A/N:

Hello everyone! I hope December is finding you well. I hope you're not too stressed about the upcoming festive season.

Here at Hogwarts in 1977, we're coming into the exam season - which means only about ten or so more chapters (give or take a few) before the end of the school year. Then we're on to the summer holidays and before you know it, it'll be seventh year (and the long-awaited time where Lily Evans finally agrees to go out with James Potter - but that's not for ages yet).

As ever, I hope you enjoy!

Every year, as exams rolled around, the population of Hogwarts - collectively stressed, on edge, and uncomplimentary towards the vast piles of work they needed to complete - were united in one firm belief. All their professors were sadists. There was truly no other explanation for the miles of essays they were forced to write, for the chapters they had to read until their eyes bled, for the uptick in difficulties in class. it was well-known; all their professors were evil. Evil geniuses, perhaps, but evil nonetheless.

The Slytherins acting suspiciously (AKA the future Death Eater club) were not immune either. Reggie and his friends were buried so deep in OWL preparations that they barely left their Dungeon long enough to eat, let alone have the opportunity to plan anything nefarious (such amateurs, the Marauders were pranking the living daylights out of the Slytherins during their OWL run-up). The sixth years were in much the same position - stuck in the library studying, or busy working in their common room. If they had time to carry on their experiments, the Marauders couldn't tell, but they were cautiously optimistic about the lack of anything truly dangerous or suspicious happening just yet. As Sirius had reluctantly admitted, Malfoy wasn't going to let impatience ruin his chances of impressing Voldemort. They had the advantage of time, and with Malfoy definitely behind them, the Marauders shuddered to think what they were biding their time for.

Unfortunately, the Marauders collectively had bigger things to worry about. Much to everyone's relief, it was not the Ministry, who ruled that the Hogsmeade Incident was a tragic yet isolated event that nobody - especially the Ministry - could have foreseen. Upon hearing this, Sirius had sarcastically remarked that of course it was impossible for the Ministry to have realised the danger that Voldemort presented - it was only obvious to anyone with a working braincell and the willingness to use it. But he had conceded when James reasonably pointed out that at least the Ministry weren't blaming them for once - Rose did agree that it was a refreshing change. No, what they had to worry about was almost the same as every other student in the castle. Well, more or less. Rose would happily wager that most Hogwarts students didn't have to deal with what they had to deal with.

As the days ticked ever closer to their end of year examinations, Moony got ever more tyrannical. There were no happy little jaunts to Hogsmeade to chat with Abe and gather necessary provisions - except for when Remus needed a book that had just come into stock at Tomes and Scrolls, which apparently was completely different. There was no time for leisurely walks around the grounds, nor anything but the most perfunctory spirit-lifting pranks on the professors. Oh no. Nothing approaching fun was allowed. Apparently (according to the all-seeing, all-knowing Moony) the typical Marauder idea of fun meant detentions, time wasting, and a deplorable lack of sorely needed resources.

So, to combat the inevitable Marauder fun, their time was scheduled, charted and otherwise planned out in the way that could only come from the dauntless and inimitable mind of Remus John Lupin. The studious prat himself. Rose tried not to hold it against him. Honest, she did. But he really was such an insufferable prat sometimes. Worse than James pursing her uninterested sister with a fervour unseen in many a year. She figured it had to say something about her that she loved the studious moron still, buzzkill that he was.

Whenever one of the Marauders (usually an utterly unrepentant James or Sirius) tried to act in keeping with their rule-breaking natures and attempted to sneak off to have fun or just generally cause some chaos, Remus would look up from under his mountain of books, notes and assorted study aids to glare menacingly at the Marauder responsible. Occasionally, the glare would be accompanied by a low growl, leaving them all in absolutely no doubt that Moony would be incredibly miffed with them should they fail to desist their misbehaviour and sit down and continue studying immediately.

All of which brought them to where they were at present: the Gryffindor common room, (pretending to be) studying. Rose settled back into the Marauders' unnaturally quiet corner of the common room, a mug of tea steaming in her hands. Notes, in a wide array of handwriting and inks, swam in front of her burning eyes, her brain protesting the useless knowledge she had crammed in just to appease both her own (rarely mentioned and apparently hereditary) swottiness and the ever-looming spectre of a miffed werewolf. Not too far away, James and Sirius sat, mostly hidden by a large pile of books (which they all knew the duo had no intentions of opening), their voices a low but not irritating tone. Peter, naturally, had a table to himself, littered with notes, parchment scraps and bags of fudge flies for stress snacking. As for their evil overlord, Remus was sharing a table with Lily, both silently working through their idea of good studying – far too many books for anyone's peace of mind.

Bored of studying (and rather fancying a Twix or some other chocolate substance), Rose turned her attention away from the information she knew was hidden in some dim and dusty corner of her mind. There was only so much studying a Marauder could do – even for Remus – and Rose had long since reached her saturation point. She reached one hand back to massage at the knotted muscles of her neck, trying to push everything from her mind. It wasn't just the exams that were driving up her blood pressure – it was everything. It was the Snakes and what they could get up to safely in the privacy of their Common Room. It was James's hectic quidditch training schedule (yes, even in the midst of exam prep). It was half a dozen things piling up to ruin her sleep and drive her crazy.

The thing was… The thing was, she trusted James and Sirius with her life. Of course she did. But she wasn't sure that they had it right this time (or would tell the others the truth given Remus' dangerously high stress levels). It was essentially just that she didn't trust the Snakes. Experience had taught her that if a Slytherin was going to be up to something less-than-legal, nothing was going to stop that Snake from doing it. And if their plan wouldn't be in action for a while, nine times out of ten they'd think up something suitably nefarious and dastardly to do in the meantime. Considering that they knew they were dealing with aspiring Death Eaters (Merlin help them), Rose would be lying if she said she wasn't feeling a very distinct case of the heebie-jeebies. Mulciber was evil incarnate, Snape was just cruel, Avery was vaguely sociopathic, and poor Reggie had the whole weight of the Black family legacy on his shoulders. With their particular talents, cruelty and intelligence, Rose wasn't prepared to let her guard down. Not even for a second.

Rose tapped her chin idly, staring at James and Sirius thoughtfully. In times like these, she really wished her conscience was less active than it was. If she did what she was thinking, Remus was going to be angry, not to mention more stressed and highly likely to burst a blood vessel, to say nothing of how he would react on Full Moon. On the other hand, if she ignored the incessant prodding of her gut, she knew there was a high chance she was going to regret it. She supposed it really came down to a simple question – to behave or misbehave?

As if that was ever in question.

Careful not to spill her tea, Rose manoeuvred her away around chair legs, piles of books and the odd prone Gryffindor (poor Emmeline, exams made her so frazzled), heading for the wall James and Sirius sat huddled against. Rose slid down the wall to join them, liberating a jammy dodger from James's open packet.

"Tired of being swotty, Lady Astra?" James teased, playfully bumping her shoulder with his own.

Rose rolled her eyes, unable to stop a mournful sigh. "My brain hurts. It literally hurts."

James and Sirius gave identical sympathetic groans of "Bloody Moony."

Privately, Rose wholeheartedly agreed, but he was her best friend. She owed him some loyalty, didn't she? "He's not so bad" she offered quietly, trying her best not to glare at the back of his head.

"He puts the dick in dictatorial" James snorted, amused at his joke.

Rose muffled a snicker, shaking her head at him. "Honestly, Jamie."

Sirius gave one of his famous nonchalant shrugs. "I think he's fairly on the ball with that one."

"But he means well" Rose sighed, knowing at the very least that was true. "He just wants us all to behave for a few weeks so he can feel better about the whole rule-breaking thing the rest of the year."

"Poor misguided fool."

"He can't help having a conscience" Rose shrugged, settling back more comfortably against the wall. "I just wish he wouldn't inflict his ideas of studiousness on those who have sworn-"

"To uphold the values and ideals of mischief, troublemaking and general misbehaviour?" James finished, grinning nostalgically. "Those were the days."

Sirius rolled his eyes, a muffled thunk following as he cuffed the back of James's head. "That was last week, Prongs" he sighed, twirling his wand absently in his fingers.

"And that seems forever ago" James pouted, ducking his chin to his chest in a classic Potter sulk.

Rose bit her lip, suddenly uncertain about interrupting the companionable if complaining atmosphere. Sirius, ever in tune to the worries nagging in her head, smirked across James at her. "Uh-oh" he said, the syllables far too charming in his accent. "Those look like deep thoughts, Rosebud."

Rose wanted to scowl at him, really she did. But he was just so infuriatingly Sirius that she laughed and shook her head instead. "No deeper than yours, I'm sure, Sirius" she commented easily, shooting him a slight smile. It would be too easy to open her mouth and ruin the studiously silent atmosphere of the Gryffindor Common Room (Madam Pince dreamed of having Remus' way of making students shut up and get back to work), but it suddenly felt wrong.

Sometimes, when the Marauders had things they couldn't quite say aloud, nothing more than a look perfectly sufficed. Rose sprawled almost Emmeline-like in front of James and Sirius, her back to the rest of the common room (and the eagle-eyed stare of one Remus Lupin, watching over them all like the Eye of Sauron). Not five minutes before, she had caught James and Sirius engaged in one of their famous non-verbal conversations. Well, caught wasn't quite the term. More like she had happened to glance over and see it, the look on James's face instantly ringing the red alert in Rose's mind. So, when Rose had situated on the floor before them, she raised a single eyebrow, thinned her lips (in a trick she definitely had learned from McGonagall) and cocked her head a few degrees to the right. It was nothing less than a look she had been forced to perfect over the years of dealing with James and Sirius and their economical approach to the truth.

It wasn't a look that questioned. It wasn't a look that invited. It wasn't even a look that politely requested. Oh no, no. This was a look she only pulled out in times of direst need. Or, those times when Remus wasn't around to do it for her. This was the look she knew Sirius and James knew well.

It demanded. It insisted. It stood for none of their messing around.

Come on, it said, 'fess up.

James blinked, wide-eyed and innocent. His lips curved into a gentle smile, hand raising to his heart in further honest profession of innocence.

It was good, Rose had to admit that. She didn't believe it for a second.

Sirius, on the other hand, just shrugged, smirked and shot her a wink. He simply told her that, yes she had caught them, but no she was not going to get any out of them. At least not until they were ready to share it.

Rose scowled.

Sirius smirked.

Rose glared.

Sirius shrugged.

Rose glared harder.

Sirius and James grinned.

A growl, deep and gutteral - not at all the grr of Christmas - filled their little corner of the room.

Rose, James and Sirius smiled innocently.

It didn't work.

Remus dragged them upstairs to the Marauders' dormitory (and Frank and Benjy's but nobody really took that into account when naming it thus), staring at them with his Professorial look of supreme disapproval. The others stared back as innocently as they could - which, considering they were professional mischief-makers with six years of experience evading trouble where possible - was pretty darned convincing if Rose did say so herself.

Finally, Remus caved, dropping to sit on the end of his bed with a loud, long sigh. "Prongs, Padfoot" he began wearily. "Rosie and I want to know what you plan on doing about the Snakes."

"They're stuck in their dungeon, learning" James shuddered, nose crinkling at the thought. "Pads and I have discussed this, we all have in fact. Yes, there is the very high chance that they're going to use this time to get ahead in their plans. But" here James sighed in as much defeat as she ever hoped to hear from him. "There's nothing we can do. Except wait and see, and be ready for whatever they decide to throw at us."

Sirius took hold of Rose's hand, playing with her fingers. "We all have bad feelings about just letting them continue without observation, but it's exam season. It would look suspicious if we weren't holed up here with dictatorial Remus and his mountains of notes and textbooks. If we didn't use our rare free time to prank the living daylights out of our professors, then they would get instantly suspicious."

"And" James continued, picking up from Sirius. "It would be the height of foolishness for us to imagine that they're not keeping tabs on us. Marauders do attract far more attention moving about the castle than most ordinary students."

"The self-preservation instinct is strong with these lemmings" Sirius agreed, grinning at Remus' muffled chuckle. "Aha!" he cheered, pointing at their unusually irritable friend. "He laughs!"

James leaned forward, elbows on his knees, fixing Remus with a concerned frown. "Now, Moony my old friend, it is time for you to tell us what's being going on in that mega-brain of yours."

Remus raised an eyebrow, playing confused.

Sirius raised his eyebrows right back, fixing Remus with a look that just dared him to pull that with them.

"What they're trying to say, Rem" Rose said gently, violet eyes catching pale green. "Is that, while you are usually very irritating and studious in the run-up to exams, you're never this much of a dictatorial berk."

James nodded seriously, his hazel gaze intense. "And, yes, Remmy, we did notice."

"Of course you did" he groaned, scrubbing his hand over his face. "I didn't really think you wouldn't."

Peter chose that moment to come tripping into the dormitory, grinning at the sight of them all unaccompanied by notes or textbooks. "What's going on?" Peter asked brightly. "Have I missed something?"

"Just Moony about to tell us why he's moonlighting as a slave driver" James quipped, winking at Remus who just laughed and sighed.

Peter faceplanted on his bed, bouncing around to end up cross-legged on the end of it. "Why Remus?"

Perhaps it was Peter's honest concern, perhaps it was Remus' own need to be honest with them all, perhaps it was something else. Whatever the reason, Remus explained himself.

"If I keep everyone so busy preparing for exams, they're not going to think about what's out there, waiting for us" Remus explained softly, head bowed and shoulders slumped. "Months of summer with no safe haven like Hogwarts, where anything could happen. More deaths, more kidnappings, more distrust and betrayal. I just" he shook his head sadly. "We know what's out there, and there's so little time before we're out there for good. I want us all to be prepared as much as we can."

It struck Rose then. All the notes, all the textbooks, all the muttered spells and practiced wand movements - most of what Remus was forcing them to revise, most of it was Defense or Charms; the tools they would need to be second nature when they were finally a part of the wizarding world as Hogwarts graduates.

"Oh, Remmy."

Remus glanced up at her with a sad smile. "Everybody is thinking it" he murmured, turning to each of them as he spoke. "What are we going to face this summer? What is waiting for us after the school year ends? What will the world look like when we graduate next year?" He shook his head, looking far older than he had any right to. "We're at war, every single person in this wizarding world. And it's not looking good for our side."

Rose knew what he was meaning. For the past week, there had been headline after headline of disappearances, giant sightings, magical creatures found dead; the Dark Mark pictured in nearly ever paper they received. Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix were clearly falling behind in this long game they were all playing.

James stood up, beginning to place in front of them. "Things always look dark when you're in the middle of them" he said, hands waving about. "But that's only because you're surrounded by it. You stop looking for the light. We can't do that, we never have. One might even say that this is why we exist." His eyes gleamed behind the frames of his glasses. "I'm not saying anything overused like we've got something to fight or live for - that's rubbish any fool could spout, even if they mean it." James grinned at them. "What we have, that's worth enjoying. We can't let those bastards get us down."

In the years to come, they didn't always succeed at not letting the Death Eaters get them down. The lives they had chosen meant that sometimes the world around them seemed so dark and cold that no light could ever possibly shine. Death surrounded them; injury, betrayal, loss. But for every dark hour, there were twice as many good ones - filled with love, light and things worth celebrating. They would go out into the Wizarding World and live the lives they were always meant to, enjoying every year that came. No matter how dangerous those years came to be. Or how few those years numbered. It was how they would live that would matter - not how long they lasted.

Thank you for reading!

Reviews are always appreciated, and thank you for them.