James Potter walked into his common room, having gone to the loo and noticed light coming from the other side of the door. He groaned when he opened that door. “Lily…”
The girl was sitting at the desk, her head bent over a book. James couldn’t see her face, but he knew what she was doing.
“Why are you studying?”
“First day of NEWTs are tomorrow. I don’t want to forget anything.”
James rolled his eyes. He walked forward”stumbled, really”rubbing his eyes roughly. He leaned over Lily’s shoulder. “Darling… It’s after midnight. The best thing for you, right now, is to get some sleep.”
When she didn’t move, he closed her book, ignored her arguing, and threw her over his shoulder.
Carrying her swiftly to her room, he set her down inside. He ordered, “Change into your pajamas. I’ll be back in two minutes to make sure you’re in bed.”
He stepped out of the room and leaned against the door. He heard Lily grumble as she changed. When he heard her bedsprings creak slightly, he opened the door once more. Lily glared up at James as he walked over and looked at her pointedly. She moved down and laid her head atop her feather pillow, not quite glaring at him, but definitely annoyed. James spread his mother’s quilt over her, and then walked around to the other side of the bed. He got under the cover, and moved closer to his girl.
“Ha. Now you can’t read.” (He had noticed the book that she had not quite completely slipped under the bed.)
“You’re truly terrible, you know that?”
“Yup,” he whispered and kissed her neck gently. She giggled and squeezed his arm.
“Fine. I’ll sleep.”
“Good girl,” he muttered, before pretending to snore. He felt Lily sigh, and then her breathing slowed and even, and he knew she was asleep. He smiled faintly before following her.
Breakfast was a quiet affair for the seventh years; they were all thinking about the tests they were going to take. Lily was especially jumpy, and answered questions with facts from her classes that were not related in any way to the question. The most memorable one was when she responded to Sirius with the story of the brutal murder of an ancient goblin king; Sirius pressed his hand her mouth and said he asked for the kippers, not the killers.
After that episode, James sighed and reached into his bag. He held out a piece of chocolate wrapped in aluminum foil to Lily. (It was Remus’s favorite remedy to stress; they four of them downed a bar each after a full moon.) She smiled rather wanly and took the chocolate. James handed other pieces of candy to the others around him.
He watched as Lily put the candy in her mouth. When she swallowed, James allowed himself a smirk.
She caught the smile, and her eyes widened. “You put something in the chocolate, didn’t you?” she asked, scandalized.
James shrugged.
“You did! What was it?” The odd thing was that despite her words, Lily seemed calm.
Sirius started laughing, figuring out James’s answer before it was spoken. “Prongs, you’re brilliant!” he said, smacking James on the back. “The Chill-Out Pills from Zonko’s!”
James nodded in his best mate’s direction. Lily’s eyes were wide. “You gave me a Chill-Out Pill?”
James shrugged, guilty. “You wouldn’t have relaxed otherwise. I saw them in your night-table when you went to take a shower this morning.”
“I don’t want to know what you were doing in her room, James,” murmured Remus, before putting a bite of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
“I caught Lily studying after midnight; I made her get into bed and, so she wouldn’t study, I stayed and slept next to her. It worked; she fell asleep right away.”
Remus accepted the explanation with a doubtful “uh-huh” and a slow nod.
Lily sighed at her boyfriend, but started eating”something she hadn’t been doing before the chocolate. James laughed haughtily to himself.
Breakfast was almost over when Dumbledore stood. “Everyone; today starts the Ordinary Wizarding Level tests for fifth years, and the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests for our seventh years.”
He paused to listen to the groans emitting from these two groups of students, and the snickers and laughs from the other five years.
Dumbledore looked around at everyone. They quieted again. “It is not a laughing matter as everyone will have to take these tests at some point; offer support to your fellow students, please. Perhaps they will be able to help you in the future when it is your turn.”
The students not taking tests looked around at their upperclassmen; they were wondering who would be best for giving out tips. Quite a few glances were thrown in the direction of the Marauders and their friends.
“Fifth and seventh years; you should have already received your schedules and room assignments from your Head of House. Please report to those locations at the proper time. When you do not have a test, please behave yourselves when you are in the library or in your common room; others will be studying. If you decide to go outside to study, please hold your notes tightly; there is a rather strong breeze, and the giant squid does not appreciate parchment in his lake.”
He paused so that everyone could chuckle. McGonagall rolled her eyes beside him.
“And now, all of you who do not have these exams to take must be off to your morning classes. And remember to focus. It is quite important in all your classes.”
Dumbledore turned away, and the Great Hall started to empty.
The forty-or-so seventh years moved outside to the Entrance Hall; they would wait for the Great Hall to be set up, and then they would sit for their Transfiguration exam. That afternoon, they would take their practical exam. The fifth years took off for their Care of Magical Creatures exam.
Halfway through the exam, Sirius Black lifted his head. James was sitting directly across from him on his left (Brilliant seating plan, he thought); Prongs looked over and winked. Sirius returned the gesture with a thumbs-up and looked over to Moony. The brown-haired bookworm was sitting right a row, and back two seats. Moony lifted his head as well and smiled wanly toward Sirius. The black-haired young man winked back, and as he turned back to his paper, he realized something that came as a shock: This would be one of the last times he would be able to look over his shoulder and see Moony or Prongs. (Wormtail wasn’t in the Great Hall at the moment, but Sirius thought forward to the test they would share together.) After these exams, they would be let out into the world”which was a daunting thought to him. He wondered what he would do; what he would be.
He looked to the desk that Nikeia was sitting in, two rows to his right. She seemed to sense his gaze, like Moony and Prongs had, and looked up. She beamed at him, and the familiar sensation entered his stomach. Every time Nikeia had looked at him (or kissed him, or touched him, or was around him) he felt the same feeling.
He wondered if she would be a part of his life.
As he dazed off at the floor, imagining life, he heard a cough beside him. He looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing there, an eyebrow raised.
He smiled engagingly at her. She rolled her eyes, and even permitted a small smile to touch her thin lips.
“Get back to work, Mr. Black,” she whispered lightly, touching his shoulder.
Sirius realized, as she walked over to James, that he would miss the old woman. He guessed it had something to do with that fact that she had given them their name. Or maybe it was because she always had a comment to make. Or maybe because she had been his Head of House for seven years and dealt with all his troublemaking. Or, it might be that she always had a comeback to make and never backed down”true Gryffindor spirit, that.
Whatever the reason was, Sirius reasoned, he would miss this school… the teachers… the other students… the food.
His stomach grumbled as he mourned the day that would be his last for Hogwarts’ house elves’ food. He sighed desolately and got back to his exam.
Josephine Bretten sighed much like Sirius had done as she put a period at the end of her Charms essay the next day.
It’s the end, she thought. After these exams, I’m free. She chuckled ruefully. What’ll I do with myself?
She felt a finger slide down her spine; she shivered. Whoever had sat Antoine right behind her was one smart teacher indeed.
She felt something slip over her shoulder and fall lightly into her lap. She picked up the invisible note, which became visible as soon as she touched it.
Scrawled in Antoine’s vertical cursive were three little words that made her heart do handstands and cartwheels. She was rather jealous of its gorgeous ability to do those two feats; she was miserable at both.
She sighed girlishly, and drew a heart (which she charmed red) on the opposite side of the paper. She flicked it back over her shoulder. She heard Antoine chuckle.
Glancing up, she saw Flitwick looking at her. Trying to not look like she had passed a note, she fiddled with her quill as thought she was thinking of another line. It worked; Flitwick turned his gaze on another seventeen-year-old student.
Josey glanced towards Nikeia”who was looking at Sirius. Josey giggled. She looked next at Lily, who was sitting right beside her. Lily was doodling on a piece of paper. Josey would’ve employed her dramatic side and fallen out of her chair, had she not been sitting in the middle of a very important exam.
Hopefully, she would get enough NEWTs to be able to work at the Ministry in the Muggle offices. Josey felt that was the best place for her, having grown up Muggle. At best, she would work at the Ministry until she was able to start a family with Antoine.
She blushed, thinking about him. They had talked”often in teasing tones”about spending the rest of their lives together. Lately, though, the teasing tones hadn’t happened. The idea had started to grow on her, until it became firmly planted in her mind as what she hoped”wished”wanted”to happen.
She had a feeling it would, because Antoine’s fingers were making tiny circles across her back and she didn’t think she wanted another man to touch her like that.
She was happy, and started to look forward to life after Hogwarts.
Remus Lupin shifted in his chair. He sat under a large pavilion out on the grounds beside the greenhouses for his Herbology exam. The exam was out-of-doors due to the fact that the fifth years were using the Great Hall. Frank and Alice were somewhere behind him, Peter was at the front of his row, and Josey sat a few chairs away; she and Antoine were right next to each other. He rolled his eyes as they glanced lovingly across the aisle at each other.
Their relationships made the man wonder if he would ever meet someone who would be able to accept the werewolf inside him and love him. He hoped so.
He thought of James and Lily, Sirius and Nikeia, Frank and Alice, and the two lovebirds to his right, and was jealous of their relationships.
He shook his head to clear it of the thoughts that had taken up two minutes of valuable exam time. The Herbology exam was not very difficult, but there were enough funnily-worded questions that he needed to keep focused, like Dumbledore said. He sighed and wrote in another answer. He chuckled as he remembered all the exams he had sat for whilst being inside the large, stone school. All those hours of studying, or telling James and Sirius what to do, or telling Peter to stop watching James showing off for Lily. All those hours spent planning pranks, or laughing at Sirius’s and James’s stupidity. All those hours spent running through the Forest, or shrieking in the old house in Hogsmeade, or nursing cuts and scratches from the previous night.
He would miss the three of them. He fiddled with his quill, turning it over and over in his fingers. The fact that all the feathers had been stripped off the quill except for the last inch or so made this an easy deed. There was a black spot on the first knuckle of his middle finger from where excess ink had clung to it instead the quill. He wondered if he would ever live a day without getting ink on his fingers. And yet, for all the clean fingers in the world, he didn’t think he could ever give up using a quill. There was a certain look of elegance to them. And anyway, he had clean fingernails”not so easy when taking Herbology.
He covered his eyes with his hand, laughing at his strange train of thought.
Train. The word caused him to pause and think some more about the fast-looming future after the train from his school.
What would he do? Who would accept a werewolf at their job? He wondered if anyone would. The thought was not a pleasant one.
An image of five people sitting on a white-brocade bedspread with a holly-garlanded fireplace burning merrily behind them made his face break into a grin. A voice”not unlike Lily’s”said, “You’ll have your friends, Remus John Lupin. You’ll have your friends. And they love you. And they’ll help you through whatever happens.”
He finished his exam with a contented smile.
Nikeia Wong sighed in frustration as she adjusted her telescope. Lily stood next to her, and gave her a warm smile. Nikeia pulled a face and mimed stabbing her star chart with her quill.
She heard Lily hastily stifle a snort; she had to quickly quell her own.
She hardened her face as the Astronomy Examiner came around and raised an eyebrow at her. She wondered how many people had that ability… It seemed she had seen many people here do it; Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, McGonagall, maybe Dumbledore. She shrugged, and pressed her eye to the eyepiece.
She saw Canis Majoris, and smiled when she picked out the brightest star in the constellation, Sirius. A warm feeling entered her stomach, causing her to bite her lip to fight the smile. Never had she imagined that she would be going with Sirius Black for so many months. Since October, in fact. Eight months. Eight wonderful months. The number scared her a little, in fact. A doubt arose in her mind; had Sirius been completely faithful to her? He had never been one for staying with a girl for more than a month; that had been was the longest ever. That little guy in the back of her mind (that looked a bit like her boyfriend) spoke, Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sirius has been with you for eight months; that’s the longest ever! She mentally poked him with her quill. He toppled backwards and disappeared from sight. She chuckled haughtily, but silently.
She looked back up at the stars. She would be almost sorry to give up this class; stars like this weren’t visible from inside London. She would miss being able to sneak out of her dormitory and sneak up to this tower to watch the stars move across the sky. Of course, it was the earth moving, but when one came down to it, what difference did it really make?
She smiled faintly when she remembered her conversation with Sirius up here after Christmas. She had loved that time together so much. They had had similar conversations since then. Well, some of them were conversations. Her face heated with the memory of what they had done when they weren’t talking.
Snoggin’! said that little voice, smoothly and suavely. Nikeia glared at it; it ducked a renewed quill attack.
Nikeia wondered what role Sirius would play in her future life. She loved him, she was nearly sure of that. There was just the question: Would she marry him? Could she marry him? Could she marry any man?
There had always been the idea in her mind that she would never marry.
She bit her lip again as she wondered if Sirius would break that idea. She was unsure. Perhaps she just had to wait until they were outside Hogwarts to tell for sure.
Nikeia sniffled, but returned to her star chart.
The head of the little man in her thoughts appeared hesitantly over the void; he pointed out a mistake on her chart. She chose to tickle him with a feather instead of poke him.
Peter Pettigrew swung his feet as he sat in yet another chair for yet another exam. Well, actually, he hadn’t taken that many exams; this was his third, having already taken Defense and Herbology. They weren’t very easy, but he had friends to help him with them.
“What is the most popular movie in modern-day Muggle America?” was the next question he read on his Muggle Studies exam paper. He scrunched up his brow; he knew this one! It had something to do with battles in the stars… Ah ha! he thought, his face lighting up. Star Wars. He quickly filled in the bubble, and moved on to the next question.
As he did so, he felt an amount of pride in the fact that he was taking this exam all on his own. It was just him; he had received no help… okay, a very little amount of help… from friends. He lifted his chin up a little, and sat straighter with the knowledge.
His next thought made his lip curl in an uncomfortable feeling. How many other things would he be able to do on his own without his friends’ help? He hoped there would be enough to make him feel like he wasn’t completely worthless.
He scolded himself for thinking such a thing. Never mind that it was almost completely true; he shouldn’t have such thoughts. After all, he was a Marauder; Marauders never looked down on themselves. They were bold and not afraid.
Peter took a deep breath, puffing out his chest, and held it for a few moments. He let it out slowly.
A question about Muggle fortune tellers made him think about his own fortune and future. He had to admit, his future was more important. Who would he be? Of course, he wanted to be someone great, but he was unsure if that was meant to be. He sighed again (he did that a lot) and returned to his exam.
Frank Longbottom and Alice Walker sat together on the grass by the lake. Their last exam had been the previous day so, along with a good number of the fifth and seventh years, they were spending their day outside in the sunshine.
Frank readjusted himself as he leaned against a tree. The bark wasn’t the most comfortable. There was one especially sharp piece that was digging into his back. Alice must’ve felt his discomfort, for she turned around and asked him what was wrong.
She pulled her wand from her pocket and pointed it over Frank’s head at the tree. She muttered something softly, and Frank smiled.
“Thank you,” he said softly, as he leaned back against the tree again, which now was softer due to the Comfort Charm applied to its bark. Alice smiled broadly back, and returned to her position of leaning against his chest.
She sighed.
“What is it?” asked Frank, softly.
“Just thinking. After seven years, I… I don’t know what I’ll do without Hogwarts.”
Frank nodded. “But, you’ve got me. Why do you need Hogwarts?”
Though he could only see a bit of the red tingeing her cheeks, he definitely saw that her ears flared bright red. He chuckled.
“I’m glad I’ve got you,” she muttered, turning again so that she could see his whole face. She reached up to run a hand through his curly brown hair. “I love your hair,” she whispered. Frank grinned.
“I love you.”
Alice blushed again, and nodded. “I love you, too.” She smiled again at him, and then turned sideways so that she was able to rest her head against his neck.
Her arm curled around behind his back. She resisted the temptation to tickle his side. Instead, she pointed out to a certain spot on the bank of the lake. “Remember there?”
Frank’s chest shook with his laughter. “Of course I do. It’s where I first gathered up the courage to hold your hand and kiss you.” He pointed to a spot on the lake. “Remember sliding around on the ice?”
Alice nodded. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“Oh, now you say sorry! What… six…” Frank lifted his hands, and wiggled his fingers, counting off the months. “Seven… almost eight… months later?”
“Has it really been eight months?” asked Alice, amazed. Frank counted on his fingers again, and then nodded.
They looked at each other and laughed.
Frank tipped her over and laid her against the grass. He placed a lingering but gentle kiss to her lips, and then lay down besides her, propping his head against his hand. His other hand grabbed both of hers, and held them against her stomach.
They were silent as they watched students walk around the lake, or play in the water.
Frank spoke: “Are you still sure you want to become an Auror?”
Alice thought for a moment, and then said, “After facing V-Voldemort that one day over break, I realized that I don’t want to ever have to face him again. At least, not without knowing exactly what I am doing. Studying to be an Auror will prepare me for that. I’ll become an Auror for myself, for my father… for you. If I ever I have to face him again, that is. And I don’t think anyone else should have to fight him. I want to stop him.”
The quiet anger in her voice made Frank look hard at her profile. “I’ll be happy to have someone I know with me, learning to do all that. It’s not going to be easy, you know?”
Alice nodded slowly. “Yes, I know. That’s why I’m going to do it; because it won’t be easy. Challenges lie ahead for us, and I want to be prepared.”
Frank leaned over and kissed her cheek. Alice showed off the fact that she was a bold Gryffindor by taking a gentle hold of his chin and bringing it down for another kiss. He was starting to grow a beard; she liked the feel of it in her hand and how it made him look older. She continued to kiss him as she flipped over and pinned him to the ground. Frank didn’t retaliate; he was too busy responding to her kiss.
And then, OWLs and NEWTs were completed. Finals for the other five years had been completed the following day. Therefore, all of the students were free from worrying about any more schoolwork. Teachers had a few more essays to grade and finals to correct, but even they were taking it slow. Windows were open all throughout the castles, letting stuffy classrooms and soon-to-be empty dormitories breathe.
Filch was attempting to do a final cleaning of the entire school, but Peeves, of course, was reeking havoc. Sirius and James cheered him on completely. At least, they did until Filch heard, frog-marched them to McGonagall, and demanded that they get a detention. McGonagall only glared at Filch, and told James and Sirius to get out of her office. They heard Filch spluttering as they backed out of the office. Sirius was being dramatic and blowing kisses to McGonagall. She raised her eyebrow and flicked her wand. A book flew off the shelf and starting hitting him. James laughed and winked at McGonagall as Sirius ran out. She inclined her head to him, and then went back to glaring at Filch.
Lily could only glare at her boyfriend for encouraging the poltergeist. He pretended to be chastised, but Lily knew better. There had been times when he had come back to the common room late; she had the suspicion that just because he was with her now, it hadn’t stopped him from hexing a few Slytherins or managing mischief. And yet, proof of her newfound love in James was that she didn’t really mind that much anymore.
Outside, sitting under the shade of the beech tree that was the Marauder’s favorite, curled against James, she sighed.
“That sounded full of emotion. What’s up, Lils?” asked Nikeia. She and Sirius were sitting on a conjured bench of wicker wood, cuddled just as closely together as Lily and James.
“Nothing much. Just thinking about how it doesn’t really matter to me that James still hexes Slytherins in the hallways even though he knows I don’t like it.” Lily kept her face straight as everyone but Sirius started laughing. James tensed behind her; Sirius’s stricken face said that James wasn’t the only one that hexed Slytherins.
“Lily, darling, I…”
“Don’t try to explain James. I said it doesn’t really matter. I can’t change you completely. And I wouldn’t want to.”
James smiled, though Lily couldn’t see it, and kissed her ear. She squirmed.
“I really hate it when you do that,” she muttered. She rubbed her ear.
“I know,” chuckled James.
The others around them shook their heads at the couple.
“Sirius,” said Antoine, looking up from Josey’s face. They were laying on the ground much like Frank and Alice had done the previous day, with Antoine on his side next to Josey, on her back. “I noticed you were beaming like a person hit with an over-zealous Cheering Charm earlier at breakfast. What was that about?”
The others looked over to Sirius.
“I was wondering what that was about, too,” admitted Frank. Alice was leaning back against his legs as he propped himself on his arms. “It was a rather scary grin, if I may say so.”
Peter stopped playing with blades of grass as he lay on his stomach to nod vigorously. “It was a grin I’d seen before, but that didn’t make it any less scary. Why were you so happy?”
Sirius narrowed his eyes at Peter. He turned to the rest of the group. “I got a letter from my uncle; he’s giving me money. I’m going to use it to buy myself a flat. Probably just a small one in London.”
Lily smiled broadly. “Good. I remember you mentioning something about it. I’m glad he came through for you.”
“Wait,” said Antoine, confused. “I thought your family… you know…”
“Hates me?” asked Sirius, without anger. “Yeah, I assume you’re right. Uncle Alphard will probably be blasted off the family tree for doing this. He always liked me. I’m happy to say the feeling is mutual.”
“They can’t hate you, can they?” asked Josey.
Sirius nodded. “I’m different. I’m not a Slytherin, I’m not going to immerse myself in the Dark Arts, and I disobeyed my parents and ran away from home… Different and hated. I’ve gotten used to it.”
Nikeia squeezed his waist tightly. He placed a gentle kiss to her silky black hair.
“What about a job? You gonna get one of those?” asked Antoine.
Sirius shrugged. “I guess I’ll just have to see how much Uncle Alphard is going to give me.” He chuckled with the others.
“What about studying for something? Like being an Auror?” asked Frank.
Sirius shrugged again. “Being an Auror never had much appeal to me. Plus, I’ve never been one for studying, even though I am naturally brilliant.”
The others laughed again. Nikeia pinched his leg. Sirius continued, “You and Alice are going to go through with being Aurors?”
The two addressed young adults nodded.
“And then get married, right?”
They blushed brilliantly as everyone laughed again. Nikeia pinched Sirius’s thigh again, but couldn’t keep back her own smile.
“And what about you and Nikeia?” fired back Alice. Nikeia and Sirius just shrugged and looked at each other.
“We’ll see what happens.”
“Well, then, I guess we know for sure that six people sitting here are going to get married one day,” murmured Remus, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
The six people looked with narrowed eyes at Remus, but didn’t contest the matter.
“James, what are you going to do?” asked Sirius, after he got done laughing at the others.
James shrugged. “To be completely honest, I don’t really need a job or anything. One of the perks of being from an ancient Pureblood family, I guess,” he said lightly. Everyone chuckled appreciatively. They had always known that James was well off; he always had new robes”except for his Quidditch practice clothes, and none of his books were second-hand. But, for all that he was a rich boy, he didn’t act pompous. Any more, at least.
“And I’m sure Lily loves that,” said Sirius with a smirk.
“You know I don’t care about how much money he has,” retorted Lily, using her wand to flick a small stone at Sirius. It hit his knee, and he glared at the young woman.
“I should throw you in the lake,” he threatened. Lily only laughed.
“We should all go for one last swim in the lake,” Alice suggested, getting up from the ground. “What about it?” she asked as she reached down to help Frank get to his feet. Everyone else looked to each other, and shrugged. Why not?
“Last one dressed and back out here gets thrown in!” cried Sirius, dashing off back to the castle. Everyone else gave gasps of surprise and starting running after him.
All except for Lily, James and Remus, that is. They looked at each other, and smiled. They pulled out their wands and cleverly Transfigured their clothing to swimwear. Other flicks conjured soft towels.
Ten minutes later, nearly everyone was again assembled under the beech tree Sirius ran up, panting, one minute after Nikeia.
“Couldn’t find my towel!” he panted. Then, he caught sight of James, Remus and Lily; they were in the same position as before. He glared at them. Then his face changed to a look of annoyed exasperation.
“Oh, I get it. Out-smart Sirius. One last time, right?” He kicked James’s shin lightly.
“Well, if you’d use your brain, Padfoot…” James said, Smirking. He stood up slowly, helping Lily at the same time. He looked slowly over to the others. “He was the last one here…”
Sirius’s eyes widened, as he started backing up towards the lake. The others walked faster toward him. He turned, threw down his towel and ran onto the pier.
He laughed as he jumped off the end.
The others laughed, and followed him into the lake.
For one last time…
.