I will have to slow the fics down for a while. I'm swamped with school work and half yearly's are coming up. I'll try to write as much as I can, but school must come first (Are you proud of me Kim?). I've almost finished the next chapter but there might be a wait for the one after. SO ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN!!!

Chapter 21

The love of Sirius

Sirius sat in class for the last time that term. James, Remus and Lily had been called away from class for a meeting with Professor Dumbledore and Sirius was left with Peter. Peter was fast asleep as Professor Binns droned on at the front of the classroom.

Sirius didn't bring much to class, a quill, perhaps a book or some parchment, but today being the last day, he brought nothing. He reached across to Jim's desk and grabbed his parchment and a quill.

"Thanks dude." He whispered and began to write on the parchment.

Stuff to do before the party.

He started.

Invitations- who to invite, who to keep out (Snape, Slytherin's, except Kim), how to keep it a secret from those not invited.

Cleaning up afterwards, not me!

Supplies, where can we get enough for everyone? House elves, Honeydukes, BYO?

Admissions fee? Definite chance of profit- especially if we supply the food and drinks. Free entry for Marauder's, Kim, Lily, Frank, etc?

Theme? That would be fun.

Possible themes: knickers and socks, wet t-shirt, girls in bikini's, the animal inside (one for Mooney)

Sirius wrote for the rest of the hour. Soon his writings had moved from the party to writing about Kim.

Ways to thank Kim…

How can we possibly thank her enough?

Where do I start?

Kim,

I've been thinking about your sacrifice and we are all forever in your debt.

Meet me outside the Muggle Studies classroom in the third floor corridor.

Ten on the dot…don't be late.

          Sirius

He tore around the note and folded up the parchment. Pointing his wand out the open window, he whispered "Accio Owl." The class erupted in laughter as a disgruntled owl came zooming in and landed on Sirius' desk. He pulled a few owl treats out of his pocket and the owl seemed to forgive him. Once he had made sure that Professor Binns had not noticed the presence of the owl, Sirius instructed it to take the letter to Kim, who was outside enjoying her Care of Magical Creatures lesson in the cold weather.

He then returned Jim's quill and continued in his bored state, waiting for the day to end.

~*~*~*

At ten o'clock that night, Sirius, James, Remus, Lily and Ebony made their way to the third floor corridor. On their way they saw Frank walking with Head Girl Kirstin Kent.

"Hey Frank." James called. "We're going to have a bit of a…celebration tonight, A bit of a thank-you to Kim for helping us out. Wanna join us?"

Frank looked at Kirstin and then back at James. "Sorry mate, bit busy tonight. Maybe some other time."

"Oh, well have fun!" James said, perhaps to enthusiastically as Frank and Kirstin walked away.

"Hows he holding up?" Ebony asked.

"Surprisingly well…" Lily started.

"Thanks to Kirstin." James finished.

Hogsmeade was beautiful. Snow fell on the old fashioned buildings making the town look as though it had been painted for a fairy tale. James held Lily tightly as he led the group up the hill towards a small, run-down house. Remus gave a moan. He had just spent four days in that shack and it was the last place he wanted to be to celebrate the end of the term.

"I thought we'd be going the Three Broomsticks." He sighed.

"Nup, too many teachers go there. We might get caught." Sirius muttered, attesting his dislike for teachers.

"We should have gone the other way." James said. "But we don't want any unwanted…Snape's snooping around. He already knows where the entrance is but we can't let him find out how to get in."

"Yeah. I don't think our memory charm skills are good enough to erase his memory of the same thing twice." Sirius joked.

"Well I feel guilty for telling him in the first place. And I didn't even go through with the damn thing." James sighed.

"Why do you feel guilty? I'm the one that opened my damn mouth…" He shook his head angrily.

The three girls looked at each other with confused faces and decided to change the conversation to a better topic.

"So the party will be great now Franks got the room of Requirement all set up." Lily said as they approached the door of the shack. Remus pulled a key out from his pocket and opened the lock.

"It'll be great." James exclaimed. "Mooney's perfected the invitation charm so no one uninvited shows up and Fillyrink has the whole distraction thing worked out."

"What's he doing?" Ebony asked.

"Well he wouldn't tell us but I think we've figured it out." Sirius said with a ridiculously happy grin on his face. James pulled a piece of parchment out of his bag and handed it to Ebony. She lit some candles with a wave of her wand and began to read aloud.

"Do you know what your students are doing now? Research in many European schools has proved that teachers have little if not zero control over what their students do when they are not in class. This seminar has been successful with wizarding schools in Australia and New Zealand and is run by the most advanced Witches and Wizards. If you care about the welfare of your students, please consider…blah, blah, blah…"

"That's brilliant!" Kim said with a laugh. "Are they going?"

"They sure are. And they're leaving Frank and Kirstin in charge." Sirius said as he took out the list he had written. James snatched it from him.

"I didn't know you could write!" He read the list began to laugh.

"Well I wouldn't say write, more like…jot. I was really bored." Sirius muttered and grabbed the list before James could read the last few lines.

"What's up with Frank and Kirstin? Are they getting rather…close?" Kim said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they've been shagging each other for ages." Sirius said nodding, glad of the change of subject.

"How can you always know these things?" James asked as he lay out a rug and began unpacking the food and drink from his bag.

"Well Prongs. You're good at the Quidditch thing, Mooney's good at the school thing and I have a knack for knowing stuff I'm not meant to know. I'm also a damn good-looking guy." He said glancing towards Kim who looked as though she agreed but didn't say anything.

James pulled the top off his butterbeer and raised his hand. "Here's to Kim."

Sirius lifted his own, "Who'll sacrifice a hell of a lot for her friends." He handed her a bottle and put his arm around her. "And to Frank, the only guy to get head in the head room." Remus and Ebony looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Soon the group were sitting on the rug and enjoying the food Sirius had stolen from the house elves and talking excitedly about the upcoming party.

After a few hours, the group had quietened down.

"So what were you guys doing with Dumbledore today?" Sirius asked as he finished his butterbeer and added his bottle to the row on the table.

"Well it's a secret." James started. "So you guys can't tell anyone."

"James! Dumbledore said no one." Lily argued.

"Are you calling me a nobody?" Sirius joked. Lily ignored him.

"C'mon Lils, I can't keep anything from the Marauders so Sirius will find out anyway and he'll tell Kim and Ebony because he wasn't sworn to secrecy." James argued back.

"They won't tell anyone." Remus agreed.

"Okay, I guess they'll know soon enough anyway." Lily gave up.

"So what's going on?" Ebony asked as she reached across Remus to borrow a lighter from Sirius.

"Dippit's leaving." James replied.

"About time!" Sirius laughed.

"And Dumbledore's taking over?" Kim guessed.

"Well, yeah." Remus poured himself a glass of Odgen's Firewhisky. "But that's not even the best bit."

"Yeah, why did you guys get trusted with this big secret? Why did I have to stay in class, bored out of my brain?" Sirius queried.

"Because Dumbledore has to select next year's Head Boy and Girl." James said with a grin. He had been imagining Sirius' reaction all afternoon, but it was much more satisfying in person.

"You're up for Head Boy?" Sirius finally managed to ask once his jaw had started working again. "We promised we'd never play practical jokes on each other."

"A Potter never lie…to his friends, at least."

"Then how'd you manage to pull this one off?"

"Apparently I have potential. If I did the homework and assignments and stuff, I could be smart. Well, at least Dumbledore thinks so."

"Smart? I'd like to see the day Prongs." Sirius laughed.

"Yeah it wouldn't matter though. As if I could beat Mooney at Head Boy."

Nobody noticed Remus's silence. He was a modest guy, unlike his two best friends, and usually stayed out of conversations about himself.

"And Lily. Head Girl!" James exclaimed excitedly. His girlfriend blushed.

"Well, obviously." Sirius said rolling his eyes at James. "She got O+ in most of her OWL's and was voted most likely to succeed in that thing we did in first year.

"Who else would get it?" Ebony asked.

"Head Girl and Lily has always been an obvious match." Kim added.

"Damn, we're out of Butterbeer." Sirius looked around at James, Remus and Ebony drinking their Firewhiskey. "I don't know how you guys can drink that shit."

"I'm with you Ris-Ris." Kim loved making up embarrassing names for Sirius. It always made him squirm.

James looked at Remus and gave a meaningful nod.

"Prongs, did you still want to show me that thing?" Remus asked casually.

"Right you are Remus, I almost forgot. Do you want to go now?" James said, standing and helping Lily to her feet.

"Where are we going?" Sirius asked.

"You probably wouldn't like it, its kind of…"James started.

"…Educational." Remus finished.

"I think it's boring as hell, but Mooney's into all that smart person stuff. You stay here and we'll meet you later."

Remus stood and held out his hand to Ebony. "Educational? We're supposed to be on holidays."

"I think you should come, to keep Lily company." Remus said, pulling her up and pushing her out the door and leaving Sirius and Kim alone.

"How long will you guys be?" Sirius called after them.

"It'll take us a while so don't wait for us." James voice yelled back.

Sirius knew exactly what was going on.