Next chapter
It’s the 29th of June and the last evening in Hogwarts. Tomorrow everything will be too hectic, and without a moment to appreciate the place they would be leaving for the last time. But not now. James has the time now. To walk across the familiar halls, to expertly skip the step that’s broken at the Grand Staircase, to say hi to his favourite painting on the second floor, to watch how the Sun sets behind the castle for the last time.
He sits near the lake leaning against the tree. "The Marauders were here" is engraved on the truck of it. It’s their tree and always has been since the first year.
James watches the castle and it’s the most beautiful place he has ever seen. It’s his home. He grew up here, made mistakes and learned from them. He laughed and cried. He found his second family here- Sirius, Peter and Remus. People he couldn’t imagine his life without. He fell in love right at the astronomy tower that is towering in front of him.
Regulus was something he never expected to have. He came into his life and changed everything. And the walls of this castle will remember everything. Every promise whispered in the middle of the night, every long-coming admission of affection, every painful argument and teary apologies.
James watches the castle and it’s not just a building. Every part has a memory written in. He feels the tears break from his eyes, but they are not sad tears. The kind that blinds you and steals the breath from your lungs. These don’t burn. James is just so grateful for everything. For every moment he spent here.
He envies Regulus that he gets to spend another year here. He doesn’t want to be away from the boy, he wants to be here with him. But he knows that the time to move on came. Regulus will visit him at Hogsmeet, and they will talk through the mirror. But James has to let Regulus enjoy his final year here. And James? He has another chapter of his life in front of him. New experiences to gain, new memories to make. But this place. It made him who he is. The time he spent here will never be forgotten. Not a single moment. Always written in his soul.