I'll Be Your Soldier

Wake Me Up When September Ends

James's POV
King's Cross station is already full to the brim with people as my mum and I begin the walk to Platform 9 3/4. I look around desperately for any of my friends, particularly Padfoot. He never wrote back to me last week and I'm worried. The first person I stumble upon is Frank Longbottom.
"How was your summer, James?" Frank asks as my mum and his parents chat behind us.
"Good, until Padfoot stopped writing. Got me a little worried, you know?" I reply.
"I'm sure he's fine. Besides, if he wasn't we would have heard it in the news. Sirius isn't one to just let things happen to him."
"I guess you're right. I'll feel better when I see him."
"Same compartment as usual?"
"Believe so."
"Excellent." Frank finds Alice and goes to say hello. I wave at her as I continue to search for my other friends. My mum and I enter the platform and I spot Mary, Wormtail, and Moony, Moony with a shiny Prefect badge on his chest.
"Hey Prongs!!" Wormtail calls as he sees me and my mum. My mother joins the other three's parents and I embrace Mary, then Wormtail, and finally Moony.
"How was your summer, James?" Mary politely asks.
"Good, how about yours?" I reply.
"Brilliant. Em, Lily, and I met up in Muggle London a few times, but otherwise I missed you all."
"Even Padfoot?"
"Even Sirius. Remus was just telling me Sirius had stopped writing to him a few weeks ago. What about you?"
"That's what I was afraid of. I haven't heard from him either."
"Well, I'm sure his mother just took away his owl. Nothing to worry about."
"You obviously haven't met his parents." The four of us fall silent, but are joined by Emmeline in a matter of minutes so it doesn't last very long.
"What's with all the faces?" Em asks as she and Mary hug.
"Worried about Sirius." Mary replies.
"Worried about Black? Come on, I'm sure he's fine. You know how he is, bit of a drama queen, that one."
"Says you." The five of us begin to say goodbye to our families as people begin to board the train.
"James, try not to get a lot of detentions this year. Mr. Lupin told me Remus is a Prefect, but that gives you absolutely no reason to think you can cause trouble without getting any consequences. Better pass that message on to Marlene, Peter, and Sirius as well." My mum warns after hugging me.
"Speaking of Marlene and Sirius, do you know where they are?" I ask. The absence of one of my other best friends, Marlene, is quite out of character. She normally likes getting here early so she can socialize.
"You can't spread this around, but Marlene's mum informed me the other night that the Ministry is getting nervous about some of the big Auror families since the Death Eaters appear to be after them. The McKinnons are one of them. The Ministry apparently has special cars to escort them to the station. They will be here, but the Ministry would want them to spend the least amount of time in the public eye as possible. As for Sirius, I have no idea where that boy is, but he's never on time so I wouldn't sweat it. Have a good year, James. You and your friends stay safe, listen to Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, they know what they're doing. I'll see you for the holidays. Write me if you need anything."
"I will." She squeezes my hand and lets me on the train. I go to my normal car where Em, Wormtail, Mary, Alice, and Frank already are.
"Moony went straight to the Prefect meeting. He said he should be back at least before we get there." Wormtail tells me as I sit next to the window. Alice, Wormtail, Frank, and Em are all squeezed onto one side of the car and Mary and I are on the other side, expecting at least two more. I see Marlene rushing onto the platform with a man, Auror most likely, trailing behind her. She quickly says goodbye to my mother and gets on, sitting beside me seconds later.
"What took you so long?" Em asks.
"Long story. Not important. Where are the other three?" Marlene pants.
"Lily and Moony are Prefects so they're in a meeting right now and apparently Padfoot has gone off the radar." Wormtail says.
"Do I have permission to freak out now? We're leaving in less than a minute." I remind.
"No. You can freak out when we've left the station." Mary says, still optimistic. I turn towards the window and wait. We all do. With only five seconds left until we depart, Padfoot and Regulus burst through the wall. They run onto the train, Padfoot waving to my mum as he gets on. He joins us in the car moments later and sits in the middle of Marlene and Mary.
"See, James, I told you he'd show up." Mary exclaims.
"What's with everyone being late all of the sudden? I'd expect this of Black, but Marlene is normally here early." Em remarks.
"Late too, huh, McKinnon?" Padfoot remarks.
"Yeah, but for completely different reasons than you, I bet." Marlene replies.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, Padfoot. You had the whole lot of us worried when you stopped writing." I remind.
"All of you were worried about little old me?" Padfoot jokes.
"Not all of us, but most of us." Em clarifies.
"Spill, Black. You got James all worked up." Marlene says as all eyes go on Padfoot.
"My lovely parents decided they'd burn any letters I got from people below my status. They got angry at me for not being more like Regulus so if they even saw me writing letters to you guys they wouldn't feed me. Sorry if you were crying into your pillow about me, Prongs." Padfoot explains. The trolley lady comes around and we all load up on candy for the ride, besides Padfoot and Wormtail who can't afford it. Marlene dumps a bunch of Chocolate Frogs in Padfoot's lap.
"What's this, McKinnon?" Padfoot asks.
"Food. You said they wouldn't let you eat sometimes, so, coming from a person who never misses a meal, you should start gaining back the weight you might have lost. It'll only make them happier if they think they're having an effect on you." Marlene replies and goes back to reading her Chocolate Frog card. Em raises an eyebrow, but goes back to her discussion with Mary as Alice gives Wormtail some Sugar Quills. A group discussion begins about Quidditch. Halfway through the ride, Moony and Lily arrive. Lily sits beside Em and Moony beside Mary.
"Oi, Padfoot, you are alive." Moony states.
"Yup." Padfoot replies.
"What do we have here? Evans, is that you?" I tease and she glares at me. She's gotten even prettier over the summer, if that's possible.
"Shut up, Potter. You see, Alice, this is why I wanted to sit with Dorcas." Lily comments.
"Oh come on, Evans. You know you love us." Padfoot remarks. Lily glares at Padfoot and makes a point of engrossing herself in a conversation with Moony, Em, and Mary. The train eventually arrives at Hogwarts and the 10 of us get off, already in our robes. We go to the carriages, which I swear are being pulled by some weird horse that no one else seems to see besides Marlene and Mary, and split up into two groups. I'm with Padfoot, Marlene, Moony, and Mary. Moony and Mary chat and I turn to Marlene.
"My mother told me why you were late." I state.
"I'm sure when she did she said not to talk about it." Marlene replies.
"She did, but I'm curious."
"About what? The situation is pretty self explanatory."
"Does this mean you have a whole new set of rules to follow?"
"No, as long as things don't get worse, I should be able to do everything I usually do." After the carriage ride, I sit between Padfoot and Marlene as the Sorting takes place. Then, Headmaster Dumbledore begins his speech.
"These are troubling times we are going through. One must be careful at all times. Hogwarts is still your home, and it will always be here for you no matter where you are. In these dark times we can rely on Hogwarts and our friends to help us through. I hope you all take advantage of our time together this year and prepare yourselves for what is coming. I just have a few last words to say to you. Flippity, floppity, fimbleton." Headmaster Dumbledore announces.
"I don't think any of those were actual words." Lily states as the food appears on the table and everyone begins loading up their plates.
"Don't question the great Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Lily. What if he heard you? The horror!!" Marlene teases and Lily rolls her eyes. Dinner is amazing as always. Padfoot and I are the last ones to leave of our group.
"So, any plans for pranks yet?" I ask.
"Nah, our first one has to be big. It should be a collaborative thing. Not to mention with Moony as a Prefect we're golden." Padfoot replies.
"That reminds me, my mum says we can't use Moony as an excuse to cause trouble. She said to tell you."
"She has to know by now that we're not gonna listen."
"Doesn't mean she shouldn't try." The two of us get to the portrait of the Fat Lady and use the password Moony gave us before he left with the male First Year Gryffindors.
"Jumbo Macaroni." I say and she lets us in. We see Moony, Marlene, Alice, and Frank sitting in our normal spot around the fire. We join them and their discussion about the Prewett twins.
"They beat you to it, James. Fabian and Gideon got the idiots Crabbe and Carrow to prank their buddy Avery in exchange for Shock-O-Choc. Avery was so pissed, not to mention Crabbe and Carrow shared their chocolate with Avery afterwards so he got pranked and shocked. I almost died of laughter." Alice explains, which also explains why Marlene is crying on the ground.
"Of course they did. Padfoot and I haven't even thought of anything yet. How did they do one so quickly?" I ask.
"They've been planning it since they got their supplies a few weeks ago. Apparently Avery said something offensive to their older sister, Molly, when he saw her in Diagon Alley and they were pissed about it. Didn't you get a letter from at least one of them fuming about it? My brother and I did." Marlene says. Gideon and Fabian Prewett are Seventh Year Gryffindors who are awesome at Quidditch and pranks. They live down the street from Marlene and I and their older sister, Molly, is married to Arthur Weasley. They eloped a few years ago. Marlene's brother Marcus was in Molly's year and her sister Melissa used to date Fabian, but they broke up when Melissa graduated and started Auror training. The Prewett twins, Marlene, and I have always been close though. I did not get a letter.
"No. We have to get a good prank in before people think we went soft over the summer. Moony, where's Wormtail?"
"I think he's unpacking." Moony replies.
"Let's go then." The three of us stand up and are about to leave when Lily walks into the common room and over to us.
"Time for Prefect Patrol, Remus." She states. Moony looks at us apologetically and leaves with Lily.
"We can't form a good plan without the brains. Oh well." I say and Padfoot and I sit down again. Eventually Wormtail, Em, and Mary join us in the common room for a Wizard Chess tournament. It's eventually time to go to bed, Moony and Lily arriving just in time to see my Queen kill Padfoot's King. The 10 of us split up and after Frank is asleep, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and I meet behind my curtain.
"James, it's the first day of lessons tomorrow. I can't stay up too late and neither can any of you." Moony reminds.
"Or what? You'll give us detention?" Padfoot remarks.
"I could, which reminds me, you can't take advantage of my badge. Just because I'm a Prefect now doesn't mean I'm going to let you three go gallivanting around the castle doing whatever you want." His statement is met with silence as I try to contain my laughter. After a minute Padfoot and I burst out laughing and Wormtail can't help but join in.
"Moony, of course it means you're gonna let us go gallivanting around the castle. That's the perk of you being a Prefect, unlike Lily." I reply.
"Prongs, I'm serious."
"No, I'm Sirius." Padfoot jokes which causes the three of us to burst out laughing at Moony's unamused facial expression.
"Prongs, did you just call Lily Evans by her first name?" All eyes go on me as my cheeks slightly redden. I never call her Lily out loud, just in my head.
"No." I say.
"You so did. Aw, little Prongsie's crush has grown over the summer. How pitiful." Padfoot teases, causing him, Moony, and Wormtail to start laughing at me this time.
"Like any of you should be talking. You act as though I'm the only guy in this room who's ever liked a girl before. Dorcas, Mary, and Marlene. That's all I'm saying." The three of them promptly stop laughing as Wormtail blushed, Moony looks down, and Padfoot tenses. We didn't get much done after that. I fall asleep shortly after the others go back to their beds.
Alice's POV
Even though Lily ushers us all upstairs before curfew, we stay up much later than that. It's the first night back, so everyone is bursting to the seams with stories to tell.
"Alice, you go first. Anything happen with Frank? Did he finally get the nerve to ask you out?" Em gushes as she clutches her pillow in front of her.
"Well, for the month of July nothing happened, besides my brother coming to visit. Frank and I kept writing letters back and forth, but otherwise he seemed to be completely off that topic. Then he writes me in August saying he wants to meet up in Diagon Alley. We arrange a date and the whole day we wander around and he buys me ice cream and it's great. At the end of the day he finally asks me out, and of course I say yes." I recount, smiling at the memory as all of the girls cheer.
"He only took two years!!" Marlene exclaims.
"Believe me, no one is more relieved than I am that he finally asked. My summer was pretty dull otherwise. What about you, Em?" Em begins to tell us all about her summer fling with this Muggle guy. She's very excited to share.
"We went to the beach and to the movies, which is a Muggle thing I don't know how to explain, and he bought me so many presents. We even did it." Em says.
"No, Em, not you too." Lily whines.
"Oh come on, we all knew it was only a matter of time. Join the club, Em." Marlene comments.
"That's so gross, we're fifteen!!"
"He wasn't." Em says.
"What?" Everyone exclaims.
"He was older, 18 I think."
"Em, that's illegal." Mary says.
"It is?"
"Yes!!" Marlene is dying of laughter.
"Of... course... Em's first time... is illegal..." Marlene manages to spit out as she collapses in fits of laughter for, like, the fourth time this evening. Em throws a pillow at Marlene from across the room and misses, hitting Lily in the head instead. Lily tosses the pillow back at Em who waits for Marlene to finish laughing before continuing her story.
"Anyway, I broke up with him at the end of the summer since I didn't want to do long distance or explain that I go to a fake boarding school and that was that. I also discovered I am very good at this Muggle thing called surfing. Jude taught me how and it was awesome. I'll have to teach you guys next summer since it's a seasonal thing. Marlene can go next, something tells me she's developed in the love department as well." Em explains. Marlene glares at Em as everyone turns their attention to Marlene.
"Well, I have no idea what Em is talking about, but my summer was decent. It got bad towards the end-" Marlene begins.
"Which is when Black stopped writing, no?" Marlene glares even harder at Em.
"I think you're mistaking me for James. James was the one who got upset over that. I mean, I was concerned and all but I wouldn't be shocked if James sent three letters a day after Black stopped responding."
"Yeah Em, besides, Marlene would never have feelings for Black. He's too manwhorish." Lily states.
"Marlene isn't much better." Em reminds.
"Look, the only guy I dated-" Marlene begins.
"Slept with."
"Dated over the summer was Gideon Prewett."
"Gideon Prewett?!?!" Em sputters as Mary clasps a hand over her mouth.
"Told you she had good taste. Gideon is a gentleman." Lily comments.
"How exactly did that happen, Marls?" I ask.
"Well, we live down the road from each other so one day at a neighborhood party he asked me out and I said yes. I just figured that if it didn't work out, I wouldn't have to worry about him being a jerk about it since he's Gideon. We dated for a month and a half, but I decided to break it off." She explains.
"Why on Earth would you do that?" Mary asks.
"I just didn't feel a spark."
"Spark schmark!! He's Gideon Prewett!!"
"Anyway, I spent my summer with the Marauders and we pulled some awesome pranks."
"Marls, no, you can't be pulling pranks with them." Lily moans.
"Whatever, we all know you enjoy hanging out with them so don't even try it. My summer got bad towards the end because of the deaths of Jennifer and Hazel Brown."
"The Browns? I didn't know you guys were close." I say.
"I wasn't. I knew them of course, back before Voldemort-"
"Don't say his name." Em says.
"It's a name, Em, it's not like saying it automatically alerts him of my location. Anyway, the Browns are against, I'm gonna say his name, Voldemort and all of them are Aurors except Winston who is the year below us. Hazel and Jennifer weren't even on a mission and they were slaughtered along with their separate families. I'm not suppose to be talking about this, but let's just say the Ministry is on edge about it."
"It was definitely a Death Eater attack?" Mary asks. Marlene nods her head. I can tell there's more to the story than that, but I don't want to press. We all turn to Lily, who always has funny stories to tell about her uptight Muggle sister, Petunia. Nothing could really cheer us up after that.