The second week of exams began with Divination for James and Sirius (it was easy enough and they liked having the time to chat through class), while Peter took Muggle Studies a class he actually managed to excel at. Those exams were followed by History of Magic, and then Arithmancy for Remus while the other boys had a day off. The second to last exam was Defense Against the Dark Arts. They all did wonderfully of course, even Peter managed to squeeze through that exam with an Acceptable score.

It was right after this exam that the boys were feeling quite cocky after their superior performances. It was a beautiful day and even more beautiful girls were standing around laughing right across the sloping lawn. It was for these and a few other less savory reasons that Sirius gladly took James' suggestion to bully Snape. After what Snape did to Remus, after almost ruining their friendship, the prat deserved all that he got. Sirius laughed heartily as James hoisted Snape into the air, not noticing Remus' sullen frown at their antics. Remus glanced at Lily after Snape called her that horrible name, and he was ashamed to say that when her emerald eyes met his brown ones he looked away.

At long last after hours spent studying and working the dreaded OWL Exams were finally over. The fifth years gathered together on the lawn in the bright sun laughing and smiling, discussing the upcoming summer holidays and all that was in store. The Marauders sat in the center of the festivities as usual, James keeping a nervous looking second year Hufflepuff in the air above the Black Lake to cheers and laughter of his fellow students.

"Alright Charlie, I'm going to let you down now."

"Ok."

James dropped the boy with vigor, a loud splash sounding as he fell through the surface of the lake. They watched for a moment as the surface rippled, Charlie resurfacing spitting and spluttering to even louder cheers as he swam towards the bank.

"Great going Charlie! And here's the galleon I promised you."

Charlie grinned nervously up at James, taking the galleon with pride, his robes and hair soaking wet. He ran off towards his friends who laughed and grinned at him, applauding his bravery in facing the famous James Potter.

"Alright who's next?" James shouted, a number of equally nervous looking first and second years raising their hands.

Remus, however, was not standing with his fellow mischief makers. He was waiting in the castle, right in front of the Great Hall, for one Lily Evans to make her way down from the dorm where she had been holed up the past few days. At long last he saw her walking with her head down, hiding her red eyes behind a curtain of hair, and quickly cornered her although she tried fervently to get away.

"Lily, can I talk to you?" Remus asked, forcing her to turn around and face him.

"What is it Remus?" She asked, tiredly.

"Look, I'm sorry about the other day. I know I should've…"

She cut him off. "…It's nothing. Let's just move on."

"Lily, you don't understand." He tried to speak again, but once again she cut him off.

"What is there to understand? You were right. Snape's a git and never cared about me, let's move on." Lily tried to walk away again, but Remus grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Lily, that's not why I'm here." He said.

"What are you her for then?" Lily asked quietly, not wanting to trust the boy in front of her.

"To apologize, I should have stopped them. I know, but I just couldn't." Remus said it quickly at first, before slowly tapering off in shame.

"Why not?" Lily asked him, her words barely more than a whisper.

"Lily, if I lose them…I."

He couldn't finish that sentence, so Lily spoke up: "How would you lose them Remus?"

"If I tell them off too much, I'm already such a burden as is…" He cut himself off this time.

"You're not a burden, Remus, how can you say that?" Lily asked, reaching for him to try to provide comfort. He shied away.

"You don't know me that well." He said, choking up.

"Remus." She looked at him, as if wondering if she should ask her next question.

"Remus, the others they call you Moony is that right?"

He avoided her eyes.

"Why Remus?"

"I don't know just a nickname I guess." Remus shrugged, still not meeting her eyes.

"Remus, you can tell me." Lily said.

"No. I can't." He said it rather loudly and Lily winced.

"You'll never look at me the same. You won't…" He quieted down, not sure what to say.

"Remus, you're my friend. Nothing's going to change that." Lily said. It was the first time she'd said that out loud since their initial fight.

He didn't answer.

"Are you sick Remus?" She asked him tentatively.

"Not sick, not in the traditional sense." He said, still avoiding the question.

"But in another sense?" She asked.

At this question Remus nodded and collapsed into Lily's arms. She held him as he blinked the tears away, trying to get a grip on himself. She finally broke the silence.

"I know it's not the same, but I do know how it feels to be hated for something you can't control." She said, willing herself not to choke up.

"Lily, I didn't think…" Remus pulled away, immediately considering her burdens above his own.

"Hey, I just said it's not the same." Lily said, scoldingly.

"Remus, you're never going to lose me ok? You mean a great deal to me." She said.

"Yeah, so do you." Remus said.

"And I will say Potter's a lot of things but his loyalty is unparalleled. He could almost be a Slytherin with the lengths he'd go to protect his friends." Lily said with a smirk.
"Don't tell him that, you might end his ceaseless admiration for you." Remus said with a laugh.

"You mean he might stop asking me out every 5 minutes? Tempting." Lily looked as if she was considering it, causing Remus to chuckle again.

"Don't be afraid to follow your moral compass Remus, you're a good man and a good friend. They'd be fools to let you get away." She said to him.

Remus nodded.

"I'll see you at the feast."

Remus nodded. Lily left, with one last smile back at him. He watched her leave, feeling as if a weight was lifted off his chest.

That evening the students of Hogwarts were all aglow, the Gryffindors in particular rowdier than usual basking in the glory of the House Cup for the third year in a row. Ever since James had joined the Quidditch team as chaser in his third year, Gryffindor had been nearly unstoppable despite the loads of points the Marauders still managed to lose for their house through their mischief. The great hall was decorated in the splendid colors of scarlet and gold and the group was laughing and making loud raucous conversation as they ate. As the last specks of pudding disappeared from the tables Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet, preparing to give his closing speech.

"Another year gone. We have had plenty of fun, and hopefully have learned much. I would just like to thank…"

His words tapered off when he noticed the great floods of water which had begun to fill the great hall. Seeming to come from within the floor it was quickly covered in a solid 2 inches of water, growing ever higher all the time. The tables and stools began to rise with it, floating upon the water as people both laughed and shouted in alarm. The professors could only stare in shock at the oncoming flood as the Marauders grinned at their handiwork laughing as the water grew ever deeper and a shark fin became quite visible circling the Slytherin table. The screams coming from that side were largely forgotten as Sirius jumped atop the Gryffindor table shouting at the top of his voice:

"Beach party!"

It was like a dam had burst as students from all of the houses began cheering, stripping off their robes, and in the boys' case dress shirts.

Sirius tied his tie around his head, ripping off his pants to reveal swim trunks underneath. James laughed, removing his own dress shirt and tie to reveal a rather chiseled figure from the many days spent in quidditch training. They both reveled in the very obvious giggles of girls glancing their way, and James would swear until his dying day that he saw Lily Evans hide a blush.

Futile cries of "Alright, everyone please calm down. Be civil." From McGonogall were fully ignored, as Professor Flitwick made a rather lackluster effort to remove the water from sight. The vast majority of the professors at the table were looking highly amused, Hagrid chuckling at the sight of the students who had spent the better part of three weeks breaking down having an absolute blast together. He couldn't help but feel proud of the boys who he knew were behind it all, noting the mischievous grins that even Remus was proving unable to hide. Dumbledore himself moved towards the bottom of the head table, removing his shoes and actually dipping his toes in the water to McGonogall's great surprise and bafflement.

James and Sirius were the first ones to dive in, the apprehension of their fellow students quickly overruled by a desire to at least try and show off as impressively as Sirius who had landed an exceptional swan dive. Peter quickly removed his own shirt revealing quite a chubby figure beneath to the snickers of the Slytherins who were still standing on their table to avoid the shark. James noticed, sending a spell subtly their way causing a fully grown shark to jump up snapping at the boys who had insulted Peter. They yiped and then scowled in his direction. But he hardly took any notice of them, shouting to Peter:

"Go on Wormtail! Jump in."

Peter nodded, moving to the edge of the table cautiously. He dipped a toe in the water and yelped in shock as Sirius emerged from below grabbing his foot and pulling the rest of him down. James laughed loudly at this with even Remus letting out a light chuckle at Sirius' antics as Peter rose up sputtering but laughing too.

"Come on Remus, the water's fine!" A Ravenclaw boy shouted from the opposite side of the pool. James and Sirius exchanged nervous looks at that, but Remus was prepared for this, having mastered making excuses to keep himself fully clothed, and thus his scars covered.

"Forgot my trunks McLaggen, and besides you've got bigger worries."

"What?" McLaggen turned around a second too late as Peeves the Poltergeist, always one to encourage chaos, dropped a balloon full of leftover gravy on top of his head.

"Ugh, nasty."

James and Sirius cracked up at this as Peeves gave them a cheeky salute, moving towards a group of first years to try and "suggest" that they join their fellow students in the pool. McLaggen dipped his head underneath the water clearly trying to scrub the gravy out of his hair, emerging from the pool with only a few spots remaining.

The Marauders, meanwhile, were basking in their success. Remus had taken Dumbledore's lead, removing his socks and shoes and rolling up his pants in order to let his legs dangle in the water. James, Sirius and a number of other boys in their year were engaged in a game of keepaway with Peter's watch. ("My grandfather gave that to me! It's not funny guys!"). The candles floating above created a glittering beauty on the water like sunlight, and when contrasted with the beauty of the clear night sky the impression of a night swim under candlelight was complete, a quite romantic setting in any other situation. Boys and girls alike swam across the pool of water towards the exit through which Filch burst, evidently having finally caught wind of what was going on.

"Headmaster, the entrance hall, it's a disaster. And look at this mess. I'll be mopping this up for days, weeks!"

"Months even!" Shouted Sirius as James snickered in response.

Many of the students, even those Slytherins still trapped on their table along with some groups who didn't feel like swimming, looked over their shoulders to see what exactly had happened to the entrance hall. Their fellow students exclaimed in amazement before divulging into fits of laughter, noting the suits of armor decorated with leis and coconut bras as well as a beach composed of bright white sand. It was very impressive. Even Lily Evans, who had reluctantly joined Remus at the edge of the Gryffindor table, was looking upon this newfound section in awe.

"I believe we did say it was a beach party. Go on!" With a wave of his wand Sirius seemed to construct a wooden pathway, much like a dock, out of thin air. In reality, the Marauders had spent weeks constructing this dock beforehand so that only a simple transportation spell was required to put it in its place. The dock led to the house tables as well as the staff table, over the top of the watery section of the great hall. The water miraculously managed to stay in the hall despite the doors being wide open as if held in place by an invisible barrier. Filch stared on in shock as a number of the now soaking wet students, along with those who had chosen to stay in their seats made their way towards this new wonder of the Marauders. The beachy area was the perfect temperature, and how they'd manage to replicate the feeling of the hot sun on their backs the other students never knew. However, it was quite a beautiful sight, lying on this homemade beach at 9 PM, feeling like the day had just begun. The event lasted quite a while, with even the professors enjoying quite a few games of beach volleyball before McGonogall finally approached Remus with a stern look across her otherwise slightly amused expression.

"I trust you made sure that there was a way to reverse all of this?"

Remus shrugged. "Not me."

He gestured towards James who was currently carrying Sirius around on piggyback as Peter ran after them still reaching desperately for his watch which Sirius now held nearly six more feet above his already short stature.

"Potter?"

"He figured Filch would be pretty angry if we left him to clean all this up."

"I figure the same. This is quite an impressive bit of magic. You know, you boys could really do a lot of good in this world if you stopped looking for so much trouble."

Remus shrugged, glancing again at his friends with an amused expression, along with the other students having a blast on the beach. Among these students was Lily Evans who just a few hours ago had been absolutely miserable and with this simple act was finally able to enjoy some time with her fellow Gryffindor girls before she left them for another summer.

"I'd say this was a pretty good thing, wouldn't you Professor?"

Professor McGonogall offered him a sly smile turning on her heel and leaving Remus to do what he did best, and watch the other children play. He had always enjoyed watching people. He didn't get to do it very often, as his home was in the middle of nowhere and his parents didn't enjoy taking him places for fear of his condition. However, on the rare occasion that he was brought along on a trip to Diagon Alley he would sit at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor while his mother and father shopped and just watch. You can learn a great deal about people by just watching. Their expressions while talking, the way they carry themselves, their body language, it all plays into it. Tonight, Remus was keeping an eye in particular on the Slytherins who were mostly either back in their common room or sulking in the corner watching the madness unfold. As was Remus' way he noticed one student acting differently from the rest. This particular student watched his classmates with a glint of amusement in his eye, suppressing laughter, but allowing himself a small smile as he watched his big brother finally lose hold of the watch as Peter tackled James from behind, knocking them both to the ground. They got up laughing just like usual and Regulus Black couldn't help but let out a tiny chuckle, trying to cover his joy, but failing, as he didn't have a set of long unruly locks to cover his face. His hair was cropped short to his ears, and he wore green and silver just like the rest of his family. But it didn't change the fact that watching his big brother covered in sand getting dog piled by a number of other boys was highly amusing. Before Regulus left the entrance hall he put on a haughty look, which Remus noticed didn't quite meet his eyes. He then turned around with a dramatic flourish reminiscent of his brother, evidently heading towards the dungeons and his dormitory.

"Come on Remus!" Remus heard James shout to him as Sirius tried and failed to remove himself from his position stuck underneath several Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws, and one lone Hufflepuff.

"Alright, alright!" Remus stumbled across the shifting sand, jumping on the very top of the pile, leading to a loud grunt from Sirius.

"Moony, you traitor."

Remus laughed, as Sirius spoke up again: "The light is fading! I can't take much more."

"Alright boys, enough horseplay. Potter, Black, let's send all this away shall we? It's getting late."

McGonogall's chipped demeanor was enough to cause most of the remaining students to finally brush the sand off their knees and head towards the stairwell and so their dormitories, clapping the four marauders on the back, James and Sirius getting the vast majority of the praise as usual.

"I really don't know why you want this sent away Minnie. Picture this, a beach at breakfast, lunch and dinner, pumpkin juice by the bay."

Sirius held his hands up, trying to paint the picture. McGonogall glowered at him.

"Alright, alright. Prongs, if you please."

James was flirting with Mary Macdonald, but at his nickname turned lazily towards Sirius and McGonogall who was glancing at him expectantly.

"Alright, Scourgify Evanesco Maxima". With a meaningful wave of James' wand the water and sand began to drain back from where it came. All that remained were the leis and coconut bras. McGonogall looked very impressed.

"And where exactly did you send all the water and sand Potter?"

"Oh come on Minnie you'll ruin the fun," James responded with a grin.

"Get to your dormitories boys."

"See you next year professor!"

The Marauders walked off together, McGonogall shaking her head as Sirius pushed himself into a handstand, managing to move quite a few steps on his hands before falling forward with a thump and the response of James' loud laugh. James walked with his arms around Peter and Remus, thrilled at the success of their mischief making that day. She watched them turn the corner before turning in the opposite direction, making her way through the halls of the castle until she arrived at a statue of a large gargoyle.

"Fudge Flies," the password having been spoken, the gargoyle began to move, revealing a staircase which led to the headmaster's office.

McGonogall made her way up to the door, where she knocked politely, immediately hearing the words: "Come in."

"Albus," McGonogall said.

The wizened headmaster looked at her over his half-moon spectacles with tired eyes which he rarely displayed to anyone but his most trusted staff, Minerva among them.

"Yes, Minerva, come in." He replied, gesturing for her to take a seat before his desk.

Minerva complied, settling herself in the office which she had visited many times throughout her own years at Hogwarts for various reasons, most notably putting in a special request to receive animagus training from none other than the wizard sitting before her. That felt like a lifetime ago now as she sat across from the man who was working around the clock to organize a secret army without the ministry's knowledge.

"So, that was quite a spectacle wasn't it?" McGonogall broke the silence, never one to talk around issues preferring to face them head on.

"Along with a brilliant bit of magic." Dumbledore replied, a little bit of that old sparkle returning to his eyes.

"Yes, I suppose so." McGonogall chuckled, "What are we going to do with them?"

Dumbledore stood at this moment, pacing back and forth as he often did when turning over an idea in his mind.

Still, he spoke on, "Recruit them, hopefully. If Potter's willingness to assist you was any indication…"

"Yes, you know his parents." McGonogall replied, watching patiently as Dumbledore turned to stroking his long beard. "I'm sure he will be more than happy to assist. But I wish we didn't have to do this so soon Albus. They're just boys after all."

Dumbledore seemed to sympathize with the pain behind McGonogall's eyes thinking of the carefree nature that so encompassed the Marauders, as unruly as they were, she had no real desire to snuff it out.

"There's a war brewing Minerva, in fact it has already started. The Ministry is not doing anything to combat it, and I cannot sit by and watch this happen again."

McGonogall nodded, well aware of Dumbledore's narrow defeat of Grindelwald nearly 30 years before. That was long after he had gained far more power than You-Know-Who had yet to obtain, so of course Dumbledore would hope to cut him off before he could ever get to that point.

"Every wizard we gain in this fight is one more step towards beating Him."

McGonogall nodded again.

"Do you believe Black will fight?" Dumbledore asked, turning to McGonogall with a grave expression.

"I guarantee it," she said without hesitation. "Wherever Potter goes he'll go, no matter his family name, of that I can assure you."

Dumbledore nodded, turning away from McGonogall once again, staring out at the moon, nearly full again. His mind drifted to a certain boy whom he had full confidence would fight alongside his friends, however painful his transformations. His desire for a normal life would always be overshadowed by his need for justice because of the injustices he had always faced and would continue to face for the rest of his days, unless by some miracle the wizarding world was finally able to overcome the years of prejudice towards his kind.

"That'll be all for tonight Minerva." McGonogall nodded, knowing when Dumbledore needed time to himself.

"Yes, Professor." She replied, making her way towards the exit.

Dumbledore turned his attention to a document which one James Potter had snuck into the castle under his invisibility cloak, a document which contained a letter confirming one more recruit to the fight against Voldemort. Dumbledore himself didn't believe in using He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who, any of the names they'd come up with for him. He would always be Tom Riddle, although Voldemort was easier to swallow. Voldemort was a monster, a murderer, a man who had nothing to do with the boy that Dumbledore had seen so much of himself in. Dumbledore himself had been told in his youth that he would have made a fine Slytherin given his excessive amounts of ambition and pride. However, it was ultimately family, like so many, that drew Dumbledore to Gryffindor house. Dumbledore glanced at Fawkes, moving towards his perch to run his finger along his soft feathers. Fawkes cooed, leaning into Dumbledore's gentle touch. The namesake of Dumbledore's organization was owed to this bird, and so he grabbed a piece of parchment from his desk drawer, dipped his quill in ink, and wrote "Dedalus Diggle" underneath the five or so names which decorated the paper which bore the title "The Order of the Phoenix".