Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. All characters, places, descriptions, etc. (unless original and created by me) belong to her.

Summary: It was a small pack, of course, just the five of them, but together they were something wild. Hermione finds herself in the Marauder's Era with four new best friends.

A/N: What's this? A seemingly regular posting schedule? Can you imagine? Here's hoping I keep it up! Keep the reviews coming - I appreciate them all so, so much and they feed the muse quite nicely!

Chapter 58: *Quam Felix Fui

15 July 1978

Potter Manor

"James, I promise to cherish you always, to honor and sustain our love, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, and to be true to you in all things. This love, death alone cannot destroy."

"Lily—Merlin, I can't believe this is happening. Sorry, sorry. Er, right. Lily, I promise to cherish you always, to honor and sustain our love, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, and to be true to you in all things. This love, death alone cannot destroy."

"Now then, James and Lily have chosen rings to exchange with each other. Mr. Black, if you will? Okay, thank you. Now, Lily, as you place this ring on James' finger, please repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed—"

"With this ring, I thee wed."

"With my wand, I seal this vow—"

"With my wand, I seal this vow."

"And with my magic, I promise you my love—"

"And with my magic, I promise you my love."

"Now and forever."

"Now and forever."

"James, your turn. As you place this ring on Lily's finger—"

"I-I've got it. Don't worry."

"Okay, go on."

"Lily, my love," James said as he brushed a tear from her cheek. "With this ring, I thee wed. With my wand, I seal this vow. And with my magic, I promise you my love now and forever."

"By the authority vested in me by the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride!"

The tent erupted in applause and cheers and shouts and whistles. James pulled Lily in close, dipping her across his body and grinning wide.

"I love you, Mrs. Potter."

"I love you so much, James."

James and Lily kissed for the first time as husband and wife.

Lily had worn lace with snowdrop flowers in her hair. Most people assumed, based on her name, that lilies were her favorite, but snowdrops had always struck her as something special. One of her first acts of accidental magic had been leaving a trail of snowdrops in her wake as she'd run around outside. They'd been the one thing she'd absolutely insisted on. It was past their blooming season, but a little magic ensured she got her way. And Lily loved it. The simple, yet effective combination of the natural and magical.

Lily's mum had walked her down the aisle to an instrumental version of "Give Me Just a Little More Time" by Chairmen of the Board. It had been her father's favorite song once upon a time, and she and her mother laughed and clung to each other as they passed everyone by.

James started crying the moment he saw her, his tears getting caught in the lines of his smile. He had to keep swiping away the tears so he could see Lily clearly. He didn't want to miss a single moment of the happiest day of his life.

The two stood alone in front of their friends and family. The officiant, a Ministry official, was surprisingly warm and kind. She'd spoken with emotion and managed to fade quite spectacularly into the background as the crowd focused on the young couple.

As Lily had settled in place beside James, the two of them looked back at their parents. Dahlia Evans and Charlus Potter sat together, an empty chair beside each of them.

"Fancy seeing you here, Granger."

"Ben!" Hermione looked away from her conversation with Sirius to see Ben Goldstein settling into the seat beside her. "You're here."

"I figured I'd make an appearance." His smile was so startlingly genuine. He leaned over to whisper in Hermione's ear. "Truthfully, I wasn't sure about coming, but I've never been to a wizarding wedding before. And it helped, I knew you'd be here."

Hermione smiled at him. Sirius, across the table, cleared his throat.

"Oh, right," Hermione looked between the two men. "Sirius, you remember Ben Goldstein, right? And Ben, this is Sirius Black."

"Nice to see you, mate," Sirius grunted while tipping his glass to Ben.

"Cheers." Ben nodded. He looked around the rest of their table. James and Lily sat on their own together at the head of the tent while the guests had settled around four long tables. Hermione was sat with the Marauders and Lily's girlfriends from Hogwarts. Ben nodded a hello to Remus and Peter. "God, I didn't know I'd be sitting at the VIP table."

"Ah," Hermione blushed. "That would be Lily's fault. Sorry."

"Didn't say I was complaining, Granger." Ben nudged her.

"So Goldstein," Sirius interrupted. "Still working at that bookshop in Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah," he turned to face Sirius. "It's not as exciting as acquiring, but it has its moments. Though it's been quiet since school's been out. I don't know what it is about a bookstore that makes people think it's the perfect stage for their teen dramas. Wildly annoying, mind you, but weirdly enough I miss it."

"Ben Goldstein," Hermione laughed. "Resident gossip."

"I can't help it! Though it'll probably lose its appeal now that I don't know any students still at Hogwarts anymore. Won't recognize any names." He grinned at Sirius. "Though I think I'll still be hearing stories about the infamous Sirius Black for years."

"Oh well now you've got to tell us what you've heard," Remus chimed in. "We'll set the record straight on this infamy."

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius waved his hand before focusing back on his drink. "Thought you'd be smart enough not to believe everything you hear."

"Don't worry, Black. I'm not so removed from my days at Hogwarts that I believe every little thing I hear." Ben smiled that genuine smile of his, missing the crease in Sirius' eyes.

"Come on," Peter leaned over the table toward Ben. "You can't leave us hanging like that. What do they say about Sirius?"

"Okay, okay, okay." Ben leaned forward to conspiratorially to speak in a false whisper. "Some say he has the whole family tree of the Noble House of Black tattooed on his back—"

"Fucking hell," Sirius interjected.

"Some say he secretly married James last year—"

"You move in with a bloke one time—"

"Some say he's the secret love child of a Veela and a vampire—"

"No comment."

"—And er, then there's just the regular rumors about who you're shagging or snogging and such."

"Well, well, Padfoot," Remus smirked at his friend. "I had no idea you led such a fascinating life."

"Bite me, Moony."

"Oh leave him be, he's just jealous you ran off and married James and not him," Peter laughed.

"Enough of you lot," Sirius stood up and focused his gaze on Hermione. "I'm stealing your date, Goldstein. Call it retribution. Come on, Pup."

Ben held his hands up and laughed as Hermione smiled at Sirius and rose from her seat to join him. He walked around the table to meet her and held out his hand for hers.

"Let's leave these arseholes to gossip about me some more," he started to pull Hermione away as the others laughingly booed him from the table. "You promised you'd dance with me, Pup."

They made their way to the dancefloor where a few couples were lazily drifting about. Sirius lifted Hermione's hand to his shoulder and slipped his arm around the small of her back, pulling her close. They swayed there, stuck in time under the little lights floating like stars under the tent.

"You're not actually upset about all that, are you?" Hermione spoke from the crook of his neck. Sirius squeezed the hand he held.

"Nah, I'm used to it. People've been saying shit since first year when I went Gryffindor instead of Slytherin."

Hermione nodded against his dress robes, and then they moved in silence.

"Walburga sent a howler," Sirius said, his voice quiet and just for her. "I'd expected it of course, but it still caught me off guard. But that's when James and I became friends."

"Really?"

"I mean if you ask him, we became friends on the train over, and I suppose for him it was easy like that." Sirius smiled at the memory. "But I've never been quick to make friends, to trust people, so I was still a bit unsure about him. Then the howler came and Walburga's voice was so bloody loud. And Prongs, he just grabbed it from my hands and shoved it into the pitcher of pumpkin juice."

"He's a good friend."

"The best."

"And you're sure you're not secretly married?" Hermione pulled back just enough to look Sirius in the eyes as she smirked. "I think you have to tell Lily if you are."

"Now that you mention it—"

"Sirius," Hermione laughed.

"No," he spoke as he spun her out, then pulling her back tight to his chest. "They're all lies. All of them. The rumors or whatever Ben's heard about me shagging around, I—"

"Sirius, you don't have to explain. It doesn't matter—"

"No, Pup, it does." He looked deep into her eyes, his face the embodiment of his name. "I don't do that anymore. I mean I did a bit—not as much as they say—but not since…"

"I don't think I understand," Hermione looked at Sirius, trying to see what he was trying to tell her.

"I—" Sirius paused, smiled and spun her around before starting again. "I wasn't very gentlemanly for a few years. Not on purpose, mind you, but even still. I just tended to get distracted with the Map and becoming Animagi. I was selfish, I suppose. Merlin, I think McKinnon still hates me a bit for standing her up that one time."

He seemed to remember who he was talking to then because a violent blush dashed across his face and he cleared his throat.

"We'd apparently made plans to, er, hang out, but I completely forgot. Was too busy working on some prank or what not. I don't even remember now, but it wasn't great. And after that people just made assumptions."

Hermione stayed silent as he spoke, listening to him open up.

"I didn't exactly mind, but then it came to rumors that I'd really had no part in." He shook his head. "Girls saying they'd been snogging me when I'd never spoken more than a few words to them. But I understood, in a weird way. I don't know why they all did it, but I know for some I was an easy excuse. A way to maintain a secret or a regret. Easy to say Sirius Black snogged you and dropped you than confess to something when you weren't ready."

"That's horrible."

"I dunno," he shrugged. "It never really hurt me in any way, and as selfish as I can be, I had no interest in embarrassing anyone."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I want you to know, Pup." His gaze was hot on her skin. "I guess I just wanted you to know the truth. I'm not a saint, but I don't think I'm as bad as they say."

"Saints are overrated, but you're a good man, Sirius Black."

They danced for a moment longer. Hermione leaned into Sirius, breathing in the scent of leather, whiskey and honey. She tried, honestly, but couldn't stop her eyes from drifting to his lips, the memory of the last time they danced slowly seeping back into her veins. Sirius' arms tightened around her, his mind having disappeared to the same moment. He glanced back to the table they'd abandoned.

"I should get you back," he said slowing their dance to a stop.

Hermione looked over to where Ben sat with the other Marauders. James and Lily had stolen seats amongst them and their laughter carried across to the dancefloor.

"We're not—" She grew nervous all of sudden. "You said before that I was Ben's date, but I'm not. He's not here with me. I mean, I think Lily wanted that, but there's just no spark with us. We're friends, that's all."

"No spark?"

"No, we both agreed. No spark, no butterflies." She looked back to Sirius. "No tension."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Yeah what?"

Sirius and Hermione looked away from each other to see they had reached the table. James looked up at the two, the remnants of laughter still staining his face.

"What?"

"Oh, never mind." James waved them off before turning to the rest of the table and clapping his hands. "Alright you lot, we've got cake coming out in a moment. Some chocolate in there just for you, Moony. So get a piece and eat it quick, 'cause no one is allowed to leave until they've danced their arse off. I'm looking at you, Miss Meadowes. I think we all remember your moves from the quidditch after-party, I know you know the one."

"You're going to miss it!"

"No, Pup, come back!"

"Oi, let the girl get some air."

Hermione, laughing, broke away from the group, weaving in and out of people to reach the edge of the tent. She fished around in her beaded bag for her wand to cast a quick cooling charm. Sweat clung to the back of her neck and her hair floated around her face, freed from its confines. She smiled.

It was peaceful outside the tent. The cool air of the summer night kissed her skin as she listened to the music filtering out of the tent. As she stood under the stars, her mind drifted to Bill and Fleur's wedding. It felt like yesterday and a lifetime ago all the same.

In a way, it was poetic. These two weddings celebrating love in the time of war. Hermione had no doubt James and Lily's wedding would serve as a mark of some sort for the brief interim of their lives before and the lives that would be so governed by the war. Things would start to escalate quickly. And just like last time, Hermione was trying to convince herself that she had a plan. But time and experience had taught her otherwise. She clenched her eyes shut, lost to her memories. The last time she'd been to a wedding—

The music stopped suddenly. Shouts from within.

Hermione moved back to the opening of the tent, picking up her pace as the shouts continued.

Then a boom. And a bright white light spilled from within the tent. The ground beneath her feet shuddered, and the air around her ears trembled.

Every muscle in Hermione's body tightened.

An amplified voice was speaking, but loud explosions kept coming. Lights and flashes dotted Hermione's vision.

Not again. Not again.

In Hermione's eyes, she saw a phantasmal lynx in the light show, heard a loud, deep, slow voice become clear from the booms.

"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Hermione disappeared.

Heart racing. Chest constricting. Knuckles bone-white around her wand and her bag.

A black door. A silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent. And two numbers embedded at eyeline, reflecting the faint light from the streetlamps. 1. 2. Grimmauld Place.

Hermione's body moved before her mind as she wrenched open the door. The boys, her boys, she needed to find them, make sure they were safe. Harry. Ron.

The witch ran past the drawing room and headed for the stairs. Her ears still ringing and spots still dancing in front of her eyes. She burst into Harry's room, a cursory glance showing neither of the boys was there. She ran to Ron's room, her eyes looking desperately for bodies but no one was there.

Where were they? Remus? Sirius? Hermione took to the stairs again. Her heart was pounding against her chest; her hands tingling. She stepped out from the stairs onto the landing.

"What the fuc—Hermione?!"

A/N: *How Lucky I Have Been