Rating: Yes, I know that I've updated the rating to M, but I've never been quite sure about the rating and I figured that it was better to be wrong than removed off fan-fiction. So, here it is.

Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned in this story belong to me, but rather to J.K. Rowling, I promise to return them to her once I am done with them. The poem which this story features is taken from the novel, The Smoke Jumper by author Nicholas Evans.

Part Five – Apologies

"The things that made us laugh or weep or sing,

The joy of sunlit snow or first unfurling of the spring."

---

June 1977

The four Marauders, as they were now known among the majority of the students - and even some members of staff - at Hogwarts, were seated underneath the beech tree by the lake, relaxing after the completion of their final exam for the year.

"So Moony," James said, relaxing against the trunk of the tree were he sat next to Sirius. Remus looked up upon hearing his nickname. "What are you planning on doing during the holidays?"

Remus sighed, he had been thinking about this for a while now. "I don't know. My parents will probably want to go away somewhere for a while. Other than that I have no idea. What about you Wormtail?" Peter looked up from his search through his bag to find chocolate bars and shrugged.

"Probably just hang around home, being happy that I'm out of school for a while." The still rather chubby boy stated before resuming his search through his bag.

"Ah, school isn't that bad." James said. "After all, there is the certain benefit of being in close proximity to very good looking young ladies." James raised his voice at this as he spotted Lily Evans and her friends walking along the bank of the lake nearby. Lily looked across at James, and, catching his eye, glared at him before making a rude hand gesture. "Ah, morning Lily!" James shouted, unperturbed by her reaction and waving excitedly at her, causing Remus to laugh.

"Oh go ask her to marry you already James." Sirius said, his irritation at his best friend clearly showing through.

"I already did. I asked her last night." Remus looked up at this, while Peter stuck his head out of his bag, his search forgotten. When it was clear that James was not going to elaborate, Remus poked him. "Ow, Moony! Don't poke so hard, you have pointy fingers." James said, rubbing his ribs.

"Come on, Prongs, give us the details, what did she say?" Remus said, grinning at his friend, knowing that Lily's reaction to such a question would not be a polite one.

"Nothing much really." At the other's disbelieving stares, James threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, all right. She cursed me – both magically and verbally – before saying that the day she married me would be the day that Wormtail here became ruler of the entire world, with Padfoot as his consort."

"Hey!" Peter and Sirius said at the same time.

"And nothing about me, James?" Remus asked innocently. James scowled at his friend.

"No. For some unknown reason Lily seems to like you, Remus. Can't understand why myself, scrawny little thing that you are."

"I'm not scrawny! Take that back!" Remus yelled at his friend. James only laughed and darted away when Remus leaped at him.

"Sorry, Moony my pal, but I refuse to take back the truth. The truth should always be told." James said, twisting away once again as Remus made to pin him to the ground.

"James, stop moving a minute will you. The Bat-Bogey hex won't hurt a bit." Remus said innocently, pulling out his wand.

"Remus, you wouldn't!" James pleaded. Remus' Bat-Bogey hexes were painful to say the least. "You- You're a prefect!" Remus merely shrugged.

"It's my day off." He said before launching himself at James again, finally pinning his bigger friend beneath him.

"Oh, knock it off, will you? Some of us are trying to read." Sirius said angrily, almost jealously. Remus froze. He still hadn't forgiven Sirius for his little 'prank' back in January. James used Remus' moment of distraction to flip them over so that he was pinning the slighter boy to the ground.

"Cheater." Remus breathed out. "Wormtail! Help!" Peter stuck his head out of his bag, where he had still been unable to find his chocolate, shook it and returned to his search. James chuckled.

"Ah, even Pete won't help you, Moony. I'm afraid that you're a lost cause. No one to help you now. Unless…" James looked up in the direction of Sirius, and Remus froze once again.

"No James." He whispered. "Don't. Not him." But it was too late.

"Oi, Padfoot!" James called out, making Sirius look up from the book he had been reading. "Will you take it upon yourself to save dear Sir Moony here from certain death?" Sirius gazed at Remus where he was lying prone on the grass and swallowed.

"If Sir Moony will receive my help, Sir Prongs, I would be glad to offer my services."

"Sir Moony," Remus said bitterly. "Will be fine on his own, thank you very much, Sir Prongs." James sighed and pushed himself off the ground to stand above Remus.

"Can't you two just sort it out? I'm sick of this! You haven't spoken to each other properly for six months! Six months, Remus!" James' voice was growing to a shout and Peter had completely abandoned his bag in favour of watching the eruption that had been boiling under the surface since the day after the 'Snape Incident'. "You're both acting like children. And it has got to stop. Remus, I know that you're still upset, and hurt and angry, but you have to forgive Sirius. We're a team. The four of us, and none of us work properly when we're apart. We've known each other for six years, Moony. Surely you can just forgive him." With that, James stormed off with Peter in tow, leaving Remus and Sirius alone underneath the beech tree.

Remus sighed and stood up. He turned away from where Sirius was looking at him eagerly and stared out towards the lake. It still hurt. Sirius' betrayal, the humiliation, the way Snape had looked at him when he had emerged a few days later from the Hospital Wing; like he was a dangerous animal who should be locked away. He felt the tears welling in his eyes and brushed them ferociously away. Damn James. He didn't care what he had said. Remus was not about to forgive Sirius so readily. Remus picked up his bag from the ground and began walking towards the castle when he was stopped abruptly by Sirius' hand on his shoulder.

"Remus," Sirius said quietly. "Don't go. Please. James was right. We need to talk about this. Just stay for a few minutes. Please." Remus had never been able to resist Sirius when he spoke like this and this time was no exception. He dropped his bag back down on the ground and took a seat by the trunk of the tree, still not looking at Sirius.

"Speak. You have a few minutes." Remus said briskly. He had no intention of allowing Sirius to get away with what he had done.

"I'm so sorry Remus. You can't imagine how sorry I am about what I did. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair to you or to… or to Snape." Sirius paused, gathering his courage. It took a lot to make Sirius admit that he was sorry. "I was wrong and childish and stupid. I'll never forgive myself for what I did, but I ask that you do. I can't go on not being able to speak to you, to look at you without knowing how much you hate me, to touch you even. Please Moony." Remus looked up at Sirius for the first time and felt the hurt start to go away as he noticed the tears on his friend's face.

"I never hated you." His voice was a whisper, but Sirius heard it nonetheless.

"What? But you said—"

"I lied. I wanted to hate you so much, Sirius. You hurt me and you betrayed me." Sirius bowed his head at Remus' words. "I was angry with you, I still am slightly, but I wasn't truly able to hate you. I'm sorry." With that Remus broke into tears, his resolve not to let Sirius get away easily broken with a few simple words. Sirius stared at him, shocked, for a moment or two, before gathering Remus in his arms.

"Shh. You have nothing to be sorry about. You did nothing wrong at all. It was all my fault. Gods, I'm so absolutely sorry, Remus. I never meant to hurt you so much." Sirius was rocking Remus backwards and forwards, tears running down his own cheeks even as he tried to stop Remus crying. "Don't cry. I don't think that I can bare you crying. I'm so sorry, Remus. So completely sorry. Please forgive me."

And as Sirius held Remus in his arms, begging his forgiveness, Remus knew that he would grant it. His life hadn't felt right without Sirius, and he didn't think that either of them would have been able to go on much longer. So he would forgive Sirius for hurting him, for endangering his life and Snape's, but he would never forget what he had done, never forget that Sirius had betrayed him and would be perfectly capable of doing so again.