We stayed at the beach for a week, and all happily agreed to go there every summer from now on.

"Lily and I will be married on this beach," said James dreamily as we were bringing the bags to the car to leave.

"Who is this Lily person he won't shut up about?" my dad asked me under his breath.

"A girl from school he likes," I told him.

"Wow, I didn't realise that," he said sarcastically, "I mean, are they dating, does she like him back, or what?"

"Oh, she doesn't like him that much…" I said. "I dunno. Not my story to tell."

"Right, so who do you like?" he asked. Oh my god, why did my dad have to be all nosy about my love life now?

"No one," I said. "It doesn't matter, anyway."

"Well, I had my first girlfriend when I was your age…" he said, nudging me.

"I don't want a girlfriend," I said, just as we arrived at the car to dump our bags, then started walking back to the cabin to get more.

"Hey, don't think you've got any limitations on that, OK?" he said. "Just because you're a… just because of your problem, that's not going to stop you from getting a girlfriend."

Actually, it would, I thought, but I didn't say that. I just said, "OK. I still don't really want a girlfriend right now."

"Alright, then," he said, nudging me playfully, and walking ahead.

When we returned to the Potters' house after the beach trip, all the talk was on the Quidditch World Cup that was happening around midway through August.

Apparently, it was between Syria and Madagascar, and everyone was hoping for Syria to win since it was closer to the U.K. I'd never heard of either of the countries, I was that bad at Geography.

"Syria is in the middle-east, Asia," James explained to me, "And Madagascar is an island by Africa."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"There's a world map on the letter we got about it," said James, waving a piece of parchment around. "GO SYRIA!"

The day before the Quidditch World cup was Peter's fourteenth birthday. His mum made a fancy cake that we all shared after dinner that night as we sang him a happy birthday. We all had way too much cake.

I still felt sick from the cake the next morning, when James woke us all up at dawn by splashing us each with cold water and shouting the word, 'QUIDDITCH!'

We were led out to a portkey, which was a hat lying randomly on the ground. We all gripped onto it, and it soon began to spin, and then we were flying. I was so dizzy by the time we landed that I fell onto my face.

I stood up and looked around. We were in a grassy field, scattered with tents. We found our tent quickly and spent the entire day there listening to James rant about Quidditch.

That night we went to the stadium for the game. It was much bigger than the Hogwarts stadium. The cheers were deafening. The game soon started, and James and Sirius were shaking each other frantically and screaming, and Peter and I just exchanged annoyed looks.

The game went on for a while, and I didn't understand what the hell was happening, then Syria won the game, and Sirius and James wouldn't shut up about it all night.

The summer of 1974 was perfect. I'd spent the entire time with James and Sirius, and a lot of it with Peter, as well. It had been great. But the greatness stopped the moment we got to Platform nine and three-quarters.

Sirius's family was there. Walburga, Orion, Regulus, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Lucius… the whole lot of them. Sirius stiffened the moment he saw them but kept walking. We were climbing onto the train after saying goodbye to my, James's, and Peter's parents when Bellatrix marched towards us and pointed her wand directly at Sirius angrily.

"You destroy my sister's wedding!" she shouted, and Sirius turned around abruptly. "Avada Kedavra!"

Before the spell hit any of us, someone shouted, "PROTEGO!", causing the spell to bounce back and hit the floor. They then grabbed us and dragged us onto the train. I caught a glimpse of our saviour and recognised her immediately.

"Ada?" I said, in disbelief. I hadn't seen her since my second year.

"Yeah, that's my name," she said, breathless.

"Bellatrix was going to kill me," Sirius said faintly.

"Alright, go get a drink of water or something, I want to talk to Remus alone now," said Ada, patting Sirius's shoulder.

James gave her a suspicious look, but he and Peter took Sirius down to find a compartment. Ada then motioned for me to follow her and led me to a separate compartment.

"So…?" I said.

"Remus, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for my behaviour two years ago," said Ada. "I'm not at all proud of it, and when I look back, you were only twelve years old, and to go through something like that… I was only making it worse."

"Oh, um, thank you," I said. How were you supposed to react to a big apology like this?

"I guess I've grown up," she said. "I mean, I'm sixteen years old now, I'm almost of age, so… it makes sense. I hope you can forgive me?"

"Yeah," I said, "if you can forgive me…"

"Deal," she said, smiling. "Well, I'll see you around…"

"Yeah, see you," I said, then got up to find my friends. They were sitting quietly in a compartment, and merely nodded at me when I arrived. Why did it have to go from such a perfect summer to this?

The train ride was quiet. Sirius was in shock from what Bellatrix had tried to do to him, and none of us knew what to say.

I fell ill around one o'clock in the afternoon and vomited out my entire lunch, causing the entire compartment to stink.

"Sorry… I'm so sorry…" I said, grabbing tissues and trying to clean up the spew. It was the full moon that night, which was why I was sick, and I was not too happy about missing the feast and chocolate for dessert.

"It's all good, Remus, don't worry about it," said Sirius, helping me clean up my sick.

When I regained consciousness the next morning, after the full moon, the first thing I felt was hunger, before the pain even kicked in.

Madam Pomfrey came and brought me to the Hospital Wing and treated me for such a long time that I wasn't out until after lunch, so I hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours, and still had to go to class.

I rushed to the Transfiguration classroom so I could get my timetable from Professor McGonagall, and just before I knocked on the door, I remembered what had happened on the May full moon. She hadn't come this time, which I was glad about.

I shook my head and knocked on the door. It opened by magic, and I looked around at the fifth-year class sitting there, all looking at me curiously. Self-conscious, I walked to Professor McGonagall.

"Er, I need my timetable…" I murmured, embarrassed.

"Of course, go to my office, it's on my desk, and head to class as soon as you get it," she said.

I nodded, then walked back past the staring students. As soon as I was out, I rushed through the halls and headed straight toward McGonagall's office. Just as I was opening the door, a heard a voice talking directly at me.

"What are you doing, boy!? Skipping class and tryna break into Professor McGonagall's office?"

I spun around and looked at Filch, then muttered, "No, I'm just getting my timetable."

"Did you not get it this morning?" Filch snapped.

"No," I said.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"I… I got sick," I said. "I was in the Hospital Wing, ask Madam Pomfrey if you want. And Professor McGonagall said my timetable is in her office, so…"

He gave me a sharp look, then nodded, and said, "I'll be asking Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall about this."

I turned back to the door and entered McGonagall's office. There was paper scattered all over her desk, which would make it hard to find my timetable. I began looking through them. It was mainly old essays, but one thing did catch my eye. It was a letter, written in fancy cursive handwriting. Being nosy, I read it:

Minerva,

The summer has not been good. The number of people in the order is dropping rapidly and Voldemort is gaining more and more power, and one of my spies has told me he's planning another attack on Hogwarts once the students return. Please meet me at Aberforth's pub at midnight on the 23rd of August to discuss defence methods.

-Albus

Another attack on Hogwarts. I felt sick to my stomach.

At least Dumbledore and McGonagall knew this time and had prepared defence. But still…

I quickly rummaged through the rest of the papers on McGonagall's desk and found my timetable. I was meant to be in Potions. Great.

I speed-walked out of Professor McGonagall's office, then up to my dormitory to get my things for class, and then down many flights of stairs to the dungeons and slipped into the classroom. Unfortunately, Professor Slughorn saw me and announced my arrival.

"Mr. Lupin! Professor McGonagall told me you'd be late! Get to your desk, quickly, and open your textbook to page five."

I walked to the back where my friends were sitting, ignoring Snape's judgemental look. I sat down next to Sirius and quickly opened my textbook as Professor Slughorn continued to blabber on about Potions.

"You alright, Moony?" said Sirius. I turned to look at him so quickly that I jarred my neck.

"What did you just call me!?" I spluttered.

"Mr. Lupin, quiet please," said Slughorn.

"Moony… like a nickname, because of…" Sirius whispered, but I interrupted him.

"I get what it's about," I said.

"Is it… is it OK if we call you that?" Sirius asked.

"OK, but not too loudly around other people, I don't want them to suspect anything," I said.

"OK," said James, "And we thought, when we become you-know-whats, we'll have nicknames too, depending on what animal we become."

I thought I'd said I didn't want them to become Animagus. "Oh, yeah, OK…"

That night, I told my friends about the letter I'd seen on McGonagall's desk, which caused James to start pacing, Sirius to sit dead still on his bed, and Peter to stand and chew his nails.

"Did the letter say when the attack would be?" James asked.

"No," I responded. "But Dumbledore and McGonagall know, so they'll defend the school. It'll be fine."

"But last time… last time…" said Peter faintly, "so much death…"

I felt my head spin at the thought of the last one but managed to shake it off.

"Last time no one was prepared," I said. "I'm sure it will be fine this time."

The attack happened on September seventeen. It was a Tuesday, and the attack happened during Ancient Runes, our last class of the day. Professor Babbling had gained a bit of confidence in teaching in her one year of experience, but she was still quite nervous, and the massive bang from outside her classroom that occurred halfway through her lesson didn't help much.

Everyone gasped at the bang, and I felt my blood go cold. I knew it would be the attack Dumbledore had mentioned in the letter. Professor Babbling jumped herself, but quickly got herself together and addressed the class.

"It will be alright, guys. I'm going to check out what happened, alright? Alright. Just wait here…" she walked out of the classroom nervously.

"What do you think it was?" Lily said to me.

"There's going to be an attack at some point, it might be today…" I responded.

"An attack!?" Lily repeated, her eyes widening. "What!?"

"I dunno, I saw a letter…" I said.

"And you're only just telling me now!?" she hissed. "Why didn't you warn anyone?"

"Dumbledore and McGonagall already know," I said. "I told my friends, of course, but–"

I was cut off by Professor Babbling coming back into the classroom, putting a finger to her lips to silence us. She then whispered, "Follow me to the Great Hall quietly. You-Know-Who is here