A/N: Hello everyone, please enjoy the next chapter :)

"Remus." Sirius said quietly as he walked over to where the tall prefect was stretched out on a chair doing some homework. Remus froze but didn't look up from his parchment. Sirius steeled himself, he'd taken Regulus' words to heart, he didn't want to disappoint his little brother any more than he already had. He was going to fix this thing even if it cost him whatever pride he had left.

"Remus," he repeated, "can I have a word?"

"I'm sure you're capable, yes. There seems to be little you're not capable of." Sirius fought the urge to recoil from the barbed remark and took a fortifying breath.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be there when we're doing that thing for James' birthday. James deserves a good day, so I'll stay far away from you I just wanted to let you know."

Remus didn't reply, Sirius left him to it. Annoyance was on his face as he climbed the stairs to their dorm. The silent treatment? He was just being childish at this point. Sirius shook his head, he would maybe try and speak to him again this evening after they'd celebrated James' birthday, this needed sorted but it was starting to look like he might have to resort to some typical Padfoot behaviour and force an explosion of Remus' temper if he was to get anywhere. Sirius sighed as he added it to his list of things to do, the list had steadily grown as his head had cleared throughout the day. He batted back the sneaking temptation to have a drink rather than deal with his growing list. He wasn't going to give in to it, not this time. Not only did he want to fix his friendships but he also needed to get back on top of his work load, because it would be bloody embarrassing if he had to repeat his sixth year.


The day passed quickly and James was quite looking forward to his surprise, it had been a pretty good day with the teachers seeming to go easy on them. Although, James was certain that was because they were breaking up for the easter holidays next Tuesday so were just waiting to give them all their work just before they went on holiday. There had little to no altercations with the Slytherins the whole day, although as they had been waiting to enter the classroom for transfiguration one of them had decided to have a go at James.

"17 today, Potter? I guess that means you're now legally allowed to take the place of your crippled old dad, I'm sure he's about to drop dead any day now." James had turned viciously to the student who had said that, however, before he was able to get a word out Professor McGonagall had swung open the door and appeared in the doorway silencing the students with a look before motioning for them to enter her classroom, trouble didn't dare rear its head again after that.

"Can you just tell me?" James asked Alice as they walked towards the room of requirement in their familiar group, Sirius was absent, but unfortunately that had become pretty normal over the last few months. "Remus, Pete? C'mon you guys, tell me what we're doing?"

Remus spread his hands, a smile on his features "don't look at me, Alice took the lead on this one."

"Lily helped too." Alice said, shooting Lily a devilish smirk, Lily stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"Evans?" James appealed to her.

"No chance, Potter. You'll see once we get in there."

Despite much wheedling on James' part they didn't give him any clues.

"Ok, here we are." Alice walked in front of the stretch of wall and the door appeared. James looked around as they walked in, a frown on his face.

"Wait," he finally said, "I don't get it, am I meant to know what this is?"

"This." Lily said, turning to face James as she walked backwards away from the group and into the room. "Is a cinema." James' eyebrows rose as he took in the plush chairs and the strange silver wall at the back of the room.

"This is a Cinema? This is where the muggles watch films?" He grinned in excitement.

"Or as close to it as we're gonna get in Hogwarts." Lily said, smiling herself as she took in his simple delight.

"Please tell me, we're going to be watching a film." At Lily's nod, James jumped and punched the air with a woop.

"Alice. How did you even-"

A smiling Alice cut him off. "It wasn't my idea." James looked to Lily questioningly, his heart rate spiking, had she really known him well enough to come up with this?

Lily motioned with her head to the side of the room. "It was actually Sirius' idea."

A shadowy figure detached itself from the wall and Sirius walked into view, hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face. James was taken aback by his appearance, he hadn't seen him since earlier that morning and although he looked pale, his eyes were alert, his face was shaven for once and his hair hung cleanly and with the Sirius Black elegance that James had only just realised had been missing these last few weeks if not months.

"It was my idea, but Lily did the hard work, getting the room to look like this, I had no idea what muggle cinema's looked like, I just know you've wanted to go watch one of their long pictures for ages."

James strode over to his friend. "Thanks mate," he wrapped him in a hug, "it's perfect. But don't think I don't know you've been wanting to go see a muggle film just as long as I have."

Sirius chuckled, "well, you've got me there." He held the hug a second longer, it almost felt like how it used to when the marauders were all closer than brothers. Sirius had a suspicious lump in his throat by the time James let go and turned back to their friends, he chanced a glance at Remus, the werewolf was watching their interaction with a purposefully blank expression, Sirius looked away.

"So what film are we watching?" James asked enthusiastically, practically bounding towards the big screen so he could get a closer look.

"It's this film called Rocky." Lily said from where she was reclining on a chair, already digging into the popcorn they had ready for them.

"What is that?" James asked, distracted at the sight of the popcorn Lily was holding, even Sirius was looking at it curiously from the fringes of the group where he was sat, as far away from Remus as possible.

"You've got to be joking. It's bloody popcorn James." Marlene said, deeply offended by James' ignorance.

"I'm just a stupid pureblood Marlene." James said, hands held up in surrender, "you've gotta help me." This drew a laugh from the assembled muggleborns and half-bloods, "so we're watching a film about a rock?" Lily sighed and patted the seat next to her. "Sit your ass down, Potter. For someone as passionate about muggle culture as you there really is so little that you know. The best thing for you to do right now is just to sit down, eat some popcorn and absorb what's about to happen. Alice smirked and sent Lily a pointed look as James sank down in the red head's proffered seat, which was by Lily's side. Lily ignored her.


"Unbelievable!" James exclaimed as the last of the credits rolled off the screen. "Un- bloody- believable!" His eyes were wide as he stood up from his seat running excited hands through his hair. "Amazing." He stated, "just amazing."

"That was so awesome." Sirius said, perching on the edge of his seat, his excitement over the film they'd just watched overpowering his previous thoughts of staying in the fringes of their get-together due to his ongoing issue with Remus.

"It was pretty good." Frank said, grinning at Alice who had nodded at his statement.

Lily shared a smirk with Marlene. "See? Us muggles know a thing or two."

"Us muggles are great." Marlene said, reaching over to high five Lily.

They gushed about the film for a while longer, Lily and Marlene feeling much amusement at the reaction of the purebloods, with even Remus cracking a smile as Sirius gestured furiously as he discussed a section of the film. Remus wiped his smile away before he thought anyone could see it, but Lily saw and she sent him a meaningful look, he shook his head at her and looked away.

Remus had been surprised when Sirius had came and talked to him earlier. It had been months of Remus watching Sirius send him, James and Peter pitiful looks whenever they were together. At the beginning Remus had felt a twisted vindictive pleasure as he watched Sirius become less and less presentable and more and more entrenched in alcohol and bad decisions. He's finally showing his true colours, Remus had thought to himself, it was a good thing I broke off our friendship when I did because he's not a good person deep down. He had forced away memories of Sirius standing up for him when people decided to comment on his seeming constant 'illness' or patched up clothes. Told himself to forget about the times Sirius had made him cry laughing, usually with some ridiculous story or observation. Discount the nights Sirius, James and Peter had spent researching and carrying out the animagus transformation, the pranks they pulled, hours in the early morning when they spilled some of their darkest secrets, how Sirius had hugged him so tightly after he had finally stepped away from the edge of the astronomy tower on that one awful night, that it almost felt like the fractured pieces of himself were fusing back together due to the sheer willpower of Sirius Black. Those are all lies, it was a facade. The strange twisted pleasure had faded as Remus had watched James' heart break dozens of times when Remus made some barbed comment about Sirius, or even sometimes Peter. Or when Remus had watched James watch Peter walk away from him to join the other group of students Peter had started to hang out with, a group including Peter's transfiguration partner and Slytherin beauty Miranda Tollwood. Remus was pretty sure Peter was besotted with her. Remus' vindictive streak had even faded as he watched Sirius not even attempt to make a witty remark when a teacher berated him for not participating or turning his work in for the tenth time. There was something fundamentally wrong when a pale, tired, ungroomed Sirius didn't even back talk a teacher. The main thing holding together Remus' resolution to continue hating Sirius was his damn stubbornness. Remus muffled a sigh, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up, he was starting to miss Sirius, and the marauders as a whole, but Sirius' betrayal of him had been so huge, how could he ever move on from that? Remus shook himself, pushing away his distracting thoughts and returning to the conversation, which had moved on to muggle snacks and contributed with his usual spiel about the superiority of Cadbury's in every way.

They talked a long while longer and Sirius heard himself laugh, genuinely laugh for what felt like the first time in too long. James and Lily were entertaining him with some good-hearted bickering over what would win in a fight- popcorn-sized chocolate frogs or chocolate frog-sized popcorn. The room had moved their seats around and Sirius had accidentally ended up more in the circle of friends than he had originally been planning but Remus was yet to curse him so he supposed that was a win.

Lily checked her watch and started.

"Crap, we need to get back to the tower, curfew's almost here." They began gathering up their things and getting ready to leave. Sirius stood and took a deep breath, clearing his throat he attempted to catch Remus' eyes.

"Remus, James, Peter, do you guys reckon you could stay behind a few minutes?" Sirius asked, "I think we need to talk." The others took that as their cue to leave and with murmured goodbyes and many pointed glances towards the marauders it was soon just the four teens left. There was a moment of silence as the four boys looked at each other. James glanced between each of his dorm mates as he struggled to quell the stirring spark of hope in his chest that they were about to fix things between them, Peter looked between Sirius and Remus, his eyes narrowed. Remus managed to dredge up a glare from somewhere deep within himself that he fixed Sirius with and Sirius met it head on, grey eyes fixed cooly on green.

"Listen." Peter finally said, raising his hands submissively, "if this is about to turn into some massive drama or fight you can count me out-"

Sirius turned to Peter, "shut it wormtail." He said suddenly, Peter recoiled slightly, offended. "I need to apologise," Sirius said "and I want you all to hear it. Peter. I'm sorry." Peter's mouth snapped shut- the barbed remark he had been about to say to Sirius' rudeness forgotten about. "I'm sorry I came up with that ridiculous idea and got you involved in it. I know you'd never have done it if I didn't encourage you." Sirius turned to James. "Prongs, you know I'm so sorry about everything and you've given me another chance which I'm so grateful for." James inclined his head at him. "And Remus," Sirius stepped towards the tallest marauder, whose glare had slipped slightly to a curious, if contemptuous look. "I am so sorry. I used your condition as petty revenge on Snape for stupid insults he gave me. I used you to try and get a one up on a slimy Slytherin, I allowed myself to fucking forget what your condition does to you and how awful it is and for that I am so fucking sorry." There was a moment of quiet as Sirius attempted to calm his racing heart before carrying on.

"I've been a disgusting sleaze for months, getting fucked up by alcohol with a bunch of slackers who I've just found out lace their drink with Merlin knows what, and projecting my anger and sadness on to girls with no idea who they are and just being a bastard in general. I swear to you that I was certain there was nothing going on between you and Nancy, I had even checked with her." Conflicting emotions were raging within Remus as he listened to Sirius, familiar anger was rising as he relived the 'prank' and finding Sirius with Nancy. But an equal and opposite want to forgive his old friend was also gaining traction as he finally listened to Sirius as he apologised. Remus had even confronted a tearful Nancy after him and Lily had found her in the cupboard. She had confessed to him that she had lied about their involvement to Sirius after getting caught up with her friends, she had attempted to get back with Remus but with James and Lily's quiet counsel Remus had rejected her advances. He wasn't going to be her second choice, he deserved better… right?

"Even so," Sirius continued, "I should never have even considered getting involved with her because I know you two have history it was an asshole thing to do and I am so sorry."

Sirius' breath was heavy as he looked beseechingly at his friends.

"I'm begging you to forgive me, Remus. I've felt myself disappearing these last few months trying to come to terms with not having you guys and I can't. I'm so fucking messed up!" Tears were forming in Sirius' eyes as he spoke. An emotion that was reflected in James' own eyes and he wiped away a tear as he listened. "But you guys make me better! You make me want to be better, and there's so few people who make me feel like I can be better and you guys make up the majority of them-" Sirius' voice cracked and he cleared his throat, blinking rapidly, "Remus, you mean the world to me and I'm so mad that I allowed myself to betray you and I'm so sorry I hurt you, but I'm certain you can't hate me more than I hate myself. Please forgive me." He took another step towards Remus, forcing the werewolf to look at him. "Please, please give me another chance to make myself worthy of our friendship. Please."

Remus was also feeling emotional, the anger still bubbling beneath the surface.

"I know you're still angry." Sirius said, he took a deep breath, god he'd hoped he wouldn't have had to resort to this. "Get it out, Remus." He spread his arms wide and jutted his jaw out, defiantly challenging him. "Hit me." Remus took a step back, surprised at the turn this had taken.

"I'm not going to hit you." The wolf howled in anger from somewhere behind Remus' eyes, Moony demanded physical retribution.

"Yes you are." Sirius retorted, resigned to the situation and stepping towards Remus again. "I deserve it, hit me, or curse me or something." James looked between the two boys, alarm on his features as Remus continued to resist Sirius' challenges. Peter was watching them with the same sick fascination you get when you watch a train crash, he couldn't look away.

"No." Remus growled as he pushed Sirius away, Sirius had braced himself for it and got right back into Remus' space, almost there now.

"I betrayed you to Snape." Sirius hissed, "I gave your secret away like it was nothing, so get your own back. Hit me like I fucking deserve!" James ran a hand through his hair, his mind going to the messed up discipline Sirius had received as a child, was this going too far? In the past it usually did work with Remus when you forced a physical explosion of his temper, but was this too much?

"I slept with Nancy, the girl you liked, like a bastard." Sirius snarled, he stepped up and pushed Remus. "Hit me."

Amber laced through moss-green eyes as Remus finally gave in to the anger that had been festering for months and he slammed a right hook into Sirius' jaw. Sirius - who had a moment of warning as he recognised Moony, clenched his teeth, getting his tongue safely out of the way before letting himself fall with the punch. He hit the ground, dazed. Damn that boy could throw a punch, he caught his breath and after a moment Sirius got to his feet. Remus was now standing right in front of him, a monstrous look on his face.

"Get it out." Sirius said, bracing himself for another hit. "I betrayed you not just once, but twice, mate." He gasped as another punch rammed into his stomach and a shove sent him careening backwards.

James made to break the two up but Peter stopped him. "Wait, just wait." James did a double take at the dark glee he saw on Peter's features but in a second it was gone. "Lets be honest, Prongs. Sirius has had this coming from Remus for weeks now." James made to break them up again as Remus advanced on Sirius who was attempting to stand up but Peter stopped him again. "Just wait, look, it's working." Crackling was in the air as the magic from the emotional state in the room sparked.

Remus had Sirius by the collar and he bared his teeth as he lifted the smaller teen on to his tip toes, his eyes flashed.

"You broke my fucking heart, Sirius." He said quietly. The tears Sirius had been fighting all evening finally made an appearance and they mixed with the blood that ran from his broken nose.

"I know." Sirius said hoarsely. "And I'm so sorry but please give me another chance. I swear on my wand I'll be better, it won't happen again I promise you." Sirius' magic snapped out from him at his words. Sirius' wand hadn't been in his hand when he'd said it so it wasn't binding, but his intent washed over Remus in a swell of magic. Behind Remus' eyes Moony bowed his head in acknowledgement of the apology, he could smell Padfoot's regret and the blood on his face declared retribution had been dealt. Remus took a fortifying breath before releasing his hold on Sirius.

"Ok." He said finally, "I believe you, apology accepted."

Sirius could've fallen to his knees in relief. "Thank you Moony," he gasped, "I won't let you down." He clapped a shaking hand on Remus' shoulder, squeezing it. "I'd hug you mate, but I think it'd be too soon."

Remus finally allowed himself a smile. "You'd be right." And Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"Oh, you two!" James exclaimed, finally rushing over to them and wrapping an arm around each of them, not bothering to wipe away the tears on his cheeks. "You've been killing me for months, you guys, but this is truly the best birthday present you could've given me." Chatter ensued as James began to fix Sirius' nose.

"Right." Announced Peter. "I say we all deserve a trip to the kitchens after this excitement, don't you?" There were grunts of agreement and they left the room of requirement.

Sirius felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders as he walked in step with Remus and the boys again after months of lurking in the shadows. James felt relieved, familiar affection for his best friends flooding his system. Remus was tentatively hopeful. And Peter? Well, he'd been intrigued by the whole confrontation to say the least. It seemed like the marauders were back on, at least for now. But he wasn't going to forget about the new friends he'd made since all this shit had gone down, he would be able to keep his friendship with both groups he was certain. Miranda's alluring eyes and her intoxicating voice in his ear in forgotten corners of the library waltzed to the front of his mind. He was definitely going to be keeping up his friendship with both groups.


Tuesday 25th March 1976

"Oi, Bambi." James turned around to Lily on the staircase up to the owlery. James turned around with a smile.

"Alright, Evans?"

Lily leaned against the wall as she regarded him from a few steps down. "You guys figured it out then?" James nodded, and a small smile crept across Lily's face, he looked ten times better than he had 24 hours ago and his eyes were brighter than before as they began to climb the rest of the way to the owlery, respective letters clutched in their hands.

"I think we did, yeah." James said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Remus is still a little wary but him and Sirius are on talking terms now so hopefully with a little time we can start to find our way back to how we were."

"And what is Peter thinking?" Lily's opinion of the smallest marauder had fallen after she'd seen how deeply he'd hurt James with his comment about them only being friends out of convenience instead of affection.

James shrugged, "he also seems a little wary as well to be honest, and he's explicitly said to me that he's going to keep meeting up with that other group of friends he's been studying with. I can't say I like all of them but Pete can make his own decisions, I'm just glad he didn't completely give up on the marauders." In the letter James was holding to be posted to his father he had written down the list of Peter's other friends to seek Monty's opinion on their families.

Lily bumped his hip with her own as they entered the smelly owlery, "I'm glad you guys figured it out, it's been so weird to see you guys fighting. It's good you figured it out before the easter hols, too."

James nodded in affirmation as he coaxed Merlin down to his arm. "Absolutely. Sirius is going to his Uncle's for like ten days in the middle of the time he's back home with us but if him and Remus had still been at odds, he would've been so mopey all the time." He stroked Merlin under the chin. "He's also making a proper effort to sort out his work and the whole thing he's been doing with alcohol lately."

Lily frowned slightly, "his drinking has got pretty bad hasn't it?"

James let out a small sigh, "yeah it had gotten pretty dire.." He paused contemplatively as he reached his free hand out to Athena, perched comfortably on Lily's arm, "he's had a burst of determination lately though, which is good." They talked for a while longer about school work and plans for the easter holidays before attaching their letters to their owls and watching as they flew away over the grounds, dissolving to specks as they winged their way across the lake.

"God, it'll be nice to get back home and have things be relatively normal for a few weeks." Lily said leaning on a poo-free ledge to gaze over the grounds, "did you hear about the scrap between the fourth year muggleborn Hufflepuffs and the pure bloods in their year?" James nodded in resignation.

"There's been rumblings in the wizengamot too from Wilkes and the pure blood faction. Suspicious murders of muggles too in Leeds."

Lily nodded, her dad had mentioned the killings in one of his latest letters to her. "People are referring to him as the second coming of Jack the Ripper." James frowned at her reference which she briefly explained.

"I reckon it's death eaters though." He said quietly. Lily shivered slightly, both in trepidation at his statement and at the chilly breeze that had gusted through the arches.

"You ready to go back down?" James asked, "it's getting cold up here." She nodded gratefully and they companionably made their way back into the castle.

The next week seemed to pass quickly and before they knew it they were back on the Hogwarts Express heading home for the easter holidays.

A/N: Gosh that last sentence is pretty weak, I apologise for that. So, is the band finally back together? We've got some progress on the marauders and some other bits and pieces. Did you enjoy? Please let me know by dropping a review or a favourite. Stay safe out there peeps!