This story is a great example of how stories can evolve quite differently from how they are originally envisioned. This oneshot is truer to the original idea, but I plan on posting the evolved story (the first half of which was actually written first, and part of it was used for this story) in a second chapter, but I think it will end before this one does. But just to warn you, the second is a different take on the same story, not a different chapter.
AN: Not mine
The new moon found four boys sitting in a clearing in the Forbidden forest, laying on their backs in a circle with their heads together, staring up at the stars. It was something of a ritual for them. They'd been friends for years, and this ritual had begun back in their second year. They'd rode brooms up to the roof of Gryffindor tower back then, because the woods were still a forbidden playground that intrigued them, but secretly scared them. It hadn't been until fifth year that they'd finally realized that one of them was the most dangerous things in the forest, and they'd happily taken their ritual to ground level, in this clearing Peter had stumbled upon one day during detention with Hagrid.
"You know, I've always found it interesting that Sirius was the Dog Star," James mentioned offhandedly, staring up at the stars, "considering that his animagus form and what not is a big black dog."
"You're just realizing this?" Sirius asked, looking over at his best friend.
"I was looking through old notes from Astronomy first year."
"You were studying for Evans sake again, weren't you?" Sirius sounded disgusted.
James shrugged, smiling slightly at the thought of Lily.
"Sick James, that's sick," Sirius groaned. "What happened to lving your life without caring about what she thinks?"
"She called me James last week."
"And you're going back to being her little puppy, following her slavishly. That'll make her want you. Every girl secretly wants to date their pet."
"Really?" Peter asked, thinking of Charity Burbage, his secret crush.
"No, idiot," Sirius barked, "and even if it were true, girls don't generally like rats."
Peter frowned angrily at the sky.
Sirius focused intently on the star he'd been named after, thinking about the generations of Blacks that had been named for those high, out of reach objects that made the night sky so beautiful.
"They say there are places where you can't see the stars, not like this," Peter said.
"Yeah, London," Sirius replied, rolling his eyes.
"Less than London, except on those days when it's cloudy in London. I've heard that the closer you get to some of the bigger cities in America, the less stars you can see."
"Wish the same thing could be said of the moon," Remus groaned. It was the first time he'd spoken, as he'd been enjoying his brief respite from the pull of the moon.
"Aww, Moony, you have to down the party," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, it's the new moon, you're the farthest away from the full moon you could possibly get, and life is good. We're handsome, healthy guys, mostly," he nodded to Remus, "and we've got life ahead of us. I've never seen anyone in this school who has better friends than us. We don't betray," he hesitated, "we almost never betray each other," he admitted, thinking guiltily of the thing with Snape, "and we would die for the other. God," he said, standing suddenly, to the shock of the other three, "I couldn't envision my life without you. I'd probably be an asswipe like Snape and my idiotic brother," he couldn't hide the sadness in his eyes at the thought of the brother he'd lost, "off joining Voldemort instead of fighting him once I get out of here. We have no need to be moping over women. We should embrace our stag lifestyle," he said, bowing to James. "We're a pack of lone wolves-"
"That's an oxymoron, moron," James laughed.
"-we don't follow the pack, we're our own pack," Sirius laughed himself, a bit of his natural insanity leaking through. "Loyal as dogs to their masters," he said, staring up at Canis Major, a grin on his face, the maniacal and desperate look in his eyes speaking of something deeper. He raised his face to the open sky and howled, to the amusement of his friends. "Come on, guys," he laughed, the feeling within him bubbling to the surface, the rage and fear and desire to be bigger- to be immortal or immortalized, to never know the sting of death, the grief of loss, to never lose these boys who were his family, the only family he had anymore, since the Potters had passed. James, knowing that feeling, though not to the same degree, because Sirius was Sirius and the product of years of cousins marrying cousins, stood with his friend and let loose his own howl. His sounded more like a human's howl, whereas his friend and pseudo-brother's howl sounded almost like a dog's. Peter didn't have the resonance to sound like a wolf, but he tried anyhow, jumping to his feet right after James did. Remus laughed halfheartedly, knowing that it was expected of him to get up and join his friends, even if howling would ruin this one wolf-free day of the month. But he did, looking up at the hidden moon and letting his own emotions spill into the haunting sound that came from his mouth. The others looked appreciative, and thoughtful, because this was an entirely different sound than the one that Moony (the werewolf, that is) ever made. This was a wolf who was surrounded and joyful, even through pain and grief for the loss of innocence his friends had experienced, and his own losses. The others had stopped, but Sirius, after laughing a single barking laugh, joined the boy he empathized with the most in the long song he'd begun. James' and Peter's voices soon followed, and the air was full of the strange blend of sounds, which strangely sounded melodious, despite the differences between them.
"Things will come," James murmured when they'd all stopped, sounds petering away to nothing, "but we'll stand together, right?"
"Always," Sirius said, glad that James had asked. He felt too needy right now, and was trying to reign in his emotions.
"Always," Remus agreed, Peter a half-second behind him.
They looked up at the sky contemplatively for another minute, before Remus sighed and began herding them back towards the castle. In the shadow of the new moon, they weren't afraid of being caught, so they didn't see the redhead who sat by the lake, listening to the boys as they made their way out of the forest and towards the school.
"This place," James sighed, "is incredible."
"I agree," Remus replied. "I can't believe we're leaving in June forever."
"Not forever," Sirius said, and the others could hear his grin. "After all, little Prongs and Padfoots and Wormtails and Moonys will be here eventually. And they'll get married, and there will be more. We'll be immortalized through our little cubs and fawns and puppies and-" he hesitated.
"Pinkies?" Remus asked, knowing why his friend was confused.
"That's lame," Sirius said, to Peter's disappointment, "but sure. Actually, none of those seem very cool. But we'll be immortalized and connected through our children."
"It would take at least two generations for that to happen," Remus corrected, rolling his eyes.
"Then we'll hook you two up with some of our cousins."
"The only cousin you have that isn't a Death Eater wanna be or married is your four year old cousin Nymphadora," James reminded him, "and I don't have any close cousins."
"I'm not marrying a child thirteen years my junior," Remus said quickly and indignantly, slapping his friend. However, since it was dark and even with his werewolf senses, he could only make out vague ideas of height and hair color, he accidentally slapped James, to Lily's amusement when she heard him shout in shock. "And shouldn't you get a girlfriend before you start marrying off your kids?"
Sirius ignored him and turned to James. "What would you name your child?"
James shrugged, forgetting that it was dark. "I'd probably name a son after my dad," he said thoughtfully, "and I'd name my daughter Rose or Daisy or something."
"Why?" Peter asked, tripping over his feet and landing flat on his face with a scared squeak.
James and Sirius reached down to pick him up with the ease of long practice. "Cuz Lily, her mother and sister are all named after flowers, so she'd probably want to name her daughter in the same tradition," Sirius replied with no trace of sarcasm. From her place trailing after them, Lily let out a soft gasp, which only Remus heard, and he turned to look behind him. He grinned when he saw Lily, but decided against mentioning her presence.
"Come on guys, we'd better hurry," Remus said instead, taking off at a run that his highly competitive friends instantly joined him in, Peter chugging along behind them. Lily shook herself out of it and followed discreetly, slipping into the dark hall a few minutes after they did and pulling the doors shut behind her.
She was surprised by the sight of James standing there with his arms crossed, watching her with a slight smirk.
"Miss perfect prefect and fellow Head, you aren't supposed to be out and about at this hour," he admonished gently.
"How'd you…"
"Remus tipped me off."
"Oh… I was sitting outside for other reasons, then you came along. I'm sorry I eavesdropped."
"So you heard?"
"About your daughter?" she whispered hesitantly.
"About our daughter," he said, not in a cocky way, but as hesitant as she was. "Lily, I really do like you. I get this feeling when I see you, and I always have. I know you don't feel the same way, but I feel like you could, if you just gave me a chance. If you said maybe, instead of no, just once when I asked you out." He offered his arm, and she took it, allowing him to escort her back to the common room, knowing he'd get her back without anyone noticing.
"Why were you outside?"
"Why were you?"
She frowned. "I asked first."
"It's a tradition," he replied.
She knew he was hiding something, but she smiled anyways. "You guys would have a tradition."
"We've been friends forever."
"I heard howling, so I came outside," she said, answering his original question.
"An odd move."
She shrugged. "It's the new moon, so it's not like there are werewolves, though the howling sounded strangely human."
James grinned.
"It's still dangerous out there."
"This from the boy who spent the night in the Forbidden Forest with said howling creatures."
"No danger to me from any of those howling creatures."
"You know for a fact?"
"Well, I might learn too much from one of them, get into trouble too much from another and be adored too much by a third, but aside from that."
Lily laughed. "I thought it might be you guys."
"Still," James warned, looking serious, "you shouldn't go outside alone at night, not you, not during these dark times."
"It's Hogwarts, the safest place I could be," Lily replied.
"Please, promise me you won't do it again?" James said, stopping them to look her in the eyes. She was struck by the urgency in them, so she nodded dumbly. He breathed a huge sigh of relief before dragging her into a quick hug. He released her just as quickly, acting as though it had never happened. "Allura Drastica" he said, and Lily was surprised to hear the Fat Lady reply, "oh, hello James, Lily," and open. She hadn't realized they'd reached the common room.
James escorted her all the way to her stairway. "I'll leave you here, Lily," he said with a half-grin. She smiled back, and stepped onto the first stair, so she was able to look straight into his eyes. James half-turned, and she felt a moment's panic.
"James!" she said, too loudly, and she blushed. He turned back to her with a curious expression. "You never asked." It took him a moment to know what she was saying. He always asked her before she left the common room.
"Go out with me Evans?" he joked. She rolled her eyes and pointedly didn't reply.
"Lily Evans, flower of my heart," James began, more seriously than she'd ever known him to be, an idea that was accompanied by a chill that ran all the way down to her toes, "would you do me the honor of joining me on a date?" Hope had risen within him, though he tried to push it down.
"Maybe," Lily whispered, knowing he'd know what she meant by that.
Then she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned towards him to give him a quick peck on the lips before turning and running up the stairs, leaving James frozen at the bottom.
Beneath the Invisibility Cloak in the darkened corner (they were a tad too big for the cloak these days, and their feet showed) the others chuckled and exchanged high fives.
Hope you enjoyed!