"Obviously, he couldn't have been there," Sirius was arguing heatedly, tapping the table in the Great Hall with his finger. "Being dead, as he is."

"He's been dead before," Remus said. "You know that."

"Yes well, I'm fed up with his shit, so I say he's truly dead this time," Sirius insisted.

James spoke up, "So now you can kill people with your insistence now, can you?"

"I could," Sirius said. "But seriously now, of course Mopsus is dead. Of course he is."

"I don't like it when you can kill someone and they just keep coming back!" Peter trembled, "Its scary!"

Remus patted Peter's shoulder. "Yes but just because it's scary —" he looked meaningfully at Sirius, "— or you're fed up, doesn't mean you can ignore it happening."

"I'm not trying to ignore it," Sirius said, "Just — literally how?"

Remus shrugged, "Dunno, do we? I reckon it's got something to do with time and his control of it or ability to see through it... perhaps travel through it... but I haven't got any idea what or how."

Sirius shook a fork he had speared a sausage on the end of, "Maybe there are hundreds of Mopsuses... Mopsusi? Mopsi?"

"Mopsi?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Anyway, maybe there's hundreds of them and like we really do kill one off, but then another one comes along and takes his place. Maybe that's it."

"If they were different, they wouldn't all know what the others were doing or had done," James pointed out. "Its something else." He was staring up into the blue-sky ceiling, deep in thought.

Peter spoke up, "But you lot believe me, don't you?"

"I do," Remus said. "Even if you were dreaming I still believe that there's something happening. Dreams mean quite a lot, as we know from studying Divination --"

"You know. I didn't really properly study in that rubbish class," Sirius said, leaning backwards against the table, sprawling his legs out before him so his boots were stacked heel to toe. He glanced at Peter, "No offense."

Peter said, "But I really wasn't dreaming. I really did hear it."

James stared at the table, still deep in thought.

Suddenly Minerva McGonagall was behind him and Sirius choked on a cup of tea he was sipping. "Minnie," he said, laughing, "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

Remus, Peter, and James all looked up to see Minerva McGonagall covered in... well, nothing very good. Her feathered hat was drooping rather pathetically. "The chamber pots on the third floor are... feeling rather explosive this morning," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully as several other students along Gryffindor table were turning to look and beyond her, Sirius could see Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins all starting to glance her way as the stench reached them. "Do you four know anything at all about this?" she asked, looking each one of them in the eyes.

"Not at all, Min," Sirius said.

"Are you positively certain, Mr. Black?" McGonagall pressed, eyebrow raised, "This isn't another of your end of year hooligans?"

Peter said, "I'd question Peeves about it, Professor."

And McGonagall studied them a moment longer before she sniffed, and turned to leave the Great Hall.

Sirius grinned. "Wish we had thought of that though. Bloody hell, you lot realize this is the first time we haven't had some sort of hijinx planned for the last day of the year?" He looked about feverishly. "I've been so busy thinking about packing for Costa Rica, I haven't even considered the possibility of any practical jokes on the school and -- What are you smirking at, Moony?"

Remus was smirking indeed. He cleared his throat. "It's just that times certainly have changed."

"What?" Sirius asked, looking quite offended. "What's that supposed to mean, times have changed?"

"It's just that at one point the end of school practical joke would've been your top priority, no matter what your summer plans were," Remus said, shrugging, "You've matured, it's lovely, and bloody hell times have changed."

"Well James was the same way," said Sirius accusingly, "James's times have changed too."

James suddenly slammed his palms on the table, "That's it. Isn't it? Times have changed."

"What?" Sirius, Remus, and Peter all looked at James.

"A ruddy couple precious seconds here, a couple precious seconds there... Mopsus collects the seconds, doesn't he?" James said, "He took some from me for my Dad. Surely I'm not the only one he's done it with."

They continued to stare at him.

"He's not dead, despite dying, because he keeps borrowing time," James said. "From people all over the place. Trading in favors for time, so to speak."

"Like my dad," Remus said. "That's what they said about my dad, with the clock. The seconds he stole from him were stored in the clock, they hadn't been used yet."

James and Remus stared at one another.

Sirius glanced between the two of them, feeling rather uneasy, and so did Peter.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the far end of the Gryffindor table and they all looked up, wrenched out of the moment by the arrival of the Seventh Years - including Frank Longbottom, who was looking quite proud of himself. Everyone at the Gryffindor table clapped excessively as Frank and the others took their bows and settled down at the table. Ali and Lily came in behind him and quickly joined him by the Marauders at the table. Ali immediately wrapped her arms around his arm and pressed her cheek to his shoulder.

A silent nod between James and Remus said they would finish their talk later.

"I'm going to bloody miss you so much next year," complained Ali. She moaned sadly.

Lily said, "At least you've got us." She waved at herself...and the Marauders.

"Yeah." Ali sighed. "But I really could've used my Frankie." She kissed his cheek.

"Alright, enough snogging at the breaky table, you're going to turn everyone's stomachs," said Sirius loudly.

"Oi you great hypocrite," Frank said accusingly, "Look who's talking."

Remus turned red and Sirius grinned.

James said, "It really will be a shame not having you about, Frank. And I'm sorry you didn't get the Cup for it."

Frank sighed, "It's a shame, really. But it wasn't wholly my season anyway. We were missing our best chaser." He eyed James carefully.

James looked down.

"You ought to play next year, hey?" Frank said gently. "Please."

"Dunno, we'll see."

"You should," Frank insisted. Then, "If you'd been playing with us, we could've had a shot at it."

James flushed.

"It's true," Ali said, and beside her, Lily nodded. "It just wasn't the same without you."

James looked down at his plate. "I'll think about it."

"Perhaps we ought to all get together and play a bit over summer sometime," Frank suggested, then, seeing Sirius key up, he added, "After you get back from Costa Rica."

"YES!" Sirius cried, "Yes, I love that bloody idea."

Peter piped up, "We have disapparating lessons also this summer."

"You're right, Pete," James said.

Remus said, "I s'pose it's rather good that we'll be doing it together, somebody to help us study." Peter nodded enthusiastically. "One good thing about the delay."

"I still could've done without the delay," James said darkly, since it had been his kidnapping that had pushed them back.

Sirius grinned, "Well I can disapparate."

"Quite impressively, too," Lily agreed, nodding.

Sirius suddenly lit up, "Ohhh bloody hell I've gotten an idea." And he jumped up, grabbed two pieces of toast and waved, "See you lot later." And dashed off.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Bloody hell." He jumped up and limped after Sirius.

James looked around, "Well. That sounds ominous."

Peter said, "Have a feeling we'll find out about whatever he's cooked up at the station in Hogsmeade."

Frank laughed, "It better be good, whatever it is. It's my last big Marauders prank! Don't let me down now, you lot."

Ali let out a sob and hugged Frank's arm all the harder.

Lily said, "It's been a quiet year for pranks."

James shrugged, "Not much in a pranking mood, I suppose."

"Well, they've been missed," she ceded.

James raised an eyebrow, "Evans? That you? Evans the prefect? Missing our pranks?" he shook his head, "I'll never believe it. Surely you've been polyjuiced and replaced by Snape." He'd expected a snap or some sarcastic comment and instead he got a snorting laugh and he blinked in surprise. "No really. Polyjuice, Evans?"

"No it's just - you're funny." She blushed.

"Uh huh," he said slowly.

Peter nodded from his seat, "I think you're funny too, James."

"Well, thanks Pete." James finished up his bacon, nodded to Lily, Frank, and Ali, and said, "Gonna go see what Padfoot's gotten into. See you lot on the Express."

"Bye," Lily called. She looked at her plate and pushed eggs about with her fork.

Ali patted her back.

Peter got up and, with a good deal of toast and jam crammed into his mouth, he waved and said, "See you lot later."

"Bye Pete," Frank waved. He watched Pete scurry after James, then turned in his seat. "Alright Evans, I've been patient, I need answers. What's going on with you and Potter?"

Lily sighed heavily, "Absolutely nothing, Frank, and that's exactly the problem."

Everyone was on edge, waiting for what Sirius Black would have up his sleeve for the departure. But Sirius was curiously missing from the carriages that traveled down the road to Hogsmeade station. Students from every year looked around uneasily, watching their steps as they carried their owls and dragged their trunks. Hagrid loomed large and hairy, watching over all the chaos and shouting directions here and there as people jammed the trunks into the storage compartments below the train. But still there was no sigh of any of the Marauders.

"I'm sure they're doing something," Marlene said, "Being missing is probably part of their big joke, whatever it is."

Lily shrugged, "Dunno, perhaps." But she didn't feel convinced. She carefully procrastinated as long as she could on the platform, but the closer it got to when the train would take off, the more annoyed she became because that meant Remus wasn't there to join the prefects meeting and she didn't really want to be alone in doing their duties. She squinted away back to the castle, how it loomed over the steep grounds, willing Remus Lupin to hurry up... and James, too.

Finally, she saw them - well, most of them. Peter, Remus and James were trotting down the path toward the wooden platform, things spilling from the trunks that Remus had used a locomoto spell upon, which they were pulling by trailing tails of scarves and neckties. Remus was dragging along two.

"Where have you been?" Lily demanded, descending upon them the moment they'd stepped onto the platform. "And where's Sirius?"

"He'll be along," James replied.

"We brought his things," Remus added, and he dragged them off toward the train, pausing after a moment to turn back and say, "Pete. A hand?"

"Oh. Right yes." Peter ran after Remus, leaving Lily and James alone.

James looked down at his trainers. "Hullo," he muttered.

"Hullo," she repeated back.

James was biting his lips, which made his face sort of screw up funny, and his dark chocolate brown eyes stayed aimed downward at the ground. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and dragged his shoe over the platform. He reached up after a few moments, running his hand through his hair, and looked about the platform - anywhere but at Lily Evans herself.

Lily felt her stomach flip just a wee when he lowered his hand from his hair and it stuck up all funny and messy and a couple strands fell loose over his forehead.

"Are you ready for holiday?" Lily asked.

"Most definitely," he answered. "Ready to get the bloody hell away from this place... I'm quite tired of it this year, honestly. Haven't been home myself since last summer. Sort of curious what Snive--" he stopped himself, then, "Sort of curious about if anything's been done to my room."

Lily nodded.

"You ready for it?" James asked.

Lily shrugged, "Sure. I mean - I'll miss it terribly. I only have mum and Petunia to talk to during the summer." She could see Remus and Peter looking over at James meaningfully out of the corner of her eyes, and James held up his finger to indicate one minute. Lily flushed, and all in one gasp of breath she asked, "D'you reckon you'd like to do something this summer?"

James, misunderstanding the question, replied, "Yeah, we're going to Costa Rica, dunno if mum and dad have anything else planned besides that. But that ought to be interesting. Sirius Black on a muggle airplane. Stick that in your imagination and see what comes out, ey?" he laughed again and his lip hung up on his tooth and Lily felt her heart skip a beat as his eyes twinkled.

"Yeah," Lily laughed briefly, too, then, "What I meant was --"

"What?" James asked.

Lily said, "I meant... with me, James. Do you want to do something with me sometime this summer?"

James smacked his forehead with his palm. "Oh, right - sure. Yeah, of course. I'm sure the fellas would love to... I think we're planning a camping trip sometime around the disapparating classes. You're in the class this summer, too, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Lily said, wondering if she should correct him again that she meant just the two of them.

James said, voice low, "So long as it isn't the full moon, you're welcome to come along the camping trip." He smiled and winked, "Wouldn't recommend staying on the full moon, though, things get a little... wild... under the full moon."

Lily laughed awkwardly, "Right. Of course they do. Staggeringly wild, I'm sure."

James laughed, "Howl tell you all about it in a letter, though."

Lily replied, "I'll be barking if you don't."

James said, "So long as you don't rat on any mischief we get up to."

Out of puns, Lily said, "What about just you and I?"

"What?" James asked, he'd been expecting another pun and had come up with a rather good one to follow up with, so his eyes were still alight with the joke.

Lily mustered courage, "You and I. What if you and I did something together over summer?"

James nodded slowly, "Alright. Spiffing."

"Spiffing," she agreed.

There was a long, very awkward silence. Just staring at one another. James opened his mouth to say something, but just as he did, the Express let out a loud whistle, cutting him off. Steam rose from the stack at the engine and Remus shouted, "James!" and motioned for him. Their trunks were among the last on the platform, and the doors had just opened to the cars, students were lining up as Hagrid shouted instructions and goodbyes to them, tearing up as some of the seventh years paused to give him hugs.

"See you on the train," James said, and he ducked away, running over to Remus and Peter.

Lily stared after him, her heart still fluttering. Is it a duck or a date, Potter? she wondered. Gods have the tables changed. What'd I do this to you for all these years? All these years we could've been together and I'm an idiot. Her hands shook.

Suddenly, there was a CRACK on the platform and James, now standing directly beside the stack of trunks, stuck out his hands and caught... a leg. The leg was clad in denim with safety pins through it and a great leather boot.

"Bloody hell!" James shouted, wrapping his arm about the leg, eyes wide. "Sirius's leg!"

Peter cried, "He's splinched! He's splinched again!" and ran a circle around the luggage frantically.

People all over the platform were looking, some younger students screamed. Hagrid was pushing through the crowd as quick as he could, trying to get over to where James stood holding Sirius's leg.

Lily was about to go into a panic when she saw Remus was knelt down behind the trunks, his hands over his mouth, trying to control a laugh. She squinted her eyes at the lot of them and headed over, too. She was much closer - and arrived to the Marauders before Hagrid. "Sirius Black," she hissed, "I know you're under there!" 

Laughter came from the empty space atop of the luggage.

Remus snorted and banged his head on one of the trunks quite by accident.

Giving up the jive, Sirius yanked the invisibility cloak off himself, revealing his entire body whole, and a bunch of people breathed sighs of relief and started laughing, even as Sirius stood up on top of the luggage, both his legs now appearing to be attached to his body, and he shouted, "LEGS go home!"

There was a brief pause before every single person on the platform burst into laughter or applause at the pun before turning, still loud with mirth, to board the train. "What der yeh be scarin' ev'ry one like that fer?" Hagrid demanded as he reached the luggage, panting, "Yeh could've been hurt!"

"Sorry Hagrid," Sirius said, jumping down and patting Hagrid's arm. "Next time I'll let you in on it before I do it, how's that mate?"

"Better'n scarin' me half ter death," Hagrid muttered.

Frank passed by and held up a hand for a high five, which Sirius awarded him with merrily. "Good one, Black."

"Thanks Longbottom," Sirius replied, and Frank turned to bid Hagrid farewell, which got Hagrid going into tears all over again.

"C'mon," Remus said, eyes still watering with laughter, "Let's get the bloody luggage loaded up now."

Sirius turned to him, "You could've kept a straight face, you know, or acted panicked or something."

"I couldn't help it," Remus laughed, "The looks on people's faces. The way James said Sirius's leg! -- I mean, bloody hell." Remus's eyes were tearing up.

Lily said, "You lot are such bleedin' idiots."

Sirius grinned, "But you love it."

Lily flushed.

James shoved his trunk and Peter's into the storage compartment, and then turned to get Sirius's, knocking him off the trunks, where he was still standing. Sirius grabbed Remus's and shoved that in, too, and James took Lily's. The conductor pulled shut the compartment and they turned back as Frank was taking the step onto the train car and they were alone on the platform, save for Hagrid, who was backing up, an owl fluttering down to land on his shoulder as he pulled out a table cloth sized handkerchief. 

The four Marauders and Lily looked back over the trees to the looming spires of Hogwarts.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Lily asked suddenly.

"Magnificent," replied Sirius.

James muttered, "Not as beautiful as getting home'll be at this rate..." and he started for the train car. Peter scurried after him, leaving just Remus, Sirius, and Lily on the platform.

Being in the middle, Sirius wrapped his arms about both Lily's shoulders and Remus's torso and tugged them in against him. "Another year," he muttered, "Gone, just like that. A fucking insane year, sure, but --" he paused. "Next year's our last, you know."

"Yeah," Lily agreed quietly.

"Then it's on to our real lives," Remus said.

"Bloody hell, real lives!" Sirius said. "Being adults and everything. Reckon you lot will be head boy and girl, huh?"

"Most likely," Lily answered, "Historically it's almost always the prefects. At least me, seeing as I'm the only girl."

"Perhaps he'll select Mrs. Norris to serve instead of you," Sirius snickered.

"She'd probably do as good a job keeping an eye on the first years," Lily answered, laughing.

Behind them, the express let out another loud, shrill whistle. "Yeh better be gettin' on!" Hagrid shouted over the whistle. "They'll be pullin' out without yehs!"

"C'mon," Remus said.

Sirius replied, "I could just apparate onto the train..." 

"You can't," Remus answered, "It's a magical train. It's protected the same as Hogwarts is..."

"But --" Sirius started arguing and followed Remus onto the train car.

Lily stood on the platform by the door for a moment, then took a deep breath of the Hogsmeade air, and stepped onto the car, the door closing behind her.

Hagrid snuffled and held the handkerchief up to his nose as the train let out one last whistle and started to pull away from the platform. He waved his huge hands, the owl fluttering off his shoulder and flying off - away from the platform, over the Express, through the steam, up - up - up... over the trees, sweeping over the village, away and off toward the castle, disappearing into the owlery.