"Its something unpredictable, but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life."
June, 1977
For the first time in seven years, the Marauders stared at each other in complete silence.
They were seated around a table in the Three Broomsticks, other Hogwarts' students chatting and milling around them.
"This is it then," James finally said, looking around at them solemnly. "The real world. It starts tomorrow."
"How many NEWTS do you lot thing you'll get?" Peter asked. "My papers were okay, but question six in the last paper was –"
"Oh, shut up Wormtail. Stop worrying for once in your life," Sirius snapped, clearly annoyed.
They dropped again into the gloomy, uncomfortable silence, each boy looking at his butterbeer.
"Hullo!" a voice called to them, and they looked to see Frank Longbottom approaching.
Remus looked up. "Hello, Frank. Alright, mate?"
"Yeah, I'm good. You guys okay?"
The rest of them nodded.
"You looked stressed Remus. Anything wrong?" Frank asked.
A mischievous smile played on Sirius's lips. "Oh, you know, his furry little problem is springing up again."
Frank nodded seriously. "I heard about that. My cousin had this cat who used to claw curtains and stuff, but he sent him to this rehabilitation centre for pets and now he's practically an angel."
"Who, the cat or the cousin?" James cut in, and they all chuckled.
"But, honestly mate, I could get you the address and all. What's – what's your rabbit's name?"
"Moony," Sirius immediately replied, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"Well, good luck, and see you guys tomorrow." Frank waved and left.
"Careful, Remus," Sirius said in a grave voice, "or we'll get you sent off to bunny rehab."
They all burst into laughter.
"You will never stop this, will you?" Remus asked wearily.
"Not until the stars fall from the sky," Sirius declared, half rising from his chair to get across the drama of his statement.
"Not until the heavens are no more," James added, and he and Sirius childishly high-fived.
"Hi Sirius," a Ravenclaw girl said nervously, she and her friends stopping by their table.
"Hello," Sirius replied, "uh..."
"Beth," Remus muttered under his breath.
"Hello, Beth," Sirius repeated, giving her a half-smirk that he knew girls died for. "Great to see you again."
"I just wanted to thank you for helping me with my transfiguration last week," she said, her cheeks reddening slightly.
"Don't mention it," Sirius replied smoothly. "It was a pleasure to be of assistance."
"So then... Bye?" She went on uncertainly, as if hoping that Sirius would invite her to join him for a drink, and then walked away when he didn't.
"You have got to stop with the girls," James chided.
"You know Prongs, you were worse than him," Remus cut in.
"Before he fell in luuuurrvvve," Sirius sang.
"Hi Lily!" Peter piped up, and, sure enough, Lily Evans, accompanied by her best friend Marlene McKinnon, was coming towards their table.
Sirius proceeded to loudly hum something resembling a band march as the two approached.
"Shut it, Sirius," Marlene said, pulling out a chair beside him.
He grinned at her. "Good to see you too, Mar."
"As always. Mother did say my presence tends to brighten the room."
"It lights up the sky," Lily called from across the table.
"Brings peace and happiness," Peter added jokingly.
"Scares off innocent children?" Sirius offered.
Marlene sharply elbowed his side, laughing with all of them.
They talked and laughed for a while more before heading back to the castle, walking through the village of Hogsmeade for the last time.
Sirius led the group, walking alone in the front, while James and Lily brought up the rear, arm in arm.
It was quite odd how quickly the two of them had fallen together, Sirius thought, since till the winter Lily had claimed hatred for James. Now they hardly spent a minute apart. It worried Sirius. A small, selfish part took unnecessary notice of the fact that James was spending less time with his friends, but mostly it scared him that James was so incredibly in love with Lily, and he didn't want his friend to get hurt. He trusted and liked Lily, and honestly believed she wouldn't hurt James, but, in all seventeen years of life he'd learnt that love would lead to pain, one way or another.
They headed to the Great Hall for dinner, and then back up to the Griffindor common room, where a party was beginning to take shape.
"Everyone below fifth year, UP!" James bellowed, motioning to the staircases.
Several people groaned. "Why should we listen to you?" a fourth year boy demanded.
"Because I'm Head Boy, that's why," James answered. "And you wouldn't want to spend the last day of school in detention."
Slowly, helped by Lily and Remus, the younger students left, and Sirius and Marlene began setting out food and drinks on a table. They had gone all out and robbed the kitchens, as well as bribing Rosmerta from the Three Broomsticks to sell them Firewhiskey.
A wireless was blasting music and soon people began dancing. Sirius found himself the object of some subtle and some not-so-subtle attractions, and he found extracting himself difficult; at one point a fifth year was walking around with him, death grip on his arm.
He spotted Marlene and mouthed a call for help to her. She seem amused at his discomfort, but eventually strolled over to them.
"I'd like a word, Sirius," she said, looking pointedly at the fifth year, who glared at her.
"Coming Mar," Sirius responded cheerfully, pulling at his arm, and the girl finally let go.
"Why do you always get me to rescue you?" Marlene asked him as they walked away. "There's plenty of other people."
"You're the scariest person I know," Sirius informed her.
She raised her eyebrows, giving him a flat look.
"Like that face," he went on, motioning to her. "Anyone else would run screaming in the other direction."
Marlene swatted at his arm and then turned around, groaning. "Ugh. Most of your fanclub is staring at us. They think I'm gonna be your next shag."
Sirius smirked at her, leaning in. "Want to confirm their suspicions?"
Marlene looked at him evenly. "Want to lose an arm?"
He burst out laughing, making her roll her eyes, and they headed over to join the rest of their friends.
"You know Lils," Sirius said several hours later, after the party had broken down, looking sideways at the girl sprawled on the floor beside him, eyes half closed. "You're not so bad."
She smiled slightly. "Im so glad I passed your competency test."
"Seriously. You'd definitely make it to my top five picks for Prongs. Maybe not number one, but I can guarantee top five."
Lily sat up straighter and glared at him as he burst into laughter. Her face gradually softened into a smile and she gazed at James lying a few feet away, where he'd passed out after a round of tabletop dancing with Sirius.
"You love him, don't you?" Sirius said quietly, all joking gone from his voice.
"Yeah," she said, then turned to him. "Look, Sirius, I know how much you lot mean to him and I'd never try to come between that."
"I'm not worried about that," he told her. "Its just that I've watched that boy fall for you so hard for so long and I'm afraid he'll never recover if you left."
"I won't leave."
"Don't promise things you can't control. It never works out well." It was a quiet statement.
Lily looked at him worriedly. "Siriu-"
He stood up. "I've got to pack."
Giving Lily a small wave, he headed up the stairs to the dormitory, where he passed the sleeping bodies of Peter, and a little further away, Remus.
All his stuff was still lying on or around his bed, the opposite of the the three other completely packed trunks of his friends. With a sigh he collapsed onto his bed, massaging his forehead.
He didn't know where he was going from King's Cross the next day. He would rather die than turn up back at Grimmauld Place, after how blatantly he'd left the previous year. Of course, Mrs Potter had written him two very long letters, saying she absolutely expected him back for the summer. And yet, even after the Potters' fierce efforts to count him in as part of the family, there was still a part of him that that shirked away from that affection.
Sighing, Sirius closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.
The majority of Gryffindor tower was oblivious to the morning until Minerva McGonogall herself decided to aid the sun in awakening the students.
"Up!" she called, standing in the middle of the common room. "Up at once!"
Frank Longbottom squinted at her from across the room, then started once he realised who it was. One by one the students rose, descending from the stairs, standing up from the floor.
"Mr Filch tells me there has been an after hours party here, and he was stopped from investigating further because someone changed the password," Professor McGonogall's eyes rested on Sirius and Remus standing at the foot of the stairs. "furthermore, he tells me Firewhiskey was smuggled inside, and from the state of you, I cannot disagree with him. You will all march up to the hospital wing right now, where Madam Pomfrey will test you for alcohol. If you are guilty, you will be serving detention with me on the first of September instead of attending the feast."
A groan was heard throughout the body of students, though the seventh years exchanged triumphant smirks.
"Don't look so smug, Mr Potter, you and your fellows will also be travelling down here to serve my detention. If you want your NEWT result, that is. And Miss McKinnon," she added, glancing at Marlene, "please get yourself back to the Slytherin common room. I don't know why I always find you here."
"They don't party like the Gryffindors back where I'm from," Marlene said with an accent, giving Professor McGonogall a sheepish grin.
Everyone climbed back to their dormitories, getting their things completely ready to leave, then going down for breakfast, and to the hospital wing.
Dumbledore made his usual speech at the end of the feast, and then came time to leave.
Although he had no regard for romanticising stupid little things, Sirius couldn't help his eyes wandering over the familiar way the drapes fell around his bed, the walls that were still adorned with a calendar marking the full moon and pieces of parchment, the scuffed up door, with the gold nameplate reading 'The Marauders' in black lettering, hung up with a Permanent Sticking Charm. He wondered how long before Filch would give up trying to rip it up and just replace the door.
The seventh years were silent as they traipsed downstairs. It was one thing to be leaving Hogwarts, but to be doing so in such a dark time added a sense of grimness to the affair; none of them were sure of what they were walking into.
They said goodbye to the teachers, and to Hagrid, who walked them over to the carriages.
Once again they boarded the train, got into a compartment and sat down.
"Oh, cheer up, you lot," James finally said, breaking the silence. "We'll have the best summer in existence, and everything will be the same."
"Everything will be the same," Sirius echoed, gazing out at the fading landscape of Hogsmeade.