'

'Ah, no, Sirius was with you and James doing crowd control,' Peter said, nodding sagely.

'By crowd control do you mean me dragging Snivellus through the mud by his greasy hair?' Remus said with a grin. The group laughed again, though Lily tried to look disapproving. Her defence and affection of the Slytherin boy had lost some of their edge after she and James had caught him cursing first years on their prefect rounds a couple of months ago. It was all that James could do not to say 'I told you so'. Instead he and Sirius had constructed a three verse song to get the message across, and performed it in front of the entire common room.

'Hey, who's story is this?' Peter asked with a smirk.

'Yours, of course, quite right,' Remus said, giving a small smile then sinking back into the soft comfort of his armchair, taking a long sip of the Firewhiskey that they'd liberated from the kitchens. They'd found a box of Ogden's finest boxed up in a suspiciously obvious location, which had led Remus to speculate that this might be the teachers' unofficial farewell gift.

Peter puffed up his chest a bit and started carrying on his conversation, eyes darting to Mary quite often. Remus didn't roll his eyes, but it took a lot of effort and focus on his part. Peter wouldn't dare flit with Lily, James would rip his testicles off, but it seemed like her friends weren't out of bounds. Not that Mary seemed particularly interested. He was uncomfortably aware that her eyes kept roving over towards his chair instead, and some of the redness in his cheeks was not entirely due to the large quantity of alcohol in his belly.

Lily seemed to be thinking somewhere along the same lines.

'Peter, I think James and Sirius want a word,' she said gesturing vaguely over towards what had degenerated from a Quidditch match into a wrestling match of some kind. Peter tried valiantly to look like she hadn't made his day and went to join the oblivious boys.

'Mary, can you get me another drink?' Lily said, turning to her friend.

'Get it yourself!' Mary exclaimed with a slight Scottish lilt that never failed to raise a couple of hairs on his arm pleasurably. Something about that accent in a pretty young woman who was well aware of the effect she had on men...

'Pleaaaaase,' Lily asked, fluttering green eyes 'You know how I am when I've just got comfy. And I did just rid you of a pest...'

Mary made a noise that could only be described as 'hmph' and moved towards the spell altered trunk that was keeping the Butterbeers warm, her skirt fluttering past Remus' shoulder as she did. He knew that Lily was now staring intently at him and refused to give the satisfaction of dancing along to her tune.

But, the eyes were almost as potent as Dumbledore's, and he felt his resolve cracking.

'You shouldn't call Peter a pest,' he said settling on a mildly rebuking tone 'He's a good friend,'

'Well, obviously,' Lily said, rolling her eyes 'You know that. And I know that. But to Mary he's just this pudgy little guy who stares at her chest a bit longer than he should,'

'I wasn't aware that there was set time limit for that kind of thing,' Remus fired off on instinct, before silently cursing himself. Never give Evans an in...

'I'm sure there wouldn't be for you,' she said with a grin as her bookish friend played into her fiendish trap 'But then, Mary's always liked a man with scars...'

Remus frowned. Lily must have had a little more to drink that he'd thought; she would never have normally come out with something quite so forward as that. Or something with the probability for offending someone quite so much. Luckily for her, or perhaps she was fully aware of it, Remus had no real issue with the ragged scars that covered his face. Quite apart from the fact that he could barely remember getting them, there were other, more wearing side effects of his weekly transformation. Besides, as Lily had said, scars attracted a certain kind of girl. Although Mary MacDonald had never struck him as the type to be wowed by such things.

'Imagine how she'd feel if she knew I turned into a wolf every month. She'd be putty in my hands,' he said wryly. Lily rolled her eyes.

'Whereas the self pity act is where you really make a good impression,' she said 'Listen, Remus, I'm not asking you to marry the girl, just try talking to her. You're always so closed off! We reckon that-'

'Ah, so there's a we involve in this little plan?' Remus said, trying to hide his irritation with an injection of humour.

'It's a royal we,' Lily said, waving her hands abstractly.

'You and James?' he said carefully.

'And Sirius,' Lily admitted.

'Oh good,' Remus huffed 'So all of my friends think that I can't handle my own life,'

'It's not quite like that!' the Head Girl protested 'We just reckon that you're so scared of people finding out about the...ah...the fluffy little problem that you won't act on anything,'

'I'm not scared about them finding out,' he hissed 'I'm scared about them getting hurt. I'm a dangerous person Lily, and not just because I occasionally grow fangs. One thing that no-ones disagreeing with You-Know-Who about is that half-breeds are a dangerous blight on society. It won't be long before the mob picks up their trusty torch and pitchfork and decides to show us a lesson. Convincing a girl into throwing herself at me is not going to change that, and is going to get her hurt,'

There was silence between the two of them for a second, tense and uncomfortable. Remus took an angry sip of his Firewhiskey, taking slightly too much and burning his throat. He winced a little and sunk deeper into the armchair, as if he could hide out there for a while.

Lily broke the silence first.

'You know, she really didn't take any convincing,' she said brightly. Remus eyed her warily. 'Life's for living, Remus. There's no point locking yourself away just because some people take issue with what you are. That's letting them win, isn't it?'

'You and your damn relentless logic,' Remus muttered, not without a smile. Lily smiled and stood up as Mary came over.

'Thanks for the drink,' she said 'I'm going to find James,'

Mary glared at her as she sauntered off across the common room to find her boyfriend. She slumped down in the chair next to Remus.

'She could have bloody well got that drink herself!' she said. Remus tried very hard not to smile, and look vaguely sympathetic.

'She could well have done,' he said, unable to hide a smirk. Mary threw one of the plump, red Gryffindor cushions at him.

'Shut up,' she said 'I swear her and Potter are joined at the hip,'

'I think it's the pelvis,' Remus offered, before remembering who he was talking to and turning a bright red. He and Sirius had decided on that one together, and made sure that James was aware of it every second of every day. The alcohol was loosening his tongue and he cursed himself for it. He really needed to have a better control over himself. Mary merely raised a perfect eyebrow and smirked at him.

'I think you might be right,' she said, curling up in the armchair she'd settled in 'You know Remus, I'm not sure we've ever really had a proper conversation before. Just you and me,'

He considered it for a few seconds. Really he should politely change the subject and find something less...flirtatious to talk about. But then, Mary was particularly pretty tonight. Perhaps it was what Lily had said, or perhaps it was the warmth of the Firewhiskey in his throat. Or perhaps it was the fact that he was tired of constantly holding himself back from the world.

Remus smiled.

'Well, that's something we'll just have to change, isn't it?' he said softly.

It was a good night.

'Moony? Moony are you awake?'

The loud voice pierced the warm, contented darkness of his sleep and he winced. This had happened before. The best course of action was simply to keep your eyes shut and pretend you were in such a deep sleep that nothing short of a jet of cold water to the face would wake you up.

'Moony, I know you're awake. Your face is doing that funny crinkling thing you do when you're trying to pretend you're asleep,'

'Fuck off, Padfoot,' Remus muttered sleepily.

'Aha! I knew it! Come one, get up,' Sirius said, poking his friend in the forehead with his wand. Remus flinched and tried to swat it away.

'I've got to say, when I came looking for you I wasn't expecting this,' Sirius said in that way that was obviously trying to get a rise out of him 'I didn't know you had it in you mate! Congratulations are in order,'

When Sirius Black started congratulating you for something you weren't aware you'd done, it was time to wake up and situate yourself. Brown eyes flicked open, and immediately winced shut again. The light in the Gryffindor common room was low, but it was enough to send spikes of pain directly into his skull. He must have had more to drink than he remembered. Or, possibly, kept drinking after his memory had stopped.

Fully committing to being awake now, Remus could feel a warm weight on his chest. His bare chest. Looking down he could see Mary MacDonald's sleeping form curled against him, her head resting peacefully above his heavily thumping heart. Mercifully the Scottish girl appeared to still be dressed, though he wasn't able to actually move her as he searched around desperately for the shirt that had apparently been pulled off him earlier in the night. It was not helped by Sirius snickering at him.

'Are you going to help me, or are you going to stand there being the world's least useful flea colony?' Remus hissed, utterly mortified.

'Hey, remember that time that McGonagall just 'happened' to find me trying to get Henrietta Spinnet into the Room of Requirement?'

'That was last week,'

'Consider this payment,' Sirius said with an evil smirk, holding aloft both his friend's shirt and the girl's bra. Remus spluttered, then remembered that it was probably best Mary didn't wake up right about now.

'How did you-?' he asked, his voice as menacing as possible whilst affecting a stage whisper. Sirius shrugged, as though butter wouldn't melt in his evil, Pureblood mouth, although he wasn't able to drop the dopey smirk.

'Let's just say, when I found you, neither of you were wearing as much...although I did have to break through a couple of privacy charms,' Sirius admitted.

'Wouldn't it have been easier to just leave us there until people found us in the morning?' Remus said wearily.

'Yes, but this way you know that you were the one besmirching this poor girl's honour, and I saved both of your reputations. And I've scattered various items of clothing around the common room. It's delicious! So not only do I have blackmail for future us, you actually owe me one! It's brilliant, even if I do say so myself. Plus, now you're awake, and you can get up,' Sirius said, almost bouncing with glee as he explained his warped thinking. Remus had to admit that his friend had a point.

Carefully, the young werewolf eased the sleeping girl's head off of his chest and rolled out from underneath her, landing on the floor quietly, if not gracefully. He stood up, snatching his shirt off of Sirius and tried to make himself look somehow respectable.

'Where's Prongs?' he asked, pulling on the one sock that he could find. Sirius shrugged.

'I think Lily took him upstairs to polish his Head Boy's badge,' he said, nodding sagely. Remus managed to avoid rolling his eyes.

'I see,' he said 'Well, what do you want then?'

Sirius grabbed the two broomsticks that he and James and been frolicking on earlier and threw one of them to Remus, who caught it deftly in one hand. Flying had never really been one of his strong suits, but it wasn't like he didn't know how to use a broom. It was just that he preferred that his feet stayed on the ground at all times, like nature had intended.

'It's our last night in Hogwarts, and I intend to do something that I've never gotten around to until now,' Sirius said, eyes ominously bright.

Remus resigned himself to following his friend as he bounded up the spiral staircase to their room at the top of Gryffindor tower, reasoning that at the very least he might be able to save the castle from burning down. They reached their room, and snuck in quietly, doing their best to ignore James' bed, the curtains of which were drawn shut and completely still. And silent. And obviously not charmed to cover up illicit activity.

Sirius moved over to the window and unlocked it, pushing it open to let the cool night's air in. And then, without a word or a look back at Remus, jumped out of the window. Before his reasonable brain checked him, Remus' heart leapt into his mouth - Sirius was an idiot at times, but never suicidal. Then the memory of the broom kicked in and he couldn't help but feel rather embarrassed at his almost overt display of concern. Covering it, he hurried over to the open window and hopped out on his broom, rising gently through the sky outside the tower to where his friend was waiting.

Wordlessly they both flew up the last few feet to the very top of Gryffindor Tower, and landed on the very edge of the top turret. The view was breath-taking. It was getting towards a full moon, as Remus was so painfully aware, and that silver light illuminated the whole of the Hogwarts grounds. He could see the black water rippling on the Great Lake, something stirring in the shallows that had to be the giant squid. Behind it, ominous as it ever was, was the Forbidden Forest - home to some of the more dangerous misadventures the Marauders had ever perpetuated. Spiders, centaurs, and...others. It was a place to be avoided.

And, perhaps inevitably, Remus felt his eyes being dragged towards the Whomping Willow. The branches were waving in the light breeze, though perhaps a little quicker, and a little more fluidly than a tree ever had a right to. It reminded him of the picture of a hyrda he had seen in the advanced DADA textbook, all waving, snakelike heads that could snap at him at any moment. And all in that eery, bone white. Perhaps it was more a skeletal hand.

It was there for him, that blot on the Hogwarts landscape. There so he could hide himself away from innocent people and protect him from the monster inside himself. He had tainted this perfect place, just a little bit, in order to come to school and make friends his own age. Selfish? A little. Maybe more than a little.

But it was still a nice view.

Sirius had produced a bottle of something from somewhere on his person - a habit he seemed to have developed this past year. Remus took it with a nod of satisfaction and pulled the cork out, taking a sip. Bitter, with a kick that fought and burnt it's way down his throat. He considered it for a second before taking another sip and passing it back.

'Padfoot, this is one of your better ideas,' he admitted quietly, watching the stars glittering silently across the sky.

'I don't know why I never thought of it before,' Sirius murmured, almost to himself 'Although, I suppose this is fitting on our last night. Looking over our domain,'

They were silent for a few more seconds.

'Well, we're moving out into the world now,' Remus said, with a cheer he didn't feel 'Know what you're planning to do yet?'

Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment identical to the one burning a hole inside Remus' robes. Although this one had been ripped open and read thoroughly. And someone had apparently managed to spill coffee over it at one point.

'This is what I'm doing,' he said, waving the parchment in front of Remus' face, before frowning 'Wait, you got one too right? James said he was sending them out to everyone,'

Remus nodded slowly and pulled his letter out of his pocket 'Yeah, I got one too,'

His friend frowned.

'I see why you're so glum about it Moony, old boy! You've forgotten to open it! It's one of the key aspects of any important piece of postage, it must be-'

'I know exactly what it is,' Remus interjected quietly 'I just...If I accept this invitation then it's pretty much guaranteeing that I don't get to have a normal life. I mean, it seems an awful lot like declaring war, what Dumbledore's planning. Don't get me wrong, I think he's got the right idea. Just...not for me maybe. I'd rather just find a nice little cottage somewhere, get a collection of books going, and sit this whole thing out. I'm not like you and Prongs, I don't get off on playing super secret agent hero,'

'Ha! You really think that you have a choice in the matter?' Sirius said, letting out his bark of a laugh 'This whole thing's been bubbling about open war for a while anyway. The intimidation, the disappearances, the Dark Mark. You think Voldemort will stay away from you because you elect to 'stay out of it'? Get real Moony. He and his band of inbreds will be after you one way or another. Half-bood, half-breed, what does it matter? You have less of a choice in this than I do mate, which is saying something considering cousin Bellatrix's opinion on me,'

'That's hardly fair,' Remus snorted.

'You said it. I think she's got some kind of crush on me. One of those Black 'keeping it in the family' things,' he said, wiggling his eyebrows up into his hair.

'I suppose your animal magnetism has to work on something other than the Hogsmede strays,' Remus muttered.

'Yeah, well, that's the other reason they want to take me out - I could convert the entire witching population of Britain with a twitch of my hips. Yeah, old Snake-face has us trapped in a corner alright. I plan to go out swinging though,' Sirius said, his face turning unusually earnest for a second or two, before adopting his usual smirk.

'Padfoot old friend, we really need to cut down your intake of Muggle films. It's starting to mess with your sense of reality,' Remus said, then saw the look in his friend's eye 'Well maybe it was pretty warped already,'

'So, you in?' Sirius asked, offering the bottle like a personal reward for some kind of commitment. Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed the foul drink.

'Was there ever any doubt? I'm in this with you and Prongs for the long haul Padfoot. Wormtail is too,' he said and took a long burning gulp of the drink 'What is this anyway?'

'Dunno, found it in Filch's cupboard,' the heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black said, with a trademark shrug 'To your health Moony,'

'Well, we've got something new to toast now, old friend. To the Order of the Phoenix,'

'To the Order of the Phoenix,'

AN: So I've started another, more refined version of a story I tried and cocked up years ago. Please review if you have the time and inclination, but try and keep it constructive if you can. At the same time - please point out spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Nothing annoys me more than looking through old work and finding it's been published with mistakes.