Tramontane: Being or situated beyond the mountains

February 17, 1978

"What are we doing here, again?" Sirius groaned, dragging himself over the crest of a heap of rocks.

Remus slid down beside him with a grinding of gravel.

"Because James wanted us to come," he muttered, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Ow, Moony," Sirius complained, elbowing Remus back. "I'm sore enough from this bloody –"

"We're climbing mountains," James called over his shoulder, several yards ahead of them on the path. He leapt lightly down from the lip of a ledge and Sirius muttered, "Show off."

"But what's the point?" Peter whined, struggling to mount the obstruction Sirius and Remus had just cleared. He was sweaty and red, and his robes were torn already.

"We've been running about the grounds for nearly seven years. Don't you think it's funny we've never thought to see what was on the other side?"

"But we can apparate. Why climb the mountains?"

"Because they're there," Lily supplied, taking pity on Peter and levitating him a few feet up the rocky slope.

"Come on, Lily, you know the rules!" James called from his perch down the path, waiting for the rest to catch up to him. "No cheating!"

"Sorry!" she called back, flashing him a sheepish smile as she stowed her wand back in her pocket.

"Well I think he's finally cracked," Sirius muttered as Peter heaved himself, panting, to the top of the rock pile and began to half-slide-mostly-roll down the other side. "Wormy's gonna have a heart attack before we make it halfway."

Lily smacked the back of his head as she scrambled past, overtaking him and Remus as they clumsily navigated the ledge. "Humor him," she hissed. "It's the seventeenth."

Sirius scowled, but he renewed his efforts to catch up with James.

James leapt at the mountain as though he were trying to conquer it, as though his life depended on winning this fight.

"Not everything's as easy as spinning around and popping up somewhere else," he grunted, skittering down another steep slope and landing on all fours at the bottom, looking up at the imperious peak of the real mountain looming over them. He sprang up and took a running start for the incline. "If we can't climb a mountain, why should we even bother trying to stop a war?"

Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter paused to look at each other. James pulled himself up onto the first crest of the mountain. He bent down and pulled Lily up beside him, wrapping his arms around her waist, and the pair of them stood silhouetted against the bright winter sky, standing in the shadow of that great, looming mass. There was a hard look on James's face that his friends had only seen once; nine months ago the night his father had died.

After that, none of the rest raised objections. They fought the rock and earth alongside James, if only to prove that they could see what lay on the other side. If only to prove that nothing could stop them form fighting, not even something as immovable as mountains.

A/N: Okay, I had the chapter for the sixteenth all written up and saved. Wrote it on the plane and was so proud of myself because it was super early in the morning and I was staying on top of things. But then I accidentally deleted it. So now I have to write it over again. But I figured I'd post this one now because it's done and this is the first chance I've gotten to upload anything. We've been going nonstop down here in Florida and now my homework is piling up, so we'll see if I can catch up quickly, but I'll give it my best! I've at least got ideas for the four chapters I've got to write tomorrow!

Oh yeah, and There's a bit of Marauders' backstory revealed both in this chapter and the one from the fifteenth. If ever I write my story exclusively about them, it shall all be explained in detail. But the seventeenth is the nine month anniversary of James's father's death.

Thanks so much for reviewing! You guys make my whole day with your words! :D