A/N: Hello my lovely readers! Enjoy!

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Prompt: Calm before the storm

June, 1978

This was it. It really was it. The four Marauders, closer than anyone Hogwarts had seen since the Founders themselves, stood in their dormitory for the last time. It was finally over. Seven years had flown by.

"Well, we did it," Sirius smiled, a slightly sad undertone to his voice.

"Yeah," James replied, "we graduated."

Silence fell in the dorm once again, the only noise in the room was Peter shuffling his things, finishing his packing. The door was shut, though there was nothing unusual about that. They always kept the door shut, due to the secrets shared in the room between the four.

"What will we do now?" Peter finally asked. The other three simply looked at each other for a moment. Remus cleared his throat.

"Well, get jobs I suppose. Try to survive. Help in any way we can."

James nodded his agreement, adding to the statement, "We just have to do our best and survive this war. I know we can. Together anyways." He thought of the previous years. It was so calm. Even in fifth year, things were calmer than now! In third year, war was just a rumor, not what was on everyone's mind in the halls of Hogwarts. Where had the blissful ignorance gone.

Sirius watched James, as if reading his mind. He couldn't take the depression in the room anymore. He stood up on his trunk so he was taller than everyone(which was needed, since Remus managed to outgrown them all), and grinned. "Oi! You lot! Listen to yourselves!" Remus and James shared a look at this point, both wondering where this was going.

"This is our last day at Hogwarts. Cheer up! There's always calm before the storm. We know this because we were the storm for years. Now the storm's bigger than all of us. So what do we do?" He asked the group in general.

"Enlighten us Padfoot," Remus replied.

"I'll tell you what we do!" He shouted, throwing a pillow to Peter who caught it, even to his own suprise. "We. Fight. Back!" Sirius said, jumping off his trunk, punctuating each word with a punch to the pillow poor Peter had the misfortune of holding.

"Calm down a bit mate, you're going to kill Wormtail," James joked. Sirius just flashed a smile and ruffled Peter's hair before standing in the middle of the dorm to continue his speech. No one could stop him now.

"Dumbledore has offered us positions in the Order. A way we can fight back. A way we can protect others, and ourselves. We will survive this war! Because we are the Marauders! Who could take us down? No one! Nothing! So stop feeling sad guys, it's pathetic," He joked, grinning.

"Hear hear!" James shouted, getting up and slinging an arm around Sirius' shoulders. Sirius dragged Remus to his feet and slung an arm around his shoulders while James did the same to Peter. They all walked down to the Great Hall just like that, singing of Gryffindor victories, heartbreak, getting the girl, exams, pranks, and whatever else popped into their heads.

For many, they were the calm before the storm in those moments, a distraction from what laid ahead.

1995

Harry couldn't believe it. The entire wizarding world still didn't believe Voldemort was back. Instead, they acted like nothing was wrong and he was just causing trouble. There was a quote that popped into his mind when he thought of this.

This was the calm before the storm.

When the storm came, he only hoped that they would be ready.

'Cause storms don't wait until you're ready to hit. They hit when they want to.

He shook his head and put down the photo he had found in Sirius' room. It showed the four boys, the Marauders, arms around each other, grinning and waving at the camera.

"Harry," Someone called from the doorway. Harry turned to find Sirius standing there, smiling. He returned the smile.

"What's up Sirius?"

"Molly says it's time for dinner. Come on, let's go before she murders us both," He grinned. Harry nodded and walked down ahead of him. Sirius noticed the picture on the table that Harry had just been looking at.

"Calm before the storm. . ." He muttered to himself, shutting the door to not only the room, but the memories of that day. They were young, confident, had the world at their feet.

How far the confident have to fall.

And he couldn't help but feel sorry for the current generation, in the kitchen by now no doubt. They didn't even get to enjoy the ignorance that they once did.

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