Hey! Alright here is the next chapter. Sorry for the delay... that damned thing called school keeps getting in the way of my updating. Er to it. Oh well. So I have a few questions would I killed if I was thinking about a side romance for Sirius? Nothing big but like I'd always imagined him having someone and I just wanted to know what people thought. I hope you enjoy this story, I put some time into it. Its long but it needed to be. Thank you for all the kind reviews and I hope to have another chapter up really soon! I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does! Please R/R.

James had looked at himself in the mirror. He was dressed all in black with a symbol of a phoenix over his heart. He had on heavy dragon hide gloves on and high boots. His wand was in his hand ready. A few days ago an Order member had figured out a code that the Death Eaters used and found out about a planned attack for midnight. Dumbledore had asked the Marauders to go with a few others.

He tried to flatter his hair. He always tried to do this when he stood in a mirror. He prayed that everything would be fine tonight and they would all make it back safe. With one last look he nodded his head, told himself to go for it and left his room. As he closed the door he looked at his watch, it was time to go. He walked to the top of stairs. Remus stood at the bottom dressed the same way.

"Sirius with you?" Remus asked.

"No, he's not down there?" James sighed knowing he wasn't.

"Check his room," Remus told him. James walked down the hall. On the third room on the left he knocked. He waited... no reply.

"Sirius time to kick Death Eater ass," James called. He opened up the room. It was dark inside. James walked in and lit the candles around the room. On the four poster bed Sirius lay asleep. "Sirius," James shook him awake. "Come on time to go."

Sirius opened his eyes and yawned, "What?"

"Midnight... kick Death Eater's ass does this sound familiar?" James asked.

"Oh right," Sirius got up. He was already dressed. "Must have fallen asleep after I finished dressing."

"Come on we are going to be late," James hurried Sirius out of the room.

They raced downstairs and James yelled goodbye to Rosy and they grabbed broomsticks that they had put there earlier and flew as fast as they could to get past the Apparation wards. They disapparated as soon as they got to the gate. They apparated to the edge of a forest. Quickly they dropped to the ground hoping they had not been seen. James made sure Sirius and Remus were with him and then he raised himself a little bit. It was quiet. No one was around. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and looked at it. He looked to his right, a large stone was there and Arabella Figg was suppose to be hidden behind it. He looked back at the paper, three trees down Mundungus Fletcher was suppose to be hiding. Was the attack over? Were they late too? James looked back at Sirius and Remus. Where was everyone? Why was it so quiet?

James heard a pop behind him. He turned swiftly and extended his wand hand. It was just Sirius though, he had turned into a dog. Silently as he could he crawled over to the tree where Mundungus was suppose to be and sniffed the ground. He crawled back to James and with a pop he transformed.

"Smells like Fletch," he reported, "but there is another smell. I don't know what it is."

"CRUCIO!" all three looked around stunned. It was followed by a woman's scream.

"Arabella!" James got up. The scream was coming from behind them, from inside the forest. Without a second thought they ran full out inside the forest following the screams of their fellow Order member. They had been running for 5 minutes when James stopped and motioned Sirius and Remus to hide behind a tree. They were now close to the Death Eaters and James had to turn away for a second trying not to hear Arabella's screams.

When James had turned away one Death Eater turned his wand on Fletcher and James heard the curse and his screams along with Arabella's. He knew he had to end this now and quickly.

"STUPEFY!" he stepped away from the tree and hit a Death Eater. Taking his lead Sirius and Remus came out from behind their trees and shot stunning curses at the Death Eaters. They were caught of their guard too busy enjoying the screaming of their captives and planning what to do with them next.

James ran over to Arabella when all the Death Eaters were stunned. Her eyes were closed but James heard her breathing. Fletcher was still twitching on the ground. His eyes were opened but he didn't seem to notice the Marauder's presense.

James turned to Remus and Sirius who stood by. "Take care of the Death Eaters. I'm going to bring these two St. Mungo's." With a simple Mobilicorpus spell James lifted the two Order members up and took out the emergency Portkey he always had with him. They disappeared with a pop.

At St. Mungo's James went to the front desk and told them what happened. Use to this happening the two Order members were immediatly attended to and James took this opportunity to go see Dumbledore. He knew the Headmaster would want to know what happened and see the Order members as soon as he could.

He went back to the Mansion and firecalled Dumbledore.

"Good morning James," Dumbledore yawned and James realized the time. It was 1:30am.

"Sorry to wake you sir, but Sirius and Remus are bringing five Death Eaters to the holding cell in the Ministry. We caught them after they put Arabella and Mundungus under theCruciatus Curse."

"How did the Death Eaters get them?" Dumbledore asked.

"I have no idea sir, I hate to admit but we were late," James shifted in his seat.

"Well at least you three weren't captured as well," Dumbledore sighed. James knew what he was thinking, how could two of the best Order members get caught. Dumbledore bit his lip and sighed. "Thank you James for reporting to me. I will go see Arabella and Mundungus as soon as morning comes. And I will see you at the Order meeting in two days."

"Yes sir," James said and knew a good bye when he heard one. James sat back in his seat, he could still hear Arabella's screams in his head. He had never felt the Cruciatus Cursebut he knew that Sirius had before and it was one of the things he never talked about.

**

Two days later the Marauders sat in the Order meeting waiting for people to arrive. They had gotten there early in order to talk to Dumbledore about the prisoners that they had caught. They were all interested in if they had revealed anything. Moody of course had questioned them and found out a few dates for when Voldemort was planning to strike villages.

The meeting began and with a smile on his face Dumbledore stood and directed everyone's attention to the back of the room, "I'd like to thank James, Sirius and Remus who not only saved Arabella Figg and Mundungus Fletcher but they captured 4 Death Eaters. The information the Death Eaters had was valuable to the cause and I thank them for all their efforts."

The trio smiled and looked at each other. Dumbledore clapped loudly to them. They had not expected anything else so when Moody and a few other Order members who had been fierce in their arguments with the trio stood up, faced them and clapped the Marauder's mouths dropped.

Simon, the Order member who had been most fierce with Sirius walked up to them and offered his hand, "I was wrong about you three and you especially Sirius."

Sirius looked at James and then stood and took Simon's hand. "All forgotten."

"Thank you for saving Arabella, we have been friends for a long time." Simon smiled and Sirius nodded.

They looked up at Dumbledore who was grinning broadly. His eyes twinkled like they had seen them do so often before Voldemort rose. He looked younger somehow James thought.

"Well to the next problem," He said but with a much lighter heart. It was a very good Order meeting.

**

It was Friday. The big day to James. He was nervous, very nervous. As they walked around the pond that was behind the restaurant they had eaten in James couldn't help but feel relaxed. He had his arm around Lily's waist and they walked talking and just enjoying each other's company. Finally James stopped and took her hand. He turned to face her realizing that he had started to sweat. Come on Potter, he thought, he sighed and looked into her beautiful green eyes. Now or never, he thought. I'd rather face Voldemort right now, come on James. Lets go Prongs. He thought trying to give himself encouragement.

"I've been wondering," He stopped and looked into her eyes again. They seemed to give him confidence somehow. He went down to one knee, "Lily Evans... will you marry me?" He took a small box out of his pocket and presented it to her. He stared up at her.

Lily had not been expecting this judging by the look on her face. She gasped loudly and her hands went to her open mouth. She blinked a few times as though wondering if this was all a dream. She then smiled and look at James.

"Oh James! I will!" she took her hands away and spoke in a hurry. He got up and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Ohhh how sweet," still embraced they heard someone said and then someone pretending to cry. "Do you have a tissue?"

"This is so sad," another voice said.

James broke apart from Lily. He was looking behind her trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. "Sirius. Remus." He said sternly.

Two heads appeared, "You called?" Sirius asked wiping his eye.

James glared at them. They took off the Invisibility Cloak and with a nudge from Remus Sirius stepped forward. "Welcome to the Marauders family."

He hugged her tightly. Lily for as long as she had known Sirius had not expected this behavior from him. Of course the spying on them didn't surprise her but he was hugging her.

James mouth opened. He knew Sirius was okay with him marrying Lily but he never expected that. He looked over at Remus all anger forgotten.

"Did you expect us not to come? You ask a woman to marry you and invade the craziness of the Mansion without us being there? I'm shocked," Remus laughed and went over to Lily and hugged her too. "Thank you for saying yes, now there will be two sane people in the Mansion."

"Are you suggesting I'm not sane?" Sirius asked pretending to be hurt.

James laughed. He clapped Sirius on the back.

"We are all going to live at the Mansion?" Lily asked.

"Unless you want to escape to one of the cottages that the Potters own," James shrugged.

"Oh no," Lily smiled. "I just wanted to make sure. I'm sure they would be over every day anyway." She smiled at James, "I would nothing better than Remus and Sirius to remain at the Mansion."

"Well then good thing we set up the Silencing Charms around the Master bedroom ey Remus," Sirius nudged him.

"According to Sybil Trelawney, the wisest divinator in the world... I see... oh no the grim, death my dears and... oh wait... many twins of James." Remus put on a fake voice and his eyes bulged.

Everyone laughed.

**

Two weeks later in celebration of James and Lily getting married the Evans came over for dinner. It was still early evening and James was upstairs getting ready. He could hear shouts from outside the door and knew that Sirius had lost a shoe or something. Of course he could always use magic to find it but he never seemed to find out that. When he was finished dressing he went walking around the house to make sure everything was clean and ready. Not that he didn't trust the house elves to obey his order but still, he was nervous and it helped calm his nerves.

When he got to the library he found Remus reading. He snorted, he was sure he was trying to read the whole library in some record time.

"James!" Sirius yelled from upstairs. "HAVE YOU SEEN MY ROBE?"

James rolled his eyes and yelled back, "In your closet!"

Remus looked up from his book, "Isn't that where the house elves always leave his robes?" James laughed and told him yes.

James went back on his walk and went into the dining room pleased to see the table set and ready. He then went into the living room to find it welcoming. He was near the stairs and he heard the heavy footed Sirius on the steps. He looked up and saw his friend dressed and ready.

"They were right where you said they were," Sirius told him.

There was a ringing around the house. James called, "Who is it?"

"James! Its Lily," he heard Lily's voice.

Rosy came into the room and James nodded to her. Rosy went to the door and opened it. Remus hearing the bell that announced when someone was at the gates came into the room with Sirius and James to wait for the guests.

They waited. The three men made sure that they everything was set and James tried to flatten his hair again. Once again it didn't work. Rosy came in leading three people. Mr. Evans was wiping his brow, "Long walk."

"I am indeed sorry," James said and greeted his guests. "It is good to see you again Mrs. Evans." He kissed her and shook Mr. Evans hand. He turned to Lily, "You look beautiful as always." He kissed her cheek.

Sirius and Remus greeted the guests.

"Where is Peter?" Lily asked.

"I invited him but he replied back that his cousin had taken ill and Peter couldn't leave him," James told them.

"I didn't know he had a cousin," Lily wondered.

"Peter talked about him sometimes," James nodded his head.

"Dinner is ready to be served, Mr. Potter," Rosy came back in.

"Thank you," James smiled and looked at the guests. "I hope you are hungry, the house elves have been very busy cooking."

"House elves?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"House elves are servants," James explained. "You will see more of them in a minute."

In the dining room six house elves stood behind chairs. James took his seat and motioned everyone else to sit. The house elves pushed their chairs in for them.

"A house elves job is to serve a family. They like it," James nodded to Rosy who had started to serve food. "Rosy here has been in the family since I was born. She took care of me when I was a child."

"House elves come with old wizarding families," Remus laughed. "Most families don't have them."

Mrs. Evans was looking around the room, she smiled and turned to James, "I do hope we will have a tour later."

"Of course," James nodded.

They started to eat. Sirius explained a few things to Mr. Evans who was eager for news about the wizarding world. James and Lily talked about different modes of transportation to the Evans when Sirius was done explaining.

When they stopped talking to eat Remus leaned forward and with a grin asked Lily, "How long have you been in the Order?"

"What?" she asked.

"I know you are in the Order," Remus said grinning.

Sirius and James looked at Remus. "She's not in the Order," James shook his head.

Lily looked at Remus and then her parents, "How did you figure it out?"

"You are?" James asked.

"I've been in the Order as soon as we graduated."

"What Order is this?" Mr. Evans asked.

"The Order of the Phoenix," said Lily. "I help fight against Voldemort. Dumbledore got me the job at the Ministry to watch over the Minister and his visitors. I protect him."

"It took me awhile to realize that," Remus sat back in his chair. "But I saw a letter on your desk from Dumbledore and a few Dark Arts dectectors well hidden."

"I check for disguise charms and I know a few charms that tell me the intentions of the visitors," Lily explained.

"You were always better at Charms than Defense Against the Dark Arts," Sirius grinned. "Does the Minister know?"

"Only Dumbledore and myself know," Lily grinned. "And now you. Anything else that led you to figure it out."

"There are no Aurors in the room, you don't come to the meetings or attacks but I still saw that letter. I just knew that Dumbledore would not leave the Minister unprotected though the Minister doesn't worry about his safety."

Lily laughed, "You are too smart for your own good Remus. Well while you three were busy with Quidditch and your ideas for a joke shop I knew what I had to do. I approached Dumbledore the day we graduated."

James shifted uncomfortably in his seat and turned his attention away from the conversation.

After dinner James took them on the tour of the house. He showed them the library, the training room and upstairs. He showed them his parent's bedroom which had remained untouched since his father had died. They even went outside and James told interesting stories about his relatives as they passed through the graveyard.

"Here is William Potter's grave," James stepped up to one. "He was Headmaster of Hogwarts in 1670-1780. He lived to a good old age. Jonathan L. Potter married a woman that the whole family hated. He moved away from the Mansion. A few years later a Dark Wizard rose and Jonathan single handingly defeated half the supporters of the Dark Wizard at the attack of the Ministry of Magic. He was welcome back into the Mansion after he saved three of his brother's lives. Here is Timothy Potter's grave, he was a friend of Dumbledore's. Dumbledore married Timothy's sister I believe."

"I think its wonderful that you know all of this," Mrs. Evans told him.

"The amount of labor I went through to learn it," James put a hand to his forehead. "Gave me headaches for weeks. Innocent bed times stories gone wrong." James kept walking. He stopped at one grave and put his hand on it. "This grave is my uncles. My favorite uncle. I'd be dead if it wasn't for him and so would Sirius. He was a great man, my Uncle Henry."

Sirius patted the grave. "Let's go back to the Mansion." He suggested.

They went back inside and had some tea. As Lily sipped her tea she decided to ask something that had been bothering her for awhile. She put down her tea and looked at Sirius, "Why do you hate Muggles?"

Sirius paled and put down his tea. He was just about to drink some but with the question he didn't feel like it anymore. He looked at James and put his head down staring at the floor. He didn't speak for a full minute and everyone looked at him. Finally he raised his head, "I don't hate them... they just make me feel uncomfortable."

"Why?" Lily asked hoping she wasn't going too far.

"You know my parents were Death Eaters right?" Well the really good Death Eaters specialize in a certain thing," Sirius stopped and looked around him. His voice dropped down to a whisper as though he was very ashamed. "My parents were experts in Muggle torture. I just feel uneasy around Muggles because of that. What if someone I'm with, one of their relatives died because of my parents. They killed for 8 years, almost everyday. Wizards they just killed but Muggles well they had their fun with. They might be dead but I hold the guilt they never felt." Everyone was silent as Sirius stopped talking. James put a hand on Sirius' shoulder for encouragement, he had never told anyone that.

"I guess I can't look at a Muggle without thinking what they did," Sirius finished.

They sat around and made small talk for about a half an hour more. Finally Mr. Evans got up and said they must go for it was getting late. They all thanked him for the evening and left.

When they were gone James turned to Sirius, "That was brave Sirius. I know you haven't told anyone that. I'm proud of you."