Do I really need to say this again? J K Rowling IS Harry Potter. If you recognise anything from any movie, TV show, book or whatever else, it's probably because it is from them. If you want my 'full' warning, you can check out either 'Dormant Power' or 'Beginning of the End'.

If you've read both those fics, then you know how my version of it ends…but how did it begin? Again, only some names are mine, everything else is not! I've based this from the Marauders perspective so…well you'll know the story when something happens to a certain someone, even though I don't write about it in this one! Also check out 'The Apprentice', it has some info you won't find in my other two stories (wink, wink!).

Probably should point out the obvious. There is only one pairing in this; James and Lily ('duh' I hear some people say!), but that won't happen for a little while yet. Also, the 'code' near the end of this chapter…I already know it's not mine. I didn't put the rest of it, as it relates directly to Star Wars…which this story is obviously not about.

Yes, I know how frustrating that is also, fireflash! I keep getting them all mixed up and think 'hang on, that guy's dead…oh no he's not, that was another story!' That is probably the main reason why I don't start to post my stories until I have at least or near enough to, finished a draft copy! Makes for reading the reviews quite interesting at times…like having you figure out the gist of it after the 10th chapter! How did you do that, lol! I can let you in on something though; wands become a key issue in the sequel to BotE (yup, it's official!)…which I am, as of now, totally stuck at what to do in it, lol! Cheers for the comments (both you and irishchick890), and glad you like them!

Chapter 2 – The Reality Of War

After arriving at Kings Cross Station, James and Sirius made their way through the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten. James had a large grin on his face while Sirius kept muttering things like "can't ruddy read…get him back for that" under his breath. Sirius was so engrossed with his thoughts, that he didn't notice James had stopped until he ran into him.

"Ruddy hell, Prongs?! What'd you do that for?!!"

"Just savouring the moment, Padfoot. This'll be the last time we do this."

"Yeah well, you could've said you were going to stop, you idiot!" Sirius exclaimed, rubbing his nose.

"Well, excuse me for caring!" James said before looking around for his friends.

Sirius suddenly smirked, "hey look, there's Lily!"

"Where?!!" James said, whirling around at where Sirius was pointing.

"Oops, sorry about that, it's Snivellus instead" Sirius grinned as James scowled.

"Why you insolent little…"

"Hi Peter, how was your summer?" Sirius asked, totally ignoring James as a short tubby boy with dirty blond hair and beady eyes made his way over to them.

"Not bad, better than Remus' at any stretch. I can't believe they did that."

James grimaced. "Nor could I, but then again, Death Eaters are scum."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "It's getting totally out of control. But how do you stop something like that?"

"No idea, Padfoot. You guys seen him yet?" Peter asked.

James shook his head, "no, I was hoping you've seen him."

"He's on the train, reading" a female voice from behind them said.

James smiled. He didn't need to turn around to know who said that. Only one person had a voice that beautiful.

"He's not studying for the NEWT's by any chance, is he Lily?" James asked as he slowly turned around and faced the redheaded witch with sparkling green eyes.

"I don't know. I heard about what happened to his parents, do you mind if I sit with you for a little while this trip?"

"We certainly wou…" Sirius began.

"We'd be honoured, most fair maiden" James interrupted with an overly dramatic bow, which happened to include a punch to Sirius' midsection.

"Ok, that's fine. You can sit with us for a bit" Sirius answered, rubbing his stomach and glaring at James.

They four of them then made their way onto the train and headed off to find Remus. They reached the last carriage and found a boy with light brown hair wearing a slightly worn robe. They also would have noticed that he had brown eyes, but since he had a book pushed up in front of his face, they couldn't.

"Er, Moony? You don't have to finish all your books before the first class, you know."

The boy lowered his book, and one could see that he had been crying. Tears could be seen trailing down his face, and James inwardly slapped himself for being so insensitive.

"Oh Merlin! I'm so sorry, Remus! I should have…"

Remus waved him off, and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Forget it, James. I don't need pity right now. So how was your summer?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Pretty good…considering Sirius was always around" James grinned and Sirius shot him a glare, before grinning himself.

"Yeah Prongs. I never knew you could turn red that quickly!"

"Shut up, Sirius! If you even mention that to anyone, I'll kill you!"

"Have you no respect for Remus' feelings, James?" Sirius casually asked.

James stopped, his eyes widened as he turned again to Remus, "oh jeez! I'm sorry, Moony, it's just…hey hang on, why are you smiling?"

"Sirius sent letters telling us about that…what did he call it, oh yes, that incident, shall we say" Remus replied, trying his best to keep a straight face. This was made very difficult by the look on James' face; horror, fury and disbelief all in one.

James eventually snapped out of it, and sat down. As the five of them chatted about what they got up to over the break, they were interrupted when their carriage door slid open to reveal a blond haired wizard with hazel eyes hidden behind glasses. He was dressed in a long black robe, which had a Ministry crest on it. James' mouth fell open as he recognised the crest.

"You…you're an Auror!" he stammered.

The man turned his attention to James and only nodded in reply.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be chasing You-Know-Who and his followers?" Sirius asked.

The wizard looked at Sirius, who was surprised when the man smirked.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who you're talking about" he replied.

"You know, You-Know-Who" Sirius stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The Auror was still smirking and responded, "I'll tell you what. You say his name, and I'll answer your question."

Sirius's eyes widened, and as he was about to reply Remus spoke up, "he means Voldemort."

Peter looked at his friend in shock, "since…since when did…did you start to say his name, Remus?"

Remus just closed his eyes as he felt the tears welling up inside them again, "since…since…" he stopped. He couldn't finish that sentence, but was spared when the Auror spoke

"Since he attacked those who he perceives to be a threat. I am sorry for your loss, but you won't be alone. Many more will not make it through this. That is why I am here. The Ministry have decided, with your Headmaster's permission, that Aurors are to be posted around the school to prevent any attacks."

Lily snapped her head up, "what do you mean to prevent attacks? Why would he attack Hogwarts?"

"Why wouldn't he? Destroy the next generation of wizards and witches, many who would be trained to be Aurors to help in this war. Voldemort may not show mercy, but he isn't stupid either. He has gone after those he considers to be the most dangerous, first."

"You said his name!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Of course. I don't fear him, why should I?"

"Maybe because he's running around…" James started.

The Auror cut him off, "I'm aware of what he's doing. That is no reason to not speak his name, however."

"But why are you in our carriage?" Peter asked.

The Auror just looked at Peter expecting him to figure it out, but it was James who did instead.

"In case he attacks the train! He wouldn't…would he?"

"I hope he doesn't, but in these times, one never knows. Forgive me for not introducing myself. Seeing as though you'll be stuck with me all the way to Hogwarts, I guess you should know who I am. My name's Trent, Trent Fuller."

"I'm James, James Potter. These are Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans and Remus Lupin."

Sirius thought he saw a flash of recognition in the Auror's eyes when James introduced Remus, but he couldn't be sure. At that moment, a whistle sounded and the train very slowly started to move.

"Pleased to meet you. Shouldn't you three be at the student meeting though?"

James, Lily and Remus shot out of their seats, "oh Merlin, you're right! We forgot the Prefect meeting!" Remus exclaimed as he yanked the door open and ran into the corridor with James and Lily racing after him, leaving behind two laughing students and one highly amused Auror in their wake.

"You can sit down, you know" Remus said, looking at the Auror who was standing by the door.

"Yeah, James doesn't bite…hard."

"Shut up, Sirius!" James then turned to the Auror before adding "he's right though. You can have a seat if you want."

"It's alright. I expect to be standing up most of the year, so I may as well get used to it. I'm guessing you four aren't normally this quiet."

"Well, no. But we can't really discuss stuff with you here…no offence."

Trent chuckled. "None taken. Unless it's something illegal, I can't really do anything. However, I would most likely have to take your names down if you suddenly openly declared your support for Voldemort though" he smiled wryly.

"Oh I don't think there's any chance of that happening" Sirius replied, a dark look on his face as he remembered reading Remus' letter about what they'd done to his parents.

"We'd rather not discuss what we normally talk about though. You might be tempted to tell people" James added.

"Why, are you planning on pranking someone or something?" Trent asked.

He saw three sets of eyes widen. He couldn't see Remus', as he had already returned his attention back to reading one of his textbooks.

Trent smiled before saying anything. "I see. Well, I don't see the harm in having fun, particularly during these times."

"Um, what do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"I mean, that in these times, people could use a few good laughs."

"Oh, right. If we were to discuss pranks, you...er…wouldn't tell those…involved…would you?" James enquired, carefully picking his words.

"If you were to discuss something that may prove to be quite dangerous, I would have to inform someone. If it's pretty much harmless, then I don't really see a problem."

Trent had to hide a grin as he saw James, Sirius and Peter release a breath they'd been holding. The lunch cart had come and gone some time ago, and Lily had used this time to exit and go back to her friends. Trent decided against sitting down, and instead tried his best to tune out whatever the four young wizards were talking about.

Sirius was feeling a little disappointed that Remus didn't feel like talking about what had happened, but he didn't want to exclude him from their conversations. He tried his best to lighten the mood, and while Remus did put down his book at one point and smiled at them, he quickly returned his focus back to reading. Sirius leant back in his seat and listened to Peter talk about his summer, thinking that this train ride might be the longest he could remember.

Peter didn't really notice Remus' lack of attention, as he'd been too busy listening to James and Sirius bicker with each other. Remus was normally the most reserved of the four of them, so Peter didn't really try all that much to talk to him. He knew that if Remus wanted to talk about his loss, then he would when he was ready. It wasn't Peter's place to force his friend into doing that.

James was probably the least concerned about Remus' plight, as he, like Peter, knew Remus would talk about it with them in his own time, and not before. He was a little put off by the presence of the Auror, as they couldn't really discuss any of the adventures the four of them might get up to during their full moon excursions as animals. To pass the time, he instead focussed on coming up with some new pranks to play, mostly on a certain greasy haired Slytherin that went by the name of Severus Snape.

Remus was doing his best to keep his emotions hidden. The others couldn't possibly know how difficult his summer had been. He consoled himself by throwing himself into his reading, determined to get top marks for all his classes this year. By continuing to keep busy, he reasoned that he wouldn't have to face what he was really feeling.

Trent didn't really care if the teens wanted to make the Slytherin robes read 'Gryffindor Forever'. Nor did he care when James was berating Sirius for sending a letter detailing catching him in quite a compromising position while looking through some of his pictures he had of Lily. He did notice that Remus was continuing to be very interested in his book, despite his friends trying to include him in their discussions.

He remembered his Auror training and the code they were taught; there is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no regret, there is acceptance. He sighed, for he knew all too well what losing people you care about felt like. Oh yes, Remus wasn't the only one who had hid his emotions after losing someone that you were close to.