Rating-R for angst and language
Summary-Why is James alive? Why does Harry hate him?
Chapter summary-Takes place after getting off the train at the end of Seventh Year in London. Some 'forshadowing' is done here, but nothing huge is revealed yet. That'll be next chapter, I promise. For now, just more relationship building. A promise is made, and Peter acts...strangely. Sirius notices more of Remus, and now Remus notices a little of Sirius.
Disclaimer-Ah, yes. This. JK Rowling owns the names, the faces, the characteristics, the settings, the mannerisms, the plot lines...basically, I've only used my imagination to twist existing things. So if you like this story, you have me to praise. If you hate it...it's her characters!! :)
Author's notes-This was originally supposed to take place right after graduation at Hogwarts. Then Helene, from the SBRL list, graciously let me know that I was being too American-there are no graduations in British schools. Fuc...no, BLOODY HELL!! LMAO. Thanks, Helene, for saving me from my horrible mistake. I acknowledge the bit about "Cho's graduation" in chapter one. It's staying, though, since it's too late to change. Sorry! And the next chapter, like I said, will go back to revealing huge bits about the main plot. I promise! Please review!
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Chapter 3
June 1977
Remus is tall, Sirius thought to himself as he watched the other boy walk towards him. Loud cheery cries from parents and students filled the air as Sirius noticed the black Hogwarts robes billowed out around Remus' legs. The sunlight was streaming very fetchingly onto the light brown hair, which was now chin-length. Did I just think that Remus was fetching?
"Oi, Sirius!" Remus was breathless, pink blossoming onto his cheeks, making him look younger than usual. He stopped in front of Sirius, a good two inches taller than his darker-haired companion now, a crooked smile on his thin face. "James has been looking all over the place for you. Why'd you hurry off the train? His mum wants some pictures of all of us."
Sirius didn't answer. He just stared at the flush in Remus' cheeks, the sun in his hair, the light in his eyes. Slight signs of stubble glinted faintly on Remus' chin and upper lip, and Sirius couldn't stop looking.
"Hello? Sirius?" Remus wasn't bothered by the way Sirius was watching him, but he was a little embarrassed. He couldn't ignore the fluttering in his stomach, though, the way it always did whenever he caught Sirius staring at him. It happened often the last few months of school.
Sirius seemed to come to. "Oh, sorry. Daydreaming. I wanted to get off before I got caught in the aisle jam. What was it you wanted?" He smiled. Running a hand through his short black hair, he shrugged. "Pictures, right? Ah, good old sentimental Karen. I can just hear her now." His voice mimicked in a high falsetto, "James will need a last set of pictures of the best friends he's ever had. He'll want them to look upon when he gets old and gray like me."
Remus chuckled. "Yeah, that's pretty much what she said. But she asked for you, first, so get your arse over there, will you?"
"Yeah, I can imagine her panicking over a picture without me in it," Sirius shrugged, putting his hands in the pockets of his trousers (he had taken his robes off as soon as the train left Hogwarts) and fell into step beside his friend. "Imagine, having to look at a picture of you three ugly gits in the future without having my handsome face to counteract the horror."
All too right, thought Remus, but kept his thoughts to himself. Instead, he smirked. "Your humble nature astounds even me, Padfoot."
They walked the rest of the way in silence over to where Karen Potter was fussing over James' hair. She deliberately licked her palm and held it out, attempting to flatten her son's hair, but James jerked away. "Mum! I'm not 12 anymore! You can't do that without subjecting your only son to a life of mockery from his mates!"
"But I wouldn't tease you, James," Lily Evans stood off to the side, watching James with his mother fondly. She had a peaceful look on her pretty face. "I'd probably do the same thing if MY son had hair like yours."
Karen smiled at Lily, this girl that James had told her about in his last few letters, one that he had been on a few brief dates with. She turned to her son. "I'm just trying to be a good mother, James. I don't want you looking like a hoodlum in the last of your school pictures!"
"Too late," Sirius jabbed as he sidled up. He put his arm around James, who scowled, and sighed. "But don't worry, Jamsie, you won't look like too much of a...eh, HOODLUM if you stand by me."
"Thanks for the compliment, you ruddy git," James rolled his eyes. He noticed the look on his mother's face. "Uh, I mean, er, you horribly mean person, you." He flashed an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, Mum."
Karen sighed and smiled at Remus, who had been quiet so far. "Hello, Remus. Congratulations! You mother told me about getting those Defense Against the Dark Arts grades on your NEWTS. James never said that you were the top of your year in that subject."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Remus replied politely. Karen smiled. She had always liked Remus, the quiet, often sick-looking boy who seemed so nice. She turned to Peter, who had just wandered up. "And Peter, darling, James told me about the way you thanked Dumbledore himself for the wonderful school years you had at Hogwarts."
Peter shuffled his feet, a blush reaching his cheeks. "Thanks, Mrs. Potter. I was inspired, really."
"By us, right?" Sirius asked, his eyes wide. "Peter, I didn't know you cared that much!" He took up one of Peter's hands and started shaking it, to Peter's surprise. "I'm glad to have been such a big part of your years here at school. What would you have done without me?"
"Let's go ahead and get these ruddy pictures over with before Sirius' head is too big to fit in the frames," James interrupted, to which Sirius dropped Peter's hand and growled at James. He received a rude gesture for his growl.
"James Theodore Potter!" his mum scolded. James just laughed. "Well, you're right, we do need to get a move on with these pictures. Sirius, where are your robes, dear?"
Sirius managed to look shifty. "Er...I..." He had shoved them into his trunk as soon as he had taken them off.
Karen sighed. "Nevermind, I suppose it's not THAT important." She gestured to James. "Stand over there, with the train in the background. Makes a nice shot, don't you think?"
Peter took the small pendant he always wore around his neck and tapped it with his wand, growing it back to the right size for his ever-present camera. He took pictures of the same things that Karen took, particularly when it came time for Sirius and James to take one together.
"There, now, lean in close, boys. Don't be shy." Karen took pictures of the two, who, at her comments about leaning closer, went so close that they threatened to bump heads. At Karen's "closer" Sirius even went so far as to wrap both arms around James and pull him in close, getting an eye roll from Remus. Peter still snapped some pictures, while Karen stopped and glared. "Sirius Black, can you be serious, just once? These are important!"
Sirius stifled the obvious reply and went back to just standing beside his best friend, smiling for both cameras. He felt rather than saw James' hand creep up behind his head, no doubt giving him ears of some sort.
"Done," Karen announced before one could be taken of her son's antics. "Remus, go over there with Sirius. I want one of you two."
Remus sighed a little, stepping close, but not close enough to touch Sirius. He forced his lips into a smile.
"Surely you can lean in closer than that. And Remus, dear, SMILE for heaven's sake. You've got beautifully white teeth-it would be a shame to hide them. I do want you to look like FRIENDS in this picture, after all." Karen waited for the two boys to awkwardly comply, and then began clicking away again. Peter took only one, from when the two were standing sort of distant from each other.
After taking several more pictures of various groups, Karen sighed, smiling, and gestured for all of them to get close. "Come on, now, a group picture. I'll have this one framed for James. It would look perfect on that tall brown dresser of his..."
"I hate that ugly old thing," James complained, but under his breath, even while smiling. Sirius leaned in close and wrapped one of his arms around the other boy's neck, messing up the already-messy hair with his other hand.
James wrestled away. "Hey!" He took a light swing at Sirius' shoulder. "Bloody wan..." he broke off with a sideways glance to his frowning mother. "Stupid face."
Remus, having heard him from the other side of Sirius, couldn't help but laugh. Karen swooped in close and made him, along with Sirius, stand in the back. Lily, James, and Peter stood in front.
"I want you all to press in together, now," she was saying as she backed up. "I want to get all of you in the picture..."
An arm snaking around his waist, Remus turned to look at Sirius, who was only looking ahead, as if it wasn't his arm that was wrapped around his friend.
James, meanwhile, had taken Lily's hand somewhat shyly, fighting down a blush. They had held hands plenty of times now, and even snogged a few times, but that was it. He was too embarrassed to confess to Sirius, but he actually wanted to take it slow with Lily, as if he were waiting for it to be the right time. He snorted quietly. Whatever "the right time" was.
A few more flashes, and the pictures were done. Karen excused herself to go find and talk to Sirius' parents, and left the five teenagers standing around, looking at each other. Sirius found himself holding onto Remus' waist for a little bit longer before letting go regretfully.
"You know," James broke the silence, "this will be the last time we'll be together here. Once we leave today, we'll be finished. We'll be adults." He looked rather wistfully at the train.
Remus frowned. "Well, technically, we're already done with-"
"Shut it, Remus," Sirius interrupted with a twinkle in his eyes. "We know we're already done. Just try not to ruin the sappy moment, here. I think James is starting to tear up."
James swiped at his shoulder, sending Sirius to jumping back, laughing. "I'm not tearing up!"
"It's true, though," Peter added in. "We're done. We're going to be starting jobs soon, and getting married, and having families..."
Sirius screwed his face up, wrinkling his straight nose. "Not me. Well, besides the job thing. But married! Me!"
Remus snorted. "I think if you ever asked a girl to marry her, she'd die of shock at your desire to commit to one person."
Looking straight into Remus' amber eyes with unusual seriousness and bravery, Sirius stated quietly, "I could commit to the right person."
"Whoa," Peter laughed a little too forcefully. "Getting a little too personal here!"
"Yeah, one would think you're trying to hit on poor Remus here," James added in to Sirius.
Lily smiled. "Actually, I wouldn't be opposed to that," she said a little dreamily. She looked at Remus up and down, to his embarrassment, and then turned her eyes to Sirius, doing the same. "You two together would make any sane person drool."
James cackled and wrinkled his nose, and Sirius and Peter burst into peals of laughter while Remus turned red, a grin showing off his teeth.
"Harboring any more secret fantasies, Lily?" James choked out. "Besides seeing Remus and Sirius together? What else don't I know about you?" He let out another few laughs at her eyes rolling, and then pulled the girl in close, kissing her on her forehead. "Merlin! I love you so much!"
Sirius smiled at them both, while Remus politely turned his head and Peter just sighed to himself as Lily and James shared a quiet moment looking at each other, holding each other a little close.
"Get a room, you two," Sirius broke the silence. "We should probably get out of here-I don't think I want to be late to my own 'end of school' party at my parents' house, and considering you gits are my best friends, I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to miss it, either."
And so they all started to get ready to leave. Right before they walked onto the train, though, James pulled back. "Wait, guys. Lily, can you go wait for us over there? We'll be done in a second." Lily nodded as Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed their friend away from the crowd, off the platform. The crowd around the train started to weed out as students and parents left to go home for the summer.
"I want us to make a pact," James said gruffly. He held out his hand, while the other three looked at him, silent, no one laughing at his unusually stoic demeanor. "I want all of us to promise something. Come on, put your hands out."
Remus had his hand on top of Peter's, with Sirius' on top of his own. He felt Sirius' thumb rub lightly across the side of his left hand, and gazed over at the black-haired teenager, who just looked back at him with an expression that he couldn't read. They both turned to James at the same time.
"I, James Potter, promise to be there for his friends whenever they have need of him. As a Marauder, I will do my best to make sure that no other Marauder will suffer under any circumstance that is in my power to prevent." He paused, as if pondering what else to say. A little snort, and then he continued. "I will always solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Long live the Marauders."
He nudged Peter, who stumbled to repeat what he had said, inserting his own name. Sirius copied the speech smoothly, even closing his eyes, as if he were praying the promise instead of just speaking. Remus, the last, felt his throat catch near the end, and sped up the last sentence to finish it as he also closed his eyes, willing the prick of tears away from his eyes.
This would be the last time they saw each other as students (but technically, as he had been about to say earlier, they were no longer students, as the results for the NEWTS had already been given out, and they had already left Hogwarts for the last time). Remus suddenly felt sad, incredibly, horribly sad, as he opened his eyes again to stare at the only and best friends he had ever had. They understood him, they accepted him, and they had done everything in their power already to help him with the one thing that threatened to make his life a miserable hell to live in the outside world. They had given him hope for salvation, making him believe that if he could fight the savage wolf that took over every month, then he could have a better chance at not being eternally damned, as werewolves were said to be by every "expert" that had ever written a book about lycanthropes. He believed, with the right circumstances, that he could live a more normal life than most creatures like him could never even come close to living, and for that, he was grateful.
He would do anything for these three friends of his. Peter, with his growing bravery and his fierce loyalty, James, with his passion for life and his will for the greater good, and Sirius.
Yes, Sirius, with his thick, black hair that was perfectly combed into place and his tanned skin and his sky blue eyes. Sirius, with his perfectly straight nose, despite a few Bludgers to the face, and a smile that could make the earth stop spinning for Remus.
No one would be able to replace these friends of his. So loyal, so brave, so clever, and so wonderfully accepting that Remus knew that he would never find anyone as good as these three. They were his friends, his brothers, and he could think of nothing that could tear them apart. They were the Marauders, a band held together so tightly that the world would not be able to push even a space between the four of them.
"Nasty dust storm, huh, Remus?"
He smiled at Sirius, a full smile as he let the tear fall. "Yes, particularly horrible, that. I'll just blink this speck of dust out. No need to start on the crying jokes."
And without another word, the four hugged briefly, pulled apart, and then walked their own separate ways to find their parents, and leave for home.
To be continued...
