Will-o'-the-Wisp

"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEESSSSSSSS!" James threw his arms out to the side and spun around in a gleeful circle, then collapsed onto his back on the soft grass near the lake. "We did it! We are officially mature!"

"Speak for yourself," Sirius grinned, flopping onto the grass next to him and propping himself up on his elbow. "I, Sirius Black, being of questionable mind and body, do hereby declare that I will never grow up until I absolutely have to."

"Or until Voldemort comes after you," Remus commented, laying down on his stomach opposite the other two, his head down near theirs.

James turned his head to look at his friend, all traces of mirth gone. "Damn it, Remus, why'd you have to bring that up now? We're eighteen--or very nearly--we finally graduated from Hogwarts, we're finally free of Sluggy and Snivellus, we are so out of this hellhole. This should be a happy occasion!"

"I'm not happy," Remus said quietly. "Hogwarts is my home...the only home I have."

Sirius put a comforting hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Hey, don't sweat it," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle and tender. "You know you'll always have a home with us. Or me, at least."

"Yeah, me, too," James added, concern in his hazel eyes. "Always and forever, until it is beyond my power to provide you with such."

Remus's eyes filled with tears. "Thanks, guys."

"It's the truth." Sirius looked as if he was about to say something more, then thought better of it.

Before anyone could say anything more, a voice broke over the boys. "There you three are, we've been looking for you everywhere."

James turned his gaze upwards and smiled. "Oh...hey, Lils, Pete."

Lily sat cross-legged on the grass next to James's head; Peter sat on a rock next to Sirius. "So, what's up with you three?" Peter asked.

"Oh, nothing much, just talking about graduation," Sirius said lightly. "What about you two?"

Lily smiled. "Marly and Al drew me into a discussion about the ball tonight, and Peter somehow got into an argument with Frank about something or other."

"What was it about?" Remus asked, genuinely surprised. Frank was rather easygoing and rarely got into arguments with anyone, much less Peter, who couldn't say "Boo" to a gnat.

Peter blushed. "Alice. I was waiting for an opening in their discussion so I could ask her to the ball, but Frank interrupted them and asked her, so I said he was being rude and..." He trailed off.

"Pete, they're engaged," Remus reminded the other boy. "She wouldn't have gone with you anyway."

Peter looked embarrassed. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."

Lily shook her head. "So who are you taking to the ball?"

Peter sighed. "Tonks."

"Tonks?!"

"She was the first girl who came around the corner!" Peter said defensively. "I figured...well, she's only a third year, she wouldn't be able to go otherwise...she said she'd go with me, though, probably on the same line of logic." He frowned at James. "Who are you taking, then? Who have you asked?"

"Good point." James turned his head to look at Lily. "Want to go to the Graduation Ball with me tonight?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Nothing like waiting till the last minute. Sure, I'd love to."

"Great." James smirked at Peter.

Peter shook his head and turned to Sirius. "Who are you going with, Siri?"

Sirius shook his head. "Nobody. Why restrict myself to just one woman? Plenty of Sirius to go around." Lily snorted. "I'm going stag. No offence meant, James."

"None taken." James tilted his head back to look at Remus. "You going solo too, Rem?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Remus stammered. "I...I mean, who'd want to go with me?"

"Wouldn't Petunia?" Lily asked innocently.

Remus shook his head. "You didn't know? We broke up last summer. It wasn't going to work anyway...and she got awfully snotty about you."

"That's nothing new." Lily flashed a smile at him, then stood. "I'd better go start getting ready for the ball...see you later, dear." She turned and headed for the castle.

Sirius propped his head up on his elbow. "Looking forward to the ball, huh?"

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for anything on either side of the grave."

Remus folded his arms underneath of himself and raised himself slightly. "You think the ball is that important? Your six hundredth date with Lily Evans or something?"

James flushed slightly. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything yet, but..." He pushed himself to a sitting position and reached into his pocket. Sirius and Remus sat up as well, and Peter leaned down from his rock.

Looking a little embarrassed, James withdrew a dark red velvet box and opened it, showing them a simple gold band with two small stones, oblong and seemingly intertwined. One was a translucent, alduralescent stone with a blue sheen to it; the other was a dark red gem that sparkled gently.

"Merlin's beard," Sirius whispered. "Prongs, you planning on...?"

James nodded, his face flushed but tinged with pride. "I wrote to Dad last week, he placed the order for me. Been saving my allowance since Christmas for this."

"Sweet mother of pearl," Remus said weakly.

"Actually, the bluish one is a moonstone, which is one of the two accepted modern June birthstones," James told him. "The red one is garnet, the January birthstone."

"It's just an expression, James. I know what they are."

"Oh," James said sheepishly.

"Her birthstone and yours, right?" Peter asked. "Sensible...if a bit unorthodox."

"I know they're usually diamonds, but that's the April birthstone and Petunia's birthday is in April," James explained. "Besides, everybody does diamonds and I wanted Lily's to be something special. Moonstone and garnet was a hell of a lot cheaper than even a single low-carat diamond, and that didn't hurt."

Sirius smiled. "She's a lucky woman. Hope she says yes."

The colour faded out of James's face. "Oh, God, so do I. Why would she, though? I mean, we've only been going out for seven months...and she used to hate my guts..."

"Nah, she never hated you," Remus said with a gentle smile. "She acted the way she did for the same reason you acted the way you did--because she loved you."

"But I didn't yell at her," James objected.

Remus shook his head. "Okay, maybe it's not exactly the same. You acted the way you did because you loved her and you were trying to show off for her. She acted the way she did because she loved you and she was afraid."

Peter's eyebrows shot up. "Afraid? Of what?"

"Afraid of what she was feeling," Remus said simply. "Afraid she'd fall too hard too fast and that he wouldn't be there to catch her when she did. Afraid that he wouldn't love her back--and then when he started acting up around her, that he was only asking her out as a joke. I've been there so I can understand. Least Lily isn't also afraid of what James would say if he found out that she was a werewolf, like I was with Petunia."

"Does she know?" Sirius asked quietly.

"Who, Petunia? Nah, I never got the chance to tell her. Good thing, now that I think on it..."

"No, I mean Lily."

"Oh, yeah, she's known for a while," Remus said dismissively. "She wanted to know why Severus quit coming to our study groups, so I told her about that 'prank' you pulled..."

"You used to study with him?" James asked in surprise, closing the box with a snap. "Why?"

"Well, at first it was just Lily," Remus mumbled. "But we were working on some essay in about January of our first year and we both got stuck on some theorem...he happened to be passing by and Lily asked him if he could explain it to us. He wouldn't do it at first, but we played up the flattery card and he helped us out. Turned out he was having trouble with Charms, which Lily and I are both fairly good at. When Lily mentioned to him that I was helping her out with Defence in exchange for Potions help, he said that he was pretty good at Defence too and offered to join our group in exchange for Charms help. It just got to be a habit after a while...he's not so bad when you get to know him."

Peter shook his head. "I will never understand you, mate."

"I don't expect you to, JI," Remus replied.

Sirius frowned at Remus. "Why do you keep calling him that?"

"My middle initials, remember?" Peter reminded Sirius.

"But what do they stand for?" James insisted, looking from Peter to Remus.

Remus stood up and brushed a few blades of grass off his front. "Judas Iscariot."