Graduation was here. The seven years at Hogwarts was finally coming to an end. Only, someone wouldn't be graduating. It had been five months since the tragic party one Christmas eve. Five long months in which a cloak of darkness had been drawn across the wizarding world. Voldemort was real. And he wanted to make sure everyone knew who he was.

James woke the morning of graduation earlier than he had planned. He and Lily had both moved back into the dorms so that they could be closer to their friends. He sat up, careful not to wake up his girlfriend who, along with Amber, had taken to sleeping in the boys dorm so as not to feel so lonely. He drew back his hangings and saw Sirius standing by the window.

"We're graduating today," he said, not to loudly.

"Doesn't seem right, Prongs. She should be here."

"I know Padfoot. I know." The night of the party had seen the casualties of 16 good witches and wizards. Dawnelle had been among those. Sirius was heartbroken. He came back to school in a dangerous depression. He went to class, he went to meals, and he sat in his dorm. For the first three weeks he wouldn't talk to anyone except James. Lily had finally gotten through to him and since then he'd started opening up again but he wasn't the same. You could see it in his eyes. Something of him had died with her.

"I should have done something."

"Sirius, you know there was nothing you could have done. Nothing." They'd had this conversation before but he didn't ever really believe it. He probably never would.

"Yeah, I guess. I just miss her so much." A single tear slid down his cheek. The funeral had been a horrible experience to go through. Sirius had cried silently the entire time. Amber and Lily were a wreck and Remus was just silent. James was trying to be strong for everyone but it was so hard. His best friend's girl and his girl's best friend was dead. How do you deal with something like that? And of course, Voldemort's attacks kept coming. He ordered an extremely deadly attack on the ministry only a week and a half ago.

"We all do. It's been hard. I know. We'll make it through somehow though. I know we will."

"I hope so." Their conversation was interrupted by Amber screaming. She'd taken to having nightmares in the last month. Ever since she'd gotten the news that her mother and her aunt, both muggles, had been killed in an attack a month ago. Remus was instantly awake and holding her, soothing her, as she breathed hard into his shirt. Sirius sighed and looked at James for a moment before leaving the dorm. Peter clumsily stumbled out of his bed at the same time as Lily. She walked over to Amber and Remus to see how her best friend was. Peter, the member of the Marauders who had been m.i.a. this year, had finally managed to get caught up in his classes. He would be graduating with them after all. He'd picked up his old habit of trailing after Sirius again. Sirius found he didn't really care anymore. He didn't talk to Peter and Peter didn't talk to him.

"James?" Lily asked.

"Yes?" He linked his fingers with hers.

"Can you believe we're graduating?"

"No, not really. Can you?"

"No. It seems so strange. Doing something we've been wanting for so long since everything has been happening."

"Yeah I know."

"How's Sirius?"

"Not good." He could lie to everyone else. He could lie to the teachers, the people in their house, the girls Sirius knew, but he couldn't lie to Lily. She would see right through him in a moment. "He's in a lot of pain."

"He needs time. And a chance to get away from the daily reminders that she's gone. He needs to get away from this place."

"Yeah. I think you're right. He just seems so dead. He doesn't want to do anything anymore."

"He'll come back to us. He's just trying to move past the overwhelming pain right now."

"I hope you're right." He gazed out the window again, looking at the grounds he had spent the last seven years on. It was so odd to think that today was the last day he would wander the halls of Hogwarts as a student.

The graduation ceremony was scheduled to begin at one o clock. The seventh years had taken their seats and the parents and family and friends were seated behind them. The Head Boy and Girl were to make speeches to open the ceremony. Lily and James waited behind the small stage for their cue to go on. James was making his speech first. McGonagol signaled to him that he could go on and begin. He squeezed Lily's hand tightly before going out to begin.

"Wow, graduation. Who ever saw us here?" he asked to begin. There was a murmur of amusement in the crowd. "Well, I still remember the first big party the Marauders threw in this school. Third year. We were celebrating being allowed to go to Hogmeade. Prongs brought some Butterbeer and some Honeydukes candy. By forth year we were stocking up a week before our infamous parties. We've all had some good times at this school, good learning experiences, good friends that we'll take with us into the start of our adult lives. We've been a family here at Hogwarts. No matter how bad things seemed for any of us we always knew there was someone we could count on. And now we're leaving. We're leaving the comfort of always having someone there. But we're still a family. We always will be. The bonds we've made here in the past seven years aren't going to be easily forgotten. They will always be there for us to lean on whenever we feel lost. We all need to remember that in the next few years. We all need to know we can count on each other because things are going to get difficult. They already are harder then they should be. People we know, friends, family, they're being taken from us. We need to hold together. We need to stay strong. We need to stay family. So remember that, ok? It's going to be important soon." He looked down at all the people he'd gotten to know over the years and he knew they understood him. He made eye contact with Sirius for just a moment and saw him smile. He said thanks and walked away. Lily passed him on the way to make her speech and whispered that he did a good job.

"Hi," she said as she stood before her peers. "You know, I had some issues with the schedule when I found I had to make my speech after the great James Potter. I mean I know Dumbledore is suppose to be brilliant and all but what could he have been thinking?" Several people laughed at this, including Sirius. "What can I say that could possibly be more entertaining then his speech?" She smiled at everyone as they laughed again. "Of course, we all know I've told him off enough that that shouldn't be an issue for me at all. It wasn't that long ago that if you asked I would have told you he was dumber then a log. But things change. We've all seen that. Just look at us for example. It seems like yesterday that we were tiny first years stumbling of the train staring up at Hagrid with terrified eyes. And now we're sitting here wondering how many more speeches we have to sit through before we can graduate. But someone isn't graduating with us. There is one person who should be sitting here today but isn't. My best friend isn't going to graduate. She isn't going to start a career, get married, or raise a family. Her life was brutally taken from her when she was only eighteen years old. There was so much left that she didn't get to experience. While dealing with the grief of losing her, I've come to realize something. We can't live life wishing for what was. We can't live life wanting what can't come true. We have to push forward and live life the way we should. Do the things we want to do. Living in the past, living in grief, it won't help us in the long run. And I know that we are facing a time of darkness, a time of doubt. We can't let that stop us. We have to keep going. Wake up each morning with the hope that maybe today the sun will rise again. Maybe today the world will be a brighter place. And even if it's not that day, it might be the next, or the one after that. We can't lose that hope. We may lose people close to us. Some of us already have. We can't let that stop us. We have to be strong. We have to fight to hold onto that hope. I know that's what I'm going to do." With that she turned and walked off the stage. People sat for a moment contemplating what she had just said but then they started to clap. The cheers grew louder and soon everyone was standing. McGonagol walked onto the stage and waited for everyone to settle down again. Lily and James went to sit in their places for the ceremony.

"Well, I can hardly follow up two such excellent speeches so without further ado, I give you this years graduating class!" Everyone started clapping again. McGonagol pulled out a long scroll with the names on it. Several other teachers were standing there to shake everyone's hands and Dumbledore was standing there ready to hand out certificates of completion to his students (can I call them diplomas? I dunno). McGonagol read the names on the list slowly, giving everyone time to get up to the stage. When James and Sirius' names were read the applause was noticeably louder. They both grinned heartily. It was the first day Sirius really looked alive. Only his closest friends might have noticed how much pain it caused him.

"We're finished!" Amber exclaimed after the ceremony was done. Everyone was milling around congratulating each other and talking to their parents.

"I know! It's so weird! We're not students here any more," Lily agreed.

"We get to start our own lives now," Remus said. No one knew what he was planning on doing. They knew it was something that he was going to do for Dumbledore but he wouldn't tell them the nature of it. They did know that he would be traveling a lot though. He was going to move in with Amber and use her flat as a base. Somewhere to come home to and a permanent address. She was planning on going into ministry of magic, they offered her a job as a liaison between the wizarding community and the non magic one. Lily was going into training at St. Mungo's as a healer. She, James, and Sirius were moving into a flat together in London. James was starting training as an Auror and Sirius was just going to be Sirius, until he got his feet back underneath him.

"Yeah, we're starting a whole new adventure," Amber agreed. Lily had the feeling that Amber knew what Remus' top secret job was but she wouldn't say. She didn't know weather or not to worry about her friend but she knew he could take care of himself.

"Congratualations girls," a seventh year Hufflepuff whom Lily and Amber had known said as she walked past them.

"You too Jill," Lily replied. The crowds were starting to thin out now as everyone started heading home. No one liked to be out late anymore. They'd all rather be at home with their families. Lily thought it would be a good idea for them to get going as well. They all still had more packing to do before the weekend if they were going to move out of their parents houses. She mentioned the idea to her friends who all agreed. They met their parents and split to go their separate ways. Kind of like our lives, she thought to herself as she watched everyone go.

(A/N: I hope you guys like this chapter. It was kinda hard to write. Kinda vague in places, I know, but it felt like that was how it was suppose to be. I'll throw a warning out that the next chapter is going to have an even bigger time gap in it. Voldemort was in power for elven years before Harry so I can't very well describe in detail all of them, lol. Oh, I forgot to mention about the swing dancing in the last chapter, I don't know how big that is in England but I'm a huge fan of it even though it's a bit of an older dance in America as well. Loves!)