Author's Note: Hello all, yes it's an exceptionally quick update. I'm attempting to get back to the every 10 days routine with this story, and since 6 was really late, I posted 7 on time. The song for the chapter is by a little known band called Elenowen and I adore their music. Another romantic chapter, and the beer finally appears. Thanks to my betas: Peter and Arnel, for making the chapter better. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing, MNF

Chapter 7:

Flying for the First Time

Monday, September 19, 1977

James POV:

I was beginning to get worried about Sirius and George; there wasn't a peep out of either of them since he dragged her up to our dorm on Friday night. All I know is when I went up at two a.m., the curtains were charmed shut and there was no sound coming from within. I didn't doubt Sirius had used his super-strong silencing charm. It was brilliant, and nearly unbreakable; I was the exception as he'd shared the spell with me. Since I didn't want to hear my sister getting busy with my best mate, I chose not to break it. During the weekend I wasn't concerned, their absence gave me more time to snog Lily; but now it was Monday and we were expected in class in about a half hour. Granted it was Charms, and Sirius really didn't need the class, but George did. We had Potions after, which while George excelled in the subject, especially the identification of ingredients and their uses, Sirius was rubbish in the class. It was only George and Lily's cram sessions with him before the exams last June that allowed him to continue.

Of course, it turned out there was no reason to worry, as they came in about three minutes after I'd arrived here with Remus, Sibby and Lily. Peter and Eliza were asleep, seeing how neither was in NEWT Charms or Potions. They did have to stay up late into the night with Astronomy on Tuesday and Friday nights, so I suppose it was fair. Then again, Sirius took Astronomy, but had never gone for the nighttime observations and still got an O. The only good thing about being a Black he'd often claim.

Our seating arrangements had been shuffled, but George still sat across from me. Sirius was next to her, acting the perfect gent in pouring her tea and passing her the rack of toast. Gwenny was absolutely beaming. I raised my eyebrows and looked at her.

She puckered her eyebrows, as if to reply "what?"

I tipped my head toward Sirius.

She bit her lip, blushed and looked up, as if portraying innocence.

I started laughing. "Now, I know you're purity personified, Georgie, but he's anything but. What sort of trouble did you two get into this weekend? Where were you?"

She looked at Sirius, who plucked her lip out from between her teeth and then demurely pecked the aforementioned lip, and then her forehead, and then lifted her left hand and kissed the ring on her fourth finger. She reached for his left hand and kissed his ring.

"Holy Shite," Sibby practically screamed. "You went off and got married somewhere."

"Keep your voice down, would you," George reprimanded her. Neither of them said anything, and I was worried they indeed had married. My mum would have their heads for not letting her be there. I sat there, my mouth opening and closing, much like Lily's and Remus's. We looked like beached fish, struggling for breath.

"No, Sibby, dearest, we did not get married," Sirius corrected her. "Saturday morning, before any of you were awake, we left Hogwarts. Yes, Remus, we had permission from Minnie," he answered the question before it was asked. Remus was nothing if predictable, although sometimes he was a bit of a wet rag on our fun. He was a very old man in a young man's body.

"We went to Glastonbury, to the fair. My Gwenny and I selected rings which had significance regarding the other."

"You're wearing an engagement ring?" I asked gleefully, ready to take the mickey out of him. Sirius gave me that look, the one he has right before he hexes someone.

"No, I wouldn't call it that, and neither will you," he answered. "I will say that it reminds me of my Gwenny, and how lucky I am to have her. It also bears witness that I'm not your average Black." He was right. The ring was an awesome roaring lion with little, dark red gemstones for eyes.

"That is so romantic," Sibby said. "I wish Fergus and I had done something like that."

"We did it this way because, unlike if we'd had a traditional betrothal and been forced to use some hideous family ring, we chose each other. We arranged for our own happiness," George explained, never taking her eyes from Sirius. The other girls aahed.

"Okay, Seph, give us your hand," Lily demanded in a friendly way. George lifted her hand from the table and let Lily and Sibby inspect it. "It's so unusual, not at all like an engagement ring.

"I know," George answered. "We looked at more conventional diamonds, but they just didn't seem to suit me. My sisters all have huge gemstone rings which were gifts from their new families. We wanted something which reflected the difference in our engagement, and I definitely didn't want a Black family ring, all snake-y and probably cursed." Her face made me laugh. I'd never seen her scrunch it up so deeply, at least not since she was quite young.

"We had gone through most of the fair when I saw it, I knew it was perfect. The deep blue colour and the flower and stars, it reminded us of somewhere very special," Padfoot explained.

"The Aegean Sea?" I asked and they both nodded. I remembered that trip, it was probably one of the best we'd ever taken. I didn't need to say more. Maybe if Lily asked about it later I'd tell her, but perhaps not.

"I liked the enamel work, it's out of fashion now, but I've always found it mystical in some way. Like the vibrancy of the colour had its own story to tell. The way the yellow gold brings out the diamonds and contrasts the enamel; I just fell in love with it. When I read the inscription inside, that was it. We both knew this was the ring," George explained, her face moving between her friends and Sirius'.

"What does it say?" Sibby asked, hanging on her every word.

"The inside is inscribed: Time Shall Tell I Love You Well. Time has never been our friend, it's always been counting down to this terrifying date. We bided our time, did what was expected from us and now we are blessed with the rest of our lives. I don't think we will ever take what we have for granted," she said in such a lovely, bold voice. This was the girl I'd known growing up. Sirius wrapped an arm around her, and she laid her head on his chest. We shared a long look, my best mate and I, both pleased to have our girl back. I was so happy for them.

I looked at my watch, and realised we'd wasted nearly all of breakfast. We each ate something quickly, stood and finished off our tea or juice and headed to class. It was bound to be an interesting day, as I could hear the gossip mill ramp up and go to full swing as we were leaving the Great Hall. At least it wasn't about Lily and me for a change this fall.

BTB BTB BTB BTB BTB

September 22, 1977

It had been a bit cumbersome fitting our brew kit into the dorm, but with an expansion charm, Padfoot being the only one who'd mastered it yet, we all fit quite well. Okay, not quite well, but we fit. It was a good thing there were only four of us, rather than five like the sixth years. We'd never have pulled this off. The only bit of an issue arose if more than two of us needed the toilet. We'd lost the third 'seat' in the expansion. Remus was also forced to post a 'No Pee in the Sink' sign after drunk Peter not only used the sink, but aimed poorly, and sprayed our toothbrushes. I am ever so thankful Mum over-packs for Sirius and me. No charm in the world would have persuaded me to put that in my mouth.

The girls were here tonight to simultaneously study for our Transfiguration quiz in the morning, but also to taste the first tapping of our brew. We Marauders were convinced we'd done it, George was dubious, the other three were absolutely convinced we'd fail.

Padfoot and I decided to start out simple and brew a good bitter; we were good Englishmen after all. Well, I'm a Welshman but that doesn't matter. A bitter was the perfect place to start; it went with anything and we'd smuggled some grub from the kitchen for the occasion, carrying on our tradition from last spring. Our study sessions had gotten rather celebratory; lots of food, butterbeer, whisky and wine and a fair bit of horsing around. We lads might be the Marauders, but those four lassies could be just as devious. We wouldn't be able to continue it much longer; the NEWT level exams really weren't that far away. Regardless of what I wanted to do when I left Hogwarts, I needed top scores.

Lily had curled herself up at the head of my bed, her back against the headboard, her feet dangling off the right side, her head on my pillow at the left. She had her wand out and was changing my hair different colours. If there was one class I was confident in, it was Transfiguration. Basic human transfigurations, like hair, skin or eye colour switches or changing the shape of your nose were nothing compared to the Animagus changes. I was letting Lily practice on me while I worked on the keg and chilled the pint glasses Pads and I brought back from my parents 'games' room. My Dad had confirmed the room had only been used for poker, cigars and liquor for generations.

Padfoot's bed was next to mine, and he and George were lying side by side, he helping her with the changes. She was good at Transfiguration, but it didn't come naturally to her. We had tried to teach her to become an Animagus when we were working with Peter, but she had more trouble than Wormtail. From what I'd read, only people very strong in Transfiguration magic could accomplish a fully-formed animal. It explained why Peter often required a little help.

Past the door to the loo was Remus' bed. He was sort of separated from the rest of us because he was exponentially neater. We figured it would help if there was a buffer from the messiness. He and Sibby were sitting side-by-side, feet dangling off the end. Remus was swinging his legs in nervous energy. We were five days away from the full moon, and his pre-change anxiousness had begun. Every so often Sibby would touch his leg to get him to stop. She was so tiny that if he started bouncing the mattress it wasn't hard to bounce her right off.

After the door to the hall was Peter's area. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was a human-sized rat. He had this nest which surrounded his bed, including his curtains. It was made of his robes, books, parchment, quills, sweets, jeans, shirts and jumpers. Honestly, parts of it looked like it had been bound together with spittle, just like for a real rat. For this reason, Eliza sat on my trunk, closer to my bed than his. He didn't know, but we often put up odour-blocking charm so we didn't have to smell his stuff. At this moment, instead of studying or practicing, Peter was burrowing through his things.

"You ready to tap that yet, Prongs?" Pads yelled over, waggling his eyebrows as he did.

Padfoot was inquisitive about with how far I'd gone with Lily. He'd always had this strange fascination about what any of us did with our girlfriends. I honestly think it was living vicariously, since we knew he rarely went past snogging with a girl, regardless of what his reputation might be.

Being wealthy and of an ancient bloodline made us both targets for girls who wanted to 'accidentally' end up pregnant with our child. Dad had sat us down when we were about thirteen and explained that while dating girls was fine, unless we were sure we were in love and prepared to have a connection with the young woman in question, becoming sexually active with her. We'd always have to deal with them should a child be created. After his blunt talk, Sirius and I decided we best keep it in our pants. None of us had ever had much action, although something told me this year might change that, well except for Pete, because Eliza just wasn't that type of girl.

"Excuse me, Sirius, what do you think he's tapping?" Lily yelled back at him. This was excellent, she was all feisty and wound-up; he looked like he'd been caught with his pants down. Irritated as she was, she transfigured his feet into troll's feet.

"Lily, lovely Lily, I was asking about the keg," he placated her, before turning his feet back to normal. "I would never question your impeccable moral standards." My darling girlfriend rolled her eyes and then transfigured his nose into a pig snout.

"Sirius, you're a pig. I can't figure out what Seph sees in you," she rebuked with an air of superiority. This time Seph turned him back, but I could see in his eyes he was incensed. Before I could stop him, his wand twisted, and I looked at my girl, and she had the neck and head of a flamingo.

"Now your nose is truly above all of us, since you seem to look down at us," he said ever so politely.

"Enough," Seph said, hoping up off the bed. "Both of you to your own corners. You have the Transfiguration stuff down, and if you didn't notice, you both of you did it silently. Jamie, the beer, please." She'd always been quite good at breaking up arguments between the girls; this was just an extension of that skill.

"Strangely enough, George, I have tapped the keg, and I have glasses filling as we speak."

I looked down at the pint glasses, and they were mostly foam. Besides that, the beer wasn't an amber colour; it was sort of green-brown. George was eyeing sceptically. I passed the glasses around, and when we each had one, we prepared to drink.

"On the count of three; one, two, three," I counted down and we all sipped. It was not what we'd drunk in Oxford. In fact, other than the foam, it bore no resemblance to beer.

Eliza spit hers back into her glass and Lily forced herself to swallow. Both Remus and Sibby excused themselves to the loo. Strangely, Peter drank it down. Padfoot, George and I looked at each other.

"Well, gents, that's horrid," she told me.

"Tasted like moulded bread," Lily added and she wasn't all that far off.

"The yeast taste was way too strong," George added, giving it another sip. "Where there should have been that wonderful bite and then the creamy feel as it slid down your throat, instead there was something akin to mouldy grass. The consistency is all wrong, too." George always had a skill in explaining how something tasted. It's part of the reason I love eating with her, as she critiques and picks apart the ingredients in a dish. "Your kit looks like the diagrams from the books we read. What did you do? Not heat the wort properly? Did you forget to use the exact amounts on the grain bill I'd given you?"

"No, we followed those instructions exactly," Padfoot answered. George looked at him and then me and shook her head.

"Let me guess," she said, looking frighteningly like Mum. "You two tried to use magic to speed things along."

"We're wizards. We should be able to use magic to do things," he pleaded. She shook her head.

"What was the one thing I told you not to mess with? Do you remember?" Now she even sounded like Mum.

"Not to rush the yeast," I answered, feeling like I was being scolded by Minnie.

"It's like the bread incident," George reminded us.

"What bread incident?" Lily asked.

"When we were like nine or ten, not long before we would came to Hogwarts, MummyP decided we needed to know how to cook. It was the three of us, plus Sibby and Eliza," she explained.

"The lessons were really fun, even if some of our products weren't tasty," Eliza added and Lily laughed.

"Anyway, we were learning to bake bread, Mummy explained that bread was an essential food, and could be baked in any number of ovens," George explained. "There were two teams, the three girls verses the two boys. Whoever made an edible loaf of bread first would get out of kitchen clean-up. These idiots thought they could speed up the yeast by charming it."

"Oh, they sped it up," Eliza chimed in again. "It grew so fast their dough exploded during the first rise. There were spots of dough all over everything. The best part was that since they didn't have a loaf at all they lost. They had to pick up. MummyP also made sure there weren't any wands about, so they had to do it by hand." The girls started laughing at our expense, but we should have learned our lesson then.

"Okay, no more magic when brewing," I said, reluctantly.

"But, I thought we'd get to make magical beers!" Sirius interjected.

"You can, you old dog," George said ruffling his hair. "Just wait until after the brewing is done."

"Guess we have to try again," Peter excitedly said from his little nest area. I noticed he had four empty glasses on his bed. I figured I'd better retrieve those before they were lost forever.

"On to round two," I said far less confidently than I had been a few days ago.