A/N:

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"King of Squirrel Poo." Remus frowned severely at the Divination Gryffindors as they all caught up at lunch. That little crinkle was back between his eyebrows, along with an almost perfectly hidden twinkle of amusement in his eyes. Rose knew he was finding this far more amusing than he would ever admit aloud in such non-mischief maker company. A dark gaze pinned Dorcas and Hestia down. "You just had to encourage them, didn't you?"

Dorcas scoffed, crossing her arms over her robes. "Rose was there too, Lupin" she reminded him, not that Remus had ever needed such reminders. "Why don't you have a go at her too?"

Remus' shoulders shook with the force of his sigh. "Sadly for your point, Dorcas, Rosie is a fellow Marauder. We do not believe in not encouraging one another." Green eyes flickered from Rose to Dorcas. "Which is why I was relying on you and Hestia to reign in their more... outlandish ideas."

"Great plan, Lupin" Hestia praised, quite sincere. "But always doomed to failure."

Remus shrugged a shoulder, not all that disappointed by this news. "I know." His gaze sparkled as he turned towards James and Sirius. "It is highly disrespectful, but Merlin" a chuckle escaped his lips. "King of Squirrel Poo is apt. Very apt."

James bowed in his seat, quietly smug. "That's why I'm in charge, Moony." He tapped his head, fingers disappearing into the mess of hey black. "Up here for genius-level ideas, down there for kicking arse."

Dorcas rolled her eyes. "You know, Lily is definitely wrong about you, Potter" she remarked sarcastically. "You're not bigheaded at all."

"I'm slandered" James agreed mournfully. His hazel eyes glittered at the thought of a captive audience that hadn't heard him complain about Lily for the past six years. More or less. "Did you know, I once charmed a fleet of gnomes to follow her around singing 'I'll Follow the Sun' and she didn't appreciate it?"

"The entire castle knows that, Potter" Emmeline groaned, flopping into the seat opposite Hestia. "And about the time you asked her out with great big firework letters."

"Oh, and the time you sent her chocolates from Honeydukes every day for three months" Mary remembered, making Rose smirk into her pumpkin juice. That had been all the way back in fourth year, they had certainly eaten well during that winter.

James slumped down onto the bench a little more, his head falling onto his arms. "That was one of my better ideas" he mourned, voice muffled by the sleeves of his robes. "It cost me a small fortune, but it was worth it!"

"How?" Rose wondered, honestly baffled. "You got called an incontinent troll with the brains of doxy bogies every single day for a little over three months."

James glanced up, a triumphant smile on his face. "Yes, Astra" he agreed beatifically. "But Lily spoke to me every day for a little over three months."

Dorcas, Hestia, Emmeline, and Mary all stared at James with expressions akin to being clobbered about the head with a beater's bat. Their mouths hung slightly open, eyes glazed, yet they seemed unable to process the new depths of pathetic which James had begun to plumb.

"Yes, his standards really are that low" Sirius informed their bemused audience, grey eyes flickering towards the door. "Speaking of. Here comes the apple of your eye, Prongs."

James whipped his head off his arms so fast Rose was surprised he didn't get whiplash. "Lily!"

Lily frowned at the enthusiasm of James's greeting. "Potter" she replied warily.

Remus smiled apologetically. "Never mind about him, we're still getting him housebroken."

Lily raised an eyebrow, quipping with a familiar dry sarcasm "So I've heard."

Rose was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so when Lily and the rest of the Gryffindor sixth year girls came to sit with them properly for lunch, she tried her best just to enjoy it. While she loved nothing more than spending every possible hour under the sun and stars with James and Sirius and Remus and Peter, spending time with their wider circle of friends (and her twin sister) was nice too. It showed that no matter how much the rest of their year might find their incessant pranking, immaturity and troublemaking irritating, no matter how much Lily found James bigheaded, arrogant and generally too immature to be worth her time - no matter all that, they were all still part of something bigger. Something that the years at Hogwarts and the things they had all been through had created, something that bound them together. Or it might show that nobody else was brave enough to risk sitting next to the notorious pranksters, but Rose was in the mood to believe the best today.

Lightning arced across the enchanted ceiling as James leaned towards Lily. His hazel eyes shone with a concern Rose didn't see all that often (and usually never directed at anyone not with a Marauder nickname, or the last name Evans). "All right there, Evans?" he called, noticing the far away frown on her face.

Lily turned to him, surprise flickering across her features. "Just thinking, Potter" she replied, still getting used to the James Potter that obliviously pined yet no longer asked her out. "It's been a long school year."

James inclined his head in return. "That it has" he agreed thoughtfully. "Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, a full school schedule, nonverbal spells, disownment, a funeral, a wedding." A sad smile curved at his lips. "Good things and bad."

"Such is life" Lily said, echoing their mother. "I just wish we wouldn't get so many portions of the bad and so comparatively little of the good."

James's face softened with understanding. "How is your father?"

Lily shrugged sadly. "You know Dad, he's keeping it together. Being Dad. Properly British and everything."

"Stiff upper lip" James agreed, clenching his hand into a fist so he wouldn't be tempted to ruffle it through his hair. "I hope this new doctor recommended by the Harley Street bloke is less of a failure than the rest."

Lily's lips curved into a gentle smile. She didn't even seem to realise that she was having this conversation with the one man she proclaimed she couldn't stand the company of. "Dad's hopeful" she said, that same hope lifting her voice. "So, we are hopeful too."

"Yeah, well, Jim's a fighter" James offered, meaning it more than the empty platitudes others normally did. "And stubborner than your sister." Lily laughed a little. "He'll beat this."

James noticed the closed textbook on the table beside Lily's nearly empty plate. "Ready for the Transfiguration exam?"

Lily's gaze flickered up towards McGonagall's empty seat at the High Table. "As much as anyone ever can be, I suppose" she replied. "Not for nothing, she sets the hardest exams of the year."

James grinned, tapping the textbook cover with one finger. "But it's never anything we haven't actually covered during the year. Pay attention in class, do a bit of revision of everything, and you'll pass."

Lily's eyes sparkled with playful challenge. "Is that what you do?"

"Merlin, no" James chuckled, shaking his head. "But we learned very far ahead of the curve, by necessity. So, we're always a little forwarder than the rest of the class."

"Hmm" Lily agreed, a considering frown passing over her face. "So we've noticed."

James winked, abruptly remembered himself and then took a hasty gulp of pumpkin juice. "Human to animal transfiguration will definitely be on the exam" he offered, glancing through his eyelashes to see how Lily would take the metaphorical olive branch. She wasn't scowling at him, so he smiled and decided to continue. "Minnie spent far too long teaching us it for the subject not to be on the exam."

Lily's eyes twinkled with amusement. "Or perhaps you lot just spent far too long badgering her about the subject that she decided to devote a lot of time to it."

James threw back his head with laughter. "Now, Evans" he grinned. "There's no reason it can't be both."

While the minor miracle of James and Lily conversing without it ending in Lily yelling at James was happening, the others enjoyed some quiet time themselves. Remus had some one-on-one time with his book, while Peter and Frank began to talk about the upcoming quidditch season, Benjy snuck Caradoc onto their table and cheerfully chatted with his best friend, and the girls surreptitiously watched James and Lily and took bets on whether or not this might mean that James was in for a shot now. Strangely enough, nobody was foolishly optimistic enough to think so.

Meanwhile, Sirius and Rose had moved a little away from the others, talking quietly together. It wasn't that they couldn't have spoken together next to James and Lily, but Sirius would have gotten invested in making sure that James neither made a prat of himself nor got hurt by his eternally optimistic outlook of his relationship with Lily.

"We are going to have the best summer we have ever had" Sirius told her seriously, grey eyes filled with promise.

Rose smiled, raising a teasing eyebrow. "I don't know, Siri" she said playfully. "We've had some pretty brilliant summers, the lot of us."

"But nothing like the summer of 1977, Rosebud" he smirked, voice low and soft. "I guarantee it."

"Why, Mr Black" Rose placed a hand against her chest. "You've got me curious."

"Good" Sirius chuckled, long and low. "I'd hate to be boring, Miss Evans."

Rose raised a dubious eyebrow. "As if you could ever be boring, Sirius." She leaned closer to him, tapping his hand with her fingers. "Now, what have you in mind for this brilliant summer?"

"Don't think I didn't hear the sarcasm in that, Rosebud" Sirius informed her, mirth dancing in his eyes. Rose widened her eyes innocently, only serving to make the mischief in her violet gaze all the more evident. Regardless, Sirius just laughed. "Well" he said. "I suppose I did ask for it." He took a final swallow of the contents of his goblet (definitely not pumpkin juice but what did you expect, he was a Marauder). "Prongs is planning on dragging us to a few more quidditch games" he began, rolling his eyes at the complete lack of originality - not that they minded, they loved going to the quidditch. "But I was thinking that maybe we could - if you wanted to - spend most of the summer at our flat in Diagon Alley. Not all of it, obviously" he hastened to add, as if Rose wasn't beaming at him. "I want to visit Mr and Mrs Potter and obviously stay with your Dad a bit; I have missed Jim."

Rose felt a warmth spreading in her chest, moving from her heart to encompass everything else. Sirius was rambling on about the things her father had said he wanted to do when they next came to visit (as if their 'visits' didn't last for about three weeks when they could), but all Rose could take in was a truth she had known for years but that had never been more evident. Sirius Black didn't just love her - he loved her father, her mother, her dreary industrial hometown. He had planned what he dubbed the best summer ever, and included spending time with her father because he knew how much that would mean to her. She would forgo that if the Marauder plans (spying on suspicious probable Death Eaters and so on in and around Knockturn Alley) had needed it. And yet, here he was making it sound like spending weeks of their valuable last summer holidays ever (after seventh year, they would be too busy going straight into fighting the war on the front lines and trying to join the Aurors to have a holiday) with her father was a forgone conclusion. Sirius Black didn't just love her; he was in love with her. She couldn't help it, one hand brushed a tear from her face, while the other found it's way into Sirius' luxuriant hair. She kissed him with all the love she was feeling, all the jumbled emotions she couldn't put into words for fear of diminishing them.

When they eventually parted, Sirius brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, smiling softly. "What was that for?"

Rose shrugged, unable to find the words to describe what she felt. "Just being my Sirius" she settled on, watching grey eyes light up brighter than the midday sun.

"Always, Rosebud."

Alice leaned against the cold stone walls of the ground floor corridor, breathing deeply and deliberately. Her usually bright face was pale with nerves, bottom lip caught between her teeth. They were all gathered outside one of the larger classrooms, one that was typically only ever used for exams during the year - the rest of the year, it was empty, except for the times when the Marauders slipped in there to avoid detection in the aftermath of one of their brilliant pranks. Rose smiled sympathetically, feeling Alice's pain. McGonagall's exams were notorious around the castle for being even more nastily exhausting than the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. It was like she enjoyed making their exams as challenging as possible. Not that anyone could blame her, not with the wizarding world going to hell around them as spectacularly as it seemed to be. Rose glanced at James, who had also noticed Alice's nerves and surmised the reason for it. He shook his head slightly, eyes darting to Lily who had moved to her friend's side and was now quietly talking to her. Sirius, for his part, was leaning on the wall opposite the class, grey eyes idly scanning the rest of their Transfiguration class. Rose knew, without having to follow his gaze, that he was watching the Slytherin students. Mulciber, Avery, Snape, Kentich, and Aubrey were all looking quietly smug, as if they weren't worried about the Transfiguration exam that had driven last year's class to tears. Still, Rose wasn't that concerned. That lot always looked smug, and maybe they didn't have to worry about McGonagall's exam, not when their future careers were already guaranteed through a mixture of pure blood connections and the Death Eater entrance criteria (being a bigoted bastard with even less morals than Slytherin himself).

James smirked over at them, offering a little wave. He was much happier when they had exams like today and he could keep an eye on all of the aspiring Death Eaters. Regulus and his fifth year friends were busy in the Great Hall, sitting their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL. A situation which reassured the Gryffindors and prevented Reggie and his cronies from causing them any trouble. Even Remus seemed more relaxed than he had before the other exams. Either he too was reassured by the presence of the Slytherin students (possible but unlikely), or he was finally relaxing into the rhythm of the exams - and it had only taken him four days and six classes worth of end of year exams. Rose herself was content to enjoy the wait before the exam started, pushing the worries that must plague them to the back of her mind. Now wasn't the time to think about her father and whether or not this new specialist could actually do his bloody job, nor was it the time to think about the war lurking ever present outside the safety of the grounds of Hogwarts Castle. Voldemort and his war for pure blood supremacy could wait. For now, she had to make sure that she could move to seventh year with her path to becoming an auror still open. Nothing was going to stand in her way of achieving her goals - not when she was so close to graduation, and not when she knew there was no other path out there for her; not until Voldemort was six feet under in his mouldy, unmourned grave.

"I think I'm going to throw up" Caradoc announced, his face bearing a shade remarkably similar to the Johnstone's Lime Burst paint chip she had seen when her mum had been redecorating the bathroom a few years back.

"Just don't get it on my shoes" Benjy told him, edging ever so slightly away. "These are finest dragonhide boots, these are."

Caradoc scowled at him. "Thanks for the support" he drawled, a touch of nausea colouring his words. "I thought you were supposed to be my best mate."

"Oh I am" Benjy grinned, the glimmer in his eyes telling everyone present that he had spent too much time around the Marauders. "That's why I'm not legging it off down the corridor right now."

"Your friendship means so much to me" Caradoc deadpanned, Benjy huffing out a laugh.

"Well, at least you have a friend, Dearborn" Remus commented, tone as dry as the driest desert on Earth. "I'm stuck with these useless morons for the rest of my life."

James threw an arm around Remus' shoulders, cooing loudly at him. "Aww, did you hear that, Pads? He loves us!"

"I'd love you to shut up" Remus replied instantly, the barb holding none of the sting it ought to have. "And if anyone asks, I tolerate you and not for your sense of humour."

Sirius swooned against the wall, laughter shaking his frame. "Oh dear, he only loves us for our looks."

"I knew it!" James cackled, Remus shoving him away with a frown that was more laughter than severity.

"Somebody has to" Lily commented, but it was quiet and fond enough that James fortunately missed it.

"Nobody loves you for your looks" was what Remus said, James and Sirius promptly taking offense to this. They tackled him to the floor and began the tickle punishment they decreed such a violation of Marauder honour deserved.

"If you are quite finished with your tomfoolery?" McGonagall called, standing in the open double doorway to their exam room.

Unable to turn it off, James and Sirius glanced around in confusion. "Who is this Tom fellow?" James demanded, only his laughing eyes betraying his facade of offense.

"Yeah" Sirius agreed, outraged. "Why is he getting credit for our foolery?"

McGonagall pursed her lips together, Rose almost certain she saw a flicker of amusement in her eyes, but it passed before she could be sure. "Into the classroom" McGonagall instructed, watching the class slowly trickle in.

"Your wish is our command, Minnie my dearest" Sirius called, voice effortlessly charming.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow, pointedly gazing at the way they all remained exactly where they had been when she had interrupted them.

"You're looking severe today, Professor" James added suavely.

McGonagall ignored him, but there was no ignoring the tiny smile that twitched the edges of her mouth. "Thirty seconds" was all she said, tone ominous enough that the Marauders obeyed. After a fashion.

As usual with such exams, the Marauders filed in last, taking the empty five seats at the back of the room closest to the door. The Slytherins, much to their preference, were seated at the side closest to the wall, with the rest of the Gryffindor students and Caradoc closest to the Marauders. Just as they preferred, they all occupied desks beside one another, Lily and the other Girls in front of them, and Benjy, Frank and Caradoc tacked on at the ends. All in all, it was a set-up they had enjoyed many times before, and Rose hoped they would share many times in the future (when they sat their Defence exam and then their NEWTs this time next year). The best thing about sitting at the back of the room - aside from the obvious, being the farthest away from the ever-watchful gaze of their favourite professor - was that they got to enjoy the draught from under the door. The cool breeze was refreshing, especially when the exam questions were tricky and the stress was making them feel like they were overheating.

Just as McGonagall waved her wand towards the hourglass at the front of the room, Remus paused. His hand was caught before it touched his exam paper, a frown pulling at his lips. As Rose turned to question him, Remus tilted his head, frowning deeper. James caught his arm, ready to spring into action should he be needed. "What is it, Moony?" he murmured, trusting implicitly in Remus' instincts.

Remus tilted his head a little closer to the door, then shook his head, the storm clouds passing from his eyes. "I don't know" he whispered eventually. "I thought I heard-" Remus broke off with a sigh. "Never mind, it was probably nothing. Just the storm."

James nodded once, glancing left and right at them. "Well, good luck with the exam."

Sirius chuckled under his breath. "It's not as if we need it, mate."

Whatever else they might have said was silenced, their attention instead directed to the first of McGonagall's tricky and often almost impossible multiple choice questions. Troublesome as the multiple choice questions were, Rose wasn't one of the youngest witches ever to successfully achieve the animagus transformation for nothing. She trusted her instincts, moving quickly through the first portion of the exam. Then, Rose remembered why most students hated McGonagall's exams - the essays. A single essay, at least three feet long, and to McGonagall's legendarily high standards. Rose could see why such a prospect would be daunting. For lesser students. Ones that hadn't been studying the subject matter since they were twelve years old. Much as it was horrible for poor Remus, having a friend with lycanthropy really did make learning Transfiguration a breeze. So, she let a smirk touch her lips, rolled out her shoulders, and dipped her quill into the inkpot. Three feet on Human to Animal transfiguration? That wouldn't even scratch the surface of everything James had made them learn about it. And that was to say nothing about the extra credit question of how the subject matter pertained towards the achievement of the animagus transformation. Rose might sometimes doubt it, but someone up there (maybe just McGonagall) definitely liked them.

The sand was almost two-thirds gone from the hourglass when a flicker of movement caught Rose's eye. James was stretching his arms out above his head. There was ink flecked all over the bare skin of his forearm, constellations of smudges from the frenzy of his writing. He saw her looking and grinned, a carefree beam of someone actually enjoying himself. Much as he would often tease Remus for being a swot, when it came to Transfiguration James outshone them all. He nodded his head to the right (where Sirius sat between him and Peter) and waggled his eyebrows. Sirius was working as intensely as she had ever seen him, his pheasant quill flying across the parchment, flicking ink here, there and everywhere without a care. She grinned back at him, flexing her aching fingers. If she could speak without drawing the ire of their professor, she might've quipped that as Gryffindor seeker McGonagall ought to have more compassion for her hands - if she wanted to win the Quidditch Cup this year, that was. But, alas, all she could do was laugh with her eyes, trusting that James would understand her.

In the days and weeks to come, she would wonder if there was a sign she missed, something that could have warned them about what followed. One moment, Rose was laughing with James, the next- well, she didn't know how to describe it. A solid wall of heat, wood and Merlin only knew what else hit her, throwing her forward. It was like she had been punched by the door. Only the door was made of fire and it wasn't just her, it was everyone. There was a sound like a whoosh, hot and hard - and it was all she could hear. Screaming - there ought to have been screaming, but there was the whoosh and then she was underwater. Her ears felt stuffed full, she couldn't breathe, there was a pressure on her back. And the heat. It was so hot, but burning cold. Her chest was on fire, and she was underwater but she wasn't. There was no water to quench the flames, no air but bitter, acrid smoke. She flew through the air and hit something. The floor, but it wasn't the floor. It was hard and raised and yet soft and solid. And the pressure in her ears began to roar, and she couldn't hear anything, see anything beyond the green haze that surrounded her. She screamed; there was no breath to sceam.

The pressure on her back shifted, torn away by unseen hands. Her eyes stung with green smoke; tears streaming down her cheeks, useless. She turned - or was turned, she couldn't know - hands pulling her up, up onto feet that wouldn't hold her. Her knees buckled, one hitting the ground sooner than the other, fire flaring up her left leg into the flames already raging in her chest. And then, she could breathe again, well better than before. She cracked open one streaming eye, but no further smoke could sting the tender orb. She would've cried if she wasn't already. There, staring from within a face streaked with blood and soot, were the gorgeous red-rimmed grey eyes she would know anywhere. He looked battered and bruised, and possibly worse than she had ever seen him, and yet he had never looked more handsome. If all she could see was Sirius, when he bent down again to help her to her feet, she was forced to see the smoke that still filled the room. Thick and hazy, it slithered like snakes through the air, obscuring everything from view. A wave of dark red caught her gaze within the green mist, Rose snapping towards it desperately.

Lily!

Rose overbalanced and fell again, knees then palms slamming into the uneven ground. It was chaos. She saw movement but only in flickers, unable to move let alone stand. The fire was everywhere, burning throughout her. The smoke was its minions, making it impossible to breathe, filling her nose and throat with the acrid tang. Coughing and spluttering, her lungs begging for relief she was beginning to think might never come.

It came like the first rains falling on parched earth; a wave of cool, crisp air. It tasted of the mountains just beyond their castle, wet with rain but oh so familiar. Home, in a sense they could never entirely describe. Her ears began to ring, like she had shoved her head inside Big Ben as it chimed, but the fire in her body didn't diminish. It raged and screamed, building not like the cruciatus but steadier and unabating. Inescapable.

She lay unmoving on her back, not on the floor but against something familiar, violet eyes taking in a sight she never thought to see. Scraps of fabric drifted through the air, shedding ashes and trails of black smoke, while on the ground almost nothing moved. Desks were piled together like a pile up on the motorway, flashes of arms and legs visible within the morass. There were screams and cries and curses that reached her ears, but it was like they were coming from a badly tuned wireless not the people around her. Rose could see nothing much for certain, save a scant few things. Oh, but they were the important things, thank Merlin. There was James, somehow curled around Lily, half under one of the desks, glasses hanging in two pieces from his ears. There was Remus, standing unsteadily by the biggest collection of desks, trying to heave the heaviest away from the students. There was Peter, instinctively turning towards the smoldering remains of the doorway, lips moving in cries for help. And there was Sirius, sprawled against the charred remains of another desk, a fierce look of concentration on his face, wand out and trying to make sense of the chaos. Finally, there was Dumbledore, standing in firelit doorway, smoke framing him like a portrait. His wand was raised, fresh air streaming from the tip, clearing the room of the foul, green stench of the smoke. His face was a mask, yet Rose could dimly see the warring fury and concern that raged within electric blue eyes. Behind Dumbledore was Flitwick and Slughorn, Professor Sinistra and Professor Burbage, Professor Sprout hurrying in their wake.

They were safe.

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