Author's Note: Thank you for reading!

I own nothing.

"We sentence you, Peter Pettigrew, to life in Azkaban Prison."

The Minister's voice echoed throughout the room. Lily's face was buried in her hands, but she could hear Peter's protests.

"Please! No! Please, have mercy!" Peter cried out as Aurors stood him up and led him out of the room.

The trial had been just as bad as she had feared. Lily had hardly recognized Peter. He was gaunt and pale; his wide eyes showed his fear. His voice had been higher than she had ever heard it before. When Peter had claimed to be under the Imperius Curse, Sirius had started to stand up angrily. But Remus had grabbed him and forced him back down into his seat.

"Here. Hold Harry," Lily had said, knowing that Sirius would stay where he was if Harry was in his lap.

When James had gone down to testify, Lily's heart had been racing. With each step, Lily had been able to see James' anger growing. He had been unable to keep all of his anger in check while confronting Peter, but that anger had finally broken through Peter's weak stories.

But what the shorter man had said had broken Lily's heart. James had always been completely loyal to his friends. He would rather be hurt himself than see any of his friends hurt. So to hear Peter say that he had never felt that same loyalty would tear James apart.

Lily felt James' arms slide around her as the Minister called for order. She tried to dry her tears, because if she felt this much pain, she knew her husband was feeling far worse. She had to get control of her emotions before leaving.

But instead of dismissing the crowd, the Minister called for the next trial to begin. "Aurors, please bring in the prisoners Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch, Jr."

Lily gasped. These were the people that had tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom. Their trial was next? Lily started crying again as she watched the four Death Eaters being brought into the room. Usually she was not this emotional, but this day was wearing on her.

"I'm going to take Lily back," James said to Sirius and Remus, leaning around Lily.

"Okay," Sirius said, a stubborn look on his face. "I'm staying." He handed Harry to Lily.

Remus stared at Sirius' profile before nodding. "I'm staying too."

"Moony, are you-"

"Prongs?"

"Yeah, Moony?"

"Shut up." Remus smirked. "Take Lily and Harry and go. We'll fill you in on what happens."

Lily was incredibly grateful for her husband and their friends. She wanted to see the four Death Eaters brought to justice. They hadn't killed the Longbottoms, but they had still stolen their lives away from them and their son. But Lily didn't think she could handle facing them today. Not after Peter's trial.

So Lily gladly walked out of the Ministry with James and apparated back to the safe house.


Lily wondered how long the second trial would last. Peter's trial had seemed to go on forever, but in actuality, it had only lasted about half an hour. However, it was nearing two o'clock now, and Sirius and Remus were still not back.

Lily sat in her husband's arms, waiting for their friends to return. She had cried some more once Harry had gone down for his nap, and James had even cried a bit. She had been right in thinking that Peter's lack of loyalty and trust had hurt him. But now both their eyes were dry.

The waiting was painful.

And then they heard the unmistakable pop of apparition. James and Lily both rose to their feet, but before they made it to the front door, it opened and Sirius rushed inside. Lily was concerned to see that he was gagging until she saw Remus vomiting near the front door.

Sirius could face werewolf injuries without blinking an eye. He was the king of disgusting pranks. And yet, he had the worst gag reflex of anyone that Lily had ever known. If he heard or smelled or, Merlin forbid, saw someone being sick, he started gagging. It was a wonder that he had survived his godson's first year of life without puking all over him.

Lily stepped aside as James helped Remus through the front door. Obviously, the werewolf should have listened to them about going to the trial. Besides vomiting, his eyes were glassy and he was sweating, indicating that his fever was rising. But there was still a stubborn, albeit a bit ashamed, look on his pale face.

"Sorry," he whispered as he collapsed on the couch. "I guess the full moon and apparition don't really mix."

James sat down next to him. "Don't worry about it, mate. You okay?"

Remus nodded weakly. "All right, Padfoot?"

Lily hadn't noticed Sirius enter the room until he passed by her with a cup of water, which he handed to Remus. "Yeah, you know how I am. Didn't I warn you against upchucking, though?" Sirius settled onto the other side of Remus.

"Well," Remus said thoughtfully, "you warned me against upchucking during the trial. But you didn't say anything about after the trial."

James laughed. "He has a point, Pads."

The three Marauders shared a strained smile.

"What happened after we left?" Lily asked as she sat down. The smiles fell away.

"Life in Azkaban. Same as Wormtail," Sirius said shortly. He looked away and Lily could tell that he didn't want to talk about it.

"What took so long?" James asked quietly.

Remus shook his head. "There was a lot of evidence against them about… well, other crimes they'd been a part of. Trust me, you don't want the details." He shuddered, and Lily knew that it truly had been bad.

"Are you all right, Padfoot?" James asked quietly. Lily could see the muscles in Sirius' jaw twitching. He was trying to gain control of his anger, but she could tell that it wasn't going well.

Sirius nodded, but when James put a hand on his shoulder, he jumped up. He looked ready to burst, but as he opened his mouth, Harry started crying. Sirius' anger seemed to dissipate.

"I'll go get him," Sirius said quietly.

"No, I'll do it, Sirius," Lily said, standing. Sirius threw her a look.

"He's my godson, Evans. I think I can be trusted to lift him out of a crib and carry him downstairs," he said with a smirk. Lily returned the smirk with one of her own.

"He probably needs to be changed, Black. You want to do that?" She had been trying to get Sirius to change Harry ever since the boy had been born, with little luck. It didn't help matters that one of Sirius' first experiences with Harry had included James gagging over a dirty diaper. It had taken Lily several minutes to stop laughing after seeing her husband and his best friend both gagging while Harry lay on the changing table.

Sirius' eyes widened quickly. "All right, Evans. You can go get him."

Lily chuckled as she moved upstairs and into Harry's room. The boy's cries quieted as she lifted him into her arms and held him close. She had never experienced anything as amazing as being a mother. She hadn't realized that she could love another person so much. When she had first heard about the prophecy, a pang of fear had shot through her chest, and she had vowed to do anything and everything she could to protect her baby.

"Mummy loves you so much, Harry," Lily whispered as she changed her son. The boy gave her a smile that warmed her.

After finishing, she lifted him and took him back to the sitting room. She smiled at the sight of the Marauders. James and Sirius had convinced Remus to lie down on the couch, a blanket covering him. Sirius sat on the floor by his feet, and James sat in a nearby chair.

Sirius smiled when he saw Harry and turned into his Animagus form. He barked and ran towards Lily.

Harry clapped his hands. "Pa'foo! Pa'foo!" Lily laughed and set her son on the floor. The boy immediately grabbed onto Padfoot's fur and laughed. Her son absolutely loved spending time with Sirius, especially when he was a dog.

Lily went over and sat on James' lap. "Is Sirius all right?" she whispered in his ear. When James nodded, she continued. "And Remus?"
James snorted softly and whispered. "He is now. He tried to stand and passed out. Padfoot had to catch him 'mid-swoon.'" He laughed, his voice rising above a whisper. "Did you know that some Muggle tried to neuter Padfoot? Took him to a Muggle animal-healer-person to have it done. He had to bite the healer's hand and run like mad out of there."

It took Lily a second to realize that Remus had told James the story that Sirius had obviously wanted to stay secret. The mental image of what James had just said filled her head and she started laughing hysterically. She noticed that James and Remus were laughing too. Sirius, on the other hand, was growling at Remus.

"You'll get over it, Padfoot," Remus said between chuckles, causing Sirius to growl even louder.

"Pa'foo!" Harry exclaimed, upset that the dog's attention was diverted from him. Sirius stopped growling and turned towards the baby. He licked his face, chin to hair. Lily hated when he did that, but Harry thought it was hysterical.

Her baby fell on his back and Padfoot stood over him, nuzzling and licking her face. Warmth spread through Lily. She had her favorite people in the world surrounding her; she had never been happier.


Dinner was light that night. Nobody felt much like eating, especially Remus. He just sat there, picking at his food. As the evening progressed, he was getting paler and shakier. Lily's heart clenched, wishing she could do something. But she knew from experience that she couldn't do anything.

"So," Sirius began, "where are we going tonight?" He and James looked at Remus, who paused for a second before laying down his fork.

"I asked Dumbledore if I could use the Shrieking Shack, so I'll be going there," Remus said, not quite meeting the others' gazes.

James raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean 'I'? Padfoot and I are coming with you."

Remus sighed. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Lily chuckled to herself. This wasn't the first time that she had seen Remus try to refuse help from the others. It had never worked in his favor before, and she doubted that it would this time either.

"And why not?" James asked, obviously deciding to humor Remus for the moment.

"Because it will probably be a bad one."

"We can handle it."

"Yeah, it's not like we haven't handled bad transformations before. Besides, it would be good for Prongs and Padfoot to work off some of this excess anger," Sirius said. He was smirking, but Lily could tell that there was a lot of truth behind his words.

"I don't want you to get hurt. Between this whole mess with Peter and this being my first transformation back from the pack… I just don't know how violent I will be." Remus' words were quiet. He had always hated talking about his transformations, especially around Lily. She had never cared about his condition and had tried to show him that time after time, but he was still self-conscious.

"Moony," James said, his voice taking on the authoritative tone that he had adopted as Head Boy, "we became Animagi for this purpose. And when we first transformed, we promised you that, to the best of our ability, we would never let you go through another full moon alone. We haven't done a very good job of that lately, but tonight, we are going to keep that promise. Whether you like it or not."

Remus looked between his two Animagi friends before sighing in defeat. "Fine. We'll be going to- well, if you're with me, we could go to the Forbidden Forest."

James and Sirius shared a triumphant smile before James stood and said that he wanted to gather some stuff that they might need.

Half an hour later, the three Marauders stood in the sitting room. Lily held Harry while they debated.

"I don't see why we can't apparate all together."

"Padfoot, the last time you and Moony apparated together, both of you ended up puking. I'm just saying that Moony and I should go first and you should come a few minutes later."

Sirius sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine."

Remus and James shared an amused look. Then, James moved forward to kiss Lily and Harry.

"Be careful, love," Lily whispered, her lips moving against her husband's.

"Of course," James responded. "I love you."

"Love you too."

They shared a smile before Lily turned to Remus, who was looking worse by the minute. "Be careful, Remus."

"I'll try," Remus said and kissed her cheek. He and James moved outside.

Lily watched through the window until they apparated before turning back to Sirius. He was standing there with an odd look on his face, and she was suddenly worried. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think-" Sirius took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you think that this mess with Wormtail is my fault?"

Lily gasped in surprise. "Sirius-"

"I know I was mean to him. Maybe that drove him to do this. I mean, you heard him today. He didn't feel like we were his friends. Maybe that was my fault."

Lily was taken aback by Sirius' words. She wasn't used to him thinking so critically about a situation. And she could see just how much he was bothered at the thought that his actions were the cause of Peter's betrayal.

"Sirius," Lily began, placing her hand on his arm, "I'm not going to deny that the way you treated Peter might have had something to do with his feeling alienated. But whatever you might have done, he is responsible for his own actions. He is the one who chose to betray us."

Sirius nodded, not looking completely convinced.

"This isn't your fault, Sirius."

He smiled tightly. "Thanks, Lils. I guess I'd better go, huh?"

Lily nodded and kissed his cheek. "Be careful. And make sure that nothing happens to Remus, okay?"

"Padfoot and Prongs know how to keep him in check, Lils," Sirius said, his confidence returning along with his cocky smile. Lily laughed as Sirius walked out the door.

She had been hoping that after Peter's trial, things could go back to the way they used to be. She craved the normalcy that she had experienced before becoming involved in the war. But she now realized that that might never happen. The war had changed them, and they couldn't go back to their old selves. They would never be the same. But perhaps, with time, they could heal, move past the hurt that Peter had caused. Perhaps, with time, they could establish a new normal.


Author's Note 2.0: Thank you again for reading. While this is the end of this particular story, it is not the end of the Marauders' story. I have plans to write at least three more stories about the Marauders' lives. These will mostly be before Harry goes to Hogwarts and will include Harry.

Up next: "A New Normal"

"He got out of his bed, hoping to go downstairs to get a hangover potion when he noticed the white bandage taped to a certain part of his body. And he froze."