A/N: After a whole year (I'm sorry, I'm sorry) we have reached our destination! And it is very long indeed. This chapter contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (nothing gruesome, I swear it! Forgive me if you don't like it…) and this is not inspired by the GoF movie, really…

Chapter Fourteen

Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.

The Wimbourne Wasps were at home, so we didn't have to travel far, but my friends and I were determined to camp. And so the four of us, armed with a tent that my mum had borrowed from her friend, set out on a sunny morning towards Wimbourne. As we tried to go quite early, we got a good seat on the Knight Bus that didn't make Remus and Peter too queasy. There was an air of camaraderie from the off. I wore the novelty Wimbourne Wasp Sirius got me one Christmas, which would perch on your shoulder and buzz around your head humming 'Quidditch Match of the Day' when you pinched it. Sirius had helped Chintzy make our sandwiches (he's such a darling, my mum kept saying. Always helping at home) while Remus (whose hearing was recovered) wore the 'You Wait 'Til the Full Moon' T-shirt we'd got him for his birthday. It wouldn't give away anything; they were quite fashionable even amongst people who weren't werewolves. As for Peter, he brought along some fairy cakes his mum had made. He had, through Gringotts, had all his money converted into Muggle money to give to her, but she'd bought some icing sugar with the change. We were going to save the cakes for the match, but…well; they'd be selling stuff there!

The stadium was cleverly disguised to Muggles as an abandoned theme park. When we set up our tent in the meadow outside the magical boundaries, we got some strange looks from passers-by, particularly as it was so small. We almost lost the pegs but it turned out Peter was sat on them, and then we discovered it was inside out so the Extension Charm didn't work. Eventually, through my fantastic camping skills, we had our lodgings for the night. There were two bedrooms to the side, a kitchen for conjuring (we had plenty of tins), and a big main room with a nice rug and some comfy chairs. We'd probably end up sleeping there tonight, I thought, if we slept at all. I also happened to have in my bag an impressive mass of purchases from Hogsmeade, and…Zonko's. I sneakily planned to hand each of my friends a trick and tell them to plant it on the other two. It would be a laugh.

The match was fantastic, in my opinion. We brought along our Omnioculars from the Quidditch World Cup, and we all got a Cornish pasty and some Butterbeer. I could not get tired of the zooming broomsticks, constant goals and fascinating technique of these professionals. We were up and down all the time cheering, and there were charms all over the place which were pretty exciting. The Wimbourne Seeker, Murphy, caught the Snitch, though in the end it wasn't a massive win against the, ahem, Moose Jaw Meteorites (well, we thought it was a funny name). Still, we were thrilled and in very high spirits for the celebrations afterwards. St. Hedwig's Primary School, which educates magical children in England over the summer, was holding a fundraising fete, so there was a lot going on. There was dancing, a lot more food-who needs dinner when you have candyfloss?-and a few sideshow things. Mum and Dad had given us an allowance of three Galleons to spend. Sirius and I saw a couple of pretty girls, who according to Remus were from the year below and in Hufflepuff, languishing around the Test Your Strength Booth. It involved smashing a pad with a hammer which causes a shower of fireworks, birds, petals, confetti or rain to fall, depending on how hard you hit the thing. I only got petals, but Sirius got some excited squeals from all around when he triggered the fireworks. He flicked back his hair and smiled charmingly at them all, and they sighed, causing jealous grunts from me, Remus and Peter.

But the thing that really sticks out in my mind is a little wooden structure in the far corner, staffed by a woman who looked like a Muggle fortune teller. We were a little intimidated by her intense stares from over her bottles of 'Fortune-Telling' Potions, and edged away politely, only for her to say;

"Aren't you interested in your future, Mr Potter?"

I started in surprise, but Remus said in my ear; "Ignore her, she's probably heard of your dad or something."

"No, Remus Lupin, but I've heard of yours." She said. "Very clever boy, got into Ravenclaw."

Now it was Sirius's turn to be sceptical. "I suppose you're from a line of Seers dating back to the Stone Age? Told celebrities their fortunes and got them right? Saw the Grim in a teacup and somebody died somewhere? I think you types have got more than one fortune in mind…"

"Fortune? Your mind has been closed by my so-called peers. I ask only a Galleon each for these Potions. They will show you a glimpse of your future; it may be tomorrow, it may be in thirty years, but it will never be meaningless. Do you want to know if you'll ever get married? Have children? Get a good job?" I heard excited gasps issuing from Peter's mouth. "…Stay friends forever?"

Peter grinned excitedly. "I'm gonna buy one."

"Oh, Peter." Remus said, shaking his head disappointedly.

"It is my money and I will do what I like with it!"

I felt some pleasure in seeing Peter spend the money we'd won so happily, so I dug out a Galleon from my pocket and purchased one myself. I knew she was as fake as Remus's voice-the power of Voice Enhancement Charms can never be underestimated-but if she was secretly one of the schoolteachers it would go to a good cause. After staring at us incredulously for a moment, Remus and Sirius gave in and bought potions themselves.

We forgot about them until about eleven o'clock that night, when we were lying around in the main room, chatting about stuff and recovering from our binge of Honeydukes products and the fact that we all pranked each other at exactly the same time. Great minds think alike.

"Lily's boyfriend is a Muggle, so unless she's interested in long distance relationships…"

"Forget it, Prongs, seriously."

I ignored Sirius. "And I hear she's not friends with Snivellus anymore."

"That is true, she said in her letters." Remus added. I gave Sirius a smug look, but he just rolled his eyes and then faced the others.

"So…who wants to see the future first?"

"I bet it's crap." Peter said. He was a little disappointed about buying the potion now as it meant he couldn't pay for Murray to sign his shirt. "Probably show me in the future when I'm an old man and have to spend ten minutes on the loo."

We laughed, "Ah, it'll be fun!" and got out the potions, but nobody wanted to go first. In the end, Sirius got annoyed with us all, pulled out the cork and guzzled the Potion down. Immediately, he was thrown backwards onto the floor, half-conscious, twitching a little. Remus, Peter and I stared at each other in horror; what had we bought?

Very luckily, Sirius was awake a minute later. He had a smile on his face.

"Blimey!" he said. "That was something!"

"What did you see?" we all demanded, eagerly.

Sirius grinned, enjoying the attention. He spoke slowly as he revealed what he'd seen of his future.

"I was on a Hippogriff, flying over Hogwarts. I could see the lake and the Forest and the Whomping Willow and all of it. And I felt free, like, like I was being released from prison, 'cos my clothes were really scruffy and my hair was long."

"What did you do to get such a massive detention?" I asked.

"Shut up, James. It was bloody brilliant. The Hippogriff was really cheerful, it was squawking. I dunno where we were going but I didn't care because I was free. You couldn't be freer than that..." he paused, and his delighted expression faded "Have I just taken drugs?"

"Well, if I see myself riding a Hippogriff over Hogwarts, or something equally psychedelic, I think you have." Remus said, and drank the potion with a little less enthusiasm than Sirius had.

It was followed by the same slump and twitching, and he seemed even more surprised when he recovered. He was gasping and gaping like a goldfish, and Sirius was laughing knowledgeably while mine and Peter's fascination grew.

"What did you see? What did you SEE?"

Remus hesitated a moment before saying. "I was…getting married."

We cheered and whooped noisily, taking turns to thump him on the back and high-five him, and each other.

"I mean, I never thought I'd have a love life, let alone get married. As soon as I saw where I was I guessed the only woman who'd ever marry me was one that only wanted British citizenship, and even then she could do better. But if that had been the case, I probably wouldn't have been so nervous, and she…"

"Ooh, did you see her? Your missus?" Peter asked, half-nervous, half-enthusiastic.

"And what we all want to know is…was she good-looking?" Sirius asked.

Remus's cheeks turned very pink, and it wasn't the sunburn. "I only caught a glimpse of her, but…yes, she was very pretty." We cheered again. "She had such a huge smile. Her hair was light brown but she had a big, bright pink flower in it."

"Were we there?" I asked. My friend's cheerful expression faded, and he sadly shook his head and told us that no, we were not there. We sat in silence for a moment, wondering. Had we split up as friends? Were we dead? Thankfully, Sirius managed to break through the silence.

"Well, obviously, Peter and I were outside, waiting to set off fireworks when you and your girl are pronounced man and wife." he said.

"What about me?" I asked, indignantly.

"You, Rudolf, are out the front, waiting to pull Mr and Mrs Moony's honeymoon carriage."

Remus and Peter burst out laughing, and even I had to chortle. But as the laughter subsided, I felt I had chickened out for long enough, and with my friends' eyes on me, I drank my own bottle of potion. It tasted like an apple that had been out in the sun too long, but it was only a second before I began to dream…

I felt the melancholy atmosphere before I saw it. My mind was in a combination of my own thoughts, and those of my future self, which were heavy and depressed. We were in an already dark building which was made even more so by the heavy, looming rain clouds that could be seen through the windows. I was sat on a hard wooden bench, a pamphlet in my hands with a dove on the front of it. Sirius was on my right. There was a tense expression on his face that I had not seen before. On my left was Peter, looking equally pale and solemn. Everyone, I saw, was wearing black, and when I looked down at myself, so was I. I knew I was older because there was a fancy watch on my wrist I had to have got when I was seventeen, and there was a scar on it, probably from a full moon, I hadn't seen before.

Suddenly, silence fell where there had been coughs, whispers and little cries. A clear, familiar voice made me jerk up my head in shock.

"Dorea was…" My dad, stood before us all, began.

"MUM!" I screamed, only to see my friends staring back at me. There was the light from the ceiling, and the fluffy rug beneath me piled with sweet wrappers. The empty vial was still in my hand. I felt sweat on my forehead and knew from my blurred vision that my glasses were askew.

"My mum…" I said, sadly. "She…"

"She was dead?" Peter mouthed. I nodded. Sirius looked crestfallen, and Remus, who had lost his father before, looked sympathetic.

"I think I was pretty old." I lied, not liking the horrible atmosphere and wanting to forget it all. Just hearing her in the past tense felt like I had seen her body. I shuddered involuntarily and made a gesture showing I didn't want to go into further detail. After a short silence, we were able to relax a little more, and Peter drank his potion. He looked at me to see if I minded, and I didn't, really. But my mum…

Peter's vision, I can say, was a worthy distraction. He seemed more shocked than any of us, and indeed, what he saw was more disturbing than my mother's funeral, more insane than Sirius riding a Hippogriff, and more unlikely than a pretty woman marrying Remus.

"You'll never guess who was there! SNIVELLUS!"

"What?!" We gasped, incredulously. "What, was it at school?"

"No, no, it wasn't even." Peter said. "I was at his house. I had some little drinks on a tray and I was giving them to him, and I was all 'I'm not your butler, Snape', but he was just like 'Thank you, Wormtail'. I left the tray next to him and went back to the kitchen. It smelt funny and there was a load of washing up to do."

We were all perplexed. "Why was Snape calling you Wormtail?"

"I don't give a damn about that." Peter said. "I want to know what I was doing being his stupid butler. Drinks indeed. What am I, a house elf? I said that to him, actually, but he ignored me. Greasy git. He was just as greasy as he usually is, as well."

There was a pause in which Sirius and I exchanged vaguely amused glances, completely stunned by what this meant. Was this Wormtail's life? To be Snivellus's monkey butler? What had Snivellus done to deserve a servant?

And then Remus said, with the slight nervous smile he always has when he says something that might offend someone; "So…It seems I wasn't the only one who dreamt I was married."

Sirius and I laughed more than we had all summer. The thought of Peter and Snape as the Odd Couple was hysterical. Remus, who perhaps had more dignity than clutching his sides and thumping the rug, also laughed tentatively as Peter protested;

"I am not going to marry a man!"

"That's not the point, Peter. It's Snivellus!" Sirius explained, slightly breathlessly. Peter fumed for a while but soon even he had to laugh at the image of Snape-the-husband, spending half his time in the shed and the other half in bed with a newspaper (the Greasy Prophet, Peter speculated). We didn't get to sleep for ages because every time we were quite enough someone said "Mrs. Snivellus." And we were off again.

Yes, it was a different summer but in the end a happy one. After everything we had been through we were at last able to enjoy the late summer sun before the first of September rolled around again. Perhaps it was what I'd seen of our futures today, or the numerous stressful things that happened this summer, but there was something unusual about today. It was as if each of us knew, somehow, subconsciously, that as we headed towards our sixth years and the end of Hogwarts, the end of an era was approaching.

A/N: Thank you very much for reading this! I hope you have enjoyed it and found it satisfactory. Peter got a little money, Remus is no longer deaf and his grandparents can't keep him away from his friends, Sirius is part of a happy family and James…well, you can judge for yourselves. I have enjoyed writing this, and I promise it won't be the last from me. Special thank yous go out to the following people:

The Thief Lordess – Sivaroobini Lupin-Black – Kerichi- xxxemeralds4everxxx – LifeAtRandom – Ward – Ichigo No Ki – The Damsel of Distress – theo darkstar – Stinkin Sammy Jay – ladyofthelight101 – Freja Lercke-Falkenborg