`*`*`*`
V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

The exams went by and they finally were leaving.

"The next time we see Hogwarts, it'll be our last year," sighed Lily.

"That's really depressing," said Grace.

"Please tell me you two aren't going to get all girly on me and start bawling your eyes out!" said Sirius.

"Sirius," said Grace, "how about we make that essay two meters."

"I take it back! Sob all you want! I'll even cry with you."

"No, I think you'd cry harder if the prospect of a two-meter essay was ahead," replied Grace.

"No, please! I'll do anything! Don't take away from my summer anymore!" cried Sirius.

Grace looked as though she was about to laugh, but changed her expression to one of exasperation and said, "Fine, we won't ruin your summer."

"Yes!" yelled Sirius, giving her a hug. "Thank you so so, so, so much!"

She stiffened. "Black, are you hugging me?"

He jumped away. "Oops! Sorry! I forgot the Grace rule of no physical contact!"

"Well, don't forget it again. To help you remember, think of this: we may not ruin your summer, but there's always next year."

She and Lily went on a carriage away from them.

Sirius and James went to the carriage with Peter and Remus in it. "Ya know, I think Grace is really starting to like me. Do ya reckon she's got a crush on me?" said Sirius.

The other three laughed in response.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sirius.

`*`*`*`

The Marauders were all in a train car together. Sirius was looking out the window, James was reading a book, and Remus and Peter were playing Wizarding Chess.

Peter was losing.

Suddenly, Sirius spoke up. "Where can I get a book on muggle manners? My family hates muggles. Why would we have a book on them?"

"You could go to a library," suggested Remus.

"A what?" asked Sirius.

Remus sighed.

"You could ask Lily and Grace," said Peter. "You and James hang out with them loads, and they're muggle born."

"Why would Lily and Grace give me help with an essay they assigned?" Sirius asked.

Peter shrugged and looked like he was thinking about it.

"What's your advice, James?" asked Sirius. He got no response from James. "James?" he repeated. "James?"

James looked up from what he was looking at. "What happened?"

"I asked you a question," said Sirius.

"Oh, what was it?" asked James.

"The same one I asked Remus and Peter."

"What was that?"

"James, what are you reading?" asked Sirius, craning his head to see the title. "How to Catch Her Eye in Fifteen Steps or Less?" asked Sirius. "That has got to be the saddest title for a book I've ever heard of."

"There's a book called Marriage After 35 in Fifteen Steps or Less," said Remus.

"Alright, I take that back, then," said Sirius. "But still, a book on flirting? Prongs, what happened to you?"

"Er, nothing!" said James, turning red.

"You really suck at lying," sighed Sirius.

James closed the book and put it in his trunk while saying, "I was just needed a new approach," he said. Something fluttered out of the trunk while he was closing it.

"What's this?" asked Sirius, bending to pick it up.

James looked down, and hurriedly tried to grab it before Sirius in vain.

Sirius burst out laughing when he saw what it was.

"What is it, Padfoot?" asked Remus.

"It's brilliant!" said Sirius. "It explains everything!"

James tried to snatch it out of his hands, but Sirius hopped ontop of the seat and started jumping on it.

"Haha! I knew it! I never knew it was this bad!" he said. "Would you two hold him back?" Remus and Peter held onto James's robes.

"What's happened?" asked Peter. "What is that thing?"

"Well Wormtail, Prongs has been hiding something from us. This little piece of paper in my hands is not just any piece of paper!"

"What is it, then? Oooo! Is it a pony?" cried an excited Peter.

"Peter, why would a piece of paper be a pony?" asked Remus.

"He said it was not just any piece of paper! I've heard of this special pony that was made out of paper!" He sighed, "I want a pony."

"Alrighty then," said Sirius. "Ignoring that display of extreme stupidity: this is not just any piece of paper!" He paused for dramatic effect.

"Just tell us already," Remus said.

"It's," he flipped the paper over so they could see it, "a picture!"

"And of Lily!" cried Remus.

"I was hoping it was a pony," pouted Peter.

"That's not mine!" cried James.

"Yeah, uh huh. That explains perfectly why it fell out of your trunk," said Sirius.

"Someone else must have put it in there!" said James.

"Yeah, I agree with you," said Sirius.

"You do?" asked James.

"Of course. Some random person who knew you liked Lily must have put it in there 'cause they knew you'd want to be able to look at her picture all summer," said Sirius.

"Exact- WHAT?!" cried James. "I do not like Lily!"

"Denial isn't exactly your thing, Prongsie," said Sirius.

"You didn't put that in there, did you Sirius?" asked Remus.

"No, I've never taken a picture of Lily. Prongs, who gave this picture to you?" asked Sirius.

"Didn't he take that that day in the Great Hall to use for a prank?" asked Remus.

"That's what he told us it was for…" said Sirius.

They both burst out laughing.

"I never took a picture of her! It must have been someone else!" cried James.

At that moment, Snape opened the door to their compartment. "Bella- oh, it's you. Having fun in lessons with the mudbloods? Have they taught you how to flirt yet?" he sneered.

"You know, they should teach you how to put on makeup again. Maybe we could talk them into a special Hygiene 101 class just for you!" said Sirius.

James, however, hadn't heard anything since the word mudblood, and he hexed Severus. "How dare you call Lily a mudblood!"

"Aw, got a little crush on the mudblood?" asked Snape.

James chased him out into the hall, and the door was closed behind him.

"Well, you two can go clean him up after he's done. I have to go talk to Grace and Lily about my essay," said Sirius. He grabbed something off the seat before he left.

`*`*`*`

Remus and Peter had gone back to playing chess when James came in.

"Sirius went to see Lily and Grace," said Peter.

A minute after that Remus said, "I'm surprised you're still here."

"What? I wouldn't go with him just so I could see Lily! That's just obsessive!" protested James.

"Er… sure, whatever," said Remus. "But that wasn't what I meant. I thought you wanted to keep the picture of Lily."

"I told you!" said James. "I didn't put that there! It must have been someone else!"

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing Sirius took it with him for Grace and Lily. They can return it to the proper owner," Remus replied calmly.

"He what?" cried James. "No, no, not good!" He ran out of the compartment.

`*`*`*`

"So, it has to be a meter?" asked Sirius.

"Yup," said Lily. "That's what we said."

"Oh, and I know exactly what the slacker that is you is thinking," said Grace. "In your tiny little brain you're thinking, 'I can always write really big.'"

"I was not," said Sirius, not sounding at all convincing.

Lily and Grace gave him who-do-you-think-you're-fooling looks, and Lily said, "We're giving you an essay that Grace wrote in the past- no it's not from any of the homework this summer-" she added at his look of hope, "to use as a guideline for word size. None of your words may pass that size."

"Fine, fine," muttered Sirius. Grace handed him the paper. "WHAT?" he cried out. "I need a magnifying glass to read this! The words are so tiny!"

"Stop over exaggerating," said Grace. "It's perfectly decent size! I can see it from here!"

"Grace, you have really good sight!" said Sirius. "You must be like that Supermuggle they were telling us about in Muggle Studies!"

"It's Superman," said Grace. "Maybe you just need glasses."

Sirius didn't get to reply because James came running in, panting.

"Padfoot, give me that picture!" he cried.

"What picture?" asked Sirius.

"Oh, I thought… er, never mind. I'll just be going," said James, walking out.

"Oh!" said Sirius before he walked out the door. "You mean your picture of-" He didn't get to say the last part because James had run over and covered Sirius' mouth with his hand.

"What picture?" asked Lily.

"No, don't ask them," said Grace. "Asking to see a picture of theirs is dangerous."

"It might possibly be dangerous," said Sirius. "James will kill me if and when I show you."

"You can't show them!" cried James.

"Oh, I think I can," said Sirius.

"No, they don't want to see it!" said James.

"Let's just ask them, then," said Sirius, putting a hand through his hair. "Do you girls wanna see the picture? It's the girl James has a crush on!"

"No!" cried a panicking James. "They definitely do not want to see the picture!"

"Oh, I think they do!" said Sirius.

"No, they don't!" cried James.

"I'm curious," said Grace. "This is getting interesting."

"I'm sure they won't tell anyone James," said Sirius. "I see no harm in showing them the picture."

"Of course we won't tell anyone!" said Grace. Lily was being silent.

James raised an eyebrow at Grace. "Why do you care? You hate me!"

"Hello, BLACKMAIL!" she cried.

"Yeah, blackmail!" said Sirius he held out his hand for her to high five.

Grace actually did high five him, to his amazement.

"What happened to the no contact rule?" he asked.

She shrugged, "I got caught in the moment. Besides, you haven't butchered any small animals recently."

"I'm just watching out for the well-being of my fellow creatures," said Sirius, one hand over his heart.

"You just want to get out of the essay," said Grace.

"Is it working?" asked Sirius.

Grace ignored that comment and turned to James. "So, what about this picture?"

"Oh, right! It's right here!" said Sirius, who began reaching into his pocket.

"Hey Sirius, wanna stay at my house this summer?" asked a desperate James. "I'm pretty sure we have a book on muggle manners!"

It worked. "Hell yeah!" cried Sirius, pulling his hand from out of his pocket. They began walking out of the compartment, talking about summer plans. "I have to go home first, but then I'll come-" The door closed.

Grace was looking at where Sirius had been sitting. "No way!" she cried.

"What?" asked Lily. She looked where Grace was looking and gasped.

`*`*`*`

"Thanks, Prongs!" said Sirius. "It'll be great to get away from dear old mum!"

"No problem, Padfoot. Now, can I have my picture back?" asked James.

"So you admit it's yours!" smiled Sirius.

"N-n-n-no! I never said that!" protested James.

"I'll give you back your picture that you put in your trunk," said Sirius. He reached inside his pocket, and gasped.

"What's wrong?" asked James.

Sirius turned his pocket inside out to reveal a hole.

"Oh shit," said James.

"I'm sure we can get it," said Sirius. He walked quickly back to the girl's compartment.

He came back soon.

"Well?" said James.

"Erm… er…" stammered Sirius.

"Did they see it?" asked James.

"If in seeing it you mean were they staring at it transfixed with looks of shock on their face-"

"Shock? PADFOOT YOU LOSER! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" cried James, who began running after Sirius.

"I meant shock in a good way!" cried Sirius over his shoulder.

He ran into the compartment with Remus and Peter in it and locked the door.

"I can tell things went well," said Remus.

"How soon do you think I can change my appearance and identity? Can the Ministry do that?" Sirius asked.

"I take that back. I can see things went even better than I thought," said Remus.

`*`*`*`

James eventually forgave Sirius after he was given back his picture. Sirius had come to his house after running away from his own, so he was forced to forgive him, anyways.

Sirius had finished his essay the night before the train, but he had been working on it all summer.

"No telling what your girlfriend would do to me if it wasn't perfect," was his excuse.

"She's not my girlfriend!" James cried out.

"James has a girlfriend?" asked Mr. Potter, walking into the room. "How come you haven't told me?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" James repeated.

"Yeah, she keeps turning James down," said Sirius. "He's not exactly the most subtle guy ever."

"Keeps turning James down? Who is she?" Mr. Potter asked.

"That girl the Daily Prophet said he was engaged to," replied Sirius, taking a bite out of his dinner.

"Oh yeah, her," was the reply. "So, when am I going to meet my future daughter-in-law?"

"I'm not getting engaged to Lily!" cried James.

"I'd say about… seven months. That's when they'll get engaged," replied Sirius, ignoring James.

"Excellent. You won't get married to her for awhile yet, though. You're too young to get married. You can get engaged though."

"But I'm not even dating her!" James said, exasperated.

"You can bring her home for Christmas vacation," said his dad. "We're having a party. Gotta run!" He disapparated.

"I'm not marrying her!" cried James for the millionth time.

"Yeah, sure. So, I'm best man, right? You're not giving it to Moony or Wormtail! I've known you longer," Sirius pointed out.

James sighed in defeat. "Yeah, you can be my best man. I'm going to sleep now."

"Nightie night, Prongsie!" said Sirius. "Remember we get to see your lady love tomorrow on the train, so don't worry! You'll see her soon!"

"I'm surprised no one has killed you out of annoyance yet," said James.

"They've tried, but none have succeeded!" smiled Sirius. "No one can defeat the stupendous Sirius!"

James burst out laughing.

"What?" asked Sirius.

"There are so many things I could say to that," said James, walking out of the room.

"So you agree with me?" Sirius shouted to him.

He got no reply.

"Why does that always happen to me?" asked Sirius.

`*`*`*`

The next morning Sirius ran through to Platform Nine and Three Quarters,

He hugged everyone he saw, excluding Slytherins, whether he knew them or not. Some girls squealed, but mostly people were creeped out.

"Black," said the person he had just hugged, "if you ever touch me again you're a dead man!"

"Just spreading around the first day che- Grace! Ahhhh!" he screamed, realizing who it was. "I thought you'd transferred! Actually," he said thoughtfully, "that was more a desire. But you're still here! Why?"

Grace raised an eyebrow at him. "I was hoping you were in a coma, but we can't all get what we want."

She walked off, and Sirius turned to Lily, running a hand through his hair. "Oh yeah, she wants me."

"Definitely," said Lily, rolling her eyes.

"I haven't given you a welcome-back hug yet!" he cried, hugging her, then running and hugging everyone again.

`*`*`*`

Grace passed James. "James, your friend is scaring the first years. Stop him!" said Grace.

"What he doing?" asked James.

"HEY SERENA! HEY JESSICA! WELCOME BACK, TORY! NO, PARKER, I'M NOT GAY, IT'S JUST A HUG! HELLOOOOOO LIZZY!" they heard past the noise of the crowd.

James shrugged. "He had sugar for breakfast today."

"Straight sugar?" asked Grace in disbelief. James nodded. "So Squirrel boy completely ignores the rest of the pyramid except for the top and eats nothing but sugar?"

"You leave out the meat section," James pointed out.

"Yes, but I value my teeth and my health! Next you're going to tell me he drinks nitroglycerin regularly!"

James shrugged again. "Sirius is a weird kid."

"No kidding, Einstein," said Grace.

"Who's Einstein?" asked James.

"A really smart muggle," said Grace.

"You think I'm smart?" asked James.

Grace walked away cursing the stupidity of wizards, leaving a confused James behind.

"SIRIUS!" shouted James, who was currently hugging a scared-looking second year.

"YEAH?" he shouted back.

"I'M GOING ON THE TRAIN NOW! I HAVE TO GO TO THE PREFECT CAR FOR A MEETING, BUT I'LL SEE YOU LATER!"

"BUT JAMES, YOU'RE NOT A PERFECT!" yelled Sirius.

"SIRIUS I'M HEAD BOY, REMEMBER?"

"YEAH RIGHT! DUMBLEDORE'D NEVER MAKE YOU HEAD BOY!"

"SIRIUS, YOU WERE WITH ME WHEN I GOT MY LETTER."

"OH YEAH! CONGRATS!"

"CAN YOU TWO STOP SHOUTING?" yelled someone else.

"SURE, WHATEVER," James and Sirius said in unison.

James boarded the train, and Sirius continued hugging everyone.

James walked to the car, and opened the door. There was currently one other person in there.

"Er… hi Lily," he said.

"James!" she said, turning bright red. "How was your summer?"

"It was good," he said. "And yours?"

"It was good," she said, and they both nodded and fell silent.

'Great,' thought James. 'One minute into the year and we've run out of things to talk about.'

"I noticed you didn't hold tryouts last year like you said you were going to," said Lily, finally speaking.

"Oh yeah! I forgot all about that!" said James. "I guess we can hold them Friday…"

"Great! I really can't wait to try out this time!" said Lily.

James smiled at her. "I think you've got a really good chance of making the team."

"Really?" she asked.

"Well, the Gryffindor captain told me. He said you were really something special," he winked. (a/n: james is talking about himself for anyone who's confused. not insulting your intelligence or anything, but I know someone's gonna ask me about it otherwise.)

Lily blushed. "So, what are you doing in here?"

He showed her his badge.

"Headboy? But I thought Remus…"

"Well, Dumbledore said that he'd noticed a big behavior improvement," said James.

Lily surprised him by giving him a hug. "James, that means the classes are working! That's so awesome! Oh, and it's Professor Dumbledore!"

James held on for a second, and Grace ran in, ruining the moment. Both pulled away blushing.

"James, where are you sitting?" she asked. "I figured I sit with you, even though you're sitting with Black. He needs to turn in that essay, anyways."

"I dunno," said James, still bright red.

"Well, can help me find it?" she asked.

"I'm sitting here," he said.

"But this is for prefects and the heads," Grace pointed out.

"He's Head Boy," said Lily. "The classes are working! Professor Dumbledore noticed!" "He actually made you Head Boy?" asked Grace. "Did you check the letter to make sure it wasn't in Black's handwriting? Sounds like a joke to me."

"Grace!" cried Lily.

"What? It is Black we're talking about here. It could happen," said Grace. "Well, I'm going to look for the other Musketeers."

"Marauders, Grace," said James.

"Right, whatever," she said, walking out.

`*`*`*`

A/n: there was some l/j action there. it's seventh year now, which means they can start dating at any given moment. next chapter will have sirius's essay. that should be fun to write!

oh, grace is getting mad at me for telling people that we can all share legolas, so he's hers. sorry! she also wants you all to know that she wouldn't date sirius, though remus possibly.

mistake in last chapter: i forgot about the whole O.W.L.s in 5th year thing! they were just exams! sorry!

Thanks for the reviews!

sailorsunandchildofthesun: you can have frodo. i'm giving him to you.

i o u a name: hahahahaha! v. funny joke! saying he belongs to you! no, no, my friend. orlando is MINE. yup.

soupie: i love the whole arwen thing! steal aragorn from her!

BlueTwilight24: i'm a dramatic c, you know this.

Swabewwy ChocoAngel: nope, sorry, no closet. more legolas possibly, though!

Little House Girl: i'm sorry! they would b interesting 2gether, but i have another person for grace!

sissy-6: yeah, you can take elijah. i don't care as long as i get orly.

TeArS oF fAtE: i'm glad u agree w/ me about the whole angry harry thing! he needs help or something.

Carmel March: nope, siri and grace aren't gettin' together. though sirius is fallin' for her...

Tribal Leader: thanx! i agree w/ u for the orlando thing. how can anyone think he's gay? they're just jealous.

Kat44: thanx for telling me the mistake! any in this 1?

Evelyn Halliwell: thanx for correcting me!

Tiger12: yup, he loves grace. she hates him, though.

citrus scented: you'll find out about what sirius learned next chapter!

Lorelei6: i'm glad you see what i mean! yeah, they'd kill each other if they got together.

JerseyGirl03: the real grace said i couldn't. she likes legolas 2 much.

ChickoftheDarkMoon: thanx 4 reviewing!!!

Cassandrah Potter: i love writing sirius beaten up scenes! i'm glad you like reading them!

LoverOfAllThingsLegolas: greega! yup, u get talked about in the a/n! read it!

Yael M.: yeah, i need an excuse to procrastinate! thanx!