Disclaimer: Everything here (besides the few things you don't know) belongs to JK Rowling, creator of the worlds of Harry Potter.

A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the time it took me to update, but this was one crazy month for me and the weekends were simply not enough time. Not to mention that last week, when I was finally about to update - decided it doesn't want to work. Wish I had a longer weekend…

I NEED MORE TIME!

Anyhoo, before anything else - about two and a half weeks ago, if I'm not very much mistaken, it was one of my fanfiction friends' birthday, and though I intended on sending her a Happy Birthday message, I failed in doing so, and therefore - consider this a belated birthday present, FizzingWhizbeez! Hope you'll like it :)

And as for the rest of you - thanks for reading as always, and answers to your previous reviews would come later this week - promise!

Chapter Twenty Five - Starting from Scratch

While things were not back into shape, they were certainly more positive than before, following Sirius' intentional brush with death. Though James still used only sparse words with Sirius, he did not turn away from him when Sirius politely asked something or commented on something a teacher said. He even allowed the boy to sit with him again at meals, which was a big step, considering everything.

Things were uneasy, of course. They were bound to be after such hard occurrences. Their friendship was too strained, too uncomfortably cracked for it to bounce together again and be as it was. It would take time to heal. But Remus was determined to see things getting back to the way they were - to some extent anyway. He had no doubt that the odds and ends of that betrayal would linger for a long while yet.

Though he did sit by Sirius in most classes, James still preferred to be alone and away from the other boy's company most evenings. He did not think that it would be prudent to spend too much of his free time with him. It was better that way. It allowed things to heal a little more. But Remus knew that if it would continue for too long, then it would only make things worse.

Peter seemed to think that way as well, but, as he said to Remus one day not long after James and Sirius' confrontation, "It's not like James would ever listen to me, Moony. He's too damn independent and I'm just too insignificant and have no way of convincing him to act differently. He's only ever listened to Sirius and the two of us know it. There isn't much we can do. They'll have to sort it out on their own. All we can do is to nudge them in the right direction."

And people said Peter Pettigrew was an idiot.

It was a few days after Sirius was given the chance of trying to be forgiven, when Remus was reading quietly by the common room fireplace. It was rather late, and so most of the occupants were sixth and seventh years with the occasional fourth and fifth and one, slightly confused second year that was not entirely certain what she was doing there. James was up in the dorm, most likely already asleep - he had looked dead on his feet after dinner. Remus knew he still was not getting enough sleep. Peter was dozing over an obscure essay next to a table not far from Remus' seat; the girls were sitting in a giggling huddle to one corner, getting glared at by a group of seventh years who were obviously trying to study for an exam of some sort. Sirius was sitting across the grate from him.

He was staring.

Now, Sirius staring at empty space - or at a girl behind one of the Marauders' back - was quite commonplace. Sirius staring at him, was not. He tried to ignore him, thinking his friend was absent-minded and did not realize what he was doing, but as minutes passed, he came to realize that the stare was too intent to be that of someone who was daydreaming.

"What is it, Sirius?" he finally said, sighing, accepting the fact that Sirius would not stop staring at him until he acknowledged his presence and let him speak what was on his mind. He was quite aware of the fact that Sirius felt he needed Remus' acceptance before he could even speak each time he wanted a word. It was getting a little ridiculous.

And this staring… that was new. There must be something serious on the boy's mind.

With that now ever-present look of relief on his face, Sirius said, "I just realized that I probably owe you a big thank you."

Remus looked at him with a steady gaze, waiting for him to continue.

"You…" Sirius faltered. "James would not have spoken to me that night if it hadn't been for you - I'm sure of that. He would only have done so if you - the person I risked the most during that debacle - would have told him he should do it."

Sighing, he put his book down and looked straight into Sirius' eyes. It always unnerved Sirius when Remus did that for some reason. "It's true that I've spoken to James on your behalf, but it's not me you need to be thanking, Sirius. I suppose that eventually I would have done it on my own accord, but I am still not happy with you, and certainly not happy with what you've done. The fact is, that had Keira not spoken to me and convinced me that you're suffering much more than I had expected, I would not have done so.

"Merlin help me, Sirius, I was pissed off. I did not want to see what this separation did to you because I was angry. She - and Lily before her - but mainly Keira - maybe because she went so violently about it - convinced me that something had to be done. So it's really Keira to whom you owe that fact that James is starting to relax around you once more - not me."

"Keira?" Sirius looked baffled. "Keira did that? I thought she hated me!"

"Apparently not as much as we thought, eh?" Remus said, allowing himself a friendly smirk. Since James was softening once more, Remus saw no reason to keep a complete distance from Sirius.

A strange expression took over the other boy's face. It was a peculiar mix of dawning of understanding, shock and a half-hearted, answering smirk. But most expressive of the lot, was the small light of hope that appeared in the grey surfaces of Sirius' eyes.

Remus had to hide his smile at that point.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Sirius suddenly said, getting up just as abruptly.

"Why, of course," Remus said, knowing exactly where his friend was going.

Crossing the common room with his wide, confident again, strides, Sirius made his way to where the girls were still laughing over something girly. Raising his book just enough to hide the fact that he was watching them, Remus' eyes followed him all the way to the point where he stopped before Keira and quite politely asked for an audience. A private audience.

Keira raised an eyebrow in question at that, but nodded nonetheless. There was no refusing Sirius when he used that tone. It sometimes made Remus want to roll his eyes in exasperation. Even Keira was not immune.

As the two moved away from the other four girls and out of Remus' range of sight (or rather, out of his sight if he wanted not to be too blatant about it), he had to rely on his enhanced hearing. Being a werewolf certainly had its perks.

Once again, there was not even the tiniest twinge of guilt at the thought of eavesdropping. It was getting to be a habit.

It took him a moment to discern Keira and Sirius' voices from the low murmur of older students chatting, but as soon as he had them, he did not let go.

"-don't know how to thank you," he heard Sirius said in a quiet voice.

"About what?" Keira sounded quite baffled and Remus could not tell whether she honestly did not know or was simply feigning ignorance.

There was what could best be described as a hard silence coming from Sirius, which soon made it obvious that the second option was correct, for she sighed loudly and said, "Well, I suppose I do know about that. Don't worry about it. There's nothing to thank."

"It might seem that way to you, but it certainly not nothing to me," Sirius said softly.

"Seriously, Black," she said. "I only had Lupin shake a bit of sense into James. I could see how depressed you were ever since you came back from that suspension of yours."

"Keira," he said, his voice choked, "you really have no idea what you did when you had Remus do that."

Then there was a gasp from Keira as Sirius did something unexpected. Remus wondered what it was. His question was answered almost immediately.

"Let go of my hand, Black!" she said in outrage. "What is wrong with you?"

"Keira, please. Just listen to me a moment. You don't get it, do you? You just don't get it."

"What don't I get?" She was decidedly unhappy with hearing that.

"That what you did - whether you realize it or not - saved my life."

Another silence ensued, in which Keira most likely did not meet Sirius' eyes, or perhaps stared at him with a mouth gaping open. She certainly did not expect hearing that little piece of information.

At length, she spoke. "I think you're slightly touched in the head, Black," she said incredulously. "You would not have died from that. You would have made up in the end. A little bit depressed and fretting, yes, but never dead. You just don't die from having your best friend angry with you. It doesn't happen like that."

"He wouldn't have spoken to me again."

"And you're so sure about that, how?"

"Because when you almost get a person killed, it tends to make them keep their distance. Thanks for listening, Keira, and again, thanks for helping."

With that Remus heard footsteps coming his way again and he hurriedly averted his eyes back to his book before Sirius noticed.

No such luck.

"Had fun hearing all that?" Sirius grunted as he sat back next to him.

"It took a lot of guts, telling the girl you're crushing on that you've almost killed her beloved cousin," Remus said without preamble, not trying to pretend he had not listened.

"That's shit and you know it," Sirius said. "All it took was a moment of vulnerability and flapping tongue. I shouldn't have told her that."

"Bet it got her shocked."

Sirius glanced at the direction he came from and nodded. "Yeah, she's still standing there. I think she's contemplating whether she wants to kill me or not. You do know she'd kill anyone who tried harming James, don't you?"

"Don't everyone aside from Keira and James?"

"Too true."

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About a week later things still had not changed. James remained cold an distant from Sirius, though he did talk to him whenever he was around, no longer ignoring or snapping at him. Though Remus could see Sirius was trying hard to make James see that he kept his word, James apparently was still far from forgiving.

It was only after Sirius had dejectedly left the Great Hall at lunchtime without touching the food that Remus felt compelled to see if he could help. He caught up with his friend somewhere in the fourth floor corridor, where Sirius stopped and sat down wearily.

When he saw Remus was there, he sighed. "Come to cheer me up?"

"In a way. What's on your mind?"

"He still won't forgive me, Moony," Sirius said in defeat, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "He's speaking to me, that's true, but other than that he pretty much ignores my existence. I told him I had a great idea for a prank the other day, and he simply shrugged and went back to his book! That's not my Prongs!" He sighed. "I miss him, Remus. I really do."

"I know you do, Sirius," Remus said, shaking his head. "But you have to understand that James trusted you completely. No matter what anyone else said - that you were a Black and naturally bad from the very start - he had faith in you, that you will do that right thing. That you were a good person and that family did not always matter. It's hard to rebuild a broken trust. You have to give him time. That or…" he broke off.

"That or what?" Sirius said, looking up at him, his reddened eyes - whether from tiredness or tears - open wide and staring. There was a sense of urgency in his voice.

"That or… That or do something drastic that would shake him completely and will bring him memories of better times."

"Something… drastic?" Sirius let out with difficulty. But Remus could already see the wheels turning in his head. He could rest assured that Sirius would think of something. He certainly hoped it would bring the old James back. He certainly missed him as well, and found the somber, dejected James of the recent month and more a little dull.

A brief, bright smile came across Sirius' face, and then faded into concentration. "I'll need to give it a little thought," he said quietly. "Thanks, Remus."

Then he got up and walked away with that deep concentration still there.

Remus shrugged with a smile, watching him until he was gone. He knew he could rest assured now. Sirius had always been creative. Now all Remus had to do was watch and see when James would explode.

It did not take long.

The next evening, for the first time in what seemed like forever, the Marauders were all congregated together in their dorm. Peter was working on their latest Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, Remus sat with his book, James was sprawled on his bed, flipping through his sketchbook, possibly looking for inspiration, and Sirius… Sirius was pretending to read one of James' Quidditch magazines. Pretending, for he glanced up at James too many times per minute to actually follow what was going on in the article he was looking at. That made Remus keep a covert eye on James.

He was not disappointed.

James was notorious for remembering each and every one of his drawings and exactly where they were in his sketchbook, which was proven last Christmas when he realized Sirius had taken one. This time was no different. When Remus looked at him again, James was flipping the same two pages over and over again, a deep frown growing on his face. It did not take him long to realize what was going on. His eyes narrowing, he turned to look at Sirius, who was innocently looking back at him from behind the magazine portraying a colourful cover page of the Appleby Arrows.

With a growl, James shot at the other boy with a violence-coiled movement.

There was a wand in his hand.

"I'm missing a page from my sketchbook!" James hissed, holding the wand to Sirius' throat. "What did you do?"

Sirius smirked, ignoring the actual weapon pointed at him. "The Lovely Lady deserves a belated Christmas present, doesn't she?"

"You didn't!" James gaped at him, the wand suddenly dangling from his hand harmlessly. "Please tell me you didn't!"

The satisfied grin on Sirius' face was all the answer James needed. With a renewed growl, he launched himself at Sirius and tackled him off the bed and unto the floor.

"Why did you do it?" he demanded furiously, pinning Sirius to the floor and then shaking him by the shoulders. "Why do you always have to do it?! Are you trying to make Lily mock me and hate me even more?"

Sirius let James shake him for a while before he earnestly told him, "You won't actively pursue her since the end of last year, Prongs. Personally, I think you're too scared to ask her out again, but that you're still very much interested. Not doing anything won't help you get the girl - so that's what you've got me for - your ever-lovable, creative and altogether too-smart-for-his-own-good mutt!" He was grinning widely at James by now, daring him to say something.

James' eyes were wide behind their glasses and his mouth dropped open. As Sirius knew only too well, the messy-haired boy had nothing to say to that. Instead he gave Sirius' shoulders one last, half-hearted shake before getting off of him and dazedly sitting down on his bed.

"When did you send it to her?" he asked hollowly.

"Sometime in the afternoon," Sirius said smugly. "You have no way of intercepting it before it gets to her. Don't worry, mate. It's anonymous - just like the last one. Play along and she won't know it's from you until you want her to."

From his spot on his own bed, Peter glanced at Remus with a questioning quirk of his eyebrows. Remus nodded, and Peter slunk out of the room without the two dark-haired boys noticing it, for they were too busy staring at each other, one in shock, the other in anticipation.

Peter was back in moments, his mouth twisted into a painful grimace that could only have been caused by trying to suppress a grin. He nodded at Remus, who cleared his throat and said, "I think the parcel has just arrived."

With a strangled yelp James tore out of room, his eyes wide and his hair flying in every which direction.

"Honestly, I didn't think he'd be that upset," Sirius said in awe as the other three Marauders followed in a more leisurely pace.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they almost bumped into an unmoving James, who was helplessly looking at the group of girls sitting together, all cooing at a piece of parchment in Lily's hands.

A smirking Sirius nudged James in their direction, carefully steering him nearer in order to see and hear everything.

"Oh, hello, boys!" Haley said cheerfully, waving at the four. "Look at what Lily's gotten for Christmas!"

"Christmas was a while ago, Banks," Sirius said just as cheerfully.

"Well, it does say it's belated. Here, Lily, let them have a look."

Smiling happily, the redhead turned the parchment so they could all see what was on it.

Remus peered over James' slightly trembling shoulder at the drawing Sirius had chosen to give Lily. Like the one she had received the year before, it depicted the redhead by herself. This time, though, aside of the fact that it was that much better than the previous one, she was lounging by the lake, one bare foot just skimming the water, and a book lying forgotten on the grass by her side as she looked at something that could not be seen. The colouring was much richer than the one James had used for the previous picture, fully colouring everything, though still accenting Lily's red hair and green eyes.

"It's extremely beautiful, isn't it?" Keira asked, smirking at her shocked cousin. Apparently, all the girls still could not properly read James. They most likely thought he was jealous of the person who had given Lily the painting. "Did he write anything, Lily?"

"To my Lovely Lady," Lily read with a soft expression on her face, not looking at anything but the picture. "A belated present, for it took me long to think of the most perfect thing I could give. With all my love. Your secret admirer."

"Isn't that absolutely enchanting?" Rowena said softly, putting her hand to her cheek.

"Lovely," James said in a sick tone. "Absolutely lovely."

And with that he swept through the portrait hole and out of the common room. He was obviously even more upset than any of them had thought.

"I do believe James is sorry that he's never bothered to learn how to draw," Keira said snidely to Haley and Wren who were sitting by her side, unheard by Lily, but certainly heard by the three Marauders, who immediately turned their backs on them, Sirius and Peter to hide their laughter, and Remus to congratulate himself on correctly reading the girls.

When he turned again, he thought he caught a strange sort of look in Lily's face. She looked almost… wistful.

But in less than a second it was gone, replaced by the haughty expression that always covered her face when she heard someone mentioning James or when the boy was around her. And still… And still it made Remus think; bring back all those times since the day by the lake after OWLs when Lily and James clashed wills. Could he detect anything that could point at Lily softening?

Could Lily Evans, eternal hater of James Potter, feel something other than mild dislike or even hate for his friend?

Remus was ready to wager that she did.

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Though James grumbled a lot about Sirius' actions, Remus soon noted that he was rapidly warming to his best friend again. More than often he would allow a small smile grace his lips at something Sirius had said, or clap the other boy on the shoulder when he executed a small prank directed at McGonagall or various students. It seemed as though he was almost relieved that Sirius' had sent the drawing to Lily.

The fact that he did something so outrageous brought James to his senses in a way, making him see that while Sirius did something awful, underneath he was still the same wonderful friend he had been prior the incident. It was apparent in the way he could finally get a full night's sleep, without lying awake in bed for hours after they had all gone to sleep, and in the way his appetite was back to its healthy self, and even in the way he started suggesting they should do some minor pranks to liven up the mood of the Hogwarts student body.

There was still a tiny bit of distance between the two. Some things just were not that easy to heal. But it changed rather drastically one evening a month or so later, as they were sitting in the common room after a particularly grueling day. James, who had mostly exerted himself to the limits of his strength on the Quidditch pitch, drilling the Gryffindor team before their next match, was slouching on a sofa, his eyes closed and his entire posture that of an exhausted, yet satisfied, man. Sirius, a little less tired, was carelessly scribbling a three-foot-long essay for Flitwick's class the next day and Peter was reading that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet, snorting derisively every now and then at something unknown. Remus, as usual, had his nose in a book.

They were all startled out of their restful mood when an owl fluttered through one of the common room's open windows and went straight for them, flapping its wings in each of their faces before settling on the edge of a table next to Peter.

His face showing his surprise, the small boy reached for the letter attached to the owl's leg.

The dark-feathered bird perched patiently on the table as Peter detached the message from its leg. It waited just long enough for the boy to safely remove his hand before taking off again and soaring back through the window and into the night.

Glancing at the writing on the envelope, Peter handed it to Sirius. "It's for you," he said with raised eyebrows. It had been a while since Sirius had last received a letter that was not from Andromeda - and the handwriting on top the envelope was definitely not hers.

Just as curious, Sirius examined the writing, but shook his head. He did not recognize it, either. Carefully he slit it open and removed a thick, folded parchment from the envelope. Sitting to one side of him, Remus glimpsed an elaborate symbol at the top of the page before Sirius turned it away. Obviously, this was not some letter from a friend or relative. It was something quite official, in fact.

Then, a startled gasp that left Sirius' mouth made all three other boys look at him sharply. He stared at the parchment, shaking his head slightly as though refusing to believe what was written there, rereading the words again and again, his eyes growing steadily wider.

"What is it?" Remus asked softly.

"I…" Sirius said, his eyes suddenly blinking furiously, as though trying to not shed tears. "I need to go to London next week." His eyes were now impossibly wide and his face paled considerably. It was as though he had seen a ghost.

"Why's that?" James asked, his voice still a little cold.

"Alphard's dead. I've been summoned to the Reading of the Will next week," Sirius could barely make the words come out of his mouth.

Whatever was left of James' coldness faded almost instantly at this and Remus knew why. James, better than anyone else, knew how close Sirius and Alphard had been. The two and Andromeda were the only three Blacks to ever come to some good. They supported each other through thick and thin and now one of the three was gone. Sirius would need all the support he could get, and James was not about to withdraw any of the comfort he could give because what had happened.

"Oh, Sirius, I'm sorry," he said softly. "When's the Reading?"

So practical. So cold. What was James thinking?

"Tuesday. Half past noon," Sirius said in a strangled tone. He could barely let a word out, choking on unshed tears.

"Well, then," James said briskly. "I'll go and have a word with McGonagall. She'll let you go without any objections, I warrant. You'll go on the Knight Bus at Hogsmeade in the morning and be back the same way when everything's done." Without waiting for Sirius to respond, the lithe, tall boy got up smoothly and walked away, disappearing through the portrait hole.

He did not return for over an hour, and by the time he was back, Sirius had already retired to bed, saying he had a headache. Remus had the feeling he was disappointed in James. He most likely had expected better from his best friend.

"Couldn't you have been friendlier?" Remus asked snappishly as James sat down with a sigh on the same sofa he had occupied an hour before. "And just when I thought how much better things were! You can be such an insensitive prick sometimes; did you know that, James?"

James looked up at him, his hazel eyes tired behind their glasses, but his gaze steady and unwavering. "I just sent an owl to Andromeda, Remus. Asked her if she would be so kind as to meet Sirius at Hogsmeade and go together with him. I don't think it'll be wise to let him go on his own. Merlin only knows what he might do. I also went to ask McGonagall if I could go with him, but she said that she can't make an exception for me, since Alphard was not my relative and had nothing to do with me. I didn't think he would be capable of taking care of all those details in his state, and it had to be done today. You know that as well as I do."

It was true. Remus did know that these things had to be done, but he was still irritated at the way James decided to do it.

"I know you think I was wrong to do this like that, Moony," James said softly. "But I can't coddle Sirius at this point - he needs to be alone in order to let his grief run his course. I'd only be in the way if I was to offer comfort. He's not the sort of person to lean on someone else's shoulder and cry when things get tough. He needs to come in terms with Alphard's death before I can tell him how truly sorry I am. He knows that, too. I think he won't begrudge me keeping my distance right now."

Remus had nothing to say to that. James knew Sirius better than anyone in the world. Possibly, as clichéd as it might be, better than Sirius knew himself. Indeed, it was James, not Sirius, who had fiercely believed in the goodness of Sirius' heart and soul even before the two became best friends, and though that trust and belief had been broken only a couple of months before, it was just that that made Sirius try and regain James' friendship.

He just hoped that James was right this time as well as when he extended the hand of friendship to Sirius that first time…

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Sirius had gone to London on Tuesday as planned, meeting Andromeda at Hogsmeade and going together with her to the Reading. James was twitchy the entire day. He could barely concentrate on anything. Even the teachers could see it, only they probably attributed it to the fact that James missed his partner-in-crime. In truth, James was anxious to see in what kind of state Sirius would return.

As it turned out, Sirius returned extremely angry.

"I can't believe them!" he shouted the moment he entered the common room that evening, startling everyone sitting there and receiving some strange looks. He glowered at the staring students before James managed to usher him away to the dorm followed by the other two.

"What happened, Padfoot?" James asked as Sirius started pacing back and forth agitatedly. The boy had been completely depressed when he had left that morning. Now he was livid.

"Those - those vultures were there! That's what happened!" Sirius let out through clenched teeth. "I was this close to strangling the life out of them when they came in after Andromeda and me!"

"Vultures?" Peter asked, puzzled.

"A carrion-eater," Remus explained placidly, keeping an eye on the fuming Sirius. "Also used to describe someone who is trying to exploit someone when they are grieving - pretending to be sympathetic in order to get what they want."

"I assume you're referring to your… your family?" James said quietly, managing to convey precisely what he thought of Sirius' relatives with that single word.

"Yeah," Sirius snarled. "My family. Dear old Mum, Uncle Cygnus - and Bella. The lawyer was so surprised to see them there - they were not even invited! And they all looked so smug - right until Mr. Stanfield read the Will." There was gleam of satisfaction in his burning eyes.

"Oh?"

"Remember how Alphard was quite filthy rich?" he asked, the gleam in his eyes intensifying. "Well… as it turned out - here, Moony, that's a copy of the Will. Read that underlined part, will you?" He handed Remus a heavy roll of parchment that looked as though it had been roughened.

Gingerly, Remus unrolled it and scanned for the part Sirius spoke of, and then started reading it aloud for James and Peter's benefit. Sirius just closed his eyes as though the words were music to his ears. "'And I hereby declare that not a single Knut of my money will go to a member of the House of Black. They do not deserve it, for their hearts are as black as their name and their souls are even grubbier. They shall never see any of my hard-earned money coming their way.

"'Therefore, I hereby leave my entire fortune - to be divided equally between them - to Andromeda Tonks, my niece, and her family, and to Sirius Black, my nephew. They are the only ones who are worthy of any inheritance from me.' My, Padfoot - that must have hit them hard in the gut," Remus said, staring up at Sirius, while James let out a low whistle and Peter laughed.

"You have no idea," Sirius nodded. "Mum started yelling about inner contradictions - that he was feeble-minded and confused - because he said no Black would see a Knut of the money and yet he gave the money to me. Then Mr. Stanfield delicately reminded her that I had been, in fact, disowned, and that therefore I was no longer considered a Black. So she tried saying that I was not yet of age and therefore a relative should be left in charge of the fortune, disowned or not - which is ridiculous, I must say - and then Andromeda reminded her that I will be turning seventeen in just a little bit, and that since she was my only family, she would be in charge of it until I was of age - that was when Bella decided it would be a good idea to set the room on fire."

They lapsed into silence, until Peter asked, "What did he die of, anyway, Padfoot? I thought he was quite a healthy person - strong as a bull you once said."

Without warning, Sirius' face darkened again. "He was murdered," he said shortly, not elaborating.

"Murdered?" James asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're sure about that? I'd think the papers would have been all over it by now."

"Oh, they made it look as though it was natural - a heart attack, the post mortem examination results said," Sirius said contemptuously. "But he was a very healthy person and he was regularly checked by Healers for any problems!"

"So you say someone staged his death?"

"I'm telling you, Prongs! It wasn't a natural death! Someone wanted Alphard dead - and I bet I know exactly who it was!"

Silently, Remus thought he could give quite a good wager as to who was responsible himself. The fact that three very specific Blacks knew to come to the Reading of the Will despite not being invited raised a lot of suspicion.

"I guess you have a point," James said softly, "but there isn't anything you can do about it. And the fact that Alphard left all his money to his two disowned relatives? Well, I get the feeling he knew your family would try something foul. He made sure they would never get what they want - by giving it to you and to Andromeda. Accept his gift in the spirit it was given, Padfoot. He will be avenged one day. You'll see. You will live to see the lot of them die or suffer for what they've done. You'll see…"

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And so the days passed. Nothing else of consequence happened that year. It was as though the Marauders were wary of straining their recently healed comradeship, and so they refrained from making anything spectacular. Though quite a lot of students commented on how dull things were in the castle without the four Gryffindors causing mayhem, a great portion of the castle residents heaved a sigh of relief as yet another week had passed and no major pranked was played on anyone.

Exam time approached swiftly. It was not the OWLs, and definitely not the NEWTs, but they were still infinitely harder than the ones they had in previous years. As usual, there were dozens of essays to be submitted to the teachers every week and Remus felt as though his nerves were going to betray him and make him completely and utterly crazy.

Which therefore explains why Sirius' comment around Easter was not, in any way whatsoever, helpful.

They were in the library - though why James and Sirius felt they needed to be there since they did nothing but play hangman on a crumpled parchment on which Peter had scribbled various potion ingredients some two hours earlier, and talk loudly, trying to test Madam Pince's limits.

Remus found it hard to concentrate with them making so much noise, but was determined to ignore them. And he managed doing just that quite spectacularly. That is, until Sirius came to a stunning revelation.

"Moony!" he gasped, catching Remus' attention.

"What?" he demanded in an annoyed tone. "I still have two essays to complete for tomorrow."

"Yes, but, Moony!"

"What?"

"You have grey hairs!"

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To say that Sirius' words had caught him by surprise would have been an understatement. As he sat on a covered toilet in the bathroom just off Charms corridor, Remus tried to get over his shock. He had read once that lycanthropy had the unfortunate side-effect of aging a person far more rapidly than had one not been Bitten. It of course depended on how long you had the Bite, how healthy and strong you were to begin with, how badly you reacted to the Transformation itself, not to mention how much you struggled against it. And yet, he had not expected it to show so early on. True, he had been bitter about a dozen years or so ago, but he was young - just sixteen - how could this have happened?

He could have put it down as genetic early graying, but his family did not have a history of that. His maternal grandfather still had most of his brown hair intact, and he was into his mid-seventies.

No. There was no way to explain it other than that. The lycanthropy had caught up with him.

Taking a thick lock of hair in his hand, he stared at the silver strands twined in the darker, honey ones. Did this mean his lifespan would be shorter than he had the right to expect? Did it mean that soon his hair would be completely grey, that his eyes would become heavy and that wrinkles would cross the skin on his face? Remus had never considered his appearance, never bothered to make himself look attractive as Sirius had and never tried to attract a girl's attention as James did. He was not vain.

He did have a sense of what should and should not be, though. And this, this certainly should not be. He was not yet out of his adolescence years. He had the right to expect all the benefits of being young.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, putting his head in his arms and curling up as best he could. He did not want to grow old so soon. Not when he had friends with whom to share his life. Not when he still thought he had some chance at a moderately good future.

Sometimes he really wanted to kill the one who had Bitten him.

Life was just so unfair.

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Again, as though no time had passed, sixth year came to an end. As always, it caught Remus completely by surprise when exams came and went without a hitch and the end-of-year feast came about, bringing with it the traditional Grande Finale of pranks, courtesy of the Marauders, for the entire school to enjoy.

Or suffer. It really depended on what mood the Marauders were in when planning said finale.

Considering that after so many months of awkwardness following Sirius' deed, the Marauders were finally one again, it was not at all surprising that they have decided to make their annual prank more enjoyable than anything else. Of course, that did not mean that the teachers had to approve. Nor did any other residents of the castle needed to.

And that was how they charmed the Hogwarts ghosts into performing a rather colourful pageant for the benefit of the student body, reenacting Romeo and Juliet with Nearly Headless Nick as Juliet and Peeves as Romeo. They also threw a cat into the deal.

The ghosts were not very amused.

Neither was Mr. Filch.

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Sitting in their usual compartment on the train ride back to London, Remus leaned back in his seat and gathered his thoughts. Sixth year had definitely been a challenge, bringing the worst and the best out of his little group of friends. It had made him see that the world was certainly not only made of blacks and whites. It had made him grow up.

And yet… here they were, sitting together, their friendship, though it had been strained and even broken, now on the mend, and they were the four of the them. The Marauders.

There was Peter, determinedly trying to beat Sirius in Exploding Snap, though his eyebrows kept getting singed, and there was Sirius, laughing his arse off at the smaller boy while completely missing the fact that the cards in his hand started smoking, and there was James-

Flipping through his sketchbook with growing agitation?

It was really a matter of seconds before James' face grew red and he opened his mouth only to let out an outraged, "SIRIUS!"

Laughing as James chased Sirius out of the compartment, Remus felt as though things were back on course.

Lily would certainly be surprised when an owl would bring her yet another piece from her Secret Admirer…

Sixth year was done, for better of for worse, and after the summer… well. After the summer, they would all be seventh years, they would rule the school - the Marauders' last year would be the greatest and their fame would forever be remembered.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand end of sixth year! But more important than that is the fact that we have reached the precise middle of this story! That's right! The story would have twenty five more chapters! And I hope you will enjoy the second half as well as you have the first one!

Well… enough exclamation marks for now.

What will we have next chapter? The Marauders' last summer vacation, Sirius' new place, quite a bit more of Keira and Sirius, but not much of Lily and James (that would have to wait to chapter after that), and just a little bit of fun planted between all the angst we've been through lately.

All this and more - hopefully next week!

Hugs and kisses to all - and thank you for bearing with me!

-Star of the North