Chapter 1

The best people I know are looking out for me

They threw me a whirlwind,

And I spat back the sea.

I took a battering,

But I got thicker skin,

And the best people I know are looking out for me.

Get Better, Frank Turner

It was early August, but the summer heat had carried on to autumn. It wasn't as bad as it had been, meaning that James's t-shirts had stopped sticking to his back and chest as soon as he stepped outside. But it was still warm enough to warrant an ice-cream, which is why he had organised their meet-up at Florean's.

There were several reasons they were meeting up. The most obvious was that they were friends. And while, as Euphemia would point out, they had seen each other not two weeks previous, they were never apart from each other for long; co-dependent, Euphemia would tease with a twinkle in her eye. The second was that their Sixth Year was starting in September and they needed new books for the coming school year. The third was a slightly darker reason; in times like these, when people didn't know who to trust and who they could turn to, it was important to check in on those you cared about.

But James was resolute in his decision to enjoy the day. He loved Diagon Alley, though it had grown significantly worse as the tensions increased, and he was determined to spend a nice day with his friends- well, most of them anyway.

James was determined not to worry, but he knew that when you're around Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, you couldn't help but worry. Not only were they particularly mischievous, the former in particular, though that may surprise most people, but they were also both particularly stubborn. Which, James admitted, he was too. But Remus and Sirius were too stubborn to admit when they needed help, no matter how badly they needed it.

Remus and Sirius were already at the ice-cream parlour when James arrived, sipping on glasses of water. He had split from his parents after their visit to Gringotts, his pockets significantly heavier.

"Well, it's about time," Remus said sarcastically, as James entered. Despite the potentially insulting words, he couldn't help but grin.

"Is Wormy coming?" Sirius asked, kicking out the chair that his feet had been resting on.

"Nah. Lucky idiot is on holidays," James replied, dropping into the chair and stretching out his long legs.

"What? Where?" Sirius asked.

"Italy," James replied, picking up the menu.

"That's not fair," Sirius said, pouting. "I never get to go on holidays."

"How are the family, by the way?" James asked, glancing at Sirius over the top of his menu.

"Oh you know. As darling as ever," Sirius said, with an air of sarcasm. At James's pointed glare, he huffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Prongs. Chill, would you?"

James raised a suspicious eyebrow, but turned back to his menu. "How are you Moony?"

"I'm fine, mother dear," Remus replied, smirking at his friend.

"Hilarious," James replied, deadpanned. He put down his menu, using his middle finger to pushed his glasses back up his nose, before staring at Remus.

Remus squirmed uncomfortably. "I hate when you do that."

"Do what?" James asked innocently, but not relenting on his stare.

"Your stupid Euphemia stare. The one that gets us to tell you everything."

"Does it?" James said, still playing innocent. "I had no idea."

Sirius laughed, earning a glare from Remus. "You can laugh all you want Sirius, but he'll use it on you in a minute."

"Me?" Sirius asked, holding out his arms. "I have nothing to hide."

"Not even that bruise on your shoulder?" James asked, still not turning away from Remus. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Sirius's arms drop suddenly to his side.

"How does he always know?" Sirius demanded, addressing Remus for some reason.

"I don't know," Remus answered, who was currently looking anywhere but James.

"How are you Remus?" James repeated.

"I'm fine," Remus answered, shifting in his chair.

"Then why are you shifting in you chair?"

"Cause your staring is making me uncomfortable."

"And why is my staring making you uncomfortable?"

"Cause it makes me feel like I should be telling you something."

"Anything in particular?" James asked, leaning forward in his seat, but not breaking his stare.

"Do you even need to blink?" Remus asked, trying to change the subjects.

"Do you reckon his glasses are laced with magic or something?" Sirius wondered.

"Can we do this another time?" Remus asked James, looking at a spot slightly to the left of James.

"Fine," James relented. "Only because I want to enjoy today. But we will do this later."

"You're such a worrier Prongs," Sirius laughed. "I can't believe people think Moony is the mother of the group."

"Do they?" Remus asked mildly. "I had no idea."

James snorted. "Absolute lies; you use it to your advantage. The amount of detentions I've been given that should've been issued to you is ridiculous."

"Like you're going to rat on me," Remus replied, his Irish accent lilting with laughter.

"'Course not, 'cause I'm a bloody fool."

"Too right," Sirius said, though he was staring at the door. Remus took advantage of this, and tipped some salt from the shaker into Sirius's water. James was too used to his friend's antics and didn't say anything, turning to see whatever it was that Sirius had been staring at. But whatever it was, it must've disappeared, because Sirius turned back to the table.

"So what have you been up to Prongs?" Sirius asked, taking a sip of his water and promptly spitting it back out again.

"Nothing much," James replied, a smile of amusement tugging at his lips.

Sirius lifted up Remus's glass of water and took a gulp, obviously thinking he had bested the prefect. James's smile only grew when Sirius spat the water back into the glass; Remus was always one step ahead of them when it came to small tricks like that. James looked over at the boy in question to find him studying the menu with an air of innocence and couldn't help feel grateful that these people, along with Peter, were his friends.

He knew that people regarded his group of friends as mismatched, with 'quiet, rule-following' Remus, and 'meek, shy' Peter, as well as 'lazy, entitled' Sirius and himself, an 'obnoxious idiot'. But it was slightly calming to know that other people didn't know them half as well as they thought they did. Hogwarts didn't know that Remus had earned even more detentions than James and Sirius, even if they were never given to him, and that Peter was a brilliant liar who played the 'meek' card for the sake of ensuring their pranks went according to plan and that he could read body language like it was a billboard poster, and that Sirius cared about his image for reasons other than his ego, and that James cared so much more than most people realised.

"You're an idiot," James said good-naturedly to Sirius. "You should've learned by now."

"I know," Sirius said wisely. "But when have I learned anything?"

James laughed, before pushing back his seat and standing up. "Have you decided on your order?" he asked.

"The same as usual," Remus replied. Sirius nodded his agreement.

James snorted. "I don't know why we even bother to look at the menus, we always get the same thing."

"Probably to trick ourselves into thinking that we actually have broad taste ranges," Sirius shrugged.

James scoffed. "I have a very broad palate, thank you very much." With that, James headed up to counter and order two double chocolate scoops for Remus, a scoop of vanilla and one of strawberry for Sirius, and his usual lemon sorbet. He came back a few minutes later and plopped the tubs and plastic spoons down on the table. Remus and Sirius practically lunged for their ice-cream, the coldness of the desert cooling them down almost instantly. Remus went to give James his money for his own ice-cream, but James stopped him with a look. They'd had this argument so many times that it was pointless to try again when James could be so stubborn when it came to certain matters.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, devouring their respective dishes, before James finally spoke. "Guess who was made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain?" he finally asked, with a smile.

"McKinnon?" asked Sirius was a teasing smirk.

"No, although she would've made a brilliant captain," James conceded.

"Was it Snape?" Remus asked, trying to sound completely serious.

"It's like you read my mind," James said sarcastically.

Remus grinned, before congratulating James. "Yeah, congrats mate," Sirius joined it. "Though I feel bad for your poor team mates who'll have to put up with your obsessive Quidditch behaviour," he joked.

"Think we should get awards just for putting up with him, don't you?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Order of Merlin, First Class," Sirius replied with relish.

"Ha ha," James deadpanned. There was a pause. "But honestly. What is going on with you guys?" Remus and Sirius both groaned

"I thought we weren't going to do this today?" Sirius said.

"You should know better by know," James replied, a small grin gracing his face.

"I told you already," Sirius whined. "I never learn anything."

"Come on," James pleaded.

Remus heaved a sigh, before righting himself in his chair. "Well, there was a full moon a few days ago, so that wasn't great. Ye weren't there, so the wolf wasn't in the best mood, but other than that, I'm fine." James stared Remus down, but he wasn't fidgeting this time. "I'm serious, James. I'm fine."

James nodded, but before he could say anything, Sirius spoke before him. "I thought that I was Sirius?" James huffed out an exasperated half-sigh, before facing Sirius and looking intently at him in the eye. "What?" Sirius asked innocently, despite the fact that he knew full well 'what'.

James had started this tradition of sorts back in third year. Every so often, they would check in on one another to ensure that no one felt like they were drowning, something that often happened, what with the war around them. The idea might not have been as effective if it weren't for James, who not only pushed the idea, but also had a stare like Veritaserum.

Sirius finally relented. "The family isn't great, but the family is never great, so that's nothing new. Bella tried again to get me to join the Death Eaters, and I refused again. And, well, you've seen the bruise." James winced, as he always did whenever Sirius mentioned his cuts and bruises so casually. James had tried many times to get Sirius to move in with him, but Sirius's main concern was Regulus's safety if he left.

"And what about you?" Remus asked James, prodding him lightly with his toe.

"I'm worried about my parents," James confessed. "They're both big targets to Voldemort, mum especially. And I know they're brilliant and can handle themselves, but they're also getting old; they're much older than most parents. And as excited as I am to go back to Hogwarts, I also don't want to leave them on their own," James continued, staring at his hands.

"Have they thought about hiring a house elf?" Sirius asked.

"The doctor suggested it, but mum wasn't having it." James gave a slight laugh. "She says that if she begins thinking that she's old, she'll start to feel old."

"There is some truth to that," Remus said with a small smile.

"I guess," James shrugged. As much as he encouraged the others to talk about their problems, he was never eager to share his. They sounded so petty compared to the others'. And he knew that the point of talking about their problems was not to compare them, and he knew that worrying about his parents was a legitimate concern, but it still made him feel stupid when he said it aloud. He couldn't do anything about his parents' situation, so what use was worrying? It didn't stop him from worrying though.

James knew you wouldn't think it if you knew him, but he was a constant worrier. He worried about his parents, and his friends, and his classmates, and muggles, and muggleborns, and the war. He was worried that they might not beat Voldemort, or what would be left even if they did. The fact that so many people had aligned themselves with Voldemort worried him. Even if they hadn't been brave enough before, there were still people- so many people- who believed his extreme views about muggles, and muggleborns, and 'half-breeds', and that was what scared him the most.

James shook his head, as if that physical action would rid his mind of the thoughts. He often caught himself thinking of the same things on loop. What would he do when he got out of school? How could he help? What would his friends do? What would become of them when it was all over? What if something happened to them? And what about his parents?

James wasn't stupid. He knew his parents were older than most; he had seen stares on the platform, or when they went out together. And he knew that they would have to die eventually, but his head hadn't quite wrapped itself around that thought.

Just then, an explosion shook James out of his contemplation.