A/N: I just looked at the date I first published this story, and I realized that in about a month, it will have been one full year since I started writing this, and that is unacceptable. So I apologize for taking so long and I promise I'll finish it much faster. Thank you for sticking with me so far! This is the end of year one, and I don't think I'm going to write a concluding chapter. I think I'm just going to continue with year two. This story won't contain any summers, but I did have the idea of writing a sort of "Extras" story with the summers in this story. Let me know if any of you would like that! Please and thank you!

~Maya

Forever Young

Chapter 10: Here's To a Weird Year

"Oh, no," James whispered, bolting over to free Lily from the cloak. There she lay, unconscious and spasming violently. "What the hell do we do?!"

"We do what we should have done," Remus said firmly. "We take her to the Hospital Wing, and James, you ARE HELPING WITH THIS!"

At the sight of the girl jerking in front of him, James was silenced into agreement. All four of them scooped her up into their arms, James stuffed the invisibility cloak back in his robes, and they headed towards the Hospital Wing. As they struggled to keep Lily's flailing limbs at ease, Sirius said quietly, "This is Dark magic." James felt chills of fear and guilt travel down his spine. It was entirely his fault. If he had not been so stupid, if he had not underestimated Radford's magical skills, Lily would be safe.

"I…I had no idea," he whispered.

"I know," Sirius replied. "None of us did."

"Do you think Madame Isadora can do anything about it?"

"I don't know," Remus said, "but I think Madame Pomfrey is better at this stuff, if that helps."

It didn't, but James nodded anyway. They finally approached the large doors, and the two nurses came running.

"Oh my heavens," Madame Isadora cried, lifting her hand to her heart.

"What happened?" Madame Pomfrey glared at the four boys.

"She was cursed," James responded. "We don't know what it is, but…"

"We brought her here right away," Sirius finished. James shot him a look, and Sirius sent him one right back. "We think it's Dark magic," he continued.

"All right, well, set her on the bed there, and we'll take care of her. You lot can go now," Madame Isadora said faintly.

"What?" James protested. "NO!"

"Mr. Potter," said Madame Pomfrey with her hands on her hips. "I absolutely will not allow four young first years to sit in on something Dark. Go back to your dormitories now, or you all have detentions and fifty points each from Gryffindor." The guilt nearly took him over, but James acquiesced. The Marauders left the Hospital Wing, glancing worriedly behind them at the girl on the bed.

"Why'd you do that?" James asked when they were far enough away.

Sirius shrugged. "I'll back you up, mate, but only when you're not doing something extremely stupid."

"And what level of stupid would you have called that, Sirius?" Remus said sarcastically.

"Very," replied Sirius.

Remus rolled his eyes and James almost laughed.

"Bloody hell," he sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Will she—do you think she'll be okay?"

"Probably," said Sirius. "But now that we don't have to worry about her, we've got to think about how Radford's gonna set the whole bloody place on fire."

"I don't know anything about Dark fire," Remus admitted.

"Well, who's to say he's gonna use Dark fire?" tried James. "I mean, he could just use plain old regular fire."

The other three boys looked at him for a moment, and then laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah. Right," said Remus.

"Well," Peter said hesitantly. "I do know that Dark fire can't be stopped with water."

"No way, Peter. Really?" Sirius asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "Tell me more. Is it also really, really hot?"

Peter blushed. "No…I-I-I only m-meant that D-Dark fire only s-stops one w-way," he stuttered.

"How?" demanded James.

"When it can't consume anything else," Peter said.

"Well, brilliant," Sirius said. "Wonderful. So let's just vanish the whole of Hogwarts, shall we? Or, and this a really great idea, let's vanish the whole world! You're really brilliant, Peter, really."

Peter turned even brighter red.

"No, hold on, Sirius," said James. "Peter, what does that mean exactly?"

"It-it means th-that it can be c-contained," he whispered.

"Contained?" repeated Remus.

"Yeah, c-contained. Like, if you p-put it in a b-box of some s-sort that it c-can't get out of, then it'll d-die because it c-can't con-consume anything anymore."

"Brilliant," James whispered. "I mean, really brilliant. So all we've got to do is make this magical box—"

BOOM! The four boys were thrown against the wall by the force of—whatever had caused the earsplitting sound.

"What was that?" Sirius cried, jumping to his feet again. It was no use, however, he was simply thrown to the floor again within seconds.

"The ground is shaking!" yelled James. "It's bloody shaking!"

Chills of fear and horror swept over them as, looking down the staircase, they saw a bright, orange light that appeared to be screaming. Hogwarts was aflame.

"Oh my God," Remus whispered.

"Hurry!" James shouted, struggling to stand up. "He started! We have to find a way to contain it!"

The fire was approaching rapidly. They could feel the heat from the flames licking their terrified bodies. Desperately, the four boys looked around the corridor for anywhere they could run, but the only way they could go was up. Moving as one, the Marauders bounded up the staircases that faced them and must have passed nearly a hundred staircases until they collapsed on the stone floor, gasping for breath.

"Bloody…hell…have we…lost it?" panted Sirius.

"I think so," James replied.

They could hear a faint screaming. "Oh God," groaned Remus. "We have to do something!"

"I know! I know!" yelled James, pacing frantically. If only there was something that could contain the fire. Anything at all.

"James…" whispered Sirius.

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!"

"No—James—"

"Just shut up, all right? I can't think with you lot—"

"James!" Remus bellowed. "There's a door behind you!"

James whirled around. "What—what—that wasn't there before! Was-was it?" He had been quite certain the corridor was completely empty with completely blank walls.

"Let's go inside," said Sirius.

"No!" said Remus. "What if it's a trap? Who knows what other kind of Dark magic Radford knows!"

"Remus," said James, "it's the only thing we can do. The door must have appeared for a reason, right?"

"And anyway," Peter squeaked, "at least we might be able to get away from the fire."

With a deep breath, Remus nodded. The double doors were huge, almost reaching the ceiling, and covered with an intricate metal design. The boys' heads only just reached the handle's height. Grunting, James pulled it open, and inside they saw a miracle.

"Merlin," breathed James.

"Blimey," Sirius whispered.

"Do you think that could be…?" Peter dared to ask.

"No time to really think, I suppose," said Remus. "We've got to try it."

"Can we levitate that thing? It's pretty huge," said Sirius, his voice squeaking slightly. It definitely was. Inside the room there was only one thing, a giant, metal, cube-shaped box.

"It looks like steel, doesn't it?" asked Peter.

"If it's what we think it is, then it's probably not. It's probably some charmed metal." James was screwing his face up in concentration. He raised his wand.

"Hold on," said Remus loudly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm preparing to levitate this thing. I'm gonna need your help, so you should probably be doing the same thing," he replied irritably.

"Are you serious, James? We can't levitate that! Sirius was right, it's huge!"

"What!" He let his hands fall to his sides and turned to face his friend, face red. "We have been going crazy for a whole year together, doing spell after spell on Hogwarts students, and dammit, sometimes even Hogwarts itself!" He looked at all of his friends, one by one. "Nothing can stop us if we put our minds to something. I mean really, nothing. Nothing. Will. Ever. Stop. Us. Now help me!" Sighing, James resumed his position with wand at the ready.

"James," said Sirius softly.

"WHAT!" he yelled. "Are we Marauders, or aren't we?"

They all fell silent, a new hope surging through them. The fire was raging and consuming everything not many floors below them, and these four boys knew that they may well be the castle's only hope for surviving.

"All right," said Remus. "This is gonna take some serious power, okay? We're all gonna have to think of something that'll drive us. We can't just focus on the levitation, we have to have a reason, a motivation. Ready?"

Bracing themselves, the other three nodded. All four Marauders stood with their wands at the ready, staring at the giant box, willing everything else to disappear.

They'd never know it, but each boy had the same motivation, the same drive that night. Each boy, glaring at the box they hoped was truly a miracle, stood there and thought forcefully of each other, and their own personal gratitude they owed to their friends. For the Marauders were brothers, and in this instant could be called nothing else.

They whispered the incantation. Slowly, the box rose from its spot, gasps of disbelief and happiness escaping from the boys.

"Keep focusing," cried Remus. "We have to take it downstairs!"

"Do you all know the spell?" asked James vaguely, lost in the power of his own charm.

They nodded, partially to each other, and partially to themselves, and in one quick, fluid motion, they stabbed the air with their wands, shouting out a charm that was so far beyond their years that they felt foreign and ancient magic flow through their bodies, making their beings insignificant mediums. In a heartbeat, the box flew to its destination, the first floor where the fire was almost done wreaking havoc. Rapidly and frantically, the boys raced down the staircases chasing the box, shouting for any professor or staff member who could help them.

James was throwing curses and jinxes at every door, trying to get anyone outside. "Professor Dumbledore!" he shouted. "Professor McGonagall! We have a box to contain the fire!"

"It's never gonna work," Sirius yelled desperately. "It's not gonna work! They're all probably gone!"

"We can't control the fire!" Peter screamed. "What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do?"

Finally, they reached the bottom of the staircases and came to a halt at the sight before them. Standing in the Entrance Hall were the professors of Hogwarts, in a great wide circle with their wands up, surrounding a giant flaming mass they could only assume was the Dark fire. The fire was in contained in a large, golden bubble, lashing at the edge every few seconds.

"Potter!" screeched Professor McGonagall. "Open the box!"

"Oh! Right!" James shouted, flustered. "Er—alohomora!"

With a bang, the box flew open and all the professors swung their wands toward it. Fighting and screaming, the fire was forced to comply with the professors' magic and careened into the box, which then slammed shut.

An odd yet peaceful silence overtook the Entrance Hall. Every person breathed deeply, the breath of a warrior who'd just won a battle. Finally coming back from a state of reverie, James looked up at the professors, and was surprised to see Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall smiling, and quite widely at that, at him and his friends.

Professor Dumbledore's office was a shiny medley of red and gold, positively pulsing with magic. His cheeriness was almost odd, and the Marauders found themselves wholly agreeing with the general consensus of Albus Dumbledore being the eccentric of the century. Upon calling them to his office, Professor Dumbledore warmly offered them comfortable seats, chocolate, which he then ate heartily, and then proceeded to sit in his chair and watch the boys for several minutes. Finally gaining the courage to express his discomfort, James cleared his throat.

Professor Dumbledore turned, smiling, to him. "Yes, James? What is it?"

"Er…well, I'm sort of asking you that, sir. Why did you call us to your office?"

"An excellent question," he said. "And there is a very good answer to it as well."

"Yes?" asked Sirius hesitantly.

Professor Dumbledore paused again. "It's been many years since such Dark magic has been unleashed upon our school like that. Thankfully, it was cast in the nighttime when very few people were downstairs, and no one was gravely hurt. We were able to come to the fire quickly enough to contain it and stop it from doing more harm, and I must commend our brave and brilliant teachers for that after we've finished here.

"Like I said, we were able to reach the fire quickly, but after containing it we didn't have many other options. I myself was thinking about hurling the fire out the doors into the grounds and finding some way to protect the castle on it. That would have unleashed a very Dark and dangerous force into the world, but I was preparing myself to do it to protect my students. I felt I had no other choice, you see. My mind was almost made up when you four came into the hall.

"I was unaware that we had access to such a box that could contain the Dark fire, but Hogwarts does tend to surprise everyone once in a while," he said, eyes twinkling. "This brings me to my last point. There has not been such an attack on Hogwarts in many, many years. There has also not been such a display of bravery and courage in many years. You four have been an inspiration to me and the staff at Hogwarts, and tomorrow after breakfast you will have proven an inspiration to everyone else in the school."

The boys were speechless.

"Wow," breathed James. "Thank you, thank you, sir. That means…a lot. Thank you."

"At the moment, I cannot know how to give you the proper thanks and the rewards for behaving as you did," Professor Dumbledore continued. "But I assure you, you will be rewarded, and justly." He stood up, now unsmiling. "You should have come to Hogwarts staff right away, however."

"Professor," said James hurriedly, "there wasn't time, you see. We didn't even know until right before the fire started—"

"I am referring to the incident with Miss Lily Evans, James," Professor Dumbledore interrupted, raising his voice slightly.

James fell silent, staring at the ground in shame.

"You see," continued Professor Dumbledore quietly, "there is a difference between bravery and hotheadedness. Your hotheadedness tonight could have cost Miss Evans her life. Thankfully, you brought her to the Hospital Wing just in time, and our nurses are powerful witches learned in the Healing Arts. In short, she was lucky, and you do not have a life on your hands." He paused. "Bravery is not an act of pride. It is an act of fear. We are only brave when we are forced to be, when we are afraid. Keeping a cursed Lily Evans in your common room was not bravery, it was foolishness. As much as you will be rewarded for your role in destroying the Dark fire, you will have to face the consequences for your thoughtless actions."

The Marauders were nearly drowning in their humiliation. "I-I apologize, Professor," said James hoarsely.

"It is not me you should apologize to, James," said Professor Dumbledore kindly. "It is something to be remembered. I hope, if you take away anything from this meeting in my office, take what I have just told you. You may go."

Silently, the boys left and rushed down the stairs to the corridor, unwilling to be in Professor Dumbledore's knowing gaze any longer.

"She's never gonna forgive us," whispered James quietly.

"Hey," tried Sirius, punching his friend's arm and attempting a lopsided smile. "Maybe this whole 'hero' thing will work for you!"

Fighting a smile, James said, "I'm sorry, mates. I should've been more, I dunno, responsible or whatever. If she'd—I'd never be able to live with it, and I would've put on your consciences too, you know, like Dumbledore said. So I'm sorry."

"It's all right, James," said Remus, clapping him on the back. "This whole stupid ordeal is done with. Radford didn't get away with it, and he's probably gonna be arrested, let alone expelled. I suppose he deserves it."

"And hey," cried James. "We can't forget Peter in this!" He reached out to throw his arm around Peter's shoulders. "He's the one who knew about the box!"

"We're probably never going to find out how the hell that box came into that magic door on the seventh floor," sighed Sirius.

James looked at his friends, a mischievous look appearing in his eye.

"Oh, no," said Remus, holding up his hand. "Stop right there. I know what you're thinking. We have had way too much crazy in the last twenty-four hours, and I will not have any more in the next fifty years. And even then I'll have to think about it."

"Oh, come on!" said James, grinning. "How did that box get there? Hell, how did that door get there?"

"James," said Remus, enunciating every syllable, "we will never know."

He grinned wider. "Are we Marauders or aren't we?"

The end of the year feast was like nothing they had ever experienced before, and while eating the luscious food that sat before them, all the first years thanked every higher power they could think of that they had six more years of this to look forward to. Despite the fact that Hogwarts no longer had a threat, school exams were not reinstated for the year. To the great dismay of the fifth and seventh years, however, O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s were still given. The girls (minus Lily) had been awed and impressed after hearing the boys' tale, which, it was fair to say, had been stretched quite a bit to suit the listeners' ears. The Marauders were, in short, young heroes.

"Tell me again how you managed to levitate such a huge box, James," drooled Vixen Carter, smiling and batting her eyes at James. The bespectacled boy grinned widely and ran his hand through his hair.

"Well, you see, it was a moment where I just realized that if we couldn't levitate it, the school would burn, along with everything in it. I realized that we were the castle's only hope, you see," he explained, still grinning. "I just knew that I had to do it, it didn't matter whether I could or couldn't, I just had to, or I'd never be able to live with the excruciating regret."

"I didn't know Potter knew big words," Lily muttered under her breath. Brooklyn snickered quietly. They were sitting across from James and the drooling girl, who was now sighing in a rather disgusting manner.

"How did you come by the giant box, anyway?" asked Charlie curiously. "I mean, last time I checked Hogwarts didn't have a lifetime supply of large fireproof boxes." She laughed at her own joke, and shoved potatoes into her mouth.

"Er," said James, glancing at his friends. Though they were unable to explain why, the boys felt that their discovery on the seventh floor should be kept between themselves, at least for the time being.

"Well," interjected Sirius loudly. "Our bravery and nobility in the moment was the only thing we could feel and know, so some parts of the memory are—oh, how shall I put it—hazy. We were, after all, so concerned and determined to save the school, that our only focus was just that." He folded his arms across his chest proudly.

Charlie, Lily, Brooklyn, and even Remus rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"And I suppose it's better that we don't remember," continued James, a mischievous glint in his eye. "The secrets of Hogwarts should never fall into the wrong hands. Not even the hands of those who put their lives forth to save it," he finished tragically.

"You lot better watch it," said Lily, unable to keep her mouth shut any longer. "Your new reputation as good saviors might just outweigh your old reputation as Marauders." She looked at her friends. "I think 'the Good Students' has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Maybe even better than 'the Marauders.'"

Charlie and Brooklyn laughed. "You know," Brooklyn teased, "Lily might be on to something here. Saving the school seriously outweighed all the wicked things you did all year. Damn, if you want to stay the Marauders, you better start rebuilding."

James and Sirius looked stricken. "Oh, don't worry," Vixen slobbered. "I still think you're bad."

The boys exchanged looks. "Oh, no," they said together.

Lily opened her mouth to make another jab at them, but at that moment, Professor Dumbledore stood up and tapped his goblet. Everyone looked up at the teachers' table. Eyes twinkling, the headmaster looked across the Great Hall.

"This has certainly been a most eventful year," he began. "We had an attack on Hogwarts that almost killed many people. I trust that that event will be the buzz of all your summers, and I do not discourage spreading the knowledge of what happens to anyone who threatens our dear school. Let us not forget, however, the rest of our wonderful year together, and let us hope to bring those times into next year as well. I wish you all an excellent summer and I must remind the underage students that no magic is to be used outside of Hogwarts. Thank you all for a wonderful year!"

Due to the Marauders' role in saving the school, each of them received enough points to win Gryffindor the House Cup by a landslide. Lily managed to get in another snide comment about the "so-called" Marauders gaining house points instead of losing them. Though they'd never admit it, the boys were slightly worried that they were becoming a little too good for their own tastes. But, as they each told themselves, it could easily be fixed next year, and the year after that, and the year after that…

On the train home, they thought about what a year it had been. Staring out the window, Sirius pondered how it may have turned out if he had been Sorted into Slytherin, and thanked his lucky starts that he had not, and that he had met people who embraced the rebel in him, rather than scorned it. He scowled as he thought about what the summer would be like, with his parents turning their noses up at their Gryffindor son.

"What's up, Sirius?" asked Remus.

Sirius shook his head. "Nothing," he murmured softly.

Nodding, Remus turned away. Though he was relieved that he could spend a few months not hiding his secret from everybody, Remus still quaked in fear thinking about the next year, when he would have to continue making up elaborate lies to cover up the truth. As he looked around at his friends, he thought back to what Brooklyn had said. Should he believe in them? Should he tell them the truth?

"This summer is gonna be excellent," said James, laughing. "I can't wait to do all sorts of hexes on Cam."

"James," sighed Remus. "I get it, little sister is probably annoying. But you can't do spells outside of Hogwarts. Dumbledore just told us that not three hours ago."

"Yes, he did," James replied, eyes glinting with mischief. "I suppose you can follow that rule if you want. I, on the other hand, will live on the edge like the true Marauder I am."

Remus threw his hands up in the air in surrender. "Suit yourself."

Peter laughed at them, his insides swelling with gratitude that they had been so accepting of a loser like himself. In the beginning of the year, he'd had no idea why he'd been Sorted into Gryffindor; he knew nothing of bravery and he had nothing to be proud of. Now, he knew he was at least proud that he'd made the best friends anyone could have ever known.

"I wonder where the girls are," Sirius said, glancing at the compartment door.

"They won't come," said James. "Evans is never gonna forgive me, or us for that night. She doesn't even speak to us, except to insult us."

It was true, for at that moment the girls were sitting in a compartment almost on the other side of the train from the boys, cursing them angrily.

"You're so right, Lily," said Charlie. "I mean, I can't hate them, but what they did was really stupid. I don't blame you for not ever forgiving them."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I just want them to stay out of my way from now on."

"Oh, they will," said Brooklyn. "We'll make bloody sure of it."

Sighing, Lily stared out the window. "It was a weird year."

"Nicely put," chuckled Charlie.

"Yeah." Lily paused. "Well, here's to another one just like it."

"Minus the fire and the psycho prefect guy," said Brooklyn.

A/N: And this concludes year one! I'm going to continue with years two and three, maybe even four in this story. Then I'll publish years five, six, and seven in a different story. Thank you all so much for your reviews, I really appreciate the followers and reviewers.

~Maya