INSTEAD, james potter [1]

Chapter Sixty-Four

Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were all thrilled to be back at school. They were now approaching the last months of their time at Hogwarts and they intended to spend it together as much as possible. 

They partly dreaded going out into the world when it was as dark as it was. 

Remus was a werewolf, after all. He knew there wasn't much out there for him once he wasn't in the safe halls of school, while the others had the world for the taking. So he was going to enjoy these times as much as he could. 

And him, along with the other boys, all knew of the horrors happening outside of the safe walls of Hogwarts. The war raged on, and they were always antsy to know what was going on. But Peter especially was terrified of what could happen to them once they graduated. 

Though they were sort of excited, as well. Sirius very much wanted to fight those he grew up with, knowing the horrors they could do. His friends agreed for the most part. They all wanted to fight. 

The war hadn't breached the school, and they knew it was all because of Albus Dumbledore. They didn't really get much information from their teachers, Heads of House of the Headmaster himself. They had to seek it out on their own. 

That's how Peter, Remus and Sirius all found themselves sitting in front of the fire of the Gryffindor fireplace, reading through a single copy of the Daily Prophet. It had become a bit of a habit for them lately, hoping there would be more information. 

They barley noticed as a couple walked through the doors to the common room, hand in hand, a while after the curfew. They could get away with it though, as James and Lily were Head Boy and Girl. 

"I see the lads are still up," James commented, smiling softly at seeing his three best friends huddled together and talking. He turned back to his girlfriend, raising his eyebrow. "You want sit up with us?"

"No, sorry. Thanks for the offer though," Lily denied, raising her hand to cover her mouth, along with the yawn that came from it. "As you can probably see, I'm really tired. I'm just going to go to bed.

"Good night then," he grinned down at her, only to lean over and kiss her sweetly. She blushed so brightly her face matched her hair as she walked away. He went over the boys next. "I'm back and your lives just got better."

Sirius couldn't be happier at the reappearance of his best friend. He grinned widely at him, sending him a quick wink. "Good to see you again, Prongs. Did you have a nice rendezvous with Evans?"

James blushed a bit in embarrassment. He had tried to avoid talking about Lily with them as much as possible, feeling like it would be a bit awkward after what happened with him and Lyra. "It was fine. I like her."

Peter looked up at him kindly, wondering how James got all these girls. The Quidditch Captain had had two serious girlfriends in the last two years and Peter hadn't had any at all. "Do you love her?"

The mention of the big L-word made the Potter boy quickly look away in discomfort. He hadn't even wanted to think about it, much less be asked about it. "We haven't really gotten to that stage yet."

Sirius raised his eyebrows dramatically, leaning back to look up at James with a all too sweet smile that could only be mocking. "By this time in your relationship with Lyra, you'd both said you loved each other."

"Don't," James said sternly, giving him a strict look. He hadn't really said much about their break-up, so most of them just wondered what had happened. They usually tried to hint some information out. "It doesn't count when she insists it was all a lie."

"Lads, I think you might want to see this," Remus suddenly spoke up, and they all turned their heads quickly. The werewolf was frowning deeply as he looked at the Daily Prophet, though they couldn't really see why yet.