This chapter goes to the writer of the fan fiction "Aurors don't cry". He/she was the first person to inspire me to write.

…..

Owl:

"And here we are" finished Sirius, swallowing his toast he pushed his plate away.

"Urgh! Sirius not you too. I can't force feed both you and James" groaned Lily as James also pushed his plate away.

"Not hungry" they both chorused in union. Lily sighed and simply continued eating, knowing she was fighting a losing battle.

"So….they couldn't find Remus" said Sirius glumly.

"Yeah" said James with a resigned sigh "I miss the old champ"

"I am sure they will find him" assured Katie, uneasily patting Sirius on the back.

"They are not even looking!" cried James with a hint of annoyance in his voice, though Lily couldn't really blame him. It was true, Dumbledore had simply chosen to wait until by miracle the next clue appeared. The rational part of her mind told her to stop being stupid, what was the old Headmaster supposed to do if there were no clues to help them in their search. But, even Lily could sometimes be irrational.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

James looked at the window, his chin furrowed in suspicion.

"Who could send an owl through post" James wondered out loud, remembering that part of the enchantment was that no one could send owl for it was impossible for the owl to find their house.

He cautiously approached the window, one of his hands digging into his pockets and fingering his wand while the other reached forwards towards the window. When he opened the window, a small tawny owl flew in and obediently stretched out its leg on which a small scroll was neatly attached.

James rid the owl of it's burden and glanced at the writing, recognizing it immediately "It's from Peter" James informed them, as they were growing cautious and getting to their feet as if expecting the paper to shoot a curse any moment. Upon his words, they relaxed and he heard Lily mutter in the background "only he could do that"

"He is going to visit" James exclaimed brightly earning a grin from Sirius who cried "finally!" ,reading the letter. It was short, simply saying;

Prongs, I will be visiting soon.

Wormtail

"So how old is Harry?" asked Katie, smiling at the toddler who had decided to amuse himself by drawing patters on the table with his cereal.

"He turned one this…oh my god! Can't believe I forgot. What did you guys do on his birthday?"

"Oh just a quiet tea with Bathilda, it is like you said we couldn't have anything too big" said James smiling at his son. The aspect of Peter visiting seemed to have had cheered him up –a bit.

"And did he get my present" grinned Sirius.

"No, Lily confisticated it"

"What! Why?" whined Sirius, sounding awfully like his animagus form.

"Speaking of which, Sirius Orion Black I want to have a word with you. You should have given him something sensible, giving his a broomstick; he might as well have broken his neck…"

Lily ranted on for about five more minutes before realizing that no one was even listening. Sirius was poking Katie on the side, insisting that she do something while Katherine shook her head vigorously, saying that she was still sane and thus would not do as he said.

Lily pouted and crossed her arms on her chest glaring at James who was watching the pair with a amused smile. James from some six-sense he seemed to have noticed this. He wrapped his left arm around her and gently planted a kiss on her cheek. "Don't worry Lils, you are still my favorite lady"

Marlene:

It was almost 7 o'clock when Peter climbed out of the emerald flames.

James, Lily and Sirius were overjoyed to meet their little friend again and rushed forwards to greet him with Katie tagging along, nervously tugging at her hair. She had not been acquainted with him yet, but knew enough to feel that she knew him, after all Sirius did never stop talking about the legendary marauders.

Peter though, did not look as happy as he should have on being reunited with his friends. James and Sirius wasted no time in enveloping Peter in a bone-crushing hug, one he returned half-heartedly. Once they let go, he began fiddling with the edge of his robes and spoke in a quavering voice "the Mckinnons…..dead"

Sirius stumbled back as the force of the news hit him. Images of the girl with uncontrollable blond hair drifted back to him.

Marlene talking mysteriously about a prank they were planning together….

Marlene complaining about the exams being too difficult….

Marlene with her head tipped backwards, laughing heartily….

Marlene leaning towards him, her eyes almost closed….

Lily lifted a shaking hand to her lips as memories of her dorm-mate and one of her best friends came back to her. She, Marlene and Alice had been dubbed as the hot trio. Lily had been annoyed, Alice didn't seem to care as for Marlene, she had found it hilarious. The ironic fact was, all three of them were taken.

She and Marlene had almost always fought when she found out that Marlene had yet again aided the marauders in one of their pranks. "It's all good fun" she had said, shrugging it off.

"How do you get it to lie flat?"She had one asked her as she sat down once again with a comb in her hand, looking like someone had challenged her to duel. "I was born this way" she had grumbled, half asleep herself.

She had been a amazing girl, she had been the feisty one out of their group but all the same was also the most sensible one when Lily chose to be stubborn. She had been a beautiful, with a big problem –her hair!- she couldn't understand how the death eaters could do this, they were still children themselves.

James unconsciously moved towards Lily as he felt grief engulf him. Marlene, oh yes! He remembered her. She would help them out with pranks from time to time, but there was a greater thing due to which he would forever be in her debt. She was one of the main reasons he and lily were together, for that he owed her his happiness. She was the one who had helped Lily understand her feelings for James.

"Um guys….who are the Mckinnons?" asked Katie's hesitant voice.

"Friends of ours…." began James but was cut off by Peter's exclamation "you! What are you doing?"

"You know each other?" asked a puzzled Sirius, looking from Peter to Katie.

Katie shot Peter a glare, stick to it! etched on her face. "our mums knew each other…"

In their grief stricken state, no one noted that Peter's parents had lived in Britain while Katherine had supposedly lived in France.

"How did it happen?" asked Lily in a numb voice.

If it was possible, Peter grew even more uncomfortable "well Lily….no one blames you guys but Voldemort is growing even more restless. It is not normal for people to simply disappear off the globe so he is hand picking your friends and Marlene was close to both you and Alice so….."

There were no words needed to explain what had happened, she could understand his silence. She let out a wail of despair and would have fallen down if James' arms had not circled around her and kept her upright. She clutched his arms, feeling her broken nails digging into his skin but couldn't stop herself and held on to him as if her life depended on it. burying her face into his chest, she sobbed.

Remembering a McKinnon:

James was sitting in the middle of a three-seater sofa. Lily was practically in his lap, her legs blocking the space beside him and her head resting on his shoulder. She had stopped crying a few moments ago and had resigned to staring into space. Sirius was sitting beside James and Katie was sitting on the arm of the sofa, her arm resting in a comforting manner on Sirius' arm. Peter occupied a empty chair and Harry was sitting quietly in a corner, playing with blocks. He seemed to have realized that the adults were rather tense and decided to not add his own disturbances to it.

"I went out with her….in fifth year" said Sirius out of the blue. It seemed a ritual to them now, one of their dear ones would be lost, and they would sit together and review their memories of them. Remembering them with laughter amidst the tears.

"She had a crush on you since third year" sniffled Lily, sitting a little straighter but making no move to get out of James' lap.

"It was fairly obvious" chuckled Sirius "so; I decided to give her a chance"

"I was a bit surprised when she turned out to be the one who ended it. I mean you were known as the heartbreaking machine"

Sirius rolled his eyes "those heartbroken girls should have known what they were getting into"

"Should I know what I am getting into?" asked Katie with a mysterious smile.

"Honestly Kat, stop being all mysterious. You haven't even let me begin"

"Don't call me that" grumbled Katie but decided to let it drop nonetheless.

"She was married to a Muggle wasn't it?" said James, ignoring the happenings of the room. Over his years at Hogwarts, listening to Sirius rambling on, he had gotten rather good at ignoring his voice.

"Yeah…" mumbled Sirius, frowning slightly "her wedding was two weeks after yours was it not?"

"Yeah it was, I was her bridesmaid…"

A silence lifted, it was neither comfortable but at the same time it didn't make them feel uncomfortable. They all just sat there lost in their own thoughts, wondering what they were missing and what needed to be remembered, for you don't realize the importance of all your happy moments, before they become mere memories.

"I am going to go….get a drink" squeaked Peter before fleeing from the room. The rest continued their conversation.

"She always complained about her hair" laughed Lily, reminiscing all the times she had had with the girl "she cut in down in second year, said it was too much to care for"

"We teased her about that" chuckled Sirius "but she didn't seem to mind. Funny that is, most of girls would have hung us upside down by the ankle"

"Well she was a bit of a tom boy" said James, smiling.

"I bought her a straighter for her sixteen birthday, though she seldom used it said it took too mush hard work"

"She looked prettier that way, but it wasn't her" said Sirius.

"I hate it!" Lily cried suddenly, breaking everyone's chain of thought and attracting their attention to her.

"What?" questioned James.

"The war" cried Lily, her voice breaking with every word she spoke "Remus is g-gone, might be dead for all we know. Marlene is dead and…..and harry, poor harry, he is caught up in all of this because of that stupid prophecy….."

A gasp made her stop, and along with that she realized her slip. Oh no! She had completely forgotten that Katie was there. She turned to the other girl and found her gazing at her in shock, one of her hands clutching the material of Sirius' shirt to keep her from toppling over.

"Um guys" said Sirius, hesitantly "should I tell her. She did vow so we are not in any trouble…"

"Go ahead Sirius, the cat is already out of the bag" said James in a dangerously low voice, which he usually used when he was fighting to stay calm. He then turned towards Lily, grabbed her wrist "we need to talk" and pulled her to her feet. She was surprised to see anger flash dangerously in her eyes as he without waiting for a answer guided her out of the room.

...

Right guys I know that I suck at writing. Some of you probably see my writing and are like why does she even bother? But I am a eighth grader, who is not a native English so excuse the few grammatical mistakes. I am actually hoping to get better, but till now not mush is coming by…but I am not one to back down from a fight, so all I want to say is, excuse the mistakes and if I forgot to capitalize anything, sorry.

And if any of you are interested in how James and Lily got together (in the vanquisher series) see my story, a hogsmead weekend and a Halloween ball.