Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs

"My friends are my estate". – Emily Dickinson

ma·raud·er

noun /məˈrôdər/
marauders, plural

A person who marauds; a raider; someone who attacks in search of booty.

[Moony]

When people describe Remus Lupin, they use words like 'sensible' and 'responsible'. There was also no doubt that he was kind and intelligent and entirely reliable. As such, plenty of people were shocked when he announced he was not going to be taking on a muggle-born and teaching them the ropes. Of course, plenty of people didn't know what he was- a werewolf.
His friends had gone mad when they heard the news, demanding that Dumbledore reconsider, that the muggle-born would not notice him gone for a few days. But then he told them Dumbledore had offered him the role, but he had turned it down, knowing that however much he would enjoy it, it just wasn't feasible. He'd be out of sorts for days, in no position to teach and then his muggle-born would notice something wasn't right. The last thing he needed before even starting Hogwarts was for there to be rumours about his 'furry little problem'. No, this was for the best and he didn't mind, really he didn't.

Ok, maybe he minded a little. His condition had ruled his life for years before he met Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. Then, when they successfully became Animagi for him, it became that bit more bearable. Almost like a game- for them at least. However, at times like this he was reminded how this was always going to be there- his terrible secret and he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit bitter about the whole thing. Especially now, right as he strode into the Three Broomsticks on James' command and saw Sirius playing tonsil-tennis with his student. He, Remus,would have remained professional. He would have done a good job. However, when Sirius pulled away from the poor girl and noticed him standing in the doorway and then grinned at him, beckoning him over hastily, all of his bitterness faded away. At least that which was directed at Sirius anyway, because how could he feel like that towards any of his friends? They were a mental, loud, over-the-top bunch but they were also funny, brave and fiercely loyal and actually helped him with his condition, rather than running in the other direction. He would be eternally grateful to them. He tried to tell them this, to let them know how much they meant, what their actions meant, but Sirius would always tell him he was being an emotional ninny and James would tell him to forget about it, that it's what friends are for, before changing the subject and Peter would smile along with them. Talking about emotions wasn't the way the Marauders dealt with things, no matter how many times he tried.

He sighed and wandered over to Sirius' booth, his own smile now in place.
"Sirius." He greeted warmly.
"Hey, Moony." Sirius said in a sing-song voice. "This is Laura," he gestured towards the slightly pink girl, who waved "I was just…er…relaxing her a little."
"Yeah, I saw that." Remus said, before turning his gaze to the girl. "Hello, Laura." He started politely. "It's very nice to meet you."
"Remus is a good mate of mine." Sirius explained, whilst Remus sat down in the booth. "We're two quarters of the infamous Marauders!" Laura nodded slowly, looking a bit confused. "You'll understand soon enough, Laura." Sirius continued happily.
"Talking of the Marauders," Remus began "Where's Prongs? He told me to meet him here."
"He should be here any moment." Sirius replied. "With…um…" his brow furrowed as he tried to remember "Jilly? Something like that."
Remus nodded before sitting back in the seat.
Sirius turned to Laura "Jilly-person is muggle-born as well."

Laura felt a slight sense of relief. Someone to talk to who was in exactly the same position as her- well, not quite. Jilly probably hadn't been snogging off the face of her tutor for the best part of an hour. As this thought crossed her mind, she blushed furiously, looking to her lap.
She was surprised when she felt Sirius dropping an arm around her casually and looked up at him.
He was a bad influence. A very bad influence. What would her mother say if she knew what she'd been up to? She couldn't help but smirk a little at that. It had been fun. It felt good to be a little spontaneous; a little naughty. Of course, the firewhiskey probably helped as well, but she found that, unlike normal, she didn't care what her mother would think and just decided to enjoy the next five weeks, whatever happened. As if to prove her point, she leant over to Sirius and kissed underneath his jaw, before pulling away and facing Remus, who didn't look phased in the slightest. Perhaps Sirius did this kind of thing on a regular basis? Well, she was hardly in a position to judge.
"Had a good day?" Remus interrupted her thoughts.
"Oh…um…yes. We've bought a lot of things."
Remus smiled and then looked to Sirius sternly "I hope you got her everything she needs and didn't just spend all day looking at broomsticks."
"Remus!" Sirius exclaimed in a loud voice. "I can't believe you would even insinuate that I would leave poor Laura unprepared in the name of broomsticks, no matter how beautiful they are." Sirius' face had taken on a wistful sort of look.
Remus rolled his eyes and turned back to Laura. "Are you into sports, Laura?"
"No, not really." She admitted "I mean…at school I used to be quite good at hockey…"
"What's hockey?" Sirius asked.
"There won't be much of that at Hogwarts I'm afraid." Remus continued, ignoring Sirius. "We wizarding folk tend to focus a lot more on Quidditch."
"Did someone say Quidditch?" a voice said behind Remus.
"PRONGS!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Alright, Padfoot? Moony?" he grinned at the pair. "And you must be Laura." He looked to the girl in question.
She nodded and smiled.
"Everyone, this is Lily." James introduced her and she smiled.
Remus looked incredulously at Sirius.
"What?" Sirius mouthed.
"Jilly?" Remus mouthed back, sceptically.
Sirius merely shrugged. Remus sighed. "Hello, Lily." He said, smiling warmly. "My name is Remus- Moony is just a nickname."
"Oh so you're the famous Moony." Lily said in recognition. "The genius with the chocolate." She looked to James who smirked.
"That's him." He confirmed. Remus beamed.
Sirius cleared his throat. "And I'm the famous Padfoot." He smiled widely at Lily. Her brow furrowed.
"Er- actually, I don't think James mentioned you."
Sirius' face dropped. "He didn't mention me? Padfoot?" Lily shook her head. "What about Sirius? Sirius Black? His best friend in the universe?"
"Sorry." Lily said, apologetically.
Sirius turned to glare at James "You can find a new best friend." He crossed his arms finally, holding his mouth in a hard line.

There was a brief, awkward silence before Remus and James collapsed in laughter.
"Oh, mate, I have missed you." James chuckled.
"Hmph." Sirius protested "Obviously not enough."
"Ok, ok." James began "I am sorry I didn't mention you, oh ye mighty Padfoot, I just thought…er…Lily should get the full effect of meeting your glorious self, without…um…any previous assumptions."
"That was pathetic." Sirius stated, but he now started to grin as well.
"It did help the effect." Lily offered.
Sirius laughed. "Moony, move up, let the lady sit down."
"Where's Pete?" James asked as he and Lily slid into the booth.
Sirius shrugged.
"He's not exactly the most punctual of people is he?" Remus pointed out.
As if on cue, Peter Pettigrew burst into the Leaky Cauldron at that moment, his face flushed and his breathing heavy.
"Speak of the devil…" James said.
"Sorry…I'm…late. Got…caught up…" Peter wheezed as he reached their table.
"Mate, calm down, you're only ten minutes late." Sirius remarked.
"What?" Peter replied. He looked down at his watch. "Fuck. Must have…read it wrong."
"Pete, why do you sound like you've run a marathon?" James asked.
"I was a bit…flustered." Peter answered, a blush rising in his cheeks. "Apparated too far…had to run."
"Flustered, eh?" Remus began.
"Wouldn't have anything to do with a certain…Marissa, would it?" Sirius asked coyly.
Peter blushed harder. "No comment." He mumbled and sat down to the hoots of laughter from his friends.
Remus stared pointedly at James. "What?" he asked. "Oh yeah!" he seemed to catch on that he hadn't introduced the two girls yet.
"Pete, this is Lily."
"And this is Laura." Sirius said.
"Hullo." Peter said, still breathing heavily.
"Hi." They both replied.
"Right!" Sirius said, clapping his hands together. "DRINKS ALL AROUND!"

.

[Wormtail]

.

Wormtail. Of all the nicknames of the Marauders, this was probably the most obvious. Except for, perhaps, 'Moony'. Really. How many things actually had worm-like tails? Not many. Not many at all. But still, he enjoyed the name. To be included was something he hadn't really experienced until he met the Marauders and when Sirius had rather drunkenly suggested "Wooorrrmmm-taaaiill?" as his nickname, he grabbed at it with both hands, because the fondness of the nickname proved he was a Marauder through and through and that was when the doubt had finally left his mind: they really did like him.
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. It had a nice ring to it and he slipped in right in the middle. Not added as an after-thought like so many assumed, but really in the heart of the Marauders. They would defend him to the death, he knew that. He guessed James and Sirius acted quite like older brothers; only they were allowed to be mean to him. If anyone else did… well then there would be hell to pay. He didn't mind. He quite enjoyed the banter; knowing they didn't mean anything by it. Remus was always the nice one. He had never offended Peter, which he didn't understand because Remus was always dropping insults to James and Sirius. Peter often wondered if Remus took pity on him. In that sense he preferred James' and Sirius' treatment of him. At least they insulted everyone the same way they insulted him. They treated him like an equal. More than that, really. They treated him like a friend.

That's why he would come running whenever they called. He'd all but abandoned Marissa, babbled some excuse and then ran out of the door. They would call him an idiot for leaving behind a girl who clearly liked him just for a drink in the pub, but to be honest, he wasn't that bothered by Marissa. He only said yes to her because she was the first girl who had seemed interested in him in goodness knows how long. He'd been looking for an excuse to escape when James' note had arrived. His friend had explicable timing, he had to admit.

He had control of his breathing now and was sitting on a stool next to the table his friends surrounded.
"Why on earth didn't you bring Marissa?" James demanded. "I told you to in your note!"
Peter frowned. "No you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"No…you didn't." Peter pulled the note from his pocket and handed it to James. He handed it back.
"Ok fine, I didn't. But still! It's common courtesy, mate! You ditched her in the middle of a date!"
Peter flushed. "I'm surprised you lot remembered."
"What?" Sirius smiled widely. "Of course we'd remember our Wormy's big date!"
Remus returned then with the drinks for the group.
"What happened, Peter?" he asked, pulling over his own stool, rather than returning to the now-crowded booth.
"O-oh." Peter stammered. "It was…well it was a bit boring, to be honest."
"Boring?" Remus repeated as James and Sirius laughed.
"How can snogging be boring?" Sirius asked, incredulously. "Unless she was awful, I guess."
"No-no. She was very…it was nice." Peter said, lamely. "She was nice. I was just…bored."
James and Sirius shared a look of disbelief.
"What's wrong with you?" Sirius shook his head. Peter dropped his gaze embarrassedly.
"Leave him alone." Remus said, firmly.
"Yeah, I mean, sometimes you don't click with people. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Lily said, kindly. Peter lifted his head up and smiled.
"And sometimes they do." James said, looking to Lily as well. She nodded once then dropped her gaze, her face feeling warm.
"Never stopped me before." Sirius said nonchalantly.
"Oh please! You shag anything that mov- OW!" James cried as Remus had kicked him quite spectacularly in the shin.
"What did you do that for?" James glared at Remus. Remus warningly flicked his gaze between Sirius and Laura; the latter who was now very interested in her drink. James paused, and then recognition seemed to fill his eyes.

"Oh." He said. An awkward silence threatened to take over the group when Sirius let out an almighty sigh.
"Perhaps." He said, lightly. "But it's the best ride they'll ever have."
He reached out his hand to turn Laura's face to him via her chin and winked. She giggled softly and it was enough to break the tension, Remus hastily making conversation with Lily across the table. As everyone became distracted, Sirius dropped his mouth to Laura's ear.
"I usually save this conversation 'til a bit later…" he began "But…look. I like you, ok? But I'm not going to lie and say that I want to be your boyfriend or anything like that. Commitment and I are not best friends. I like to take things casually and I can't tell you where we're going to be tomorrow, next week or next year. But I can show you a no-strings-attached good time if you're up for it. If not, that's cool too." He didn't wait for her to respond and instead started talking to James, as if nothing had happened. Peter watched the exchange and saw Laura's face crumple slightly, though from what emotion, he didn't know. He sometimes envied Sirius' completely relaxed state when he was around women. He had a way with them that was for sure. He, however…the girls that were interested bored him and the ones he was interested in were annoyed by him. It was the way of the world, he supposed. He just knew that girls seemed so much more trouble than they were worth and more often than not, he'd rather spend his time with his friends, though he'd never admit it. Mates before dates- that was the Marauder motto, he decided - for him, at least.

.

[Padfoot]

.

Normal people might have been annoyed at their best friend's lack of tact or their poor timing- but not Sirius Black. He refused to ever feel awkward, regardless of the situation. He was the creator of awkward situations; the master of them. He was the one who would comment "Well, this is awkward." With a massive smile on his face, revelling as everyone around him shifted- you guessed it- awkwardly. So, it was no big deal he had to make his "no commitment" speech early. In fact, it was better just to get it out of the way. The quicker she knew where she stood; the less likely she was to hate him when it was all over.
He chanced a glance at her then. She was smiling at the conversation around her, preferring to observe rather than to contribute. Other than that, she didn't seem to be too miffed with him. Ah well, only time would tell.
"So basically," James said, arranging the empty bottles on the table "You have three chasers; two beaters, a keeper and a seeker. Does anyone have a quill?" Remus handed him one and James proceeded to write three Cs, two Bs an S and a K on the bottles. "Right. So there are four balls on the pitch at any one time. A quaffle, two bludgers and a snitch. Er…" he scrambled through his pockets to retrieve a galleon, two sickles and a knut. "Ok…so we'll say the knut is the quaffle; the sickles are the bludgers and the galleon is the snitch. With me so far?"
"I think so." Lily said as Laura nodded. The other three Marauders had long since lost interest in the explanation.
"Excellent. So: the three chasers take the quaffle and try to score it through the other team's hoops. The keeper defends said hoops."
"Bit like basketball?" Lily offered.
"Er-" James looked to Remus pleadingly.
"Yes, sort of. But not quite." Remus replied. Lily smirked.
"Wait, you said 'hoops'," Lily said "How many are there?"
"Three. Each goal is worth ten points. The beaters are there to defend their team from the bludgers. They have bats they use to beat them away- hopefully at the other team."
"Sounds a bit violent."
Remus snorted. "You don't know the half of it."
"Violent? Psh- makes it exciting." Sirius commented.
"Thank you, Padfoot." James said.
"Though a bludger to the groin is no fun, is it Prongs?"
James cringed a little as Lily giggled. "It wasn't funny!" he said, though he was smiling too "I couldn't walk properly for weeks."
"It was your own fault, you should have moved quicker."
"Hey, Sirius- no play; no judgement."
Sirius shrugged, still smirking. Despite only seeing James yesterday, he had missed him. It had been a while since they hadn't done something together and taking on a muggleborn for five weeks would have seemed a lot more appealing if he'd had his best friend by his side. James had practically become his brother since Sirius had moved into the Potter home after running away from his own family. He smirked a little as he contemplated his parents' reactions to what he was doing now. If it was down to them, he wouldn't be associating with anyone at this table, as they would view each and every one of them as scum. To hell with them, when he was with the Marauders, he was home.
"So the snitch is worth 150 points and-"
"Wait." Lily interrupted. "If the snitch is worth 150 points, then what's the point of the quaffle?"
James froze in his movements and turned to stare at Lily.
"What's the point?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice calm.
"Well, yeah…because even if the other team was over 150 points in front, surely they just wouldn't catch the snitch until they could to win?"
"That's what a good Quidditch captain would tell his seeker, yes."
"Well then…doesn't that render the chasers efforts slightly…"
"Oh Merlin don't say it." Remus muttered.
"Useless?"
Sirius turned his gaze to James, smirk firmly in place, whilst Remus looked at him slightly worriedly and Peter just looked anxious. To all of their surprise, James smiled broadly and placed his palms face-down on the table.
"Evidently," he said sweetly "I have not explained the game properly. If the chasers are good enough, they can win the game for their team. And points are important, especially in tournaments. The amount of goals can win you a trophy. Not to mention the match would be pretty boring if it was just Seekers doing a load of Wronski feints and-"
Lily turned to warily face the other three Marauders "Have I said something to offend him?"
Sirius chuckled. "Old Prongsie here is a bit passionate when it comes to Quidditch."
"A bit?" Remus scoffed. "Not to mention he's a chaser…"
Lily's eyes widened. "Oh."
James was still ranting to no one in particular.
"Oi! James!" Sirius called. The man in question turned to look at Sirius. "Why don't you just show Lily how wonderful you and your fellow chaser kind can be?"
"Yeah- take her to your match Tuesday week." Peter suggested.
"Oh- he doesn't have to if he doesn't want-" Lily stopped to see James looking at her excitedly. "Or he does want me to."
"Well, could be fun, couldn't it?" James asked.
Lily nodded. "Definitely. I'm curious now as to how good your skills are."
James grinned mischievously. "You're in for a treat."
"I'll hold you to that."
Sirius smiled at their interaction. He leant over to Peter.
"A galleon says they're together by the time we get to Hogwarts."
"But James is-"
"Well the odds are in your favour then, aren't they?" Peter eyed Sirius suspiciously; knowing that Sirius knew James better than he did.
"Alright, I'm in." They shook on it.
"What's Peter in?" Remus asked, lowly.
"Ah, the possible endings to that sentence…" Sirius sighed.
"Padfoot reckons James and Lily will be together by the time we go back to Hogwarts."
"But James is-"
"Oh Merlin! No one is forcing you to take the bet!" Sirius said, eyes rolling.
"What bet?" James asked, both he and Lily looking expectantly at the three conversing boys.
"Just er…who could chug the most firewhiskey, me or you?" Sirius supplied.
"Yeah I can't really get hammered tonight, mate." James said and turned back to Lily.
"Alright, you're on." Remus said, under his breath. "But James definitely likes her."
"Fantastic. What about you Laura?" Sirius whispered. "Do you reckon those two will be together by October?"
"No." Laura said simply. "I think something will happen sooner."
"Ooh…making it more interesting. Ok, when do you reckon then, Laura dear?"
"I don't necessarily think they'll be together, but I reckon something will happen between them once she's seen him play Quidditch."
"Specific." Sirius said, narrowing his eyes. "Do you know something we don't?"
Laura shrugged. "I'm psychic."
"Cheat!" Sirius hissed.
"I was joking." Laura replied. "I have my reasons."
"Ok, you're in." Sirius said. "Prepare to lose, my friends."

.

[Prongs]

.

"What are they whispering about?" Lily asked.
"I honestly have no idea." James said.
"So I shouldn't be worried that they're plotting my demise or something?"
James laughed. "I think you're safe, but, just in case, maybe I should move Shield Charms up a few lessons…"
"Oh do you have a schedule worked out?"
"Um…vaguely." James said, then catching Lily's eye he said "Ok, very vaguely as in, not at all." He winked. "I work better when I'm improvising."
"You're the boss." Lily said, giving him a salute.
"James, Lily," Remus said, they looked to him.
"Oh, remembered us, have you?" James asked, sarcastically.
"It's not our fault you were too interested in each other." Sirius murmured.
Remus rolled his eyes. "We want to eat, do you want to stay here or go somewhere more interesting? The Leaky Cauldron doesn't have the most diverse menu."
"Who cares, I'm hungry!" Sirius said.
"Here's alright, isn't it?" James replied. "I've got a bar of chocolate in my pocket, if that helps?"
Remus smiled. "I'm not that obsessed with chocolate, honestly." He directed at Lily.
"Who has chocolate?" Peter piped up.
"Damn, they've discovered my stash." James whispered to Lily, who chuckled.
"So it's decided." Sirius announced. "Tom! Can we get some menus over here?"

Friends and family: that's what mattered most to James Potter – and Quidditch. So seeing as all three had been going on that night, James was pretty much in his element. This was where he thrived; with things he cared about. Not to mention there was something about Lily... he wanted to impress her, which was an odd sensation. He generally didn't care what people thought of him. Maybe she was special.
He frowned slightly as he saw Remus conversing with Lily about some muggle author. It wasn't fair, really. Remus should have been in his position right now. Not that he was complaining, but Remus worked hard and he was responsible and really good at making people feel welcome. James sometimes felt guilty for how easily things happened for him. He, Sirius and Remus were at the top of nearly all their classes…but Remus had to graft a lot more to get there and the fact that all of his dedication had gone unrecognised purely because he turned into a wolf once a month was nonsensical.
Ok, if James had to be really honest and logistical and reasonable then sure, it made sense. There was no feasible way Remus could disappear for a few days unnoticed and they really couldn't have rumours circulating any more than they already did. Remus didn't deserve that.
James suddenly felt a wave of familiar anger at Fenrir Greyback; the werewolf who had done this to Remus, purely because Remus' dad had pissed someone off. He was just an innocent kid and because of a petty grudge that he wasn't even involved with, he now had to suffer for the rest of his life. Where was the justice?
"The others don't really care for reading…" Remus explained.
"Hey! I read." Sirius defended himself.
"Flicking through wizard's mags doesn't count, mate." James said. "But I read."
"Actually, Lily and I were talking about Muggle literature."
"Oh."
"Yes, particularly the works of Dickens." Lily said, animatedly. "What about you, Laura?" she asked the other muggleborn girl "Are you into reading?"
"I mostly like romance novels." Laura said. "Chick-lit. The classics were never my forte at school."
"I like classics." Lily said, nodding. "But I admit sometimes in school it can be dull. We had to analyse Jane Eyre to death in my fifth year."
"Oh yeah- I was so glad when we finished!" Laura said, turning to face Lily, fully. "We had this really boring teacher who would drone on and on and on about metaphors and expression."
"I read it for pleasure the year before and I absolutely adored it. The love between Jane and Mr Rochester and then the fact he already had a wife put a whole new spin on the whole 'meet Mr. Perfect, fall in love and live happily ever after' cliché."
"I think this conversation is a bit lost on us." James said.
"Sorry!" Lily said. "Um…what are wizarding novels like?"
"I wouldn't know." Sirius said, cutting across Remus who was about to respond. "Ah, excellent. Grub's up!"

"This is just like normal, muggle food." Lily said. Laura nodded her agreement.
"Well, what were you expecting?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know…in our books," she gestured to herself and Laura "Witches make brews with cat's tails and bird talons and things."
"Sounds like potions." Remus said, thoughtfully. "Sometimes muggles get things spot on."
"They tend to eat humans too." Laura added.
"Ok, maybe not so spot on." James said.
"I'm kind of glad to hear that." Laura said. "Witches are mainly painted as the villains in fairytales."
"What about wizards?" Peter asked.
"Well…they're generally the good guys, actually. Bit misogynistic, but anyway…" Lily said. "There are some famous ones, for instance: Merlin."
"You know about Merlin?" Sirius asked, through a mouthful of steak pie.
"He's real?" Lily gaped.
"Yeah! Best wizard of his generation- stuff of legend!" James said, enthusiastically.
"Wow. So…is the story about Prince Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table true as well?"
"You've lost me." James admitted.
"It's a legend…no one's really sure if it's real or not." Laura helped out.
"Yeah and Merlin was supposed to be the one who protected Arthur and helped him to fulfil his destiny: 'to be the greatest king Camelot had ever seen'." Lily continued.
"I'll check that out for you." Remus said. "I mean, I'm sure we would have heard something of it if it were true…mind you, a legend like that aiding a muggle?"
"Yeah. Certain purebloods would want to keep that one hush-hush wouldn't they?" Sirius said, stabbing a carrot forcefully.
"Politics." James mouthed to the two girls, who were looking confused.
"Talking of," Lily said, taking a swig of butterbeer "Does the Wizarding World have a Prime Minister or a King or Queen of some sort or…?"
"There's the Minister for Magic." Peter said. "At the moment it's Benedictus Bones."
"He's basically in charge of the Ministry of Magic…I guess they're sort of like the muggle government? That's what you call it, right?" Remus enquired.
"Yeah." Lily said in response.
"So yes, but we have no royalty."
"Ok cool so do you get to vote?"
"Vote?" Peter asked. "No. There are candidates and then the most popular gets chosen."
"That's not very democratic." Laura stated.
"Neither is our way, really." Lily quipped. "But it still seems unfair you don't get any say."
The boys shrugged.
"No one really cares about politics." Sirius said, stretching in his seat.
"And old Bones isn't bad." James said. "Though everyone thought Dumbledore was going to get it for a while."
"Nah- he's too comfortable at Hogwarts." Remus said. "Which I, for one, am glad about."
"Ok so who is this Dumbledore?" Lily asked.
"Potentially the greatest wizard of all time." James informed them. "And I'm not even exaggerating."
Remus nodded in consent. "He's been Head of Hogwarts for…well, years, really. He's the greatest Professor and Head Hogwarts has ever seen."
"Completely barmy though." Sirius said, laughing. "He once caught me about to set off a load of dungbombs and instead of destroying them on the spot or sending for Filch, he put them in his pockets and offered me a lemon drop."
Everyone chuckled appreciatively.
"I want a beard like Dumbledore's when I'm older." Peter said, stroking his chin.
"Pete- no offence, but if you had a beard like Dumbledore's, you'd be tripping over it the whole time. You're a bit of a short-arse, mate." Sirius said, patting Peter's shoulder sympathetically. "I, on the other hand, would look great with a beard."

.

[Bona nocte dicens]

.

The group chatted throughout their meal and way beyond. Soon enough, though, Peter and Remus were making their goodbyes.
It's amazing how quickly time can fly when the conversation is flowing and the company's good, James mused as he checked his watch to see it was already ten o'clock.
James and Sirius waved off their two friends as they walked out of the pub, Lily and Laura having already said their goodbyes.
"It's still really early." Sirius whined. "We could go to Hogsmeade or something?"
"I don't think that's a good idea." James said, glancing back at the two girls where Laura was rubbing her eyes and Lily was stifling a yawn. "I think they're both really tired."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well me and you can go."
James shook his head "We have to be on hand in case they need us."
"Why would they need us? They'll be sleeping!"
"Mate, we've got to stick to the rules on this one."
"Alright, fine." Sirius grumbled.
"But you can come in my room for a bit. I've got that pack of Exploding Snap if you're up for it?"
"Wicked." Sirius said, his eyes brightening. "Should I bring that bottle of Firewhiskey I nabbed from Dad's supply?"
James laughed. "As much as I would love to, I've got to get up tomorrow and so do you! We're tutoring, remember?"
"When did you become so sensible?" Sirius asked, before he walked back to the table, offering Laura his arm.
"Your boudoir awaits, m'lady?" he said and lead her upstairs.
"After you." James gestured to Lily.

Lily cast a quick look around the cosy room she would be sleeping in.
"Shower's through there," James pointed "and I'll be right across the landing if you need me."
"Ok." Lily said brightly "Thanks. Oh and thanks for tonight as well, you could have used my money to pay."
"Nah, it's alright." James said, smiling. "Hogwarts gave me provisions for food and stuff."
"Oh!" Lily replied "Well in that case, thank you to Hogwarts."
"Tomorrow I plan on blowing some of it on a big fry-up…can I tempt you?"
"Ooh a wizarding fry-up. I think I have to, just for experience's sake."
"Good girl." James smirked, leaning against the doorframe. "Well I guess this is where I say goodnight. Remember if you need anything, I'm just over here."
"I will remember that and thanks, James, really. Today has been…"
"Odd?" James offered.
"Well, yeah, but also really fun." James beamed.
"Ok get some sleep, I need you alert tomorrow."
"Ah yes- for the 'improvisation'."
"You better believe it, baby." Lily snorted.
"Right, night then."
"Good night, Lily."

James walked through to his own room, where Sirius was already shuffling the cards.
"You look like you mean business, Padfoot."
"I do indeed, Prongs. Prepare to lose."
"Fighting talk, I see. You're going to be sorely disappointed by the time you leave."
"Ha! The only person who'll be sore is you after the thrashing I give you!"
James paused for a moment. "I'm going to ignore the innuendo in that statement and just move on."
"Wise choice." Sirius approved as James sat down opposite him.
"So, you and Laura?" James said.
"Yeah. You know you said if I snogged her it might loosen her up?"
"Yeah?"
"Worked like a charm."
"Ok and er- how do you feel about being around her for the next five weeks post-snogathon?"
"She knows the situation. I'm not too bothered." Sirius said, shrugging.
"Just don't screw up her education, Sirius. It's important."
"Ok, seriously, who are you and what have you done with James Potter?"
"What?" James asked, defiantly.
"Since when do you care about being responsible and sensible when it comes to education?"
"Since someone else's education became my responsibility." James said, hotly. "Those two are at a massive disadvantage, especially to people like us who are doing really advanced things already! We can't just leave them completely unprepared! Plus they're both really nice girls, it's not fair."
"Is this the about the fact that they're muggleborn or the fact that you fancy the pants off that Lily?"
James shot Sirius a dirty look.
"I'm being serious." He said.
"So am I." Sirius replied, airily. James rolled his eyes.
"Really, Padfoot. Please do your job properly."
Sirius sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll be a proper goody-two-shoes for the next five weeks. But you better be back to your normal trouble-making stuff when term starts. Doubly so, in fact!"
"Deal." James said. "Now give me my cards."

-

A/N: Oh my Merlin did that take time to write! I've been at a loss of how to continue this recently because I have the basic outline of the story and certain major events in mind and if I'm being honest, I kind of just want to write those. But I got through this chapter in the end.

Thanks to the anonymous reviewers and to one in particular, the answer is no.

Thank you all for reading! Whenever I get an e-mail about someone adding this story to their alerts or favourites or when I get reviews, I really do get quite happy, so thank you for your support. Any feedback is welcome, as long as it's not…you know, horrible.

See you for the next chapter where the ~magic~ begins!