Remus and Sirius got married that very summer. It wasn't some sort of grand ordeal. It was a small event, but that didn't make it any less special. They only extended invitations to the people who were really important to them, the people whose attendants would mean the very most to them.

James, Lily, and Peter were part of the wedding, of course. Neither Remus nor Sirius would have had it any other way. Sirius made sure that Mr. and Mrs. Potter were there, and he had a chair set aside in the front row just for Regulus.

Remus wanted the Evans to be there, even Petunia, if she would show. And show she did, but didn't stay for long. A few friends from school came as well, such as Alice, Frank, Dorcas, and Marlene. 

One decision Remus had been hung up on for a while leading up to the wedding was whether or not he should invite his parents. He knew he shouldn't. He shouldn't invite his parents back into his life. They'd just take the opportunity to walk all over him again. On the other hand, he craved the feeling of his parents coming to his wedding and supporting him and maybe even loving him. He knew it wasn't likely, but he could hope.

In the end, he sent the invitation. He had decided that they probably wouldn't come anyway, and that at least they'd know what was going on. Maybe on some off chance they would come. Some part of him didn't even want them to. The other did. 

On their wedding day, Sirius wasn't nervous. He knew he should be. He'd been nervous the day before and the day before that. But not today. This was, above all, the one thing he wanted in his life. He was beyond nervous. He knew that loving Remus was the meaning of his life.

On their wedding day, Remus felt better than he had in a very long time. Possibly longer than he could even remember. Possibly the best he'd ever felt. It was a magical day, one full of life and love and laughter. Everything that it should be. 

Remus's mom came. He didn't see her there until after, during the dance. But Hope Lupin, in her nicest dress, smiled at him and lifted her glass. Remus excused himself from Sirius with a kiss of farewell and weaved his way through the crowd to where his mother was standing. 

"You came," he said, breathless. Hope nodded, not quite looking at Remus, but beyond. The wedding took place in the elegantly decorated backyard of the Potters', and the two Lupins stood at the edge of it all, taking in the green of the grass, the glow of the stars, and the joy in the air. 

"If you're looking for your father, he's at home," Hope said. Her voice was devoid of the life it used to have, back when she was young. She looked tired, Remus noted. Like life had sucked her name sake right out of her. 

Remus was a little disappointed to hear that his dad wanted nothing to do with him, but not so much as he thought he would. He found that it didn't ache in the way he thought it might. 

The two stood in silence for a few minutes more, watching as James and Lily danced across the grass to the music, shaking their hair about and laughing, blissfully happy for this moment in time. 

"Why are you here?" Remus finally asked Hope Lupin. 

She offered him a smile, the corners of her mouth tweaking just a little, wrinkles pulling at her eyes as they twinkled. Remus found himself putting up his walls again. He was mentally preparing himself for whatever she was going to say. He hated that he had to do it, but it used to be a survival instinct, and those don't just go away so easily. 

"I didn't come here to earn back any of the trust you ever had in me. I know that's not possible. And frankly, it isn't fair."

Remus nodded, but he couldn't find anything to say. 

"I came to tell you that I've 'realized the error of my ways'. I'm sorry for the way I treated you and I'm sorry for the life you had. I see that you're better now and you're happier now and I wanted you to know that I'm proud of you, baby. Old habits die hard and I know that I won't be able to change for you. Only for me and I don't have it in me anymore."

Remus didn't know what to say as the tears welled up in his eyes. He tried to get them to stop, he tried to ignore the things she was saying to him. It's a trap, his brain was screaming at him. But he couldn't find it in himself to believe it.

Hope tentatively reached up and placed her shaking hands on her son's face and used her thumbs to brush away his tears, just like she used to do when he was an ickle little thing. 

"You won't be wanting to see me again. You don't want me in your life. I understand so I won't make myself present. I'll leave and you won't ever see me again. But I wanted to say that you look beyond happy."

Remus closed his eyes and relished the feeling of his mother's hands on his face, of her soft voice speaking only for him in their own little bubble, separate from the events around them.

"Darling, you're radiant."

Remus opened his eyes and he stared into the eyes of his mother, at the eyes they shared and she gave him another smile. She brought his head to hers and pressed their foreheads together and Remus reached up to place his hands over top of hers. She pressed a quick kiss to the very tip of his nose.

And then she was gone.

Sirius was there in a moment, taking note of the tears on Remus's cheeks. 

"Hey, babes, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

Remus smiled brightly, the kind of smile that shines brighter than even the moon. He wiped away his tears and took Sirius's hands in his and leaned up to kiss him.

"Nothing's wrong. I think, for once, everything is right."

*******

Sirius and Remus, after the wedding, decided to get started on their travel agenda. They spent each night in a different city, trying their very best to get the most out of every destination. One thing that was very important for them was to find a unique coffee shop in every new place they visited. They would sit down and drink their coffee. Wherever they were, the vibe of the coffee shop would bring them home. 

*******

About a month after the wedding, almost time for Junior year to start, James proposed to Lily. Remus and Sirius were in Norway when they got the news. 

As relationships grew and changed, the Marauders decided (especially since one couple was married and the other engaged) that it would be in their best interest to get new living arrangements. 

Peter had previously moved out of James and Sirius' apartment and moved in with some friends in downtown London. The boys were a little hurt by this, no doubt, but they'd noticed that Peter was distancing himself. They knew and understood that he no longer fit with them as well as he used to. And though it saddened them to let him go, they knew that it was for the best. They didn't want to hold him back from the person he was meant to become. 

They wanted the best for Peter. And if the best wasn't with them, they were willing to accept it. So, although they didn't approve of, or very much like his friends, they let him go.

It wasn't long after he left that he stopped trying to contact them and he wouldn't answer their calls. They were worried, of course, but James figured that he would come around, he just needed a little space. But it still hurt. 

So Lily moved in with James into the three boys' apartment and Sirius moved in with Remus across the hall, into their apartment with all the flowers and the paintings. 

As classes started again, as they began their Junior year of college, new challenges awaited them. New assignments; paintings, stories, photos, performances...And the four of them grew even closer than they ever had before. And the couples among the group became that much closer too.

As it turned out, Peter dropped out of college. No one knew why. Why the sudden loss of interest in culinary arts? It was his very favorite thing to do, his passion. When they learned the news, they were shocked, but more worried than anything. This sort of behavior was super out of character for Peter. But they couldn't find a way to contact him. It was like he didn't want anything to do with any of them anymore. 

They knew he needed them, but he wasn't making a reunion a possibility and there wasn't much they could do about it so they were forced to let it go. 

James and Lily had a beautiful winter wedding over Christmas break. Lily looked dazzling in her white dress, her vibrant green eyes glittering as they reflected the sparkling of the snow. 

With Sirius twenty-one, and Lily turning as much at the end of January, James and Remus were the babies of the group. 

Once their March birthdays came to pass and the semester had ended with much stress over finals, the four of them decided to take a vacation to America. They spent a week in New York City, going to all iconic places, seeing the museum, the park, the statues, and the shows. 

At the beginning of their senior year of school, Lily revealed that she was pregnant and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy that summer after they graduated with their majors. He was born on July 31st. They named him Harry James Potter and there was nothing in the entire world that the two of them loved more than that baby boy. They named Sirius and Remus his godfathers.

On October 31st, when baby Harry was a year old and James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius were twenty-three, the lot of them were at the house the Potter's bought to raise their child in when there was a fire. 

It was a traumatic night, but in the end everyone was alright. They found Peter at the sight of the blaze. It was Peter who started the fire at the Potter house. Again, no one knew why. He went to jail for it. Harry Potter suffered a lightning shaped scar on his forehead when a piece of timber came down from the ceiling and just grazed the baby's head. James had been holding him, just grabbing his wife's hand to help her escape the burning house. Had James not been holding him, had he not turned just a little at the last second, Harry Potter would surely have been dead. It was a miracle, really, that all the Potters were still alive and well.

Sirius and Remus decided to move to Oxford, back where Remus grew up. Remus's mother had since passed away, they heard the news through the Evans shortly after they graduated college. Nobody had heard from Lyall Lupin since then.

As James and Lily happily raised their son and watched him grow, and as Sirius and Remus's love for each other grew with each day, they lived a happy life.

Until.

Until.