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 I made it end…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!).

Quit your bellyaching, Song, or I might just conveniently 'forget' about that bottle of rum next year, lolol!

Righto, this is the last 'true' chapter of this story. The next bit is a timeline which is, er, well, just that. Sorry also, but I decided to delve into the world of flashbacks…please don't kill me! I just thought it would be good since this is very much a reminiscing chapter…you can almost smell the nostalgia! Or is that my dinner burning, hmm…

Chapter 22 – Marauder Memories

The five of them were amongst the last to get on the train. As luck would have it, they managed to find an empty carriage.

"I guess this'll have to do" James said as he slid the compartment door open and was followed in by his three friends and girlfriend.

"You know something? Unless I'm mistaken, this is the same carriage that the five of us sat in for our first ever trip."

"Hey, you're right Moony! But if I remember rightly, a certain redhead didn't stay with us the whole journey."

"That's because you called me a mudblood, you git!" Lily replied, glaring at Sirius who quickly became interested in the back of his hands.

"In defence of Paddy, he'd…"

"I hate being called that! How do you like me calling you 'Prongsie'!"

"Not much," James admitted. "As I was saying, in his defence, he'd grown up in an environment constantly hearing that word."

"True, but he was the first of us three to accept Remus' condition" Peter argued.

"Oh, good point. Do you remember that day, Moony?"

But Remus wasn't listening. He was staring outside at a very familiar sight. The Whomping Willow could be seen easily, and Remus was remembering his numerous trips beneath its relative safety. The first time he went, he could only remember waking up in the hospital wing covered in bandages and aching like mad. This was the only indication that he had scratches from where he had taken to biting himself. He was brought from his thoughts when James gently shook him.

"Hey, earth to Remus Lupin!"

"Hmm? Oh sorry, I was just thinking."

"About?"

"The Whomping Willow."

"Well, that's basically what we're talking about! Do you remember when we came up to you and told you we didn't care about your condition?"

"Of course I do. It was one of the best moments of my life" Remus answered honestly.

-flashback-

Remus had just finished his latest Defence essay and was currently lying on his bed. Full moon was still over a week away, and he already was starting to feel restless. He heard the door open, but didn't bother to see who it was. He could instantly recognise his three friends purely by their scent.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Remus asked as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed.

"Can we talk to you about something?"

When Remus gestured for him to continue, Sirius sighed before speaking again.

"We've figured it out."

"Figured what out, Sirius?"

Sirius nearly snorted. "Don't try to deny it, Lupin. The reason you disappear every month isn't because your mother's sick. Rather convenient that it always happens around full moon."

"I don't know what you're talking about" Remus replied, but his eyes were starting to widen a little.

"It's alright, Remus. We, er, kind of snuck down under my cloak to the shack just before sunrise a few weeks ago and saw you on the floor of one of the rooms."

Remus closed his eyes to keep his emotions in check when James said this. "And?"

It was Peter who spoke. "Well, we thought you were dead. You had loads of scratches and stuff and you were covered in blood."

'They know. They'll hate me forever now' Remus thought before he jumped off his bed and starting packing his things away.

"What are you doing?" James asked.

"If you three can figure it out, so can anyone. I'm going to Professor Dumbledore and telling him that I'm leaving."

"Are you insane! Why do you want to leave for? We don't care that you're a…that you have a furry little problem!" James replied, while both Sirius and Peter looked at James in confusion.

"A furry little problem?" Sirius politely asked James who shrugged in reply.

"It makes Remus more…what's the word…"

"Approachable?" Peter provided.

"Yeah, that's it. It makes it far easier to talk to you about it. We want to help you keep this a secret."

That stopped Remus in his tracks and he slowly sank to the floor. He couldn't do anything to stop the tears from rolling down his face. His friends watched him, not knowing what he was doing until they heard him start to sob.

"Remus? What…what's wrong?" James asked, feeling quite concerned for his friend.

The young wizard looked up, tear marks staining his face. "Oh, like that's so hard to figure out!" he angrily snapped back.

Remus sniffed and wiped his face before continuing. "You have no idea how painful it is. Every month I try to resist it, but fail. I can't even remember what I do on those nights!"

"Why not?"

"Because the wolf takes over his mind, Potter" Sirius answered, and James just nodded in reply.

"Why didn't you tell us? Why did you lie and say you had to visit your Mum?"

"I…I didn't want you to find out, Peter. I…I've never had any friends before, and was scared that you'd abandon me if you ever found out."

"Are you kidding? This is brilliant!"

"What are you talking about, Sirius?"

"Well, Potter. Remember how I got that howler from my mother after I'd been sorted into Gryffindor last year?"

"Yeah, but what that got to do with Remus being…"

"Not only am I in the wrong house, but now I find out one of my best friends is a halfbreed! In other words, I'm now certain that my family hates me! I'm going to be, officially, an outcast. That's wicked! Of course, not that I'll blab your secret to anyone, Lupin."

James and Peter looked at each other before turning to Remus and noting his totally confused look.

"You…you mean you don't…don't mind?" he slowly asked.

"Of course we don't. It just means we have to kick you out of here once a month!"

"What Potter was meant to say, Lupin, is that we reckon we can help you" Sirius added.

"How?"

"You heard of the term 'animagus' before?"

Remus nodded at Sirius' question. "Yeah, it's the name given to a wizard or witch that can turn into an animal at will. Professor McGonagall's one."

"We have reason to believe that if we become animagi, we can come with you on those nights."

Remus blinked at Sirius in surprise before shaking his head. "No! You can't come with me! It's too dangerous, what if I lose control? I could seriously hurt you!"

"No you won't. Even if you bite us, you can't infect us when we're in our animal forms. I read that in one of the books in the restricted section. You know we're going to do this anyway. You're our friend, and we want to help you through this."

Remus looked up at his three friends when Sirius said this. He saw James give him a large grin which the young werewolf quickly returned.

"How about starting with calling us by our first names?" he asked, looking back at Sirius.

Sirius shot him a smile. "You have a deal, Lup…Remus."

-end flashback-

Remus smiled as he looked across at James before he next spoke. "Of course, I find it rather funny that you three weren't the first to confront me about it."

"Yeah well, we weren't that far behind!"

"Oh no, of course you weren't. I only found out about it before Christmas in second year. So that's only…five months or so" Lily replied, giving Remus a knowing smile.

"Well, we would've figured it out sooner if Moony wasn't so ruddy stubborn and just told us!"

Remus started to laugh at James' comment, and was soon joined by everyone else. By the time they had calmed down, the train had pulled away from the station.

"Remember how we came up with our nicknames?" Sirius said.

"Yep, still think you should've had 'Hydrant' instead of 'Padfoot' though!" James shot back with a large grin, while Sirius scowled.

"Particularly after what happened a…"

"Now Moony, there's no need to mention that" Sirius interrupted, his face starting to go a little red.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"No force on this entire planet would possibly make me relive that story."

"Not even Veritaserum?"

"Not even that, Lily. And if you even think about telling her, Prongs, you will suffer a most painful death."

James tried his best to look exasperated, but could barely hide his grin.

"Ooooh, remember the question in our Defence OWL!" Peter suddenly exclaimed, changing the topic from Padfoot's little incident with the firewhiskey a few months ago.

"Oh yes. You said you only managed to get the snout shape, the pupils and the tufted tail," Remus then glared at his friend "I was highly offended at that, Peter."

"Sorry Remus, but you know how I got around exams."

"It wouldn't have been such a problem if you studied!" Lily argued.

Peter just rolled his eyes before grinning at Sirius. "Actually, if I remember that day rightly, or should I say night…"

"Shut up, Peter!" Sirius growled. He knew all too well that night; the night he first betrayed Remus' trust.

-flashback-

It was just after Remus had invoked his Prefect status and convinced James to not remove Snape's underwear following their Defence OWL. Sirius had moved over to the young Slytherin, who had been released from his position by James.

He had grabbed Severus' robes and yanked him to his feet.

"Listen and listen well, you great greasy git. Don't mess with us. Remus might not be as nice next time" he hissed.

"Really," Severus sneered. "Why would it be such a crime to mess with you? You're a failure, Black. Your brother is ten times the wizard you'll ever be. His loyalties…"

"Are pathetic! It wouldn't surprise me one little bit if he became a Death Eater. We both know you already will be one."

"And since you desire to be an Auror, it will make for a very interesting duel. The family outcast verses…"

"The most arrogant moron ever created!"

"Oh, I never knew you felt the same way about Potter" he casually remarked.

Sirius' eyes narrowed and his voice was dangerously low when he next spoke. "Tell you what, Snivellus. You want to see something interesting? Prod the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow tonight. Prove you're a real man, and not just a snivelling little greaseball."

-end flashback-

Sirius shook his head in disgust. "That is one of the stupidest things I've ever done. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Not much, but we expect that from you, Padfoot!"

"Shut up, Prongs. Moony attacked you first when we finally went with him. Now that was funny!"

James just glared at his friend. "Yes well, I think you learnt your lesson when both me and Moony ganged up on you next time round!"

"That certainly wasn't fair! Leave me with the little rat!"

"Hey!"

"Sorry Peter, but you have to admit it's true!"

"Yeah, but how could I possibly help Padfoot when you guys are like a hundred times my size!"

"That was the whole idea, Wormtail. We didn't want you to help him!" Remus said, grinning at Peter. He then turned to James.

"You know, I still can't believe you tried to poison me at the Yule Ball in fourth year."

I didn't poison you! I just slipped something in your pumpkin juice, that's all."

"You weren't even close to going out with me at that stage, James. That was most immature of you to do that to Remus" Lily chided.

"Hey, I apologised to him, didn't I Moony!"

"Yes, two years after it happened!" Remus retorted, noting the glare Lily then sent James in amusement.

"It wasn't my…it…it was Sirius' idea!"

"WHAT? That's rubbish, Prongs. You told me you were jealous. I only pointed out the fact that they came down together, I can't believe you didn't recognise Moony."

"I doubt any of us thought he'd wear what he did" Peter replied with a small smile.

-flashback-

"Where's Remus gone?" James asked as he attacked his unruly black mop of hair with a wet comb…again.

"He muttered something about charming his dress robe" Sirius replied, tugging lightly at the collar of his charcoal robe.

"Well, I guess. But he shouldn't be too worried about it, I mean his maroon one looks fine to…for Merlin's sake, nothing works on it!"

"Then exaggerate it" Peter replied as he finished tying his shoes before joining Sirius at the common room exit.

"How?"

"Make it stick up more, you git!"

"Shut up, Sirius. But that'll make it look…"

"Just the same as it always does" Peter cut in, while James shot him a glare before ruffling his hair with both hands.

"There you go, it looks like you've just woken up!" Sirius exclaimed, before ducking as James hurled a cushion in his direction.

"Come on, we don't want to be late" Peter said as he made his outside into the hallway, with James and Sirius soon following, to wait for their dates.

As they were waiting, two people exited the portrait opening from above them. James turned to see who it was and found himself staring in awe. Lily slowly descended the stairs wearing a long forest green dress, her long red hair neatly braided with silver and gold bracelets glimmering at her wrists. The boy behind her, who James didn't recognise, was wearing an intricately patterned silver robe with gold highlighting the patterns and edges.

'Wow!' was all James could think as the two of them came to a halt at the foot of the stairs.

The boy then looked at him and gave a shy smile.

"Oh Merlin!" Sirius exclaimed, "Re…Remus? Is that really you?"

The boy nodded meekly before both he and Lily swept past the three gobsmacked young wizards and headed towards the Great Hall.

"That was Remus?" Peter managed to say after the pair had long gone.

"He looked great! Amazing thinking with the silver considering…well, you know" Sirius said.

James and Peter both nodded. Since Remus was a werewolf, he wasn't all that comfortable around silver.

"Not as good as Lily though" James mused.

On the inside he was feeling quite hurt. He had asked Lily a fortnight ago if she'd go with him, only to be told to go and stick his head inside a food blender. He never thought that one of his friends would ask her to go with them. For the first time he could remember, he was actually jealous of Remus.

-end flashback-

"That was a most amazing robe, Remus."

"Thanks Lily. I have to thank you again for your helping me find those charms for it."

"You're welcome. Thanks for asking me to the ball in the first place. I was most glad you did."

"Hello? I'm sitting right here, you're not supposed to talk about stuff like that!" James remarked, while Lily and Remus both smiled at him.

"Where did you learn to dance so well anyway?"

"My parents taught me that summer, Sirius" Remus replied, before looking out of the window. It was still painful to be talking about them, even after all this time.

"You're always welcome at my place, Moony."

"Thanks Prongs, but I'm going to stay with my grandparents for a while. At least until we get our NEWT results."

"How do you reckon you'll go?" Peter asked.

"Compared to you three, pretty good I'd imagine" he replied with a cheeky grin.

"Sounds like a challenge if you ask me! I'll bet you a galleon that I beat you in Potions!"

Remus snorted, "obviously you will. I didn't even take that ruddy subject!"

James grinned at him before Sirius stuck out his hand.

"Come on Prongs, I'll take you up on that bet."

"Fair enough, Padfoot. I think we all know that those two will come out as the top two of our year."

"Actually James. With all due respect, your grades picked up markedly over the last two years" Remus mentioned.

"He's right you know. Who would've thought it, ickle Prongsie the scholar!"

"Shut up, Paddy!"

"You reckon both of you will get into the Auror program?" Remus asked, deciding to change the topic of discussion.

"I hope so! That way, when we get high enough in the ranks, we can change those stupid regulations that prevent you from joining the Ministry."

"Thank you for your concern, James, but we all know that I'm going to have to get used to not having a job."

"That is so unfair on you, Remus. I mean, everyone at Hogwarts knows how much of a hard worker you are. Just because you aren't yourself one night a month doesn't mean anything."

"Lily's right, Moony. You'll find a job, no worries!"

Remus smiled at Peter when he said that, but deep down he knew it wasn't going to be easy for him from now on.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate everything you've done for me the last seven years."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, you always helped us with our assignments and stuff, helping you out was the least we could do" Sirius replied, giving him a smile.

"This year was probably the most memorable."

"And why is that, James?" Lily sweetly asked.

"Well, for starters, we had to put up with those Aurors all year. I mean, Trent was great, but the others were kind of boring."

"Oh, I thought you were going for the whole 'kind and caring friend' act. Say things like what those heartless monsters did to Remus. And that we ended up together" Lily replied, somewhat disappointed, while James smacked himself in the forehead for not saying that.

Peter allowed himself to smile grimly. "I have to admit, Trent did get us quite good."

"Yeah, that's the only time we've been caught for something we didn't do!" Sirius agreed.

"And the prank war we had" Remus added, thankful that his friends hadn't dwelled on his parents death.

"Ah yes, that was loads of fun!" James said nodding enthusiastically.

"I'm going to miss this place" Lily softly said as they rounded a corner and Hogwarts disappeared from view.

"A toast then," James suddenly spoke. "To one of the most interesting…no, defining years we've had, and to our future. We'll just have to wait for the lunch cart to come in so we can get a drink to toast with."

They all nodded and quickly became lost in their thoughts as the train slowly made its way from the castle they had called home for the last seven years. It was now time for them to face the ultimate challenge; the real world, in the midst of a war.

Fin