The Marauders: Year Four

Forever Young

Forever Young

James didn't bother sleeping at all, choosing to stay awake since the rays of light were just crossing the horizon as Sirius finally sank down into one of the pillows and piles of blankets by the smouldering fire and fell asleep. He stared at Sirius's chest as it raised and fell with his breathing. He folded his hands and leaned his chin against the fist, thinking about everything that Sirius had said, deciding how to confront the morning sun with his new batch of information.

Remus stirred as the sun was coming up, taking a deep breath through his nose and rolling over, blinking awake. James sat up as he realized Remus was up and shook the mood off himself, smiling over at his friend. "Mornin' mate," James said, "Good sleep?"

"Once I was too asleep to feel the headache," Remus replied, rolling over. He spotted Sirius, his hair stringy and hanging over his face. "Looks like he's had a rougher time of it than me."

James looked over at Sirius, snorted, then turned back to Remus, "Oh you have no idea."

Remus stretched and sat up, hugging his knees. "Blimey it's hot already," he complained. He grinned, "Hey, we should wake the fellas up and go for a swim."

"A swim?" James looked intrigued. "Yeah, that sounds bloody fantastic. But, uh, let's give Sirius a bit to recover. We'll leave him a note."

"Alright."

They shook Peter awake and scrawled out a note for Sirius, which James left right by his face, then the three of them ran through the trees for the lake, Remus leading the way. "I'm going to do a bloody cannonball right into the water!" James announced, unbuttoning his shirt as he went and chucking it into a bush as he fought with the buttons on his pants. Peter was struggling with his fly, too, as was Remus. Remus got them off first and ran in his undershorts for the water, splashing through to his ankles, "It's warm," he said, grabbing some water and wiping it over his arms as Peter splashed in. James finally got his pants down and kicked them off into a pile at the edge of the little patch of sand that led up to the water's edge, then rushed across to the water until he was in up to his chest and ducked under.

James floated about on his back, his arms up behind his head and blowing water out of his mouth into the air. "This is fantastic. You lot have got the right idea. All this fresh air, it's like the perfect life. No rules, nothing to hold you back."

"Yeah, it's brilliant," Remus agreed.

"I love it here, really," James said.

"Me, too!" Peter said, grinning.

Far off in the trees, there was a great loud whistle and James looked up. There was a huge stone bridge that spanned across two outcroppings of highland looming over them, about 20 meters up over the widest part of the lake. James stared as the long whistle echoed through the trees again. "Is that a train?" Peter asked.

"It is; goes by every morning," Remus replied, "Scared us half to death the first time we heard it. I thought Sirius was going through the tent roof." He laughed, "Leaped off that couch with his wand waving like nobody's business, howling and screamin' he was armed." Remus grinned. "It was bloody brilliant. Wish I'd had some film to get it on tape."

"I cannot picture Sirius scared," Peter said with a snicker.

"I can picture him running amok in his shorts screaming he was armed, though," James laughed, then he stood up and grabbed a murky stick from the bottom of the lake, coated with green slime, and waved it about like a wand, imitating how he pictured Sirius reacting to the train - which admittedly looked an awful lot like Sirius had looked the night before, walking through the forest all drunk and crazy.