It was a few days before Sirius was out of St. Mungo's and allowed to go home, the skin on his chest healed at last. "Now you best be taking it easy for a time," Dora Potter said, scurrying after him in the streets after leaving Mungo's, "Taking your potion everyday as the mediwitches prescribed. I won't have you neglecting your injuries and end up back here with some sort of awful side effect! Do you understand me?"
"Yes mum," Sirius said, and although he rolled his eyes, he smiled quite brightly, too.
"Careful," James commented, "She'll pester you about every bleedin' thing until kingdom come if you let her." He kissed Dora's cheek. "I'm kidding, mum, I love you."
"You better," Dora said, "Gave you life, I did, and blast me if I can't take it away."
Remus smirked as James pretended to look quite appalled.
She walked with them from Mungo's to the Leaky Cauldron, where she admonished James to carry Sirius's books for him once they'd gotten what they needed, and reminded them about twelve times over to be back before dinner, then stepped through the floo back home.
They watched her go and the moment the fire had returned to it's normal orange glow, Sirius declared, "Alright, I'm dying from laying about. Let's get into it, blokes."
So they walked down Diagon Alley together, three abreast, Sirius's arms thrown over the other two boys' shoulders as they passed colorful shop windows along the cobbled streets. They ducked into the candy shop across from Ollivander's and got themselves some sweets and into the Diagon Alley branch of the Quality Quidditch Supplies shop, where James found himself looking at some of the equipment.
"You playing this term, Prongs?" Sirius asked, seeing James fingering a pair of dragon hide gloves in Gryffindor red-and-gold.
James rubbed the material of the gloves. "Possibly, dunno. Maybe. I - I might be busy."
"Busy with what?" Remus asked as Sirius inspected a beater's bat that promised unparalleled aiming capabilities.
James hesitated.
Remus grinned, "With Evans?"
"Snogging all about the castle," Sirius said, "Taking up all the best snogging places."
"If we haven't already occupied them," Remus smirked. Then, to James, "Is that what you meant?"
James put the gloves back up. "Can you lot keep a secret?"
"Yes," Sirius said quickly as Remus said, "I can."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked, nudging Remus's shoulder.
"It means I can," Remus said. "And it means that you're a liar. Yes? Please. Have you met you?"
"Yes and I'm a very charming bloke with excellent secret keeping skills."
"Bloody hell, you've never kept a secret in your life," Remus said, shaking his head. He turned to James, "What is it, Prongs?"
"Yes what?" Sirius asked, and he drew an X over his heart, "Cross my heart I'll take it to the bloody grave."
"Just have it etched onto your epitaph, yeah?" Remus teased.
Sirius stuck his tongue out, and then turned his full attention on James.
James reached into his jumper pocket and withdrew the Headboy badge - freshly polished.
Sirius's eyes widened, as did Remus's, and Sirius swept in and took it out of James's hand, holding it up to look at it. "Bloody hell, where'd you knick this from then?" he asked.
"Dumbledore came to my house and personally delivered it," James replied. Then, with a smirking grin, he added, "Just like we said he would."
Remus snorted in amusement, his eyes sparkling with pride.
Sirius sniffed the badge and held it back to James, "You're telling me that's not a fake?"
"One hundred percent genuine Headboy badge," James nodded.
Sirius stared at it in James's palm again, "And he meant for you to have it? Like he actually said your name in connection with the bestowing? It isn't like it fell out of his pocket and you're assuming."
James shook his head, "Rather, he came, said some very kind things, and he brought along Minnie and the old bird presented me with it."
"Blooo-ddyyy- helll!" Sirius drawled the word out, shaking his head.
James turned to Remus, "You're not angry with me, are you? I know of the four of us, if it'd been a Gryffindor, we all thought it'd be you--"
"Honestly, I'm bloody relieved it's not," Remus replied, "Prefect was tiring enough. I'm ready to retire from my role in Hogwarts politics, and I'm quite pleased that if anyone was to take on my post that it's someone with some common sense and at least a wee bit of restraint on Sirius."
A grin broke across Sirius's face, "Oh man. The pranks we'll pull, right Prongs? OH! OHHHHH. Filch. Filch will be powerless." His eyes were lit like he was seeing Christmas come early. "Yessss," he whispered.
James flushed, "Well, I don't want to abuse the power it vests in me."
"Abuse the power it vests in me?" Sirius repeated. He looked at Remus with a stupefied expression.
Remus said, "How long you've had that thing? It sounds like it's rubbing off on you already."
James laughed. "Anyway," he said, "That's one of the reasons I don't know if I want to get involved in quidditch this year."
"Please, it isn't quidditch without you," Sirius said, waving his palm at James, "And besides that, technically you're still the Captain aren't you?"
"No, Frank's the Captain."
"Actually," Remus said, "Frank was the temporary Captain while you were out of order. Frank's gone now and you're quite recovered so I reckon that makes you captain again now."
"Surely Dumbledore's chosen someone else by now," James argued.
"Did he collect your Captain badge or your Captain robes?" Remus questioned.
"Well, no," James said.
Sirius's grin widened, "Now why would a not-the-captain person have those things if there was another captain?"
"Because --" James stammered. It suddenly occurred to him that what Remus was saying made sense... "You don't really reckon..."
"I really do, mate," Remus replied.
Sirius grinned, "Oh this really is going to be a ripe year. Headboy and Quidditch Captain!"
James flushed. "I - I mean -- Merlin's beard, really am going to be busy, huh?"
"The busiest," Sirius said. "Just remember us when you get all famous and lovely as you are. Especially when you throw in snogging Evans, marauding with the lot of us, and -- I mean, you're going to have to squeeze in a class or two I suppose."
"Reckon so," James laughed, "Seeing as it's school and all."
"So what did Lily say?" Remus asked.
James hesitated again, "Well...."
"You didn't tell her yet?" Remus looked surprised.
James bit his lip, "Well. I was thinking about... surprising her."
"Girls like surprises," chimed in Sirius.
Remus said, "I'd have thought you would've told her during your family dinner."
James said, "Yes, well, that was the plan, but you've met my parents. Amplify their usual curious mode by about a hundred, and add the first girl friend I've really brought home to meet them, plus her mum, and see what you come up with for an answer to solve why I didn't."
Sirius said, "Like the bloody inquisition, that must've been."
"Exactly. I couldn't get a word in even if I wanted to. So then after dinner, Lily and I went for a walk, and I was going to tell her then but -- well, first off we got, er, distracted."
"More like your mouth was full of her tongue, or vice versa," Sirius intoned.
Remus said, "We're quite versed in that form of distraction."
James laughed, "Yes, exactly. Well, after we kissed a good deal, I was going to tell her, and then she bloody pulls out her purse and -- she's made Headgirl."
"Well aren't you two just a fucking couple?" Sirius said, shaking his head. "Are you hearing this, Moony?"
"I am," Remus replied.
Sirius said, "Dumbledore, the match maker."
Remus smirked.
James said, "And anyway, I couldn't just... follow up her good news with my own and make hers seem in some way less important. She gets enough of that with blasted Petunia running about." He rolled his eyes, "That sister of hers..."
"Oh I remember," Sirius nodded solemnly. "Ruddy little --" he made a groaning sound.
Remus said, "Yeah, from what Lily's told me herself, she sounds like quite the charming individual."
"Her and her fat walrus of a boyfriend deserve one another," Sirius declared. "Now there's an arsehole of a bloke that makes you wonder if ol' You Know Who isn't onto something with his anti-muggle policy."
James laughed, "I'd be alright with it if he wanted to start an anti-Vernon Durlsey policy."
"Defense Against The Wide Arse," Sirius said, "A beginner's course in avoiding the fuck out of that beast."
Remus said, "I've been lucky and avoided him naturally."
James picked up the dragon hide gloves again. "I suppose the Quidditch Captain slash Headboy deserves some nice new gloves."
"YES HE DOES!" Sirius spoke up, grinning.
James hesitated, then picked up a second pair. "And I suppose the, um, star player and Captain's girlfriend might like some, too?" he grinned.
"YES I WOULD!" Sirius said, snapping up the second pair. "It is a Tuesday, after all." He winked at Remus, then smooched James wetly on the cheek.
Besides being the first day that Sirius was allowed to be out of St. Mungo's, it was also another day. August 7. Peter Pettigrew's seventeenth birthday.
His mum and dad had barely acknowledged it.
He kept hoping that something would be different at dinner, that the skim-over this morning was leading up to something grand later on, but it didn't really seem as though that were the case.
Peter was wishing he hadn't told James that he'd be out of the country for his birthday. He wondered what Mrs. Potter's butterbeer cake tasted like (probably the most amazing thing ever), and if James and the other lads missed him (probably not). He pictured the dinner they'd have - in his mind it was roast with all the fixings - followed up by that bloody amazing cake and he pictured presents and hugs from his friends and sleeping under the stars in the backyard in a tent, listening to Sirius ask stupid questions until after midnight, when he would drift off to sleep, listening to the others sleeping noises.
But instead he'd spent the weekend sitting in the muggle library, reading books about the Empire State Building (James had gotten it all wrong and Peter was glad he'd looked it up) and what things like Broadway were so he had something to tell them when the Marauders asked how his trip had gone.
He hated himself or making up such a manky excuse. He would've done anything to be near to his friends right now - anything at all.
Well, anything except steal James Potter's watch, that is.
Peter now sat alone at the muggle library, outside and eating a sandwich he had pathetically made by himself that morning. He stared down into the sandwich.
Suddenly a shadow passed over him, and he looked up and his stomach twisted right into a knot.