Deer Lily-pad,

James is going practically insane without you and is being rather annoying. I liked him better when he wasn't receiving letters from you.

I'll have you know that the meeting with Marlene's family went quite well. Her Gramma El adored me, and I'm not just being cocky. She laughed at everything I said, even when I said my surname, and Marlene said she approved of me in her last letter.

So, how's your summer going right now? From previous letters it sounded terrible, I do hope it improved some how.

Sirius

That was one of many letters that had sat on Lily's desk for the past day, opened, yet not replied to.

Dear Lils,

Letting Sirius meet my relatives wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Of course he had met each my parents before, which helped, but it was still stressing me out.

I can only thank my brothers for that. The only reason they kept the secret for that long was because I told Marcus I'd kill his pet frog, which my father had to restrain me from doing after Myles told.

It finally sunk in that next year is our last year at Hogwarts. That also kind of freaks me out. The fact that we actually have to get jobs and be normal people in the Wizarding world scares me.

Do tell Petunia I will punch her the next time I see her, but please man up and ask James to go with you. Nothing will happen if you don't want it to, but on the other hand if you do... Make sure to put on lots of chapstick before hand. *wink wink*

Lots of love,
Marls

Lily sighed and placed the letter beside her on her overly large bed. She really did miss her friends. She was taking shelter in her room after yet another argument with Petunia. For the past week, her sister had been pestering her to get a date to her wedding. Apparently, any "self-respecting woman" wouldn't go alone and if she didn't ask someone soon Petunia would get one of Vernon's brothers to go with her.

She soon heard the doorbell ring and when she realized McGonagall was "buying groceries", she went to open it. When she found Mary and her younger sister, Julia, on the doorstep with tears rushing down their faces, time stopped.

...

Dear James,

No, I don't find your letters annoying, but it is a little concerning how little your response time is. Honestly, I don't quite understand how it could take you only one day to respond to me. Give your damn owl a break! I swear the last time she came here, it looked more than half dead.

Writing deer instead of dear isn't that funny and I don't get why the four of you think it's hysterical.

Petunia is being absolutely insufferable. Always criticizing what I wear or how I do my hair, it's like she has nothing better to do. I'm very close to hexing her.

Magic has been good to use for chores. Of course I can't use it in front of anyone, but if I'm alone or no one's watching I can watch the dishes in only a few seconds.

I told McGonagall you send your best wishes, she didn't respond to me, but I could have sworn I saw the faintest smile on her lips. I would've never thought she was the one I was having the most conversations with over the break.

Best wishes,
Lily

James smiled like a complete idiot as he read the letter, he wished he could've heard her say all of that in person, but of course he couldn't. He was stuck here and she was stuck there.

...

Deer Marls,

Your boyfriend has gone rogue. We knew this before, but seriously Padfoot has really gone insane this time. He's constantly bouncing off the walls and suggesting we do pranks that would make Minnie's toes curl.

Speaking of which, did you here she was at Lily's house? What do you think that's all about? Probably another one of Dumbledore's schemes, impossible to actually figure out, but possible to theorize.

I hope all is well there. I heard all about what happened while Sirius was there, you really couldn't hope for any better, I mean it's Sirius. There was really nothing to stress about though, your family loved Sirius before he met them as your boyfriend.

Please come get your boyfriend,
James

Marlene chuckled at the letter and grabbed some parchment and a quill to reply. Almost simultaneously a letter came flying through the window.

...

"You know you will have to hide this from your friends well. Don't give any hints."

Snape's words echoed in Peter's head as he looked at his left forearm that had had an image burned into it permanently.

Deer Wormy,

I'm very sorry about your mum's sickness, is there anything I can do? If it's contagious make sure you don't catch it, that's the last thing everybody wants.

My parents are driving me insane again, like usual. Always asking me nonsense questions about my furry little problem. I can't wait to return to Hogwarts, can you?

Is watching your mum the only thing you've been able to do this summer? It's a bummer if it has, my mum made me send some pie along with this letter. It's apple, my mum sends her best wishes.

Moony

Little did Remus know, Peter didn't even have a sick mother.

...

Lily rushed Mary and Julia upstairs into her bedroom, that still had boxes occupying every corner of the room. She sat them down on the unmade bed and pulled the white chair from her desk.

Once she sat down on the chair she turned to face the two sisters. Their cheeks were blotchy, like they had been crying all day. It was around dinner time now and Lily was the only one home still.

"So, I picked Julia up from a friend's house after my grocery shift," Mary's voice was croaky and whilst she spoke there were tears streaming down her face. Lily took her hands in hers and looked directly into her eyes.

"Then, I drove home and," she exhaled deeply, "and when we got home there were buildings on fire." Lily could tell where this was going, but she didn't want to make any assumptions. "The dark mark was over our house and many others."

"When we entered our house, we saw Nan just lying there. Mary ran up the stairs and found our Pop the same way," Julia had less of a steady voice than Mary, but still managed to speak up.

"Oh my Merlin guys. I-" Lily was cut off by her door opening and there stood her Transfiguration professor, upon seeing Mary she frowned.

"Miss Macdonald what a pleasant surprise. Shall I make some tea?" She then turned to face Lily. "Your mother and Henry are going to be out later than expected." Lily nodded, but before McGonagall could leave she spoke up again.

"Can you put some type of alcohol in mine and Mary's? It would be much appreciated."

...

The Potter household was sitting around their large, wood dining room table for dinner. They had sat around their house today, it was a laidback version of a summer day.

You could hear the clatter of forks and knives, the house elves were milling around looking for something to be done, and the boys were trying to communicate without drawing any attention to themselves. Unfortunately for them, Euphemia Potter had a mother sense that they were up to no good, so she intervened.

"What're you two on about?" When James arched a single eyebrow at his mum, she sighed. "You two have been whispering all day about something. So, come on out with it."

"We wanted to see if we could invite some people over before Hogwarts started back up again. It's already July 20 and we've gone a while without the entire group together."

Having the entirety of their friend group together wasn't the best idea and Euphemia knew it. With this in the back of her mind, she thought of poor Remus, whom she loved speaking about books to and small Peter, whom always gave her off vibes, but James had a close bond to him, so she shut her mouth about it.

"Not the entire group. Just Remus and Peter, I can not deal with eight teenagers running around my kitchen right now."

When the two boys grinned her smile faltered, she had forgotten that the girls were their damage control and without them, chaos ensued.

...

Marlene was summoned downstairs by Myles, whom she was still not talking to, even though the meeting with Sirius had gone well. This didn't seem to bother him as he walked out the front door with Michael and Marcus, the latter giving her a grimace that was supposed to be a smile.

She sat down and knew immediately that something was off. Her mother wasn't wearing her usual bright, white smile, instead her lips were in a straight line and every single one of her worry wrinkles showed.

"Marlene, what do you want to do with your life after Hogwarts?"

She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, a nervous habit she had picked up from Alice, that was used practically in every stressful situation. The truth was, she hadn't thought much about her future. Even the word made her shudder with anxiousness, but with her final year of Hogwarts looming over her head, it was time to make some decisions.

Marlene thought a while before she answered. She thought of Frank in the early acceptance Auror program at the Ministry. About how Lily had wanted to become a Healer since the beginning of fifth-year when Mary had been hurt by Mulciber. How James and Sirius would most likely follow in Frank's footsteps and become Aurors, maybe even with early acceptance. Alice was bound to become an Auror since it was all she had dreamed of being when she was little. It was all too much to handle for her.

"I want to fight Mum. I want to stand up for what I believe in and kick those people's arses." She spoke quietly and only thought for a second that her mum hadn't heard her.

"That's my girl! Marlene McKinnon, arse kicker extraordinaire!"

...

With three drained cups of tea in her hand, she crept quietly down the stair case with her head pounding. Whatever McGonagall had put in those teacups had been strong, but Lily was no lightweight, like some people would think.

Being short and having a petite build led others to believe you couldn't handle a lot of things. Such as, alcohol, insults, duels, or anything taller and stronger people could handle with ease. This was one of many reasons why she had to prove herself to people, that and being muggle-born.

Her brain jumped back to James for what felt like the hundreth time that day. She didn't need to prove herself to him with anything, he always just expected her to be able to do it. If anything, he thought way too highly of her, which is probably one of the reasons she liked him if you were being honest.

Lily had expected her crush on James to fade away, like all of her previous did, but the more time she spent with him, the more time she saw him for who he truly was, it grew deeper. Part of her was scared like she was of the threat of the war, but the other part was accepting and fully wanted herself to do something about it.

Before Mary had fallen asleep she had asked her to write letters to their other friends explaining what would happen, so they wouldn't find out in the papers. Alas, Lily only had one owl, so some of them would not get one before it reached The Daily Prophet.

Each letter read the same things. She wrote briefly about what had occurred, hoping that Mary would give them all more information as time grew by.

Mary and Julia showed up at my door today, looking very disheveled and worse for wear. They informed me that their Grandparents had both died in a Death Eater attack while Mary was at work and Julia was at a friend's house. They hadn't anywhere else to stay, so they're here in this gigantic house with me and McGonagall.

The next part she only added onto Sirius and James's letter, rather reluctantly.

I was wondering if James could accompany me to Petunia's wedding. Merlin, I just made it sound like so much more of an honor than it actually is. I'm not a bridesmaid, so we wouldn't be in any particular spotlight--not that you would mind, having thrived in it since you were a kid. Anyways, it's on August 5, so please do reply soon.

In Marlene's letter she added this next part, imagining the smirk on her friend's face as she did so, that would have returned after dulling while she read the part about Mary.

I invited James to come to the wedding with me, you win. I'm not even there with you and I can see the disgusting smirk on your face, come on, wipe it off Marls.

On a much more serious note, Mary is not doing well at all. Of course, you would expect someone who had lost the people who raised you not to do well, but Merlin I've never seen her like this. Seeing the tears fall from her and Julia's eyes make me sick with the intention of killing some death eaters.

Even though some letters had different middles, they all ended the same way.

Love,
Lily

...

James and Sirius read the letter before Remus was due to floo over to the manor like how was arranged. Peter had declined saying that his mother was getting rather sick and could not risk leaving her.

Their stomachs turned with more hatred towards their enemies, but also with sadness. It was very cruel that Mary and Julia had had lost their Grandparents at such a young age. The ones who cherished and loved them unconditionally.

Remus landed in the middle of one of the Potter's sitting rooms with an thud. Emotion made him clumsy. The last time he had talked to Mary was over a phone two days ago, the night before the attack. He had seriously grown strong feelings for her over a short period of time and wondered quietly if there was anything he could do to help her. Most likely not, Remus was not the best at consoling and sarcastic comments or a Charms lesson was probably not what she needed right now.

Tight hugs were exchanged, before the three boys advanced farther into the manor. Remus held polite exchanges with both Euphemia and Fleamont as he walked behind James and Sirius.

"Remus, did you hear about Mary?"

"Yeah, I read the letter before I came. I hope she's okay." Remus sat down on the edge of James's bed.

The three of them just existed in the same room quietly for a few minutes. Sirius threw and caught the quaffle he had brough inside from the backyard. James worked on a good enough reply to Lily's letter, which was tough considering he wasn't the best dealing with feelings.

Deer Lily-flower,

I'm very sorry to hear about Mary and Julia's Grandparents. Let me know if there's anything I can do, of course, my mum will be sending some muffins along with this letter.

Make sure to tell Mary that alcohol makes the pain ease a bit, it's not a long term suggestion, but for the time being... For Julia, since she's a bit younger, maybe exposing her to alcohol isn't the best idea. Something like apple juice might be a bit better.

Mum said it would be fine if I attended the wedding with you. I can't wait. I've never been to a Muggle wedding before. Are they terribly different from Wizarding weddings?

Sirius is demanding Remus and I do something productive with him immediately, so I've got to quit writing now. It may be pathetic, but I miss you dearly and hope to see you soon. Do write back soon and tell me how you all are doing.

With love,
James

Lily showed the letter to Mary when she received it through the Kitchen window at one the next morning. They dug into the basket of muffins as well, demolishing the chocolate chip ones and saving the others for later.

Mary opted to write back to James right away, so that's what they did. On the kitchen floor. In the early hours of the morning. While everyone else in the house was sleeping.

Dear James,

Thank you for the well wishes and muffins. Tell your Mum they are fantastic and we demand the recipe. Lily told me demand is too aggressive, so I guess we request the recipe.

Alcohol does indeed dull the pain a bit, but I don't have the intention of becoming an alcoholic, so I'll have to come up with something else. I imagine Julia would flip me off if told her to drink more apple juice. She's got a bunch of sass for being eleven.

Lily asks you apparate over to her house at five on the fifth, which is an hour before the wedding. She'll be alone in this terribly huge house with McGonagall as everyone else will already be at the church. So, don't be late and make sure to bring your best manners. I know as a Potter and a pure-blood that they're under that ego somewhere.

Lily and I are currently sitting on her kitchen floor laughing at old pictures of us. We found this one of Sirius balancing a couple of shot glasses on his head. Laughed our asses off we did.

Love,
Mary and Lily

...

Author's Note:

That kind of made me sad to write. If you didn't feel sad during this chapter, you definitely will during the next one.

A bunch of stuff happened this chapter, so I hope y'all could keep up! I'm sure you could though, you're all very smart and capable.

Also, I just listened to You & I by One Direction that never fails to make me sadder. I'm not sure if that is a popular reaction to that song, but I'm weird like that.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🖍