Hello everyone! So this is flashing back to the beginning of last chapter, but from Peter's point of view rather than James'. I'm using this chapter to explore how that fight was resolved more specifically and the Marauders' perspective on the funeral. Hope you enjoy!

Peter woke up in the prefects' lounge, back stiff from sleeping on the chair for the third night in a row. He yawned and stretched, cracking his limbs as he made his way to the private shower. Having a friend who was a prefect certainly had its perks, and so long as he was out of there before morning classes no one gave him a hard time. He smiled at the picture of Mulciber which had been pinned up yet again at some point in the night, by Sirius most likely; Peter noticed James had been avoiding Peter almost the same amount as Peter had been avoiding him. James had made short work of spreading the photo around, hanging about 1000 copies around the entire castle by Sunday morning, and with every picture the Slytherins managed to take down, at least two more seemed to take their place. But as far as hanging this one in the lounge again Peter was certain that James didn't have the guts to go to the room Peter was most certainly spending his nights in, so he likely sent Sirius to help him out.

After a quick shower Peter made his way to the great hall, peeking in before breathing a sigh of relief at not seeing any of his friends at the table. He wasn't that hungry but knew that this would likely change by the end of class, so he grabbed a piece of toast and a glass of pumpkin juice. He looked up, hearing the flutter of owls in the air, one of them dropping a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of Peter. He'd been buying the paper since late last year, when the muggleborn attacks had started to occur more and more often. He had been paying especially close attention since his own father had lost his life to the mysterious death eaters. Every little detail, any new suspected name, was something that Peter could mark down. Two more years and he would be free to leave this school, two more years and he would be free to hunt these names down himself, confronting every last one until he found the man who had ended his father's life. And no matter how much fear Peter felt at the thought, he would push through it, embrace his Gryffindor spirit, and avenge his father's name.

"Damn it, another one?" A voice spoke loudly behind him, startling Peter who nearly jumped out of his seat. So much for his Gryffindor spirit. Peter took a deep breath, before turning around, facing the guilty look of one James Potter, and awaiting his prompt apology.

Needless to say, the conversation didn't go well. Who did Prongs think he was? He had done nothing but hurt Peter, tease him, treat him like a lackey all these years. All Peter had ever wanted was to be like James and Sirius, popular, athletic, handsome. And the one time he finally believed that he had achieved something on his own, that had been thanks to James too. He had nothing that wasn't because of James and Sirius, every one of his achievements since he was eleven years old had been a result of their influence. What did the world need of Peter Pettigrew when it had Sirius Black and James Potter?

Once classes had finally finished Peter made his way to the prefect's lounge in a huff, kicking the wall and further venting his frustrations by ripping up the Mulciber picture that Sirius no doubt hung up. It was just more free publicity, more shameless bullying of their fellow classmates in order to push up their legendary status. He threw the pieces in the fire, one by one, staring triumphantly as the flames burned up piece after piece of Mulciber. A clearing of a throat interrupted Peter's brooding and he turned around with a start to see…Remus.

"How are you, Pete?"

Remus asked, seeming genuinely concerned about the morning's events, though Peter could never be sure. Remus was just as talented as James or Sirius, and he really had no reason to keep Peter around other than as some kid who could make him look good next to them. Peter always fell short when compared to the other Marauders, even the one considered the nerdy good boy of the group. He settled on a simple reply, void of all of these complicated emotions.

"I'm fine."

Remus gave him a look, and Peter grew frustrated, speaking again.

"What do you want me to say, Moony? He messed up, and neither of them have ever given me a real apology, no matter how horrible they've been to me all these years."

Remus didn't deny Peter's claims, but he tried to justify them as usual.

"Wormtail, you know they don't mean any of that stuff. You're our brother, no matter what. The room hasn't been the same without you the past few days, and I know that Padfoot and Prongs are morons, but they care about you."

Peter was just about to respond when a voice broke up their conversation.

"Remus, Peter what are you doing here?"

They looked up to see…George, standing next to a Lily Evans who looked remarkably different from the fiery redhead the group was used to seeing.

"Oh, well, Wormtail's been spending some time here. He and James haven't exactly been getting on the past couple days." Remus replied, to Peter's chagrin.

He hated his dirty laundry being aired out to everyone, especially someone who he really didn't trust.

"Well, that's not exactly surprising." George replied, to Peter and Remus' surprise.

"Well, no offense Remus but Potter's not exactly the most thoughtful bloke when it comes to other people."

Peter lost his temper without a thought. No matter how mad he was at James no one had the right to tear him down, least of all this git who had hardly exchanged two words with him in all his years at Hogwarts.

"Hey. James might not be perfect, but he cares about us. He'd do anything, sacrifice himself, his morals, his pride, to…make us feel good."
It took him a moment to realize that he had just defended the boy whom he had spent the last three days avoiding. The same boy who had put his position as captain on the line just to make Peter happy. The boy who helped Peter become an animagus, refusing to let him give up, restarting the process for all of them every time Peter alone messed it up. The boy who saw Peter, a chubby eleven-year-old with a doting mother and terrified complexion and accepted him without question. James Potter was not perfect, by any means, but he was a friend…to all of them, no matter what.

Peter didn't remember how he ended that conversation, just that felt Remus' prideful gaze on his back as he pushed past George and Lily to get to James. It wasn't good when the Marauders fought, Peter had said as much when Remus had left the group less than a year ago, and it was time to make it right.

James and Sirius were doing what they did best when they moped, tweaking the map and tossing around half-hearted ideas for their newest prank. The sound of the door closing caught their attention, and they were surprised to see that Remus was not alone this time as he entered the dormitory.

"Peter." James said first, a breath of relief caught in his throat as Peter put a hand up to indicate that all was not well.

"Look, I'm still upset." He began but cut James off before he could stumble through another apology, "but I am sorry that I put you in that position. If I was that lousy at quidditch you could have just told me." He said, to which James looked down in shame.

"I didn't want to upset you. You're one of my best friends Wormy and I wish I could have…"

Peter cut him off again, determined to keep control of the conversation.

"Hey, I'm happy to sit in the stands and cheer you on. Get less concussions that way."

He smiled and James' eyes brimmed with relief and newfound hope.

"Friends?" Peter asked tentatively, holding his arms out.

James moved forward, pulling him in for a hug. "Friends."

"Awe, how romantic. The gang, back together again."

Sirius' voice rang out, barging in with James' invisibility cloak over his shoulder and a mischievous look in his eye.

"What have you been up to Padfoot?" James asked, turning the hug into a noogie and shoving Peter away from him good naturedly.
"Nothing, just…taking care of something." Sirius said sharing a look with Remus.

Remus snorted and James and Peter looked between them.

"Moony?" James questioned.

"You'll find out soon enough." He replied.

James faked hurt.

"Padfoot, you told Moony and not me? I can't believe this."

"Oh, relax Prongs, it was Moony's idea anyway, not my secret to tell." Sirius smirked, looking at Remus with a hint of pride.

"A Moony and Padfoot team up, rare but intriguing." James said, smirking at the two of them as Remus blushed.

"Trust me, you won't be disappointed." Sirius replied with a smirk of his own as the group reveled in being whole again. Even Peter's simple presence in the room made all the difference to their little group, and Sirius was glad that he and James had worked out the issues that had sprung up between them. He was especially glad to have his guilt in the matter assuaged.

It was Friday afternoon when Remus and Sirius' plan came to fruition. The group sat quietly in Defense Against the Dark Arts, working on their essays when chaos erupted. The first ink pot to explode landed in the face of one Severus Snape, and Sirius could hardly contain his laughter at the enraged look which crossed his face.

"We told you you were laying the oil on a bit too thick there Snivelly!"

He shouted across the room, causing Snape to stand prepared to sprint across the room to get at Sirius, but before he got the chance ink pot after ink pot began to explode. Once the pots exploded, the remaining ink continued spurting in great black fountains across the room, coating the floor in the thick black sludge. Snape began to slip and slide across the wood in his efforts to get at Sirius. The Gryffindor side of the room remained miraculously free of the substance, and the group of them were howling with laughter watching the Slytherins try and wipe their faces with their already soaking cloaks, slipping in their efforts to fight their way to the clean Gryffindor side. Professor Carraway took the worst of it, coated in ink from head to toe, he finally shouted at the top of his voice: "Reducio!" The ink fountains shrunk to ink puddles until nothing more than a small trickle dripped from the broken pot pieces. "Scourgify!" And with that the Slytherins were wiped clean. The group paused, looking down at their cloaks, and then back up to their furious professor. He glanced around the room, eyes immediately falling on the Marauders, one in particular catching his eye.

"Sirius Black." He said it quietly, near a whisper, which made it all the more terrifying.

But Sirius remained unfazed, looking up with an innocent expression. Professor Carraway held up a piece of parchment with a spell scrawled across it in Sirius' handwriting. He swore under his breath, glancing at Remus who avoided his eyes, a devilish smirk gracing his features. Sirius looked back to Carraway, putting on his most charming smile.

"Oops?"

"We've got to do something massive this weekend." Sirius said, lying across one of the chairs in the common room with a cigarette in his mouth. James looked at him disapprovingly, but not because Sirius had gotten himself thrown in detention for the next week and a half.

"Will you please put the cigarette out Padfoot?"
"Can't help you there, Prongs I'm grieving. I lost a dear friend this afternoon."

"Oh, come on you were the one stupid enough to leave the paper behind." Remus said with a smirk.

"Is someone talking?" He looked at James who just smirked and turned to Remus.

"How about it Moony? Another multi-house party to make up for last weekend's lack of festivities?"

Remus suddenly grew very quiet, and the other boys looked at him with concern. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

"I'm going home for the weekend." He finally said, deciding there was no use in beating around the bush.

James, Sirius, and Peter all looked at him in varying states of confusion.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Well, I just…"

"It's not even a full moon or anything." Peter supplied, double checking his star charts to make sure he had that right.

"What could you possibly have to go home for?" Sirius asked.
"My mum…is sick." Remus said, wincing. He knew the excuse was weak, and they saw right through it as usual.

"Oh, come on Moony you act like you haven't use that excuse a hundred times before." Sirius said, a trace of worry in his tone at their friend's obvious lie.

James looked at Remus for a second, doing a sort of mental check.

"You're going to be with Lily, aren't you?"

Remus looked shocked, before slowly admitting defeat with a nod.

"Well, we can't rightly let her face this alone. Padfoot, Wormy, how do you feel about a little jail break for this weekend?" James asked, looking at the group with a sort of muted twinkle in his eye.

"Jail break? Intriguing." Sirius responded, already on board, extinguishing his cigarette with his wand.

"To go where exactly? What happened with Lily?" Peter asked, always focused on the concerns.

"Her mum and dad, it's their funeral this weekend." James replied, to Sirius and Peters' surprise.

Peter looked particularly downcast at that, but he glanced at Sirius when he took a deep breath.

"Well, we'll have to go visit your mother then." He said.

"My mother?" James asked.

"Her special cookies." Sirius replied, to which James broke into a grin.
"Brilliant Padfoot, so it's settled."

The boys began discussing how they were going to get permission to leave when Remus stood up, stopping their conversation in its tracks.

"No, no, no nothing's settled Prongs. We can't all just show up, what will she think?"

"If she wants us gone, we'll be gone. I'm not going to let her go through that alone Moony, and I know you'll be there, but…"

"It's nice to have some extra support. I should know." Peter spoke up, mentioning his dad's death for the first time since the summer. Remus looked at the group, not a hint of mischief between them. He thought of Lily, who he hadn't seen since their library study session, but who Marlene said had been hiding in their room.

"Maybe she could use the company."

"Alright, we've got some work to do." James replied, continuing with the earlier conversation, trying to discourage Sirius from his idea to curse Peter so they would be "forced" to accompany him to St. Mungo's.

In the end the group settled on something they weren't used to…the truth. They went to McGonagall and requested special permission to apparate home from Hogsmeade to be there for Lily. She scanned their faces for any sign of malcontent and had to hide a sniffle when she saw the genuine care between the four of them.

"Miss Evans did mention that she had asked Mr. Lupin to come, but I suppose the group of you can go. But if you are planning anything…"

She quickly backtracked again, but James put his hands up.
"Professor, I promise we just don't want Lily to be alone. That's all."

McGonagall nodded, signing four permission slips and handing them over without another word of doubt on the matter.

They made it to the Potters' mansion, James and Remus side-apparating with Peter and Sirius, who had gotten their apparition licenses the same weekend right after Sirius had finally turned seventeen. They were still getting the hang of it, and Remus might have lost the end of a finger as a result of being the one who'd drawn the short straw having to apparate with Peter. They had planned on just staying for an hour or so to grab the cookies and then head to the funeral, but Mrs. Potter insisted that no one could grieve on an empty stomach. She then argued with the group for a solid twenty minutes about bringing along one of her casseroles on top of the cookies, but James insisted that it would be too much. By the time they managed to pull away, Mrs. Potter was still trying to chase them out the door, adjusting their ties and hair as she went.

"Mum, please leave it alone."

"If you'd just let me put a little bit of Sleakeazy in it, just this once James."

James ducked away from his mother's grabby hands, groaning.

"Mum, we've really got to go." He said, looking to Sirius for support.

"Come on Prongs, you worry too much." He said with a far too happy smile, one of the cookies hanging out of his mouth.

"Make sure you save some of those cookies for Lily now, I mean it Sirius." Mrs. Potter shouted after him.

Sirius laughed, but shot her a genuine smile which she returned.

"Thanks mum." James said, giving her a hug, which she used as an excuse to swipe some sleakeazy into his hair.

He did his best to rub it out and ran off before she could try and fix it anymore, grabbing a hold of Sirius' arm. Remus shot him a pleading look, but James pretended not to notice, as Remus grabbed onto Peter, resigning himself to his fate.

"And you be careful Sirius! Just because you can use magic now…"

But they had apparated away before Mrs. Potter could finish her sentence.

The group snuck into the church; eyes peeled for a certain curtain of red hair that they all knew so well. James made his way over first, his long legs carrying him further than the rest in a shorter amount of time. He took a breath before he leaned down, alerting Lily to his presence. He released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding when she looked at him with confusion, but not her usual dislike. He clumsily handed her the bag of cookies, and she took a careful bite, immediately falling into their intoxicating effects, looking so much more alive.

The funeral was boring, but James tried to stay focused, listen to the people talking about the most important people in Lily's lives. But when Lily's sister stepped up, James wasn't sure what to think. She wasn't beautiful like Lily, nor did she hold the same kindness in her eyes, but her words spoke volumes. She seemed to mean what she was saying, genuinely speaking about the beauty that was Lily Evans. And James knew that what she was saying was true. Lily was beautiful and kind and smart, but those were so simple, far too simple adjectives to use to describe her.

Lily Evans was a mystery, a mystery that James had been determined to solve since he first met her on that train. Lily had faith in people, and it wasn't just because she was kind, no Lily was beyond kind. She gave people chances even and especially when they didn't deserve them, Snivellus was proof enough of that. And Lily was able to do that because she was so smart. Lily could take any problem, any spell, any charm, any potion and solve it. James wouldn't be surprised if she was creating her own spells before the school year was out. She was a creator, someone who saw the world as a puzzle that she needed to resolve. Lily was James' puzzle, but the world was Lily's' and she wouldn't be satisfied until she discovered every answer…or died. And her beauty, well where could James even begin? Lily Evans wasn't just pleasing to the eye. She was the only girl in the room for him. Her laugh was contagious, bringing everyone in on the joke, you saw everything in her eyes, those emerald eyes. They were full of a light that even in the most tragic of circumstances couldn't be diminished, a fire that James couldn't help but try and bring out. When she cared about something, she was unstoppable, and it was worth every second that she insulted him, screamed at him, told him how horrible he was, because he got to see that light directed his way.

Yes, Lily Evans was smart and kind and beautiful, but Petunia didn't know the first thing about why, and she didn't mention a word of it. James decided then that he didn't like Lily's sister very much. The group walked back to the house with Lily, James explaining the origin of the cookies, and trying to keep Lily's spirits up. When they made it back to the house, Lily's sister immediately called her over. The group didn't hear much, but James did make out the phrases: "It's not fair" and "normal people". When Lily looked like she was about to break down in tears from her sister's words he moved to step forward, but Sirius grabbed his arm, holding him back. He slowly shook his head at James, who looked at him with confusion, expecting this type of conflict avoidance from Remus but Padfoot?

Sirius then took a deep breath, looking determined as he moved forward himself.

"Oi, Evans!"

Lily glanced over at Sirius, unshed tears brimming her eyes. Petunia shot him a nasty glare, but he ignored it pointedly, eyes only on Lily.

"We've got to head out now, but we're really sorry about your parents."
His friends watched in a state of shock as Lily pulled Lily into a tight embrace and whispered something the others couldn't make out into her ear, before pulling back.

"See you back at school yeah?" He said.

She nodded, glancing at the other marauders. James felt his cheeks glow red as she stared at him with those same piercing green eyes. He saw something in them that he had never seen before, not passion or anger, something he couldn't place. A depth of emotion that he had never seen in anyone was directed right at him, and it wasn't negative, not quite positive either, but just…powerful. He offered her a nod and a solemn smile before making his way to the hill by Lily's home which they had used to hide themselves when they apparated there in the first place.

"What exactly did you say to her Padfoot?" He whispered to Sirius as they walked away.

"What she needed to hear." He responded cryptically. James didn't push the matter, instead grabbing onto Sirius' arm so he could apparate with him back to Hogsmeade, the image of those emerald eyes still burnt into his mind.