4

Diagon Alley was abuzz with activity, and familiar faces passed in every direction. With an ear-splitting roar, Sirius' flying motorbike skidded onto the ground, bouncing ever so slightly and causing Peter to clutch his helmet from the little side car. James and Remus touched down on their broomsticks a moment later, Remus riding on James' old Comet Two Sixty.

The days following Remus' big news had seen no shortage of celebration. The Potters had invited Remus' family to attend a celebratory dinner in his honor, where everyone took turns toasting the incredibly embarrassed Remus, who had done his level best to hide his face behind a mug of Butterbeer at the table. When Remus had gone to write Lily to tell her the good news, however, James had stopped him.

'Why?' Remus asked in surprise.

James had grinned. 'Because I've got a fun idea,' he replied in his most mischievous tone, causing Sirius and Peter to instantly snap to attention and listen.

So now, there they all stood in Diagon Alley, having just made an impressive entrance. A pair of Ravenclaw fifth years stopped and ogled Sirius' bike. 'Is that yours?' they breathed.

Sirius flashed a roguish grin—a full summer worth of growth and actually eating dinners with the family seemed to have allowed him to grow both taller and more muscular. With his long black hair falling easily around his grinning face, James was somewhat unsurprised when both the girls swooned ever so slightly at the look. 'You bet,' he replied. 'Want to climb aboard?'

'Come on, Don Juan,' Remus said, tugging Sirius away from the suddenly uncontrollably giggling girls.

James adjusted his robes—Remus' gleaming Prefect's badge was affixed to James' own chest. He smirked at Remus who chuckled. 'I still don't think she's going to buy this for a second, James,' he said shrewdly. 'You've caused too much trouble.'

'Thanks for the vote of confidence,' James said briskly as they pushed through the crowds. Sirius winked at a passing Hufflepuff fourth year who blushed furiously and put her head down. 'Enjoying yourself?' James asked.

Sirius barked with laughter. 'Immensely,' he said. 'Apparently, I'm extremely good looking.'

'And unfortunately, you're entirely aware of it,' came the voice of Lily Evans from behind them. James faked a sudden coughing fit, bending over and adjusting his robes so the Prefect's badge was hidden before straightening to turn and face Lily. She was beaming back at them, her green eyes alight with delight—and much to James' completely lack of surprise, a Prefect's badge gleamed on the chest of her robes.

Sirius grinned. 'Congratulations, Prefect Lily,' he said, swooping into a low bow and kissing her hand as she rolled her eyes. James saw them immediately flicker to Remus' chest, the merest frown crossing her face.

'Something amiss?' Remus asked innocently, and James felt a swell of pride—his poker face had improved immensely.

'What? I—no, nothing, why?' Lily asked.

Remus smiled lightly. 'You look confused,' he said.

'What would I have to be confused about? Don't be silly,' Lily said in a rush.

James stretched an arm over to tap Peter on the shoulder. He pointed at Mary McDonald through the crowd, causing Peter to trot off in her direction, but the move had been deliberately planned—the Prefect's badge popped out of the fold of his robes and revealed itself in its full majesty to Lily's suddenly wide and incredulous eyes.

'There's that face again,' Remus said, looking utterly bemused.

James smiled politely. 'Alright, Evans?'

'You—I—you've got—I—how?' she stammered.

'I've got…what?' James asked.

Lily's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. 'I don't even know what to say,' she said.

'Congratulations?' James supplied. He offered his hand. 'Which reminds me—congratulations, Evans,' he said.

Lily shook her head. 'This is impossible,' she said.

'What's impossible?' James replied as Sirius sniggered.

'You can't be a Prefect!' she stated bluntly.

James smirked. 'Well, the badge appears to disagree with you,' he said coyly.

Lily looked at Sirius. 'Is this a joke?' she demanded.

'Please,' Sirius said dismissively. 'I can think of better jokes than this while I'm sleeping.'

Lily rounded on Remus. 'Remus?' she asked.

Remus nodded at James. 'Looks like the two of you will be spending a lot more time together,' he said politely. James struggled to maintain a straight face—this comment, more than anything else, seemed to rattle Lily to her core. Her cheeks flushed and she opened and closed her mouth several times, dumbfounded.

'Come on, Evans, it's not that surprising, is it?' James asked.

'You've—you've been a delinquent!' she whispered.

James chuckled. 'You weren't complaining about that while we were pranking Umbridge,' he said.

'That was outside school!' Lily said defensively.

'Alright then, what about when you punched her?' James said, folding his arms and smirking.

Lily buried her face in her hands. 'This can't be happening,' she moaned.

'Here, perhaps my letter will convince you,' James said, fetching Remus' letter from his pocket. He handed it to Lily who took it and began reading quickly. James and Sirius exchanged a grin, and Remus now allowed a smirk to play across his face.

'Congratulations Mr. Lupin…wait, Lupin?—Remus—I—YOU—' Lily roared suddenly, looking up as James, Sirius and Remus burst out laughing. She rolled up the letter and swatted not James, but Remus with it. 'You prat!' she said, but she was smiling in equal parts relief and amusement. 'That was incredibly cruel,' she said.

James clapped a hand over his heart as Remus waved his wand, pulling the crest from James' chest and affixing it to his own. 'Words hurt, Evans,' he said.

Lily stuck her tongue out. 'Serves you right,' she declared. She turned her gaze to Remus. 'I just knew you'd be made a Prefect! Congratulations,' she beamed.

'Thanks,' Remus said, his cheeks flushing slightly. 'You too, I'm looking forward to it.'

'So where are we going first, now that we've managed to avoid giving Evans heart failure?' James declared. He then quickly had to dodge a playful punch that she aimed at him.

Sirius frowned. 'Flourish and Botts?' he suggested. 'We've got a lot of new books to never read,' he said with a smirk.

Lily suddenly looked apprehensive. 'Er—why don't we go there last?' she suggested.

'Why?' Sirius demanded, already heading in that direction.

'Because Marlene's there,' Lily said quietly.

Sirius froze. 'Oh,' he said flatly. James, Lily and Remus held their breaths and Sirius shrugged. 'Alright, then,' he said. 'Any other suggestions?'

'Madam Malkin's? We'll need some new robes,' Remus suggested.

'Sounds good,' Sirius muttered and they began heading in that direction, passing Peter and Mary who were talking animatedly as they did so.

James cleared his throat. 'So when does Snape get here?' he asked.

Lily gave him a sidelong glance. 'Soon,' she said. 'We were going to meet at Florean Fortiscue's for some ice cream.'

'How delightful,' James said and Lily rolled her eyes. 'Has he started asking questions about London yet?'

Lily flushed slightly. 'No, and I don't want you inferring anything, either,' she said.

Sirius chuckled. 'Right, because when James does something, the first thing he decides to do is rush off and tell old Snivelly,' he said, earning a glare from Lily. 'Hey, he's the one under orders to lay off him—not me.'

'It would be nice if you would, though,' Lily said crossly.

'It would be nice if he'd throw himself in a lake,' Sirius retorted. James bit his fist to keep from laughing as Lily grabbed a quill from her bag and hurled it at him. Sirius caught it deftly and twirled it in his fingers, smirking at her. 'You'll have to do a lot better than that, Silly Lily,' he said with another roguish wink.

Lily sighed. 'Why do I get the feeling you're going to be insufferable this year?' she muttered.

'This year? Evidently I need to step up my game,' Sirius said with a smirk.

'Oi, there's Frank and Alice! LONGBOTTOM!' James called, waving as Frank Longbottom and Alice Dearborn made their way over to them. 'Been a while, Captain—how are you?'

Frank grinned. He had shot up in height by about a foot and a half over the last few months, now towering over the rest of them. 'It'll be nice to actually get to try out the Captaincy this year,' he said with a smile. 'Summer's been good for me. And how about you lot?'

'How was London?' Alice said with a smirk as she elbowed James.

Frank smirked at Lily. 'We look to our Prefects to set examples, you know,' he said, causing her to flush furiously.

'How do you know about that?' Remus asked incredulously.

Frank chuckled. 'Please,' he said. 'Dumbridge has a certain ring to it.'

Alice grinned widely. 'I got far more enjoyment than I should have out of that,' she said.

Lily sighed. 'So who knows that we did it?'

'No one, of course,' Frank replied. 'That doesn't mean that we can't put two and two together, you know.'

James laughed. 'See, Evans? Your secret is safe.'

'It won't be if you keep carrying on about it so loudly,' she said, looking around nervously. 'I'm supposed to be a role model for younger students now,' she added in a fretful tone.

James chuckled. 'Evans, I can't think of a better way for anyone to be a role model than by giving Umbridge what she deserves.'

'Hear hear,' Alice said bracingly.

'So how has your summer been?' Remus asked.

Frank shrugged. 'Not too bad,' he said. 'Looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts—play some Quidditch, hopefully have more meetings with the Order…'

'Have you heard anything about that?' Sirius asked excitedly. 'Your brother's been off working for the Ministry, hasn't he, Alice?'

Alice nodded. They had all gotten to know her older brother Caradoc during the Hogwarts Combat Championship the previous year. 'He has a junior position in the Department of International Magical Co-Operation,' she said. James nodded grimly—this was a department that they knew from their meetings had been infiltrated by Lord Voldemort.

'Hopefully he's staying alert,' Remus said gravely.

Alice nodded. 'I'm sure he is,' she said with a sigh and Frank squeezed her shoulder.

'Any word on who the new teacher for Defense is?' James asked Frank.

He nodded. 'Heard little bits—he's foreign, I know that much. I heard a rumor that he actually taught at Durmstrang,' he said.

'Durmstrang? But they're heavily into the Dark Arts, aren't they?' Lily asked in an aghast voice.

Frank shrugged. 'That's the reputation, although I can't imagine Dumbledore hiring someone like that,' he said.

'Dumbledore also has a habit of hiring people he knows,' Alice chimed in. 'So this must be someone he's familiar with.'

'I didn't know Dumbledore spent time abroad,' Sirius said with a frown.

Lily snorted. 'Well, you've never read a book, so why would you?' she quipped to general amusement. At Sirius' dumbfounded look, she explained. 'Dumbledore is famous for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was his battle with Gellert Grindelwald.'

The name jogged a distant memory in James' mind—a flash back to his first year, as a wide-eyed 11-year-old when Professor Bowen was explaining about Dumbledore's past. 'Hey, I know about that,' he said suddenly. 'Grindelwald was a tyrant in Europe and Dumbledore went to stop him. Their duel leveled an entire village.'

'Really?' Sirius said in amazement.

Lily nodded. 'Grindelwald wasn't much different from Voldemort,' she said grimly.

'But Dumbledore took him apart pretty handily, didn't he?' Alice said, looking between Lily and Frank. 'That's what everything I've read about it has said.'

'Not quite,' Frank replied. 'It was a pretty pitched battle, and they were apparently quite evenly matched. It took everything Dumbledore had to win,' he said. 'And that's not a very pretty picture, because Dumbledore may well be the most powerful wizard of all time.'

Remus rubbed his chin. 'Wow,' he said. 'So now they've got someone from that same region coming to teach at Hogwarts?'

'Could be,' Frank replied. 'But I guess we'll have to find out.'