WHOOO! Sorry about the looooong wait, yall. It was bad and horrible of me, but I really couldn't concentrate on this story for the past month. Way too much school work. Anyways…it was also just a really slow writing process. Like only two paragraphs at a time slow. Yeah. Bad.

Anywho, responses:

Sparky-chan123: Yeah, I get you on the sappiness. It hurt my sweet tooth. But, I dunno, it just seemed the way to do it. Oh well. Oh, sorry, but Lily and James won't be getting together in this. This is the last chapter, and, well, you'll read. I just see them getting together in their seventh year. And, obviously (looks at title) this isn't the seventh year. Hmm, about the new story, it's not going to have anything to do with this one. Beginnings of a Hogwarts Legend was this ones companion piece. But don't let that stop you from reading it. I'll be putting it up tomorrow (gah, its like almost 3 in the morning, why am I up?)

Harrypotterfan52: Yes, I think that Aw was most appropriate. Um, so far no planned sequels. Sowwy.

Kylaaa: Hmmm, you know that's a really good point about the passwords, but I'm not sure if that's exactly how it works. Alas, I'm not JK Rowling, or else I'd be really rich right now. Alas, I am also not rich. But totally good point!

EsScaper: I can see what you mean about an explosive ending, but honestly, I'm just read for this particular story to be over with. Not that I don't enjoy writing it or anything, it's just starting to feel repetitive in my mind. Also, the way I'm looking at it, there's still a few more years of confrontation between Sirius and his family to come. I would think that the worst of it would come after he's out of Hogwarts and on his own. No one is there to protect him then. Perhaps I could get on such a story if my work load lightens up (cross your fingers! And also, bother me about it. that seems to be the only way I get things done -.-)

Kute Anime Kitty: Here, here! I will so drink to that statement! (I say that as if I hadn't drank like two beers a few hours ago with my godfather…) Dude, totally not a rude question at all: I'm a Southern gal, born and raised. I guess the yalls made you ask? Yeah…I'm pretty much the stereotypical southerner, the only thing I don't have is a horse. Texas just so happens to rock my socks. :D

BrennQT: NO! Don't de depressed, that's sad. Yeah but I'm sorry this is the last chapter for this run. Eww…post-Azkaban stories. I looked back on my mini-description after I read your review. That's what it looks like, doesn't it? Gah! I don't summarize well, do I? My new one's going to be AU, nothing to do with Azkaban, thank god. Too much self-pityish angst there. You certainly don't have to read it, but I'd love to have your opinions and comments on it. I heart your reviews! See: 3

Scarlet Dreamer: I LOVE YOU! Sorry, I usually send replies when there's questions afoot (heehee…it's way too late for me to be doing this…) Glad you like the new idea. Go now and read it…or read it once I post it…

Katharina-B: Yeah, we get back into Sirius's thoughts again here. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't let Remus and Peter know. Sorry if that's a spoiler, but I just don't feel right Sirius telling Remus and not Peter. I don't want Peter to know.

FrogTheMufassan: I'm glad you like it enough to review. I totally get you there. I usually don't review either unless I know the person or the story was good enough to get me really interested. Haha, your thanks is much appreciated. I'm so glad you liked the way it was written!

Xtin2000: maybe it's the three in the morning talking, but glacier: hahah! Titanic! Ahahah! That movie is almost as funny as Armageddon. Thank you so much for the praise. I really, really am glad that I could move you that much. My heart is soaring right now! Hmm, that question is actually very difficult to answer. Can I be both? After all, I think that there is too much scientific data around to ignore, but some things just are best described by a higher power. Haha, it's in the bio now, but I am a girl.

Jenny Starseed: glad to have your review. I know what you mean by sappy, I was a little iffy when I re-read it, but I think that after going through what they had, they're entitled to a little emotion. Lord knows I've seen some of my guy friends break down like that before. I advise not being in the middle of something like that. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and criticism! Not many people think to give them out in reviews.

And thank you so much to everyone else who sent out reviews and promises to read the new story and pointed out grammar or any other kind of mistakes. Remember that constructive criticism is always welcome and helps writers to better their works! Keep it up yall!

Goodness, that was a long reply session. I'll shut up now. Read on!

Things were finally returning to normal at Hogwarts. James Potter and Sirius Black were up to all of their old tricks almost overnight. Although it had confused several of the students nearly to the point of tears, they were all glad things were okay between the two Gryffindors. The Marauders were pretty much the center of Hogwarts life. Their pranks and other escapades just drew so much attention. Not to mention that James and Sirius were two of the handsomest boys in the school and fantastic Quidditch players. To see one without the other was not only frightening—as you never know if they were plotting something—it was sad. A friendship so great as theirs was disheartening even to a Slytherin to see destroyed.

Lily Evans was one of the few who had not been immediately relieved to see the two back together. She had felt James shouldn't have been forgiven so easily. Yes, she knew that Sirius needed James, but James had been such an ass. He deserved some squirming time for what he had done to his so-called best friend. That's how Lily would have had it. But then again, Sirius needed James.

Sirius needed James to function properly. Without the Potter heir, Sirius was like a lost and frightened child. Knowing that James wasn't there, always ready to back him up, joke with him, or stop playing with the Snitch when he said so, Sirius didn't know what to do with himself. Lily knew that he considered her a great friend. She knew he considered Remus and Peter great friends. But none of them were James.

If the two hadn't both been boys, they'd have gotten married by now. Married with lots of little James and Sirius babies running about. The thought made Lily both laugh and shudder.

Sirius and James were laying on their respective beds. James was on his back, head hanging over the side. His glasses were resting against his forehead, resulting in his blurred vision. His hazel eyes were locked onto the dark, fuzzy shape that was his renewed best friend. Sirius was leaning against one of the posters of his bed. He was leaning his cheek on his palm, his fingers intertwined in his dark hair. Grey eyes were wandering aimlessly over the Marauders' Map. "Anything," James asked.

Sirius made a grunting noise but otherwise made no moves to properly answer his friend. James sighed, and his eyes drifted up to the ceiling. The term was over tomorrow, and the students of Hogwarts would be boarding the train to go home. James smiled. Going home was always nice. Home cooked meals, no school work, sleeping in late every morning…and best of all, Sirius would be with him the whole break. Sirius would stay with the Potters. He'd never go back to Grimmauld Place again.

The mere thought made James's heart soar. Sirius had been through enough, especially this year. James fought back a grimace. Some of that had been his fault. But if Sirius was at the Potters', he'd be okay. James's parents would take care of him. They'd make sure that Sirius was loved, always well fed, and treated right. Not only would they treat him like a proper human being, they would treat him like a son.

Sirius deserved that.

From the other side of the room, Sirius sighed and erased the map. He folded it up and tossed it onto his bedside table. He leaned back on his hands and turned his gaze to James. They stared at each other for a few minutes.

"Did you really convince Lily to go out with me," James suddenly blurted.

Sirius blinked, his jaw hanging loosely. His left hand almost slipped on the sheets. He shook his head slightly, as if to clear nonexistent water from his ears. He blinked back at James. James stared back calmly. "E—excuse me," Sirius asked.

"Evans said you convinced her to go out with me," James said, biting his bottom lip. "That right?" Sirius's brow tightened. It was some seconds before he slowly nodded. James ran a hand through his hair, once again sending it in angles previously thought unobtainable. "You really did that?" Sirius nodded again. With a face of pure astonishment, James asked, "How?"

Sirius leaned back on his hands again. "I just talked to her is all," he said simply.

James flipped himself onto his stomach, almost slipping off the bed. "But, Padfoot, Evans is unflinching; she's a pillar of stone, a statue of resolve, a monument to the unwavering female population!" Sirius rolled his eyes. "I mean it, mate. She's denied me for years. And suddenly she's ready to say yes to me. What did you say to her?"

"I just told her to give it a try. Said she had nothing to loose. If she went out with you then she could say she had given you a try and just wasn't interested," Sirius explained lightly.

"What else," James asked.

"What makes you think there is anything else," Sirius asked.

"Oh, please," James scoffed. "I'm your best friend. I can read you better than you can. There's something you're not telling me." James fixed Sirius with pointed stare. "I always know when you're keeping something from me. I might not know exactly what it is, but I know that there's a secret."

Sirius sighed. James was right of course. "She likes you. Or she did. I can't say anything about it now," Sirius said with his eyes diverted away from James. He didn't like to bring up the fight he and James had had. It was one bad memory that he never wanted to think about again. It was too bad that much of his thoughts were plagued with those weeks.

He continued at James's surprised expression. "She—er—she had for a while. Been attracted to you, I mean. She's talked to me some about it. I promised not to say anything to you, so don't mention this." James nodded.

Sirius ran a hand through his dark locks. "She…I dunno, mate," he trailed off.

James pushed himself into a sitting position. He folded his legs Indian-style and fixed Sirius with a studying stare. Sirius found it very odd that he couldn't quite read James's face. He couldn't quite see what James was thinking. It was a by-product of only seeing death glares for a few weeks. Although he knew James was to be trusted—of course, he already knew everything—and although he knew it worried James, Sirius put up a few more guards to watch the protective wall around him. It was such a natural thing, so hammered into his system, not even with James could he kill the instinct.

James's eyes flashed with concern. That Sirius could read. The look washed from the other boy's face. James understood that it was just a normal Sirius wall. He licked his dry lips and ran a hand messily through his hair.

"Well," James said, "thanks for the effort, Padfoot. It's useless now, but thanks."

"Useless," Sirius asked.

James shook his head, a sad smile forming over his face. "Trying with Evans. It's pointless. I've blown it. She was right. If I could treat you of all people the way I did, what is there to make her think I'll not treat her that way?"

"Prongs," Sirius started.

James silenced him with a raised hand. "No, Padfoot," he said with resignation. "I give up. Throw in the towel. It's over. Hell, she'll be glad I won't be breathing down her neck anymore. She won't have to hide in her room all day." He chuckled a bit. It was common knowledge that Lily Evans spent as much time in her room as she could to avoid James Potter. It had all started when he tried following her up the girls' staircase one day. To her sheer delight, it had formed a slide that sent James tumbling back into the common room at his laughing comrades' feet.

"But she was coming around," Sirius tried again. This was ridiculous of James. James was never one to give up, so why start now, and on something he so desperately wanted. He'd been worshiping Lily for years. To finally have even a chance at returned feelings…

"And she turned right back around," James said, flopping over onto his back. He tossed his glasses onto his bedside table and crossed his arms behind his head. His eyes closed and one of his feet began to tap. Sirius recognized this as the sign that he was done with the conversation. Normally, Sirius would have continued to press, but, in all honesty, he was still worried about the sturdiness of their friendship. Logically, he knew that they were past the Willow incident and the aftermath. They had made up. They were friends again. Although it had been heart wrenching, it was a strengthening experience. Neither ever wanted to go through anything remotely similar again. But he couldn't help but worry.

Most people would have dismissed the entire incident. They would have recognized completely that the past was the past, and it was time to move forward and stop worrying. But the past wasn't the past for Sirius. He couldn't just move forward. His parents had turned on him too many times for the past to stay in the past. And it didn't help that they still wanted him dead. It was all just a matter of time before they tried something again. It might be today. It might be tomorrow. It might be five years from now. He'd only know when it came.

Sirius only allowed his paranoia regarding the situation to be shown to James. Only, Sirius's paranoia was branching out a bit more lately. James had tried to bring him out of it by telling him to stop or else he'd turn into Alastor Moody. It had made Sirius laugh. No normal person ever wanted to be as crazy and suspicious as Moody.

But then again, Sirius didn't have the mental state of most people.

It was amazing, Sirius's ability to hide things away. He had the uncanny ability to be shattered, crying, and miserable on the inside but seem for all outer appearances like the happiest man on earth. He'd hidden his abusive home life from even his close family members for at least ten years. Most notably, he'd hidden it from James. James had always been the best person at reading him, even with walls at full defense. At that point, James might not be right in his suspicions, but he would always be the closest. Not even Remus could see through the lies.

Sirius sighed at the thought of Remus and Peter. They were still in the dark. Well, Peter was still in the dark. Narcissa understood, and Lily probably suspected. Remus knew, that much was clear. He knew, but he would never bring it up or try to do anything until Sirius came clean to him. Remus understood that Sirius wasn't ready yet, and for that, Sirius was very grateful. His wounds were deep and would take a long time to heal. He needed more healing before he could share his story. He just wasn't ready yet.

Sirius sighed quietly. He copied James's position. He lay staring up at the ceiling, not thinking about anything in particular. It wasn't long before he, like James, dozed off.

The next morning, the Marauders sat hunched together at the table, quite obviously in plotting mode. Those seated nearest to them scooted further down the bench. No one wanted to be close when the boys were like that. You never knew when they would spring their trap.

"So what are we going to do," Remus asked.

"We could start up a food fight," Peter suggested.

They looked thoughtful for a second before James said with screwed up eyes, "Yeah, but we've done like seven of those on a grand scale, and we don't want to do something small." Sirius nodded in agreement. They needed something to bring the term to end with a bang, and a big bang at that. Big bangs were always much more fun.

"We should have stolen the Quidditch balls," Sirius said. "You know, charmed the Snitch to do something. The Buldgers do enough on their own."

"We'd need more time for that," Remus said.

"Well, I've got the Snitch," James said.

"I still don't get why," Peter said. "You're a Chaser."

"It's just to show off, Wormtail," Remus said in his ever patient tone. "But maybe we can do that for an opener next term." The other three nodded.

"Perhaps we could break into a spontaneous song and dance number on the tables and hope that the rest of the student population joins in," James said.

The other three turned to him with bewildered looks. They shared short glances amongst themselves before turning back to James and offering him a few blinks. "Don't be gay, James," Sirius said after a few seconds. James huffed.

"Epic sword battle," James tried again.

Remus shook his head. "No," he said. "I want to do something where I can just sit back and laugh."

"Well, you don't have to fight," James insisted. "I can challenge Sirius to a duel of honor to—I dunno—win over Wormtail or something. You can provide visual and sound effects."

"I don't want to do a sword fight," Sirius shot down James's idea.

"Fine," James grumbled, "then you lot think of something. I've been pouring out ideas for the past fifteen minutes."

"How about awakening that horde of flying monkeys," Sirius asked.

Remus sighed heavily, "Lily should have never told you about that movie." He returned Sirius's pleading look with a stern glare. "No." Sirius snapped his fingers in disappointment.

"We could do something with the suits of armor," Peter said.

"Yeah," Sirius started, "like form a mass army. Or we could assemble a giant battle robot or—"

Remus smacked Sirius upside the head. "We don't have time for that. And I'd prefer to not get up."

"You're just being a spoiled sort," Sirius pouted, nursing the back of his head. Remus offered him a pointed glance. "Too which you are perfectly entitled," Sirius finished sheepishly. It was nearing the full moon, and all of the other Marauders knew better than to test Remus during that time.

"What about having the puppets wreck mass havoc," James piped up. Sirius brightened and shared a nod with Peter. They turned to the remaining Marauder. He was smiling. "Sweet," James said in a high pitched voice. "You have the marionette, Padfoot?" he asked, diving down to his bag.

"No," Sirius answered. "I have the sock puppets. I thought you had the marionette."

James pushed aside his Invisibility Clock. "Oh, I do," he said. He discreetly untangled the puppet's strings. It was an old clown marionette that James had found in his attic the summer before. His mother said it had been from the eighteen hundreds. The thing was old and not as creepy as clowns were nowadays. But it still made for fun when the sweet looking child's toy was charmed to say vulgar and inappropriate things. The sock puppets were just as bad, only they could latch onto ears or noses.

With a quick wand wave, Sirius turned the hypothetical volume and vulgar settings up to maximum. "Anything else we could add to this," he asked.

"Make sure one of those stays on McGonagall," James said. Sirius nodded.

"You know, instead of setting them all loose, I think it'd be funnier to just set the one on McGonagall. It'd irritate her until she started screaming or something," Peter said.

James and Sirius shared a look of contemplation. They nodded and James stuffed the marionette back into his bag. Sirius waved his wand, and one of the sock puppets crept away. Peter looked ecstatic that they were using his idea. Remus shushed them, and they all returned to their huddle. In doing so, they would seem to still be innocent, as if they hadn't launched a plan yet.

Out of the corner of their eyes, the watched as the sock puppet appeared over McGonagall's shoulder. Judging by the movement, it was talking. McGonagall blinked and looked around. The puppet had retreated behind her back, safe from her hawklike eyes. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and returned to her breakfast. Sirius snickered.

The puppet appeared again. It poked her right shoulder and hid again. McGonagall looked down at Flintwick. He gave her a bewildered look and turned back to his conversation with Sprout. James hid his smile behind his hand.

The puppet tugged at her bun. McGonagall gasped and reached up to grab hold of the offended part. She glanced around. Dumbledore offered her a concerned look, but there was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes. Peter bit down hard on his bottom lip.

The puppet blew into her ear, and it seemed as though she made some sort of noise because a few of the teachers around her craned their necks to glance down the table at her. Remus had shut his eyes, and a large smile was plastered over his face.

Quite suddenly, the cock puppet flew in front of her face and latched onto her nose. "BLACK! POTTER!" she screamed dangerously, although the effect was somewhat lessened by the effects of her pinched nose. The entire hall fell silent. The students looked back and forth from the professor with a sock dangling from her nose to the four boys, who looked as though they would combust if they didn't remove their hands from their noses and mouths.

Finally, Sirius stared at the angry woman for a second too long. His snort of laughter was too great to be contained by his firmly clamped hands. James followed a fraction of a second later. Peter and Remus soon joined in. A few seconds later, most of the students were laughing along with a few professors.

McGonagall was turning redder by the second. She looked ready to blow her top and might have had Professor Dumbledore not placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. "My dear Professor," he asked, knowing she was a second from screaming about detentions, "is it really worth it? They will be returning home in less than an hour. And you do look quite amusing currently."

McGonagall looked torn between smiling and screaming about detentions anyway. She settled instead for sitting back down and offering the four boys a stern glare. She reached up to try and pry the sock from her face. She was surprised at the opposition it put up. With a final tug, she ripped it from her nose. As she massaged the pink appendage, the sock perked up and shouted in a cheesy French accent, "Viva La Resistance!" In a flurry of colors, the remaining sock puppets sprung to life and attacked the remaining teachers. Most let out yelps of surprise and tried to cover their faces. Dumbledore only smiled pleasantly at the sock hanging from his crocked nose, which matched wonderfully with his deep purple robes.

James and Sirius shared broad smiles. Resistance obsessed French sock puppets were a good way to end out the year.