Author's Notes: Awww, thank you so much to the lovely people who liked and reviewed the first part of this ficcy! Here's a big shout-out to Yami Silverdramon, Arabella, Rena Lupin, Joey Potter, Kandy916 and Ginny 3000!! Feed-back means a lot to me. So, anyways, the second part is here. I really truly hope you will like it and REVIEW it. Oh, please. )
Disclaimer: JKR invented Marauders. I wish I did, though..
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Minutes after I have finished reading it for the first time, I catch myself reading it over and over again. I simply cannot believe this piece of parchment has been buried up here for nearly twenty years and that I've never knew anything about it ever being made!
"Bandit names and a continuation, eh?" I finally dare to say it out loud, noticing my own voice is hoarse and cracked.
"It can't hurt… Or can it? Lord knows what they were up to on that, possibly boring Christmas Eve… Oh, well. Here goes – Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail… Just try to screw with them and you will fail! Because whoever tries with them to mess, immediately gets hexed and kicked in ass."
The paper in my hand immediately starts to tremble, first slowly, then more quickly until a flash of light blinds me and I somehow get sucked into the paper.
"I knew they were up to no good!"
For a few seconds, it feels as though I am trapped in time and space and then the light disappears and I realize I'm no longer in my attic. Instead, I'm sitting in an arm chair with a big white screen in front of me, while everything around me is lightless. A massive machine stands near me and I recognize it as an antique movie-projector. Not knowing what else I could do, I push a big button on it and the tape starts to roll.
Numbers appear on the screen. 3… 2… 1…
And then - a shot of an empty room with six baldachin beds replaces the numbers. The graphic on the screen jumps up and down for a few times before I hear words, barely audiable:
"Bugger! I can't even tell if this Muggle thing's workin' or not!"
"The spell book said it'd work if we clear the air from overbalance of magic. And we did. So it should work alright!"
"'kay. Let's try it!" the first voice cheerfully says and a messy, black hair pops in front of me. "Hey, Moony, my man, how's it goin'?"
I can't help but grin widely from ear to ear, while, at the same time, something roughly tightens me around heart. Many different emotions grab my soul, but I try to resist the melancholic ones and tend to focus on the unbelievable happiness that is filling me. It is James Potter, one of my best friends ever. And, even though he is not among the living for sixteen years now, yet he's right there, young and smiled and shining with teenage craziness.
"Just in case you don't remember who I am," he continues, "I mean, you never know. It's true you're the most reasonable among us, but still, you can never be sure what future brings."
"Cut the philosophic crap, Prongsie." somebody says off-screen and I know who it is. I knew who it was even before I got here.
"Pads," James responds, "you'll have your time. Remus is all mine now, so stuff it. As I was saying, I'm gonna introduce myself. My name's James Potter and I am the most perfect being this school has ever seen. Hogwarts, that is. Here, check my muscles!"
He folds one of his sleeves and a skinny arm appears beneath it. He squeezes it in order to make it bigger, but it is still obvious there are no muscles even if you'd search really hard for them.
Sirius laughs and it reminds me of a bark. "You'll be lucky if Remus hasn't run away after you scared him with this!"
James glares, but doesn't respond this time. Instead, he continues talking to the camera, or better say, me. "In case you're wondering how this Muggle device is working when we're at Hogwarts, I'll just tell you Sirius and I are much smarter than all those wizards who wrote about it in Hogwarts: A History. Really, Moony, you should stop believing that book. It's full of lies, lies I say! Anyways, this is our Christmas present to you. We accidentally, or not so accidentally, stumbled across this, er, camera, yes, I think that's the name and we thought we'd play around with it. So we're pating our last Christmas Eve at Hogwarts right now…"
"Taping it, James, taping it." Sirius corrects him from behind of the camera.
"Whatever. We're taping it," James says and accents the word 'taping'. "so you can one day see where we've had the best days of our lives. You're currently with Madam Pomfrey, somewhere in the depths of Shrieking Shack, so we're using the time to do this while you're not here."
"Well, if you don't hurry up, he'll soon be here and I won't get any chance to say anything!" growls Sirius.
"Well, if you don't stop interrupting, I many never finish." James shoots back and checks his wrist watch. "It's your last day, mate, last day of your transfiguration, so you'll be here before Christmas, don't worry. Man, I wish I knew how old you are right now. Padfoot and I agreed to sneak this into your attic as soon as we visit you this summer. Then again, maybe you never find it. But if you're watching this, it means you've found it."
I laugh out loud at James's babbling and I fully realize how much I have missed him. And Sirius. There are no words to describe that.
"I thought what I could tell you about, and I decided to remind you of some good old times. For example, remember when, in fifth year, that one time we had a Hogsmeade weekend and you said you were sick? And you convinced us - Sirius, Peter and me - that you'll be alright if we go, so we in the end went without you. And we spent the half of the day eating ourselves alive because we thought you were all alone, so we decided to shorten our Hogsmeade visit and get back to Hogwarts earlier. I can still remember the look on your face when we found you kissing near the lake! With nobody else than Shirley Fosse, Slytherin Beater! Ah, Remmy, you really amazed me then! Disgusted too, because I could never kiss a Slytherin, maybe disappointed at first 'cause you lied to your best pals, but still I was so pleasantly surprised to see you had a girlfriend and you didn't even bother to get one! Ever! And to think Evans still refuses to go out with me, which is, really sad."
James pauses for a moment, obviously struggling with his own inner demons. I use that opportunity to bring myself back to those days at school. Indeed, I remember how I used to secretly meet Shirley Fosse when nobody would be around. We picked nights and times when nobody could see us. I remember breaking about thousand rules just to spend a moment with her. Yes, Remus John Lupin, me, the one who has always been so righteous, did break the rules on purpose. Love is blind, they say. Was I in love? I don't know. Possibly. But soon after Hogwarts, I have never seen Fosse again. And, which is more important, I have never even tried looking for her. Think she may have gone pretty immoral, too, but I don't think that is my business any more.
"I've trailed off, Moony, sorry." James says and I see in his eyes that he is not very happy with the state he and Lily are in.
If only hew knew then. If only he knew that, less than a month from that night, he and Lily would share their first kiss in the moonlit Astronomy Tower, after so many years of his persistant pushing to go out with him. If only he knew that only a few years later Sirius and I would witness James' and Lily's beautiful wedding in a small white chapel. If only he knew in how comfortable house they would live afterwards, together two of them, happier than any couple had ever been. If only he could know he would have a son with her, heroic son who would be so incredibly brave and famous that every wizard child would know his name across the planet. But he couldn't. Just like he couldn't know him and Lily, years later, would get killed in the same night by the powerful hand of Lord Voldemort.
"I don't want to talk about sad stuff," James's voice snaps me back to reality. Reality? Not really, but you know what I mean. "so I'll stop here. Before I let Pads take the bat, who is by the way going crazy behind the camera, I just want you to know only more thing. I may have never said it directly, but I really, truly, think you rule, mate! I admire how you manage to be so conscious all the time, and take a part in the pranks too, and yet never boast about your capabilities and talents! You are a true friend, Moony. You've never let me down and I know you never will. Please, say hello to your wife from me, in case you've married Shirley! I don't think you have, though, because lately you two don't agree as you used to, I mean, she is Slytherin, after all. Okay, okay, Sirius, I'm done now. Merry Christmas, Moony!"
I want to scream "Don't go!" because I know that is the last time I'll ever see him again, but he's already gone. I fight so hard to suppress the tormenting jumbling in my stomach, but I fail.
I look at the screen which shows only four-poster beds again, and then, somebody else appears.
Author's Notes: Did ya like the second chappie? TELL ME IN YOUR REVIEW OKAY? Love y'all!
