Disclaimer: No, I still don't own them and I never will, must to my displeasure. I am making zero profit and all characters belong to JKR. I am only borrowing them for the time being.
A/N: Hey there! This story is a prequel of sorts to my other fic Harry Potter and the Legend of the Phoenix. I guess you could say that this is AU as I am not following what they say about Lily and James in book five. I hope you enjoy and I will update when I get the chance. Enjoy!
The End of the Beginning
Summary: James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily have just graduated from Hogwarts and are at the beginning of their adult lives. Against the backdrop of the war, they try to find their places in wizarding society. This is the story of how one person, would ruin and end all their lives just as they were beginning, and how the repercussions would be felt across two very different yet similar generations.
James Harold Potter was pacing nervously in his flat. He had just made a decision that would most likely change his entire life for all eternity.
He was happy with his decision but was worried about what his friends and Lily would think. Especially Lily, as his decision most certainly involved her and depended upon her agreement.
Logically, he knew that he shouldn't be worried about his friends reactions, but he just couldn't help it. After all, it wasn't everyday that a person decided to propose to his long time girlfriend.
"James! Would you quit your pacing! You're going to make yourself sick if you keep that up. Just tell me what this is all about Prongs," Sirius pleaded with James.
James whirled around and turned to face one of his best and closet friends, Sirius Black.
"I'm sorry Padfoot, but I'm just too nervous! If I don't pace, I just might curse something or somebody," James said eyeing Sirius menacingly.
For the past half hour, Sirius had been pushing, pleading, and begging James to tell him what was making him so nervous but James refused to budge.
"Prongs! For the love of Merlin, just tell me already! I promise that you'll feel better afterwards," Sirius said once again.
"Padfoot no! How many times do I have to tell you that I am going to wait for Moony and Wormtail before I tell you! I do not want to repeat this more than once," James said with an air of finality.
"Oh fine, keep your little secret. Remus and Peter had better hurry up. The suspense is killing me!" Padfoot said half jokingly.
Sirius was actually concerned for his best friend. James Potter was not the type of person to pace without reason. Whatever was going on, he hoped that it wasn't too serious.
James was being unusually snappy and that was out of character for the Auror in training, who normally had the patience of Albus Dumbledore it seemed at times. Which was precisely the reason that Sirius decided not to push his friend any farther than he already had.
Sirius was in training to be an Auror himself and knew a wide variety of nasty curses and hexes, but James was a master of Transfiguration and would not hesitate to turn Sirius into a black poodle should he feel like it. That was why Sirius, for once, decided to restrain himself.
Both men were pulled from their thoughts when the fire place became active and Peter and Remus tumbled out.
"Thank Merlin! You two are finally here. I thought I was going to go crazy if I had to wait another second!" Sirius said excitedly before James could even say hi to his other two best friends.
Remus and Peter exchanged confused looks. What in the name of Merlin was going on here?
"Padfoot, sit down," James growled at the overexcited Sirius.
"Sorry about that you two, but you know how he can get sometimes," James continued to say, indicating his head at Sirius.
"I resent that Prongs!" Sirius said.
"Will you just shut up?! I have something very important to ask and tell you guys," James said seriously.
The three friends as one looked at each other than at Sirius. James was never this serious except in his Auror training, and even then James had a hard time controlling his mouth at times. Whatever Prongs had to say, it was going to be important.
As one, all three wizards took a seat as James continued to pace up and down and back again.
Remus rolled his eyes at James actions. "James, would you please quit that incessant pacing and tell us what the hell is going on?" he said with just a touch of impatience.
"Hah! You see! Moony agrees with me about your pacing and I'm sure Peter does as well!" Sirius said with Peter nodding in the background.
Seeing that they were all becoming impatient with him and were likely to curse him if he didn't start talking, James reluctantly sat down across from them.
"All right, this isn't easy for me, so just hear me out before you say anything," James warned them, but looking specifically at Sirius who was known for interrupting people on a regular basis, not matter who was doing the talking, even if it were on an important subject.
Sirius got the hint when he saw that James was looking at him and shut up right then and there, possibly a first in the Marauders entire history with one another.
"Okay, here I go. You see, you know I love you all as brothers and would do anything and everything for you. The thing is though, if all goes according to plan, I may not be able to spend as much time with you as I would like," James began to say.
Sirius was about to ask why not, but James silenced him with a single look.
"You see, well, tomorrow is the three year anniversary of Lily and I getting together and I, well, I'm going to ask her to marry me," James said and quickly closed his eyes, waiting for the screams of outrage and betrayal to come at him.
The screams and yelling came, but not in the way that James expected.
"YES! Finally! What took you so long Prongs my boy?" Sirius asked, while high fiving Remus and Peter, before walking over to James and hugging him in a brotherly way.
"Really James, we had all wondered when you would finally pop the big question. Sirius and I thought that you would have asked at graduation, but you didn't. Trust me, half of Hogwarts has been betting on when this would happen," Remus said happily.
Personally, he thought that it was high times those two finally got married. They had been circling around each other since their second year, and had finally gotten together at the end of their fifth year, right after OWL's, much to their friends relief.
Smiling happily, Remus rose from his seat and also hugged James in congratulations.
"Congratulations James! I had hoped that this would finally happen," Peter said with a false smile.
Sirius, Remus, and James were to busy being happy to notice the insincerity of Peter's words.
"Thank you Peter. Thank you all," James said happily.
"There's only one thing I don't understand Prongs," Remus said mischievously.
"What's that?" James asked, suddenly worried once more.
"Why the in the name of Merlin were you so worried about telling us?!" Sirius said for Remus in exasperation.
"Exactly. What did you think we would do? Yell and scream at you to not marry Lily? For the love of Merlin James, it was us who pushed you two together in the first place," Remus said.
"Well yes, actually, I had worried that you wouldn't want me to marry Lily because that would and will mean that I won't be able to spend as much time with you," James said looking down, somewhat ashamed that he had thought his best friends would take this badly.
"Oh Prongs, you truly are hopeless, you know that, don't you?" Padfoot said shaking his head.
"How do you know that Lily will want to marry me anyway?" James asked curiously.
After all, Lily could say no to his proposal.
"James, you truly are a dolt. Of course Lily will say yes. The two of you have been crazy over each other for years! How could she say no?" Peter said, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice.
Peter had known that James and Lily liked each other for a long time, but tried to deny it. He had had the biggest crush on Lily for what seemed like forever. He had been crushed when they had started going out, but had secretly hoped that it wouldn't last.
Now, here he was, congratulating James Perfect Potter on his upcoming marriage to Lily, for Lily would never say no. So now, all his hopes were forever crushed. Once more, Peter Pettigrew found that he hated James Potter, and that his hate was extending to Sirius and Remus as well. For not the first time in his life, he found that the Dark side looked very tempting.
None of the other Marauders noticed this however. Peter was one of their best friends who usually needed their help with something.
"Thank you Peter, I hope that you're right," James said, running his hand through his hair nervously.
"Of course he's right James. Lily will say yes in an instant. I not only think that, I know that for a fact," Sirius said.
"So, lets see the ring Prongs. Knowing you, you already bought it," Remus said teasingly.
James blushed and took a box out of his pocket. "You're right as usual Moony. I bought it this morning at Diagon Alley," he said while opening the box.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter all gasped when they saw the ring. It was beyond gorgeous. It was a ruby lily with emerald leaves surrounded by two diamonds. The ring was truly exquisite. It would suit Lily perfectly.
"James, if Lily doesn't faint or kiss you the second she sees this ring, I would test her to see if it's someone else using Polyjuice Potion," Remus said openly gaping at the ring.
Sirius whistled in agreement. "That is one heck of ring Prongs. If that's the engagement ring, what is the wedding ring going to look like?" he asked teasingly.
James scowled at Sirius.
"Padfoot, you know very well that my I'll give Lily my mother's wedding ring," James said with a hint of sadness.
The loss of his parents had hit him hard as well as Lily and the rest of the Marauders.
Voldemort had been targeting his family for a long time, and now, he was the only Potter left.
Apparently, his mother had feared that she along with James father would be killed before James could get married and have children of his own. She had left him a note saying that if she had died before he had gotten married, then he was to give her wedding ring to his bride-to-be.
When James had first read the note, he had broken down into tears and silently promised his mother he would do just that. The ring was in a box and James hopped to give it to Lily should she agree to marry him.
"Sirius!" Peter and Remus said at the same time, while Remus smacked Sirius on the arm.
"No, it's all right. He was only teasing," James said after regaining his composure.
"Right, well come on you three. This is Prongs last night as a free man, and we are going to make this the best men's night out that we have ever seen," Moony said firmly.
James smiled and nodded in agreement.
"All right! Let's go party!" Sirius said excitedly.
Remus, James, and Peter all just shook their heads. No matter how old Sirius became, he would always act like a teenager.
"I'm sorry you guys, but I can't tonight. My boss wants me to work an extra shift tonight. He says if I keep up the good work, I may get promoted," Peter said.
"Oh, I'm sorry that you'll miss the fun Peter. Hopefully you'll get that promotion," Remus said.
"Don't worry about it Wormtail, we'll go out another night," James said somewhat disappointedly. He had hoped that this would be a night for all four of the Marauders but hey, they were all adults now, even if they didn't act like it, and they had responsibilities.
"Don't worry about it James. I'll catch you guys later, maybe before the next Order meeting," Peter said with a false grin, and walked into the fireplace, mumbling his location so the others wouldn't hear, and disappeared in a whoosh of green flame.
"Come on James, we'll make it up to Peter later. Let's go get drunk!" Sirius said happily.
James and Remus just laughed and followed Sirius as he walked out the door.
James was sure that this would be a night to remember, if he would be able to after all the alcohol he was likely to consume this night. He grinned. This night was going to be fun.
