End of the Battle, Start of the War: The Stars of Freedom

November 1st, 1981 - The Start of Peace

Disclaimer:  I am not British and English isn't my first language so this might not be a hundred percent accurate grammar-wise. ( Grammarly is gonna save me blame everything on it lol ). This will also probably be one of the sadder chapters but it will get happier after this I promise! ( It is more of a shocked manner ) More notes at the end of this chapter! 

No one slept that night. No one at all. 

What had happened the night before had shaken them all but also brought them all closer.  

It was the night after James Potter and Lily Evans almost died, the night in which it was discovered that Peter Pettigrew was a traitor, and most importantly, the night in which somehow Harry James Potter killed You Know Who, Voldemort. 

How they survived? No one really knew. It was truly a miracle. They were thought to have died, James and Lily that is, but help got there fast enough and with enough determination, they were both in a stable state. Harry Potter had somehow killed Voldemort as a one-year-old and would go down in history forever. 

James and Lily were both stubborn and went against the idea of staying at St. Mungos. They wanted to be around their friends, their true ones, as it was something they couldn't do for a while beforehand. Of course, no one opposed this idea. 

That's the story of how by ten pm on November first, The Potters, Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary all ended up at a flat owned by Remus and Sirius. It was small but big enough to make due to the chaos, to keep the coziness that felt safe but also have enough space to properly heal the Potters who were still in a bad state. 

"Peter? Peter Bloody Pettigrew?" was all Sirius Black could say for a while. James and Lily were on a bed together awake for the first time in a while. They were very tired and pale but still managed to smile. Harry was sleeping in the middle of them. They both weren't ready to keep him in any way out of their sight yet, too panicked. The bed was transfigured in the middle of the living room, and surrounding them medical equipment was kept. There was a couch and a few chairs in the room as well, ones which were always full.

Mary who was sitting on the couch with her legs up to her chest tried to give a small smile "Good that we caught that rat while we could". 

Dorcas nodded and then turned back to Marlene who was constantly making sure James and Lily had everything they needed. Marlene had the most healing experience out of all of them, balancing a quidditch and healing career was the plan before the war panned out and they were all dragged into the Order of the Phoenix. Still, she had enough that when the time was right, their best friends were saved. 

Sirius continued to pace through all of this. He had been there, he had been the one to stop Pettigrew, and it all hadn't been processed completely yet. The whole morning had been spent in tears. Not only him obviously, everyone in the room not including the Potters, who hadn't waked until an hour before. 

Remus came up to Sirius and calmly hugged him. They had been dating since sixth year and even with their ups and downs, they always had each other. "It's over now Padfoot... finally over" Remus whispered to his boyfriend as they both took a deep breath.

Silence fell over the room as only breaths were heard.  

Mary lifted herself up from the couch and slowly came over to join the hug. Sirius's eyes widened in surprise until he saw who it was and relaxed. From the corner of the room, Marlene stood up and walked over joining the hug, followed by Dorcas. One unit had become of them, something that would survive forevermore. 

Coughing was heard from the side as the unit all looked over at James Lily and Harry. "I feel betrayed" James started, "You all are really hugging without us" he ended dramatically which was met with a squeal from a sleeping Harry, causing Lily to laugh. 

They all looked at each other expressions all blank for a moment. James was just betrayed, of course, he felt betrayed... but it was James, and he still managed to joke about it. Mary looked over at everyone and started moving to drag them all to the Potter's bed causing Remus to topple over and all of them to fall onto it. Lily gasped as she quickly moved Harry out of the way still laughing. 

Everyone ended up also falling into a pile of laughs, which woke up the now confused one-year-old. If anyone else knew about how after an almost murder these twenty-one-year-olds were all left laughing on a bed with a baby in the middle of all of them, no one would believe them, but that is what happened. When everyone calmed down deep breaths were heard. 

They all decided that they would stay there for the night, as no one wanted to truly sleep, except James and Lily who were taking naps to get better. Remus transfigured the bed to be larger so that they could all comfortably be there whilst not bothering James and Lily. They all settled in for a very very long day.

20 minutes later

Remus and Sirius were sitting hand in hand while Mary leaned against Remus. 

Marlene was laying with her head in Dorcas's lap, Dorcas's hand going through her hair.

James and Lily were asleep and Harry had just woken up, crawling over to Sirius.

Sirius picked up Harry and looked down at his Godson holding him close as he pulled on Sirius's hair. "I can't believe yesterday really happened... Out of everyone? Worm- " he stopped himself. The traitor didn't deserve the nickname, he didn't deserve to be a marauder. "Pettigrew? He was always so much... slower.. and .. how did we not see it? How did we.. how did I think it would be safer? How-" Padfoot started to choke up. 

Remus squeezed his hand "It's ok now. We are all as safe as we can be. Voldemort is dead, Peter didn't succeed, and Prongs and Lily are in a stable condition.  We couldn't have seen it... we were all too wrapped up in rumors and lies and manipulation... and-"

"And that stupid fucking rat knew everything about us, how to get under our skin, how to make us go against each other. He knew we wouldn't blink an eye at quiet Peter Pettigrew, the one in the shadows always weaker. And of course, he was correct" Mary bitterly said cutting Remus off.

"Language!" Dorcas whispered as her hand stroked her now sleeping girlfriend's hair. The others looked over as Dorcas rolled her eyes "Sirius Black you are holding a one-year-old! He is going to be cursing as soon as he starts saying more than the words Mama, Papa, and Pads! He already got close no thanks to you Lupin!"

Harry giggled as if he understood as he continued to pull on his godfather's hair.

"You sound like Lily," Mary said which was followed by an "Ow" From Sirius and a chuckle from Remus.

Dorcas sighed " well someone has to while she's rec-... asleep." 

With that, Harry crawled over to Dorcas giving her a hug... or well as much as one as the toddler could manage. Dorcas smiled a bit as she ruffled the little hair he had.

Remus smiled at the scene bittersweetly. "Come on, I think we all need a distraction. I would say we should attempt to sleep, but I don't know how good the outcome of it would be. I think.. yes that would be good.." He continued as he muttered to himself. Sirius and Mary looked at each other curiously as they shrugged and looked at Remus who with a flick of a wand got a record to start playing. Killer Queen started to play as Dorcas smiled a bit. 

That's the story of how the 21-year-olds all listened to queen songs until sleep overcame them.

Little did they know the ride they were in for, one that would bring chaos and change, for when you avoid something that was bound to happen, what really can go right? James and Lily survived, Peter was in Azkaban, and Harry just started his little life. One full of mischief that has yet to be managed. 

NOTES: This is definitely the weirdest, strangely formatted, weird vibe, etc chapter that will be in the fanfic. I just needed to get this part over with, as it puts that base of oh look they survived, to start the fun and chaos that is Harry growing up with James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Dorcas, Marlene, and Mary as there role models. If you have anything specific you wanna see happen let me know! The next chapter will be centered on Sirius's birthday and will include some flashbacks ( probably ). Hope you enjoy!