i think, one day, the marauders went exploring and found the mirror of erised.
peter saw himself standing next to the marauders, but they were all the same height. all the same weight. the same wide smiles and slightly crinkled eyes. and he imagined sirius looked at him like he was james, and remus looked at him like he was sirius, and james looked at him like he was lily. he was with his friends, but they were all equals.
(nobody ever told him that they were all worth the same anyway).
sirius saw himself with the marauders too. but in it, they were all perfect. unflinching, straight-backed boys with a future of gold. and when his hand found remus’, he just held back tighter, not pulling away and shaking his hand like sirius’ touch was poison. not like he’d fucked things up. not like he could destroy it all with a single flick of his wand, a single whisper in the darkness. he was with his friends, but they were all okay.
(nobody ever told him that it was okay not to be okay anyway).
remus saw himself as a real marauder. someone who was truly a brother to the people who were brothers to him– because you didn’t have beasts for brothers. no, the wolf was their enemy– he saw himself as pure, as maybe, possibly, finally worthy of their friendship. of their love. he was with his friends, but now he was a better friend, a friend worthy of being one.
(nobody ever told him that he deserved the universe anyway).
james saw himself with the marauders. except– they were all the same. just four happy boys smiling back at him, like the world was theirs to conquer and lightning ran through their veins. he saw himself with the marauders, just as they are, because it was perfect. they were perfect.
(nobody ever told him that perfect never lasted anyway).






