Chapter Text
Summer was fading fast. August was reaching its end and September 1st was ever approaching. You decided that you were going to make the most out of the last week of your summer break, in a desperate attempt to prolong the start of your fifth year and the upcoming OWLS. Today marked August 24th, 1976, outside of your bedroom window was a still evening, a summer breeze gently wafting in through the slivers and cracks of the sill.
You plopped on your bed, the mattress creaking and dipping under your weight, and devised a plan. Outside of your room, you could hear the soft padding of your parents downstairs, Monty and Mia were probably cooking a second dinner for your ravenous brother and his best friend. So far you had only come up with a summer sleepover, planning to invite over Lily, Mary, and Marlene, when an idea struck like lightning in your head; Lily had recently gotten her driver's license, a muggle permit of sorts allowing one to drive motorized vehicles, and it was only fitting that you take a road trip to the countryside.
Your scheming continued long into the night as you meticulously mapped out every detail, the beaches you could visit, the snacks, the music, etc., before an abrupt click startled you out of your thoughts and you gazed upon the faces of James Potter, and Sirius Black. Both, you noted, had their faces stuffed with pastries, the crumbs already sticking to their t-shirts and the corners of their mouths.
“Mum made tarts” James garbled through a large mouthful
“ They're really good” added Sirius
“I figured, " you said dully “Now get out” you added
James, ignoring your order, incredulously asks “You don't want any?’
“No thanks” you reply which earns you a look from the both of them, however, they seem to reach the same conclusion, without your appetite they get more pastries. You barely have time to roll your eyes before they're out of your room and thundering down the steps. Sighing in relief you start writing letters to each of your friends, so they receive them in the early morning and can reply hastily. Just as you're finishing up your last letter, Sirius and James pop in and make themselves comfortable. Unfortunately for you, James reads the address and name and scoops up the letter, having perked up and immediately been immersed in whatever you were writing at the mention of Lily Evans. It's well past midnight and you don't put up a fight, bracing yourself for the word vomit you're about to hear as James rants about his love for Lily. You watch as he and Sirius settle into the pillows of your bed and leisurely skim over the contents.
“A beach trip!” Sirius exclaims, "We're invited right?” he adds skeptically
You mull over this idea, on the one hand, a bigger group would be fun, and the marauders would also be joining however due to Remus's ailment he’d probably have to leave early, as the full moon and the trip would clash. But James wouldn't be able to function in the presence of Lily for roughly a week. Honestly, though, you missed the big group and were already agreeing despite the chaos you knew was bound to unfold. At your hesitation, the boy's faces split into shit-eating grins already knowing they ‘won’.
“ James you can't ogle Lily the entire trip, swear it, or you're not coming,” you say grimly
“I swear,” he says solemnly
You can tell he’ll break that vow the minute Lily steps within a 50-mile radius of him but ignore it anyways, for the next hour you and the boys go over the specifics of your trip and decide to cut it to 3 days to make Remus more comfortable, mainly due to Sirius’s frets and prompting. The full moon will be on the 30th of August, giving you enough time to recuperate and plan an outing in Diagon Alley for school supplies, before school officially starts. Content with your plans, you re-write the letters fitting in the newfound changes and shove James and Sirius out of your room so you can sleep. After sending the letters your mind races with upcoming anxiety and excitement, the feelings bubbling together in your stomach. You eventually find sleep and await the responses.
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At 11 you're already showered and brushed, bent over breakfast, with a nervous buzz that causes your leg to rapidly bounce up and down. Your mother can sense your anxiety and smooths a hand over your damp hair.“They’ll all be able to come don't worry darling”
You had told your parents your plans earlier, sheepishly recounting how you'd already sent letters despite not having permission yourself. You’d left James and Sirius the task of relying on the message to their fellow marauders, though they'd already gotten their replies earlier this morning. At the knock on the window, you're out of your seat and prying open the ledge frantically. You receive two letters, one from Lily and one from Marlene. You're delighted after practically shredding the letters open to find that they can both come and have been missing you all summer. The pressing matter was that Mary had yet to reply and you were all supposed to leave around 4 pm. As the day went on and the trickle of marauders entered your house, you sat, waiting. Your worries vanish though, when you see a curly-headed, flushed, and beaming Mary waiting on your front porch.
“ Mary!” you exclaim tackling her in a bone-crushing hug
“Hey,” she giggles,
“ You scared me! How come you didn't reply to my owl?”
“ I figured I'd rather surprise you instead”
You slap her lightly, “I was worried my best friend would be able to come,” you say seriously
“I’d never leave you alone to deal with the marauders”
You scowl at her before your face breaks into a smile, your previous feeling of anxiety replaced with anticipation. The two of you race up to your bedroom, ignoring Peter who seemed to be in a trance staring at Mary, you didn't blame him, over the summer Mary had put on a golden tan and had grown taller, making her form appear lithe. As you two settled onto your bed you delved into the things you had done so far throughout the summer and your upcoming excitement for school. Mary also recounted the hookups she’d had over the past months, you grew giddy hearing her recount the date she’d had with Frank Longbottom before growing somber as Mary told you they didn't work out and he and Alice Fortescue were apparently “ locked in.” You rub Mary's back soothingly before she quickly brightens and moves on to her fling with Gideon Prewett, a dashing redhead you’d seen in the corridors before “No fair” you whine feeling somewhat envious of Mary but equally prideful of her charms. By 3 pm, Lily and Marlene have joined you, much to James's excitement.
You begin loading the car up, a van fit for the occasion, as you were supposed to fit 8 people in one vehicle for 3 hours. You briefly berate Sirius over the multitude of stuff he packed, but eventually, you're hugging your parents tight, promising to behave and Lily's pulling out of your driveway. The final setup is you squished in between Mary and Marlene their reasoning being; “ because you're the youngest” you had scoffed at that wondering how you allowed this to happen, James managed to weasel his way into the passenger seat, and you can hear him faintly over the dim ac and blaring music talking Lily’s ear off, silently you pray to merlin Lily does not harm you for it. Sirius Peter and Remus are in the three seats in front of you already goofing off with each other and lounging with their feet on the headrests at the front. Fleetwood Mac booms in your ears, Marlene is singing like crazy, and you're nestled into Mary's side planning to sleep off the car sickness you're feeling.
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At 8 pm an hour after you're supposed to have arrived, but pretty great timing considering the traffic, bathroom breaks and puking stops for Peter and yourself, you're pulling into a muggle diner, about a mile away from the beach where you’ll spend the night. You groan in relief as your legs un-numb themselves and you stretch, glancing over, you can tell everyone is doing the same thing. When you're finished stretching, which seems to take ages, you and your friends trickle in through the door and sit at one round booth overlooking the sea and the small shops littered down the streets. When it comes to ordering you and your brother James share a look of bewilderment over the menu choices and the ridiculous food names, thankfully Mary, Lily, and Remus take charge and order milkshakes, sandwiches, and chips for everyone. Over dinner, the marauders share stories of the previous year, including the inside scoop on all their previous pranks and the ones going to come. You can tell James, the poor boy, is trying desperately to catch Lily's attention. You almost want to tell him upfront that his charms won't work on her and to save himself the embarrassment, but you catch her smile and a glint in her eye, as well as a slight flush in her cheeks, before it vanishes for a second. You nudge Mary and Marlene and kick Remus under the table before motioning wildly with your eyes to Lily to see if anyone else noticed the way she was acting. The 4 of you share a surprised look and you catch Sirius’ and Peter’s confused gaze almost making you laugh at their cluelessness. You're all clutching your stomachs and groaning as you practically limp out of the diner having paid and tipped graciously.
When you get to the beach you feel dead on your feet, after the exciting day and filling meal all you want to do is sleep. Nonetheless, you help set up camp, having put up two tents, which already have the extension charm on them (thanks Mum and Dad) as underage wizards can't perform magic outside of Hogwarts. When you’re done James ruffles your hair before making his way in for the night. Eventually, you and the girls head in after staring peacefully at the waves and the moon. It seems like there's an unspoken agreement to bombard Lily on what was seen at the diner, and Marlene bravely questions her first.
“Lily what was that look you had on your face while talking to James” she prods
‘ Yeah,” Mary adds, “ last I checked you said you’d rather hex yourself than date, James”
“Is Lily Evans finally falling for my brother?” you say
“Guys” she groans “ he was talking and I was paying attention, you're reading into this way too much”
“Sure,” we say in unison before we break into giggles
“Lily and James, it's finally happening” you whisper shocked
“ pinch me” Mary adds
“ Shut up” Lily sighs embarrassed
“On it Mrs. Potter” Marlene teases
This earns a smirk from Lily which you can see in the dim light from a nearby lamp. That night you fall asleep with a smile on your face, dreaming of what it’ll be like to experience love like your friends talk about.
You wake early, having gotten a full night's rest. Seeing as you're the first awake, you set on getting yourself ready for a day of swimming and tanning, you recall seeing a movie theater nearby on your drive to the diner, maybe you can convince the group to see a muggle film with you. You wash up and throw your hair into a bun before deciding on being a nice person and making breakfast for your friends. Before you start you check up on the marauders, not even the slightest bit surprised to find them all sleeping, noting how Sirius' fingers brush against Remus's in slumber. The weather is sunny and hot, the water seems calm enough and after a small stroll on the beach, you test the temperature with your toes, feeling the shock of the cool water against your bare skin before you head back in. You decide to make pancakes, a recipe you think is simple enough, halfway through with batter splotches on the back of your hands and flour coating your face, Lily wakes up and almost wakes Mary and Marlene too with her reaction to seeing you. After composing herself and snapping a picture with her portable camera, she too gets ready for the day, coming out in a navy blue piece that goes down to the mid-thigh, which contrasts against her freckled skin and vibrant hair. You pause your cooking to help braid her hair and help her slather on sunscreen, recounting a trip to the black lake in late June that left her peeling for a week straight. When the two of you finish breakfast, Marlene and Mary wake, and a groggy Remus and Peter stumble in having smelt something good. The 6 of you eat and leave leftovers for James and Sirius. Mary and Marlene wear similar two-piece bathing suits and you stroll out in yours, ready to enjoy a day on the beach.
It's practically noon before James and Sirius stroll out of the tent confidently. They're each sporting bathing suits and mischievously glancing around at the group.
“Morning ladies” booms Sirius, he's currently winking at Mary and Marlene
“It's noon” Marlene responds dryly, her tone leaving no room for the casual flirting directed at her
“ Well-” he starts “ consider yourselves lucky for getting me now”
The whole group rolls their eyes at this, you especially, having enjoyed the hours in the sun and in the water where you'd managed to catch a light tan before the peace was interrupted. However their arrival prompts for a massive sand-castle building contest and an exploding snap tournament followed by lunch.
At the mention of a sand castle competition, you immediately dibs your team to consist of all the girls, however, James sends you an emploring look and you catch Remus pretending to choke at the mention of being grouped up with the rest of the Marauders.
“ Alright then, “ you huff
“ We can pick team captains,” says Peter helpfully
“ No, I don't think Sirius could survive the death of his ego if he was picked last” mutters Mary
“We can draw names out of a hat” suggests Lily, and honestly it's the best idea out of the ensuing argument that breaks up at Mary’s comment so you quickly prepare the hat, or rather the hood from one of James' jumpers and assign Marlene and Peter to draw out names for their corresponding teams. It takes some time but after a couple of groans of disappointment and mock hurt the final teams end up being you, James, Lily, and Peter with Sirius, Remus, Mary, and Marlene on the other team.
You honesty take what you can get knowing Lily and you are probably going to carry your team, you can already feel the pulse of competitiveness and the eager desire to beat the other team.
“ What's the plan” murmurs James as soon as you've relocated about 10 feet from where the other team resides, you notice he's also taken the liberty to pull the rest of you into a bone-crushing ‘ group huddle’
“I was thinking we could make a standard castle but add pillars and spires,” you say
“ Maybe a moat too” adds Lily, one of the agreements was that there'd be no magic and you'd all begrudgingly agreed.
As you get to work building your castle, you add on seashells and sea glass you find scattered along the shore, Peter brilliantly managers to round up the broken fragments of a green and brown beer bottle and make a sort of lopsided gate, it adds the necessary sparkle to your piece, and surprisingly everyone seemed to work together.
James has the brilliant idea to start tossing fluffy white sand at the castle for a “ wintery effect’ and somehow manages to get sand right into Lily’s eyes, Remus has to oversee the removal using magic to make sure there's no cheating, you send James a look that says ‘ smooth’ which earns you an embarrassed smile, and prompts a million apologies from James that Lily immediately accepts.
At around the two-hour mark, you deem your castle acceptable enough and question the other group who you find lounging on beach chairs and towels. At your prompting, they (Sirius) snarkily reply that their masterpiece had been finished ages ago and they were practically withered up and haggard from the wait.
At the final showdown and reveal you almost shit your pants coming face to face with potentially one of the ugliest castles you'd ever seen in your life, the outsides were smudged into lopsided and wonky cylinders, and the lone tower was topped with a flag, constructed from a used condom and a tiny stick.
“Whoever made that flag isn't allowed within fifty feet of me” you declare already stepping away from the group
Mary with a cheeky grin, begins to lift her fingers and starts shoving them in your face causing you to run and scream in absolute terror. In the end, your castle had one by a landslide and you earned a celebratory high five from James as well as the agreed-upon prize, a bottle of fire whisky. As the day went on and you settled with lunch after demolishing Marlene in cards, it soon began to grow dark and you'd eventually settled into sleep hoping for the trip to never end, as you knew it would.