James meets a Boggart
James sat with Sirius at the back of the class, while the defence against the dark arts teacher taught at the front of the room.
The two of them weren't listening but rather sending Itching Charms at the back of a slytherin's head. They were trying to hold back their laughter but it didn't seem to be working because every few minutes a certain green eyed girl at the front of the class would turn to glare angrily at them. James just sent her a charming grin which caused her to glare further and turn back to her seat.
Just as Sirius was to send another charm at a certain area of a boy you really didn't want to have to pay attention to in public, the defence teacher called for them to stand up.
Not exactly knowing what was going on, James and Sirius stood from their desks and walked with everyone else to the front of the room. Catching James' eye Lily smirked at his lost look before turning back to her conversation with her friend, Marlene.
"Prongs, Padfoot, why do you two look so lost?" Peter asked them as the two boys in question walked up to Peter who was conveniently standing with Remus at the time. The Marauders together again, the majority of the class would have thought.
"What are we doing?" James asked Remus. It was quite unlike the two of them to not have some idea of what was going on, but their annoying of the boy in front had gotten a little too entertaining for the friends.
Remus and Peter sighed before explaining; "Boggarts. They make you see your worst fear and you have to shout 'Ridikulous' before you can move on."
It was a short explanation but both Sirius and James understood and got in the line behind Peter and Remus, awaiting their turn. How hard could it be to face your worst nightmare?
It was taking quite a while for each and every person to go through their fears; James understood the fact that what they were seeing was probably the worst thing in the world to them, but he wasn't a very patient man, nor did he like to be unanimated so he fidgeted in line as he waited for his turn, leaning from side to side as he tried get a glimpse of the chest the Boggart came out of.
When it was Remus' turn James' was very close to him so he could see everything. The dark grey shape came out of the chest before settling in the air in front of Remus. His wand was in his hand as he stared straight ahead at the being, ready for whatever it was going to show him.
What was shown James did not expect though. Of course he knew about Remus' furry little problem and James new how much it terrified him – he would be a terrible friend if he didn't – but the object the Boggart portrayed was not a vision of a terrifying beast with hunched shoulders, menacing claws and dark dangerous eyes.
No, the Boggart – from its position in front of Remus – suddenly began to spin on itself until it formed a rather picturesque sight.
A moon, no a full moon stared back at Remus with clouds that hung around, shielding it fully from view. But the clouds were moving and suddenly James could see the moon in all its splendidness – well, maybe for him anyway.
A large white orb glowed in front of Remus. It wasn't until James saw the hand that held his wand shake that he realised how much the object terrified him. It was the one night of a month that Remus couldn't control himself, the one night where he turned into a vicious beast that he had no power over. James realised how naïve he had been to think it was anything but the moon. Werewolf Lupin was not a friend to any of the Marauders, and was the only animal the four could turn into that they did not welcome.
The fact that Moony – the name he had been blessed with when the other three found out about his disease – was now looking at the cause of his transformation was horrifying, but he could feel the way he wasn't changing and that gave him enough strength to raise his wand at the moon and shout a rather loud 'Ridikulous!', staying at the front of the room to witness the round moon turn into a large wheel of cheese and clatter to the floor before dashing out of the room. Peter followed hastily after the acceptance of the teacher who stood next to the chest.
Then it was James' turn.
As he stood in front of the Boggart James tried to think of everything that terrified him; Voldemort, getting kicked out of Hogwarts, losing his best friends or even falling off of his broomstick (a rather silly fear if you asked Sirius – James was the best rider at Hogwarts).
But none of those are what were shown in front of him.
Never before had he thought he would see what was there in front of him, because it was impossible he always told himself, he would never let that happen. But there it was in front of him, maybe not real, but still visible.
One day James met a girl. He infuriated her and she bugged him to no end. Their arguments were legendary but he still couldn't help loving her.
It had come like a big blow to him the first time he had laid eyes on her, one of his first days at Hogwarts but James had never really known what the feeling was until almost two years later. She hung out with the creepy Slytherin boy that James hated, and for years to infuriate the other boy James repeatedly asked her out, although it was more for himself then to annoy the Slytherin. She never said yes, but it was still worth a try, he told himself.
But then one day that friendship ended with the worst insult you could ever say to another person, friend or not. James had damaged him for hurting her, but she still didn't care about him. She had yelled at him and he had felt like a piece of shit, even though he had been the one defending her. From that day on he stopped asking her out and over the past months they had formed a careful friendship. One where they could talk to each other for more than five minutes without ripping each other's heads off.
Green eyes stared at him, no longer cheerful or sparked, no the eyes for glossed over, all emotions gone except for one; pain.
The bolt of green light came from nowhere but it pierced straight into Lily's chest. Her face scrunched up and she screamed. A blood curdling scream that had James dropping his wand and running to her, although he couldn't – he was held back by someone restraining his arms. James kicked and screamed for them to let go because the red head, the love of his life, Lily was dying on the ground and he needed to help save her.
"She's not real Prongs!" James could hear a voice cut through his screams but he paid no attention to it. He pretended to relax before knocking the hands off of him and running to the girl on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, the emerald green piercing him to his core as he saw the terror and panic reside in the place where he used to find piece. Her breathing was shallow and in harsh pants.
Trying to save her James put a hand out to search for a pulse, but the strangest thing happened. His hand went straight through her. Not a single force met his hand. It was like Lily wasn't even there. Incredulously James looked at his hand trying to figure out what was happening but Lily let out another earth shattering scream this time screaming his name. James, choking on a sob, turned towards his wand that was lying a few feet from him before reciting all the spells he knew in his head, anything to stop this from happening. She wouldn't die.
Behind James there no sound other than the panicked shouts of Sirius and Lily, trying to talk to each other over James and the other Lily's screams.
"What the fuck is happening?" demanded Lily to Sirius.
"He can't see that she's not real!" He shouted back at her, running his hands through his hair as he tried to come up with something.
"Why is his biggest fear me dying?" she shouted.
"Not the time, Evans." He said.
"Of course it's the fucking time!"
Sirius turned to face her suddenly and grabbed her shoulders, speaking in a low and serious voice. "No, no it's not. Now is the time to stop that before he goes into complete shock." Sirius pointed at his best friend who still sat on the floor beside a screaming Lily, one who was obviously not in the best shape.
Suddenly though, the screaming stopped. Sirius and Lily looked expectantly at the James who sat staring at Lily's body, and as a shock to everyone in the room, sobbed.
Lily, finally realizing that this had gone too far turned back to Sirius and with the most serious voice she could conjure said, "I want you to grab him and pull him away without giving him enough time to react. Now!"
Without James attention, Sirius leaned down, hooked his arms under his friends and pulled him up. As James yelled in protest, Lily grabbed her wand and yelled "Redikulous!" And the body of Lily Evans suddenly was no more. In its place sat Mrs Norris, who meowed once before returning to the chest.
As James finally started to realize what was going on around him Sirius let him go. Turning his head to look at the witch who had cast the boggart away he found none other than Lily Evans. Her face was flushed and she still hadn't lowered her arm so her wand was pointed out right in front of her, and it was her. She wasn't dead. And James had never felt more confused.
"Lily!" He shouted before wrapping his arms around her in a bone crushing hug. "Oh my god you're okay!" He rejoiced.
In his arms Lily's body shook, finally realizing what had just happened. She had witnessed herself die and James potter cry over her. She had just turned herself into a cat for Potters sake.
"Oh god James," she whispered into his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
She didn't know what any of that meant. The fact that James' biggest fear is watching her die, the fact that she was the one that banished her dead body, even though it was only a Boggart, the fact that she saw herself die; all she knew was that in that moment her life was in so much danger. And so was everyone else's. There was a war coming and people were going to die, and if there was one thing that she couldn't bear to lose, no matter how stupid and no matter how much it didn't make sense, was James Potter.
So she did exactly what she knew would make both of them happy, would make both of their worlds complete – at least for a moment.
She grabbed his face in between her hands and she kissed him.