Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave, don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.

Long you live and high you fly
smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.

- Breathe, Pink Floyd


"PADFOOT! GET UP!" yelled an irritated Remus Lupin in the marauder dormitory.

Sirius Black just turned away from the noise, burying his head in his pillow and falling asleep more comfortably.

Remus groaned in frustration as he regarded his friend. It was already breakfast time and his stupid fellow marauder wouldn't bloody get up. He was hungry man.

Just then the door flew open to reveal a grinning James Potter. "I figured you would need help," he grinned at the irritated boy in front of him.

Remus laughed and nodded towards a still sleeping Sirius Black.

James walked towards his bedside and said, "Pads, UP NOW" to no effect.

James rolled his eyes as he looked into the still sleeping face of his best friend.

He removed his wand and suddenly Sirius Back was hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Remus burst out laughing as he saw a confused look on Sirius' face.

Sirius rubbed sleep out of his eyes but stopped as he looked into the face of a grinning James Potter, upside down?

"PRONGSSS! He yelled happily, but stopped and asked, "Why are you standing upside down? That's kind of cool by the way." He grinned at his best mate.

James rolled his eyes and with a flick of his wand Sirius crashed on to the floor in a heap.

Remus doubled over with laughter. Seven years of waking up Sirius Black and the ways still amused him to no end.

"That was rude progsie," pouted Sirius from the floor. James chuckled and held out a hand to help Sirius off the floor and chuckled before answering, "I have learnt to wake you up in style after seven years of living with you pads."

Sirius guffawed and pouted more as he looked at Remus who was still laughing at the scene.

Muttering to himself he pushed his way past his friends into the bathroom and started getting ready for the day.

Remus gathered his and Sirius' bags for them as James looked around the dorm room that had been his home for the last seven years.

He was already ready and had walked to the Gryffindor tower with Lily as they both wanted to meet their friends before making their way to the great hall for breakfast.

James was ecstatic at the idea of living with Lily of course, but he missed his mates, especially Sirius. The boys had never been apart for more than a few days. Sirius had lived with the Potter's ever since he ran away from his parents place when he was sixteen. Even before that, Sirius had spent the majority of his summer and all of his Christmas at James house with his parents and of course, at Hogwarts they both were inseparable.

James knew that Sirius would miss him more he would. Sirius needed him more than anyone else, because he had been the first one to ever have loved him completely, like family; even today the thought of him turning like his family haunted Sirius in his dreams and it bothered James to see his friend suffering so much when he had so much good in him. James sighed.

Talking through a mirror where you could see each other instantly and talk made it better but it was still not the same.

Maybe he would come over for sleep over sometimes, he thought to himself as Sirius rushed out of the bathroom after setting his hair just right.

He grinned at the sight of James back in the dorm and randomly jumped on him to hug his best mate. He had missed him. Being with Remus and Reah had been great, but James was his brother.

"Pads! Come on now, we are going to be late." James grinned as he hugged him in a manly way and dragged both of them out the dorm room.

They skipped down the stairs and ran into Lily, Alice and Reah literally at the bottom of the stair way.

Reah and Alice fell on their butts as the others roared into laughter. Lily would have too, hadn't she grabbed onto James shoulder to balance. James arm grabbed her waist automatically and he felt a swooping sensation in his stomach as he smiled into the green eyes that had made him fall hopelessly in love.

Lily felt a warm feeling as she looked into her now favorite color of hazel and she blushed and stood up quickly. James arm lingered for a second more than necessary and they both turned quickly to their friends who were gathering up their fallen things and were still laughing.

James' hand was back in his hair, messing it up even more as he looked at the now blushing Lily, who was looking anywhere but at him. Slightly pink at the tips of his ears he winked at her as she finally looked up to meet his eye.

She turned an even redder shade of red, matching her hair color and looked down as she played with her hands nervously. Reah grabbed her arm suddenly and dragged her ahead of the rest without any reason and she sighed in relief; confused but a warm feeling in her stomach.

The six of them made their way to the great hall, chattering and joking. Reah grinned at Sirius in anticipation and the marauder winked at her as they continued on their way.

James was a marauder and thus sensed something as he entered the hall. He looked sideways and caught the anticipation look on Sirius' face and immediately knew that there was some prank planned. He muttered a quick shield charm on himself and the rest of the friends surrounding him as they entered the hall.

James smirked as he visualized the dumb founded expression on Sirius' face. He grinned evilly; maybe it was his turn to surprise Sirius too.

They took their seats and were getting comfortable as there was a loud snort from the far side of the hall and they all looked up to see the Slytherins entering the hall. All of them had their hair painted in some or the other color which every one presumed to be there for a while.

Avery tried shouting out some snide comment at a seated Ravenclaw and instead sung out, "Don't you dare laugh at me, for I am a singing Tree." His voice had been magnified by Remus who had caught on before anyone else as they had once talked about this same prank in the fifth year.

There was a shocked silence before the hall burst into laughter as people shook their head as this was one of the funniest pranks played at Hogwarts.

Mucliber hissed and tried saying something but a rhyme came out of his mouth, "Who do you think you are stupid, look at me, for I am a cupid?" The students at the other tables burst into laughter.

There were letters written on the conjured board on the ceiling, "the rhymes depend on the individual's level of creativity and mind level as they are his own doing; we can only make them rhyme and sing."

There were cheers as people applauded as they knew who was behind such a prank, the marauders.

James laughed with the rest of the students and slapped the back of Sirius' head and he turned to grin at his best mate.

Then as the Slytherins sat down, the students started to eat their breakfast.

Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick were the only teachers who were openly laughing at the prank. The other teachers were holding back laughter as they looked at the commencing scene.

Reah and Sirius grinned at each other before turning in anticipation for the next part of the prank.

Reah also looked surprised to see her best friend Lily laughing along with the rest of them. Lily was a little hard to convince when there was some prank in question. Maybe this year wasgoing to be different she thought to herself. She was glad; Lily needed to lighten up just a little bit.

Professor McGonagall came up to the Gryffindor Seventh years as they sat together and handed them their time tables.

"Thanks Minnie," winked Sirius and McGonagall pursed her lips in a thin line.

Suddenly there was a flash as everyone except James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Alice and Professor McGonagall felt a pair of skates growing on their feet.

Sirius and Reah exchanged confused glances and James burst out laughing at them. "Padfoot, it's not easy to fool the king of pranks; I did a shield charm on all of us before we entered the hall because I sensed something fishy." Grinned James Potter from beside Sirius cheekily.

Sirius huffed and they turned to Professor McGonagall with raised eyebrows. "After seven years of having the marauders in my house, I knowwhen to expect trouble."

The hall was buzzing with laughter which quickly turned into groans as people realized that they were going to be skating to every class for the whole day.

The letters on the ceiling burst into fireworks with the name, "MARAUDERS" before vanishing into thin air.

The students realized that they were not the only ones and their faces turned to disbelief as they saw Dumbledore skate out of the hall with an ease that was astonishing, assuming he must be so old now.

The three marauders and Lily, Reah and Alice made their way to their first class, Charms, laughing and discussing the successful prank all the way.

A few people snickered as the Slytherins were left singing and dancing as they struggled to keep balance and watch their mouth.

Lily sank with her back to the tree at the Black lake after she finished with her last lesson of arithmancy. It had been a nice day. She had enjoyed the pranks and she had laughed with the rest and she felt free for the first time in a long while. She had also liked the way the teachers and everyone had been included in the prank, thus making it fun and not a mean prank.

"EVANS!" she heard a yell and smiled to see Sirius, James and Reah make their way towards her.

They were making their way back from Divination.

"Hi guys," she said as they all sunk to the grass in the huge tree's shade. Reah and James continued with their conversation which she concluded involved vampires and Quidditch? She shook her head at them and turned to look at Sirius who was looking at her expectantly.

She raised her eyebrows at him in question and he rolled his eyes at her.

"What?" she asked him after a second of the silent conversation.

"I need a hug." He said childishly and opened his arms in waiting. Lily rolled her eyes as the rest of them laughed at his antics. James and Reah looked up from their conversation for a second to laugh but then continued it without losing a beat.

Lily rolled her eyes but hugged the idiot before settling back again. Sirius grinned at her in satisfaction before turning around to catch a movement as something moved behind the tree.

He shrugged it off and started to lie with his head in Reah's lap who smiled at him, still speaking to James about the international quidditch rules where vampires were not allowed to play in matches.

Remus smirked as he hid behind the tree. He levitated a few fruits from above and started aiming them at his friends' heads.

A small apricot hit James on the back of his head and he turned around to look at nobody there. He shrugged it off and went back to arguing with Reah.

Lily was reading her Transfiguration notes when something hard and small hit her on the top of her head. "Ouch!" she said and everyone's attention shifted to her.

"What?" Reah said curiously, stopping mid sentence in her argument.

"Something just hit me," Lily said looking around for the source.

"Me too," muttered a confused James from a little sideways from her.

At that moment something hit Sirius on the nose and he yelled he sat upright holding the little apricot.

"WHAT THE HELL!" He screamed and held up the apricot confusedly.

They all looked around and then suddenly Sirius looked up and jumped to his feet scaring the rest of his friends.

"THE TREE IS ATTACKING US!" He yelled looking up at the tree and pointing its wand at the tree threateningly.

"How can a tree attack someone Sirius?" asked an amused Lily from her place.

"LIKE IT JUST DID!" He yelled at her in confusion.

"It can't Sirius," Reah grinned from his other side.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her and yelled, "CAN TOO!"

"CAN NOT" yelled Reah standing up to match him.

"CAN TOO!" yelled Sirius even more loudly than before.

"CAN NOT!" shouted Reah to match his tone.

"CAN-"Sirius started but was stopped mid sentence as James had yelped and stood up as another hit his head.

"TOO" James yelled and smirked at Reah who narrowed her eyes at him.

"CAN NOT" shouted Lily as she jumped up to join the argument.

Lily and Reah grinned as the boys guffawed.

"CAN TOOOOO!" Shouted the boys together, stretching the word.

.

They all stopped as they heard a soft chuckle.

Then,

"SEE! I TOLD YOU, THIS BLOODY TREE IS BLOODY ALIVE!" Sirius yelled, pointing at the tree.

"It's a LIVING THING Sirius, BUT IT CAN NOT walk, talk, LAUGH or ATTACK!" Screamed Reah at her idiotic best friend.

"BUT IT JUST DID," yelled Sirius, frantically pointing at the huge branches.

Lily and James shook their heads at their friends' antics.

They all looked up and down again as they heard a loud snort that seemed to be coming from behind the tree.

Exchanging curious glances, they stated to walk behind and looked to find a Remus Lupin rolling on the grass with laughter.

The four students who had been arguing just seconds before came to the same conclusion as they looked from the laughing Remus to the apricots beside him and his drawn wand.

Their faces turned a shade of pink as they realized how stupid their argument really was. How could a tree possibly attack anyway? They were even considering the alternative, which was hilarious.

"HAHAHA Moony," said a slightly embarrassed James sarcastically.

Remus gasped for air as he tried to catch his breath and sat up in the grass. "You guys were debating THIS?"

He burst out laughing and the rest joined after a second because of how ridiculous they knew they sounded.

After Dinner they all made their way up to the head dorm as they all wanted to have a look at the place where their friend's now lived.

Lily gave the password and the portrait swung open to give them entrance.

"WOW! THIS IS AMAZING PRONGS!" yelled an excited Sirius as he entered the common room.

Lily rubbed at her ears. Honestly, that boy had a permanent loud voice.

Lily grabbed Reah and dragged her up her stair case to show her, her room.

"Oh my God, this place isso awesome Lils," Reah gushed as she entered her room.

Lily grinned as Reah looked around her room. "We should probably get Alice here too, maybe tomorrow or something?"

Reah nodded and started to look at the adjoining bathroom.

"You have your own bathroom?" She squealed as Lily grinned at her.

"You should stay over tonight." Lily grinned as Reah nodded enthusiastically. "You already dropped your bag in here. Just go get your clothes and stuff." Reah hugged her and rushed out of the room and Lily grinned as she heard him yell her byes to the boys who were lounging in the common room.

Lily made her way towards the three lounging marauders who grinned easily at her.

She looked at James who was looking at her and meeting his gaze and said, "Reah will be staying over tonight; you don't mind, do you" she asked him politely. Frowning slightly as she realized that she should probably have talked to him before asking Reah.

James grinned and shook his head to tell her that it was perfectly alright.

"Prongs, can we stay over too?" Sirius asked from his place.

James started grinning and nodding but stopped mid-way through the action and looked at Lily, silently asking for permission.

Lily laughed and nodded and Sirius whooped and jumped up and swung her in a little circle.

Remus was smiling at his friends when he noticed they way Lily was looking at James. Yes, this was the best first day back EVER.

.

Lily had said yes to the slumber party as tomorrow was going to be Saturday and they could all sleep in, and she too wanted to catch up with her friends before the term work actually started. She was also learning to relax as she fell into James presence.

She noticed things about him that had been hidden to her before. She noticed the way he was always completely himself only around his friends, the arrogance was just a mask for the rest of the world. She wondered if there was anything that she really knew about him.

She relaxed beside James on the couch and turned to look at James who was looking at her. He smiled the smile that he had always reserved only for her and she felt something warm burst through her rib cage. She felt at peace. She suddenly realized something that her heart always wanted to tell her, she wanted James to smile at her, her favorite crooked smile everyday forever.

James had always looked at Lily like he did today, worshipping the very ground that she walked on, but today he felt himself glow as Lily looked up, smiling at him with the smile that he knew could make the wrong right for him.

Sirius and Remus were mucking around the place as Reah returned to the common room.

Reah dumped her things in Lily's room and they all settled on the couch, floor and armchairs in front of the fire in the heads' common room.


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