"Umm, what the fuck Potter?" Alice exclaimed, looking at the new quidditch team.

Both Alice and Emmeline had made the team, but Alice's position was changed.
She stormed up to James, who no longer had pink hair.
"I'm sorry Ali, but we need more people with your reflexes and speed to be beaters! I think you'll be perfect for it." He said, slightly scared.
"Whatever, Potter." Alice rolled her eyes and walked away.
Needless to say, Alice was not in the best mood until that night, when Marlene told the group some news.

The four marauders, Frank, and the five girls were the only ones awake and in the common room at 12:45 am that day. Marlene has called a meeting, which is only for important announcements (and one time when they were trying to figure out who enchanted Slughorns shoes so they'd have a mind of their own, which ended up being Remus and Peter).

"So, as we all know, the annual 6th year camping trip is happening this year..." She began.

"Yes, it happens every year. That's the meaning of annual." Sirius said, which earned him a not so soft punch in the arm.

"Anyway, asshole-" Marlene shot a glare at Sirius, "- I found out that it's happening in 2 months."

"How do you know that?" Lily asked, knowing from experience that you need to check the sources for some of the things her friends say.

"Well, I was definitely not eavesdropping on Mcgonagall and Hagrids conversation earlier." Marlene responded, only slightly ashamed at the fact that she eavesdropped on her teachers.

"Is that why you were late to divination?" Remus asked, chuckling.

"Possibly."

Everyone laughed lightly, and waited for Marlene to explain why she needed to call a meeting without being asked, but she never did.

"So, the trip is in 2 months. What's the deal?" Dorcas was very inpatient.

"Are you serious?" Marlene asked, visibly disappointed that everyone hadn't caught on.
"No, I am." Sirius told his signature joke.
"You know, that was funny the first time. But only the first time." Marlene teased. "Anyway, we have 2 orders of business to attend to before the camping trip. 1. We need to get planning the most absolutely epic camping trip in Hogwarts history, which includes placing bets. 2. Tent groups." She continued.

"Alright. I say for tents, we do 2 in each, so we have as much room as possible. Sound good?" Lily suggested.

"Makes sense to me." James said.

"So how about this. Marls and I in one tent, Ali and Lils in another. Pete and Em probably want to share a tent. So, Rem and Siri in one and Jamie and Frankie in the last." Dorcas paired everyone up.

"You know, if you actually know at least one of our real names by graduation, I will be shocked." James commented on Dorcas's habit of only using nicknames.

"Whatever. Sound good?" Dorcas rolled her eyes.

Everyone agreed, and the tent groups we decided.

"So, bets. I am going to say that by the end of this trip, all of us will be in a relationship." Sirius announced.

"Alright, I'll take you up on that. 20 sickles says that not all of us are in a relationship by the end of the camping trip." Lily responded, and they shook on it.

"Alright, I say that Ali and Frank will get their shit together and date by the end of the trip." Marlene said, subtle as ever.

"MARLENE!" Alice and Frank yelled at the same time.

"Married." Remus muttered, causing everyone to laugh.

"You know what, I'll take you up on that offer, Marls." Dorcas told her.

"Married." Peter said, launching everyone into another laughing fit.

"Oh shove off Peter. But, Dork, i will make a bet with you. 5 galleons says they will get together on the camping trip." Marlene held out her hand.

"My money is that they won't last a week before they finally get together." Dorcas shook her hand enthusiastically.

This time, it was Lily who said "Married."

"I bet at least one person will burn themselves on the fire pit." Peter said.
"Pete, we all know that Marlene will." Remus laughed.

"Hey! I feel attacked!" She yelled, trying to hide the fact that she knew Remus was right.
They kept going making bets into the later hours of night, and causing Sirius and Remus to blush very intensely when someone would bet on their relationship.

The next morning, none of the kids wanted to get up. But, they did for one very specific reason.

They were learning the patronus charm in DADA.

"So, we all pretty much know our patronus, right?" Sirius said as the marauders made their way down the hall.

"I don't." Remus replied. The other three were (illegal) animagi, so they naturally assumed their patronus would be their animagus form.

They continued talking as they reached the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom.

"Hello, students. As you know, today is the day we will attempt to cast patronuses. Now, this is a highly complicated spell, so please do not be discouraged if you do not cast yours in class. Casting a patronus takes time and energy. With that, we will begin today's lesson." Concluded Professor Benson. Professor Benson was a young witch, with a mess of curly brown hair that was always held up by her wand. She was fair, and patient, but was a little bit too nice for some kids liking.

She gave a short lesson on how to cast a patronus, and let the kids go free.

The first patronus cast that day was by none other than Peter Pettigrew. He focused long and hard on his first Hogsmeade trip of 4th year. He was technically going in a big group with the marauders and all of the girls, but him and Emmeline ended up spending most of the time talking alone.
To no surprise, a silvery rat came out of the end of Peters wand.

"Very good, Mr. Pettigrew! That's 5 points for Gryffindor!" Professor Benson exclaimed upon seeing the rat patronus running around the classroom.

Soon enough, a little over a quarter of the class had gotten their patronus. Marlene and Dorcas has cast theirs (Marlenes was a fox, and Dorcas's was a bear), and a bunny cast by Alice was hopping all over the place. Even Emmeline, who was not the best at spells and jinxes, had cast her patronus, which was a blackbird.
Lily, however, could not cast hers in that class. She focused as hard as she possibly could on a memory of her and Severus running through their neighborhood, dreaming of casting spells and fighting evil. Nothing.

All of the marauders, except Remus, had casted their patronuses, and all were the animals they expected them to be.
Remus tried many different memories. First was when he first met Lily on the train in first year, and they agreed to stick together no matter their house. When that didn't work, he thought of when he taught Sirius and James real curse words for the first time (growing up the way they did meant their naughty word vocabulary was exclusively that of an old British mother). That was his first full conversation with his best friends. But it still didn't work. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was working. Until he tried his last resort. The four marauders, sitting in the shrieking shack after a full moon. They were sitting around, and James was talking animatedly about the forest adventures of the night. But Remus wasn't focusing on James that night, and he wasn't focusing on James in class. That day, Remus claimed a spot on one side of the piano, and Sirius sat at the other. Blacks always were brought up to know how to play violin or piano. Sirius got piano, Regulus got violin. Remus spend the whole time in the shack looking at Sirius. His eyes went from his long and thin fingers playing an intricate tune to his face, which was framed by disheveled hair. A small cut was visible in his face, but it was already healing. That was the night that Remus realized he had a crush on his best friend.
When Remus focused on this memory, specifically the part about Sirius, and said the words "Expecto Patronum", something different happened.
His eyes were closed as he cast the spell, but as soon at Remus opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful silver wolf running about.
As soon as James saw the wolf, he lost it.

"What's so funny, Rudolph?" Remus asked, using the nickname he knew James hated.

"First off, I am a STAG, not whatever Rudolph is. Second, am I the only one who thinks it's funny that Wolf Wolf Jr, son of Wolf Wolf Sr, who is a werewolf, had a wolf patronus?" He barely got out because of laughter.

His explanation launched the other three into a fit of laughter.

"Do you ever shut up?" Remus said between laughs.

The marauders spent the rest of class goofing around and talking with the girls.
That is, until Severus cast his patronus (the class was Gryffindors and Slytherins).
It was a beautiful doe. Sev had thought of the same memory Lily had, and when Lily mentioned does were her favorite animal.

Usually, the marauders wouldn't bat an eye to Severus doing something good, but Sirius began laughing so hard he fell out of his chair.

No one really understood why, until they remembered. James' eyes were as big as saucers.

Stags and Does matched.

Sirius, who was still laying on the floor, managed to get out five words.

"James and Snape are soulmates."

Everyone in class had realized it by then, and James turned the same color, if not darker, than Lily's hair.
Severus was not particularly nonchalant, however.

Class ended a few minutes later, but the boys still tormented James.

As they walked down the hallway, Remus was the first one to say something.
"I guess you can stop chasing after Lily now, considering we know your soulmate." He shrugged, before laughing into Sirius's shoulder.
"Yeah, when's the wedding?" Sirius asked.
"Hey maybe Lily will be at your wedding, just not the way you wanted." Peter pretended to realize.

"I hate all of you. Every. Single. One. of you." James said, before walking away, leaving his friends to laugh in the middle of the hallway.

But the boys weren't the only ones discussing the matching patronuses.

"Hey, aren't you glad James is off your back now that he knows who he really belongs with?" Marlene asked Lily.
Don't get me wrong, Lily found the entire situation hilarious, almost as funny as Sirius found it.
But she couldn't get something out of her head.
She told Severus her favorite animal was a doe once when they were 10.
A few years later, she asked him was his favorite animal was, just to see what had changed. He said a doe.
Lily shrugged it off in the moment, but now she couldn't help but wonder if that meant something.

"Lils, you okay?" Dorcas asked her.

Lily realized she had stopped walking, due to her being so lost in thought.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She said, with a lump in her throat.

A/N
this was a long time coming, huh. this is definitely my most time consuming book to write, cause i want all my chapters to be around 1,500 words. this was 1,900 which i think is a good length. idk, you tell me. anyway, about severus having a doe patronus, it was never said that his patronus changed (in my memory). so, don't attack me and say it changed. sorry if there are mistakes in spelling and grammar, i'll proofread this tomorrow. see ya!
~ brynlee