Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the story and the OCs.
Author's Note: This is my first story on this site. till now I have just been a reader but then I decided to give writing a shot. So here it is!
Prologue
It was a fine day. The sun was shining down on the grounds of Hogwarts, not too hot yet not cold. It was sunnily pleasant. It was the perfect weather for spending the day outdoors. The students were no fools as they were all enjoying the day on the grounds or in the lake or at the Quidditch pitch. The final year students were no exceptions. A small bunch of seventh year students could be seen lazing under the large beech tree by the lake. This group consisted of the Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans and Madeline Foster. They were all to leave the school the next morning for the final time.
"It's going to be weird, not being at Hogwarts anymore," said Lily. She was a pretty girl, though she never acknowledged it; she had red hair that reached her mid-back, emerald green eyes and a clear, fair skin. Madeline on the other hand was gorgeous. She could walk straight out of bed and still have boys trailing after her like lovesick puppies. She had short black hair that fell just below her shoulders, black, beautiful eyes and an almost olive complexion. She knew that she was gorgeous but was not an arrogant bitch as people would expect her to be.
"Yeah! I already miss the place!" agreed Madeline. The boys just shook their heads amusedly. "Do you want to go on a last patrol tonight James?" asked Lily. James and Lily were Head Boy and Head Girl and Remus and Madeline were prefects. He nodded at her. James was a very handsome guy. He had messy black hair and wore glasses. His eyes were of a hazel colour and they always sparkled with mischief. Sirius too was a very handsome boy with shaggy black hair and grey eyes. Both of them had many girls pining after them. Remus on the other hand had sandy blonde hair and was handsome in a quiet, kind of nerdy, way. Peter was a chubby boy with watery eyes and was like a baby to say the least.
James here had been infatuated with Madeline from the beginning of seventh year and only the Marauders knew of it. But Madeline was with a Ravenclaw boy, Edward Brown. So that fact had prevented James from asking her out. Instead he had worked on friendship with her and they were also really close friends. In fact, it wasn't an unusual sight whenever Lily, Madeline and James would be seen goofing off. Overall, the Marauders and the girls were a close knit group of friends. This was the last time that they would all be sitting under that tree and relaxing, just looking up at the castle, looking over at the lake, just talking to each other or finishing up school work.
The sun was now setting and it cast a beautiful golden glow over the castle. The group looked at the castle in awe, knowing that this would be the last time they were doing so. They had all graduated the previous day. They waited till the sun had set and then they slowly made their way back into the castle for dinner. Dinner was delicious as usual and the Marauders of course had spiced it up by pranking the Slytherins. Then they all, except Madeline, went up to the Gryffindor tower; she went to meet Edward at the Room of Requirement. The boys trudged up the stairs to their dormitory to finish packing. Lily had finished her packing that morning itself, so she settled in an armchair by the window with a copy of Gone With The Wind. She had started reading that book just after Christmas but was nowhere close to finishing it. It was just too long!
She decided to rest her eyes for a few minutes and then resume reading again. "Oi Lils!" said a voice loudly in her ear. She jumped up and almost fell off the chair. "Bloody hell James!" she scolded. "Never scare me like that!" "But the moment was perfect! Couldn't resist it!" he told her cheekily. "Couldn't resist it huh?" said Lily before proceeding to smack him over the head with her book. And the book was a heavy one. "Ow!" yelped James, "stop it woman!" She just grinned at him and then got up and walked towards the portrait hole. "Are you coming for the patrols or not Jamie?" she asked him. "Don't call me Jamie," he growled at her and got up and followed her out of the portrait hole. There he bumped into an extremely flustered looking Madeline. She had a silly grin on her face and just grinned at them and went into the common room, closing the portrait hole behind her. "What was all that about?" asked Lily with a puzzled expression. "Don't know, don't care," muttered James before walking. Lily followed him with the book still in her hand. "Didn't you start reading that before Christmas?" he asked her. "After Christmas," she huffed. He was smirking at her and she knew why. It was a known fact that Lily Evans never took more than a day to finish reading a book but she was stuck with this particular book for months. "It just doesn't get over!" she exclaimed after a moment of silence, "It's so bloody long and the end doesn't seem any nearer no matter how much I read!" "Finally a book that you couldn't finish Lils," he grinned at her. "Oh shut up! I'll have it finished before this month ends". " Yeah we'll see!"
They patrolled the rest of the castle reminiscing about the times they had together. When they passed the library, it took all of Lily's self restraint not to go in there. She was thinking of all the amazing books the library held when James interrupted her thoughts. "Remember getting kicked out of the library Lils?" he asked her with a twinkle in his eye. She could only remember that incident far too well. It had happened early in seventh year. James, Lily and Madeline had gone to the library; Lily actually wanted to study, Madeline and James were there just because they were bored and wanted to annoy Lily. She sat at a table with a book and was quietly reading when Madeline sat next to her and James sat opposite her. They also had books open on the table in front of them. This amused Lily a bit but then they had started chattering and soon the three of them were giggling about something or the other, causing the librarian to kick them out. She smiled remembering the memory. The rest of the patrol continued this way, talking about their good old times at the castle. Finally it had come to an end and they retreated to their dormitories.
The moment Lily got into the dormitory; she was met with an extremely excited and giddy Madeline. "We did it Lily!" she squealed. "We finally did it!" "Did what?" asked Lily. She was a bit confused. "We had sex you dimwit!" said Madeline. Comprehension dawned on Lily and her mouth formed a little 'o'. Then she dove straight onto Madeline's bed and asked her, "how was it?". Madeline got a dreamy expression onto her face and started, "Well I was upset about school being over and scared about the future and got a bit teary. He held me close and then we were kissing and then somehow I ended up on his lap and he started unbuttoning my-" . "OK stop!", said Lily, covering her ears, "too much information!" Madeline just grinned at her again. Lily got off the bed and changed into her night clothes and climbed into her own bed. The two of them lay awake for a long time that night talking about their time at school, recalling their best memories and discussing future plans.
The scene in the boys' dormitory was different though. Clothes were still strewn all over the place and broken quills and broomstick twigs and chocolate wrappers were littering the floor. The Marauders were all running around frantically trying to pack everything into their trunks. They had finally finished packing by 1:30 in the night and now they had all flopped onto their beds. "So how was patrol mate?" asked Sirius. It took James a moment to answer because he was so tired. "Was good I guess. We spent the time talking about the time we spent here," he said suppressing a huge yawn. They had all gone to sleep after that brief attempt at conversation and soon soft snores filled the room.
James and Sirius had rented out a flat together in Central London and were to move into it within a week. Remus and Peter were going to be staying with their parents for a while and after that they were both going over to the United States to pursue higher studies in Defensive Magic and Magical History respectively. James and Sirius on the other hand had been accepted into the Auror Training Programme at the Ministry.
Lily and Madeline were also going to stay with their parents for a while. Then they hoped they would move into a flat together. Lily was accepted into a Healer training course at St. Mungo's whereas Madeline was to do a course in Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry.
The next morning dawned bright and early; too very early in Sirius's opinion. It didn't take them too long but before they realised it, they were all aboard the Hogwarts Express on their way back to London. The boys spent most of the ride sleeping while Lily attempted to finish her book. Madeline in the meanwhile had gone off to search for an empty compartment with Edward.
It was evening by the time they arrived at London. Everyone's (except Sirius's) parents were waiting for them at the station. The group parted with many a hugs and quite a few tears from the girls and promises to stay in touch and visit. James and Sirius then creating quite a scene by pretending to sob into each other's shoulders and promising to stay in touch no matter what when Lily went and smacked them both with her book, causing everyone else to laugh. They all then parted ways and went to their homes.