The Year Between

Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's characters. However, if you see a name that you do not recognize, chances are, it's mine.

"Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry is please to present our class of 1978. Students, please give these young men and women a big round of applause for making it through seven years here." Professor Albus Dumbledore did as he requested of his students; he stepped down off of the podium that was in the front of the Great Hall and applauded the beaming older students.

It was the last day of the semester, and as tradition called for, the graduating students were having a feast thrown for them, complete with a party afterwards for only them, as the following day the train would take them home and into the real world, so the school thought that they needed a final day of pampering.

The younger students whistled and catcalled their older friends, applauding and cheering, all the while counting down the minutes until it was them standing up front, graduating from Hogwarts.

"And now," Dumbledore continued, "a few words from your Head Boy and Girl. Lily, if you will?"

More applause was heard in the hall as the young woman gave her headmaster a huge hug, tears threatening to spill out of her emerald eyes. "Hello," she said shakily as she stepped onto the podium. "The last seven years here have been, well, magic. For the first eleven years of my life, I thought that magic was something you only read about it books or something; never something real. Well, was I wrong. My time here had taught me many things. Through the help of my professors, I learned the magic, sure. But I also learned that nothing it outside of the realm of possibilities. I mean, if me, a simple, muggle born witch could do magic, well then, what's not possible? If we can wave our wands and make feathers float, if we can sure sicknesses with just a simple potion, if we can do all of this, who's to say that we can't do more? Who's to say we can't change the world? Sure, you may scoff, but guys, I'm serious. You all know how bad the world is turning. We're the latest adults in it, and we're going to be the ones who have to run it in the future. Shouldn't we be doing everything we can now to make sure that it's a good place? So, fellow classmates, I'm challenging you to change the world that you're about to set foot into. And, for Merlin's sake, smile. Congratulations, Hogwarts Class of '78. We did it!"

This time the applause came from the graduating class's section of the room, with the hooting and catcalling coming from a specific group of Gryffindor guys.

"Thank you, Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said proudly as Lily made her way back to her seat. "You never cease to amaze me. And now, Mr. Potter?"

But James was already halfway across the stage, giving the headmaster a nervous smile before clearing his throat to start.

"Rock!"
"Paper!"
"Scissors!"
"SHOOT!"

Remus Lupin rolled his eyes at the male sitting next to him, and with a muttered choice word, slapping the hands that were playing. "Honestly, Padfoot, can't you keep quiet for two seconds?"

Sirius Black looked up from the game he was playing with himself to scowl at his conscious. "No," he scoffed with a huff. "Besides, Moony, I'm bored! How much longer is this going to take?"

"Padfoot," Remus said tiredly. "Shut up. This is our graduation. We're only going to get one of them, so you might as well pay attention. And why are you talking now? Prongs is about to talk!"

"I've heard Prongs talk more than I wanted to during the past seven years," Sirius shrugged. "I had hoped I would never listen to him blab on again, but apparently Dumbledore likes having people talk at these things."

Remus just rolled his eyes again and slapped the hands that Sirius was using to play with. "Listen to James," he ordered..

James was nervous. It was obvious in the way he kept wringing his hands, or putting one hand in his pocket to play with something in there, or the way he had to wipe sweat off of his brow. He stood on the podium, staring out at his class, for a good two minutes before the headmaster cleared his throat.

"Oh, right," James said, his cheeks turning red. "Sorry. Um…I am honoured to be this year's Head Boy. The past seven years have been fulfilling…" He kept reading off of a piece of paper he was holding, his voice flat and boring.

"Oh, bloody hell," he finally said, stopping his speech."Sorry," he quickly apologized as he noticed McGonagall glaring at him. "I hate ties," he confessed to the crowd, taking his off and balling it up in his pocket. "There. That's better. Now I can breathe…and about that speech," he continued, crumpling it up and stepping down from podium. "It was a piece of crap. It was boring and dull and put me to sleep faster then any of Binns' lectures ever were. Not that your lectures were boring," he quickly corrected himself, seeing both McGonagall and Binnsscowl at him. "I loved them. Good stuff, those lectures of yours…heh. I've spent the past seven years of my life here at Hogwarts," he said, staring his speech again, this time his way. "During those seven years, I went to class, learned magic, made friends, pulled pranks. And sometime during those seven years, I became ready for life outside of these walls. I don't know when. I think that was Dumbledore's plan, to have us ready for life without us knowing when. Don't ask me why. I've been trying to figure out that guy for my whole time here, and if I haven't been able to, there's no way I'll be able to on my last day here. The thing about life outside of Hogwarts, though? It'll be different from life here. We don't have things padded for us. We won't have teachers holding our hands. We'll be alone…unless we do something about it." He shoved his hand in his pocket again, and with a quick glace at Dumbledore, who nodded, James pulled out a small, velvet box from his pocket. "I don't want to be alone." He nodded at Remus, who stood up and took Lily's arm, leading her up to the stage, ignoring her demands that somebody tell her what was going on.

"Lily?" James said, going over to her and kneeling at her feet. "Lil, I love you. You know I do. I don't know when I started…probably about the time that I became ready for life. But I don't want to go out into that life if it doesn't include you. So, Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

A gasp went up in the Hall as everybody quickly stopped making noise and leaned forward in their chairs to hear what the answer was. The only sound was that of Sirius falling out of his chair and racing towards the couple, a huge grin on his face.

"James," Lily began with a small laugh, tears once again filling her eyes. "I…don't know what to say."

"Yes is always good," Sirius prompted her, and then cursed as Remus hit him upside the head.

"I…what do you think I am, an idiot?" Lily laughed, glancing quickly over at Sirius. "Of course I'll say yes. I'd be a fool not to. Yes, James, I'll marry you!" And with that, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, which made quite a commotion with the younger students watching.

James breathed a sigh of relief into Lily's hair, wrapping his arms around him and pulled her close to him, content to just hold her after the kiss was finished.

"Ooh, I'll have so much fun planning the bachelor party," Sirius cackled.

The whole room stopped its chatter when Dumbledore strode up to the stage, his purple robes swishing behind him. He took a moment or two to smile fondly upon the newly engaged couple before turning to the graduating class and smiling.

"Well," he beamed, taking off his pointed wizard's hat, "You did it!" With that, all the students threw their hats into the hair, so for a few minutes it was raining black pointed hats. "Class dismissed."

So, there you have it...The Prologue. I realize that it is really short, but that's what prologues are supposed to be. Don't worry, the rest of it won't be this short. Anyways...like it? Hate it? Let me know.