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“It’s tradition,” Orion Black had said before Sirius took off to Hogwarts.
Sirius had wanted to make his family proud, he truly had.
But the sorting hat hadn’t wanted to stick to the Black tradition.
“Gryffindor!” it yelled, and Sirius hadn’t realised instantly what it had said. He had elegantly risen from the highchair and had taken a few steps towards the Slytherin table before he noticed.
He noticed that the Slytherin’s were staring at him with confusion.
He saw his cousin Andromeda taking her seat again, after preparing to cheer.
He slowly turned and faced the Gryffindor table, seeing their confusion as well.
But then he heard.
James Potter, the boy he had met on the train, clapped.
“Way to go!” someone called from one of the tables.
And slowly the other students began cheering on him. Sirius turned and was taken aback but the approving nod Professor McGonagall gave him.
“Thank you,” he whispered before he moved towards the Gryffindor table.
The Gryffindors looked a bit wary, but nonetheless, a ginger boy shook his hand and welcomed him to the house.
***
“It’s tradition,” James said and looked at his friends, “that a Potter never let down his friends.”
“Even a werewolf?” Remus asked as his lip trembled.
“You are only a werewolf once a month. The rest of the time,” James pulled him in for a hug, “you are this amazing friend I have, who makes you laugh, who is smart, and wants to be the best student Hogwarts has ever seen.”
“Even then he is a marauder,” Sirius said and grinned.
"But…"
"We don't care about that," Peter joined in, "we care about the friend we have, not his unfortunate status."
“We aren’t going to tell,” James said and looked intently into Remus’ eyes. “Your secret is safe with us. We will never ever NEVER betray you!”
Remus could feel tears form in his eyes, but he didn’t care.
“Let’s do it properly,” Sirius said and took out the knife, his uncle Alphard had given him during the summer, “alright?”
The other three looked at him as he let the knife slide across his palm, making blood dribble from it. He gestured for the others to do the same, which they did.
“I solemnly swear that I will be your faithful friend until I die,” Sirius said and took Remus’ hand in his before he repeated the gesture with James and Peter.
“I solemnly swear that I will be brave as a Gryffindor, and not rat any of you out out of fear,” Peter added and also shook the other’s hands.
“I solemnly swear that I will never harm you as a werewolf,” Remus whispered and looked around at them, “with every fibre of my body, I swear it.”
“And I solemnly swear,” James smiled at them, “that I will always be there for all of you. I solemnly swear as a Marauder that I will protect you as long as any of us live.”
***
“It’s tradition,” Peter said as he looked in the mirror, “that the Halloween feast is tremendous fun.”
“Because of the outfits?” Remus asked and pulled up the grey stockings.
“Because of the food!” Peter said in ecstasy.
James appeared from the bathroom and both Peter and Remus stopped dead,
“What…” Sirius turned around from his bed and whistled, “nice, Prongs.”
“Lily is coming as a doe,” James grinned, “Is this too much?” He gestured with his hands and the other three smiled. He had made himself look like a stag. Brown stockings, a white spot from neck to the hips, his face painted as a stag. How he had done that, Remus had no clue.
“Is it your antlers?”
“No,” James replied quickly, “I didn’t dare. What if I forget and suddenly pull them back, or change fully? Secret would be out then.”
Sirius moved over to James and wrapped an arm around him. He was dressed as a dog, a black german shepherd, and he had thrown on his leather jacket as well.
Remus thought he looked absolutely amazing.
“Do you two need a hand?”
Remus sighed and tried to get done, and Peter had simply given up. He didn’t really like doing dress up, but he enjoyed watching the others. He had, however, decided to dress as a pumpkin because that was something he thought was brilliant.
Sirius moved over to Remus and stilled the slightly younger man’s movement.
“You alright? You don’t have to be a wolf…”
“I want to,” Remus replied, “I… I just don’t like this right now.”
Sirius nodded and gave him a quick peek on the lips. Remus smiled at him and spread out his arms to let Sirius take charge.
A few minutes later, the four Marauders were heading down the stairs to meet with Lily. James grinned as he saw her and engulfed her in his arms.
“You look amazing,” he whispered as he kissed her.
“So do you. Not breaking the tradition this year either?” she asked, and James merely huffed and kissed her again.
The wolf and dog went out of the portrait first, followed by the pumpkin. James wrapped his arm tightly around Lily as they walked out and down to the Great Hall.
***
"It’s tradition," Sirius said as he had gotten everyone's attention, "that speeches are held at a joyous occasion like this." He smiled proudly at the couple sitting next to him, as he withdrew a piece of parchment.
“Dear Evans,” he smirked, and Lily laughed, “I’m sorry, Potter - is that what I should call you now?”
“Lily would be perfect,” she replied and hugged James’ arm.
“Dear… Lily and Jamie,” Sirius moved away from his chair and went to stand in the middle of the room, pointing his own wand at his throat, making a wordless sonorus as he did, “I don’t think words can describe how I feel today. Sometimes,” he sighed slightly, “words just aren’t enough.”
Sirius fumbled a bit with his suit before he turned his attention back to the married couple in front of him.
“I haven’t really prepared what I wanted to say today. I am deeply honoured by the gesture you both have given me today. James,” he nodded to his best friend, who smiled back to him, “thank you, for choosing me, as your man of honour,” he continued, voice a bit shaky. “I know you always said, that if you had to choose, you would pick me, but never had I imagined that… that you would do it.”
Sirius glanced at Remus and Peter, who both smiled encouragingly at him.
“You are my brother of my own choosing. The brother who gave me a family. A real one. And words cannot describe how... “ He looked away, making his gaze go upwards, searching the right words, “how incredibly thankful I am… for everything you have done for me. It is,” he smiled and rose his glass towards Lily, “with a bit of a heavy heart, that I am giving you away to this wonderfully talented woman, who is sitting next to you. Take care of him.”
“I promise,” Lily replied, as she knew that James meant everything to Sirius, and that he would rather die than let anything bad happen to him.
“You choose wisely, Prongs,” Sirius continued, “because she is a perfect specimen of a woman and a witch. I don’t think I could have found a better one.”
He nodded towards Peter, who got up, shaking slightly.
“Dear Prongs, dear Lilyflower,” he said slowly, swallowing hard, “I leave the good stuff to the other two, as… I don’t really like speaking in front of people. But I wanted to say, that I love you, and thank you for being my friends.”
James’ smile widened and Peter smiled back, pride shining out of him.
“Dear Lily,” Remus said now, and he stepped up beside the other two marauders, “I don’t know if you have realised what you said ‘I do’ to today. Because,” he smirked and Lily grinned, “you are not just marrying James today. You are marrying us as well. Four for the price of one.” Remus looked sideways at Sirius who seemed conflicted and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Since 1st year, the four of us have been inseparable,” Remus continued, “and I am not ready, neither are they, to let one of us loose. We won’t join your bed, however,” he grinned, and James burst out laughing, while Lily flushed, “because we think James would hex our bits off. I do expect to be a Godfather at some point though.”
“We would kindly ask all of you to stand,” Sirius said again and turned around on the spot, to watch the other guests get up, “to make the loudest cheer for our amazing friends, Lily Johanna Evans, now Potter, and James Fleamont Potter.”
“May you have many kids,” Peter nearly yelled, making the guests grin.
“And may you have many, many wonderful and amazing years together,” Remus added.
“I can’t wait to grow old and grey with you,” Sirius said and his eyes watered. “To Lily and James and their happily ever after.”
“Lily and James!”
***
“It’s tradition,” Remus Lupin said as he raised his glass.
The date was October 31st, 1991, and Remus had forced himself to Godric’s Hollow.
He looked down on the tombstone, placed upon his friends, James and Lily.
“I won’t come back,” he whispered and swallowed the fire whiskey. “I can’t keep doing this to myself.
Ten years had passed since the horrible day. Since he had lost everything.
He missed his friends. He loved his friends. But he had to move on.
Remus couldn’t move on if he stayed in the past.
He fell to his knees and hid his head in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” he cried out, “I failed. I should have been there! I should have done something! I should have known!”
Remus couldn’t stop the tears from running down his cheeks.
“I am sorry that I failed your son. I’m… I’m sorry.”
***
“It’s tradition,” Remus whispered as Sirius stepped close to him.
Sirius smiled at him and carefully cupped Remus’ cheek.
They had just returned to Grimmauld Place, and cleaned up Sirius’ room, but now…
“I missed you,” Sirius replied and leaned in to gently place his lips on Remus’.
“You have no idea,” Remus replied before placing his hand on Sirius’ neck, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.
Sirius wrapped his arms around the taller man and felt his heartbeat going haywire. He felt Remus open his mouth on his, and Sirius obliged and instantly let his tongue slide over and into his former lover’s mouth.
Their hands moved, slowly, carefully, as to not wanting to startle the other by the intimacy they hadn’t been able to give for so many years.
Remus slowly withdrew his head, his cheeks flushed, and smiled at Sirius.
“You alright?” he asked and placed his hand above Sirius’ heart.
Sirius visually swallowed and nodded. “Just… been so long… since last.”
“Same,” Remus replied, and Sirius jerked his head up like Padfoot would.
“You haven’t…?”
“No. Why break the tradition?”
Sirius smiled and pushed Remus down on the bed. He smiled down at him as he pulled off his shirt and joined him on the bed.
Remus instantly cupped his neck and kissed him fiercely, as they let themselves be lost to the world.
***
“It’s tradition,” Remus cried softly and stared at the tombstone of James and Lily.
He had gotten back to Godric’s Hollow once again, in honour of Sirius. His friend had died a few months ago, and Remus had nobody to bury this time. Therefore, he now stood where he knew two of his friends lay.
Halloween was never going to be a date he would fancy, and October 31st, 1996, was no different. It made it worse.
He straightened his back and smiled down at them.
“I hope he is happy now. He deserved to be happy. Especially after 12 years in Azkaban.” Remus took the bottle from his coat pocket and found four glasses. He placed them on the tombstone.
“Neither of you should be gone now,” he said again and wiped away the tears. “You all deserved to live much longer than you did. You should see the man Harry is turning into. He’s incredible. He is reckless like you, James, but smart as you, Lily. He is just an amazing young man.”
Remus carefully purred fire whiskey in the glasses.
“The world doesn’t deserve him. He is too good. But he blames himself for all your deaths. It’s not right.”
Remus drank the first glass and gave a sad smile.
“The world is lonely without you. I don’t… I don’t know.”
A hand carefully landed on his shoulder, and he glanced at Tonks, who had come to Godric’s Hollow with him. She didn’t say anything but watched as he took a swig from the bottle.
“It’s tradition,” he whispered and looked at the stone. “I might come back. But I don’t know. Maybe I’ll bring Harry, then it’s safe to do so. I must uphold the tradition.” He bent down and carefully touched the stone. “I love you.” He took out his wand and waved it silently, a bouquet of flowers appeared. He placed them slowly beside the glasses. “I’ll do my best to protect Harry.”
Remus slowly got up again and turned on his heel. He never liked walking away from his friends, but it was needed.
If there was one tradition Remus hated, it was the one of visiting his friends after their deaths.