A/N: Sorry for the lack of an update for a while. This last week has been really bad for me, and I haven't had the heart to do any writing. Also, I'm back to school and I've got a lot of work this year so updates will be less frequent then before, but I do intend to finish this story. I will try and update once a week, but it is most likely going to be every two weeks for a while before I get my focus back and I've settled into school. Anyway, enough of my ranting, here is the next chapter that you've all been waiting for…

Enjoy!

The Bond

Chapter 2 - Auror Exams

The day after the trail James woke with a splitting head-ache. He groaned as a sharp pain spread through his arm. Moaning, he carefully sat up in bed, sliding his hands over his face to try and wake himself up. The covers fell from his torso revealing his bare chest. He was quite strong, and his chest and upper arms showed that strength. He rarely worked out, but as a youth James had been Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and the constant use of his arms, throwing the Quaffle back and forth and honed his muscles. He had gone on to play professional Quidditch for a time before joining the Aurors and helping to fight against the darkness that Voldemort had begun to spread.

Oh god, what did I drink last night?

Vague images began to meet his eyes. He remembered a young girl with flowing red hair, and he recalled calling her Lily, even though he was sure her name had been Laura. She'd had green eyes too. After the trial the three Marauders had hit all the pubs in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade before venturing out into the heart of Muggle London. By the time they reached their second Muggle pub, Sirius was already hallucinating and completely drunk, while James had been on the verge of hallucinating and Remus was relatively calm.

It seemed drink didn't affect werewolves as much as they did with ordinary Wizards.

In the last of the Muggle pubs they visited (which was the fifth one that night) James had caught sight of Laura, and being drunk and immediately assumed that it had been Lily. Overcome with joy at seeing her again he had bounded over to her and kissed her. Yes, he had been completely drunk and been out of it for sometime, it had not stopped him from buying her drink and asking her dance with him, though it was really Laura who had helped him along.

This had happened about 1AM.

The pub closed at two thirty, and the bar owner (a rather stern lady with curly hair, and a thin mouth) had ushered everyone out of the building, regardless of their condition. Sirius had immediately got himself into a fight with a Muggle, though thankfully the three Marauders had decided to leave their wands behind that night. Remus (who was still calm) and James managed to pull their drunk friend away from the brawl and rather carefully Remus double-apparated all of them back to his home in the country.

James had scoured the house, nearly fainting as he struggled to climb the stairs until he collapsed onto one of the spare beds and he had fallen instantly asleep.

There was a knock at his door, and Remus peeped his head through. "Need a head-ache remedy?"

"Might be a good idea." James replied, reaching out for the glass of liquid that his friend offered. He swallowed it all in one gulp and felt a difference. His head stopped thumping and the ache in his arm subsided. Feeling better he swung his legs out of the bed, grabbed his wand which was on the bedside table, muttered a spell and wizard's robes appeared. He pulled them on and followed his friend from the room.

"How's Padfoot?"

"Out of it." Remus grinned. "He drank a bit too much last night.

James shrugged. "He'd be buggered if we had to go to Auror training today. At least we're not required to attend until the start of the summer holidays."

"That's only four days away, James."

"I know, but Sirius has ample time to recover."

Remus threw back his head and laughed. "Do you really think he will stay put for the next few nights without going out? He's going to want to celebrate!"

"You're probably right. Besides that's what makes life fun around here!"

Remus suddenly stopped walking and he turned to face James, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You know I never realised how much I missed your friendship when you died. You were the best friend I ever had. You accepted me for who I was. Last night brought back memories, ones that I had hoped to forget. It's wonderful to have you back, mate."

"It's taken you a year to say that." James retorted, teasingly, but Remus scowled at James' tone.

"Take the moment and turn it into a joke, as always. It's hopeless with you!" Remus said, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. "Hopeless! You say something nice and you get a retort back!"

"Sorry," James apologised, "I'm still a bit tipsy."

"I know. Come on, I'll make you breakfast." Remus grinned. "And then we can go and annoy Padfoot, if that's what you want to do."

"Excellent." an evil smile spread across James' face.

Sirius had woken up by the time James had eaten breakfast, and his plan to throw freezing water over his friend seemed ruined, so the Marauder pocketed the idea for another time. Sirius could not remember anything from the night before. So drunk had he been that nothing could be done to make him recall. The last memory he had was throwing back his head and drinking a glass of Vodka and coke in one gulp and from that moment on his memory was blank.

He felt like a goldfish, forgetting the past night, but instead of missing three seconds, he was missing at least six hours. It made him realise he was growing old and that fact scared him. Of course James was the lucky one and was only twenty-two, having been twenty-one when he had died.

For the majority of the day the three friends lazed around, keeping themselves occupied b y remembering the good old days and occasionally putting on Remus' Muggle television which he had invested in when James had died. Left alone Remus had not had a job to keep him going nor a girlfriend, for which he blamed his condition for. The Muggle device had brought him relief allowing him to learn more about the other world and how he could fit into it as a normal person. It had in fact proven useful helping him understand the complexity of Muggle minds and their obscure methods to doing things without the aid of magic.

Though his mother had been a Muggle, his father had been a wizard, and Remus had been brought up within the sights of the Wizarding World. Once he had got to Hogwarts his Muggle education had gone out of the window, and his mother had given up all hope of Remus ever achieving a proper job in the proper world, as she called it.

His parents had been a great help to him during the months after James' murder, allowing him to camp out in his childhood home while he sorted through all his finances and got his life back on track. Sadly his mother had died nearly three years later and his father followed shortly after through heartbreak six months later. His parents had been close and wonderful people. Since their deaths he had managed on his own, until he had been asked by Dumbledore to come and teach at Hogwarts. From then his life had changed, and Harry had been brought into his life, followed by Sirius and then finally James.

The day passed with the sun falling behind the gathering storm clouds, fading the world into darkness.

That night, the three men slept peacefully, enjoying their second night of freedom, together, for the first time in fourteen years.

"POTTER!"

James looked up, and stared into the eyes of Christina Middleton, his Auror Instructor. Small and squat, she reminded him of Umbridge, but she was a more likeable person then the other, and she knew the limits of her students. James and Sirius had been assigned to Class 1B, the Auror training devision that had nearly completed the course. As they had already been professional Aurors and worked in the field, the two were only required to attend the revision sessions that dealt with the upcoming Auror exams that started at the beginning of the summer holidays.

The first exam was on the second day of the holiday with the other three on the third day. The exam schedule was tight due to the fact that the Ministry desperately needed the new Aurors urgently. Voldemort and his Death Eaters had been targeting Aurors and killing them. With more dying each day, it was essential to get the Auror Classes completed. If they didn't then there would be no one to fight back against the darkness.

He stepped forward. Whenever your name was shouted it meant that Christina Middleton wanted him to demonstrate something. Hr kept his mouth shut waiting for his instructions.

"I want you, Potter, to demonstrate how you can fight of the Cruciatus and the Imperius Curse. Please stand in the center and ready yourself. Remember act like you would in a real battle, but you are limited. Do not use the Killing Curse. Other spells are fine." she instructed, waving her wand in front of her.

James moved forward, ready to do battle. He screwed his face up in determination. Sirius had already been through this process and in doing so had sent Christina to the nurse as he had used a spell that had caused her to convulse and practically throw up. When she had returned she had congratulated him on the various use of spells he had used, telling the candidates that it was best to do what your instincts told you instead of thinking about it.

If you thought in a real fight then you would be dead. Sirius had learnt that and the lesson had stuck. He now only had to keep applying it to his job. James also was like this but sometimes he did assess the situation beforehand whereas Sirius just dove in without instructions and took it as he went, hoping that he was making the right decisions and not endangering anyone. That technique had worked, and the two had been partners for about a year before James had to go into hiding. They had been the rising stars of the Ministry, and with any luck would gain that title again. At the very least they hoped to bring peace to the Wizarding World through their efforts, no matter how long it took them to bring Voldemort down.

Raising his wand James concentrated, thinking and waiting. The first spell came his way ('CONJUNCTUS!') which he managed to block by shouting 'Expelliarmus!' sending the spell back at its caster.

"SILENT CASTING, POTTER!" his instructor grated through her teeth.

James nodded and silently cursed his instructor before she had the chance to recover. However she seemed pleased. Most of her students would wait for her to regain her balance, whereas James had taken advantage of the situation and taken her down with a simply jelly-jinx.

Suddenly he felt a sense of happiness wash over him.

The Imperious.

Go and kiss Lennie…kiss Lennie…Potter.

The voice in his head was ordering him. Mustering his strength James focused his energies and forced himself to not comply. I will not kiss Lennie! I only kiss Lily! Not Lennie! With a final push in his mind he forced Christina out of his head. Before he knew what he was doing, James had cast Impedimenta. The force of the spell sent the Auror back, crashing into the wall and sliding to the floor.

Christina shook her head as she climbed to her feet. "Good. A lot of strength there." she turned to her other students. "See how Potter did that. He used his physical strength to help defeat the Imperious Curse. All of you must learn to do this otherwise you will find yourself unable to fight against the Death Eaters. I will not test the Crucio on you, Potter. If you can fight the Imperious like that then I am confident that you can defeat the Cruciatus. Congratulations, Potter. Please go back in line."

James bowed and returned to his place next to Sirius. They watched the rest of the group attempt to disarm and attack Christina, but in the end it was only James, Sirius, a young Wizard called Lenley and a Witch called Jocey who had managed to do as instructed. The rest of the class had failed miserably and one of the students had broken an arm when hit with a hex that even James could not identify.

When the class had been dismissed James and Sirius made their way out of the training complex and into the heart of London where they sought out Remus who was waiting for them in a café for lunch.

For the next few days leading up to the exams James and Sirius worked hard on their practical spells and theory work in order to pass and become qualified. Both were confident that they would pass however Remus was adamant they keep studying so that they did know everything. They found this exhausting work but thankfully Remus spent most of the day talking to Dumbledore at Hogwarts allowing the other two time off from studying to get down to some serious business, mainly thinking up jokes for the Weasley twins.

Remus always tested the two when he got back and surprisingly James and Sirius managed to answer every single question correctly without missing out any information. Remus suspected that his friends were not studying as much as he hoped they would but he had no control over them when he was not there, so he could only pray that they would not make fools of themselves in the actual exams.

The day of the first exam arrived and with it came the moans and groans.

"I thought we'd be done with exams by the time we were thirty-six!" Sirius exclaimed as Remus prepared breakfast. Sirius was sitting at the table with a book, one that he had memorised years ago, but had decided to have a quick flick through before the exam, thought he was only looking at the pretty pictures.

James sniggered into his bowl of cornflakes. Unlike Sirius, he had turned down the cooked breakfast, preferring a nutritious meal rather then a full English breakfast, which he felt would slow his brain and cause him to fail the exam. "Hey, I'm only twenty-two! Unlike you I'm still quite youthful."

"Git." Sirius pointed his wand at the bowl ands muttered an incantation. The resulting effect caused the milk in the bowl to spurt up and drench James in the face. With droplets running down his chin, and his black hair now stained with milk, James raised his own wand and cursed Sirius, sending him up in the air and back to the ground. Remus stepped between the two, throwing his arms out to hopefully prevent anymore spells from being thrown.

"All right, you two, this is enough. Sirius, do you want your breakfast?"

"Yes."

"James do you want to pass these exams?"

"Yes."

"Then stop fighting and apologise." Remus' stern look reminded James of his father.

Shrugging he grinned at Sirius. "Yeah, sorry mate. That jibe was not right."

"That's fine. I don't like to be reminded that you are young and healthy whereas I am old, greying and ugly. I don't have my youthful looks anymore. At least you still have the ability to woe such young ladies."

A lopsided smile crossed James' face and his eyes twinkled mischievously. "Well I can't help it if I was born to look good, can I?"

"James…" Remus warned again.

"Just cook my food, Moony." Sirius ordered, waving his friend towards the cooker.

Glancing over his shoulder, Remus commented: "What did your last servant die of?"

"Lack of use." grinning, Sirius turned back to his book.

The next two days passed quickly. The Auror exams were easy for the two Marauders. They found the theory harder as it required explaining wand movements; spells; Auror battle rules and other things. James was sure he had messed up in the Potions department but he hoped that he had got a reasonable mark.

The other three exams had been practical regarding the different spells that Aurors were allowed to cast. They had to prove they had the strength to cast the Cruciatus and they were told to kill a Spider using the Avada Kedavra. This had been the only time they had been allowed to cast the killing curse. James succeeded in this endeavour though it gave him the shivers as he remembered the pain of his death. He only hoped he would not feel like this when he was in the field.

They also had to show they had complete control when Apparating and were required to prove they could double apparate anyone in need of help. James and Sirius were both confident they had passed with flying colours. They celebrated the end of the course by inviting everyone in their training for a party at Remus' house that night. Remus, of course, was not pleased as he had to cater for everyone.

The following day the results came. Due to the urgency of needing Aurors, the results of the tests came quickly, as Witches and Wizards sat through the night reviewing and marking the trainees exams, taking it in turns to talk to one another about whether a particular Witch or Wizard should pass.

"Well, this is it." James rubbed his hands together, anticipation building as he inscrolled the letter from the delivery owl, tossed one to Sirius and then opened his letter, slitting it open with his wand. Out fell a piece of parchment. Taking a deep breath he turned the results over and skimmed the letter before re-reading it. As he did so a grin spread across his face and he felt proud.

"I did it. I passed! I've been assigned to Auror Devision One!" he cried, bounding up and down in excitement. "Padfoot? How'd you do?"

"Not bad." Sirius muttered.

James snatched his results away and read through. "Sirius, you arse! Not bad! You passed every exam with flying colours!"

"I know. Brilliant isn't it?" Sirius grinned.

"And you've been assigned to Auror Devision One! We can be partners again. What do you say about it?"

"Definitely." Sirius agreed.

"Hey, who's that letter addressed to?" Remus asked, after he had congratulated his friends and pointing to the un opened letter which had Albus Dumbledore's handwriting scrawled on it.

"Dunno." James answered. He picked it up and turned it over. "It's for me."

"Well, what does Dumbledore want?"

James opened the letter and read it aloud after clearing his throat.

Dear James

Congratulations on passing your Auror Entry Exams. I am sure that you would rather like to be out in the field with Mr Black, however I am in need of your assistance. If you could kindly meet me in my office within the next two hours of receiving this letter, the sooner you'll be able to come back and collect Harry from the Dursley's. It is vitally important that you know what I know and what I plan to tell Harry this year. To spark your interest I think I have found a way to defeat Lord Voldemort.

Yours Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

James frowned. "I wonder what he needs me for?"

"It's something about Voldemort, that's for sure." Sirius mentioned, his eyes darkening.

"Are you jealous?" Remus questioned, "Because you won't be able to work with James?"

Sirius did not answer, but the werewolf was sure that was the reason for Sirius' sudden quietness for the rest of the day.

Collecting his things together James apparated himself to outside Hogwart's grounds and made his way through the gates and up to the magnificent castle that had been his home for seven years. It was great to be back, but all the same he wondered what Dumbledore had discovered about defeating Voldemort.

Guess I'm about to find out…James mused.

TBC

What do you think? Good? Bad? Needs to be re-written?

Next chapter: James learns some startling news about Voldemort and Harry's destiny…Coming Soon

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