A few days later, James was sitting in the Gryffindor common room and tried to read the current edition of 'Which Broomstick'. Sadly, he was way too distracted to focus on the review of the new Nimbus model and therefore had to reread each paragraph at least twice before he had actually understood it. It was terribly annoying. The source of his distractedness were two things: First of all, Remus had decided that today was the day he would try to mend things with Sirius and was currently talking with their estranged friend. The thought set James on edge. He could not even begin to untangle the cluster of emotions it caused him. Remus had barely been gone ten minutes, but James already wished that he would hurry up and get back here. He was dying to know what was going on. To make matters even worse, Lily had chosen today of all days to 'study' with her annoying git of a boyfriend in the common room. Luke Palmer was a tall and thin sixth year, with dark brown hair which he wore slicked back and blue eyes. Palmer was rather popular among the ladies of Hogwarts, but James considered him nothing special. So far, Palmer and he had had very little contact, but since Palmer had started dating Lily, James had stared to dislike him. James knew that this was just his jealously talking and that it was not overly mature of him to think badly of Palmer when he had done nothing at all to antagonize him, but he could not help it. There was something about Palmer which just drove him up the bloody wall. And Lily was making things even worse. The two of them were sitting together on a small couch in one of the corners of the common room. Officially, they were studying for their transfiguration essay, but James found it had to believe that, giving how giggly Lily was all of the sudden. What on earth was going on there? He had never heard her giggle like that during the last six years at Hogwarts.

He tried to tell himself that he was only annoyed at the two of them, because he was trying to read in peace. However, a part of him knew that he probably would not have cared at all if someone other than Lily had been amusing herself in the common room with her boyfriend. He made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. Apparently, he had done that already multiple times in the past minutes, as Marlene who had been sitting next to him the whole time, looked up from her Charms essay and threw him a pitying look.

'What?' asked James.

'Can you please stop doing that?' she said. 'I am trying to concentrate and your huffs are not helping.'

'I am not huffing,' said James moodily. 'And it is impossible to concentrate here anyway with this bloody giggling going on.'

'Just ignore them,' said Marlene. 'What is the matter with you? You are not normally that touchy. And you are not even doing homework anyway. You should be able to read your magazine no matter the noise.'

'It takes a lot of concentration to read that broomstick review properly, thank you very much,' said James. Marlene only rolled her eyes in response. 'I just can't believe that she brought her bloody boyfriend here. This is the Gryffindor common room and he is a Ravenclaw.'

'Oh, and you have never brought a member of another house into Gryffindor tower, right?' asked Marlene.

James had, of course. However, he usually limited himself to bring his guests up to their dorm, rather than studying with them in the common room. Still, he knew that he was a right hypocrite considering how many nights Amber had spent in his bed in this very tower. Still, he had always been stubborn and he was not going to admit that he was wrong to Marlene.

'That is different and you know it,' he said. 'I have never brought them to the common room. Therefore, I have never disrupted the studious atmosphere, just because I had to entertain some guests.'

'Right,' said Marlene. 'Because you care so much about studying. Just admit that the only reason you are angry is that Lily is enjoying herself with her boyfriend only a few feet away.'

'Rubbish,' said James, though it clearly wasn't rubbish at all. 'I would be annoyed even if it was someone else over there.'

'Sure thing, James,' said Marlene. 'You know, you can't fool me with that act. Frankly, I am not surprised. You have fancied Lily for such a long time that it is normal to be jealous of her boyfriend. Frankly, I am surprised that you have handled it that well so far. I expected you to hex Luke at the first opportunity.'

'I think you overestimate Lily's influence on my life,' said James. 'I have not hexed anybody because they were too close to Lily for over a year now.'

'And I am very glad that you have given up that particular habit,' said Marlene. 'Well, I suppose having Amber helps to take your mind of Lily. Though, I have to admit that things are better between Lily and you by now. You can even have a normal conversation without screaming at each other two minutes in. I never would have expected to see the day.'

'Yeah, that is something I don't understand myself,' said James. Normally, he would have tried to change the subject by now, as he was not comfortable with discussing his love life with Marlene, but he saw the opportunity to pick Marlene's brain about Lily's recent behaviour, so he barrelled on. 'Things have improved a lot since we visited that ceremony together. And that does not make sense at all, as we have spent most of the time arguing with each other. When I first offered her my help, she nearly bit my head off and all the time we spent at my place were not fun either. I really can't see why she likes me more now.'

'Well, I have wondered about that myself,' said Marlene. 'I have talked about this with Lily and I think this her first real glance at you as a person. When she looks at you, she tends to see the troublemaker who thinks he is king of the world. The fact that you have helped her, even though the two of you don't even get along, has forced her to adjust that picture. Also, I think that the time you spent together helped Lily better understand you. It was her first real glance at the pure-blood lifestyle and I think it really helped clear things up.'

'You think that Lily and I did not get along, because she is muggle-born and I am pure-blood?' asked James. He was not sure how he felt about that assessment. He liked to think that he treated everyone the same, no matter what blood they had. Was Marlene implying that this was not true?

'I think this is part of it,' said Marlene. 'Not because you purposely treat her differently than others or look down on her. I just think that your upbringing is a huge part of who you are and why you do things in a certain way. You get into a lot of trouble at school, because you see it as an opportunity to be free. Lily could never understand that, because she does not know how stifling being a pure-blood can be. I think that by now she can better understand you and this helps mending the rift between the two of you. Of course this works both ways. You have to understand how she feels as well if the two of you ever want to get along.'

'You know, that actually makes a lot of sense,' said James. 'I have never considered our upbringings before, but you are right. We are from different worlds and therefore of course see things differently.'

'I think part of the reason you are such good friends with Sirius is that the two of you share rather similar fates,' said Marlene. 'You both are heirs of a noble pure-blood family after all. Of course, Sirius is in a much more difficult position than you are, but I general you two can easily relate.'

'Yeah, I guess,' said James. He did not bother to point out that Sirius and he were not seeing eye to eye at the moment. Marlene did not know what happened between them, but she probably had some shrewd idea what was going on. His thoughts returned to Remus. He wondered how things were going with Sirius and him. He glanced at Peter, who was sitting at the table next to them, scribbling at his History of Magic essay. His friend was blissfully unaware of the loaded conversation Remus and Sirius were probably having right now. James had wanted to tell him about it, but Remus had asked him to keep it to himself for now. He had not wanted to get Peter's hopes up, before he had any results. James had honoured his friend's wish, though at the moment he would have gladly swapped with Peter. That way he would not have to think about what was going to happen with his two friends all the time.

'You know, you seem awfully preoccupied,' said Marlene, after silence had fallen between them for a few minutes. 'Is something bothering you?'

'Just thinking about Marauder business,' said James vaguely. He did not want Marlene involved in this issue. Marauder internal affairs were just that: internal. It did not matter that Marlene was his oldest friend. He still kept a lot of secrets from her, including his animagus transformation, the cloak and the Marauder's Map. It was not a matter of trust. He would trust Marlene with almost anything, but the more people knew about a secret, the harder it was to keep. Therefore, the four of them tended to keep all sensitive information close to their chest. This explicitly included girlfriends and casual hook-ups. With their rather mysterious reputation, many girls tried to wheedle their secrets out of them whenever they shagged one of them. Sirius had complained countless times that it was impossible to have a shag in this school without being ask to reveal your deepest secrets. James thought that Sirius had it rather easy, as he was not interested in proper relationships and just moved on to the next girl when he got annoyed or bored. He imagined that keeping the secrets could be a serious hassle when one wanted to have a deep relationship with a girl. Assuming of course said girl was actually interested in knowing these secrets. Amber for example never pried for any information. If he said he was busy one night, she never asked why. Instead, she just accepted it and made different plans. James wondered whether this acceptance was caused by their strange pseudo relationship or just part of her character. Whatever the reason, he definitely liked it. It certainly made his life easier. It was hard to find suitable excuses why you could not spent the night and he had to come up with one every full moon. You could only keep lying for so long after all. Still, James was sure that he would not tell her what he was doing even if she kept pressing him. He was too loyal to his friends to spill the beans for a bird. If Amber were to press him too much, he would just have to break up with her. That was just the way it was. An uncomfortable thought streaked though James's mind at the moment. Would he find it so easy to protect their secrets if he was dating Lily Evans? Would he be able to break things off if he could no longer lie to her? James knew without a doubt that Lily would never accept being kept in the dark. After all, she was even now prying into what they were up to and they had only become friends recently. James could barely imagine how close an eye she would keep on him if they were dating. Not that that would ever happen. Or would it? They were more or less friendly after all at the moment. Maybe something could grow out of that if she ever decided to ditch Palmer... James pushed the thought away. He was with Amber and should not obsess over Evans! He was already thinking about dating problems before they had even started after all!

'Ah yes, Marauder business,' said Marlene. 'Do I have to worry about some half-witted prank? You guys have been very quiet during the last few weeks. Are you planning anything big?'

'You know, I can't tell you,' said James. It was true that they had not being active. Without Sirius neither Remus, nor Peter, nor James had felt like pranking anyone. James found it hard to believe that merely a few months ago, he had spent so much of his energy on something as trivial as pranks. Looking back, these days suddenly seemed much brighter and more carefree than today. Well, there still was hope that everything would be alright again if they managed to mend things with Sirius. That clearly was the first step to recovery.

The portrait hole opened and Remus stepped through. James heart gave a lurch. He tried to gauge Remus's mood, but his friend's face was carefully blank. Still, James considered it a good sign that he was not visibly angry. That probably meant that Sirius had behaved himself. Remus motioned James to get up to the dormitory and walked up the steps himself. James bade goodbye to Marlene and hurried after him. He could feel Marlene's interested gaze on his back. She probably was going to grill him about this later. Well, it could not be helped. He burst into the dormitory at top speed and hurriedly closed the door behind him.

'And?' he asked Remus. 'What did he say?'

Before answering him, Remus cast a locking charm followed by a silencing charm on the door.

'We had a rather good talk,' said Remus. 'He apologized for his behaviour and tried to explain to me why he did it. I cannot say that I really understand him, but I can see now that he did not intend to hurt me with his betrayal. I am not sure that things will ever be the same again, but I think we should try being friends again.'

James released a breath that he had not realized he had been holding. Relief washed over him. Remus and Sirius had worked things out! Everything was going to be as it had been before the rift! Before he could get overexcited about that new, his mind caught up with him. He was getting ahead of himself.

'Are you sure you are alright with this?' he asked Remus. 'Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that you two had a good talk, but this is a lot to forgive. I don't want you to forgive him, just because you feel like you owe me something.'

'We have been over this, James,' sighed Remus. 'I am not having that discussion again. What's done is done. I have decided to give things with Sirius another try and you will have to accept that.'

'Alright,' said James, recognizing a lost cause when he saw one. He did not like Remus's reasoning, but he was glad that his friend had decided to mend things with Sirius nevertheless. However, one more problem remained: He still had to patch things up with his former best mate. James's stomach lurched uncomfortable at that thought. Their last discussion about that particular topic had been very heated. He was not sure whether he would be able to talk to Sirius without losing his temper again. That probably dependent on how difficult Sirius was going to be. Still, there was no avoiding it. Things were only going to go back to normal if both Remus and he would forgive Sirius. Oh, and Peter as well, though James did not imagine that to be very difficult. Peter tended to follow the other's example and if both Remus and James were in favour of forgiving their wayward friend, Peter would be fine with it as well. However, knowing that something was necessary and scoping up the courage to do it were two very different things. James hated the thought of having to talk with Sirius. He had avoided it for so long by now that it felt unnatural to seek his friend out.

'I think we should get this over with today,' said Remus. 'Sirius mentioned that he was going to head down to the kitchens for some dessert. I am sure that you will still be able to find him there if you hurry. You know how much his loves sweets. He is going to take this time.'

'Yeah, you are probably right,' said James. 'I could hop down there. Where are the map and the cloak?'

'I put them on your bed,' said Remus.

'Oh,' said James. He had hoped that both items were someplace hard to reach so that he would be able to buy some time.

'Well, if you think it is a good idea, than I suppose I could head out now. I don't want to overwhelm Sirius, you know. After all, the two of you have just talked. Maybe it would be a good idea to give him some time to process it all, you now.'

'James,' said Remus gently. 'You are making up reasons not to go. I understand that it is not easy for you, but it will be fine, I promise. Just go down there and have a talk with him. All you have to do is not lose your temper and it will be fine.'

'Alright, alright,' said James. He did not like being pushed like that, but he knew that Remus was right. It was about time that he let all of this behind him. 'Come looking for me if I am not back in an hour, will you? I think there is a serious risk that Sirius and I will trade some hexes.'

'Will do,' said Remus, though he rolled his eyes at James's dramatics.

James bade him goodbye, grabbed the map and the cloak and was on his way.

Five minutes later, he entered the school kitchens. He spotted Sirius right away, sitting on a small stool in a corner with a basket of éclairs in front of him which he seemed to demolish at top speed. James made his way over to his wayward friend while waving at the house elves. He was familiar with most of them as the Marauders had started visiting the kitchens back in their second year. He plopped down on a stool next to Sirius who seemed to have trouble believing that James was really here.

'Hello Sirius,' said James.

'Well, it seems that this is my lucky day,' said Sirius after swallowing the bits of éclair in his mouth. 'First Moony, than you. Did you two plan this?'

'Not entirely,' said James. 'Remus has decided that he wanted to talk to you. Apparently, things went well, as he told me to join you down here, so that we can work things out.'

'And he managed to convince your stubborn arse?' asked Sirius. 'I am impressed.'

James felt a spike of anger at Sirius's callous words. He was no more stubborn than Sirius was, after all! Nevertheless, he swallowed the scalding response on his tongue. Sirius was trying to provoke him, probably to see what exactly James was trying to do. He probably did not believe that James was here to fix things. James could not blame him for that. After all, so far he had done very little to mend the rift between them.

'He did,' said James softly.

'He must be more persuasive than I thought, then,' said Sirius. 'Well, what do you want to talk about?'

'What did you talk about with Remus?' asked James rather than answering Sirius's question. He had hoped that Sirius would make things easier for him, but so far his former best mate was only stalling for time.

'That is between him and me,' said Sirius. 'I don't blab about private conversations.'

'Could have fooled me,' said James, before he could help himself. Sirius gave him a sharp look and for a moment James thought that he would rise to the bait. Then, to his great surprise, Sirius deflated visibly and just looked defeated.

'I suppose, I deserved that,' he said quietly. 'Listen, James I am sorry about telling Snape Moony's secret. I will never betray any of us again for as long as I live! I promise! I would rather die!'

He looked James straight in the eye as he pledged his loyalty. Grey eyes met hazels ones and James could see that Sirius was telling the truth. Sirius had always been a loyal person, as was visualized by his animagus form. James believed that his friend had learned something from the recent months and that he really would rather die than betray any more of their secrets.

'I know,' said James. Shock flooded over Sirius's face. He clearly had not expected James to be that understanding. Relief followed the surprise quickly and Sirius face split into a huge smile. 'I know that you did not intend to hurt Moony when you sent Snape down there, but if you ever harm him in such a way ever again, then we are done for good.'

'Fair enough,' said Sirius. 'And I won't hurt him like that ever again, I promise. I... I have missed you, James. More than I would have thought. Not just you, of course, the others as well. I thought I would be fine on my own, but it seems that I was wrong. I want things to go back to normal and I am willing to do whatever it takes to make things right.'

'You don't have to do anything,' said James. 'Hearing that you are sorry from someone as stubborn as you is more than enough. Welcome back, Padfoot.'

Sirius looked as him as though he was mad.

'That's it?' he asked incredulously. 'You just forgive me like that? I would have thought that you would make me beg, just to prove your point! Don't you even want to know why I did it?'

'I already know why,' said James. 'You were angry and hurt, so you lashed back at Snape using his own curiosity against him. Remus was just a tool for your revenge. It was a cunning plan, but it also was cold and cruel. I can understand why you did it Sirius, but it was wrong nevertheless. I had a lot of time to think about this night during the last month and I can't continue blaming you for what you did. You acted like you were taught to act from a very young age and I should not fault for you that. I should have been there to support you against Snape and I should have stopped you before you even put that plan into motion. Instead, I left you on your own, even though I should have known better. I am at least partially responsible for that night as well.'

'Bullocks,' said Sirius. 'You are not my father or my babysitter, James. You are not to blame for my actions! I am a big boy, I am responsible for my actions!'

'Then proof it!' said James. 'Proof that you don't need me to hold your leash! You like to say that you are so different from your family, but tricking Snape like that was Slytherin to the core! So what is it, Sirius? Are you different from your rotten family or are you not? If you are, then act like it and don't rely on me as your bloody moral compass! I still believe that you are a good person at heart, which is why I want to mend things with you. But this doesn't mean that I am going to turn a blind eye to such behaviour. I may have missed you like hell during our month apart, but I can't stay friends with a bad person. Please, Sirius, don't make walk away from you.'

Sirius was silent for a moment. He looked dumb struck by James outburst. James wondered whether he had gone too far. Sirius was notoriously bad in talking about his emotions or even in admitting they existed in the first place. Maybe James had scared him off, by cutting to the heart of the matter. After all, this was what the rift was really about: Whether or not Sirius truly was a good person. Well, there was no going back now. He would just have to see what his friend was going to do now. Still, James preferred to openly state what you wanted even if it could have consequences rather than bottling it all up and suffering in silence. He had done enough dancing around the issue over the last month after all.

'Alright', said Sirius a few minutes later.

'What?' asked James, who had not expected that answer at all. 'What is that supposed to mean?'

'It means, that I am going to try to be a good person, obviously,' said Sirius, rolling his eyes. 'Have you not been paying attention?'

Now it was James's turn to be surprised by an easy victory.

'I would have expected more of a fight,' said James wearily. 'Honestly, I half expected you to blow up at me, denying that you are anything like your family and then punching me in the face, before you stalked out of the room.'

'Don't be so dramatic, Prongs,' said Sirius. 'I never would have done that.'

James only gave him a sharp look in reply.

'Alright, maybe I would have done that in other circumstances,' admitted Sirius. 'But you are not the only one who had a lot of time to think about everything. I have thought long and hard about that night and I have come to more or less the same conclusion as you have. It is not easy to admit, but that night I reverted back to the behaviour my family taught me during all those years. I am not proud of it and it is not going to happen again. I promise.'

'Great,' said James, relieved at how repentant Sirius was. It was not like him at all. Normally, his best mate never apologized for anything he had done nor did he seek other person's forgiveness. The last few weeks must have been harder on Sirius than James had expected. He decided not to point that out though. The conversation was already heavy enough without him poking at Sirius's central character traits. 'I am sure, you will not disappoint me Sirius.'

Sirius looked at him again and for a moment James thought his best mate was going to cry. The relief on Sirius's face was gone a split second later, though. It was replaced by his normal carefully neutral expression. James bit back a smile. He should have known. Sirius had always had trouble showing his true feeling, probably because of his upbringing. Many pure-bloods liked to appear stoic, so they discourage their children from showing their emotions at all. James's parents had not placed too much importance on that issue, but Sirius's clearly had. Sirius would probably never admit, how important making up with James was for him, but James knew nevertheless. The short flash of emotion on his friend's face was more than enough for him. James thought it was best to end their conversation now. They were already way out of their comfort zone and everything important had been said. Now, all that remained was to wait and see whether they would truly be friends again. James did not know for sure, but he was rather optimistic.

'Thanks, Prongs,' said Sirius quietly, ending James's train of thought.

'Anytime, Padfoot,' said James.

Silence fell between the two of them. James briefly considered leaving, but he could not gather the necessary energy. The short but intense talk with Sirius had been exhausting. Instead, he reached into the basket at Sirius's feet and took an éclair out of it. He shoved it in his mouth and started chewing. It was the best éclair of his life.