Chapter Twenty-Six – The End of an Era

Lily woke the next morning with a strange sense of peace. Sunbeams were filtering through their windows, dappling the coverlets over her blankets and exposing a rich swirl of dust motes sparkling as they swelled and receded with her breath. She could smell kippers and the crackling heat of bacon, though the Great Hall was far away.

When she got down to breakfast, she was not surprised to find James and Sirius already had their heads together talking about the damage report from yesterday. They two of them were early risers. Something to do with all that energy they used to put into their pranks, probably.

"Filch went after Peeves like his backside was on fire," Sirius was saying.

James's face brightened when she sunk down in the place next to him, and he said, "Good morning."

"Morning," she mumbled. She had been so hungry she hadn't yet taken a shower, and James began running his hands through her hair.

"Gerrof that," she said through a bite of donut.

"I like it when your hair's all mussed up," he said. "It makes you look like some kind of wild woman."

Sirius laughed. "I'm not sure that's a compliment most girls want to hear, Prongs."

He was grinning as well. "I suppose not. So anything else happen?"

Sirius paused to consider. "Well, I'm almost sure most of the teachers know it was us, but they can't prove anything thanks to that handy powder of yours. And if they try to charm the Dungbombs into revealing their owners…"

"Half the school would be guilty," Lily filled in for him.

"Yup," he said. "It was bloody brilliant. There were so many my arms were tired halfway through. Filch had to spend half the night clearing out the air, and McGonagall and Jabitha had to help him with Purifying spells."

"I thought you said you weren't interested in pranks anymore," Lily said cautiously. He certainly seemed to sound as if he still enjoyed it.

"I said I thought we needed to focus on other things," he corrected her. "This happened to be a prank that also did something useful…doubly sweet. Oh, and I made sure to nail Mrs. Norris with one of them, she was yowling like I've never heard her before."

"Bloody brilliant," James said, and he and Sirius clinked their juices of pumpkin juice together.

"So what'd you two turn up?" Sirius said, changing tack.

James turned away from making a kipper float around the table, undulating as if swimming.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you not to play with your food?" she asked, a hint of disapproval in her tone.

"No," he said, surprised. "They always said it's a good way to practice magic, actually."

Sirius shook his head. "That's why dinner at the Potters was always such an adventure."

"On the other hand," James smiled, "the Blacks were always quite flawless in their table manners."

Sirius scowled briefly, but then his expression lightened and he said, "I never minded the look of floating kippers myself. Kind of like you're eating underwater."

"To people with overactive imaginations, maybe," she said.

"That's me," he answered shamelessly. "So, out with it. What'd you get? If nothing else, you must have nicked us a bit of firewhisky, right?"

"Funny, Black," she said, before telling him about their own part of the venture. He snorted pumpkin juice up his nose when she got to the part about the bathroom, and sputtered as he wiped it up.

"That place is a dump," he said, and she went on. When she had finished telling the story, Sirius was nodding.

"So that's it, isn't it? There's our proof—we have a guy there who wanted an Unbreakable Vow…that's our victim, that's why no one could tell you two anything about him."

"Heathrop," James said distractedly.

"Right. And we have Avus, in the room right next by. There's our furry little problem."

Lily said, "And we have Bringfer, probably trying to catch him but not knowing which of the guests he was. Do you think he does now?"

Sirius's face was pensive. "He did show up to his last dueling lesson, you know."

Lily had been reconsidering just that fact that morning, as she had for a few troubled hours before getting to sleep. "I'm thinking that now he actually wasn't there for Avus. He probably just wanted to see one of you two dueling…since he'd heard you survived the werewolf, he was interested."

James smiled. "I suppose we should be flattered."

"And glad," she said. "I think Avus had half an idea to kill you during that duel."

He knit his brow. "I really don't think that was what was happening," he said. "He wouldn't have dared it in front of everyone. Besides, he was actually teaching us something interesting."

"That whole bit about inner weaknesses?" Sirius scoffed as he pushed his emptied plate away. "Rubbish. I'd rather he showed us a few more spells."

"You could do with some self-awareness, Black," she said in a scalding tone. "Don't think you don't have faults."

"Faults only exist to make girls believe you're cute when you're vulnerable," Sirius said, a play on a saying Lily's own parents had taught her once. Faults only exist so that others may forgive them.

James rolled his eyes. "Girls must believe you're cute all the time," he cracked.

But Sirius only grinned. "They do, actually. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Lily watched him walk away and said, "That guy's overconfidence is going to kill him some day."

James disagreed. "He's smarter than you give him credit for. He knows that's his weakness."

"He should do something to correct it, then."

"There are different ways to protect a soft spot," he said, smiling faintly.

"You're trying to tell me he pretends to be an arrogant jerk so people will underestimate him?"

James raised his shoulders. "He's tricky."

Lily brushed some of the hair out of his eyes, then ran a hand along his jaw. "I thought you were too," she said.

"Me? No, I'm innocent as a lamb," he said.

She burst out giggling, and he looked put-off. "I don't see what's so funny about that."

"Then don't worry about it," she said. "So what's the schedule today?"

"Well, I thought I'd go through some of the written Defense Against the Dark Arts stuff. The practical part'll be easy enough after all those duels."

She wasn't so sure about that, considering it would be fully-trained Aurors and not fellow students they were going up against. "Not another library day," she said wearily. Truth be told, she did have to translate a few Ancient Rune tablets.

"You want something more exciting?" he asked. "Sirius is talking about going after Avus ourselves."

She gave him a look. "Isn't the full moon happening soon?"

"Tonight," he said. "Today's the last chance we have."

"But how are we going to get at him?" she asked, frustration creeping into her voice.

"You might be surprised," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"You really never read board announcements, do you?" he wondered. She blushed a bit; it was one of the things she could never seem to remember to do.

He bent his head over and whispered into her ear. "He's going to be here," he said. "Today. In the afternoon."

She breathed in sharply. "Why would he show himself here? He has to know that we know by now…and on the full moon…"

"He won't transform until tonight. And I get the feeling he has to do this to keep up appearances."

"How's that?"

"The reason he's here," he said, "is because he's looking to sign people up as Aurors. It's official Ministry business, he couldn't very well beg off of it and say, 'I'm the werewolf that's been terrorizing Hogwarts, not available.' "

The half-finished eggs on her plate suddenly lost their appeal.

"Just throwing the idea out there," he finished. "I actually told Sirius we'd be better off bringing it all to Bringfer and seeing what he says."

"That'd be better," she said. "But he's not anywhere around, is he?"

"No, probably setting those traps of his."

She blew out a frustrated sigh. "It always seems to come down to us, doesn't it?"

He flashed her a grin. "Come on, would you have it any other way?"

She tried to hold in her smile, but failed. "I guess not," she said. A sick feeling did rise up in the pit of her stomach when she remembered the last time they'd fought the werewolf, but there was also a sensation of brimming anticipation.

Oh God, I've turned into one of them for real, she thought in mock-dread. Somehow it didn't seem as bad now that she was on the inside.

"Well, when's he going to be here?" she asked.

He clapped his hands. "I knew you'd want to see this through," he said excitedly. Apparently, if he'd told Sirius they should leave it to someone else, he hadn't done so with much enthusiasm. "He's going to be here later in the afternoon, probably before dinner."

"Yes, he'll certainly want to be out of here after then, won't he?"

He kissed her lightly on the lips, his breath tickling her when he laughed. "You're the best."

"Love you too, Potter," she said, brushing a finger across his lips.

"So what to do 'til then?"

"You did mention you had homework…" His face fell, and his dejection was so obvious that she had to suppress a giggle.

"Yeah, I did," he said. Lily knew it was serious business; with all their…extra-curricular projects, they were falling behind just as they were rounding the final stretch towards N.E.W.T.'s in June.

"Let's at least do it outside," she said.

He grinned at that. "I know just the place."

-000-

They were still out under the shade of the beech tree when Sirius found them. Lily had curled up with her head on James's leg, flipping through her translations and trying to make little improvements here and there.

A breeze rippled through the branches above, sending a few leaves flitting down. One fell on James's book, and he idly brushed it away.

"Ugh, I hate that book," Sirius said. James looked up.

"Morlock's not much of a writer, is he?" James asked. Sirius mimed falling asleep and made a bit of a snoring sound.

"Come on, we should get up to the castle," he said. "I saw Avus get in a few minutes ago, and the whole sign-up is at four."

"So he's really here?" Lily blurted.

"Yup, waiting upstairs with Dumbledore. The line's already forming up so we'd better show up soon." Avus was the Ministry's chosen representative to sign willing students up for the early program for Auror recruitment and training. The people who joined would be spending the summer after school taking a crash course in the work of Ministry Aurors, so they could see whether it was what they wanted—and the Ministry could see whether it wanted them. It was supposed to be a notoriously demanding program, though that never seemed to hurt the amount of people who wanted to sign up for it.

"Gwyn's there already, I'm sure," Lily said.

Sirius nodded. "Alice, too. With Alyssa Bagnold close behind. The three of them were asking me where you went, they expected you to be the first one in line."

His words reminded her about her conversation with Dumbledore, and then of James's suggestions. She frowned as she thought, Is this really what I want?

James apparently realized what she was contemplating, because he asked, "Are you going to give it a go? Or…" Sirius wasn't picking up on it; he looked confused, his eyes darting between the two of them.

"I think I'd like to give your idea a shot, actually," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.

"Sh," James said, "it's something unspeakable."

Sirius shrugged. "One of these boyfriend-girlfriend things I'm not supposed to know about." He smiled slyly. "I see how it is."

"I'm not signing up for the Auror training," she said bluntly.

He gawked at her. "Why not?"

"One of those boyfriend-girlfriend things you're not supposed to know about. I'll come with you, though, I want to see Avus."

James got up and then helped her up. "Let's get going, then. We should drop our books off first."

By the time they got to the Great Hall, there was a short line snaking around the entrance. Sirius had been exaggerating how much they needed to hurry, however. Among the thirty-odd seventh-years left, perhaps a dozen were in line.

"We needed to rush, did we," she said, exasperated.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure the two of you didn't moon away the afternoon and miss it," he said defensively. The doors opened behind him, and all three of them turned to get a glimpse of the inside.

Truth be told, she had expected more pomp and circumstance. Instead, the tall hook-nosed Auror was alone, seated at a small and plain-looking wooden table. He had a single piece of parchment in front of him, and a few quills dipped in an inkpot.

"Well," James said lightly. "No one ever claimed that being an Auror was a glamour job, now did they?"

"Who's first?" Avus's harsh voice called out. "Step up, if you please."

The sign-up process was as simple as it sounded. Gwyn was first in line, and she glanced back and gave Lily a wink as she walked down the length of the hall. When she reached the table, she dipped the quill, then scrawled her name across the top of the parchment. A light flashed from it, perhaps burning it in, and Avus leaned over to examine it. Then he handed her a large pack of paper and waved her off.

"What was that?" she whispered.

"The light or the stuff he gave her?"

"The light."

"I'm not sure. I heard the Aurors have quills that sense fear…if you're too afraid, they won't write your name and you can't join." She'd heard that rumor too, but found it slightly unbelievable.

Alice was already coming back out of the room behind Gwyn, clutching her own packet. But when Alyssa went through, she came out a few minutes later looking on the verge of tears. Alice and Gwyn put comforting hands on her shoulders and led her off.

Sirius whistled. "Ouch."

Alyssa was walking up the stairs together with Gwyn and Alice. The poor girl looked like she was going to break down. They wouldn't have been doing her any favors, though, Lily reasoned. When they had been younger and still exploring the castle, Alyssa had always been the first one to run at the sound of something crashing or cackling. She had been Peeves's favorite target for years.

Eventually it was James's turn. He squared his shoulders and strode into the room with a grim expression on his face. From outside, it didn't look like Avus's reacted any differently than he had with the other applicants.

The Auror looked up at James, and seemed to say a few things to him. Lily couldn't read his lips from that distance, so she was left wondering. When the light flashed across the parchment, he checked the mark and nodded minutely. Then he handed James his packet and shouted, "Next!"

Sirius grinned at her and was gone. When James came back she asked him what Avus had said to him.

"No threats, if that's what you're worried about," he said. "Just said he thought I'd make a good Auror and then said 'Good luck.' "

"Guess the tigers not showing his stripes yet, is he?"

James chuckled, and when he glanced back and saw Sirius was coming back with his packet he pulled out the Marauder's Map. He was just about to tap his wand to the parchment when Dumbledore appeared.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Somehow it's not shocking to find the two of you together. Are you to be Aurors, then?"

Sirius nodded, pride flashing across his face. "That's good, good," Dumbledore said. He turned to face Lily, understanding crinkling his eyes. "Miss Evans, I suspect you've been pulled in a different direction?"

"Maybe," she said. "Someone gave me some good advice about it recently."

The Headmaster looked upward. "Yes, I wonder who that could have been. A wise man, no doubt." And with a kindly glance at James and Sirius, he started through the doors.

Abruptly he turned around. "Are the three of you waiting for Mr. Avus? I'm afraid he'll be a bit indisposed…" Lily drew in her breath sharply. "For the next hour or so. We'll be sharing a drink. Now go on with you, celebrate a little." A wink sent them off on their way.

As soon as they were halfway up to Gryffindor Tower, Sirius turned back at them. "You heard him! He knows what we're up to!"

James seemed more relaxed. "So what if he does? He's not stopping us—maybe he wants us to do it."

"Do you really believe that?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Hey, he's distracting him for us, isn't he? He gave us an hour."

Lily quickly gave the Fat Lady the password, and they sunk into the couches as they entered the common room. Lily's mind was racing from one possibility to the next, each more outlandish than the last.

"So what did he want us to do with it?"

James rubbed his chin for a time, then said, "I think I have an idea." He vanished upstairs to the boys' dorms, leaving Sirius and her brooding.

When he came back, however, he had three bottles of butterbeer. "What—?"

He cut her off. "I think Dumbledore meant what he said," he explained. "He wants us to celebrate. That's all."

"But—"

"Avus will be there when we're done," he said. "Dumbledore's just holding him for us to make sure we don't lose him. But there's nothing more we can do now." He turned to Sirius. "Everyone's ready, right?"

His friend nodded. "On my honor. Trust me, everyone's good to go."

"When's the full moon?" James wondered.

"It'll be around nine-fifteen," she said. Remus had explained to them how a werewolf needed to wait for full-dark on the first night of the full moon before transforming.

"That gives us a few hours, then," he said. "If we're right, Avus will be making a beeline for the woods after he talks to Dumbledore. And we'll be on his tail."

Sirius nodded. "I can't believe what I'm supposed to do, though. Are you sure you don't want me with you?"

James nodded. "It can't be anyone else," he said. Sirius was going to distract whichever teacher was guarding the side entrance by coming up to them and telling them he wanted to confess for the Dungbomb Crime of the Century. When he was being taken up to McGonagall's office, James and Lily would take the chance to sneak out and after Avus.

"It's a noble sacrifice," James said grandly, prompting a snort from Sirius. "Now…" He set down the three glasses. "Let's enjoy this."

"To the end of the Marauders," Sirius said loudly, raising his bottle.

"To the end of an era," James agreed.

"To the beginning of the next one," Lily finished.

The three of them were just clinking their glasses together when the portal creaked open, and a familiar voice called out laconically.

"Why, it's a welcome-home party," Remus Lupin said.