A/N: Yes! After the longest wait ever, I finally update a story! I promised myself I'd get this up today (well, it's night but we'll not make a huge fuss about that) and so here it is. It has never been edited, so please bear with me, I just really wanted this up. Eventually I'll get back to editing, but I want to start publishing chapters on a regular basis, get back to my hobbies now that I've no more homework!

Please enjoy, and whether you do or do not, it is always nice to get feedback!

Chapter 6 - An End of Sorts

The weekend before that Halloween marked the arrival of the much anticipated first Hogsmead visit of term. All through the last two days of the week, any student above second year was restless, so much so that half of the last classes on Thursday were dismissed early as the pupils were too excited to quiet down. That brought up many a hopes for the following Friday. Unfortunately for the seventh years, all hopes were squashed by the ever-looming promise of the end of the year "sooner-than-you-think" exams.

James Potter, Marauder, Prank Extraordinaire, sat alongside his co-prankers, but the lecturer was not the one who had their attention. The four of them (yes, Remus included) were hunched over a piece of parchment, where was hosted a four-way conversation. Luckily, the professor (who could be quite daft in her natural state) had nothing to rise her suspicions as the quartet had figured out a clever little charm that enabled them to tele-communicate. They called it "the infamous secret tele-quill spell."

Although James' handwriting appeared more or less as frequently as it normally would, his mind was not as present as his ink. Something Peter and Sirius had said on the previous Tuesday was only now rubbing him the wrong way. What they had said, precisely, James could not recall. What he could remember was that had they directed that verbal exchange towards him, he would not have laughed it off. He would have said, in a low commanding tone (the one he used whenever cautioning his best mate), "Speak to me like that again and you're a dead wizard." Of course, they would all laugh it off, but in the end, the message would have gotten through, and that's what really counts.

Remus had laughed it off. And not a forced, fake laugh like one would expect, but a rather normal, cheerful, happy-go-lucky laugh.

And that bothered James. So, it wasn't so much what Peter and Sirius were saying that perturbed him, it was the fact that, even though no one in their right minds would have laughed along, Remus had: He had laughed the same way he laughed the first time McGonagall had slapped Sirius upside the head. One might ask, "Yeah, so what? What's the big deal?" But James, the o-so-clever and perceptive boy he could (sometimes) be, realised that his werewolf friend could instigate a real hearty laugh at will. Which meant that there was really no telling if he was actually laughing along or just laughing for the sake of not letting everyone find out that whatever had been said was hurtful.

Merlin! He was hanging around Lily too much!

After the class was dismissed, James took his time gathering his things, knowing full well that Sirius was already halfway out the door, and Peter was trudging along not two steps behind. Lily was in the far corner of the room in the midst of some weird conversation about one poor boy who had the misfortune of asking one of her friends on a date. Remus waited for him at his desk, not three paces behind him. "'Mus!" James called as he caught up to him. "Mind if we talk for a bit?"

Remus kindly nodded his head. "What can I help you with, James?" he asked normally. "Got some Lily issues?"

James stopped. "Why? Did Lily say something to you?" Because if she's upset about something and I don't know –

"No, it's just that you're not walking her to the common room," replied a smiling Moony.

James felt like a fool. Honestly, it was always a big overreaction whenever any derivative of "trouble" and the name "Lily" were in close proximity in a paragraph. "Ha! She's got her friends to accompany her. Besides, I want to have a chat with you, mate!" He clapped his arm around the other's shoulder in a mock affectionate way. Remus burst into a spout of laughter, short lived mind you, and asked him to get on with it then.

"Tuesday, in the dormitory, you know, I just wanted to tell you not to take what they said serious-"

"I know, James, don't worry. It's all in good fun." James stopped walking, Remus obviously didn't notice until he was a few steps along. But in those few seconds, James' insides were consumed by something so forceful, so powerful, that he could scarcely breathe. Remus' echoing "What?" as he called down the corridor was the only thing that helped James win the private battle of whether or not to strangle the young ill-looking wizard or to drown him. If he honestly didn't know what could be so wrong with what happened…well, who could possible kill an innocent naïve person?

"I don't get it, Moony, I really don't."

"What?"

"You. I cannot begin to fathom what you feel, what you put up with just because we're your friends."

Remus' face went pale, his eyebrows twitching towards the back of his forehead. "What does that even mean?"

"DON'T!" James hollered, not caring that the third years walking by were struggling to keep their surprised faces from turning into bouts of laughter. "Don't play dumb, Remus," James growled. "We both know you're smarter than that." Still more people past by, but they made sure to walk on the opposite side of the corridor.

"Let's just go, James, there's nothing to discu-"

"Why do you run from it? I only now realise that we've been less-than-good friends –"

Remus' face was borderline transparent. His eyes grew dark, and his lips sunk into his face. He looked sick, sicker than the day after the full moon, and by the way he kept switching his book bag from one shoulder to the other, it was clear his nerves were getting the best of him. "Don't. Don't think it for one moment, Potter. You three have done more than I would have let you –"

"But it's not always been good, Lupin! You can't keep up with this act. I saw you laugh, Remus, at what they said – but even I, James Potter – the one who basically takes nothing to heart – would not have laughed." They were walking again. Nothing was said until they had almost reached the common room. "Why don't you ever defend yourself?"

The portrait hole opened from the inside, Remus slipped inside quickly whilst James sighed and trudged through the entry. Remus, waiting on the other side for him (probably more out of politeness than out of want to finish this conversation) greeted James with a look of disdain. "There's no need to defend myself against harmless jokes and insults, James. I don't take to these sorts of games – "

Why couldn't the boy understand? James could not, would not tolerate this. "Remus," he struggled to keep his tone under control. "Remus," he tried again, failed, cleared his throat and again attempted to continue. "Look, I understand that you think you owe us, but don't even think about it. We did what we did for you, sure, but don't forget that we all got something out of it, too, so really, we've been even ever since we met. There's no one who deserves to be tramped on, and no one deserves to be king, either."

Sirius and Peter had already disposed of their ties and were about to walk out of the door when James and Remus stepped in. Glaring daggers at the shaggy haired boy, Sirius nodded and pulled on Peter's sleeve, whispered something, and the latter closed the door. Sirius whispered the locking spell. He also added the silencing charm he had long before mastered. Just the look on James' face alarmed him of his mate's need to holler.

"What's goin'-"

"That's a bit rich, coming from you Potter!" Shouted the sickly young man.

"Wha'?"

"The whole "no one's low, no one's king" speech. What do you think you've been up to all these years?"

James' stomach disappeared. Any emotion he had previously felt were now gone. Something of a void filled into his head and try as he might, he couldn't understand what his supposed best friend was hinting at. He slid his glasses up his nose, more out of habit than anything else, and waited patiently for something to be said.

Sirius was the one who took full charge. "I asked, what is going on?"

"Potter's off on a pity trip. He thinks he's been appointed the daddy of the group or something and –" Peter chuckled in the background.

"SHUT UP PETTIGREW!" Sirius barked. "Now, Moony, you were saying?"

But James didn't hear the rest. Comprehension dawned on him suddenly like the time he had learned about the difference between Wizards and Muggles. Remus had attacked him and his person. Remus Lupin, the one who took everything lying down, tail between his legs, had directly attacked James. And he had missed it, missed the opportunity to retort, had completely and utterly given away his one true chance to test Remus' limits. All because he had been off guard.

"And that means what? James breaks his neck for us all the time! Potter's the one –"

"Yeah, Potter, Potter, Potter! It's always about Prongs, the ever-majestic –"

"OKAY! STOP." Everyone turned to face him. "Remus is right."

"What?"

"No, Remus, you're right. I admit it. I like it, I like the attention I get from Peter, the fact that he almost worships me makes me feel more like a man or something."

"I…I don't worsh-"

"And Sirius, I like that, although he's rather headstrong, that he respects me more than he respects anyone else. And I expect it of him, and it gives me some sort of confidence booster."

"Huh?"

"And Remus, Lupin, Moony, I like dominating the group rather than have you do it because it gives me the assurance that I can take control when someone who had every reason to want to be in control can't do it. You're too shy to be a leader, too passive, and so I take the shape of that – the leader." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sirius, smiling crookedly on his bed. Somewhere, somehow, that comforted him. It meant that no matter what, Sirius would back him up on this one. "Between us, yeah, I like to be 'king'. Do you have a problem with that?"

Remus looked on the verge of saying something, and although his face showed every trace of an argument, his body fell upon his bed where he sat, staring at James.

"Didn't think so." Nothing was said afterwards, at least, not for another half hour or so. Sirius had outright refused to take off his locking charm, and so the foursome sat in stony silence, James and Sirius exchanging a few nods when no one was looking, Peter slowly making his way closer to James' bed, and, sometimes, the latter was sure he saw Remus on the other side with a look of pleading on his face. Sometimes, it looked like loathing.

He didn't exactly feel good about what he had said because, on some layer, in fact, probably on every layer, he agreed. He never had really made a conscious effort to see himself as the leader, never really considered there needing to be a domineering personality within the group, but, thinking in retrospect, had it not always been he and Sirius who had led the group on outings? Had he not been the only one to keep Sirius in tow whenever something foul had been emitted from his brain into his actions? So he had been, in a way, always leading the group. A silent leadership, he called it. Silent because he had never been aggressively assertive about it…

At least, not with Remus. Peter, on the other hand…well Peter was different. They had made friends with Peter because Remus had been sitting with him in the beginning. They had accepted him on no other basis than that. The integration part had come about much quicker, especially since he had been somewhat awed by the abilities of James and his counterpart – Sirius. Then, James had made the Gryffindor team and that was when the idolizing had really come about. How foolish he had been to actually want Peter to clap his hands and bubble with glee every time he caught the snitch. He began to resent, or rather realise that he actually resented the person he had been up until now.

"This, this is it, isn't it?" whispered Peter from the opposite side of the room. His voice was rugged, had to it a kind of sleepy quality.

"What are you goin' on about, Wormtail?" snapped Sirius. "This is what?"

James shot a glance at Remus, who in turn raised his eyebrows in utter defeat. Both simultaneously eyed Peter, half expecting him to burst out laughing, half expecting him to start blubbering.

"It's the beginning of the end of the Marauders. We keep fighting and arguing, mates, I hate to admit it but…"

It was Sirius who took offence first, who stood up and smacked Peter outright in the back of the head with a scroll of old parchment.

The laughter that followed suit helped relieve some of the tension between the four boys. For the remainder of the evening, the friends acted as though nothing today was different than it was yesterday or even four years ago.

Yet lingering behind James' thoughts was an echo of Peter's words…only he'd have to sleep on it for many days to come to finally realise this fact.