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"So, mate, what do you reckon we've done this time?" Sirius Black asked, leaning back into the cushioned chair and placing his feet gingerly on the edge of the ornate desk.
James Potter reached into a pocket and withdrew his prized stolen Snitch, tossing into the air next to his own chair and deftly catching it. "Dunno," he answered boredly.
"Maybe they got wind of our brilliant plan to ambush Snivellus and the rest of them?"
James shrugged. "Only if Peter told someone." He paused, examining the faint lines on the Snitch, then continued. "Which is entirely plausible..."
Sirius laughed. "Or maybe they figured out that it was us last week who 'decorated' the wall outside..." His voice trailed off, and he suddenly looked a shade paler. James sat up and gave his best friend an inquiring glance, waiting expectantly for him to continue.
"What if they found out? I mean... about us, you know, being Animagi?"
James eyes widened slightly, but he then swallowed and shook his head. "Nah, Padfoot, how could they?"
"I dunno, but usually we just get some detentions or something... Dumbledore's office, that's pretty serious"
Prongs sighed and pocketed the snitch. He stood up and walked around, looking at some of the portraits and remembering his past experiences in the office. There was a large mirror on one wall, and he paused in front of it. Jet black hair was all over the place, red and gold tie loose around his neck, head boy's badge pinned on slightly askew. Perfectly presentable.
As he reached up to run a hand through his hair, Sirius laughed. "You look fine, honey," he cooed, imitating the way all the girls in their year reassured each other.
"Oh, shut up," James responded with a grin. He kept wandering the massive office, but he stopped again.
"Hey... come look at this."
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Sirius got up with a slight groan and walked over to the cabinet where James stood. He followed James's gaze and stared for a few seconds. "What is it?"
A smug smile tugged at the corner of James's mouth. "Never seen a Pensieve before, then?"
"Wouldn't have asked if I had..."
Laughing, James brushed back his hair and continued. "A Pensieve," he began, "lets you take memories from your own mind, and simply store them in here," he said, motioning to the silvery substance in the basin. Sirius leaned over it, studying the liquid yet gaseous mixture apprehensively. James continued. "You can go back and look at things closer, see things you didn't notice the first time... my dad had one," he finished lamely. "I never got to try it out."
Sirius looked at James, then gazed around the office, a corner of his mouth upturning in a mischievious fashion. "So long as we're just sitting here..."
Grinning, James took out his wand. "Right." Having learned enough from his dad to know how to extract the memory he wanted, he twirled the wand through his fingers, trying to determine just what that memory would be. Finally, just as Sirius had begun to lose interest and was examining a potion bottle with mild interest, James thought of a day that had taken place not too long ago... best day of his Hogwarts education, he figured. Brandishing his wand, he touched it lightly to his temple, then slowly withdrew it. A wispy silver trail followed the tip of the wand, waving gently even though there was no breeze in the office. The two Marauders' gazes followed it until James tapped the wand with a finger right over the Pensieve. The memory joined the silvery substance that was already in the basin, but after several seconds, the ghost-like but very realistic forms of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs appeared over the basin, all four laughing and enjoying themselves. Their real life counterparts both smiled, and James pocketed his wand. "Now, for the real fun." He looked to the office stairway, and convinced that no one was coming, he quickly pushed Sirius's head down towards the Pensieve and followed suit. Sirius never had a chance to object- before he knew what happened, the two had spiraled back in time to James's chosen memory.
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James's feet hit the ground hard, and pain shot up to his knees. No wonder, he thought to himself, looking down to the stone floor. He then raised his eyes as he heard Sirius land beside him. They were by the door of the Potions classroom, along with the N.E.W.T.-level class and Professor Slughorn. Sirius was staring around with widened eyes, and he put his hand up to the back of his head, as if trying hard to figure this out. James smiled. "Weird, huh?"
Sirius didn't answer immediately, still looking around. "They can't see us?"
James shook his head. "No... I guess we're invisible, for lack of a better term," he replied, laughing slightly at his extremely technical answer. Before Sirius could question him any further, they heard the professor clear his throat.
"Miss Evans? And Mister Potter? Could I see you both momentarily?"
From the back corner of the classroom, the memory version of James looked up, visibly a bit stressed. The cauldron in front of him was boiling, and he was in the middle of chopping up a root. He turned to his neighbor, Remus Lupin, and whispered to him. Lupin nodded slowly, and discreetly moved James's root towards him to help James finish in time. James thanked him softly and wiped his hands on his black robes, then walked towards the front of the classroom.
Lily Evans had beat him there. Wearing a black skirt and a Hogwarts sweater, with her dark red hair tied up out of her face, she hardly looked as stressed as the rest of the class. In fact, she was just corking a vial of her potion as James walked up to the desk. She slid the vial into a holder, and then with a tap of her wand on the cork, she seared her initials onto it. Slughorn was beaming at her. "All done?"
Grinning, Lily nodded. "Something more challenging next time, Professor?" she suggested with a slight smirk. Slughorn just laughed. "Honestly, I'm surprised the class is having difficulty with it." James looked as if he would have liked to roll his eyes.
Clearing his throat once more, the professor looked from Lily to James. "I'm sure you both are aware that Professor McGonnagall is a bit under the weather, unfortunately." Lily nodded; James raised an eyebrow, evidently surprised. Slughorn continued on. "She asked me to remind you about the upcoming meeting that Hogwarts will be hosting." This time both the Head Boy and Girl were able to nod. They had known about it for weeks. Rumor had it that another Triwizard Tournament was being planned, and all of the headmasters from magic schools around the world were coming, but nothing was certain. After being sworn to secrecy about the meeting, James promptly picked Moony and Padfoot's brains for other ideas, but the Tournament still seemed probable. It was an exciting thought, even if James and his friends wouldn't be in school anymore. "There has been a slight change in the plans, however, and the Headmaster wishes for the head students to be present," Slughorn said, and lowering his voice slightly, he added, " presumably to make a good reflection on the Hogwarts student body."
Lily didn't question the news, but James quickly opened his mouth. "What exactly is this meeting about, Professor?"
Slughorn shook his head. "I don't know," he replied, albeit with a look in his eyes that spoke volumes about his honesty. Lily, content with the answer, turned on her heel and returned to her seat, slipping back into her robes and talking animatedly with a friend. James lingered at the desk for a second, then went back to his work.
Lupin had done as much as possible for James, but finally he had to return to his own potion. Naturally, James's slight panic resumed and he hurriedly began adding the rest of the ingredients to the cauldron, without regard to the directions. As if it had been waiting for the opportune moment, the bell rang, and James's hands flew up to his head. Apparently seeing no use in trying to finish, he drew up a bit of what he had into a dingy vial and handed it to Lupin. Lupin took his own and James's up to the desk and then returned, grabbing his bag and helping James clean up.
"Well, that was fun," James remarked through clenched teeth. Remus laughed and patted him on the back. "Next time," he said consolingly. "Let's go eat." Just as they were passing through the doors, Slughorn called Moony back, saying something about needing to discuss his most recent essay. With a slight grumble, Lupin told James to go on to dinner.
Sighing, James set off through the dark corridor, taking his time as there weren't hordes of people pushing past him to get upstairs. They had all beat him there- hopefully Sirius would save him a spot on the benches. The current James and Sirius were lagging a short distance behind him. Halfway to the stairs, Sirius whispered, as if afraid of being overheard, "Think Dumbledore's come to the office yet?" His companion just snickered, and then motioned for Sirius to hurry up. Up ahead, the other James had stopped just short of the stairs, scowling as he swooped down to pick up a fallen wand. As they approached, they immediately saw what had happened.
Lily was stationed halfway up the steps, but against her will; evidently she had been shoved and fell into a trap step. Clearly distressed, her face was flushed red as she bent awkwardly to try and support her leg. What really made James scowl, however, was the sight of Severus Snape lurking on the top step, a snarl on his face. From their vantage point, Sirius whispered, "Should have known this involved Snivellus somehow..."
"Oh," said Snape softly, looking to the wand James had picked up. "Did I do that?" Only someone truly dense (perhaps Peter) could have missed the sarcasm. He turned and began to continue up the stairs. Before handing Lily back her wand, James used his own to silently hex the Slytherin. Snape tripped and fell forward, landing on the steps before him. Recovering quickly, he looked back to James, ready to return the favor. But James was quicker, shouting out "Expelliarmus!" before Snape could react. Once more, Snape was blown up the stairs, and he cursed out loud at his lost wand.
At the same time, however, Lily failed to suppress a whimper, obviously in pain from the way her ankle was caught in the step. For perhaps a half of a second, James was irked that he could not continue to give Snape exactly what he deserved, but he got over it. Letting his wand hand fall, he ignored the Slytherin and scaled the stairs two at a time until he was right above the trap step. He gingerly took her wrists and then pulled her free from the step, then held out her wand. Lily shifted all of her weight onto one leg, a wince on her face, taking the lightweight willow wand back as she did so.
"Are you hurt?" James asked with genuine concern. Lily shrugged gently, taking a deep breath to get her composure back. "I... yeah, sort of." She paused, pulling aside the bottom of her robes to examine at her ankle. "Could be worse, I guess..." With a tap of her wand and the word 'ferula' spoken quietly, her ankle became splinted and bandaged well enough to get her to the hospital wing. James didn't follow her gaze, instead looking right to her eyes. When Lily looked back up, she bit her lip, then finally dropped her chin, the barest hint of a smile coming to her features. "Thanks..."
James nodded, suddenly speechless, apparently aware that, there on that step, he was the closest to Lily Evans he had ever been. When he got his senses back, he cleared his throat and replied with, "You're welcome, Evans." At the bottom of the stairs, the other James was fervently wishing that he could have changed his response to anything more suave... or just nicer in general. With one eyebrow raised, Lily ascended to the next step, the smile still on her face. "I'll see you around, then, James."
James stared after her for a few seconds, then slowly scaled the rest of the steps, heading off towards the Great Hall.
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At the base of the steps, Sirius faced James with an interrogating look. James held up his hands. "Well, what would you have done?"
Sirius held up a hand, counting on his fingers. "Well, were I you, after I finished hexing the living hell out of Snivellus," he began, putting one finger up, "I would have used my devilishly good looks to finally seduce Lily Evans right there." As an afterthought, he added, "And then I would have helped her out of the step."
Both boys began laughing, and James ran a hand through his hair, trying not to dwell on how awkward that had been. He then looked around fruitlessly for a window. "I s'pose it's getting late... guess we should get back to the office." The mood fell instantly at the prospect of having to face the headmaster. Sirius nodded half-heartedly. "You're sure we just can't stay here... maybe see what we've done to get us sent to Dumbledore's office?" He grinned.
Laughing once more, James shook his head. "Not a chance," he said, motioning to the halls which were growing fairly dark. Taking Sirius's arm, he concentrated intently on the office they were supposed to be sitting in, using what he had picked up in the Apparition classes the previous year. Momentarily, the two boys found themselves back in the office, and they glanced around cautiously. One of the headmasters' portraits was giving them a particularly menacing stare, but Sirius just stuck his tongue out at it before settling into a seat. James looked into the Pensieve one last time, wishing he could have stayed there and relived more of his memories - although perhaps he wouldn't drag Sirius along for them. But, with a resigned sigh, he too returned to his chair, slumping down slightly, deep in thought.
As if on cue, they heard footsteps echoing in the spiral staircase. Both boys turned slightly in their seats, actually feeling a bit apprehensive. McGonnagal, Filch, and the others, they could handle... but Dumbledore?
The door swung open quietly, and the Headmaster walked into the room. He didn't go straight for his desk, however; instead, he took the long route. In doing so, he passed right by the Pensieve. James prayed that the surface of the basin was smooth. Dumbledore paused, looking into the silvery mix with a twinkle in his eye. He then moved onto his desk, seating himself slowly and set his hands on the edge of the desk, interlocking his fingers. Both James and Sirius subconsciously sat up a bit straighter, with Sirius meeting Dumbledore's gaze, and James running a hand through his jet black hair. They waited for him to address whatever trouble they had gotten into, what their punishment would be, how disappointed he was with them.
But all Dumbledore said was, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." He never stopped smiling, nor did he lose the glint in his blue eyes. "But I trust you were able to keep yourselves occupied."