Moonlight

Chapter Sixteen

A Trip to the Tapestry, at First Sight, and a Picture for Posterity



As on the previous day, Rodger would not let Ted go anywhere near the Answers box to crack open his father's journals until after he'd gotten done with everything else that needed to be done. However, when Ted was finished, he told Rodger of one other thing he ought to do before he goes skipping off to do more Remus Lupin journal reading.

After putting away his books, he went over to Victoire, who was sitting with her siblings by the common room fire. He noticed that Dominique had a book and Louis was playing a game of wizard's chess with a friend of his, another second-year boy whom Ted did not know. With a look of relish mostly directed at Dominique, who peered over her book at him as he approached, he swooped gracefully down on Victoire's cheek and gave it a swift kiss that took Victoire completely by surprise, but not unpleasantly. On the contrary, it made her laugh with the unexpected bit of pleasure from the contact of his lips on her skin, and Ted felt her shiver even more pleasurably so when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind and whispered in her ear, "Fancy a walk, luv?"

"Where are we going to walk, Ted?" Victoire tittered. "Not outside, I hope."

Ted closed his eyes and breathed in her ear so that her sisters wouldn't hear: "No. I know a place." He was thinking of the tapestry about which he'd read in his father's journal, behind which Harry's godfather Sirius Black had once made out with Helena Yeats.

"Oh," Victoire said silkily, reaching up and touching his cheek.

Now it was Ted's turn to shiver with pleasure, not that he wasn't shivering with it already, but as Victoire laid her hand on the side of his face and patted it playfully, he was shivering more than he ever thought he could have shivered in his whole life. And the amazing thing was that this kind of shivering wasn't noticeable to the naked eye. It was subtle and hidden. It was the kind of shivering where excitement made the hairs bristle and the viscera squirm and the heart race. Straightening up and allowing Victoire to stand, he nodded to her sister and brother. "Dominique. Louis. Nice move by the way," he added to Louis's friend, who had just made a really good move with his castle on the chess board.

"Thanks!" said the young boy brightly before turning back to the game. "Who's he?" he asked Louis.

"That's Teddy," Louis told him. "He's my sister's new boyfriend. He's cool." He grinned up at Ted. "En't you, Teddy?"

Ted rolled his eyes at being addressed as what he considered his "kiddy" name. He noticed that Dominique was glaring at him, but as soon as Ted looked at her, she immersed herself once more in her book.

"Don't mind her," said Victoire, taking Ted's arm. When they were out of her siblings' earshot, she added, "Being my annoying little sister, as usual."

"I understand," said Ted as they climbed through the portrait hole together. Ted stumbled somewhat as they came out into the corridor, but Victoire caught his arm before he fell to the ground. Sheepishly he muttered his thanks.

"No problem," said Victoire, smiling as the two of them began walking hand in hand from Gryffindor tower.

Ted managed to bring them both to the right tapestry--it was a good thing it was a direct path to Gryffindor tower, because that made it easier to locate without the Marauder's Map coming from Gryffindor tower.

"This is the place?" Victoire asked.

"Yeah," said Ted, going over to the tapestry that would shield them. "See, this tapestry hides us from the main school. Otherwise this corridor's generally empty unless you're taking a shortcut to Gryffindor tower. Mind, that's only if you know about this shortcut. Otherwise it's a great place for young lovers to...er...have a tryst, as they say."

Victoire smiled. Clearly she was impressed. "How do you know all this?"

"I know things, luv," Ted said, lowering his voice to a more seductive tone, drawing closer to her. "Shall I tell you of the secrets of this castle uncovered by my father and his friends?"

"Only if you let me make you tell me again in French once I've taught you how to say it." Victoire was also drawing near, and slowly they were both drawing nearer and nearer to each other as they spoke.

"In that case, let's talk about you," said Ted, not wishing to go about their French lessons talking about his dad. He'd rather she just gave him more vocabulary words and notes on grammar and verb conjugation.

"Are we avoiding our French lessons then?" Victoire inquired sultrily.

"No. It's just, I know so little about you--"

"I wouldn't say that. When's my birthday?"

"Well, that's easy: you were born on the second anniversary of the defeat of Voldemort: May second. That's why you're parents named you Victoire: you told me it's the French form of Victoria, which means 'victory'."

"Ha! You even know my namesake! And what's my middle name?"

"Fleur, for your mum, and Dominique's is Gabrielle, for your Aunt Gabrielle."

"See, you even know my baby sister's middle name. How dare you say you think you don't know me that well. What about color? What's my favorite color?"

"Teal, because it looks good on you--in fact it looks positively sexy on you--but when it comes to me, it's brown because brown's the natural color of my eyes. And er...blue is your second favorite, I believe: periwinkle blue, to be more specific."

"Favorite sweet?"

"Chocolate. That's both our favorite sweet."

"Favorite band?"

"Weird Sisters. Again, like me."

"Worst habit?"

"You twirl your hair when you're nervous. Or you chew the end of your quill if you happen to have one in your hand."

"Personality?"

"Very bubbly. Dreadfully nosy, but for good reason. You're quite outgoing, which is so not me, because I'm rather shy and quiet. You made the first move, after all. Flowers brighten your mood, especially roses, and especially red ones. You're not all peaches and cream: you're soft on the outside, tough on the inside, but not without some tenderness there as well because when I look deep into your beautiful brown eyes I can see it.... And...you're also very...ethereal...."

"It's a veela thing."

"I presumed as much."

"Ambition?"

"You want to be a Gringotts curse-breaker like your dad."

"Favorite hobby?"

"At home you have a set of paints and an easel, and you've had them ever since you were little and you love to paint on them. Yet you don't like to sketch in the least. As a matter of interest, my father was into sketching."

"Interesting. And my mother is into painting. Like me. And what about you Ted? Do you have any artistic pursuits?"

"I used to draw when I was little. Maybe I'll take it up again. My father took it up again in his sixth year too. Sketching that is."

"What's the difference?"

"I dunno. I think sketching's more...serious...or something...."

They were nose-to-nose now, gazing deep into each other's brown orbs.

"My scent?"

"Well of course I know that...."

"Then what is it?"

"Lilac...and cacao...." Ted thought he was breathing a little more heavily than usual. He trembled as she slid her arms around his neck and pulled him against her. "Cacao...that's...er...chocolate...you know...."

"I know." Victoire came around to his neck and began planting little kisses along it.

Ted closed his eyes, losing himself in her, sliding his hands around her and placing them on the small of her back. Then he allowed one to snake upward into her long, fiery red hair...let his fingers run through it...how wonderful it felt....

"And you smell like...coffee...and...freshly baked bread...and--fancy that: I detect...a hint of...cacao..." Victoire muttered in between kisses.

"Mmm. I never knew that...." Ted buried his nose in her hair.

"You do now...." Now that she'd reached his lips, she planted a kiss there, which Ted hungrily deepened, a response to which she responded with acquiescence without hesitation. When they broke apart for air, she said breathlessly, "Now, we're going to say all of those things again--en français."

Ted smiled, also breathless. "If you insist, ma chérie."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the first day of their seventh year at Hogwarts, James had the courage to ask Lily out again. And this time, she said yes.

Since their first date--which comprised of nothing more than James taking Lily for a ride around the grounds on his trusty old Nimbus 1000--they began spending more and more time together. Remus, Sirius, and Peter all expressed how happy they were for him. Even Remus did sincerely feel happy, but naturally a part of him was jealous. But he kept telling himself over and over: it was for the best.

When James was hanging with them, Lily was usually with them, so their "boy time" fun was virtually non-existent. At first it was fun for a little while: they showed her the Marauder's Map and told her about the significance of their nicknames--which of course meant revealing that they were illegal, underage, unregistered Animagi. Lily however was not the type to rat out someone, and agreed to keep it a secret. From experience, Remus knew that she could be trusted. However, it got to be where James and Lily would keep getting wrapped up in themselves and sort of forget that the other three were there--not that they could help it. It was just the way their hormones worked when they were so close to each other. But as a result, James and Lily ended up spending more time alone, just the two of them, and Remus, Sirius, and Peter saw a little less of James than they used to.

One cold afternoon in December, when the grounds and forest were covered by a thick blanket of white snow, Remus watched James and Lily from the window of the seventh-year boys' dormitory in Gryffindor tower as they were engaging themselves in a one-on-one snowball fight below. With each snowball they drew closer and closer, until James grabbed her around the middle from behind and picked her up. Though the sound was muffled, Remus could hear Lily scream with laughter as he spun her around and around, until James got so dizzy that he fell flat on his back in the snow, taking Lily with him, where she landed on top of him. Both of them laughed as they lay in the snow, and Remus found that a muscle was jumping in his jaw. As soon he noticed this he put a stop to it by relaxing himself, trying to ignore that same old shame he felt whenever his envy got the better of him.

"They out there, Moony?" asked Sirius' voice behind him.

Remus nearly yelled. He turned to look at Sirius who came over to join him at the window, having just finished shaving in the boys' shower room. Remus had actually started growing facial hair a little before him while James and Peter didn't seem to be growing any at all. Unlike Sirius however, who shaved it all off, Remus shaved everything except the mustache, which he rather liked, so long as he kept it thin and trimmed. The odd thing about it though was that his father nor his father's father nor any of his father's father's brothers nor his father's father's father nor any of his father's father's father's brothers had had ever had any facial hair, and it was concluded that it was his lycanthropy that gave him a non-hereditary case of it. In any case, in response to Sirius' question Remus replied somewhat shakily, "Y--Yeah. They're out there."

"Aw, wook at dem pwaying," Sirius said in a mock-baby voice.

"Padfoot, please," Remus said, though admittedly he was amused. Then he looked around confusedly and asked, "Where's Wormtail?"

"I have no idea," said Sirius. "So, do you think Prongs and his little doe Lily there'll 'do it' before they get married, or be goody-goodies and wait until after?"

Remus blinked. "Do you ever think about what you're going to say before you say it? Or is it just one of those things where it always sounds totally fine inside your own head?"

"It's sex, and I am of the masculine gender," said Sirius, shrugging. "Can I help that the thought tends to enter my head, and I find the idea of it so incredible that I just have to talk about it?"

"You've never even done it," Remus ragged. "None of us has ever had sex."

"Oh my gosh, Moony! You actually said the word 'sex'!"

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"I have to admit though, I'm curious. Ever since I was given the Talk."

"Did your parents give it to you?" Remus asked.

"No, Prongs' parents gave it to me, when Prongs found out that mine hadn't had the decency. Although I think they were planning on making Kreacher do it." Sirius shuddered. "I assume your parents did though?"

Remus smiled nostalgically. "My father did."

Sirius looked at him concernedly. "How've you been doing, living all by yourself in that house?"

"It's growing on me. I talk to my parents sometimes. In spirit, of course, but you know.... While I'm going around the house I just...say what's on my mind, and feel like they're listening...wherever they are."

"You planning on visiting your brother again this weekend?"

Remus nodded. During the summer Remus had visited Ramirus at the orphanage nearly every day, and now that he was in school he went to see him every Saturday afternoon. "He's growing fast," he told Sirius. "My God...he was born in February, and it's December now...he's already almost a year old."

"Does he like you?"

"I don't think he's old enough to make any bones about it. But, well, he seems to prefer me to the medi-witches when he's upset and I'm around, if that means anything."

"Well, at least your brother isn't a git." Sirius went over to the edge of his bed and sat down on it.

Remus went over and sat down across from him on the edge of his own bed. "Oh Sirius. You and Regulus are more like brothers than Ramirus and I will ever be."

Sirius tilted his head. "How do you figure?"

"You're closer in age for one thing. Much closer. You're what, two years apart?"

"Yeah."

"Whereas Ramirus and I are about seventeen years apart. Or...sixteen years, ten months, and nine days apart, to be more precise. I think that's right. Anyway, I'm more like Ramirus' uncle than his brother, just because I'm so much older. I doubt we'll ever have brotherly quarrels or--"

"That makes you the luckiest brother on the face of the planet, then. Honestly, Moony, I got the short end of the stick when it came to a family. You want to know part of what makes my family's pureblood mania so incredibly twisted?"

"The fact that it's pureblood mania in the first place?"

"Well that. But--" Sirius looked around the otherwise empty dorm and then leaned in towards Remus a little. Lowering his voice he said, "My parents are cousins."

Remus' mouth fell open. "They're cousins?"

Sirius nodded. "That's why both my grandparents' surnames were Black. I mean my parents aren't first cousins--I think they're second or third--but still...it's just weird.... But, that's what you have to do if you only want to marry other purebloods."

"That's just stupid."

"I agree. And you know what I like about you, Moony? Aside from your aptitude for marauding and your dry sense of humor?"

Remus smiled. "What?"

"You're everything Voldemort and his Death Eaters despise. Your dad was a wizard but your mum was a Muggle, and your great-great-great grandfather was Muggle-born. On top of all of that, you're a loathed half-breed werewolf. Not to mention you're friends with a Muggle-born, two blood traitors, and.... What's Wormtail, just out of curiosity?"

"I don't know. All I know is that he's a friend too." Remus paused, studying Sirius while Sirius smiled fondly at him. "Family reunions must have been lonely for you, Padfoot."

"Well, they weren't always so fun with my cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix--they're sisters, my dad's brother's daughters."

"They're Death Eaters now, aren't they?"

"Bellatrix is most definitely, but I dunno about Narcissa. I think her husband Lucius Malfoy might be, but if you ask me, Bellatrix's marriage is proof this whole pureblood thing isn't right. She married that Rudolphus Lestrange just because he was the first pureblood who asked her to marry him. I think he loves her, but I think she could care less about him, quite frankly, but she acts like she does. She's delusional in my opinion. Narcissa on the other hand...well, surprisingly, I think there's some love between her and Lucius. Let me put it this way: oddly enough, I heard about their private affairs because my mother couldn't keep her blooming mouth shut about a damn thing. She's always had to let the whole world know what's on her mind. Anyway, I remember her saying--" On purpose he started doing an impression of his mother in a "wicked witch" sort of voice--"'Lucius and Cissy have been trying real hard to have a baby and nothing doing but they're still trying even as we speak.'

"Case and point: they have been having sex. As for Rudolphus and Bellatrix, I remember Mum saying, 'Rudolphus, I don't believe--' And trust me, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard my prim and proper mother say this either '--I don't believe that Bella hasn't put out for you since your honeymoon! You'll just have to try harder! We need more pureblood babies! More I tell you! More!' Okay, I made up that last bit. That was acting. At any rate, I remember as a kid at family reunions Narcissa and Bellatrix always tried to ruin, or did ruin, the fun for me and Andromeda."

"Who's Andromeda?"

"Don't you remember? She's Bellatrix and Narcissa's younger sister, and my favorite cousin."

"Oh right! Now I remember! But I forget why she's your favorite cousin."

"Because she's just like me: a white sheep in the Black family!"

"Ha-ha, very clever. White sheep of the Black family."

"Yes, it is, isn't it? Anyway, she's like a sister to me more than a cousin. We're close. Thick as thieves, Andromeda and I."

"Do you keep in touch?"

"Somewhat. She's been busy since she got married."

"She's married too?"

"Yep. To a Muggle-born by the name of Ted Tonks. But I'll tell you one thing. I wouldn't leave it to Andromeda to name my children."

"Why not?"

"Well, er--Thankfully she and Ted only have one: a girl. I think she's about four now. Andromeda's sent me some pictures. Hang on--" Sirius got up, went to his trunk, knelt down, and opened it. After digging around in it a little, he said, "Ah. Here's one. It's fairly recent. Taken just this past Halloween." He handed it to Remus, and Remus saw a small girl with mousy brown hair done up in crazy pigtails who seemed to be relishing in--Remus blinked so much out of disbelief--transforming her actual face into several scary monster faces.

"What on earth is she doing?"

"Oh, I should've warned you," Sirius laughed. "She's a Metamorphmagus."

"She's a what?"

"Metamorphmagus. It means she can change any or all of her appearance at will. She was born with it. All Metamorphmagi are born, not made. They're really rare too. And it's only in really rare cases that the gift gets passed on from parent to child. It can happen, but only under special and very specific circumstances...."

Remus glanced down at the picture, and saw that after making her face look like a bird with dagger-like teeth, she turned her face to its normal heart-shaped state again. Now she was laughing in such a way that the sparks of a fiery inner-spirit could be seen in her eyes and her face, and Remus thought she looked rather cute. In fact, this time, when she started transforming her face again, he found it quite amusing. Handing Sirius back the picture, he asked, "But what's this got to do with why you wouldn't want Andromeda ever naming your children?"

"Well guess what Andromeda named her daughter there?" Sirius said, sticking the photograph back in his trunk and sitting back down on the edge of his bed.

Remus shrugged. "Something ridiculous, I suppose."

Sirius leaned forward like he did before and said in voice that was strained by his effort to contain an outburst of laughter: "Nymphadora." And then he reared back his head and let out a howling guffaw. "Nymphadora! That's her name! Nymphadora! Isn't that...just...the worst...name...you could...get...? Ha-ha-ha!"

"Nymphadora..." Remus said thoughtfully, trying the name out on his tongue. And then he smiled. "I don't see what's so ridiculous about it, Sirius. I think it's a rather lovely name."

Sirius wiped his eyes, his laughter subsiding. "You sound like 'Dromeda. I'm telling you, Moony, Nymphadora might like her name now, but you wait until she gets to school. She'll want to change it to something else soon enough."

Just then Peter kicked the dorm door open looking steamed up about something.

"Ah, Wormtail! There you are!" said Sirius. "What's--What's wrong?"

"Everything!" Peter moaned, collapsing against the wall and slumping down to the floor. "Cicely came up to me and told me she wants to see other people! She says I'm too clingy."

"That's some bad luck there, mate," said Sirius, nodding seriously. "'Sorry to hear things didn't work out between you two."

"And what's worse," Peter went on, "I've lost the Marauder's Map!"

"WHAT?!"

Remus and Peter both jumped in their skins at Sirius' outburst.

"Peter!" Sirius wailed. "How in the name of Emeric the Evil did you lose the map?!"

"I--I'm sorry, Sirius!" Peter whimpered. He looked to be near tears, now cowering as Sirius rose to his feet and positively towered before him. "I--I was using it--You remember how I said that Cicely thought I was too clingy?"

"Yes...."

"Well, she found me looking at it in the--in the library, and she found out that I was using it to spy on her. So--So--If you want to blame someone you should blame her! She's Head Girl, and when she saw I had something like that she--she ran off to tell the first teacher she could find. Considering that she was an authority figure and she was furious with me, I knew she was running off to get me in trouble. And I tried to run for it but I ran into her and Professor McGonagall...and now--and now Filch's got the map. In his office. There's no hope of getting it out...."

Sirius smacked his hands to his face and buried it in them, groaning as if the sky were falling. "Peter...how could you...?"

"How could he what?"

Remus and Peter looked up with Sirius looking up from his hands, to see James and Lily in the doorway of the dorm, holding hands, garbed in their winter cloaks, hats, scarves, and gloves, and flecked with snow.

"Peter lost the blooming map!" Sirius shouted, pointing at Peter accusatorily. "To Filch!"

"What?"

"I'm sorry, James," Peter moaned. Quickly he explained again how his break-up with his girlfriend had caused him to lose the Marauder's Map to Argus Filch.

To everyone's surprise, James was not at all enraged, unlike Sirius who was still fuming. Now the fact that James was not having the same reaction as he was made him fume even more.

"You're not mad at him? Think what he did, James!"

"Oh, Sirius, don't pretend you never used the map to spy on Helena Yeats, even after the two of you broke up," James countered.

Sirius did not talk to James for the remainder of the afternoon. However, by dinnertime, he was all brooded out and apologized to James for his sulky behavior that evening in the common room. In addition he apologized to Peter for shouting at him.

"It's just not fair we don't have the map anymore," Sirius said as he played Lily a game of wizard's chess.

"Don't worry about it," said Peter, who sat with James, both of them watching their game, and Remus, who had his nose--as usual--buried in a book. Every so often though he sneaked peeks at Lily with no one being the wiser.

"Yeah," he heard James say to Sirius beside him, agreeing with Peter. "Who knows...? Maybe some new marauders will manage to retrieve it someday and use it for all of their marauding needs...."

"James is right, you know, Sirius," said Lily. And then she spotted a quandary in the position of Sirius' black king, because there was absolutely no way he could get him out of danger: anywhere he ran away to, he would be in check, like he was right now. With triumphant glee she cried, "Checkmate!" and her white queen smashed Sirius' black king over the head with her throne, reducing the black king to crumbles.

"Damn!" Sirius cursed as he collected the shards of his fallen king off of the board.

~

The Hogwarts class of 1978 would not get their N.E.W.T. results until a week after school had ended. In the meantime they were enjoying themselves on the sunny grounds, saying goodbye to everyone who had ever meant anything to them at all. Remus, James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter did not say goodbye to each other, because they were all heading to the same place, as were some other people they knew fairly well. There was however a moment of tension when Severus came out of nowhere and asked Lily if he could have a private word with her. Remus noticed that under his arm he was carrying one of his favorite books on the dark arts. By now it was no secret that Severus was obsessed with the dark arts, reading about them all of the time whenever he wasn't studying, and discussing with his Slytherin compadres things like Inferi and dementor's kisses and using Unforgivable Curses on people they wanted to use them on. Once Remus thought he'd heard Severus boast that the first chance he got he was going to give James a good dose of the Cruciatus Curse, and then finish him off with Avada Kedavra.

As it had been nearly two years since Lily and Severus had spoken, this was a highly awkward situation. The only one who didn't seem to feel at all awkward was Lily. In fact, when Severus asked her for that private word, Lily blinked at him as if he'd asked her if she'd please allow him to transfigure her into a slimy green slug.

"Who do you think you are?" she growled at him. She was so angry she could hardly get her words out. "Do you honestly believe that after--? That I would just--? That I wouldn't mind--? Get away from me! Just--Just go away--!"

"But Lily," Severus protested. "If we could--Just for a minute--"

"PLEASE, SEVERUS, JUST GO!"

"You heard her, Snivellus," James goaded.

"Don't you get involved, James!" Lily snapped.

"You just wait, Potter, you big-headed coward!" Severus hissed. "One day I'll have you in a corner, alone, without your stupid friends here to help you, and the last thing you'll see is a flash of green!"

"Is that a threat?"

James and Severus were now almost nose to nose, except that James, Sirius, and Remus were all a bit taller than Severus, so while Sirius and Remus stood on either side of James, Peter sort of hung back, being the shortest of them all.

Severus whipped out his wand and before anyone knew it, he had James hanging upside down in midair. Apparently where Severus was concerned, this jinx had yet to go out of style. Or maybe he just was using it as an appropriate start to some payback. Remus remembered when the jinx had been in style, back in their fifth year. While no one had dared to try it out on clever James Potter and his clever little gang of friends (Sirius, Remus, and Peter), there were times when Remus would be walking through the halls and people would leap out from around corners and send other people into the air, hanging by their ankle. That had been one of the more pressing problems for he and the other prefects to control. Being James and Sirius' friend however had its benefits in those times, because if any of the casters of the spell tried to argue, he'd remind them who he was.

"I'm Remus Lupin," he'd say, "you know: good friend of James Potter and Sirius Black."

Most people didn't need that last bit. As soon as they heard his name, they knew who he was: that he was with Potter and Black, and therefore not to be trifled with, for he was known to be just as clever.

And now, even after that spell had gone out of style, Remus found himself confronting another caster of it: Severus.

"Severus, you put him down, now!" he ordered. "Sirius, put that away!" he added to Sirius, who had been drawing out his own wand.

"Severus, please put him down!" Lily exclaimed.

"Put me down, Snivellus, you disgusting little maggot you!" James was shouting, his arms and one leg flailing in the air, searching his robes for his wand as a throng of other students nearby began gathering towards the commotion.

"Make me!" Severus yelled at Remus.

"I am a school prefect."

"Oh, yeah? Well where were you when Potter here did this same thing to me?"

Sirius meanwhile instead of putting his wand away like Remus had asked him to, had resorted to muttering a counterjinx instead, and the struggling James floated back down to earth. The crowd of people clapped but Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and Severus paid them no mind. As soon as his feet touched the ground, James finally got a hold of his wand inside his robes and pointed it between Severus' eyes.

But Remus grabbed his wrist and yanked it down. With his other hand he managed to grab Severus' wrist and yank his wand down too.

"All of you just cut this out right now," Remus said authoritatively. "I mean it. I may not have been made Head Boy because I never did my job when it came to you lot, but I'm still a prefect, and I am sorry but I have got to put a stop to this. Before something happens that we will all regret." He glared around at James, Sirius, and Severus as he spoke, and then slowly he let go of James and Severus' wrists.

James and Severus both stuck their wands back in their robes, glowering daggers at one another.

"Please, Severus, just go," Lily repeated, more quietly.

Severus looked at her, eyes wide with disbelief. Then he narrowed them and glared at her and the four young men before swiveling on his heel and stalking away, his black robes billowing after him in the summer breeze.

"Yeah, that's right, you go back to your Death Eater mates!" Sirius called after him.

"That's enough out of you!" Remus snapped. Then, addressing both Sirius and James, he said vituperatively, "When are you two going to grow up?" and stormed away before anyone could respond.

He sought seclusion beneath their usual lakeside beech tree, sitting down at the base of the trunk and leaning back against it, closing his eyes. Not long after he'd meditated for a few minutes on his present state of being, he heard his name being called by his friends. He chose not to answer them. They would find him eventually, and if they didn't, he would be highly surprised. He wasn't far. If they really wanted to find him, they wouldn't stop until they did.

Soon enough, the cries of "Moony!" and "Remus!" stopped, followed by James announcing: "There he his!" to the others. Remus opened his eyes and looked sideways at them when he heard the rustle of their footfalls in the grass grow louder. In the shade of the beech tree the four of them stood before him, James and Sirius looking remorseful somewhat, and Lily and Peter looking concerned.

"We're--We're sorry about that mate," said James quietly. "What else is there to say? I mean anything more would just be an excuse for Sirius' and my behavior."

Remus regarded them all. His fraternal affection for them won him over and so he couldn't help but smile fondly. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I won't be a prefect anymore anyway, now that we're done with school here."

"We should take a picture!" said Sirius enthusiastically. "For posterity, you know?" He held his hands up with his palms facing away from him, spreading them out as he did so, like an artist envisioning his concept. "The four Marauders on their very last day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What do you think? Anyone got a camera handy?"

"I've got one," said Lily, digging around in her shoulder bag.

"Is that the one I gave you for your birthday?" James asked.

"Of course it is," Lily laughed flirtatiously. "What other wizarding camera do I have? By the way, when I'm developing the film in the potion, does everyone want a copy of this so called, 'picture for posterity'?"

The four young men nodded, murmuring affirmatively.

"Very well then," said Lily, pulling out the wizarding camera and wondering if she should stick on the flash bulb. "It doesn't need the flash, does it? I mean it's bright and sunny out, and we're outside so if you all just stand in the sun...."

"Here, let me give you a hand with that," James offered, crossing over to her. "You have the tripod somewhere?"

"In my bag."

"But how--?"

"Undetectable Extension Charm," said Lily with a rather sly smile.

"Well...aren't we clever?" James teased.

Sirius cleared his throat loudly and said, "Shall I get the tripod then?"

"Oh, er...sorry, Pad," said James flusteredly. "I--I've got it." He went over to Lily's shoulder bag on the ground and pulled out the long tripod.

Nearly ten minutes later they finally had the camera set up for use. Now they just had to decide on what the background would be for their "picture for posterity". James and Sirius insisted that it consist of the castle and the Whomping Willow. Peter, who agreed with everything James and Sirius said, agreed with them on the spot about this too. Remus however was a little iffy about it, because the Whomping Willow naturally reminded him of things about himself he hated being constantly reminded of anyway.

"But that tree's part of where it all started," James said persuasively. "Would you rather we tried to put ourselves in front of the Shrieking Shack?"

"We couldn't because the Shrieking Shack's all the way in Hogsmeade village," Remus pointed out.

"You know what I mean. Listen, if it helps at all, think of all the good times we've had under that tree. And beyond of course, but regarding the tree...."

"Well...." Remus looked off at the tree and recalled everything from that very first time his friends came to him in Animagus form and gave him the first full moon since he was bitten that he could honestly describe as being "wonderful". He supposed it wasn't that awful of a reminder...if anything, it really did make for a nice background subject. "Alright. We'll have the Whomping Willow then."

"Excellent!" James and Sirius cheered together.

James clapped him on the back, and then pulled him into a one-armed hug.

Remus felt such a rush of gratitude that his face grew hot. Next thing he knew however, Sirius grabbed him from behind in a playful headlock, and gave Remus a noogie while half-jumping up onto his back. Remus yelled a yell that turned into a guffaw as he overbalanced and he and Sirius both crumbled to the ground. As they rolled off of each other and lay there in the grass, they let out roaring gales of laughter, and James and Peter joined them momentarily, while Lily simply stood there by her camera, shaking her head, but smiling.

"C'mon you lot!" she laughed. "Before the sun goes down at least! For Merlin's sake, you're acting like you're all plastered!"

"O-Okay!" Sirius gasped, still shaking with laughter as he and Remus pulled themselves onto their feet. He went over to where Peter stood with his arms folded next to James, and put his arm around either one's shoulders, with Peter on his right and James on his left. It was a tad awkward because Peter was about half the height of Remus, Sirius, and James, but Sirius managed it well enough.

"C'mon Moony!" James hollered, putting his right arm around Sirius.

"I'm coming!" laughed Remus.

James grabbed Remus and pulled him into the shot, putting his left arm around his shoulders.

Remus put his right arm around James, feeling like the luckiest wizard in the world, and smiling a smile that proved it as Lily finally took the picture.

"Say, 'fizzing whizbee'!" she called to them from behind the camera.

"Fizzing whizbee!" chorused the four young men.

There was a puff of smoke from the camera, and then Lily emerged from behind it, waving it away and coughing when she accidentally breathed some of it in. As Remus observed her reappearing, it was then that he second-guessed himself and thought...maybe...he wasn't the luckiest wizard in the world.

The luckiest werewolf, then, said a voice in his head.

Lily was smiling at him, but it was brief because now James was taking her in his arms, and then he spun her around, out of danger of knocking over the camera, of course.

That'll have to do, Remus decided grimly as James stopped spinning Lily around and kissed her hard on the mouth. That'll just have to do.

"Oh for crying out loud, get a room, you two!" Sirius teased.

James and Lily broke their kiss and glanced over at Sirius.

"He's right you know," said Lily, looking up at James.

"Oh, Padfoot, you ruin all the fun," James said in a pretend-whine.

"I'll show you ruin all the fun!" Sirius did the same thing he'd done with Remus earlier: he locked James in a headlock and gave him a noogie.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned her attention towards the lake, her arms folded.

Both James and Sirius laughed as James tried fighting Sirius off of his back, and Remus and Peter laughed as they watched.

"Oooh, come look at the water you guys!" Lily called, beckoning the young men over to where she stood upon the crest of the small hill where they were all gathered.

Remus and Peter got over to her first, and James and Sirius followed suit once they'd disengaged from their playful little wrestling match. What they saw took the breath away from all of them.

As the sun made its descent towards the western horizon, the solar rays bouncing off of the surface of the lake gave the illusion that there was a long carpet of diamonds shimmering across the water and gradually fading out into darkness as it drew closer to them.

"That's beautiful, that is, luv," said James, wrapping his arms around Lily from behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder.

Remus felt Sirius put an arm around his shoulders, and glanced fleetingly over to see that Sirius had put his other arm around Peter as the three of them stood with James and Lily, watching the sunset on the lake. As he turned his attention back to the "diamond carpet" on the water, he heard Sirius mutter something about three "third wheels".

For a very long time, no one spoke. No one said a word. They all just stood together on that shallow hillcrest, gazing at the beautiful diamond lights dancing on the surface of the lake, glad to have one last peaceful day with each other.