Because I'll be going to Star Wars: The Last Jedi tomorrow, you're getting the last chapter a day early. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

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"James?"

Groggily James forced his eyes to open at the sound of Sirius' soft voice.

"Did I fall asleep?" he quietly asked when he noticed the Common Room was completely empty.

"I didn't want to wake you, but if you sleep here all night you won't be rested for the train ride back tomorrow."

Groaning as he straightened in the chair he had fallen asleep in, James stretched. "I picked this chair specifically to stay awake, but I just remain tired."

"You have been working exceptionally hard on expending and strengthening your magical core," Sirius noted. "That is exhausting work."

"Then why aren't you falling asleep where you go?"

"I have been training for years under my grandfather," Sirius' smile turned apologetic. "So I am fairly used to it, though I have been rather tired since we began our own training."

"Why didn't you wake me earlier so you could go to bed?"

Frowning as Sirius looked down at his hands, James reached out to take them in his. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing specific," the hesitation was clearly audible in his voice so James waited patiently, having learned by now that it was sometimes wiser to just wait for Sirius to gather his thoughts than to try and make him talk immediately.

"Do you think we will still be friends after the summer holidays?"

"Of course we will be," James' eyes narrowed. "Why would we not be?"

"Our relatives won't be happy about our friendship, what if your parents tell you to break it off?"

"They won't. I have been writing to them plenty about you and they never once said anything. And even if they would not agree, you are my friend."

"You would go against your parents?" Light grey eyes looked up to him worried and even more unsure.

"I would when they are speaking nonsense," James squeezed his hands. "What about you? Would you just accept their decision?"

"I am always breaking their orders," Sirius shrugged. "It is not me I am worried about."

There was something in his words that troubled James, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

"We are friends and no one can change anything about that," pulling Sirius into his side, he wrapped an arm around him. "What's suddenly gotten into your mind to make you doubt this?"

"The holidays start tomorrow and I doubt I will be able to remain in contact," Sirius shifted into his half embrace readily.

"You really think we won't be friends any more just if we don't see each other for a while?" there was something heartbreaking in the small shrug he felt against his side. "It's going to be weird, not seeing each other for several weeks. But maybe I can try and get Mum and Dad to let you come over for a bit of it."

"I doubt either of our relatives will agree to that," Sirius murmured as he leaned more fully into the embrace.

"We can still try," James decided, tightening his hold for a moment. "We should go to bed properly, though. Do you want to stay with me tonight?"

"But I didn't have a nightmare or got injured," Sirius looked up to him confused, making James' heart clench.

"You know you are always welcome to crawl in beside me if you want to, right? You don't need to have a reason for it."

"Even when the others are here?"

"You never need a reason," he promised Sirius easily, pulling him up to the dorm with him so they could quickly get ready for bed. And once they were settled, James smiled as Sirius curled up against him. "You are my brother, nothing is going to change that."

"And you are mine," Sirius replied softly. "Sorry that I am acting so weirdly tonight."

"That's all right, I'm going to miss you, too," James dropped a kiss into his hair. "But the new term will begin before we've even realised."

"I'll hold you onto that," Sirius murmured sleepily. "Night."

Humming a reply under his breath, James was quick to follow him to sleep.

They were still curled up together when Remus woke up in the morning, scratching the back of his head fondly as they were deeply asleep and he regretted having to wake them.

But he would have to if they didn't want to miss the train and with some grumbling and last minute rushing, even Peter was ready.

"Do you have any threes?"

"Go fish," Sirius laughed hours later as James groaned, picking up another card from the pile.

"Hey, I bought a three!"

"You're not supposed to tell us unless you have all four of them," Peter shook his head fondly. "But since you said so, got any threes?"

"It's not your turn!" James protested, pulling his cards closer to his chest as if to protect them and making them all laugh.

"Was worth a try," Peter pouted as Sirius snickered.

"Sorry Peter. Rem, do you have any fives?"

"I do," handing over his last cards, he smiled as Sirius whooped and placed his set on the bench beside him, a considerate pile already present there.

"And since James has at least two threes and only three cards, I am going for Peter for the sevens."

"Awww," pouting Peter handed over two cards and Sirius smiled as he turned to James. "And the last seven from you, please?"

"Since you are out of cards...Pete?" A wicked smile appeared on James' face. "Your three's, please."

"Why were we playing this again?" Peter handed over his last card and James cheerfully placed them down onto his own pile.

"Because we were too far into the journey to start a game of Ludo, Stratego is no fun with those two strategists unless they're playing against each other, which can take hours and Sirius refuses to play Shitface."

"I don't like bullying, so why would I want to do so in a card game?" Sirius frowned.

"Because it is fun and played all around the world?" Remus laughed. "I used to play it with passing backpackers at the community centre Mum liked to go to sometimes. They were the ones who taught it to me in the first place."

"I fail to see the humour in it," James' grumble made Remus snicker as he remembered the few attempts they'd made; James had ended up with a hand of cards bigger than he could hold properly while Sirius had just refused to play all together.

"Humour aside, we should get ready," Sirius rose to his feet. "The train is slowing down so we're almost there."

"Think your parents will freak out when you arrive without a trunk?" James teased as Remus tucked the deck of cards into his pocket.

"Mum might, but Dad will probably realise it's shrunken. I am curious to how I'll explain that to them, though. First years should not know that spell yet."

"Just tell them you are friends with two insane students who work far in advance," Peter advised him. "It is what I will tell Mum when she has to unshrink mine."

"You make sure to practice during summer so you can shrink it on your own when we meet up again for next year," James ordered, turning to Sirius. "You will try to write, right?"

"Yes. I know I am expected at my grandfather's house for some of the summer and I will have no trouble writing then," Sirius gave a small hesitant smile. "You will see Medea appear the moment I get the chance to write."

"I'll await her visit then," James smiled. "You two will write as well, won't you?"

"I can use Dad's owl now and then," Remus confirmed. "And I will look up some nice books that the two of you might like over the summer and bring them with me after the holidays."

"Thank you," Sirius smiled, smoothing down his dark robes as the train signalled their near arrival.

"Hey, do you think we can all meet up in Diagon Alley to get our new school supplies?" James suddenly asked. "We will need to collect those and could try to meet up then."

"I think I might be able to talk Uncle Alphard into taking me," a calculated look crossed Sirius' thoughtful features. "I will ask him when I see him this summer at the annual family meeting."

"Nice, Remus, Pete?"

"I don't think it will be a problem, Mum loves Diagon Alley," Remus was fairly sure his parents would be overjoyed by the fact that he had friends and be ready to do nearly everything to get him there to meet up.

"No problem for me, Mum's always saying I should get out more anyway and not spend all day before the television," Peter confirmed his presence. "Just let me know when and I'll be there."

"I will," pulling Sirius into a hug, James held him for a long moment, something dark crossing his expression for a moment before he pulled back with a smile again. "You'll be all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sirius cocked his head to the side as he turned so that Remus could pull him into an embrace as well, automatically answering it.

"Just be careful, all of you and we'll see each other again in no time," James smiled disarmingly, but Remus hadn't forgotten the look on his face yet, pondering what it might mean as he let go of Sirius again so the other could give Peter a quick hug as well, Peter awkwardly patting his back before stepping back again relieved.

"I think I can see your parents, Rem," Sirius noted as they made their way to the door, not held back by luggage like some of the others were and his hand firmly in James'.

"I'd say you've seen the photo he brought of them too often," Peter laughed. "Or maybe we all did as I easily recognise them as well."

"You're all just jealous because I have such an amazing set of parents," Remus teased, waving as his parents noticed him.

"I don't know, mine are pretty amazing as well," James hummed as he jumped off the train, half turning to pull Sirius down after him.

"Hey Mum, Dad," running up so that he could embrace his parents, Remus pulled back again after a long moment with a grin to look them over.

"It is good to see you again. You look well," his mother smiled, gaze travelling over the others curiously.

"Mum, Dad, this are Sirius, James and Peter," he proudly introduced his friends to his parents, heart racing as he hoped they would like them. He had told his parents a lot about them during the Christmas holidays and through his letters, but they had not actually seen each other yet.

"It is lovely to meet you all, we've heard a lot about you," his mother smiled. "I am Hope and this is my husband Lyall."

"Nice to meet you," the three chorused as they shook hands and Remus blinked as a small frown momentarily crossed his mothers expression as she shook Sirius' hand last and looked him over, but it disappeared behind a smile almost immediately again as she looked at all three of them. "Remus told us all about you three."

"Nothing bad, I hope?" James grinned charmingly, wrapping an arm around Sirius' shoulder lazily, making the other leaned into his embrace.

"He certainly described you as troublemakers," Remus' father laughed but Remus' missed James' reaction as he caught sight of a darkly clad man with very long black hair walking up to them.

The man was clearly a Black, in possession of the aristocratic good looks that ran in that family, an arrogant expression on his face as he neared.

But the stoic expression faltered slightly and dark grey eyes widened slightly as Sirius laughed at James' answer, pure surprise momentarily flashing over the man's arrogant features before it softened just the tiniest bit as his eyes remained on Sirius.

"Sirius," he didn't really want to call his friend's attention and break the relaxed atmosphere, but rather had he warned him his parent was present than have his friend find out the hard way.

"Uncle Alphard?" Sirius noticed the man as well and seemed surprised to see him, though pleased as he bowed his head slightly in greeting and his previously amused expression shifted into something neutral. "Were you tasked with picking me up?"

"I volunteered to come pick you up today after the eventful year you have had," the man's gaze fleetingly travelled over the others before resettling on Sirius, giving Remus the impression the man was not all that impressed by them. "I thought that might be wiser."

Sirius' expression tightened slightly, though Remus was more surprised his parents weren't excited to see their son after having been gone for most of the year. But then he was also fairly sure they would much prefer to yell at their son after he had managed to evade them for the entirety of the school year, having gotten himself detention just before Christmas that had forced him to remain at Hogwarts for the holidays.

"It might have been," Sirius acknowledged.

"Are this your acquaintances?" His uncle asked, at least trying to show an interest.

"This are my friends. James, Remus and Peter," Sirius introduced them and though they all nodded, none of them made any move to shake his hand and Remus' dad moved slightly before his mum as if to shield her from view. "Guys, this is my Uncle Alphard."

The man's eyebrow rose slightly as Sirius referred to them as friends, though he gave no other reaction. "A pleasure, but we should go before your parents become upset that we are taking too long."

"Yes, sir," Sirius made to follow but then suddenly paused. "Oh, Uncle Alphard?"

"Yes?" the man half turned back.

"I was wondering if you might be willing to escort me to Diagon Alley at the end of summer, so that I might be able to meet up with my friends there after we have received our supply letter."

The man's eyes were cold as they travelled over them once more, but once more softened considerably as they found Sirius once more. "Of course. Perhaps you would like to spend a few days at my house at the end of summer after your Heir trainings are finished so that I can also drop you off at the train on the first of September again."

"That would be nice," the man was clearly taken off guard once more when Sirius gave a small smile, making Remus wonder just how little Sirius smiled at home for even the tiniest one to be such a surreal thing to his own uncle.

The knowledge of a fairly unloving family life settled back into the depth of Remus' mind once more, but he refused to dwell on it as James suddenly stepped forward to pull Sirius into an embrace again.

Sirius returned the impromptu embrace while Sirius' uncle seemed to stare, shock breaking through his entire stoic posture at the casual contact between the two for a split second, though he gave no sign of a further reaction when the two broke apart again.

"Then we will see you in Diagon Alley, I'll send an owl once the letters have arrived to set up an exact meeting," James patted Sirius' shoulder.

"All right," returning the smile, Sirius turned to Remus and Peter. "I guess I will see you guys there."

"Yeah," Remus was not quite daring enough to dart forward to pull him into another goodbye hug under his uncle's cold watchful eye and settled on smiling. "We'll see you soon."

"It was nice to meet you," Sirius gave a small bow to Remus' parents.

"The pleasure was ours," Remus' mum smiled at him warmly. "I look forward to meeting you again in Diagon Alley this summer. Perhaps we will be able to have a conversations about the books Remus keeps requesting off us."

"That would be nice," Sirius almost shyly answered.

"Where is your trunk?" Sirius' uncle's words seemed to make Remus' parents realise they were missing as well.

"In my pocket, we shrunk them to prevent having to carry them around."

"You shrunk your trunk?"

"Is that difficult?" Remus' mum asked curiously as both Sirius' uncle and Remus' father stared at him.

"Not really. It is a second year level charm but fairly easy. We had it down quite quickly and no worries, Remus knows the counter-charm as well so he can unshrink it once he is home."

"I see, he mentioned in his letters that the two of you were helping him practice," Remus' mother smiled.

"He is quite good, actually. Just needs to have a bit more confidence in his own abilities," it was almost automatically that Remus answered Sirius' smile, beaming at the clear praise in front of his parents.

"Well, have a nice holiday and I'll see you guys at the end of August," giving them one last nod, Sirius followed his uncle and they stared after them until they disappeared from sight, blending in with all the others around them.

"Cold bastard," James muttered under his breath just loud enough that Remus could catch it with his enhanced hearing and couldn't help but agree. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but it hadn't been such a formal greeting between family members.

Especially when Sirius had told James that his Uncle Alphard was one of his two favourite relatives along his cousin Andromeda.

If his favourite family member was this cold, how cold must the rest of the bunch be?

He wasn't sure why he had expected the man to hug his nephew when it was clear Sirius hadn't had any experience with them when they met, but not even a casual touch had been shared and suddenly Remus was a whole lot more grateful for his own loving parents.

"James!"

Remus turned just in time to see James being embraced by two elderly people, clearly his parents as James looked shockingly much like his father while his mother had black, slowly greying hair.

"Mum, Dad, I'd like you to meet Remus and Peter," grey eyes, just a fragment of a shade darker than ones he'd grown to know quite well looked into his own as James' mother smiled at him, but he couldn't do more than gape at her, completely forgetting his manners.

"How..."

"You haven't forgotten that I told you that Sirius and I are related, right?" James snickered. "Mum is a Black from birth, too."

"Oh...right," clearing his throat, Remus became painfully aware of a blush forming rapidly, though the woman only smiled curiously, her eyes warm and kind like Sirius' where his uncle's had been cold.

"He is right, though. Mum, did you know your eyes are almost the exact same shade of grey as Sirius'?" James smiled. "He could easily pass as my little brother due to that!"

"I...all right," his mother's smile was slightly hesitant, though Remus couldn't blame her for the confusion playing across her kind features.

"He is right, you do nearly have the same eye colour," Remus' mum spoke up. "I'm Hope Lupin and this is my husband Lyall."

"Dorea Potter and this is my husband Charlus," the two women shook hands and James' mum turned to them. "You must be Remus and Peter, right?"

"Yes Madam," Remus nodded, shaking her hand in greeting.

"I assume your friend Sirius was already picked up since he's not here?" James' father glanced around. "From what you told me in your letters, I would have liked to meet him. So he has your mother's eyes, huh?"

"His uncle picked him up and they left just before you arrived. He's also got the same dark hair and those inbred patented looks," James grinned easily even as his father shot him a warning look. "But like Mum, he doesn't carry a trace of that arrogance that seems to be bred into the lot of them. You'll love him when you meet him!"

"We will see," James' father chuckled at his son's enthusiasm. "If you are about ready to declare him your little brother, I'm fairly sure I will enjoy meeting him indeed."

"We should get going, Remus."

Nodding to his father, Remus turned back to his friends, clasping hands with James.

"I'll see you in Diagon Alley then?"

"Of course you will, we'll have to grab an ice cream or so while we're at it," James' mind was clearly gearing up about what they could do that day and Remus shared a fond smile with Peter before turning to his parents.

"We'll go there, right?" He asked, fairly sure they'd have no objections and was proven right as they immediately confirmed it.

"I'll send you an owl to confirm everything," James promised. "Don't forget those games you were talking about, though!"

"Honestly, you are almost as bad as Sirius is when it comes to games," Remus chuckled. "I won't forget them, or the books I promised Sirius."

"Good, good," James' grin widened slightly as he patted Remus on his shoulder. "Have a nice holiday."

"You too," smiling once more at his friends, Remus followed his parents after they had said their goodbyes to James' parents, only catching a glimpse of Peter's parents arriving before they disappeared into the crowd and he could no longer see them.

"So, you had a nice year?" His mother smiled at him and grinning Remus began to tell them all about his year and what he's learned and seen and the adventures he had gotten into with his new friends, his father often having to steer him away from walking into others in his excitement but making no move to stop him from talking.

And he wouldn't have been able to stop anyway, unable to wait until their second year would begin, both excited and curious to see what it would bring.

For he knew that no matter what, it certainly wouldn't be boring where his friends were involved and he was proud to be part of their little group.