ALWAYS

NOSTALGIA

"Butterbeer and firewhiskey in the kitchen, Food on the dining table, and the - .... Sirius don't jump on the couch and no Peter you cant go into any of our rooms. " Lily exasperated. James chuckled at this sight along with Marlene and Alice, all three of the standing in the corner of the Heads Dorm. Moments letter music was blaring through the dorm and everyone was dancing to their hearts content. Lily, Marlene and Alice were in the middle of a dance battle when Sirius stopped the music. "Hey!!!" protested the girls, and the guys who were keenly watching the battle, already placing bets, "Padfoot turn it back on" said James, whose bets were on his girlfriend, like they always were. "Yeah , stop being such a dog Sirius" grinned Remus, whose bets were on Marlene. "Why do you care? Scared you'll lose the bet ?" said Sirius, looking from James to Remus. All the girls turned to James and Remus, an accusing look burning a hole through them. "Babe my bet was on you" reasoned James, his puppy eyes working their way through her heart, "and mine was on you Mar" said Remus to a beaming Marlene. Alice pretending to be hurt, "Owch, no one bet on me " she said, looking at Peter and Sirius, their faces immediately reflecting guilt and amusement. 

"My bets are always on you babe". The familiar voice of Frank Longbottom drifted through the air. Everyone turned their heads in surprise to find him, standing near the portrait hole. Everyone ran to greet him. Frank was now neck deep in the group hug the gang had engulfed him into. Frank gave each one of them a hug, while everyone greeted him, their faces glowing with happiness. But Frank's eyes were searching for Alice, who was standing near the couch, her eyes swimming with tears, shocked to see her boyfriend stand in front of her, alive (Frank was an auror and older to them). "Alice" he whispered looking at her, just loud enough for her to hear, and broke away from Sirius and briskly walked towards her. "Hey" he said, as she fell into his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck, his arms circling her waist, pulling her close. Frank could feel her tears falling onto his shirt, he could hear her faint sobs. "I'm here and I love you" he whispered in her ear. She nodded, gripping his shirt tightly. "I missed you" she whispered back. "I know' he said. She was still sobbing, but the more Frank shushed her, stroking her hair, pulling her close and not letting her go, the faster her sobs died down. A few minutes later they broke away, their eyes met and they leaned in to kiss each other. As they did, a sense of warmth and security spread through Alice, and Frank felt warm and a tingling sensation spread through his body. 

Everyone looked at the happy couple with awe. Sirius and Marlene stood near the portrait hole, their hands interlinked, her head resting on his shoulder. Lily looked at the couple lovingly, and her eyes searched for James, whom she found,and was already looking at her. She smiled as she held out her hand. James took a few steps towards her, grabbing her hand and pulling her close. Her head rested on his chest, his arm around her shoulder. The room was filled with happy couples, couples who loved each other. 

"Oh Moony, I love you" moaned Peter loudly making sure everyone could hear. "I love you too Wormtail, the love of my life" said Remus. And everyone burst out laughing. "Way to ruin the moment guys" whined Alice, Frank's arm still around her waist. Everyone was still laughing, tears streaming down their cheeks, rolling on the ground clutching their stomachs. A few minutes later the laughter died down and everyone had settled down on the ground in the Heads Dorm, each of them holding glasses filled to the brim with butterbeer and firewhiskey. They reminisced about their time at Hogwarts, all the times they pulled a prank, every time Lily and James had a fight and the times they had fun in general. James and Sirius began narrating the day they got into a serious fight because of McGonagall. 

There was only a week left before the Yule ball. James had asked Lily several times before he gave up, when she accepted a Hufflepuff's invite. He was dejected, and was making his way to the quidditch pitch when he bumped into McGonagall. "Potter, pay attention to where you are walking" she said strictly. "Sorry Professor" he apologised and proceeded to leave. When he turned around, an amused look on his face, his cheeky prankster smile plastered across his face. "Professor? ". McGonagall turned around to look at him. "I was wondering...um.... you know... if you would...", "Potter what are you asking me?" McGonagall urged. "Professor will you go to the Yule Ball with me " he asked, innocently. McGonagall was at a loss for words, she hadn't expected such a question. "Potter, I- um.". And suddenly Sirius came out of nowhere looking at James and McGonagall, "How could you Minni? You said you were going with me" he said, looking betrayed and looked at James, "You! You were my friend. You knew I liked Minni, and yet you have the audacity to ask her". "I don't like her Sirius, I was simply asking her to the Yule Ball." reasoned James, "And she was about to say yes. Right Professor?" he asked looking at her. "Um- I ". "Why are you even thinking? Say no Minni. NO! NO! NO!" he shouted. McGonagall let out an exasperated gasp and walked away, leaving James and Sirius to argue about something that would never happen anyway. But what she didn't know was that they had planned this all along and that they were rolling in the middle of the corridor laughing at what they had done. 

And with this James and Sirius burst out laughing as they recalled the day. "Oh my god! Remus where the hell were you when they pulled this ridiculous prank?" asked Frank. "I don't remember" said Remus, "Oh, he was probably in the library" said Sirius. "But you are supposed to be the mother hen Remus" said Marlene. "Oh, Remus is not the mother hen" said Peter, grinning wide and the Sirius, Peter and Remus burst out laughing, as James let out a groan. "OH MY GOD! James was the mother hen!" exclaimed Lily, Alice, Frank and Marlene at the same time. James put his head down on Lily's shoulder, embarrassed, his face red, as the rest of the Marauders narrated the instances, where James was clearly the mother hen. 

"Remus stop getting up. You are tired and you need to rest. No you cannot go to class today, No you need to eat something and NO something doesn't mean chocolates." shouted James at Remus after a particularly long full moon night. ;                                                                                        "Sirius eat your frickin vegetables. You are not too fat and you don't need to stop eating to grow thin. Sit the hell down and eat. " ;                                                                                                                            "Moony, my friend I love that you want to sit down with the rest of us and talk and plan the most epic prank of all time, but, YOU STILL NEED TO FINISH YOUR CHARMS ESSAY" scolded James as he pointed towards their dorm room, and sent him away to finish his essay. ;                               Sirius was drunk, again. He had fought with Marlene again. To add to this it was the day after the full moon and Remus too was sick. Peter was no where in sight and James was worried. "Shut up Padfoot! You cannot expect Marlene to forgive all your stupid mistakes. And to top it off you got drunk again. You'll wake up with a hangover for sure tomorrow" he scolded as he lay him down in bed. "Now, go to sleep and tomorrow you are apologising to Mar for your stupid behaviour. Oh and finish all your notes. Oy, Moony lie down. Don't you dare get up. I have my hands full with Sirius today, doesn't mean you'll leave. You need to rest" he said, as he tucked Sirius in, who was now having nightmares, like he did every time he got too drunk. He had nightmares about his family killing his friends and their families. And every time he did, James would sit beside him and tell him that he had a family, and nothing could hurt them. And today he did the same. 

"Awwww..... you do that for them!" said Lily, looking at her boyfriend lovingly. He nodded as he glared at the Marauders who were laughing at James. "Oh this reminds me of when I pranked Professor Sprout " said Frank. And everyone turned around to look at Frank, waiting for him to narrate his story. And so he did. 

And for the rest of the night they drank, danced and talked all night, until sleep overcame them, and they had to give in. Remus and Peter were huddled in one corner of the Dorm, Sirius and Marlene fell asleep on the couch, Sirius holding Marlene close to him, stroking her hair subconsciously as she stirred in her sleep. Marlene's head was on his chest, her hair sprawled across her back. James grabbed a camera and took a picture, smiled at the couple in front of him and proceeded to take a picture of Remus and Peter, huddled together, fast asleep on the ground. Click. He finished taking pictures and searched for Lily. He spotted her standing at the door of her room. her head resting on the wall. He slowly walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder, hugging her from the back. She put her hands on his. "Hey" she whispered. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Looking. All of us were so busy in ourselves that we forgot about Alice and Frank. We forgot how much Alice needed Frank." she said sounding guilty.James looked over her shoulder to find Frank and Lily in deep sleep, yet not letting go of each other, cuddling close to each other. "I know we did. But she's a good friend and she knows you didn't mean to forget. She loves you and I know you love her. So now come, lets go sleep" he comforted. She nodded and took a picture of her friends before she followed James. The made their way to James's room, where Lily changed into his shirt and joined him. They snuggled in together and fell asleep both wishing for the same thing - for time to freeze, for everything to stay like this forever. For all of them to always be like this. Always.