_we keep.ourselves a m y s t e r y [Remus, Sirius]

[James Potter]

Oftentimes, James felt himself reminsicing of all the times he and his friends had spent together. Throughout the past five years, they'd done nearly everything together; played pranks, had dention, fought, laughed, gotten in trouble, banded together against their enemies... the list seemed endless. Those times, at one point, had almost seemed like they would never end. James had almost been stuck in a wonderful dream of mischeif and friends. Never once did he think that someday everything would change. It had never crossed his mind; not until that morning.

It had dawned an ordinary morning, or so it seemed. James had woken up (last, as usual) and gotten dressed, heading down the stairs to the Common Room where he knew that Remus, Sirius and Peter would be waiting for him. Sure enough, as he desecnded the stairs, there they all were on the couch, talking and waiting for him to wake up. James was fully prepared to make his grand enterance and join them, but there was something different this day.

James observed his friends somewhat sadly. They were growing up, himself included. With a sudden fear, he realized that next year really was their last year all together at Hogwarts. Soon they'd go off their seperate ways, keeping in contact fleetingly by Owl. The idea of their bond shattering so frightened him; therefore he decided that they needed to make their last years together memorable and fun. He never thought it would end, but the final days were suddenly not too far ahead.

Said Potter trekked down the grassy knoll near the castle, his hands in his pockets, his Snitch buzzing around in the air a bit in front of him. He lifted hazel eyes to look up ahead, a small smile flickering across his lips as he reached his destination: The Whomping Willow. They'd been here many times before (obviously) but not really too much in the daylight. James had sent them all letters earlier (with the exception of Peter, he seemed to be tagging along more than usual lately) and asked them to meet him here during lunch hour. It would be nice to just bet he three of them again, and hopefully Pettigrew wouldn't catch on to their plans.

Running a hand through his tousled hair, James gave a small sigh and sat down on a large boulder, facing and just out of reach of the Williow. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an apple and started munching on it, waiting for the arrival of his friends.[/size]

[Remus Lupin]

Waking up first was really more of a curse than anything, there was nobody to talk to and then you ended up being teased for it later. But then there was the fact of not being able to resume your sleep. So wide awake, Remus had awoken, finding his friends still asleep as he had suspected. It was about the only time they were peaceful and not causing a ruckus or something. But he was used to it by now, after six years anyway. Like a ritual that the entire school was accustomed to, but only for another year. One more year and the four would seperate to lead seperate lives and soon families.

As he sat in the common room, textbook out, reading because he actually like to, the common room seemed to wake up a few at a time. Continuing to read, only exchanging few words with Sirius here and there, they awaited the awakening of the last one, as always, James. Not even Lily expressing her undying love for him loudly in the common room could wake him up from sleeping in. There was a solemn mood about him today though, Remus didn't ask.

Walking down from the castle had the letter from James in his pocket. Instead of simply tossing it after receiving its message, Remus kept it. It was the habit of organization and just being a packrat in general. Basically anything he found related to his friends or family was kept for memorable purposes. His pace was moderate, his blue eyes scanning ahead for the familiar figure of his best friends, likely he would be the first one there, but never last. Remus just did that. But why the Whomping Willow? Of all places, this told Remus that maybe it was the need of privacy, for nobody approached the beastly tree, it truely did have a mind of its own.

Looming closer he saw James already there, eating an apple and playing the golden snitch he always carried around. Of course, nothing new. "Hey." He said announcing his presence if he needed to, leaning against a nearby tree that wasn't so close to the Willow. It wasn't his favorite of places, but he dealt with it, it seemed nicer in the light rather than through the eyes of agonizing pain and under the full moon light. Eyeing the tree again he tried to brush it out of his mind, not wanting to dwell in them too long, it never made him feel any better.

[Sirius Black]

Since Sirius's sleep patterns always tended to vary, there was usually a good amount of time before he woke up, but he had never once in his life outslept James. Usually Sirius found himself waking up at what he considered an 'early' time due to Remus's constant clockwork schedule which called for him to get up before the roosters even started crowing Sirius had gotten accostumed to waking up to the noises of Remus stumbling blindly around the dorm room. Naturally he would fall back asleep, but even in this fragile state he couldn't remain asleep very long because of the unearthly amount of energy that he possessed not to mention how sensitive his ears had grown to the noises around them ever since the animigus experiment. Needless to say Sirius had stumbled out of bed and down the stairs barely a few hours after Remus to keep him company.

Seating himself in one of the high backed plush red chairs of the Gryffindor Common Room Sirius was peering over Remus's shoulder less than five minutes after he had taken his seat next to his friend. Falling back into the chair the two had exchanged causual conversation as usual, which came in clips and fragments as Remus continued to read through his back. The fact that Remus could read and hold a proper conversation with Sirius had at first amazed the sixteen year old years before but now it was just old news. Having leaned restlessly back into the plush arm chair instead of doing work, Sirius conversed with Remus and flirted with all the passing girls descending the stairs from the Gryffindor girl's dormitories. Gradually more people piled into the Common Room and Sirius had a feeling that they would be leaving soon. Peter was making a nuisance of himself again as he hung over Sirius's shoulder as Sirius himself studied a paritcularly beautiful blonde fourth year from afar. Finally after what seemed like ages, James had come down the stairs looking, still looking tired and as if he hadn't had the near twenty hours of sleep that was his trademark. His arrival had thankfully pryed Peter off of Sirius's own shoulder and gave him a new shadow to play with. Sirius could tell that there was something about the mood today among his friends that was causing everything to be a somewhat more than somber occasion. It wasn't until later that day when he received James's owl did he realize what was up.

As the meeting time drew further away Sirius decided to make his almost always ten minutes fashionably late entrance down at the Whomping Willow where he was supposed to meet James and Remus. James's note had been discarded earlier, magically burned by Sirius in a trash can near the end of a corridor on the fouth floor which had caused quite a stir seeing as how Sirius hadn't only set the note on fire but the whole rubbish bin as well. After just narrowly escaping the livid caretaker, Sirius found himself detentionless for the week and walking towards the two figures he saw loitering around the Willow. As he drew closer he recognized James with the snitch zooming around his head and Remus, who had probably been on time as usual. Approaching the gathering Sirius's usual grin seemed a bit flat as he sensed the sadness in the meeting and what was to come. He greeted James and Remus with a nod, setting aside the reason for why he was late for later when things might have gotten more happier.

[James Potter]

"Hey."

James hadn't at all been startled by Moony's appearance, but nonetheless was grateful for the warning. Ever since that morning he couldn't shake this weird feeling of melancholy. It was weird for him to experience it, seeing as how he usually was so sarcastic and carefree. He'd hoped that at least the other two wouldn't be able to pick up on his strangely dour mood, but by the looks on both of their faces and the lack of spark in Sirius's greeting smile, he knew with a twinge of remorse that they were onto him.

Snatching the golden Snitch out of midair and holding it tightly, relishing the feeling of its tiny wings beating furiously in vain to free itself, he smiled at the others. He hoped that maybe the mood would lighten a bit, but the fact was that something was up and they all felt it. They could act cheery and indifferent but something was definitely there. "Hey Moony." he said in response to Remus, who looked just a bit worried. Casting his eyes to Sirius, late as usual, he returned the nod. "Padfoot." he acknowledged, tossing the Snitch and catching it again before it could fly too far away. "Took your time, did you?" he cracked, a bit of amusement flashing in his eyes.

Ignoring the struggling Snitch, James looked around, behind Sirius and past a few of the surrounding (and not to mention harmless) trees and sighed a bit in relief. "Glad that Peter hasn't seemed to follow us," he murmured softly, standing up and brandishing his wand. Casting his eyes about the place once more, just to be sure, he gave his wand a flick and muttered "Muffliato."

Not that he didn't enjoy Peter's company sometimes; it was just that the mousy boy was nearly always tripping over the other three Marauders. It was nice to just be the three of them once in a while. James merely kept him around for the sake of amusement; not to mention it was nice to have someone to worship him. As long as he and Sirius and Remus got time to themselves, James wasn't complaining.[/size]

[Remus Lupin]

James didn't reply immediatly and instead played with the golden snitch around him for a while. He carried that thing everywhere, like a good luck charm or something, as if it would bring him more than he already had. There was something up with James, generally meetings weren't organized, they were thought up on the spot, making Remus wondering what was going on. Well while he was here he might as well get some advice from them, though it would be a painful experience, actually working up the nerve to ask advice about girls. Sirius would try to play matchmaker and James would tease him till no end.

Then Sirius appeared a little while after Remus, of course being late so that he could enter himself properly. Both of them were always one for show, well at least they didn't have Peter here, he'd been acted odd lately, dissappearing and only to be clingy to the group. At least James seemed to be returning somewhat to normal, making his usual remarks and moves with the snitch, but there was still something out of place.

Remus nodded in agreement on his comment about Peter. And the three of them were gathered with trees surrounding them in the way that made the Willow look like their leader. He muttered a charm and instantly he knew that they had all the privacy in the world. The three boys were silent for a moment, Remus thinking of what to say and figure out what was going on. Probably just another time to plan a prank that they expected Remus' good standing to make them not vulnerable to detention for a month. Of course, that was his job, getting them not caught.

"So what's up with you today, Prongs?" Remus asked reffering to the change in mood coming from him. But then again he couldn't be sure because they hadn't passed Snape yet in the hallways, if James ignored him then there was a problem, if not then things should be fine.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius grinned a little broader at James's comment, being late was something that he was quickly making the hottest trend - or perhaps maybe it was just in because he was the one who made everyone else late too the majority of the time. "Flich needed something to do, he looked bored." Sirius's automatic reply accompanied a short smile that was ready to fall at the sign of bad news. On the topic of Peter he also spoke up, often times allowing the boy's existance to be something of a running joke, although he and James might have been the only two that considered it funny. "I don't think we'll see him here for a while, I've asked him to find your other sock." The joke was so bad that it might have been obvious that Sirius was trying to ward away the heavy mood that engulfed the marauders. It had made mention to the very large and hopeless pile of clothes that always gathered in their dorm on the second or third day of school every single year that was always composed of a heap of both James and Sirius's stuff, Remus had always been too clean for his own good and Peter had never deemed himself worthy of throwing anything in the pile that always accumulated between their beds.

When James cast the spell, Sirius realized that whatever was happening here had to have been important, usually meeting were never planned they were just jumbled together at the last moment. The only thing that was ever planned when it came to the marauders (besides dates) was pranks and that always happened over a span of hours to a few weeks at the most. It now made him curious, his expression changing a little as his eyes seemed to eagerly await the purpose of the meeting now. "Yeah are we plotting something?" Sirius added after Remus asked the question that he himself had been eager to ask since his own late and very untimely arrival. Something seemed off though, if they had been plotting something Peter might as well have been involved because he would find out about it sooner or later - playing shadow to James usually had it's benefits - like hearing things that you weren't supposed to hear. Sirius didn't disclose his suspicions right away, he would just wait for James to explain because he was sure that there might have been a bigger reason that they were here rather than just for the kicks of scheming something.

Although the eagerness appeared in his eyes, Sirius allowed his features to twist into a neutral expression. The situation that James had brought them together to talk about might have been a bad one judging by his mood, although it couldn't have been too serious if he was trying to throw in some humor.

[James Potter]

"Flich needed something to do, he looked bored. I don't think we'll see him here for a while, I've asked him to find your other sock."

James snorted at this, even though the last bit was obviously dry humor. He could only imagine both things; Sirius deciding that Filch needed a bit of fun in his life, and Petter trying to neatly go through James and Sirius's great mess of things to find the missing sock, without displacing any of the junk, no, never. "Good to hear." he cracked with a small, amused smile in Padfoot's direction. He was about to say more when Moony's voice jolted him back to reality.

"So what's up with you today, Prongs?"

Just barely visibly, James winced. He should've known they'd be onto him. He knew for sure if they'd been acting this way he'd pick up on it. They knew each other inside and out, but for some stupid reason James thought maybe that he was a good actor? Judging by the somewhat uncertain smile on Sirius's face and the subconscious worried look in Remus's eyes; he had been wrong.

"Yeah are we plotting something?"

Turning his eyes away from his friends, briefly, in an attempt to gather his control, he focused instead on letting the Snitch go, and grabbing it up again. He repeated this small action a couple of times, before giving a sigh and rumpling his hair. He spun back around to face his friends, a somewhat large (and painfully obviously fake) smile planted on his lips. "What, can't a guy spend time with his friends and not Peter at the Whomping Willow during lunch with an unusually organized letter and cast the Muffliato charm so no one could overhear without raising suspicion?"

Too late James realized just how daft he sounded, and just how much more his two friends knew that something was up. He gave a deep sigh and sat back down on the boulder, letting the Snitch flit aimlessly around his head. Staring at a spot on the ground in front of him, he gave up and spoke. "Moony, Padfoot, methinks that, well.... We only have one year left."[/size]

[Remus Lupin]

Remus could only roll his eyes at Sirius' comment, it was expected and likely very true, using this meeting as a indefinite hidaway so as to avoid detention. Well too bad Remus couldn't save his ass today. Sirius was always causing trouble one way or another, but his style was really with pranks and clever words strung together with a raised voice. And James, well he did the same thing but rather like to hang people by their feet using magic.

With Remus' question the conversation went to a more serious level, even Sirius following the same path that Moony had set. There was a pause and he awaited a response from his friend patiently. He hadn't been certain anything was wrong with James, just a suspicion from his natural observation of things. Usually James was more lively and already planning things with Remus before Sirius got there, just filling him in along the way.

Sirius' question had been on the tip of his tongue, almost ready to ask as soon as he received an answer. Well good to know he hadn't been the only one to notice. James' eyes were averted and he absent midedly played with the snitch, Remus waited patiently. But his eyebrow raised with a 'are you serious?' look on his face. Organization was a foreign word to James.

Then he answered and now he felt the effect of the thought. They did only have a short amount of time left. "Well, lets make the best of it." Was his response, though hypocritical becuase he wasn't really one to try new things. And with a small pain of guilt in his chest he thougth of Ripley.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius cocked his head to one side, James was potentially losing it if he didn't think that any of his actions had been in the least bit not suspicious at all. Maybe Lily Evans was finally getting him back and trying to screw with his head instead of the other way around. It seemed a good possibility recalling how James had given an amused snort at Sirius's close to not funny at joke, it had been a very large downgrade from his usually hilarious gut wrenching jokes that he rattled off as if it were just as natural as breathing air - which for him it was.

Easily reading the hesitance and then the resignation in James's face, Sirius realized that this must have been serious business. He let his sense of humor drop for a moment as he allowed himself to gain a serious mindset - one that was reserved for occasions such as this. Somehow James's short response to the question that had been bothering both him and Remus seemed very viable right now. Even though they had barely just started their sixth year, the school year was already underway and they were drawing forever closer to the last and final 7th year at Hogwarts. 7th year meant many things, and usually it was viewed in a positive way but Sirius did not want to leave. As much as he hated his family and the members of it that still frequented the halls here he still called it home. And once he left here there would be no place for him to come back to come summer, he would be alone and forever lost. Not to mention the empty threat of losing three of his best friends hanging over his head the whole time. What was he going to do when he graduated? After graduation there would be life without a purpose, and he would just be plain old Sirius Black with no one to annoy other than himself. The future ahead certainly did look somber and he could understand where James was coming from now. Sirius's smile fell, as he resigned his expression to one that better fight the current mood. "Only a year left?" Sirius restated the obvious, he was dumbstruck still unable to believe that so much time has passed since now and than.

Remus's optimistic reply was very in character, and Sirius couldn't help but let his grey eyes drop to the grass at his feet. "Make the most of it, I say we all fail something important and get held back while we can!" Sirius responded quickly, this may have lightened the mood a bit, as he found himself accidently falling back into his carefree mindset. It was just a habit of his. "Mooney what class do we absolutely need that we can't graduate without?" Sirius's attention was now directed towards Remus.

[James Potter]

"Well, lets make the best of it."

James's head snapped up at Moony's voice; it didn't really surprise him that it was his "furry" friend stating the reasonable, optimistic solution to the slowly approaching problem. Remus always had a way to make him feel better, whether it was stating the obvious or knocking some sense into him. James allowed a bit of hope to drift into his browne eyes, giving Remus a somewhat grateful look, before turning to his other friend.

"Only a year left?"

Sirus's eyes were downcast, a solemn expression clouding his normally amused features. This worried James slightly, but he understood why Sirius seemed so down. He knew how bad Padfoot's homelife was, worse now that he was sorted into Gryffindor. Hell, James would want to stay at Hogwarts forever too, if he was Sirius.

"Make the most of it, I say we all fail something important and get held back while we can! Mooney what class do we absolutely need that we can't graduate without?"

James laughed aloud at this- so typically Sirius. He and his friends could read it other so well it was scary sometimes. "Well I think that's an excellent idea!" he voiced, standing up and looking between Remus and Sirius. "I mean, me and Padfoot can easily flunk any subject we want, it might be hard for you, Moony, but do'you think it'll work?"

James was actually beginning to consider it, even though he knew Moony would protest and his Mum would throw a fit. "Peter's in already, he'd do it just because we said so." he said with a wry grin. "Whaddya say, Moony?"

[Remus Lupin]

James didn't answer to his statement, but that was only because Sirius had interjected, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. Depending on the situation, Remus could be either optimistic or pessimistic. So in general the glass was just twice as big than it needed to be, just being reasonable on life. Though that hardly got him anywhere sometimes.

Now that they both were pondering on one year left for the group, he might as well dwell on it. Though true, it did bother him, the though of losing one of the better things that happened in his life. It was a pattern, they would promise to keep in touch and then over time distance themselves for other lives they would pursue. His eyebrow raised in question again at Sirius' absurd comment.

"What?" He said in shock, there was no way that they were serious. "Are you seriously telling me that you would consider being held back? And no it won't work." He replied, this was ridiculous. "How do you expect to get anything done that way? Besides we can take the reasonable way and just keep in touch when we graduate, live near each other or whatever. Somebody needs to help Prongs while he's probably still going after Lily."

[Sirius Black]

"Easily flunk it? Pft. I think I'm already flunking it Prongs." Sirius corrected James quickly at this comment, he seemed happy about it to be so gifted as to be able to flunk a topic in school already within the first few weeks of classes starting and all. What could he say? It was a gift. It was equally hard to be able to flunk something so easy as charms or History of Magic [especially since Professor Binn's ghost seemed to be going near sighted], but Sirius seemed proud that he could add this accomplishment to his list of usually outrageous claims.

Sirius smirked at James's inclusion of Peter into their hastily drawn together plan, Sirius knew plainly as anyone else with half a brain would that Peter would follow them to the ends of the Earth even if it meant he would become a human scarifice for some huge blast-ended skeet in the end. Every inch of Peter Pettigrew was dedicated to making him the sick attachment of James Potter, acting often times as James's double shadow, following in his wake. Sirius had been the substitute for James at times too, it was strange to see how one could be so worshipped by everyone yet only one person had taken to stalking him aside from the vicious fangirls who had now since been detered by the fact that James Potter had his heart set on the firey stubborn red head Lily Evans.

Somehow Sirius had expected Remus's immediate surprised and shocked reaction, he had expected him to over react because school was Mooney's forte and to take that away would be like trying to remove the wool from a sheep without having an electric razor handy - it was no easy task. The shock Remus's face caused Sirius to erupt into laughter he loved the way that Remus had taken to his school books, especially how he was always so neat and orderly - it only made him wander what Remus had seen in James and him the first time that they had met. Somehow it was strange that they got along so well, being polar opposites and all where everything on Earth was concerned, but yet they were still very good friends, in fact the best of friends. "Why take the reasonable way out whe the other way is so much better?" Sirius tried to argue, although he knew that Remus would confront him with a heaping pile of reason and advice on what not to do - which eventually ended in Sirius not taking his own advice. "Come on Mooney, what's two more years of fun at Hogwarts going to hurt? We don't need to confront the real world right away!" Sirius tried to point out, although there was no use where Remus was concerned, having always been one to follow the rules [to a certain point] Remus would insist on them graduating on time.

[James Potter]

"What?" He said in shock, there was no way that they were serious. "Are you seriously telling me that you would consider being held back? And no it won't work." He replied, this was ridiculous. "How do you expect to get anything done that way? Besides we can take the reasonable way and just keep in touch when we graduate, live near each other or whatever. Somebody needs to help Prongs while he's probably still going after Lily."

James couldn't help but to crack up laughing at Remus's horrified expression, even more so at the fact that Sirius was egging him on. Maybe it was partly relief that maybe everything would be okay, but it was also flipping hilarious.

Wiping at his eyes, he continued chuckled for a moment. "Okay, Moony don't wet yourself." he snorted. "Oh, the look on your face." he managed, his smile wide. "Good times, eh Padfoot?" he quipped over to Sirius, who seemed just as amused as he did.

"Why take the reasonable way out whe the other way is so much better?" Sirius tried to argue, although he knew that Remus would confront him with a heaping pile of reason and advice on what not to do - which eventually ended in Sirius not taking his own advice. "Come on Mooney, what's two more years of fun at Hogwarts going to hurt? We don't need to confront the real world right away!"

James nodded indignantly, moving to stand beside Sirius, his arms folded over his chest almost defiantly. "Yeah!" he added, trying to surpress a smile. "And if we get upset next year, we could throw Charms. Come on, Moony, you know that you want to." he whined slightly, exchanging an amused glance with Sirius, the corners of his lips twitching. "Then, maybe we could graduate with our kids."