YAY!! an update!! im am sorry to say that this will be the last chapter in the summer saga of the maruaders... however.. fear not fellow readers! for their sotry continues!! but i mean really.. summer cant last forever now can it? the next story shall be about what happens when they return to school.. and as i have not yet come up with a creative title, i can tell you what it will be called! so just keep an eye out for a new story.. also, if any of you were waiting on Lily and James day at home, i should be getting a copy to revise from my dear friend soon... so that should be up by the end of the month i hope.. again.. thanks so much to all who reviewed last chapter! you make writing this story worth my while!! and thanks to the few of you who review every chapter! it means a lot! so now, i shall let you all get on with the stroy!! enjoy the last chapter of Summer With the Maruaders!!
disclaimer: all characters belong to Jo...
"'Ello Evans!"
Lily stared, dumfounded, at the grinning face of Sirius Black, who was still sitting at Remus's feet.
Sirius though, was the only one still grinning. James was looking apprehensive, as if just waiting for Lily to storm out of the house. Remus's eyes were wide open, and he was slowly looking back and forth between Lily and Sirius. Peter looked scared out of his mind.
Still grinning, Sirius looked around at his friends. Soon realizing the enormity of what he had done though, his smile vanished. Carefully, he looked back up at Lily.
"Ummm…. Evans?" Sirius asked quietly.
But Lily just ignored him, and walked straight to James.
"Er… Hullo, Love," James said, trying to smile.
Slowly, Lily started to lean forward. James thought for one fleeting moment she was going to kiss him, but it fleeted right by as she reached up and slapped him hard across the face.
"HOW DARE YOU LIE ABOUT THIS TO ME!" She shouted, her screams echoing through the empty house. "YOU JUST FIGURED THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO TELL ME YOUR BEST MATE WAS AN ILLEGAL ANIMAGUS!"
James hung his head, obviously ashamed.
"Lily, please, let me explain," Remus started.
"NO!" I want James to explain!" Lily stared fiercely at James, who slowly lifted his head up.
"Well… it's a bit of a long story, so we might as well sit down," he said, and walked over to the couch.
After everyone was seated, James, Sirius, and Peter on the couch, Remus sitting cross-legged on the floor, and Lily sitting as far away as possible from everyone, James began.
"Well it all started in our first year at Hogwarts. You know, innocent, care-free, ickle firsties."
Sirius snorted, and Remus smiled a bit. Lily was still scowling.
James continued. "Anyway, we all met on the train. Me and Sirius first, then Remus came stumbling in, real banged up and all. We figured one of the Slytherins beat him up or something. So we took pity on the poor chap and invited him to sit with us."
Lily shook her head. Arrogant much? She thought to herself.
She glanced over at Remus. He still had that sad smile.
"Then Peter came dashing down the hallway, two fifth years chasing him. So we grabbed him and pulled him into our compartment. So we talked some and me and Padfoot spared some sickles so Moony and Wormtail could get something off the trolley. And that Milady, was the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes at each other before James started again.
"Well the first week went as well as expected. Moony got top marks in everything, me and Padfoot excelling in transfiguration, and Wormtail, well, Peter just sucked."
"Wait a minute… If you and Sirius are so good at transfiguration, then why does McGonnagal hate you two so much?" Lily interjected.
"SHHH!! Evans you're getting ahead of the story!" said Sirius.
Lily rolled her eyes but let James continue.
"So like I said, the first few weeks went fine. But then at the end of the month, Moony disappeared. No warning, no excuse, just vanished. Well of course, as his friends, we we're curious beyond belief as to where dear Moony had gone. So when he returned we questioned him immediately. He told us his mother was ill and that he just went to visit her, a valid excuse if any."
"A load of shite if any…" Sirius muttered, before Remus shot him a warning look.
"So this continued for a while, everything going well, then Remus disappearing at the end of the month and showing up again covered in scars, and looking like he just had a rather horrible bout of flu. So as you may have guessed, we grew rather suspicious of our fickle friend. So one day, we cornered him in the common room and demanded he tell us what his issue was."
"Actually," Remus cut in. "That would be incorrect. By the time you three cornered me in the common room, you had already figured out my secret."
James let out a stray 'humph' before returning to the story.
"At any rate, we knew at that point that Moony was a werewolf."
Immediately Peter, James, and Sirius turned to look at Lily.
Remus sighed. "Don't worry guys, she already knows… What? She figured it out!" he said in response to the shocked expressions on their faces.
"I'm smarter than you think, James," Lily said, shooting mean glance in his direction.
He grinned bashfully back at her.
"Oi, lovebird!" Sirius whacked James on the back of his head. "Get on with the story!"
"Huh? What? Oh yeah…" James said, absentmindedly rubbing the spot where Sirius whacked him. "The story… Well however it happened, we know knew that Moony was a werewolf. Well Sirius though it was awesome, Peter was scared out of his wits and immediately took cover behind the nearest chair, and I didn't have a preference either way."
Remus scoffed.
"No, because the jumping up and down and asking if I had ever bitten anyone definitely displayed an air of indifference." He said sarcastically.
James glared at him.
"Oh shut it Moony… On with the story! Right so after we had pulled Peter from underneath the sofa and dragged him up to the dormitory, we reached a unanimous conclusion."
"With the exception of me, who didn't get a vote," Remus put in.
"WOULD YOU STOP INTERRUPTING MOONY! MERLIN!" Sirius yelled, causing everyone to jump a few feet into the air, Peter falling off the couch completely.
Sirius reached down and pulled him back up by the back of his robes and turned to James.
"Prongs, continue."
"Err… alright… well like I said, we reached a unanimous conclusion that we couldn't leave our dear friend to fight it out with the moon alone, therefore seeing the need to become animagi."
"Woah, woah, woah!" Lily held her hands up to stop James. "How does being animagi help Remus on a full moon?" She asked.
Remus spoke up.
"Werewolves don't harm animals, just humans. As long as they stayed in their animagus forms during full moons, I couldn't cause any injuries to them. And they're presence seemed to take the edge of transformations. My mind seemed to become less wolfish when Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs came to play with me." He said softly.
Lily nodded in understanding and gestured for James to carry on.
"Thank you Remus. So, as you can probably guess, we started studying to become animagi. It was mostly me and Sirius, Wormtail not being too advanced in transfiguration. So finally after almost 4 years of studying, we actually pulled it off. We were all animagi. Wormtail a rat, Sirius a dog, and me a stag."
Lily's eyes got wide all of a sudden.
"Wait a sec, you're all animagi? Not just Sirius?"
They all nodded.
"C- can I see?" she asked quietly.
James, Sirius and Remus exchanged glances before nodding in agreement.
"Sure love…" James said, a hint of his usual grin back.
And without warning, and with a faint pop! Lily was staring at the animagus forms of James, Sirius, and Peter.
Lily gasped. Where Peter just sat, there was a small, common looking rat. His nose twitched fearfully as Lily studied him.
It suits him… she thought.
Her gaze fell to the left, where an enormous black dog sat, panting happily. Lily could see Sirius in those eyes…
And then, as she turned her head again, she saw him. A beautiful golden stag, standing next to Remus. She slowly walked over to it. Remus had stood up and was scratching behind its ears. He looked up and saw Lily standing there, her eyes shining.
"It's okay Lily, you can pet him. It's still James in there… and I daresay you're not afraid to touch him…" Remus said with a smirk on his face.
Lily smiled slightly before reaching out to touch the stag. It nuzzled close to her, and Lily happily petted him in reply. It looked up at her, and she swore it had James's eyes.
"You can see now how we got our names." Remus said. Peter is Wormtail, Sirius Padfoot, James prongs, and me… Moony…" he said, the smirk of a few mintues ago replaced with his usual sad smile. "It's uncanny how much they can remind you of them huh?" Remus asked.
"Yeah…" Lily agreed.
After much more petting, and a few rousing games of "fetch wormtail" James, Sirius, and Peter all turned back into themselves with a faint pop!. They were all grinning.
"So whatca think eh, Evans? Pretty impressive huh?'' Sirius excitedly.
But Lily ignored him yet again to walk over to James.
James looked ready to duck as Lily leaned in, obviously expecting another slap, and was happily surprised when her lips met his. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight while Remus and Sirius sniggered in the background.
After what seemed to Remus to be a long while, Sirius intervened,
"For Merlin's sake you two! There's plenty of empty bedrooms down the hall, but please, spare me and Moony the horror of this snog-fest!" he shouted.
Lily detached herself from James, and was happy to see that his marauder grin was back.
"C'mon Moony, let's leave these two to themselves. I'm sure they have a lot to talk about…" Sirius said with a grin.
Remus grinned back at him and just as Peter was about to speak, they both grabbed him by the arms and led him out the back door. Lily could see them through the big bay window. They were rushing down to the water, Peter in hand, and preparing to throw him in.
Lily giggled to herself as Peter struggled to escape the stronger grasps of his friends. It was a useless effort. She could hear him scream as he flew through the air and into the breaking waves.
James let out a bark of laughter before turning to Lily again.
"C'mon, the whole day's going to waste. I think I'm up for a nice lie on the beach." He said with a smile.
Lily was about to answer with a flirtatious reply when she remembered something.
"James! Your parents! Are they okay?" She asked quickly. She had completely forgotten about the attack at the house what with James's story.
James looked relieved that Lily hadn't remembered something else to be mad about.
"Oh yeah! Don't worry they're fine. We helped them stun all the Death Eaters before Mum tied them up and locked them in the downstairs cupboard. They weren't very well trained… Well anyway, Dad was calling the ministry just as we left."
Lily couldn't help but laugh at the thought of James's mother shaking a finger at 6 Death Eaters tied up in a linen closet.
James gave a lopsided grin before saying, "Now really! We're wasting precious beach time here!"
Lily grinned. "Alright, alright! Let's go then!"
Two days later, and the Death Eater and illegal animagus issues seemed like they happened years ago. The sun was shining, and the Marauders were happy to spend their last day of summer vacation at the beach.
James and Sirius had gone straight for the water to surf, a hollering Peter in tow, and Lily and Remus had set out to build a sandcastle.
They had just started working on the turrets when Sirius and James came running up. Peter had apparently long exited the water and was sprawled out on the sand, thoroughly exhausted.
"Moony, I demand that you get in the water this instant!" Sirius said, pulling Remus up by the arm, and trying to pull him towards the water.
Remus yanked back his arm.
"NO! I don't want to." He said fiercely, and plopped back down next to Lily.
James and Sirius exchanged a skeptical glance before each grabbing Remus by an arm and a leg, and catapulting him into the water.
With a scream and a splash, Remus was pulled beneath the waves. After a few worried moments for Lily, he surfaced once more, coughing and sputtering like mad.
"SIRIUS! GET YOUR SODDING ARSE DOWN HERE RIGHT BLOODY NOW!" He yelled over the breaking of the waves.
Sirius cringed and slowly began edging his way towards the water.
James grinned and turned to Lily, who was battling between yelling at James, or laughing out loud. She decided on a slight smile and a flirtatious wink.
James stared, wide-eyed, as she sashayed down to the water, flipping her hair and pulling off the t-shirt she was wearing over her suit. Lily laughed to herself as she made her way to where Sirius and Remus were wrestling in the water, making sure to stay a good distance away from the tussle though.
She waded in till the water was just brushing her knees before turning back to look at James. He was beaming, his surfboard abandoned on the sand, his eyes bright with expectation.
Lily's stomach did a little flip-flop as she watched him. She shivered a bit when the wind picked up, blowing her long scarlet hair wildly about her face. But even as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to preserve the little warmth she had, she decided that she wouldn't change a single thing. Well, except for maybe it being James's arms wrapped around her instead of her own. But she felt more at peace in that moment than ever in her life as she listened to the waves washing ashore, and Sirius and Remus still laughing. And she didn't think she had seen anything so heartwarming as the sight of James coming to meet her in the water. She wondered if anyone else was feeling the way she did. That for one second in a world where everything goes wrong, that everything was just right. And as James pulled her close, she could only think of one thing:
It was the perfect end to the perfect summer.
so what did everyone think? please tell me in a review!! and if you have any funny ideas for stuff that could happen when they get back to Hogwarts, please let me know!! I know that there will defnitely be some Snivellus, some McGonnagal, and some Dumbldore in there.. becuase they all rock my sox... and you guys will too when you all REVIEW!! dude.. i just rhymed... AHHHH is scaring self