After spending the better part of the day at the beach, basking in the sun, and swimming around in the Tyrrhenian Sea, we packed up our stop and trekked back to the house.

Now, everyone has their own sweet nothings, their ways that scream 'I love you' without the use of any words. When it came to James and me, we had plenty.

James bought me a kitten for my birthday, Romeo, who we treated like our child.

I absentmindedly played with James' hair when we were up late talking.

I was exhausted from being in the sun all day, and as soon as I stepped foot into the house, all I wanted to do was go take a nap until dinner.

But I couldn't.

I didn't want to get sand and sunblock in our bed.

James followed me into our room and softly closed the door behind us. I threw my bag into the corner of the bedroom, kicked off my sandals, and carefully placed my sunglasses on the dresser. It felt like I was moving at half speed.

"Darling?"

James' cool voice snapped me out of the daze-like trance that I was in, bringing me back to reality.

A reality where we were all just children scared for our lives, our friend's lives, our families' lives. Children shouldn't have to be scared to finish school because they're afraid of being thrown into the war as soon as the summer begins. We shouldn't have to grow up reading articles in the Daily Prophet describing entire families of muggle-borns murdered, and praying that we won't see a familiar name.

"Yes?" I replied, being my gaze to meet James'.

"Let's get you in the shower before you collapse." James suggested, walking into the attached bathroom.

The sound of water hitting the tile echoed through the room as James turned on the shower.

I followed him into the bathroom and pulled my denim shorts down, leaving me in my bikini. I took out my ponytail, letting my blonde waves cascade down past my shoulders.

"Can I join you?" James asked, grabbing two clean towels from the cabinet.

I smirked, "Only if you untie my top, I'm too tired."

James happily obliged and untied my bikini top as I slid off my bottoms and got into the shower.

The warm water felt good against my tired body. It wasn't too hot, but it wasn't cold.

James stripped out of his clothes and joined me in the shower, quickly yelping as the warm water touched his skin.

"Ouch-," James yelped, "It's too hot!"

I laughed as I let the water soak through my hair, "No it's not, you're a wee bit sunburnt."

James pushed me out of the stream of water, "I do not burn."

I slapped his upper back with my hand, making him yelp once again. I examined my handprint, which was stark white against the slight redness of his back.

"You're sunburnt, love."

James flicked his head, sending water droplets across the walls of the shower. "Yeah, I am sunburnt."

I stifled a laugh as I leaned back against James, letting my head rest against his chest.

"Hand me the shampoo, I want to wash your hair." James murmured, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I handed James the shampoo from the shelf, and he squeezed some into his hand before handing me back the shampoo bottle.

His hands massaged the shampoo into my blonde hair, making soap suds cover nearly every inch of my hair.

I grabbed the shampoo bottle and poured some into my hand. I massaged the shampoo into James' curly hair, turning his hair into a mohawk.

Stifling a laugh, I took a step back to admire my work, watching James' makeshift mohawk topple over as the suds weighed down his raven hair.

"Hey-, my turn!" James teased as he fixed his soapy hair back into a mohawk.

I rolled my eyes and took a step towards him, "Only because you asked so nicely."

James pressed a kiss against my lips, pinning me against the shower wall.

I kissed him back, parting my lips to deepen the kiss.

His hands moved to my hair as we kissed, but he quickly pulled away as he brought all of my hair to the top of my head, fashioning a mohawk.

I playfully hit James in the chest, "Fucking tease!"

He kissed me on the forehead, "Now we both have some cool arse mohawks."

I traced James' jaw with my fingers, and tilted his head back, letting the water run through his hair as it washed out the shampoo. My hands ran through his hair as the suds slowly filtered out of his mess of hair.

When the shampoo was all washed out, I pushed James out of the stream of water and began to rinse the shampoo out of my hair.

James helped rinse my hair while humming quietly to Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac.

"I love you." I whispered as I turned around to face James.

He kissed me and muttered against my lips, "I love you so much."

I grinned at him, "Hand me the conditioner?"

We spent the next fifteen minutes or so conditioning our hair, which James claimed was pointless because his hair will be messy anyway, washing our bodies, and flinging water at each other as we fought over the stream of warm water coming from the showerhead.

When we were both clean and sand-free, James handed me a fluffy towel and we both dried off.

I brushed out my hair and did some skincare as James went to go get dressed in our bedroom.

Towel still wrapped around me, I walked into our bedroom to find James already fast asleep in bed with only shorts on.

I smiled at my sleeping boyfriend and quickly got dressed, putting on a baby pink tank top and jean shorts.

After I was dressed, I pulled back to covers and climbed into bed next to James. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, which made him stir slightly before he sleepily wrapped his arms around my waist.

I felt the mid-afternoon sun against my face as I quickly fell asleep in James' arms.

• • • • •

Jolie A. Chance

He always used to seem off-limits, because of the whole pureblood supremacist, Sirius's young brother thing. But now, Reg seems like a good idea.

Not just a one night, never speak again, type of thing. More of an I could very well date him and eventually fall in love once I get over my own insecurities type of thing.

There was a knock on my door, disrupting my thoughts.

"Come in."

The door slowly opened, revealing Regulus. He was fresh out of the shower, a stray curl brushing his brow bone.

"Hi, Jo." He spoke softly.

I moved over on the window seat to make room for him, "Come sit."

Regulus grinned and came to sit next to me, bringing his long legs up onto the window seat. He looked out the window, "It's such a pretty view."

I smiled, "Yeah, it is."

His blue-grey eyes met mine, as he nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"What's wrong, Reg?"

He smiled softly, "Nothing's wrong, I-, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to go to dinner tonight?"

"Just the two of us?"

"Yes, like a date. But only if you want-"

I cut Regulus off, "Of course I would."

He laughed nervously, going to run a hand through his hair again. I grabbed his hand mid-air and intertwined our fingers.

"Be ready at eight?" Regulus asked, stroking my hand with his thumb.

I practically melted inside.

"Perfect."

Shit, I really need to catch up with Daph.

• • • • •

Daphne J. Beaufort

I began to stir as I felt James get up from beside me. He was talking to someone at the bedroom door.

"Seriously, James, it's urgent."

"What are you pregnant or something?" James teased

Jolie groaned, "Shut up."

"She's sleeping."

I cleared my throat, "Not anymore, what's up Jo?"

Jolie crossed the room and climbed into bed next to me, shooing James out of our bedroom. He shot Jolie are irritated look, blew me a kiss, then left the room, closing the door behind him.

"We haven't got the chance to talk in a while, so I need to catch you up." Jolie stated, staring at the ceiling as she laid next to me.

I ran my hand through my hair, "It's something with Reg, isn't it?"

"How'd you know?" Jolie questioned, looking at me with wide chocolate eyes.

I laughed softly, "It's obvious, you didn't hear it from me but Sirius, Remus, and I were talking to him a bit about it."

"Oh," Jolie mumbled, "How'd that go?"

"It ended with you waking up and Regulus saying something along the lines of shut the fuck up."

Jolie smirked, "Of course it did."

She turned towards me, "He asked me out, we're going to dinner tonight."

"Really?" I exclaimed. "That's amazing! Can I help you get ready?"

Jolie laughed, "Woah-, calm down. We went out last night."

"Yeah, but you went to the beach and clubbing yesterday, as friends, not two people on a date."

"This is my first real date." Jolie admitted, turning her gaze back up towards the ceiling.

I squeezed her hand reassuringly, "Just because it's a date doesn't mean that it's going to be any different than any other time that you've been with him."

Jolie groaned, "I feel like a cougar-, he's Sirius's little brother!"

"Yes, he's Sirius's younger brother who happens to turn sixteen in a few days, who likes you, and is no longer being forced to be a Death Eater."

I crossed my arms in front of me, "I truly do not see any issues, and neither does Sirius if it matters that much to you."

Jolie rolled her eyes, "It's already six, help me get ready?"

I extended my hand for her to pull me out of bed. "Damn, my nap was like three hours then."

"Yeah, we all thought you were shagging but then we realized that there wasn't a silencing spell-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. We were just showering and napping."

Jolie wiggled her eyebrows at me and she opened the bedroom door, "Together?"

"Yes."

"That's hot."

I playfully hit Jolie's arm and followed her out of my bedroom and into hers.

Jolie's room was similar to James' and mine, but it was a bit smaller and instead of a private bathroom, it had a Jack and Jill style bathroom. Through the two doors was Regulus's room, and Remus and Sirius's room was across the hall.

Her bedroom walls were a pale orange color, with a large window and window seat. The room was furnished with a queen-sized bed with a white duvet, two nightstands on either side of the bed, and a dresser on the opposite wall.

"I love the bay window." I announced as I sat down on the edge of her bed.

She grinned, "Me too, last night when I couldn't sleep I just sat there for hours."

"Should've invited Reg-"

"Shut the fuck up."

The next two hours were spent laughing, picking out an outfit, gossiping, and getting Jolie ready for her date with Regulus even though she looks beautiful in whatever she wears, with or without makeup.

Regulus knocked on the door a bit before eight and swept Jolie away onto their date.

I was sitting in the kitchen with James, Sirius, and Remus as we bid the two goodbyes.

"Use protection-"

"Shut up, Sirius!" Regulus yelled back, the sound of the front door closing behind them.

Remus laughed, "Young love."

"I fucking called it." I muttered as I stood up to go open a bottle of limoncello.

James exclaimed, "No-, we all did."

"He's my brother, so I think I win this one."

Remus chuckled, "Win what?"

"I don't know," Sirius huffed, "I just called it."

I popped open the bottle of limoncello and poured myself a glass.

The yellow liquor settled to the bottom of my glass as I sat back down at the table.

"Are you going to make me drink alone, or-"

James scoffed, "Of course not."

He stood up to go get more alcohol and glasses and Sirius cleared his throat. "The first rule of being a Marauder is that you never let another Marauder drink alone."

Remus rolled his eyes at his boyfriend as he took a glass of limoncello from James, "I'll drink to that."