A/N: Hello all! This chapter ends with a fair amount of Remus, since we haven't really seen too much of him yet. This chapter will be important later on...


September 1st, 1977

The summer passed by quickly. We spent most of our days together, playing quidditch in my backyard, swimming in the creek behind James's house, and retiring to Sirius's apartment at night for firewhiskey and games. It felt like our last chance to just…be kids. Next summer, we would all be adults with real responsibilities, so we let ourselves get lost in the magic of a summer break for one last time. I spent more nights than not at Sirius's place, flooing home early in the morning and sneaking past my parent's bedroom to pass out in my own. I can't imagine they didn't know, but seeing that I was technically an adult, they didn't say anything to me. At least I hadn't actually moved in with him, right?

We all had permission to stay at the Potter's for the last week of break, including Lily. It had taken significantly less convincing than I had thought to get Lily to agree to come; her sister was in full wedding planning mode, and she had been looking for any excuse to get out of the house before she was asked to help pick between two more identical shades of linen. The second day we were there, we received our Hogwarts letters, and to no one's surprise, Lily was named head girl. Everyone, however, was surprised when in addition to the quidditch captaincy, James was named head boy. Sirius took great pleasure in teasing Lily that her and James were going to have a lot of alone time performing their head duties – waggling eyebrows accompanying his teasing. Lily threw a shoe at his head the sixth time he made an innuendo, which quickly shut Sirius up. Threatening bodily harm to his precious face was a surefire way of getting him to behave in most situations.

Before we knew it, we were boarding the train back to Hogwarts for the last time. James, Lily and Remus had to spend the first half of the trip in the prefect's carriage at the front of the train, meaning that Sirius, Peter, and I were the only ones in our compartment for a while. About an hour in to the ride, Sirius got annoyed at the awkward silence, and kicked Peter out.

"Pete, get out of here for a while," Sirius demanded, throwing a chocolate frog at him, where he had been dozing off stretched out on the bench across from us.

"Why?" Peter sputtered when the candy hit him in the face. "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Don't care. This is boring as fuck, and as long as you're here, I can't even snog my witch. So get out of here," Sirius demanded again. I perked up at the idea of snogging…much better than sitting here pretending Peter didn't completely skeeve me out. "Look, Pete, if you're not out in the next…thirty seconds, I'll make sure Addie sees your animagus form."

Peter scurried out at the threat. Although he was aware that Lily and I knew he was a rat, he had been too embarrassed to show us and left anytime anyone brought it up. Remus still didn't know that we knew about him, so Sirius had told him that I had caught him turning drunk one night in his flat, and that after he had told me the truth, I had told Lily. It was a flimsy lie at best, but it seemed to appease Remus.

An hour later, Lily, James and Remus pounded on the door, with Peter hiding behind them. They got tired of waiting and barged in, just as I had pulled my skirt back up with no more than a slightly reprimanded "sorry." Sirius grinned which made me laugh, which in turn made everyone else groan in disgust at our lewd actions.

The Welcome Feast was just as lavish as ever – there was every kind of pie imaginable, roasted duck, grilled chicken with a lemon garlic sauce, pot roast, and about a hundred different sides. Although I always ate my mom's delicious food at home, there was something so comforting about the Hogwarts feasts. We were all together again – Sirius and I were sitting next to each other, across from Lily and James. Next to me was Remus, and across from him was Peter. To our left side sat Alice and Frank, and to our right sat Mary and Marlene. Marlene had brought Robert Boot, who she was somehow still dating, and Michael Brown to sit with us. She was cuddling with Boot, taking all of us by surprise – we had never seen her hold on to a man for even a month, and by this point they had been together…almost a year? It was nice to see her growing up a little, and based on the wide grin on her face, she was happy.

"Alice…what is that!" Lily exclaimed suddenly, a forkful of chocolate cake halfway to her mouth. She slammed her fork down and reached over James to grab Alice's hand. Sitting there on her ring finger was a giant ruby ring, surrounded by a halo of small diamonds on a thin golden band.

"Ugh, come on Lily! Alice and I had a bet on who would notice first. Her money was on you, but I was betting on Sirius," Frank groaned, sliding a galleon over to Alice. "Although I guess since we are getting married who holds on to that galleon doesn't really matter anymore." Alice grinned at his words and grabbed his hand with her left hand, showing off the ring to everyone who had yet to notice it.

"He asked me at the beginning of the summer," She said sweetly, looking at Frank with pure adoration. "Right in the middle of the lake on this little rowboat that we took out everyday. His mother nearly drowned us when we came back in, she was so excited."

The girls all swooned at how romantic it was, while the boys all looked at each other in shock and fear. I rolled my eyes – of course one of them proposed, so the rest of them now felt they were behind the curve. And given that Sirius was the only one actually in a relationship, they probably were all panicking. I noticed that Sirius looked calm still, and was happy that he wasn't feeling pressured to rush in to something just because Frank had decided he wanted to marry Alice. Not that I didn't want to marry Sirius, but I wasn't in a rush.

"Well, mate, I'm happy for you. I always thought it'd be me and Lily first, but she is proving harder to charm than I had thought six years ago…" James finally said, clapping Frank on the back. Lily shot him a look at this, but much less heated than it would have been even last year. His tone had made it obvious that he was going for the comic relief, and that he wasn't trying to harass her.

"Yeah, Frank, Alice. We're super happy for you both, congratulations," Remus said with a genuine smile. Peter squeaked out his own congratulations, and Sirius decided it was time to head back to the common room. He didn't comment on the proposal at all, but he also didn't appear to be freaking out, so I decided to let it go without making a big deal about it.

We all sat around the fire, in our usual spot. Marlene, Mary, Alice and Frank went to sit with Boot and Brown, leaving the Marauders, Lily and I to relax in our little bubble. James. James and Lily were sitting in armchairs next to each other, looking over the Head Boy and Girl handbook.

"Well we have to make the prefect rounds schedule, and there's a lot that goes into it that you would know if you had been a prefect, but since you weren't I should probably do it for now until you feel comfortable with it," Lily was saying, skimming through one of the chapters in the book. "I can show you though, so that you get the hang of it."

"It does seem complicated. We have to schedule around Louise Tilly's gobstone practice, and around practically everyone's quidditch schedule. Plus Miranda Harting and Matt Lowe broke up, so we have to schedule them on different shifts. Alexander Rink has a massive crush on Alexis Hart, and I'm pretty sure she's in to Lowe now, so we should probably make sure none of them are scheduled together, and–" James said, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he studied the prefect schedule from last year.

"Wait, how…how do you know all of that? I didn't even know half of that stuff and I've been paying attention to all of the prefects for the last two years, while you've mainly been avoiding them so you wouldn't lose points. I one time saw you and Sirius jump behind a waste bin to avoid running in to Rink," Lily asked in confusion. Leaning over the arm of her chair to see if James's had been given some sort of cheat sheet that she hadn't gotten. "I doubt you've ever spoken to one of those people. And I know you don't keep up on other people's relationships."

"Well I figured it wasn't fair to rely on you just because you'd been a prefect, so I read the entire handbook last week and sent an owl to all of the prefects asking for their preferences so that I could get a jumpstart on the schedule. I wrote up a mock up if you want to take a look at it and make any changes you want…" He trailed off at the look on her face. Her jaw was slack, and her eyes were shining. "Are you upset that I did that without asking you? I just thought I should pull my weight. I honestly can't tell if you're mad right now, so if you're about to hit me give me some warning so I can prepare."

"You owled every prefect?" Lily asked breathlessly, leaning subconsciously closer to James. He noticed how close she was to him, and nodded gently as if making any noise would break the spell that was binding the two together. Before I could even look at Sirius to check his reaction, Lily had leaned all the way over the arm and was kissing James as if her life depended on it. James quickly brought his hands up to gently cup her cheeks, holding her as if she were a precious heirloom that would break at the slightest touch.

"Are you telling me that all it took to get Lily going was James owling some prefects?" Sirius looked at me in disbelief, as James deepened the kiss by pulling Lily into his lap. I shrugged, looking at the two with a smile on my face.

Once it got awkward sitting there watching them snog, Sirius and I snuck upstairs, leaving James and Lily curled up together on the same armchair, both looking at each other with looks of pure adoration.

From that moment on, Lily and James were the power couple of the school. The second annual "Lily said yes" party was much better than the first – Sirius and I got super drunk and danced all night, until Sirius decided Remus needed to have more fun than he was, and snuck him outside for a drunken ride around the grounds. Lily and James shut down the party, swaying slowly in each other's arms, oblivious to the fact that anyone else was in the room. James had once told me that it was like she was the only person in the room, and it seemed like tonight, the only person Lily saw was James. It was like watching a six year romance movie come to an end, only to realize that it had actually only just begun.

When Sirius and Remus hadn't returned an hour later, I started to worry that they had fallen off their brooms into the Black Lake. As I was about to leave through the portrait hole, it opened and Sirius and Remus waltzed in, both soaking wet. I could see every one of Sirius's muscles through his wet t-shirt, and he looked so good I pulled him towards me and kissed him soundly, not caring that he was getting my own white shirt wet. He pulled back after a second and shook his wet hair like a dog, spraying water everywhere.

"Sirius! Stop!" I was laughing, while I threw my hands up to protect my face from getting wet. "Why are you both soaking wet anyway?"

"What, kitten? Don't like to get wet?" Sirius growled, stalking forward and pushing me into the wall. "That's not what you were saying last night…in fact, I'm pretty sure it went more like–"

"Could you two please wait until I'm not standing right here to start the foreplay?" Remus begged, looking at the two of us in disgust. "We already had to walk in on you on the train ride, and have to pretend we don't know what's happening in the next bed over every night."

"Hey! It's not every night…" I defended myself; snorting at the look of disbelief Remus shot me. "Okay, almost every night." I conceded.

"See now, I think what's really happening here is that we need to get you laid," Sirius slapped my butt before turning and throwing an arm over Remus's shoulder. "Now tell your dear friend Padfoot…who do you want to shag?"

"I am not having this conversation with you," Remus shook his head, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Moooooony, that's not faaaaaaiiir," Sirius whined, frog marching Remus over to the couch that Lily and James had collapsed into. Lily had her feet curled sweetly up underneath her and was resting her head on James's shoulder. James had a hand on resting on Lily's thigh, rubbing small circles with his thumb.

"Guys, tell Moony that he deserves a good shag," he continued, Remus plastered against his side, trying to escape. Either being an animgaus made Sirius super strong, or Remus was too drunk to tap in to his werewolf strength, because Remus should have no problem overcoming Sirius.

"I am not getting involved in Remus's sex life. But why are you two sopping wet?" Her face was flushed red from the alcohol that she had been convinced to drink, but her eyes were glittering with pure happiness. James's eyes mirrored her happiness, but he sat up when he heard Sirius. Again, the question of why Remus and Sirius were wet was ignored when James decided to turn the conversation back to our werewolf friend.

"No, he's right. Remus when was the last time you even snogged a girl?" James asked, ignoring Lily's warning look. She really wanted to know why they were wet, so she could scold them if they had broken any rules…besides the obviously broken curfew. But James ignored her, more interested in talking about Remus. The alcohol was loosening everyone's tongue, and honestly, I was here for it.

"To be honest, I wasn't even sure you had ever kissed a girl," I admitted, sitting on the arm of Lily and James's couch. "I've never seen you with a girl. Or heard you talk about a girl."

"Oh, of course Moony has! If Pete has, Remus has. No offense Pete" Sirius said off handedly, looking at Pete who had been minding his own business in the armchair by the fireplace.

"Hey!" Peter objected, but Sirius just waved him off. Peter sat back in the chair with a huff, crossing his arms.

"Yes, I have kissed a girl," Remus snapped at me. "I'm a werewolf, not a prude."

"Remus, mate…uh you just uh…" Sirius stammered, trying to think of a way to save face, for Remus's sake, that he had just drunkenly told us that he was a werewolf.

"Oh, buzz off Pads. I've known that Lily and Addie have known for years. They were shit at hiding it, and you all were shit at not realizing they knew. They practically jumped me the day before a full moon, asking me how I was feeling, and then would give me a wide berth the day of the moon," Remus laughed. "It feels good to finally clear the air. Plus I'm drunk so I don't really give a shit anymore – I'm so fucking tired of hiding. Now that Addie and Lily are dating Marauders, they're pack. Pack should know that they're pack."

"I didn't know that packs were a real thing!" Lily said excitedly. "How do they work? How are they formed? Do you have magical control over your pack as the alpha? Oh, I am so excited to finally be able to ask you some of the questions that I haven't been able to find answers for in books!"

"Lils, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I would literally rather talk about my sex life than explain the intricacies of being a werewolf," Remus sighed, running a hand down his face.

"Sorry, Remus," She said sheepishly, looking properly embarrassed.

"I mean, we can easily take care of that if you would just…I don't know – talk about your sex life," Sirius jumped in, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not that it is any of your business, but I'm actually seeing a muggle girl, back home. We spent all summer together," Remus divulged with a sweet blush. He looked behind him at Sirius, who was still holding his arms. "Think you could let me go now, Pads?"

"Oh…sorry, Moony," Sirius released his arms and took a step back. "So, a muggle girl, huh?"

"Yeah…we met the grocer's shop down the street from my house. She's works in the bakery there and she kept me well supplied in chocolate all summer. She's perfect," He waxed poetic, a longing look entering his eyes. "Plus, I don't have to worry about her accidentally finding out about the whole…furry problem."

"Remus…you might eventually have to tell her, you know if things get serious," Lily said gently, looking at him with a look akin to pity.

"It will never get serious. We shagged all summer, I told her I had to go back to school and we didn't have access to a post office and that I would see her when I came home for Christmas break," Remus said dejectedly, sitting down in the armchair across from Peter. "She already seemed super upset that we couldn't talk for three months. I'll come up with some excuse when we graduate for why we can't be together anymore. Though she'll probably have already moved on by Christmas anyway,"

"Why do you have to come up with any excuse? Why not just date her and see where it goes? Plenty of wizards marry muggles," James asked, trying to keep up with Remus's logic.

"Plenty of wizards do…not plenty of werewolves. Statistically, less than 10% of the werewolf population is married. I doubt I'll be the exception to the rule," Remus sighed, running a hand down his face – which he was so prone to do lately. It broke my heart that I knew Remus was right. Most werewolves didn't assimilate into society – either they didn't get the chance to go to school, or they couldn't find a job despite being qualified – and ended up living in packs on the outskirts of the forests. From what I understood, many werewolves do find mates, but that is more geared towards survival and less towards love.

"Remus, we think you are one in a million…if you want to be the exception, be the exception. You have five people here who love you! We love you because you are a werewolf, not despite it. You have survived so much, much more than your fair share of pain. You are one in a million, and if I ever hear you talking down about yourself again, I will bat bogey you where you stand! That's my friend you're talking shit about, and I won't stand for it," Lily was heated towards the end, showing so by getting up from her spot on the couch. She went toe-to-toe with him and stomped her foot to prove she was serious. The sight of 5'3" Lily Evans squaring off against a werewolf who was more than a foot taller than her, was fucking hilarious, and I definitely stifled a laugh.

"Alright Lils, you proved your point, love. Now please sit down and don't anger the werewolf," James pleaded, yanking on Lily's wrist, trying to get his girlfriend out of harms way – not that Remus would ever hurt her, but the sentiment was sweet. "But seriously, mate. She's right – don't launch yourself off the broom before you even push off the ground. If you like the girl, try to make it work. You never know, she may surprise you – like my Lily did me."

Sirius and I looked at eachother, fake gagging at "my Lily", but Lily was still looking at him with complete infatuation, so she obviously didn't have a problem with it. I guess they probably had the same reaction to Sirius calling me "kitten", but I certainly didn't mind it anymore.

"I'll think about it, but don't get your hopes up," Remus said. "Now can we talk about anything else? Like the fact that Alice and Frank are getting married? Or that Lily finally agreed to date James's sorry ass? Or that Addie and Sirius are practically undressing each other right in front of us? Seriously guys, could you at least pretend to have any modesty left?"

Sirius had indeed been sneaking a hand under my skirt, and I had been doing little to stop him. Sirius, who was still standing, peacocked under the attention. "Hey, Remus if your bird is as gorgeous as mine, you'll understand eventually." I flushed at his compliment but grinned widely up at him – even after almost an entire year, he still made my heart beat and my stomach erupt in butterflies with the simplest sentence.

"You know, speaking of Alice and Frank…I kind of thought it would be the two of you first," Lily said, looking at me. She had a quizzical look in her eyes, clearly trying to see if I was upset by the situation or not. We hadn't talked about it at all since we had found out a couple of days ago. She didn't have a chance to judge, however, because James quickly jumped in and changed the subject to werewolf rights. Lily's attention faltered as she started passionately debating why more werewolves should have the chance to go to school – she was drunker than usual and her attention was more easily swayed. I did see James and Sirius exchange a look, with Sirius looking grateful – that did definitely get my attention and hurt my feelings a little bit. Maybe he didn't want to marry me after all? I let myself fall back into the conversation, deciding to distract myself from my depressing thoughts by downing a butterbeer in one gulp.

Sirius wandered over to me and put a comforting hand on my back. "You okay, kitten?" He asked looking at me with concern.

"Never better," I lied. I knew he didn't believe me, but I also knew he wouldn't bring it up again, since he was the one hiding something. Realistically I knew I should just ask – he had never given me any indication that he wasn't in this for the long haul – but the threat of rejection held me at bay. I would ask him...eventually. Just not tonight. I spent the rest of the night drowning my sorrows at the bottom of a bottle, hoping when I woke up tomorrow I would forget any doubts that had formed. Plus, I realized, he had never told us how they had ended up soaking wet…