Epilogue

The rest of the year went by smoothly for everyone. The Christmas break was spent mostly at my house. It is just me and my dad, my mother died when I was 11. My dad and I are very close, so he insisted I invite my friends over for as long as they wanted to stay. All of us could now apparate legally so it was easy to be together. And, by the break Sirius and Severus were only separable for classes and sleep… and even then that was still a stretch.

When Sirius found out I had been the real mastermind behind Severus he had glared at me for a week. It took Lily and Sev yelling at him that without me he would still be single and without the sexy snake to get him to stop. In fact he even apologized profusely for it afterward.

The holidays were the most fun time I had ever had. I showed them all The Wolf Man they found it highly amusing and we decided it had to be a tradition to watch it during the New Year from now on. I then showed them my comic collection and introduced them to The Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman. They all rotated reading the comics until they were all as into it as I was. We spent hours in my room or living room just reading and laughing about things in the comics.

Whenever we weren't reading comics or watching old horror movies James and Sirius taught Lily, Sev and me how to transform in animangus. In just that short period of time of the holidays we learned to successfully make the change. We could all be together during the full moons now and that made everyone excited for the future endeavors. It would also make getting Remus up to the hospital afterwards much easier.

It was interesting to see Lily's transformation into a doe with red tinted fur and dazzling green eyes. I was excited to meet my new patronus, my old one had been a barn owl, and the new one of course reflected Remus. So of course it was a wolf with sparkling blue eyes. I looked exactly like it when I transformed. My fur was light brown and waved into small curls at the ends. We were all curious to see whether it would be Severus or Sirius' that changed. To my great amusement and delight Sirius was the one that changed. Severus was a large but gentle snake… a boa of some sort. He was all black and had all black eyes. He was eerie but beautiful. Sirius now was a snake too, but his was a tiny black garden snake with pale blue eyes. Remus was pleased to see my animangus as was James. Sirius grumbled a lot about not wanting to be bottom if it meant he had to be a snake which only made the rest of us laugh heartily.

Of course, as tradition goes with things like this, the original boys decided we needed nick names. Each of them picked there boyfriend or girlfriends new name. Remus named me Star, he said it was because my eyes reminded him of stars but James said it was because then we could be Moony and Star… cheesy but cute, I could defiantly deal with it. Severus was Scales and Lily was (to the great amusement of everyone else) Bambi. Apparently Disney although a Muggle thing still was very popular in the wizarding world. She huffed about it for a little while but once James, Severus and I had called her by it for a few days she decided it was cute and accepted it.

Padfoot no longer suited Sirius' animangus but James and Remus said it would be too weird to call him anything else so they left it as was. We were all very happy and content with our names and roles in the newly formed group.

James now called us the 'Pack of Marauders' it suited us well. We all had our roles in the pack making us one very strong complete group. James was the leader, strong and brave. Sirius was the hot head, always ready for a fight to defend those of us in need. Remus was the gentle intelligence, always trying to keep the rest of us out of trouble (ha ha… yeah good luck with that babe). Severus was the sarcastic cool headed one, always ready with a snappy comeback and always had the perfect spell for a job up his sleeve. Lily was the kind one, making sure we didn't fight too much and always making sure she had a shoulder to cry on, a hug to give, or an ear to listen with if any of us needed it. Upon mentioning all these roles to everyone Severus noticed I had left myself out 'as always' like I wasn't one of the most important pieces he had said.

I remember it clearly… he had cleared his throat, stood up as if addressing a class as a teacher and said in a matter of fact voice- "As always Grace is being humble and stubborn in thinking she brings nothing to our pack. When in fact, Gracie is the glue, she is the one that brought us all together and without her it would still just be the three Marauders, incomplete and lacking, then you found Grace. She is the kindness that Lily can't always be, she is the sarcasm that I sometimes lack, she is cool headed and intelligent when it seems impossible, she is always ready to defend and forgive even when they don't deserve it and she has proven herself to be brave when tougher men would have run. She takes care of us when we need it." He had pointed at his hair and then gestured to Remus. "And she always knows just what to say when we feel we can be no lower. She is our Pack Mother, and thank the gods for her!"

My eyes had welled up with so many tears at the kind words I couldn't even speak. I just nodded, hoping the others would feel that at least he was slightly correct; I was shocked when I looked around to see everyone beaming at me with huge smiles and nodding their heads in agreement… even Sirius.

When I had joined the Marauders, that first week had been amazing, I felt loved and wanted. I had friends that liked me for who I was and it was spectacular. But when I had heard those words from Severus and seen the fast nodded agreements I had felt needed. They needed me, just as much as I now needed them.

When the time came for us to go back to school we did it with laughs and friendship, nothing could separate us now, as I had said before, we were all like one part of a whole.

The rest of the year felt like a continuation of the holiday. We spent every second together we could. Even if we were studding we did it by the lake so we could all spend the time with each other. It was odd how well we all got along. We bickered like siblings a lot, but always with a good-natured air and always under the watchful eyes of Lily to make sure it didn't get out of hand.

Finally the summer came and it was much like the Christmas break had been except that they didn't stay at my house. We settled for apparateing back and forth between Lily, James, and my home. It was great. We made sure to be with Remus for three days before and three days after the full moon including the actual event where we snuck off into the forest near his home and spent the night playing as our animal personas. It was a truly happy time for all of us.

That following year was just as great as the one before. Our NEWT's had fast approached but we got through the work load together and finished the year with flying colors. None of us got less then 'E's' on any of our NEWT's, we felt like nothing would ever touch us, we were the unstoppable Pack of Marauders… but we were still so young.

~GL&RL~

Okay this is where it gets serious folks. This is all what happens during the first war. It is not happy, Lily and James still die, things are better for Harry because Sirius never goes to Azkaban and because Peter wasn't in the story and Sirius has Severus, but still kinda moody and much darker than the previous stuff. You've been warned, but I also say that I put some twists in and you have to read it if you want to know about Grace and Remus' kids.

For a year life was perfect. Remus and I had been married along with Lily and James and Sirius and Severus. All in the same month! Soon after our weddings Lily and I got pregnant and Sirius and Severus were looking to adopt. We were starting families and lives, James and Sirius had become Aurors! Remus, Severus and I went to Hogwarts and trained under the retiring teacher in our soon hopeful field. Remus trained under the DADA professor, Severus under the potions professor and I studied under the Care of Magical creatures Professor. Lily made potions for an apothecary and was working on a children's book of our adventures the last two years at Hogwarts.

Remus and I also worked on books. They were to be a set, his was about werewolves in general and the dynamics behind becoming one and how to deal with it in a stress free manner. While I, wrote one on being the mate of a werewolf and what to expect from it. No one had ever really written books like these, werewolf books were always from an outside source never at the heart of it. We planned for them to be truly telling of what it was really like, raise awareness on the so called 'Dark Creatures'.

Life was good.

However… like most good things, it ended soon after the news of our children. News of a Lord Voldemort swept through London like a plague. He was everywhere but never seen, nor heard. Dumbledore in hopes of preventing the man from becoming too powerful created the Order of the Phoenix. And like always, if one of us did something, the other Marauders followed faithfully to make sure the initial person didn't muck things up! So, when James joined the Order… the rest of us followed. We all had our roles to play… but I refused to let Remus or I do tasks that would put our soon to be full family in danger with this new dangerous man.

James and Lily had not been so careful and soon we had news that Voldemort was after them specifically. We tried to ignore this sad news and wait for the birth of her baby with happy carefree eyes. But it was not so easy.

We still acted like because we were the Marauders… a steady pack… one whole thing that we could not be touched. We were unstoppable and no matter how tuff The Dark Lord was he would never hurt us.

But then Dumbledore asked Severus to do something that we were not ready for. It was a blow to our pack. The crazy old fool asked Severus to be a spy among the Death Eaters. He was an accomplished Occlumencer, we had hoped that Voldemort would not be able to see into his mind and discover this secret. Every time his tattoo stung signaling for him to go to the evil man it was like there was thick, heavy blanket over our pack. We would hold our breaths till he came back and every time it got harder and harder to watch him leave us. In our terror over Severus, we let the news of Lily and James' distress fall to the side. But in the end it was never Severus we should have been worried about, he always came back.

Meanwhile Lily and I were only getting rounder. We looked as though we would pop at any moment.

Finally I did pop, a month early! I had twins, apparently they regularly came early. I had a boy and a girl. The little girl had her father's straight blond hair and my eyes while the boy got my curly brown hair and his father's dazzling honey eyes.

Apparently werewolves were known for impregnating their mate with more than one child, like a litter of puppies (something to include in my book). I couldn't complain I loved kids, still do of course. And I had two beautiful spring babies.

We had discussed names over long nights and with the other Marauders. In the end when the pack found out we had twins, the choices were unanimous. Always for the humors way possible they were named Jill Lily Lupin and Jack James Lupin… Jack and Jill (like the nursery rhyme… Sirius didn't stop laughing for 10 minutes). We gave them Lily and James' names because Severus and Sirius were to be their godparents and we wanted to represent everyone in our little family.

In the end they were all very proud and happy for Remus and me. Our pack was two larger. And for the first month it was like the Dark Lord didn't even exist! Then in the summer we were back at the hospital.

Lily was now a mother herself. Her and James had brought little Harry James Potter into the world. He looked just like James, except for the eyes; he had Lily's green orbs. She had all four of us be godparents, Harry would be loved no matter what either way and they couldn't decide. We were all happy to be whatever they wanted from us, if they wanted little Harry to have four godparents then the boy would have them!

For another month… we were happy. But the Dark Lord was still after something and none of us… not even Severus knew what. We knew it had to do with Lily and James, but we weren't sure why. Why just them?

But it wasn't just them; the Longbottom's were also under tight protection. They had a child, little Neville within days of Lily. We couldn't be sure but we thought it might have something to do with the boys. But we couldn't be positive. Severus tried to gain the information, but Voldemort didn't entirely trust him because of his marriage to Sirius. It was a wise choice of course, but irritating for the rest of us.

Almost a year had gone by, we tried to be happy like we had been when we were in school, but there was so much to fear. One night all our fake happiness vanished. Remus, Sirius, Severus and I got news… James and Lily had been murdered by Voldemort. We all cried immediately, huge tears dripped down our faces as the Auror told us that Harry had miraculously survived the killing curse and that he now needed us to be his guardians.

Of course we took him with wide open comforting arms. The poor baby was barely a year old, and already an orphan, but he would know his parents. They would be the source of great stories for him. This didn't have to mean the end. He would fill the hole left by James and Lily in our hearts just as we would do the same for him. Remus and my children clung to him like no other right along with me. We of course already knew each other, but it was like the kids knew he needed extra love. (Apparently they had inherited my knack for knowing when comfort was needed most.)

We tried to make Harry comfortable and we loved him like our own just as we had always promised. We were grateful for his presence, but like most things in last few years, it wasn't long lived.

Dumbledore had come a few days later. We had all calmed down enough that we were no longer crying. That was until the man said that he would be taking Harry.

"He must go to Lily's sister, before Lily died she performed a spell that is making it impossible for anyone to harm him, but he has to be near someone who shared her bloodfor it to work." It was as if he had smacked us all across the face with an iron! It was safe to say we were all outraged, but none as much as me.

"How dare you come here and think you can take Harry and give us no other option! Because of you Lily and James are dead! You don't get to take away the one thing that can help heal all of us! Harry needs us to tell him about his parents, and we need him to show that they didn't die for nothing! You want him! You have to take him from me!" It was the only time I had ever screamed angrily in my entire life. I had never been so angry before. This wasn't even in the same galaxy as the time I had yelled at Sirius those now three years ago.

I was raging, I thought I would have to duel Dumbledore! And I would have done it too… But then the man's eyes sparkled.

There was a collective sigh of relief from the room; apparently they had wisely headed my words. They knew I would duel the great wizard if it meant a chance to keep Harry with us. But Dumbledore shook his head.

"I understand," he had said. "So, I offer you this. Move into the house next door to the Dursley's. As long as Harry is close to Petunia the spell will work. But, this is my only offer, the only chance to keep Harry, you move into the muggle neighborhood and keep your magic to a minimum or stay here and I take him."

It hadn't even been a discussion. All four of us packed our houses and moved in within a week. To the great amusement of the Marauders the Dursley's were shocked at our 'eccentric' outfits. Even though three of us grew up in muggle influenced households, we still dressed strangely. They were not happy to see us, but we were overjoyed to see them. We had to disguise Severus slightly when he was even close to being noticed by Petunia, since he had been friends with Lily when they were young. But it was fine, we managed that with little problem since Petunia tried her hardest to not look at us, at least in person (she did a lot of staring through the window).

The problem at first was that we were a family of 7 in a house with three rooms and we couldn't have the kids sleep in the same room forever since one was a girl. But we weren't wizards for nothing! We managed to make the house magically bigger on the inside but still look the same on the outside. We glamoured it so if a muggle came in it would look like it did when we moved in. It was perfect. We changed the attic into Severus' potions lab and put in five more bedrooms. We needed one for Remus and I, one for Sirius and Severus and one for each of the kids. However we hired a house elf named Polly to help take care of kids and cook if something happened during our busy schedules… and during the full moon. We offered to pay her but she refused so we made sure she had a room at least as big as the children's and that we were always polite to her. We insisted she eat meals with us at the table too. Polly is still very good to us and is a member of the family.

Severus and Remus already had a huge collection of books, I wasn't bad off myself. We needed a Library. We put together a Library where all the walls were covered from ceiling to floor in book shelves... all except the door. And then since two of us were writers we needed an office. It was large enough to house two desks and a few shelves comfortably.

We put a glamour on the back yard so if anyone else looked into it from the outside it would look like a peaceful regular backyard. In reality we planted all manner of strange plants and kept some strange, but gentle creatures as pets for my class.

The kids were the light of our lives. Although we still grieved for Lily and James the kids all helped lessen the sting. They were our future, the future pack of Marauders; as long as they remembered they weren't indestructible they would grow up to be good strong adults. Stronger then we had ever been.

The full moon although felt odd, due to the fact we were now missing two members… but we still had fun. We would apparate back to Hogwarts and go to the shrieking shack like we did when we were students.

Life was actually looking up. Harry had gotten rid of Voldemort, and although the loss of his parents was a huge blow to all of us he never lacked in love. We made sure never to spoil our children with possessions, if they wanted something they had to earn it. Life was hard and we had to make sure they understood that nothing in life was free. We only ever spoiled them our love and affection.

It got harder as they got older. They took after us in the mischief department. They liked to do practical jokes and make thing seemingly blow up of their own accord. Jack, Jill, and Harry were practically inseparable! Unlike most siblings they hardly ever fought, it was nice to see it, although that did mean we had to endure the practical joke problems, their ability to cooperate made their schemes that much more advanced and… terrible for the old Marauders. Although many a times we discovered that Sirius had a major role in the plans.

We had fun watching them grow up, we were so proud of how well Harry had gotten along despite the fame that followed him wherever he went. He never let it go to his head, in fact it was quite the opposite, he hated his fame, he wanted to be like his brother and sister and just be normal. We felt bad for the boy, but in all honesty we couldn't blame the public. Harry hadn't known what it was like, the kids hadn't been around for the first war, and suddenly a baby saves everyone! He truly was special.

None of us knew at the time of course how special he would become, but we knew he and his siblings would do great things.

Anyways, we taught them all we could without them actually using magic themselves. We all had a different subject and love to contribute to the kids. So, when they finally got their Hogwarts letters it is safe to say I cried like a baby. The kids and Sirius just laughed at me. I punched Sirius in the arm so hard it was bruised for two weeks.

Of course it wasn't like we were saying goodbye, I was just so proud of them. After all Severus, Remus, and I all had jobs as teachers at the school and all of us were to live there during the school year even Sirius.

~GL&RL~

They are now in school. All three of them ended up in Gryffindor! Severus is still grumbling that he still has to be the only Slytherin in the Marauders. Remus and I are proud though, we're glad Harry is a Gryffindor it would have made his parents proud.

We were happy to see them all in their first days of classes; the kids had apparently already made new friends. On the train to school they had shared their compartment with a girl by the name of Hermione Granger and a boy named Ronald Weasley.

The Marauders and I were delighted to hear about the Weasley boy, we had worked with his parents in the Order. And from what Harry told us Hermione was going to be a wonderful addition to the family they were already creating for themselves.

They had also met Neville Longbottom who was the other boy believed to be targeted by Voldemort and we had been very close with his parents since they were in the Order. We grieved for the boy and his grandmother when we heard what happened to them. We were very happy to know he was an addition to the group.

~GL&RL~

Now we are caught up again, and now I have to deal with a little problem.

I was just informed by Minerva that they are defiantly taking after us. Ron has two older twin brothers named Fred and George and they are apparently ones for mischief themselves. Harry told them all about our own little stunts as students and all about the Marauders. It's safe to say they are now calling themselves the same thing. I heard whispers yesterday about how cute all the Marauder boys were, and 'Oh, aren't those Marauders just the funniest things you've ever seen!

They are lucky I'm not their head of house! That's for sure! They are just lucky I love the fact that they are making so many friends! The roll sheet is now long enough to already have passed us up.

Let's see there is…

Harry

Jill

Jack

Ron

Hermione

Fred

George

Neville

I think that's it, but they are making friends all the time and Ron has told me he has three brothers even before Fred and George and a younger sister! Plus I've seen the way Malfoy's son looks at them; I can see the desire for an actual friend in his eyes. The ones he's got now are ridiculous! I believe their names are Crabbe and Goyle? They are more like foolish body guards if you ask me!

I asked the kids about it after their first day; they said he was a mean Slytherin boy that just made fun of them and especially Hermione because she is muggle born apparently (personally that just makes her better in my books, Lily was too, and she was wonderful!). I pointed out that Sev was too a Slytherin. I think that only made to confuse them, but alas, we shall just have to see what their big futures hold.

The others Marauders and I can't wait to see what will happen and I must say it's been quite a ride so far. I can only imagine it will get better from here because I know no matter what happens bad or good, we will get through it as a family. In the end that is what is most important and with a family this big I can't see too many downsides.

The end.

I have a side of what happens when Sev seduces Siri that I am still working on and then I am thinking about stories of the new marauders adventures. Okay well that is the end tell me what you all honestly thought! I would love to know!