The next time that Mary and Lily did homework together, they took it outside, so Frank, Marlene, and Alice could join them later. When Peter and James found them and sat down, there was a bit of an awkward pause. The four of them hadn't really been alone together since everything had been revealed.

"Can we just acknowledge that we've all made some mistakes?" asked James.

Peter shrugged. "I'm up for that."

"Lily lied about her tattoo, Peter went along with it even though he knew it was a lie, you and I kept dating each other even though we were interested in other people..." Mary counted on her fingers. "Yeah, all right, I think we're all about even."

"Good." said Lily. "We've had enough drama over the past few months. I'm sure the others would hex us if we tried to start it up again."

"The others would do what?" Sirius asked, plopping down next to James. Remus, beside him, untangled his fingers from Sirius's for a moment in order to set his books on the ground, and then sat next to Sirius, opening up one of their assignments.

"The others would turn into a bunch of nosy gits." James said, tossing a stick at Sirius.

Sirius gasped as though he'd been wounded. "Evans! Aren't you supposed to reign him in now that you two are all-" He gestured at the way they were sitting, hips and legs pressed together. "Soulmate-y?"

"Only when I think he needs reigning in." Lily said. "This is justified."

"Hey." James said, and Mary giggled.

Lily turned to press a kiss to James's lips. "Joking."

James grinned back at her as she pulled away. "I figured. But I also figured, if I acted offended, you'd kiss me."

"You sneak." Lily said, although she couldn't help but laugh. She turned back to the group to see that they were watching the two of them with expressions of mild horror.

"Merlin, you two are gross." Remus said, shaking his head.

Sirius pat him on the hand sympathetically. "I think we brought it on ourselves, here, Moony. But I can make you feel better."

Remus arched an eyebrow at him, smirking. "I'm listening."

"Peter, let's be a nice, normal couple." Mary said quickly. "None of this sappy stuff they've got going on here."

Peter, eyes wide, nodded vigorously.

"Hey, all." The group looked up- Marlene was standing there, arm wrapped around Ludo's, although, from the way her nails were digging into Ludo's wrist, it looked a bit like she was keeping Ludo there. "Mind if we join?"

James raised his eyebrows. "Hello, Marlene. Bagman."

"Maybe we should just go-" Ludo muttered, but Marlene pulled him forward.

"Oh, now, don't say his name like that." she said. "I thought we'd already worked everything out. He and I have both apologized to Sirius, we've all had our little talks, I'm tired of feeling like a third, or fifth, or in this case seventh wheel when I'm spending time with anyone, can we at least tolerate each other?"

Looking around, Lily had to admit she had a point. She and James were practically in each other's laps, Sirius had his arm around Remus, and Mary and Peter were still smiling at each other. And that didn't even compare to Alice and Frank walking up the hill towards them hand-in-hand, trading glances nervously.

"Oh." Frank said, looking between Ludo, Marlene, and the rest of the group. "Er, is this where we're studying today?"

"Yeah, we figured the more minds, the better." said Marlene, and her eyes found Lily's. "What do you say, Lily, you think you guys could use some Hufflepuff insight?"

Lily bit her lip, hesitating, but only for a moment. "Yeah, I think we could, actually. If I remember correctly, Ludo's pretty good at Herbology, he could definitely help us out." Ludo met her gaze, somewhere between shocked and uncertain.

"Oh, good." said Alice. She squeezed in between Mary and Lily, pulling Frank down with her. "It'll be good to be a group again."

Mary snorted. "Again? When were we ever a group the first time? Between Lily and Marlene, and Ludo and James, and Lily and James, and then these past few months-"

"Hey, hey, hey." James said. "We agreed to acknowledge we'd all made mistakes and leave it at that, remember?"

As Sirius made a wisecrack in response that set off the group into a different conversation, Lily couldn't help but look around at all of them, at all of the friendships and relationships surrounding her, both old and new. Ludo, slightly more relaxed now, was digging into Frank's bag for a quill, and Marlene was laughing at something that James was saying, although her hand was still curled around Ludo's bicep. Frank had crawled over to the other side of the circle to give Remus help on his essay, while Alice, still between Lily and Mary, looked on with such fondness that Lily had to avert her eyes. Mary winked at Lily knowingly before turning to kiss Peter for something he had said, and then they both ducked as Sirius threw James's stick at them, and, although Remus scolded him for knocking his book onto the ground, he was smiling.

James, meanwhile, nudged Lily with his elbow. "What are you thinking?" he whispered. "You've got a funny look on your face."

Lily couldn't quite put it into words, the warmth she felt surrounding them in that moment. "Nothing." she said after a moment. "Just...happy."

James nodded, taking her hand, before turning back to the group, and Lily looked down at their intertwined fingers, his name on her wrist.

She'd once heard that love had its own, ancient magic, stronger and more powerful than anything in the modern world. Today, lounging in her favorite spot at Hogwarts, surrounded by her friends, curled up with James...Lily had never believed it more.

A/N: Voila! Mini epilogue! And since it's the last chapter, I just have to say, thank you so much for the reviews, positive and negative and everywhere in between! I know I've been terrible about responding to them but I really did read and appreciate every single one! Thank you also to everyone who stuck with this story through the random six month hiatus, and everyone who read this story at all! You guys have been very good to me and I wish you all the best!