James and Sirius sat at a table in the Gryffindor common room with their heads bent down at the parchment before them as they lazily finished their essays. James finished his conclusion and lied back in his chair, staring out of the window showing a rainy night.
The common room was full of other students in a variety of age working on homework. Some fifth-year girls were at the edge of tears as they tried to study for their upcoming O.W.L.s while some seventh-years merely gave up for the night and talked in order to try to calm down for their own exams and ease their nerves. The fireplace roared with light and warmth to ward off the cold and misery of the rain.
Sirius finished not long after James and let is parchment dry before rolling it up. He relaxed in his wooden chair and was oblivious of the first-year girls goggling at his handsome features.
"Well, that's Potions finished." James said, getting Sirius' attention. "We can probably tackle Charms tomorrow."
"Sounds about right." Sirius said and glanced at his watch. "Or, it's only thirty after nine. You fancy trying to get the introduction done tonight?"
"Nah," James said with a shake of his messy-haired head. "It'll be easier just to start tomorrow. I'm gonna head for the showers and then go to bed."
"Alright." Sirius said and leaned his chair back on its back two legs and rested his neck on his folded hands. "See ya later, then."
James gave a nod and went off to prepare for bed. Alone and at peace, Sirius observed the common room, rather bored and sleepy. His other friends, Remus and Peter, were gone. Lupin's mother "was sick" again and he left the day before and Peter was in the library, trying to catch up on work. James and Sirius didn't need books to do well and so they had stayed in the common room to work.
As time went by and a few students went off to bed, Sirius noticed a red-headed girl knelt down by the fireplace. He recognized her at once as Lily Evans, the girl that always hung out with the slime-ball from Slytherin. He noticed her holding a letter that must have come during evening post, and she was staring at it, or it looked like it, for her back was towards Sirius.
The third-year boy got up and walked over to see hat Lily was doing. As he got closer, he could tell that she was staring at the letter with the most saddened face and he caught her throwing it into the fire and was able to catch a few words before the letter shriveled up into ashes.
"Freak… please don't even come home… sincerely Petunia…"
"Who's Petunia?" Sirius asked.
Lily turned her head to look at who was talking to her and her eyes flashed in dislike. "None of your business, Black." She snapped at him and then turned back to the fireplace to watch the letter burn and the wood crackle.
Sirius took a step closer, testing his boundaries, and felt sorry for Lily. They may not be best friends, but he knew that she was a really nice witch and she didn't deserve to have such harsh words thrown at her.
"Common, Evans." He said softly. "What's up?"
"I said leave it!" Lily yelled at him, not turning again to face him. "Just go away!"
As angry she tried to sound, Sirius could tell that she was choking on tears. He carefully sat down on the rug and scooted closer to her, just so he was seating behind her. He sat still for a few minutes, and when Lily didn't yell at him or threaten to hex him, he scooted a little closer; he could almost touch Lily with his crossed legs.
Ages past and Sirius slowly worked his way to be on Lily's right and sit by the fire with her. She didn't acknowledge his presence at all and he glanced at her occasionally. When he thought it was worth the risk, Sirius asked cautiously,
"Was that Petunia girl your cousin or something?"
Lily shook her head. He would figure it out on his own soon, Sirius wasn't stupid, so Lily said quietly, "She's my sister."
"Oh." Sirius said and looked into the fire.
He knew that it was like to have a family member or two who hated you with every being in their body. His whole family was pure-bloods and had always been in Slytherin House when Sorted, all except for Sirius, who had always been the black sheep of his family. His parents were extremely mad at him and favored his little brother much more than him.
"I'm a Muggle-born." Lily admitted out of nowhere; it seemed like she needed to get this out, and even though she loathed Sirius for being so rude and big-headed, he was the only person to talk to.
"I know." Sirius pointed out.
"My big sister, Petunia, is a Muggle, like my parents." Lily went on. "My parents are very proud and love learning about the wizarding world, but Petunia…" Lily wiped away a stray tear and tried to compose herself. "She hates me… calls me freak… wishes I didn't have to come home…"
Silence fell between them while Lily tried to regain control and Sirius wracked his brain of what to say.
"I'm sorry, Evans. Really." He added, being sincere about it. "I know how it is. My whole family's Slytherin and haven't been able to look me in the eye since I was Sorted into Gryffindor."
"Do you have siblings?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, a little brother, Regulas." Sirius said with a shake of his head. "Little git. Believes everything my parents tell him, including that I'm a traitor and a disgrace."
"I'm sorry." Lily said in all honesty.
"Eh, it's no big deal." Sirius said with a shrug, feeling more sorry for Lily. "I don't see them much anyways. Doesn't matter, really. Besides, I got James and Remus and…" He stopped at the look on Lily's face. "Uh, I mean… look, I know his head's twice as big as a Quaffle, but he's a good mate."
"I guess." Lily said, not sounding convinced. "I'm going to bed." She stood and positively marched across the room and up the stairs to go girl's dormitory.
Sirius looked in the flames of the fireplace and watched them grow smaller throughout the hour. Finally, a little before eleven, he got together the strength or get up and haul himself and his things out of the common rooms.
~
Lupin had had a very bad day; loads of little things went wrong, like how he spilt potion all over his robes and he had looked like he threw up on himself, he, James and Sirius had all gotten detention from another idea of fun from the two mischief-makers, and on top of it all the full moon was coming once more.
Lily had heard of what happened to the three boys and knew Professor MgGonagall had given them detention, plus saw Lupin be humiliated in Slughorn's dungeons and when she saw him sulk into the Great Hall for dinner that day, it couldn't have been more plain to her that Lupin needed some comfort, and she was more than willing to give some.
True, Lily loathed James Potter, but Lupin was polite enough, and Sirius was better than predicted, and she even pitied little Peter who struggled so hard in school and she often tried to help him a little. When Lupin got close enough, she scooted over on the wooden bench and said,
"Hey, Remus."
Lupin looked up and his flashing eyes calmed down at the sight of Lily. "Oh. Hey."
"Come on." Lily said and motioned next to her. "Have some dinner."
Lupin, having no spirit to argue, thanked her in a low voice and plopped down next to her and dropped his school bag down on his other side.
Lily was satisfied on how things were going so far and started to ladle some steak-and-kidney pie of him. "Let me know when." She said after the first scoop.
"I'm not very hungry." The fourth-year werewolf said with his head resting on his hand propped up on his elbow.
Lily stopped at two scoops and placed the plate in front of Lupin. "Pumpkin juice?"
"No, just water."
Lily gave a little nod and poured him a goblet of water to drink. She sat it down by the untouched pie and started to eat again herself.
"Thanks, Lily." Lupin said honestly and he used his other hand to eat.
"You're welcome." Lily said with a sweet slime and kept on eating.
She did not pressure on conversation and Lupin was grateful for that; his temper was still high and knew that if he tried to talk it would sound harsh unintentually. About half way through his dinner, Lily had finished and made herself a bowl of chocolate ice-cream.
"Want some?" Lily offered to Lupin kindly. "I find chocolate helps after a bad day."
Lupin cracked a tiny smile and pushed away his leftover pie. "Alright. Just three."
"Oh, come on." Lily teased as she scooped up big balls of ice-cream. "Only three?"
"Four, then." Lupin said with a growing smile.
"That's better." Lily said with a hint if laughter in her voice. She filled Lupin's bowl up and gave it to him.
"Thanks." Lupin said and took a bite.
Maybe it was because Lily said so and put the thought in his head or maybe it was true, but he was so sure he felt a little bit better, like all of his worries and stress was starting to melt away along with the ice-cream in his mouth.
"Better?" Lily teased.
Lupin nodded.
Lily gave a short laugh and ate her own dessert. The two ate silently in peace for about thirty second or so until two fourth-year boys came into the Great Hall and up to the Gryffindor table, howling with laughter about their latest peace-erupting event that landed them and their friend in detention.
Lupin scowled at hearing them recall the incident and didn't eat much of his ice-cream anymore. Lily frowned at them. More mad at causing Lupin distress than doing what they were in trouble for. They sat down right next to Lupin, opposite of Lily, and Lupin put his golden spoon down.
"Hey, Moony." James said. "What's for dinner? Steak-and-kidney? Great, I'm starving!"
"Right." Lupin said, not looking at James or Sirius, too fed up with them at the moment. "I got homework to do."
Lupin swung his legs over the bench, stood up, snatched up his bag, and started out of the Great Hall. James' hazel eyes followed his friend and he got up and went after him.
"Moony! Hey, Moony! Come on, mate!" He called, sounding sorry for hurting his friend.
Lily and Sirius had watched the two go and Lily now went back to her dessert and Sirius looked at her, knowing she was also angry. He got to know why while he was gathering his own dinner.
"Why'd you have to get Remus in trouble, too?" Lily spat at him.
"It wasn't on purpose." Sirius said defensively white he worked. "Me and James were just having a laugh, and Moony laughed along."
"Yeah, well," Lily said to her dessert. "You and Potter should do better not to let others fall because of your stupid laughs."
"You know," Sirius said, sensing that Lily was angrier at James than him. "He's not that mad. He's been there for me more than my whole family!"
Lily glanced up at Sirius with her almond-shaped green eyes, but then looked back down at her ice-cream and sighed.
"I will say this for Potter; he may be an arrogant toe-rag, but at least he's a good friend. You're n too bad yourself." She added in a mutter.
"I'm honored." Sirius said in a mockingly smug-like voice.
"How's your brother? Regulas?" Lily asked normally.
Sirius' smile dropped. "Not good, if you ask me. He's Mum and Dad's right little prince, though. Wants to be a Death Eater." He said quietly.
"No way!" Lily whispered and looked up at Sirius while he ate his pie. "Are your parents…"
"No, but they have the same idea." Sirius said darkly. "Regulas has got himself mixed up with the other little warts who wanna join You-Know-Who."
"Can't you do something?"
"You think he'll listen to me after all the crap my parents told him about me?" Sirius asked back. "No. I might as well be talking to a brick wall."
"I'm really sorry, Sirius." Lily said sincerely.
"It's alright. Maybe if we're lucky, You-Know-Who will think he's too worthless to join." And Sirius laughed a little at his joke to try to lighten things up.
Not liking it much, but enjoying Sirius' laugh, she chuckled and smiled.
~
Halloween came and went, and that meant firth-years were starting to feel the weight of possibly the hardest year of Hogwarts and most were falling behind on their work. At least one good thing came out of the Marauders' fifth year together; after three years of research and trials and errors, James, Sirius and Peter were all unregistered Animagus. Having found out about Lupin "furry little problem" they quickly tried to find a way how to help him, instead of abandoning him as Lupin thought they would.
It was no secret that James and Sirius were the cleverest in their year, probably of all the students, and so when they were able to do it after just a little more time into their fifth-year, it was astonishing and all those years instantly paid off. The look on Lupin's face that warm September when they turned into a stag, a dog, and a rat before his eyes was one no one would forget. And when the full moon came that month, it was Lupin's best transformation ever.
Halloween had been fun, after the feast having joined Lupin in the Shrieking Shack, and now Sirius had something else to look forward to. He awoke to have a gift thrown at him and land square in the face.
"Ow!" He growled as he shot up from a peaceful sleep.
"Happy Birthday, Padfoot." James said with a smile, having thrown the gift, and Sirius smiled back.
"Oh, yeah! Presents!"
In the dorm with James' bed at Sirius's right, Lupin's at his left, and Peter across the furnace from him, Sirius found a small package at the foot of his bed. He opened James' first and was excited to see a box of Wizarding Animal Crackers.
"Cool!" Sirius said and instantly popped a lio into his mouth and after he swallowed, opened his mouth to talk and roared.
The other three boys howled with laughter and Sirius opened the rest of his birthday presents. He got a cake from Mr. and Mrs. Potter, a Sneakoscope from Lupin, Bernie Botts Every Flavor Beams from Peter, and that just left one more gift for him. Sirius and his friends looked at his curiously, the birthday boy wondering to himself who it could be from, and he picked it up to find it square but flat and wrapped in dark pink tissue paper.
"Well, go on, Padfoot!" Lupin urged. "Stop staring at it won't open it!"
Sirius ripped off the paper and gasped to find something alien to him inside of it. What seemed to be a bunch of thin books was stacked up and the top on had a picture of a frozen woman wearing little clothing sitting on top of some sort of cool-looking bike with an engine or some sort attached to it. On top of the present was a little piece of parchment folded in half. Sirius opened it and read it to himself.
Dear Sirius,
Happy Birthday! I hope you like your gift. I've told you before via letter about motorcycles and so I thought I'd give you some magazines that are mostly about them. I hope you also like the jacket. A lot of bikers wear them.
Have a great day!
Lots of love,
Lily.
"It's from Lily!" Sirius gasped.
"What?" Peter asked in shock.
"No way!" Lupin said with a grin.
"Why would she give you magazines?" James asked with a slight frown.
"She told me about these things Muggles drive over the summer. Motorcycles. She thought I'd like them. And look!"
Sirius pulled out from under the small stack of magazines a black leather jacket with zippers covering the pockets and small spikes around the collar.
"A leather jacket?!" James gasped and up on his feet to touch it. "Blimey! Why on earth would Evans give you a jacket and Muggle magazines?"
"It's like she said," Sirius said with a grin. "She thought I'd like them! Isn't it cool?" He asked excitingly.
He got up and slipped the jacket over his pajamas. The sleeves were tighter than he was used to, wearing robes all the time, but he sound it comfortable and placed his hands on the open zipper.
"How do I look?" Sirius asked.
"Pretty cool." Lupin said honestly, happy for his friend. "Not sure if the pants suit the jacket though."
Sirius looked down at his maroon pajama-bottoms and opened his trunk. He changed his pants as he spoke.
"Most… bikers… wear… blue jeans… there!" Sirius turned back now wearing a pair of blue jeans with the jacket and he zipped it up to cover the maroon pajama shirt. "Better?"
"Pretty good, yeah." Lupin said and got up to get dressed himself.
Peter simply stared, not sure what to think of all the Muggle stuff, but decided to get dressed himself. Sirius turned to James and asked,
"What do you think, Prongs? Pretty cool, hu?"
"I'm not a huge fan of this sort of Muggle stuff myself, mate." James admitted but looked at the jacket. "I'll give you props for the jacket, though. Fancy wearing it to class?"
"Nah." Sirius said as he started to change into his robes. "But it's still pretty cool! Something different, ya know?"
"Yeah." James said as he also changed. "You gotta give them Muggles come credit for coming up with all that stuff. Cars and motorcycles and stuff."
"Yeah. Lily says loads of guys ride around just for fun. Guess it kinda like us flying broomsticks."
"Maybe." James said.
As happy as he was for Sirius and the fact he got something he really enjoyed, Prongs was a little unsettled that Lily Evans got him something, and yet hated James' guts. James had like Lily for ages. What did she have it in for him? Was it only because of ole Sneivells? But Sirius hated Snape, too. What did he have that James didn't?
~
Lily was very sore with Sirius for a long time. After their O.W.L.s he and James had humiliated Snape in front of a lot of people at the lake. Course, she was no longer talking to the slimeball, but they had always had sort of an unspoken deal that Lily never spoke bad about Potter in front of Sirius and Sirius never did anything to Snape in front of Lily, but he had broken that little deal and she was very angry with him.
During the summer she was either alone or with her parents, quite used to try to avoid Petunia and her insults when she was home, and she didn't bother to write to him or much of anyone except for her girlfriends like Mary and such.
One day, about halfway through the summer, she got a letter from Sirius explaining that he had ran away from home and was now living with James. Lily wasted no time to write to Mary and beg her to pawn off some firewhisky from her older brother and send some over. Mary sent some back by night and Lily had baked some cookies while waiting.
She hurried to the Potters' and soon found herself with the boys in their shared bedroom and going through the cookies and whiskey like they would die tomorrow. They told jokes and stories up until three in the morning and Lily had to go home and face her upset pair of parents. As she took a bus home, she thought ot herself through the whiskey about how nice of a friend James was to Sirius.
He took him in, let him stay at his place. Sirius had been saying it for a long time. "He's not that mad. He's been there for me more than my whole family!" "Look, I know his head's twice as big as a Quaffle, but he's a good mate."
Maybe, just maybe, James wasn't so bad.
~
Sixth-year was pleasant enough. Lily had sort of become friends with all four of the Marauders, still close to her own friends, but enjoyed the boys company. They, meanwhile, had grown to know Hogwarts more than anyone and even made up their own secret map. They were all happy and when spring came and their sixth was at its second half, they all looked forward to their seventh-year, which was sure to be their best year.
One night, Lily and Peter were talking pleasantly while James and Sirius talked and Lupin read a book prompted up on a water jug. The evening post was flying in from the rainy night when an owl landed by Lily and nudged her with a letter in its beak. She thanked it and was off.
"Letter from your parents?" Peter asked as she opened it.
"Probably." She said with a smile, looking forward to hearing from her parents again, always good about writing to her and wondering about her and the wizarding world.
She opened the letter and started to read. As she read, her smile dropped to a devastated look and her green eyes filled with tears. Peter noticed this and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Lily?"
Lupin looked up from his book and stared at Lily. Sirius saw her starting to cry at the letter and nudged James to look to.
"Lily." James said and tried to meet her eyes. "You okay?"
"Is it your sister again?" Sirius asked.
Lily shook her head and looked away from her letter and the boys. She picked up her bag, threw it over her shoulder, and ran out of the Great Hall. Her friend, Mary, stood and up watched her go.
"What's wrong with Lily?" She asked the boys, as if they had upset her.
"Dunno." Sirius said, staring at the doors. "She got a letter and started crying."
Mary's face loosened, seeing how confused and sorry the boys were, and sat back down to her dinner. Everyone else ate in silence, knowing it was best to lave Lily alone for a bit. Soon James, Sirius, Lupin and Peter were done with dinner and went up to the common room. About an hour into their homework, Sirius noticed that Lily still wasn't back and wondered if she was okay.
When Sirius decided to look for her, he stood up and went into his dormitory for the map. He made it appear and searched for Lily's name. At last, after looking in the library, the classrooms, the bathrooms, and even the Owlery, Sirius found her in the astronomy tower. He closed the map and left the common room, telling his friends he needed a book from the library.
When Sirius managed to get to the Astronomy tower, he paused at the door and saw Lily by the brick edge of the tower, clutching her knees and sobbing her heart out, completely wet from the rain. He pulled out his wand and used a magical umbrella for shade and walked up to her slowly; he could hear her muttering something as she cried.
"They're dead… they're dead… they're dead…"
"Lily?" Sirius said and she looked up and moved her wet hair out of her eyes. "What's wrong? Who's dead?"
Lily cried even harder and Sirius got down on his knees to talk to her, careful to try to shied her with the magical umbrella.
"M-M-My p-p-parents." Lily sobbed. "Th-Th-They died in a c-c-car c-c-crash."
"A car crash?" Sirius repeated. "I'm… I'm really sorry, Lily."
Without so much as a warning, Lily flung herself onto him and hugged him, crying into his black school robes and holding on for support. Sirius's arms were forced into her hold and so the charm that kept them dry vanished. Sirius slowly started to get as wet as Lily, but he found that he didn't care.
"W-W-What am I g-g-going t-to d-do?!" She howled. "P-P-Petunia won't w-want anything t-to d-do w-with me! They w-were m-my f-f-family! I-I-I… I'm all alone."
"Hey, hey." Sirius said to cut off her blubbering. "Come on, Lily. Don't be stupid. You're not alone. You know we'll be there for you. You're one of us now. We'll even go with you to the funeral."
"R-Really?" Lily asked and tried to come down a little. "Thank you… really, thank you, Padfoot."
"It's okay." Sirius said and slightly-awkwardly patted her hair, not sure if he was acting correctly, but it felt right and it seemed to help Lily, who still cried but quieter and calmer.
Sirius looked out into the rainy night and Lily had her own teary eyes closed, her face still into his robes. Hard to imagine how much she seemed to hate him, hate them all, and now she saw them as friends. She needed them, and they would all be there for her. Especially, Sirius thought with a smile to himself, especially James.
~
Years went by since Lily's parents died. Seventh year was a good one, with dreams of what life after Hogwarts looks like, and yet even more work and exams than before, but it was all worth it for what was to come.
It was that year that Sirius discovered Lily's love for James far before she did, and helped her see them. Sirius then had the job of talking James into asking her out one more time. They were graduating soon, they may not see each other again. What was to lose?
And so James invited Lily to a Hogmead trip with her in February and she surprised James with a yes. While Sirius, Lupin and Peter hung out at the Three Broomsticks alone to talk about how it might have gone down, either in a duel or a kiss, and Lily and James walked around and got to freely talk for the first time.
Years past and Lily and James still saw each other. The Marauders and Lily made sure to not let their adult lives stop them from being friends. Soon James needed a push to propose and Sirius was there to give it. Of course, she said yes. At the wedding, Sirius was made best man, but before he stood behind James he walked Lily up since her father couldn't do it.
Despite the rise of Voldemort, despite Muggles and Muggle-lovers dying left and right, they were still able to have fun and enjoy life. Through their work with the Order and everything else, life still flourished and they tried not to let it affect them from doing what they wanted. Like, build a family.
When James and Lily told the news of how they were going to have a baby, it was hard to tell who was more excited: they soon-to-be parents or their friends. When little Harry was finally born at the end of July, everyone came to Godric's Hollow. Sirius got to hold him right after the parents did. He looked down at the baby and Lily said just as James opened his mouth,
"Looks like he likes his godfather."
Sirius looked up and repeated in stupidity, "Godfather?"
Lily nodded and James said, "Well, yeah. You're already practically Uncle Sirius, mate."
Sirius smiled at the honor of being godfather and Lupin couldn't agree more. Peter nodded with a grin, knowing he was the only one deserving of the title. Sirius looked back down at the baby and observed him. He was small for a newborn and had a little tuff of hair on top of his head that looked just James'. Sirius knew he'd probably look just like James when he grew up.
Funny, how right outside their door there was a war going on, how everyone in that room was fighting in it, and yet, despite all that, they were able to enjoy this normal moment. This moment they were fighting for. This life they were fighting for. Sirius gave the baby back to his mother and watched as her caring arms made the little boy feel so loved, and the new godfather suddenly felt like he couldn't be happier, to see Lily with Harry Potter.