Godfather

Chapter I

"Cheers!"

The group sitting at the innermost table of The Three Broomsticks cheered as they tossed their graduation hats into the air, downing their Firewhiskies at the same time. 

The dark haired girl set down her glass first, just the slightest bit of guilt in her expression as she tried in vain to keep the smile off her face. Next to her, a boy with black curls threw an arm around her shoulders, grinning at an inside joke as they watched the five in front of them.

Next to the window sat a short blond boy, who looked more 13 than 17, with freckles peppered across his flushed face and dark gray eyes. Leaning slightly against the said boy was the second tallest in the little group, a lanky boy with thick light brown hair and glittering amber eyes, his other arm slung around the tallest boy, who had long black hair and brilliant mauve blue eyes. Next to the undisputed Casanova sat a petite girl, with long, fire-red hair and jewel-like emerald eyes. The last of the group was a dark haired boy slightly shorter than the two on the redhead's other side, but visibly taller than the blond boy, and he wore glasses, had bright hazel eyes and a lopsided grin that just made everyone around him smile.

"We've graduated," the auburn haired girl sighed. "I'm telling you -"

"For the forever-th time, Alice!" the tallest boy laughed. "You can't believe you passed Charms with an Outstanding. Well if you hadn't, my name wouldn't be Sirius Black!"

"It's not," said the brown haired boy, grinning. "It's Sirius Orion Black!"

"Shut up, Moony!" Sirius quipped, looking offended. 

"Should we tell them?" the red haired girl leaned over the table to take Alice's hands.

"Maybe," Alice laughed, nudging the boy next to her. "Should we tell them, Frank?"

"I don't know," he smirked, looking at the boy with glasses. "What say, then, James?"

"Will you lot stop beating about the bush!" Sirius pouted. "Just tell us already!"

"Well..." James paused dramatically. "Lily and I are going to get married."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Everyone knew that."

"This summer," Lily finished, and Sirius spat out the Firewhisky he'd just started to drink.

"WHAT?" The black-haired boy looked appalled. "Moony, Wormy, did you hear that? James is leaving us forever and going off with Lily-pad and we won't ever hear from him and-"

"SIRIUS!" Lily and James shouted, both laughing as he stopped, pouting even harder.

"I've got a name, Sirius, and you'd do well to remember it," the boy nicknamed 'Moony' sighed. 

"Okay. Remus, can you believe it?" Sirius whined.

"Yeah. Maybe cause you just said that everyone knew they would get married?" Remus smirked.

"Alice and I are getting married this summer as well," Frank supplied tactfully.

"Really?" Sirius lit up. "So do I get to be best man for both of you?"

"Hell no!" Frank bellowed, and James nearly squashed Lily as he dove for his best friend.

"You fiend, you think you're allowed to be best man for anyone else?!"

"So who will be your best man, Frank?" Remus asked, shoving Sirius and James off of him.

"Rodger," Frank replied. "You know, last year's Head Boy, Rodger Wood."

"Oh yeah, I kinda remember him being a major pushover," Sirius muttered, while trying to kick back at James, who was all but sprawled on top of him.

"It's going to be a double wedding," Alice said calmly, and the blond boy finally looked up.

"Have you fixed a date yet?" he asked, almost timidly, his voice squeaky.

"We're thinking late August, actually," James called, still sitting calmly on Sirius, who was going very red in the face from breathlessness.

"Get off him, James Fleamont Potter!" Lily laughed, whacking her fiance's arm.

"Alright, that's the first one," Remus said, glancing at his worn leather watch. "Hog's Head next?"

The group nodded assent as they left for the pub up the street. All the while, Sirius congratulated himself on the success of his self-employed mission. Thanks to the little glares he had been sending in the direction of the boy who had been following them - all the way from the Great Hall, for Merlin's sake! - there had been no interruptions in their celebratory evening. Not yet. And Sirius fully intended to keep it that way until they were all safely back in the common room.

Five hours later, Sirius was thanking every non-existent deity there was, that they even made it back to the castle, never mind the common room. Death Eaters had attacked Hogsmeade just as they were returning, and the five teenagers had gotten caught smack in the middle of it. James and Frank were instantly in the forefront, Remus and he were on the sides, while Peter took the rear. The girls fought brilliantly, surrounded by the overly protective males, and Sirius would have sworn on his blood that some of their hexes had to be classified as Unforgivable.

They were exhausted, and it was an hour before the blood puritans left. They were all pretty badly bruised, but other than a long gash on James' left arm and a dirty slash in Sirius' side, they weren't too badly beaten up. Slowly, they trudged back up  to the castle, the festive mood of a couple of hours ago had completely vanished.

"Darn Malfoy!" Sirius snarled. "We only just graduated, and he's openly running around with those dirty Death Eaters!"

"Isn't that something you could get expelled for?" Alice asked thoughtfully. 

"You can't expel someone who's already graduated, Ali," Frank sighed. "Though, it's crystal clear that he is a Death Eater now."

"Probably the entire group is, according to what Dad says," James growled. "Malfoy, Mulciber, Nott, Avery, Crabbe - the whole lot of them. Inbreeding to preserve their so-called blood purity and whoever doesn't follow their sick thoughts is a fucking blood traitor."

"Language, James!" Lily reprimanded. But she really was too tired to actually yell at him now. 

"Anyone see Sni-Snape in the group?" Sirius asked. "Cause it'd hardly be surprising."

"I did," Remus sighed. "But he pulled his hood over right after it fell off. Not that I could be mistaken about his identity, but at least he wasn't actively flaunting it."

"They retreated pretty fast though," Peter said quietly. "Wonder what they were after?"

"Chaos, Pete," James said grimly, for once completely serious. "Murder, pillage, you name it."

They fell quiet, as they entered the castle and headed straight for bed with murmured 'goodnight's.