A/N: So here it is - the 50th chapter on the anniversary of Jily's death. I don't usually manage to upload chapters on meaningful dates so yay for me. Thank you so much for the support, the favourites, follows, reviews - everything. This story is spiralling into something much larger than I thought - when I started drafting this I thought it would be 40 chapters at the most. It looks like it won't be done by November so I apologise for that.

Enjoy it, even though this chapter isn't as good as I wanted it to be seeing as this is quite an important event in the timeline of my writing this. I had writer's block, still do but I will try and write more often.

Anyway, thank you so so so much.

Oh and Happy Halloween! Whatever your plans are, I hope you have a good day.


JAMES' P.O.V

OCTOBER 1979


"…so I'm thinking full-out Halloween party with costumes, booze, the lot."

Padfoot is planning his annual Halloween party. They were always popular at Hogwarts and he's determined that this one will be the best yet. Last year's was cancelled due to Order business but this year, we're free so Padfoot is pulling out all the stops to compensate for our Padfoot Halloween party deprivation. Despite what it may look like to outsiders, we Marauders take a great deal of time in delicately planning every detail of our parties. We have a reputation to uphold, after all. True, they usually get out of hand and you get a load of drunken couples being couples everywhere which sucks if you have no one to get drunk with, but you know… that's part of the fun of being an adult. We're all about nineteen now which is crazy because a few years ago we were small eleven year olds starting Hogwarts. Now we're in the middle of a war.

"What's the theme?"

"Wormtail. Come on. 31st October, what do you think the theme is?" Padfoot groans.

"Oh, right! But how is 'Halloween' a theme? That's like having a Christmas themed party or a birthday themed party or a wedding themed party or a funeral themed –"

"Nobody would go to a funeral themed party. Oh, hang on, how about we have a room with a graveyard theme?"

"I never know what to wear to parties," Wormtail says miserably.

"It's Halloween, dress up as anything you want."

"What're you dressing up as?"

"Some kind of sexy vampire or god or some shit."

"I might be a pumpkin."

"Not again, Wormtail," I cut in, "how many times have we told you? Pumpkin costumes are neither attractive nor original."

"I'm not going for attractive or original."

"Well that's alright then but as far as anyone else is concerned, we don't know you."

"C'mon guys! It's not that bad."

"Why don't we do matching costumes again," Moony suggests quickly.

"But why?" Padfoot whines, "I hate matching costumes. Remember when we tried to be The Beatles?"

"Still no idea who they are," Wormtail mutters.

"I was going to be Harrison!"

"No, you wanted to be McCartney. I was Harrison."

"Wormtail was Ringo –"

"I was not!"

"Then who were you?"

"Some guy called lemon or something."

"No, Prongs was Lennon. You were Ringo!"

"No, Moony was Ringo!"

"No, I was Harrison!"

"GUYS!" I shout, shutting them up, "Clearly The Beatles failed. Why don't we try to be individual for once?"

"I call Merlin," Moony says.

"What do Muggles wear on Halloween, Prongs?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I'll ask Lily. LILY!"

Lily pokes her head around the door.

"Yes?"

"What do Muggles wear on Halloween?"

"They wear costumes too just slightly different. Witches, wizards, characters from books and films, devils, trolls, traditionally it's something scary but nowadays, people just dress up as any old thing."

"Easy, I'll be a wizard. No dressing up required."

She raises her eyebrows.

"What? Moony's going to be Merlin."

"Really?" she says.

"What are you going to dress up as?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll be a mermaid or something."

"Mermaids aren't terrifying."

"Fine, then I'll be a siren."

"Terrifying and beautiful," I say, "kind of sounds like you."

She punches my arm playfully.

"I'm going to go out and see Mar, Al, Alice, Dorcas, Emmeline and that lot. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay."


LILY'S P.O.V

AT ALICE AND FRANK LONGBOTTOM'S APARTMENT


"…a gorgeous apartment here, Alice, it's so spacious."

"Thank you, Lil. Frank and I worked hard on it although we might be looking at something larger soon," she says.

"Really?"

"Mhm-hm, it feels a little soon but you know – we talked about it and it's what we both want so…"

"Precisely, that's exactly what I've been saying. No one thinks I'm ready to be a mother yet, what with everything that's been going on but I know that there may never be a 'right time' –"

"Yes! You've no idea how it feels to know that someone else feels the same way."

At that moment, Marlene rushes into the room, Dorcas and Emmeline following, out of breath.

"Oh hey Mar," I say, smiling.

"Hi," she says, breathless, "can't talk much, just got a call… Death Eaters sited only a few hundred miles from here…"

"Why didn't you Apparate then send a Patronus?" I ask, whilst summoning my coat and following the others out of the door of the apartment, Alice re-casting the wards.

"I can't Apparate, I tried Apparating to Al's but she wasn't there. No message, no sign of where she's gone, I managed to lose my eyelashes on the way back and lost my toenails. Best not to try again… oh where can she have gone? She goes travelling a lot but she's never gone this long –"

"She'll be back soon, she always is."

"But it was straight after that incident, with the Fiendfyre, what if she got burned or ran into some trouble?"

"I don't know! We can work this out… I sent her a few letters but you know how she is, she likes her solitude. She's only been gone a couple of months, I'm sure she'll come back soon."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then we go and find her."

"Promise?"

"Of course, but right now, we need to find those Death Eaters."

We Apparate to the location Mar tells us, Mar Apparating alongside me. What am I going to do? We need Al, as a warrior and as a friend. It's always been me, Mar and Al – for as long as I can remember having friends. It doesn't feel right without her. Where can she have gone? Mar's right, she's never gone this long usually… and Wormy's away a lot too recently. I can't think of where he goes either, he's been acting very odd recently – very twitchy. I think the war is getting to him; it's getting to us all - the doubt, the fear, the blood, the death and the pain. He doesn't much like fighting or violence, I don't blame him. He definitely doesn't like being caught up in the middle of fighting and violence. Al told me once that he doesn't feel brave like his friends, he feels like a coward and that he doesn't want to fight. I've seen Wormy in class and don't get me wrong, he's a wonderful guy but he's not a very skilled spell-caster. His reaction times are slow, his spells are weak and he's not very good at holding his ground. Unlike James, Remus and Sirius, he has a propensity to give up sometimes. I worry about him, I worry that this war will be more than he can handle.

"Lily, look over there!" I look to where Dorcas is pointing; a thick cloud of smoke trails off into the horizon, a bright orange glare beneath it. More fire.

"Let's do this."


JAMES' P.O.V


"Guys, I might not be able to make Halloween this year," Wormtail says. We look at him, astounded.

"You already have plans?"

"Is that so surprising?"

"Well, yeah. This is our thing, the thing we all do together," Padfoot says, "I just don't understand what could be more important than your friends. You're away a lot, more than the rest of us, we hardly see you. Seriously, what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on."

"Then why can't you spend just a couple of hours with us now and then?"

"Who's up for a game of exploding snap?" Moony asks, saving Wormtail from Padfoot's exasperation.

"I'll play, Moony. You in, Padfoot?"

"Not if he's playing."

"Come on, don't be childish."

"I'm being childish? I want to know where Wormtail's been all year, come on, what's the big secret? Fess up."

"Just leave him alone, Padfoot –"

"No, I won't. Is it a girl? Not Melanie, I'll bet."

"Just stuff – stuff for the Order," Wormtail mumbles, his face red, his eyes staring at the floor.

"I don't believe that –"

"Why not?" Wormtail bursts out, "I wouldn't expect you to understand it anyway; you never thought I'd amount to anything, did you? I was just the stupid one that went along with everything you guys did with no mind of my own."

"Wormtail, that's not true," I say.

"Isn't it? I know that's what everyone thinks and I'm tired of being stepped on and walked all over."

Wormtail gets up and leaves; I hear the door slamming behind him. Moony and I both simultaneously turn to Padfoot with pointed looks.

"What? I'm not apologising."

"He's upset."

"Not my problem."

"He's your friend."

"He was."

"Padfoot…"

Padfoot looks conflicted for just a moment before sighing and getting up out of his chair.

"I really hate you two sometimes."

Once he's left, Moony turns to me.

"Alice has been gone a while, right?"

"Um, yes… why?"

"No reason it's just, Wormtail's gone a lot, Alice is gone a lot –"

"Woah, I really don't think Alice and Wormtail are together."

"You don't know that."

"Well why would you think that they would be together?"

"They spend a lot of time together, they're sometimes away at the same time, don't you think that sounds slightly suspicious?"

"No, it doesn't. You're just paranoid."

"Maybe I am. How are you and Lily?"

"We're fine, more than fine actually."

"Oh?"

"We've been talking about having a baby."

"Really? That's amazing."

"Well, it's what we both want and it just feels right, you know?"

"Yeah. I'm proud of you Prongs."

"Why?"

"I don't know; you've matured a lot. You're going to be a great dad."

"That's weird, thinking of myself as a dad. I know that everything's all tense now but you'll still be around, right? Padfoot's in his own apartment a lot more than he's with me and Lils which is fine but I feel as though we're all drifting apart –"

"Don't worry Prongs, we're Marauders, we stick together."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what."


31ST OCTOBER 1979

JAMES' P.O.V


"Okay, done," Padfoot says, looking around his apartment with an expression of pure satisfaction.

The decorations are incredible, pumpkins; candles, skeletons; gravestones, cobwebs and other ghoulish articles adorn the walls, ceiling and floor. Magical mist drifts over the floor and around the rooms, creating a slightly hazy atmosphere. Padfoot's set up a bar, a dancing area with music that vibrates and resonates through every fibre of his apartment and a few rooms for couples. Coloured lights flash everywhere; it's like looking through a kaleidoscope. The whole apartment has had a silencing charm cast on it and plenty of concealment charms – from the other side of his front door; you wouldn't know anything was happening inside.

"It looks amazing, if I do say so myself."

"Guests are arriving from about eight."

"Cool, I'll get my costume on and be right back."

"Okay. I've decided to go with sexy vampire."

"So black jeans, black shirt and black shoes with fangs?"

"Absolutely, Prongs. What about you?"

"Seeing as Lily is going to be a siren, I'm going to be a pirate."

"Matching costumes?"

"If we were wearing matching costumes, she'd be a pirate too."

"Or you'd be a mermaid, can you imagine that? Hell, I would do anything to see you in a mermaid costume."

"Not a mermaid, a siren and sirens are all female anyway."

"You'd fit right in."

"Alright, hedgehog boy, don't get ahead of yourself."

"Is that all you've got, ye scurvy dog?"

"Oh you wish, you bald mouse."

"What?"

"It's French you uncultured corpse."

"Thou hast declared war!"

"En garde!"

We mock fencing, me with a plastic sword, him with the arm of a skeleton.

"Um James? Sirius? What the hell are you doing?"

We turn around, to see Lily standing there wearing the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. It flows from the top and pools in waves made of fabric at her feet, it shimmers and is a green/blue sea kind of colour. In any case, she is dazzling.

"You know what? I don't want to know what you were doing. Alice is coming to your party; she just got back yesterday so I hope that's okay. Oh and Mar wanted me to tell you that she's going to be staying with her parents for a few months so don't send any dirty messages because her parents are frail and the last thing they need is to die of shock. Where can I put this?"

She holds up a large cardboard box.

"What is that?" Padfoot asks.

"Food mostly, Remus helped me make cauldron cakes and the Longbottoms made some pumpkin punch which they asked me to deliver to you."

"The kitchen is fine."

"Great," she walks off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Prongs?"

"Did you see her?"

"Yes, you look a little stunned."

"Yeah… any word from Wormtail?"

"What do you think?"

"So that's a no."

"Oh well, we'll be just fine without him."

"How are you and Marlene?"

"Good, her family's a little worried about their security – they're a potential target zone now that they're known blood traitors so I don't see her so much anymore. The idea being that if it's easy for me to find her, then it's easy for the Death Eaters to find her as well."

"But she's coming to the party?"

"Hell yeah, she said that she wouldn't miss it for the world."

"What's her costume?"

"Sexy vampire."

"Let me get this straight, you mock me for having kind of matching costumes with Lily but you and Marlene are exactly matching?"

"Well, she'll have a lot more skin on show –"

"I don't want to know. You're such a hypocritical bastard."

"I know – that's why you love me so much."


LATER THAT EVENING

LILY'S P.O.V


The Halloween party is in full swing, it reminds me of our Hogwarts days. All of our old friends are here and some new ones as well. James looks handsome as per usual but it's been hard to catch him on his own thus far. Maybe I'll have more luck when Marlene affixes her lips to Sirius'. At the moment, I'm by the bar, observing the party.

"Hey Lily," I turn around to see Al.

"Hey! How are you doing?"

"Good, good. Listen, have you seen Peter?"

"Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yeah."

"He's not coming."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Positive. Al, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine! Merlin Lily, just leave me alone."

She walks off into the crowd. Well that was weird. Why does she want to see Wormy so urgently? Maybe she likes him, I mean I know she likes him but maybe it's more than like, maybe she and Peter are… no. She would have told me and Marlene. We tell each other everything.

"Evening," Remus smiles at me, a non-alcoholic beer in his hand.

"Evening," I say.

"Have you seen Alice?"

"Which one?"

"Smith."

"She just went that way," I gesture to the dance floor, "she seemed a little off –"

"One sec," he says, putting his beer down on the counter and making for the group of people dancing.

Why is everyone acting so weirdly tonight? I wonder if Remus and Al live together. By law, they're supposed to be engaged but they've been engaged for years now so I don't think they're going to get married. Besides, the Ministry has more pressing matters to deal with than if two people are going to get married or not. The Marriage Law is flimsy now, it means next to nothing.

"Lily," I turn to find Emmeline behind me.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Sorry?"

"Don't worry about it," I say dismissively, "It's just that everyone that's come up to me so far has been looking for somebody else."

"Well now that you mention it… have you seen Dorcas?"

"No, sorry. Why?"

"I just heard something and I thought that she should know."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine but Amos has got a new girlfriend."

"He has?"

"Yeah."

"What's she like?"

"I don't know, I've never met her."

"How do you think Dorcas is going to react?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I just worry about her, you know? She's got so much on her plate right now and I keep telling her that she should be more careful but you know how she is – she thinks she's invincible and all. It's just she and Amos had a pretty heavy relationship that was really intense but burned out quickly, if you know what I mean. I know that you probably don't have much sympathy for her, she did know that Amos was going out with Alice at the time but –"

"I don't blame her for anything. I mean, I'm not thrilled that she knowingly participated in an affair whilst Al was still crazy for Amos but it's not all her fault, and she has apologised –"

"I'm glad you understand. She's a good person, she really is. She just doesn't have the greatest taste in men."

"What about you, Emmeline, how are you?"

"I'm fine, oh don't look now but there's a really hot pirate looking your way."

I look over my shoulder and sure enough, James is staring at me - that grin on his face as he walks towards me.

"I think I'll go and find Marlene," Emmeline says, giving me a wink before disappearing.

"Well if it isn't the most gorgeous lady of the seven seas."

"You're not so bad yourself, captain."

"What do you say to some dancing?"

"I'd love to dance."

We make our way to the dance floor, hand in hand. The music slows down to a soft waltz; Sirius promised us one 'soppy romantic song' for all the couples. James leads - his dancing graceful and confident. He spins me outwards and as I spin back in, kisses me gently.

"What do you say we ditch this party and find somewhere a little more private?"

"I love the way you think," he whispers back.

James and I leave the dance floor (which is now animated by the sound of heavy rock). I like the way this Halloween is going.