James, Peter and Sirius stepped out of the train in the pouring rain while Remus led the first years to the traditional crossing of the lake. The weather was such a perfect echo to the general mood amongst the students, that for once the Marauders were struggling to put a smile on everyone's face.
Barely anyone laughed when Sirius pretended to lead the carriages pulled by the Thestrals, and only a few people at the Gryffindor table clapped when, during the Repartition, James theatrically pulled out of his pocket the golden snitch he still hadn't returned.
"Alice is going to murder you," said Peter, slouched on the table, desperately waiting for the Repartition to end.
"Alice is gone, she passed her NEWTs last year," replied James, and as the words slipped from his mouth he realized what it meant. "We're gonna have a new captain of the Quidditch team..."
While James frowned at the perspective of playing Quidditch without Alice, which would truly be less fun, Peter propped himself up on one elbow and looked at him intensely.
"Wait, you mean you're not the new captain?"
James blinked as he quickly remembered the letter he had received from Hogwarts this summer, bringing him the results of his OWLs, the list of school supplies and... absolutely nothing about Quidditch. He wasn't the new captain. He had given it no thought before this moment but, for a second, he caught himself thinking that it would have been nice to be able to really lead the team like it was his.
"Sorry boys, overheard ya," rose a voice two seats from Remus. Unable to spot the source, James wiggled in his place to try and see who was talking. "I'm the new captain of the team. Guess McGonagall prefers feminine delicacy to male recklessness."
"Pretty sure that's sexist, McKinnon," sighed James so quietly that his words were drowned in the loud cheers welcoming 'Wallace, Suzanne!' to the Gryffindor table.
Just like that, the Repartition was over and Dumbledore was facing the Great Hall, opening welcoming arms.
"Let's eat!" he declared simply.
He was met with applause from all sides of the gigantic room and James was relieved to see that not everything had changed. In fact, the mood had shifted ever so slightly since they had come down from the train, and the tension that was almost palpable in the Hogwarts express almost vanished entirely as the many dishes and plates appeared on every table.
"F'n'lly," said Peter, his mouth somehow already full of roasted chicken and baby carrots.
"You ate about three sandwiches in the train!" protested Remus, visibly chocked by his friend's manners. "Plus half of the candy on the trolley!"
Peter shrugged before pointing at Sirius sitting next to James.
"Bl'me h'm. H' sc'red m' 't the st't'on," he said, before finally swallowing. "I worked up an appetite."
Remus laughed and helped himself to the potatoes.
"If it can make you feel any better about Marlene being captain, I'm starting to get sick of being a prefect. Don't get me wrong, I like being able to threaten you with detention whenever I can, and being someone the kids turn to for advice is nice, but I could do without being around perfect prefect Lily for just one peaceful day."
James stared straight at Remus for a few silent seconds before taking a bite out of his spinach pie.
"What a nightmare. It really does make me feel better, Moony," he finally replied, deadpan.
Remus poked his tongue at him before stealing a crisp from his boyfriend's plate.
"I'm on your side Prongs. I have high hopes one day I'll persuade her you're someone good."
James smiled. He still hadn't told his friend what exactly went down back in Diagon Alley, and the rest of the Marauders had just assumed they had run into each other right before finding Euphemia.
He still hadn't told them about whatever had happened on the train just a few hours before either. Once he got back to their carriage, he had just raised his wand above his head triumphantly and no questions were asked, Remus and Sirius being much too focused persuading Peter to eat absolutely every kind of candy from the trolley.
"Don't worry about it," James answered. "Hopefully she'll see it on her own."
"I've rarely seen you so confident about this," said Sirius raising a surprised eyebrow.
James sat up straight on the bench and puffed up his chest before squinting at Sirius.
"I'm a changed man," he said with the voice of someone who takes themselves too seriously.
His friends laughed before trying to kick him under the table.
By the time the desserts appeared, all of them were full, even Peter who was once again slouched over the table, holding his belly as if it were about to explode.
"My belly's about to explode."
"Save it for after the speech," whispered Remus to him, "I feel like it's gonna be good this year."
Indeed, Dumbledore was standing up behind the Professors' table, politely waiting for the noise of the crowd to go down. Once a relative silence had settled on the Dinning Hall, he opened his arms wide and suddenly James understood a little better where his taste for the theatrical came from.
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself," he said, bringing his palms back together at his heart. "It is no secret to most of you that an unreasonable man has been trying to shape our world in a way he deems 'pure'. It is no secret to most of you that this man feeds off terror. But we are not to give in to fear. Hogwarts is and has always been the safest place to be, and I want you all to trust that this man will be apprehended by the Ministry."
This statement was applauded, at first shyly then with more and more conviction.
"Our number one priority at Hogwarts is your education, and although the beginning of this school year was pushed back a week as a gesture of respect regarding the tragedy of Diagon Alley, we will not be intimidated. We will not be bullied into submission. Teaching you is our job, and yours is to learn and grow. It goes without saying that any act of terror inside these walls will be punished more than severely and met with serious consequences. May this year bring you peace."
With a nod of the head, the old man sat back down and the Hall suddenly busted into cheers and applause. James took advantage of this moment of light euphoria to glance discreetly over to the Slytherin table and smiled upon seeing that Snape and his friends were the only ones who didn't look particularly thrilled by the director's speech.
"Looks like someone's sad they won't get to play terrorist on Moony this year," said Sirius, who had followed James's gaze.
"Is it bad that I hope that he tries? I want him expelled so bad."
"Don't we all," sighed Sirius before following a group of first years led out of the Dining Hall by Remus and Lily.
Too absorbed in his contemplation of the redheaded prefect, James forgot to reply. Thankfully, Sirius did not seem to mind, being focused himself on another prefect of his own.
Trailing behind, Peter was still holding his tummy and walking even slower than usual.
"Guys? Guys!" he called, so sweaty and out of breath he looked like he had just got down of the longest Quidditch match in the world. "Can you hold up? I'm not feeling great."
"What's up?" asked James, suddenly worried. Peter truly didn't look so well.
"I shouldn't have ate all that candy. And all that chicken. Thinking about it, maybe the gravy and pork chops were a bad idea too."
"Seriously Pete?" said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "Maybe you could have predicted that. Do you want us to walk you to the infirmary?"
"Don't worry about it, you guys go to the dorm, I'll just stop by Madame Pomfrey's office to check if she has anything for tummy aches."
He ran off, his hands still clasping his belly as if it was about to fall off.
"Hope the little guy's gonna be okay," frowned Sirius, looking worryingly to the corner where Peter had disappeared.
"He'll live. I've seen him eat maybe twice more than that at your birthday last year."
"Oh I remember that night! But what about at Christmas in second year? He ate so much he couldn't get up the next morning!"
They discussed Peter's impressive and resilient stomach all the way up to the Gryffindor tower, where Remus was already waiting for them in their shared room.
James didn't waste any time and immediately dived into his trunk to pull out enough robes and manuals to stop the bedroom from looking too put together. It was what he liked to call his 'creative mess' that helped give the space more homey vibes.
"Put one more sock on the ground and I will murder you in your sleep," said Remus, laying on his bed eyes closed.
This little ritual was happening for six years in a row and Remus was no stranger to it, and oddly enough he was the only person James truly listened when it came to order.
"I'd like to see you try," he replied, while diligently putting a lone sock back into his trunk.
Sirius scoffed, taking advantage of Peter's absence to sprawl onto his boyfriend's knees. Remus started playing with his hair absent-mindedly and James caught himself smiling at the softness of the scene.
Sometimes he couldn't believe his luck in regards to his friends. He really was surrounded at all times by the best people he knew, by some miracle or some beautiful twist of fate.
They talked about everything, love, pain and heartache, family, friends and enemies, until the half moon was high up in the sky.
"Who has the map?" asked James, suddenly straightening up from his laying position on the ground. "I want to check on Peter, he should be back by now."
"Madame Pomfrey probably kept him for the night," said Sirius, throwing the map at his friend's head. "You know how she is."
James shrugged. It was most definitely the case but he still had nightmares about that time he had found Moony white as snow in a closet, and he didn't want to take any chances.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered while taping the map with his wand, which curiously still reverberated with Lily's magical energy.
The piece of parchment unfolded magically and thin ink lines began to cover almost the entire surface of the paper, crossing and blossoming to form the most complex bit of magic and the proudest achievement of the Marauders so far.
James had no trouble finding Peter's name of the map, standing still on one of the bed of the infirmary. What drew his attention was something else. Two students out of their dorm after curfew, right outside of the Gryffindor common room. Snape and Lily.
Without thinking twice, James grabbed his cloak and got up in one swift movement.
"I'm gonna go for a walk," he said, vaguely in the direction of his friends before walking out the door.
As expected, neither Remus nor Sirius passed on the opportunity to have the dorm room all to themselves, so James was not followed.
He ran down the stairs to the common room in a hurry, throwing the Invisibility cloak over him like he had done a million times before. He knelt in front of the painting and listened carefully for what was going on on the other side of it.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not interested."
"I'm sorry!"
"Save your breath."
James smiled. Hearing Lily talk this roughly to Snape was always a pleasure.
"I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."
"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just..."
"Slipped out?" There was no pity in Lily's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends.. you see, you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"
There was a pause and James held his breath. He had waited for so long for Lily to realize just this. Hearing these words in her voice was such a relief.
"I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."
"No.. Listen, I didn't mean..."
"... To call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"
The portrait hole slid open and James had to jump to the side to avoid collision with a very angry looking Lily. Her wavy red hair bounced behind her as she ran up the stairs to the girls' dorms.
The joy James had felt hearing Lily tell Snape off had evaporated. She looked genuinely upset. James's heart did a sad loop inside his chest as he watched her disappear.