The last chapter. So upsetting.

I do not own any part of Harry Potter.

Chapter 16/Epilogue

James' POV

The rest of break was incredibly dull. Remus, Mary, Marlene, Sirius and I were all awarded Order of Merlin Second Class for helping to defend the school. I had a jagged scar on either side of my right hand from the knife. Madame Pomfrey had fixed it right up while I was unconscious, but I'd still have the scar for years to come.

The Ministry interrogated Sirius and I on the details of how Raston died. When they finally accepted we (mainly me) had only knocked him over the edge of the Astronomy Tower for self defense, they left us alone.

I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulder's with Raston's death. I didn't feel like someone was still out there hunting for my blood. Bellatrix would have something against me, sure, but I think she acts more on direct orders than on her own. I'll still be watching out for her though.

It felt great to see Lily again when she came back. I held her tight in my arms for a moment, burying my face in her hair.

"It's good to see you too James. Why didn't you ever write back over break though?" Lily asked, frowning up at me. I half smiled and showed her my hand.

"It still hurts to do most things with my hand," I told her. She gaped at the scar and grabbed my hand, flipping it over to the other side.

"James Potter, what in the name of Merlin did you do?" she demanded. I laughed lightly.

"Well…you see…" and then I went on to tell her the story of my winter break. She was a great listener, gasping at all the right places and covering her mouth at others. I may have embellished it a little for the story's sake…but hey, it was all in great fun.

And with Raston out of the picture, there was lots of fun to be had.

The luck of the Marauder's this year was finally looking up!

And guess what else? Alice came running through the doors of Hogwarts waving her left hand around and practically told every student some very big news. Frank had proposed to her over the break, and she'd said yes. They hadn't discussed any plans yet though. Alice was still excited about the actual proposal.

Seeing the ring on her hand made me do some major thinking too. (It's not impossible for me you know). Lily was thinking about the same thing too. She actually brought it up with me about two weeks later.

We were sitting on one of the couches in the common room. It was pretty late, and we were the only two there. She was leaning her head on my left shoulder, absently tracing a pattern on my hand with her fingers. I was staring blankly into the fire, practically asleep.

"Hey James?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Have you thought much about what's going to happen after Hogwarts?" she asked. I started to wake up a little.

"Yeah, I've given that a lot of thought," I said. My stomach twisted into knots, and I briefly thought that maybe Lily was going to break up with me.

"Have you ever thought about marriage?" she asked. My mind froze.

"Yeah, I've thought about it. And where are you going with this, because I'm starting to freak out," I admitted. She laughed lightly.

"I'm not going far. I've just been thinking about marriage a lot because of Alice and Frank," she said. I nodded. My mind had unfrozen and was now blurring thoughts together incoherently.

"Do you want me to propose right now?" I asked, raising a brow as I tried to look down at her.

"No, not right now. It wouldn't feel right if you did it right now," she said. I blinked a few times.

"Are you saying that one day, when you're least expecting it, you want me to ask you to marry me? The guy you've hated for most of your life," I said. I felt Lily's head dip a bit at the reminder.

"I told you I never hated you," she muttered. "And I've been thinking about this a lot, and…yeah. You're the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with," she said quietly.

I was stunned, to say the least. I had never dreamed Lily Evans would ever say that to me willingly. (Well, okay, maybe I did dream that once or twice, but I don't remember it!)

She took my silence as a bad sign. "Don't tell me you've changed your mind about me after six years," she said, pain threading her words. I tightened my arm around her.

"No, I haven't changed my mind," I said slowly. "I just never imagined you'd be the one to say that first, and willingly."

She laughed. I kissed the top of her head lightly.

"I've always known you were the girl for me, Lily Evans. I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life with you."

I felt her smile against my shoulder. I smiled too. My life now couldn't be any different than when the school year had first started. Raston was gone from my life. I had more or less accepted my parents' deaths. And Lily Evans had agreed to go out with me, and had even admitted she wanted to spend her life with me.

My luck couldn't be better now. I couldn't wait for the rest of my life.

End Chapter/ End story

And there we are! The final lines of Marauder's Luck!

I think someone has already asked me this, and I'm sure more of you are wondering, but I am not writing another Marauder era story. At least not that I know of…

I have been thinking of another story idea, but this one would deal with Harry's generation. Whether or not I'll ever write it and post it…eh, we'll see. Wouldn't be for a few months though. If I do decide to write it, I'll post a notice on here letting you know if enough people from here show interest.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story and Dark Days! And thanks to all of you who read but didn't review! I know there's a lot of you!

Please review one last time though! I know it's the last chapter, but I still like to hear your feedback!