Summer went by in a flash. To James, it felt as if each week grew increasingly faster than the previous as the days melted together, incredible blend of family dinner, brooms zooming in the woods and quiet walks in the muggle village down the road.
It was the first summer James spent entirely with Sirius and he was finally able to enjoy the advantages and hardships to having a sibling. They argued everyday about what to do and where to go, Sirius being captivated by the muggle store selling motorbikes and leather jackets, James wanting nothing more than to train for Quidditch and feel the adrenaline rush of speeding through the trees.
They usually did both, before ending the day hunched over letters to Peter and Remus in which they described everything that they did in detail, although their days could get quite repetitive. In his letters to Moony, James liked to exaggerate Sirius's attraction to the bikes they saw, making it sound romantic, in a desperate and usually successfully attempt to piss off his best friend. More than once, Euphemia Potter had been forced to put an end to a playful battle of quills and ink bottles that about ruined her office and by the end of August the two boys were obligated to do their letter writing outside of the house.
The only significant event to disturb the routine of the Potter family had been the arrival of two school owls, a Saturday morning. Until then, both James and Sirius had completely forgotten all about the exams they took in June and the stress the OWLs had provoked in them during the entire last school year.
"What are those damn birds doing here? There Hogwart's, right?"
"I hope they finally expelled your ass," answered James, ink dripping from his hair, stretching his arm for the two owls to land on.
"Look who's talking, Mr. Let's-become-unregistered-Animagus."
James poked his tongue out at Sirius while taking both of the letters and topping the envelopes open.
"Its our list of school supplies for next year and... oh!"
"What is it?"
"Our OWLs results."
Sirius scrambled to his feet, tripping over his own unfinished letter to Peter and squeezing James' shoulder to preserve his balance as the last possible second.
"What? Really? Now? I mean... I don't care."
He threw his long black hair over his shoulder in an effort to get back even a little of his characteristic nonchalance, before tearing the envelope to his name from the hands of an amazed James.
"I got Os in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Muggle Studies."
"Shocker," replied Sirius, deadpan. "I got Os in Transfiguration and Astronomy and Es and As for everything else."
The two boys looked at each other and shared a meaningful smile.
"I guess we have to thank Moony for tying us up in the library for almost two weeks."
"Speak for yourself," laughed Sirius. "I can never get these days of my life back."
James punched his friend's shoulder gently before yelling: "Last one to the kitchen is a Flobberworm!" and sprinting to the house, waving his letter in the air like a madman.
"MOOOM! Guess what!"

As Mr and Mrs Potter had been most pleased by their two boys excellent results, they had decided to reward them by letting them wander about in Diagon Alley during back to school shopping, which was traditionally a week before September. Once the plans were made and the rest of the Marauders notified, the Potter family all got to London using the Floo network, and before Mr. Potter could even raise a hand to get the ashes out of his hair, James and Sirius had vanished into the crowd of Diagon Alley.
"Meet you back at Fortescue's for ice cream at 5! Love you!" James yelled to his parents over his shoulder, hoping to have been loud enough.
He followed Sirius, whose fingers were firmly clasped around his wrist, all the way to the giants steps of Gringotts, where they met up with Remus and Peter, who had both left their parents at Flourish and Blotts.
Aside from Peter's tan from his holidays in France, and the ten centimetres Remus had grown, it was like no time had past. They all excitedly talked over one another, pulling each other randomly into tight hugs and just overall being overwhelmed with happiness.
It took James a couple of minutes to realize Sirius and Remus deserved a more private reunion, so he took it upon himself to walk in front with Peter, who couldn't stop babbling about the French girls he pretended to have met during the summer.
They walked with no real purpose for about ten minutes, which was just enough for James to have grown tired of hearing about Peter's seemingly crazy summer.
"I'm bored," he declared finally, turning to his friends. "Let's go to Knockturn Alley."
"Took you long enough," grinned Remus.
"We thought you'd never ask," said Sirius. "Last one to spot human organs in a Flobberworm!"
Roaring with laughter, his three friends rushed behind him, who was already running. Remus, who had the longer legs, easily caught up with his boyfriend and was the first to arrive.
Knockturn Alley was darker than James remembered. Emptier too. The shady wizards and witches that usually lined up against the cobblestone walls, baskets full of illegal potion ingredients, were nowhere to be seen.
Maybe because they were older, or maybe because the times were different, but the alley held a sinister atmosphere James didn't remember it had. The silence that filled the space was the most unsettling. It was hard to believe it was the middle of the day.
The rare wizards they saw down in those dark streets seemed to glide more than walk, their long black robes hitting the floor, their faces buried in the shadows of their hoods. Most stores appeared to have been deserted. Only one spot seemed to be emanating light: a small dirty looking pub whose banner read The Purest.
Hesitant, James and Sirius approached the dust covered windows and had a curious look inside. As small as the bar was, it held a rather impressive number of clients, all hooded and huddled together, as if in a meeting of some sort.
James felt Sirius shiver next to him.
"I don't like this," he frowned. "This place reeks of dark magic."
James nodded in understanding. Ever since Sirius had been adopting a dog form once every month, his sense of smell had become increasingly stronger. It has never failed him and James knew it.
"Let's go. I'm getting creepy vibes from this place anyway."
They turned around as one and motioned Remus and Peter to regain Diagon Alley. It was only a couple of seconds until the main street but the air in the narrow alley was so strange, so heavy, that it felt as if the time was stretching.
Once they got back, the shift in atmosphere became obvious. The temperature rose a few degrees and it was even sunnier on the street for some reason.
"Aaaah!" exclaimed Sirius. "The smell of chocolate frogs, fresh wood and pumpkin juice. Much better!"
James and Peter laughed, happy to relieve some of the tension that had build up in Knockturn alley.
"My dear Sniffles, your talents as a smeller never cease to amaze me," James said with a smile.
"I know you're joking but being a professional 'nose' is an actual Muggle job, I looked it up."
"Are you considering this as a career?" asked Remus, half smiling, half serious.
"A Black with a Muggle job? What would piss off my parents more?" shrugged Sirius.
"You have a point," said Peter. "And I can't believe we've never talked about this before! What do you guys want to do after Hogwarts?"
James exchanged a look with Remus and saw in his eyes how hard the question was for his friend. After Hogwarts, Moony would have to sign the Werewolf register, which would basically condemn him to be an outcast, and never be able to hold a decent job. James chose to answer first.
"I dunno," he answered lightly. "Something useful. I'll join the war."
Silence fell between the four of them and James realized the impact of what he had just said when he saw Peter hold his breath. His words had meaning, weight.
He would join the war. He never had given it a single thought before, it was more of a reality for him. If the war was already clouding their present, it was omnipresent in their future, and denying it would only delay the moment where they would have to face the truth.
"Yeah, me too," whispered Sirius.
"Me too," said Remus.
Peter nodded and said nothing. He looked terrified. James smiled at him reassuringly and squeezed his shoulder. If there was one promise he could make, it was that while he lived, none of his friends would ever get hurt.
They kept walking, their steps still light but their hearts heavier. James was thinking about how he would tell his parents when he saw her.
She was in muggle clothes, in a gorgeous light blue sun dress showing off her freckled shoulders. Her red hair was split in the middle into two braids that fell from underneath her sun hat to end perfectly mid-way down her back and her blue sandals wrapped beautifully around her white legs. Her contagious laugh drew stares around her.
"Lily's here," said Peter quietly. Needlessly.
James nodded and inhaled sharply. To say that she wasn't breathtaking would be lying.
Gathering his best efforts, James tore his gaze away from Lily and focused his attention on trying to find a way to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, where the four boys could stock up on Dr Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat Fireworks.
It seemed to be of a common agreement that their sixth year would be the year they would outdo themselves in terms of pranks. The exams at the end of the year were known for being more of a formality than anything else, so they could drop their attention off the academic and spend more time focusing on making people laugh.
"We also need to replenish our Dungbomb stocks," said Remus, who seemed to have followed James' train of thought.
"I thought we had a few left, didn't we hide some in the kitchens last year?" asked Peter.
"Yeaah, no, I might have used those in old Filch's office on the last day of school," said Sirius with a fake guilty expression.
James laughed at the memory of Filch and Mrs Norris running out of the small room to escape the smell, then his hilarity died on his lips when a tall, hooded man brushed past him, wand out.
His stance wasn't exactly menacing but his face was covered, and the energy he projected was just as unsettling as the atmosphere that reigned in Knockturn Alley. Frowning, James turned around and stopped dead in his tracks.
In the heterogeneous crowd that spread out across the street as far as James could see, half a dozen hooded figures were walking. Their pace was different from everyone else, they were slow, almost synchronized.
James looked to his right. A skinny looking man, in the same long black robes, was gripping his wand so hard his knuckles were white.
James looked to his left. A woman with long dirty blonde hair seemed to be holding her own wand on the inside of her sleeves. Her features were hidden in the shadow of her hood and James could not make out the direction in which she was looking.
In front of him, Lily was still walking in the crowd that seemed to thicken by the second. James felt panic rise inside his chest. It was hard to breathe suddenly. He looked right. Left.
The hooded figures had vanished.
The last thing James saw before the explosions started was Lily's braids disappearing in the crowd.