As the air grew steadily warmer and the stress of exams seemed to melt away, the end of their schooling loomed ever nearer; until, as if all at once, the weeks had come and gone and they were sat in The Three Broomsticks, having a final drink as students of Hogwarts.
From a table in the middle of the crowded haze of the pub, Sirius Black's voice could be heard over the raucous laughter of his friends… "No really, hear me out," he said, "she's the type you can tell used to be sort of fit in her day."
Lily choked on her drink mid-sip, Remus shook his head in amused exasperation and Peter was doubled over the table in a fit of giggles.
"I suppose McGonagall does fit the bill," said James through his own laughter.
"Ah Prongs, a man after my own heart!" Exclaimed Sirius, clapping James's back, "see... he gets it," he added, looking smugly at the rest of them before taking a sip of his beer.
"Yeah, I get it," said James, nodding earnestly, "Pads doesn't mind 'em stern and a little scary, do you Pads?" Then looking pointedly at the other three added, " mummy issu es," causing Peter, who'd only just recovered from his last bout of giggles, to dribble a mouthful of Butterbeer down his chin, sending them all into a fresh fit of laughter.
"Gits," said Sirius, scowling half-heartedly at them before laughing in spite of himself and downing the last of his beer; setting his empty glass back down with a thud, Sirius smacked his lips. "Right," he said, "anyone up for a stretch of the legs?"
"Yeah, let's go," said Lily, downing the last of her drink as well, "… looks like Slughorn's requested another song from the band and I don't fancy another round of karaoke, d'you?"
"Absolutely not," agreed Remus, so with the scraping of chairs against stone and the clattering of sickles and knuts being left on the table, they weaved their way through the crowd of tables and out into the village of Hogsmeade.
Filing out one after another onto the cobbled street, they began walking aimlessly along the path towards the far end of the village. It was a gloriously warm day, the sky was scattered with only faint wisps of cloud and the sun beamed happily down onto the thatched cottages and bustling shops, picturesque as ever.
Sirius and Peter made a game of trying to step on the each other's heels, dancing around one another and occasionally running ahead, Remus strolled casually behind them, hands in his pockets and Lily and James trailed along last, James with an arm hanging loosely around Lily's shoulders, talking and laughing as they went.
"I'm going to miss it here you know," mused Lily, as they passed by a group of younger students excitedly rummaging through their shopping.
"You won't get a chance to miss it too much, we'll still come here all the time," James responded, smiling down at her."
"Oh will we ?"
"Well, you didn't think we'd be spending all our time at the Cokeworth pub, did you?" He teased.
"Hey!" Laughed Lily, elbowing him playfully, "Cokeworth has… it's charm," she said, sounding rather like she didn't much believe it herself.
"The only charm Cokeworth has, is you love," he responded.
"James," she groaned through more laughter, "you got me, I'm dating you, please enough with the awful pickup lines."
"Never." He said, grinning that lone dimpled grin she loved, before pulling her closer to swiftly kiss her through her smile.
"Keep up lovebirds!" Sirius yelled out to them.
The bustle of the village was now behind them and a wide, beaten grass track replaced the cobbled stone of the street. The cottages that lined either side of the track were becoming fewer and farther between and they seemed to be walking steadily downhill.
"Where are we actually going?" Asked Lily.
"We're going, Evans, to a rather special little spot," Sirius told her, a smirk playing at his lips.
"Special?" She said questioningly; James's lips were now also tugging at the corners.
"Here we go," sighed Remus.
"Well, if you must know," Sirius began, "I happened upon this particular spot whilst looking for a bit of… privacy," an insolent grin now spread across his face, "brought many a sexual conquest here in our day, eh Prongs?" He finished, winking at Lily.
"Right… so just each-other then," she responded before James could interject.
Sirius pushed her playfully into James, his bark-like laughter drowning out the others.
They continued much in the same fashion until finally, they reached a low, cobbled wall lined with coarse, unkempt grass; walking along it until they came to a very old, very splintered stile. Sirius stepped over the first few rungs before leaping over to the other side and the others followed suit.
It was easy to see why privacy had been the main selling point of this particular spot; the wall was alarmingly eroded, with chunks of stone jutting out it looked on the verge of collapse. The thick, thorny brambles that flanked either side of them created somewhat of an alley, opening up to a desolate clearing that stretched out of their line of sight, eventually turning up into hilly mountains.
"Charming," said Lily, her cheery tone dripping with sarcasm.
Sirius, obviously unaffected by her assessment, simply winked at her. "Make yourselves at home," he said before slumping down onto the grass to lean against the decrepit wall.
Peter sat on the lowest rung of the stile while the others slumped down next to him, joining Sirius on the grass. Lily sat with her legs crossed over James's and Remus on her other side sat next to Sirius, who was wrestling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.
"Should we be worried? You're not planning on snogging us all are you?" Asked Remus with feigned concern.
" This ," Sirius began, flipping open the packet, "is why we're here," and he pulled out what looked like a cigarette with its top twisted off.
"Where'd you get that!?" Asked Peter.
"You know I have a certain talent for sniffing these things out Wormy," he responded.
Peter and James chortled, "Wow," said Lily, "that is some James tier humour, Black," making Remus laugh now too. James looked at her with feigned offence.
"Put it away before it's confiscated Padfoot," he told Sirius, smirking and nodding in Lily's direction.
"Pfft" scoffed Lily, and with a mischievous grin, snatched the joint from between Sirius's fingers.
"Lighter, Black," she demanded, holding out her hand.
Sirius obliged, tossing it to her.
Pressing the joint between her lips before lighting it, she took an exaggeratedly long drag. All four boys stared at her incredulously. Removing it from her lips, she held her breath momentarily, winking at Sirius before turning to blow the smoke at James.
Sirius whooped and snatched the joint back from her, before taking a drag himself.
James was still staring, a little dumbstruck, at Lily, "Merlin you're sexy," he told her.
"Oh please don't ruin smoking for me" groaned Sirius, handing the joint to Remus.
"You've already ruined it for me," mumbled Remus with the joint now between his lips, "for all I know you've shagged some poor bird in this exact spot," he said, gesturing to the patch of grass on which he was sitting.
"Nah, not there," responded Sirius in earnest, waving a hand dismissively, "I have there though," he added, gesturing with his thumb to where Peter was sitting.
"Ergh!" Peter jumped away from where he was sitting to slump against the wall next to a laughing James.
"Don't be such a prude Wormy," said Sirius, grinning lazily.
"Can we talk about anything else," said Lily, trying to stifle her own laughter.
"Please," agreed Remus.
"All right then… I've got a hypothetical question," said James, blowing smoke out the corner of his mouth, "say, hypothetically, there's no war… you have your pick of anything after Hogwarts, and, hypothetically, Auror is off the table… what are you doing?"
There was a moment of silence before Lily asked, "is this hypothetical?" The boys hooted with laughter. The effects of the smoke having kicked in, everything was much funnier in their bleary state.
"Go on then," chuckled James, taking another drag and passing the joint to Peter.
There was another moment of silence as they all considered it; then, with a stony look on his face Remus spoke first, "pretty sure... war or not, I'd have about as many options as I do now," he said despondently, absentmindedly ripping clumps of grass from the ground.
Sirius and James exchanged a grimace, Lily however, smiled ruefully at Remus; squeezing his hand in her own, she rested her head on his shoulder, "come on Moony… hypothetically," she said, pouting comically up at him in her best impression of James. James thought his heart might explode with love for her.
Remus smiled stoically back down at her, "well…" he sighed, allowing himself a moment of self-indulgence, more to appease the group than anything else "… I suppose I've always found my dad's job interesting, Boggarts at least are fascinating…perhaps something like that."
"You're braver than I am Moony," said Sirius, clapping him on the back, "couldn't pay me enough to go looking for one of them fucking things," he added with an exaggerated shudder.
"Can't face a Boggart, but you'll go running 'round with a Werewolf once a month," he responded sarcastically.
"You fold your underwear and you won't eat a meal without tucking a little napkin into your collar…yeah Moony, you're a real monster ," jeered Sirius, rolling his eyes before continuing, "I reckon I'd like to do something like old Rosmerta… y'know run a pub, or open my own..."
"I can see that," said Lily, picturing her mind's eye a too-charismatic-for-his-own-good Sirius getting into all sorts of trouble in his own pub, "you'd be a right menace to society behind a bar though, with all that free alcohol," she added.
"As opposed to the perfect angel he usually is," sniggered James.
"Fair," she agreed, laughing.
Sirius appeared to still be musing over the idea, staring hazily into the distance he mumbled, "could call it Hair of The Dog or something…"
They roared with laughter, "that's actually not bad," spluttered James between coughs.
"And you Prongs? What are your hypothetical post-Hogwarts aspirations," Remus asked.
"I'll venture a wild guess… something quidditch related?" Said Lily, grinning at him.
"Reckon I'd be a shoo-in for the Cannons," he answered, grinning cockily, "… or England for the cup," he added.
"At least he's modest," said Lily, ruffling his hair the way he usually did himself.
"All right Head Girl, Slug Club protégée, potions extraordinaire… what's life after Hogwarts look like for you then?" He teased, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
She weaved a hand through his at her shoulder and thought for a moment before answering, "a Healer perhaps, or a Mediwitch… think I'd be good at that," she said conclusively.
"Very fitting" said James, smiling down at her, "although to be fair, you'd be good at anything you decided on," he added.
Lily smiled warmly back at him before turning to Peter, who hadn't yet given his answer. "What about you, Wormy?" She asked brightly.
Staring distractedly off into the distance, his eyes glassy and unfocused, Peter appeared to be deep in thought, "… We're never coming back to school," he said slowly, as if only just comprehending this fact.
They burst out laughing, jolting Peter back to the present, "caught on have you?" said James, coherently as he could through his own hysteric laughter. Sirius was now howling, sprawled across the grass on his side, clutching his stomach.
When they'd finally managed to compose themselves, Peter was still looking ahead, his brow slightly furrowed, "I genuinely have no idea what I'd be doing…" he said quietly, more to himself than in response to the question, his eyes darting side to side as if he was beginning to panic a little.
"I think we've broken Wormtail," laughed James.
"Blimey mate," said Sirius, laughter edging back into his now voice too, "just as well a bunch of lunatics are trying to kill everyone then, or you'd have ended up polishing Prongs's broom or something."
Peter laughed half-heartedly along with them.
"Don't listen to him Wormy," said Lily, "he's just jealous he doesn't actually get to polish James's broom …" she finished, using two fingers of each hand to draw imaginary quotation marks around the word 'broom', sending them into another bout of laughter.
They continued like this for a while, making jokes at each other's expense and laughing much too hard at things they ordinarily wouldn't find nearly as funny; the minutes ticking on until there was no reprieve from the very bright sun that had sunken a little lower in the sky, blaring down on them.
Groaning and grumbling about how hungry they were, they began the trek back to the castle. Lily and James trailing behind again, hand in hand.
"Many a sexual conquest, eh?" Said Lily, grinning lazily.
"I'd hardly call them conquests… Sirius was just winding you up," responded James, pinching her nose playfully.
"hmm... Personally I've always found the spot near the shrieking shack to be much better," she said, " much more privacy."
James laughed, pulling her closer again, "is that where all that howling's coming from? Merlin Lily, what have I been doing wrong?"
"Not funny!" Remus yelled over his shoulder.
Lily threw her head back in laughter and let go of James's hand, skipping ahead to link arms with Remus, "oh come on Moony!" She said playfully.
Watching her for a moment, stumble and laugh, arm in arm with his friends, James thought he very much knew exactly what he'd like to do after school. With or without a war.