Perfect Day

"Ugh."

James Potter swung his legs over the side of the bed, grabbed his glasses from the bedside table, and looked blearily around the room, blinking sleep from his eyes.

"I'm glad that's over."

They had just finished their NEWTs; the last exam, the Transfiguration practical, had been last evening. And they were aptly named, even James, brilliant student that he was, had found them nastily exhausting.

"It is, isn't it?" his best friend Sirius Black asked from where he was stretched out on his bed, staring out the window.

"Is what?"

"Over."

"Yeah, it is. Aren't you glad?"

"I guess so," Sirius replied, absently.

"What's wrong, mate?" James asked, sensing something slightly worrying in Sirius' tone.

"It's over," the other boy replied. "Not just NEWTs, but all of it. School. Hogwarts. Everything."

"Boy, are you in a good mood," James said, standing up and making his way towards the bathroom.

"But think about it, James. This is it. The end. No school. No Marauders. No late night kitchen raids, or Quidditch matches, or turning Snivellus' hair green."

James thought about it as he went through his morning routine, brushing his teeth, putting on some clothes, taking a look in the mirror and deciding that combing his hair would not help matters in the slightest. By the time he returned to the dormitory, Sirius was also dressed, looking impeccable, as usual.

"C'mon, let's go down to breakfast," he said.

"What about Remus and Peter?" James asked, gesturing to the other two beds, whose curtains were still drawn.

"Let them sleep a bit longer. They had a harder time of it than we did."

***

Sirius was just finishing up a piece of toast when Peter and Remus joined them at the table. "At last, the dead arise," he intoned, grinning.

"Oh, shut it," Remus said as he sat down and began piling scrambled eggs onto his plate, but he flashed his friend a smile as well.

"You know, James and I have been thinking..."

"Uh-oh," Peter interrupted around a mouthful of French toast.

"Or, at least, I have been thinking...This is it, boys. The end. In less than a week, Hogwarts says good-bye to the Marauders, and we say good-bye to Hogwarts."

"Yes," Remus agreed, apparently waiting to see if this was going somewhere.

"So let's make it a day to remember," Sirius concluded, rather anticlimactically, if indeed there had been any climax at all.

"What?" Peter asked, frowning slightly.

"You know," James said. "Do all the stuff we always do, or all the stuff we always wanted to do. Have a perfect day, as it were."

"Sounds good to me," said Remus. "What are we going to do, though?"

"Whatever comes to mind, I guess," Sirius replied. "But I think a trip to Hogsmeade is definitely in order.

***

After breakfast, they headed back up to the dormitory. James started rummaging through his trunk, looking for the Marauder's Map and his Invisibility Cloak.

"You know, James, that cloak won't do us any good," Remus said reasonably. "I mean, we can't even all fit under it anymore. Anyway, we don't need to sneak out this time."

It was true. After NEWTs and before graduation, seventh years were allowed to come and go between the village and the castle pretty much as they pleased.

"But...but...it's the cloak. It's the principle of the thing, Moony," James said rather petulantly.

"It's pointless all the same," Remus said.

"Oh, alright," James said, sounding like a small child forbidden from playing with his favorite toy. "What about the map, then?"

"You know," Sirius interjected, "I've been thinking about that. It's not really any use to us anymore. First off, we already know every hidden room and secret passage in the castle, and secondly, we're not going to be here much longer."

"Yeah, but what can we do with it?" James asked. It was the pinnacle of the Maruaders' efforts, second only to the Animagus transformations, and he was loathe to get rid of it.

"Give it to someone else who will put it to good use, obviously," Sirius said, as though he couldn't believe James hadn't thought of that already.

"But who can we trust to carry on the Marauder legacy?" James asked.

"That's the problem, I can't think of anyone quite as devoted to the noble art of trouble-causing as we are."

"How about Sarah and Anthony?" Peter said from his bed, where he had been watching the proceedings interestedly.

"Who?" James and Sirius asked simultaneously.

"Thing One and Thing Two," Remus said. "Honestly, even you should have realized that those weren't their real names."

"I knew those weren't their real names," James said indignantly. "I just didn't know what their real names were."

Sarah Meron and Anthony Pettit were cousins who were closer than brothers (or sisters), and the only ones who came close to the four of them in the mischief-making department. The fourth years had looked up to them, especially to James and Sirius, ever since the memorable incident three years ago that had resulted in the entire Slytherin house unable to speak in anything but dirty limericks.

"Yeah, they'd put it to good use if anyone would," Sirius said, after considering it for a bit.

So, matter resolved, they headed down to the common room, where Sarah and Anthony were sitting in the corner, leafing through Tricky Variations on Common Jinxes: When Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures, which was cleverly disguised as Intermediate Transfiguration. They jumped a bit when they heard footsteps approaching, but relaxed visibly when they saw who it was.

"Really, you two, I should think you'd know better by now," Sirius said in a mock-chiding voice, "that the number one rule of not getting caught is to not act guilty."

"Sorry," Sarah said quietly.

"Anyway," James said, "we've got a present for you. Of sorts."

"A present?" Anthony asked suspiciously.

"A legacy, if you will," Remus added.

"Are you ready for this?" James asked dramatically as Sirius tapped out a drum roll on the table. "Behold!" And he whipped the map out and laid it on the table next to the discarded book.

"It's a...piece of parchment?" Sarah asked skeptically.

"Will you listen to that?" James said to the world at large. "A piece of parchment, she says. Watch and learn, o ye of little faith." He tapped the parchment with his wand and said the spell that would set it to work. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Sarah and Anthony watched in amazement as thin lines spidered out across the face of the parchment, painting Hogwarts with ink and magic.

"The entire school," Remus explained to them. "Every room, every hall, every secret passage. And every person in it, where they are, what they're doing."

"Wicked," the younger students said together.

"The secret of our success," James said. "Well, one of them, anyway."

"Where'd you get it?" Sarah asked.

"We ma-" Sirius began, but was cut of by Peter. "It's a secret," the other boy said quickly. "The blokes we got it from made us swear not to tell."

"Why give it to us?" Anthony asked.

"We're leaving. What good is it to us anymore?" Sirius explained. "We thought we'd give it to some people who would put it to good use, and you two sprang to mind immediately."

Remus decided not to say anything about that.

"Use it well," James told them. "And wipe it when you're done, or anyone can use it. Just tap it and say 'Mischief managed.'" He demonstrated, wiping the parchment blank.

The two fourth years nodded, unable to say anything.

***

After deciding to do things normally just once and actually walk to Hogsmeade on the main road like every one else, the four boys made their way down to the entrance hall. They were just about to head out the door when Lily came running after them, calling "James, James."

"Oh, shite," James groaned. "I forgot, we were supposed to spend the day together."

He was about to open his mouth to explain the situation, but Lily got there first.

"Oh, James, I'm so sorry, but would it be alright if we called off our plans for today? Only Alice and Melissa and Emily and I were planning on doing a girls-only day. I completely forgot until right now. I'm so sorry."

"Umm, yeah, that's fine. We were kind of planning a guys-only day, so I guess it all works out fine"

"Oh, thanks," Lily said, giving him a quick kiss and then heading back off upstairs.

"That was lucky," James said, wiping imaginary sweat from his brow.

"Yeah, sure was," Peter agreed.

"You good with Amanda for today?" James asked him.

"Yeah," Peter shrugged. "She said she just wanted to take it easy today. Read one of her Muggle novels in the bath or something like that."

"Ah," Sirius sighed. "I'm so glad I don't have to worry about things like that. Aren't you, Moony?" he asked, throwing his arm around the other boy's shoulder.

"Very," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "Let's go."

The sun was high and hot overhead as the walked across the grounds. "Geez, what time is it?" James asked, squinting up at the sky.

Remus checked his watch. "Bit after one. Why?"

"What time did we get up?"

"I don't know. Eleven-thirty-ish, I guess."

"Oh. Didn't think it was that late."

"Does it matter?" Remus asked him.

"I guess not. It just seems like we wasted part of the day."

"A day spent sleeping in is not wasted," Sirius said.

"You said it," Peter agreed.

***

Their first stop in Hogsmeade was, of course, Honeydukes. It was amazing, but the sweet shop was just as good in their seventh year as it had been in their third year. It never seemed to get old or boring.

"Remember the first time we came here?" Peter asked.

"Oh, yeah," James said enthusiastically. "We were an overly-excited lot, weren't we? And the place was so crowded, couldn't hardly move for students clogging up the place, and stepping on us because we were just ickle third years. Honestly, I don't think we're that bad towards the midgets, do you?"

"No, we just go around calling them midgets," Remus said, a smile in his voice. "Might want to work on that."

"Oi, Moony, c'mere," Sirius called from across the store, where he stood next to the wall where all the chocolate was displayed. Remus groaned inwardly, but headed over anyway. "You see that spot on the carpet?" Sirius asked, gesturing towards a stain that apparently existed only in his private universe. "That is where you drooled on the floor. Drooled, Remus, don't deny it."

"I most certainly will! I may have a rather...extreme...liking -"

"-Bloody obsession," Sirius supplied helpfully.

"-for chocolate, but I have never drooled on the carpet."

"You're just in denial, Moony," Sirius said, shaking his head sadly.

"Oh, Peter, that is just sick and wrong!" came James' voice, much too loudly to be talking to someone in the same country, let alone in the same room.

"What is?" Sirius asked as he and Remus hurried over to where the other two boys were standing.

"He," James gestured at Peter, "ate a Blood-Flavoured Lollipop."

"Because he," Peter gestured at James, "said he'd pay me two Galleons if I did."

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually do it!" James said.

"It wasn't that bad, honestly," Peter said thoughtfully. "Kinda like biting your tongue, but for a really long time."

"Umm, thanks for that assessment, Pete. I can die happy now," Sirius said.

"Yeah, I'm just going to go and, uh, check out, right?" Remus said, heading over towards the counter.

***

They went to Zonko's next, which was something of a disappointment since the first time they had been there.

"Honestly," said Sirius, picking up a Nose-Biting Teacup and looking at it disdainfully, "no creativity at all, some people."

"Yeah, it is rather lacking, isn't it?" Remus said, from where he was looking through the trick wands.

"What's really pathetic is that we used to think these things were the height of cool when it came to pranking people," James said. "Dungbombs, now there's something still worthwhile. A classic, your basic Dungbomb."

"And those Filibuster Fireworks, how many times have we used those?" came Peter's voice floating from among the shelves.

"Oh, a bazillion," Sirius said happily. "The best one, though, was when we threw one into Snivellus' cauldron the day we were doing the Confusing Concoction. Even the antidote didn't work, he'd brewed it so strong. Had to spend four whole days in the hospital wing, thinking he was the Muggle Prime Minister or something like that."

"That was good, but not nearly as great as the time we let them off during the Slytherins' Astronomy exam fourth year. That was priceless," James said, chuckling quietly.

"Not nearly as good as the time we put a whole box in the Slytherin showers after they won the Quidditch cup fifth year," Remus said, grinning broadly.

"Wait, that was us?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Well, me, actually," Remus said, slightly embarrassed. "I mean, you and James and the whole team had worked so hard, and they only won by cheating; I just felt that something needed to be done. And I was really the only one in a position to do it, at the moment."

"Good job, that one was," James said, pounding the other boy on the back.

"Very good," Sirius agreed.

***

After leaving Zonko's, bags full of Dungbombs and Filibuster fireworks, but nothing else (because they were not on, as Sirius put it), it was decided that something to eat was definitely in order.

"I know," James said suddenly. "You know those monster sundaes over at the ice cream place? We should go and get some. I mean, we haven't done it before. It'd be fun to try."

Peaches and Cream, Hogsmeade's oddly named ice cream parlour, had a wonderful deal going on. A huge concoction consisting of a chocolate chip brownie covered in four scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, nuts, cherries and fudge was yours for free...if you could eat it in an hour. Only two people had done it since the deal had been started four months ago, but it always drew a crowd.

"Yeah, that might be fun," Remus said.

The wizard at the counter's eyes bulged when they came and said they wanted four monster sundaes, but he served them up and carried them out to a table in the street.

"Good luck, lads," he said, shaking his head.

James gave up about three-quarters of the way through, looking distinctly green. Peter soon followed, clutching his stomach and moaning in a thoroughly over-dramatic way. Remus was just a few bites from finished when he shot up and ran to the loo, where he was promptly and violently ill. Sirius, on the other hand, finished his entire sundae with time to spare, and sat there, a smug grin sharing room on his face with smears of hot fudge and a dollop of whipped cream on his nose.

"Good job, mate," the counter-wizard said, clapping Sirius on the shoulder and handing Remus a glass of water, which he took gratefully.

After Remus, James and Peter paid for their food, they headed back to castle, walking slowly in the hot afternoon sunshine.

"I've got a brilliant idea," James groaned. "Let's never ever do that again."

"I'm with you on that one," Remus agreed, nodding his head fervently.

***

Once they were back on the grounds, they collapsed on the ground beneath their favorite willow tree on the far side of the lake and spelled their bags to go up to the dorm room.

They sat in silence for a while, until James spoke up.

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

"Lying here in motionless heaps would be a favourite," Peter said quietly.

"I meant, after graduation and everything," James said.

"Well," Sirius said, "you and I are going into Auror training, Remus is going to university, and Peter is...What are you doing, Peter?"

"I don't really know, yet. Something artsy, I hope. I like to draw."

"Good at it, too," Remus told him.

"Thanks."

"But what about the...war, and the Order, and everything? What about that?"

"What about that is that we are Not Talking about that today because today is a Happy Day," Sirius said emphatically.

"But doesn't it worry you? A little?"

"A little? Shite, it worries me a lot. But you can't think about that sort of thing all the time. You have to just go on with life as normally as you can."

"He's right, you know," Remus said quietly. "Of course there are bad parts to life, but you can't dwell on them too much, or you'll go mad. Trust me."

There was silence for a few more minutes, again broken by James.

"You know, I've been thinking about...well....maybe asking Lily to marry me."

Sirius sat bolt upright. "Merlin, James, give a guy some warning before you spring something like that on him!"

"Well, I'm sorry. But, you know...I want to marry her."

"James, you're seventeen. Are you really sure you're ready for something like that?" Remus asked, always practical.

"Oh, I know it won't be easy, but she's the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I knew it the first time I saw her."

"It's just...that's a pretty serious commitment, marriage."

"I didn't say I was going to. Just that I was thinking about it."

"Well, James, if you really love her, and I know you do, then I think you should go for it," Sirius said.

"Really?" James asked incredulously, sure that his best friend would have been vehemently against the idea of marriage.

"Really really," Sirius said.

"Gods, it is hot," Peter said, breaking the moment. "I'm sure it's not supposed to be this hot in June."

"Well, it is," James said.

"You know, we should go swimming," Sirius said, gesturing towards the lake, which was bright blue and sparkling.

"Yeah, we should," James said lazily. "But that involves trunks, which involves going to the dorm, which involves standing up."

"Who said anything about trunks?" Sirius asked, grinning wickedly.

"Oh, c'mon, Padfoot. No skinny-dipping."

"Why not? It's just us, way down here; no one else is ever out this far. And it's not like we haven't seen each other starkers umpteen time before."

"He's right, you know," Remus said, pushing himself up on his elbows.

"Yeah. Anyway, it's supposed to be good for you. Or something," Sirius said, standing up and pulling his shirt over his head. Remus followed suit. Even Peter started tugging at his belt.

"C'mon, James, don't be a spoilsport," Remus said, ridding himself of the last vestiges of his clothing.

"Fine, fine," James said, reluctantly.

What followed was not so much swimming as a huge, four-way wrestling match that ended up with the score of Lake: 1000, Marauders: 0. At first they were just lazing in the shallows, occasionally moving idly back and forth. Remus and gone and swum further out, coming back all of a sudden and dunking Sirius thoroughly. Sirius lashed out at Remus, but accidentally thumped James on the ear, which led to James kicking out at Sirius, but missing and kicking Remus instead, who promptly lost his balance. He grabbed onto Peter to keep from falling, but unsuccessfully, and the four of them ended up in a tangled heap, blowing and sputtering.

There was an attempt to race, which ended when Sirius and Remus ganged up on James, each grabbing one of his ankles and holding him there, watching him windmill his arms furiously but futilely.

When they were all too exhausted to do anything but breathe, the climbed out and lay unashamedly on the bank, drying in the sun.

***

By the time they were completely dry, the sun had started to set, sending lengthening shadows across the fields and hills of Hogwarts' grounds.

"'Bout time for dinner, isn't it?" Sirius asked.

"I think so, yeah," James replied.

"Don't really feel like dinner, though," Remus put in.

"Me neither. I could do with something to eat, though," Sirius said.

"Let's go the kitchen and get sandwiches and eat them out here," Peter suggested.

"Good idea," Sirius nodded.

The house elves were only too happy to give them a basket of sandwiches and a pitcher of chilled pumpkin juice, magically charmed not to spill. They sat under the tree in the fading sunlight, eating slowly and talking of nothing much.

"You know, James," Sirius said out of nowhere, "if you're planning on asking Evans to marry you, you need a place to live."

"Yeah?" James asked around a mouthful of chicken salad.

"Yeah. How romantic would it be to say 'Oh, Evans, you are the light of my life and I want to marry you and spend forever with you and have little sproglets, come and live with me at my parents' house?' Honestly, you'd think you would have thought about these things."

"I guess you're right," James said sheepishly. "Where are you staying?"

"Got the same flat I had last summer. And Remus is moving in with me."

"I'm staying at home," Peter said in an embarrassed tone of voice.

"Yeah, well, it's alright for you, Pete, you're not asking someone to move in with you; you don't need your own place."

"Guess you're right," Peter said.

"You know, guys," Remus said as he rummaged through the basket, eventually pulling out a corned beef on rye, "I think we did a good job."

"A good job of what?" Sirius asked.

"Having a perfect day."

"Only you would consider a day on which you threw up seven Galleons worth of ice cream a perfect day," Sirius said jokingly.

"Alright, so I've got low standards. I hang out with you guys, don't I?" Remus replied, resulting in his being dog-piled by the other three and subjected to much tickling.

"Seriously, though," he said, once he had gotten his breath back, "this day was pretty damn good."

"Yeah, it was," Peter agreed.

"I've got a question for you guys," Sirius said after awhile, when the sandwiches were gone and the pitcher empty, the fading sunlight nearly gone. "If you could only remember one thing about the last seven years, and had to forget everything else, what would it be?"

There was silence for a few moments before anybody answered.

"I don't know. You mean I have to forget everything else?" James asked.

"Yep, everything," Sirius replied. "You could only remember one thing about Hogwarts."

"I think," James said slowly, "I think when Lily said she loved me.....Yeah, yeah, that's good. Good memory, that day."

The other three voiced their agreement.

"Mine would be...um....when, um...oh, when I got an O on my Charms OWL," Peter said.

Everyone else nodded. They had all been shocked at that, most of all Peter, who had sent Lily a box of chocolates worth at least twenty Galleons to thank her for all her tutoring.

"I know what mine is," Sirius said. "When we got back from winter hols, jut after, well...you know. And we sat up in the dormitory all night, drinking hot chocolate and playing Exploding Snap, just to keep my mind off of things. You guys are the best friends anyone could ask for, ever."

He turned to face the last of the Marauders, face barely visible in the gathering dusk. "What about you, Remus?"

"In fifth year," Remus said quietly. "When you showed me...when you showed me what you had done for me. Your transformations. That...that was the nicest thing anyone has ever done, anyone could ever do. And you did it. For me. Thank you." And he broke off, but not before the heard the catch in his voice. Instinctively, they all moved closer.

"You know, stars are coming out," Sirius said. "We should move out from under this tree, we can see them better."

"Yeah, good idea," James said.

They stood up and walked out into the field next to the lake, and lay down on the soft grass, heads in a circle. They just lay like that for a while, not talking, just looking and sharing and being, which is all anyone can ask.

"Guys?" a voice asked after a while.

"Yeah?" came the eventual reply.

"It'll be alright, right?"

"Right."

"And we'll always be friends, right?"

"Right."

"Yeah."

"Of course.

"Good."

***

And that is where we will leave them, four boys under the stars, seventeen and untouchable and perfect in every way.

END