Okay, so I originally wrote this for one of my really good friends. It was her Christmas present. Granted, it's probably not my best work, and since I wrote this, she has changed her favorite Marauder (thanks in part to me, she says), but I'm proud of it and she loved it. Unfortunately, the cool fonts I used didn't hold up to uploading... -sadness- I think that without it, the story loses something... ANYWAY! Without further ado, here's… something… Ehehehe…
Disclaimer: I do not own any of JKR's characters, plots, or universe. Hell, I technically don't own the main female character in here. I do, however, own Erin, and no one can steal her!! Mwahahaha…ha…ha… -cough-
I sighed as I glanced over my shoulder at the laughing bunch behind me. I had just drifted into my Advanced Divination – yes, I'm taking another year of Divination. I find it interesting, thank you very much – and the three people sitting at the tables a few rows behind me were very well known to me – and the rest of the school, for that matter.
"Hey, are you alright? You look a bit pale."
My head jerked up to see my best friend Erin standing next to the table, her book bag – which sounded like it weighed near thirty pounds – hitting the floor with a dull 'thud'. I shrugged in response to her question, and as the laughing continued, she seemed to know just what had put me in such an apathetic mood.
"Don't worry about them," she told me as she slid into her seat at our table. "Sirius and James are two of the biggest buffoons I've met in a while."
"Then why do you spend so much time with them?" I asked dully, giving her a pointed look. I was slightly surprised when her face went a bit red and she looked away, almost shyly. My eyes narrowed. "What aren't you telling me?"
She bit her lip in contemplation before leaning over to whisper softly in my ear.
"It's not the company of those two that I enjoy the most… It's one of their friends…" she trailed off, causing my eyes to widen.
"Seriously?!" I exclaimed, and her immediate reaction was to blush and shush me while looking apprehensively at the three teens behind us, who had grown mysteriously quiet.
"You rang?" a cocky voice answered, causing a scowl to crease my face.
"What do you want, Black?" I spat, looking up at the so-called 'heartthrob of Hogwarts' disdainfully. Honestly, I didn't know what girls saw in him. He was arrogant and cocky and egotistical and selfish and a self-proclaimed 'ladies man'… the list goes on and on.
"Oi, Powers, that hurts," he said, putting his hand to his heart dramatically. "What did I ever do to you?"
I chose not to respond and instead settled for glaring at him. My glare hardened when an all-too-familiar head of messy dark hair came into view.
"What seems to be the problem, ladies?" James Potter asked in what I assume he thought was a flirtatious tone. I rolled my eyes in disgust before turning away from them.
"Seems that Powers here doesn't want to talk to me," Sirius answered in a tone that to a fan of his would have sounded sad, but to me just sounded ridiculous.
"Aw, why not?" James grabbed a chair from a nearby table and leaned it against ours, purposefully putting himself in my direct line of vision.
"James," Erin warned as she stood, placing herself behind me. Apparently she noticed the deepening scowl that was currently occupying my face and she knew me well enough that if I was angry enough, it wouldn't end pretty for James. Her warning went unheard as she continued. "You might just want to walk away now…"
He ignored her again and tried to get a response of some sort from me while he tried to get his chair to balance on two legs.
"Aw, c'mon, Jonni. Have some fun every once in a while," James said, and it took all my self-control to refrain from kicking the chair out from underneath him. No matter how much it would amuse me, I would most likely end up getting caught, so I settled for a different response.
"Oh, you mean you're actually talking to me again? It's been… what, almost five years now since you've last spoken to me?" I ask coldly, hoping that even if he wouldn't show it, this would sting a bit.
It was silent among our small group, almost awkwardly so. Erin put a hand on my shoulder and spoke, I'm assuming to James.
"Just go, James," she said softly, a dangerous edge hidden in her voice. It took a few minutes, but James and Sirius finally meandered back to their own table. I heard a set of softer footsteps approaching before a kind voice spoke.
"I'm sorry, Jonni. They really don't know when to quit nowadays," Remus apologized, and I shook my head and placed it on my folded arms.
"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault or anything…" I knew that Remus was at least a little upset about their behavior, as he was the most sensible of the bunch. He was the only one of the Marauders – as they had so dubbed themselves – I could stand. I heard him sigh before I noticed that he was still standing there and Erin was still standing next to me. I chanced a glance at the two and couldn't help but smirk slightly when I saw that they were both just standing there, as if in a daze. I watched as our professor entered the room and I nudged Erin in the side slightly, causing whatever moment was passing between her and Remus to suddenly disappear. She sat down and I could have sworn she was blushing again. I shook my head with a small smile.
As class went on, I felt a burning sensation on the back of my neck. Every time I would look behind me, I would see nothing out of the ordinary, but as soon as I turned back around the feeling would come back. It was getting kind of annoying, and while I was mulling over the fact that I couldn't figure out who was staring, I felt Erin nudge me in the side ever-so-slightly.
"James keeps staring at you," she whispered softly, glancing over her shoulder towards where the Marauder in question was seated.
"Yeah right. He's probably just staring at Lily. Remember, he's been infatuated with her since first year," I scoffed. "Why would he want to stare over here? If he doesn't deem me fit to talk to for five years, he shouldn't be staring either."
Erin laughed quietly and shook her head. "Okay, first of all, Lily is sitting on the opposite side of the room from us, so if he were staring at her, he wouldn't be looking in this direction." I had to admit, she had a point. "Secondly, the two of them aren't on speaking terms."
I snorted. "Well obviously. She thinks he's an arrogant prick – which he is, by the way," I commented, making the last part slightly louder so that it would carry to the back of the classroom for James to hear.
Erin was silent for a moment. "You don't know, do you?"
I was both curious and wary of this potentially new information. Unfortunately, my curiosity won out.
"What do you mean, 'I don't know'?"
Erin sighed with a small smile. "It's a long story, but here's the condensed version." I leaned in to listen, as my attention was now fully caught. "Okay, you know the Ravenclaw Keeper? Oh, what's his name…? Donaldson or something like that." I nodded and Erin continued on with the story.
"Anyway, apparently Lily was dating him or something, because James apparently walked in on the two snogging after the big Quidditch match two weeks ago. After that, James would take any chance he could get to ridicule the guy in front of Lily, and finally one day last week, she snapped."
My eyes widened as I waited for Erin to go on.
"I was in the library working on my Potions homework and Lily was working on something as well – most likely History of Magic – when James came into the library raising hell about something or another. He started calling Lily out for dating Whatshisname and he started insulting him right in front of her. Apparently, he said something that really pissed Lily off, as she hexed him several times and all I caught of the conversation was her saying 'If you don't stay the bloody hell away from me, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I never want to speak to you, hear from you, or even see you again in my life.' After that, she walked out. She was obviously pissed enough to hex him good, since she was banned from the library for the rest of the week."
I was shocked at this. Lily, get banned from the library?! Hell, hearing that Lily got banned from anything was shocking in itself.
"Anyway, there's more." Erin had my attention once more.
"James apparently didn't get the message the first time 'round, so when he tried talking to her for the rest of last week, she would hex him like mad before stalking off somewhere. Seems to me that he finally got the message by Saturday, and they haven't spoken since."
I was surprised, to say the least. I mean, I knew that the two fought like cats and dogs – well, Lily fought with him while James tried to declare his undying love for her – but this just takes it to a new level.
"Wow." That was all I could say at the moment. I spent the rest of class digesting this new information, subconsciously still aware of the eyes that followed my every move. The teacher dismissed us when class was over, and Erin and I went our separate ways, the burning sensation only fading away when we were safe in our common room.
****
It was now nearly Halloween. Since the school year had been uneventful so far, the staff had all agreed – by suggestion of Dumbledore, of course – that Hogwarts would hold a Halloween ball. The notice had been posted in the common room nearly a week ago, and most of the girls were going nuts about it. It didn't help that it was supposed to be a masquerade ball, meaning that everyone had to look their best and wear masks. Most of the girls were squealing about something boy-related when it came to the mask aspect. Something along the lines of 'Oh, wouldn't it be so romantic if so-and-so asked me to dance and blah-de-blah-de-blah happened?'
"Urgh. I'm so over this Halloween dance thing already," I groaned as I collapsed in the common room. I heard familiar laughter next to me and cracked open an eye to see Erin standing there with her hands on her hips.
"Let me guess," she started, sitting down next to me on the couch. "You're not planning on going to the dance on Saturday, are you?"
I scoffed and shook my head.
"Why waste my time and money? It's just some stupid social function that promotes couples and makes all the single people out there feel even more miserable about their lack of relationship," I told her nonchalantly. I didn't look up, but for some reason, I suddenly felt uncomfortable. I spared a glance up and saw that Erin was smirking mischieviously, which was never a good thing.
"Umm… Erin? Why are you smirking like that?" I asked, growing more and more apprehensive as the time passed.
"You're going to this dance whether you like it or not. Don't even worry about paying for the dress; I've already got it covered."
She grabbed my arm and drug me upstairs, forcing me to get dressed so we could quickly make our way to the mass of students who were going to Hogsmeade for the sole reason of finding something to wear to the masquerade.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?" I asked myself as I started getting dressed in Muggle clothes, not looking forward to the shopping hysteria that would inevitably ensue.
****
"There is no way in hell that I'm going out in this tonight," I yelled from the bathroom in the sixth year girls' dorm. "I feel like a fat cow in this dress and I can't dance and I'm not leaving this room!"
I heard Erin sigh before the bathroom door was thrown open by a spell. I scowled at Erin, refusing to move from my spot. Erin narrowed her eyes at me, and I knew that if I didn't walk into that Great Hall of my own free will, she would drag me kicking and screaming.
"Fine," I growled lowly as I frowned at my reflection in the mirror. My brownish-blonde hair had been artistically arranged so that it curled neatly with most of the curls pinned up at the crown of my head with a few hanging down to frame my face. Erin had taken the liberty to do my makeup, which wasn't much, considering that I would be wearing a mask anyway. The dress, however… I had to admit that Erin had fantastic taste. It was strapless and corseted with crystals scattered over the bodice. The dress itself was a beautiful color, almost a rosy-chocolate color. Yeah, I suck at describing color. But my mask matched perfectly, and I had to admit that Erin had outdone herself this time.
"What's the matter, Jonni? You look perfect!" she exclaimed, but I couldn't help but frown.
"I didn't want to go to this thing in the first place," I told her, shooting an evil glare her way. Erin, however, wasn't fazed in the least.
"Aw, c'mon. Don't make me have to drag you there myself."
I frowned. "Yeah, and the scary part is that I know you could do it too," I muttered to myself. I sighed, knowing that the dance would be starting in a matter of minutes, and Erin really would drag me down there, whether she was in silver heels that murdered her feet or not.
"Let's just get this over with," I sighed, rolling my eyes as my turquoise-clad friend cheered.
****
I couldn't help but smile as I watched Erin stumble off to dance with who I figured was Remus, as it sounded exactly like the Marauder. Since she had told me that she liked him, I had been teasing her mercilessly about it. I sat down at a random table, just watching the couples dancing and others milling about. I had no interest in actually dancing, as I would most likely fall over and manage to humiliate myself more than I normally do.
I was in the middle of my musing when a familiar yet unknown voice met my ears.
"What's a beautiful girl like you doing sitting here all alone?" the obviously male voice asked. I turned to glare at whoever it was, but the person seemed a bit familiar, even though I couldn't identify who it was.
"I don't dance," I answered shortly. Apparently, the masked man – forgive the cliché – didn't take the hint, however. He sat down next to me and scooted his chair closer, invading my personal space.
"Just one dance? Please?" My eyes slid over to him and I sighed as I realized that, even though he was masked and I couldn't tell his identity, the pleading puppy look was being used to its fullest. I had always been a sucker for the puppy eyes, and now was no exception.
"Fine," I said, glad that it was actually a fast song. However, my luck changed, because as I stood, the fast song came to a close and an overly romantic slow song started. Great, just my luck. It didn't help matters that I couldn't dance to save my life. Apparently this was obvious, as my dance partner laughed softly as he placed my hands on his shoulders and his hands drifted to my waist.
"You've never formally danced, have you?" he asked, but instead of being mocking like I had expected, it was more teasing.
"Not really," I replied, refusing to look at him. He laughed again, as I could feel the slight rumble in his chest. "What's so funny?" I asked, glancing up at him briefly.
"Oh, nothing really. I just find it mildly amusing that the bookworm of the sixth year Hufflepuff house is embarrassed that she's never danced before," he told me, and I couldn't help but blush and frown in embarrassment.
We made small talk while we danced, and before we knew it, the song had come to an end. I was reluctant to part from him, since for some reason he seemed to understand me pretty well for someone who had just met me. He suggested that we take a walk around the grounds so we could talk more, and I agreed. I was impressed; he didn't only want to talk about himself. He kept asking me about my life, and not only about my school life either. He asked me about my parents and my friends and what I did in my spare time. We got into an interesting conversation about music, which surprised me, as many of the bands I listed as my favorites were in fact Muggle bands, and he had heard of several of them, and on occasion had even listened to some of their music. We talked longer than expected, and as the bell tolled, signaling the end of the dance, we stopped our walk around the Great Lake. I looked up to see a waning crescent moon shining down over the lake, its light reflecting off of the still waters.
"Hey." My companion's voice drew my gaze from the beauty of the moon to his masked face. "I've been wondering for a while…"
I waited for him to go on, but when he didn't continue, I prodded. "Yes…?"
"I've been wondering… Is there anyone… special in your life?"
I was caught off guard, first by the question, and secondly by the fact that he sounded a bit nervous about the question.
"N-no. Why do you ask?" I answer, my surprise causing my voice to shake a bit. He stepped closer, and I could see his hazel-green eyes burning with an inner light that I hadn't noticed before. He drew my hands to his shoulders before his own settled on my waist.
"Dance with me, one last time," he said softly, almost as if it pained him to say it. I was a bit confused as to what was going on, but I silently acquiesced and we began swaying to the music of the night. I rested my head against his chest and I could faintly hear his heart beating. Was it me, or was his heart beating a bit faster than it sounded a few seconds ago?
"Jonni," he whispered, causing me to look up at him in shock. I had never told him my name, so how did he know it? His fingers brushed my face gently, and suddenly a feeling of giddy nervousness filled my chest. My eyes locked with his as he lifted my chin ever-so-gently until I could feel his warm breath caressing my face. "What would you say… if I kissed you right now?" he asked me, his voice so quiet that I had to struggle to hear it. Once my mind processed the words, my eyes widened as my breathing grew unsteady and my heart rate skyrocketed. I couldn't find the words to answer and I licked my suddenly dry lips in hopes to appease the nervousness that spread through my veins. He didn't say anything to my silence, instead choosing to let his lips speak on their own. If my eyes could have gotten any bigger, they would have done so as soon as I felt his soft lips caress my own. I was shocked to say the least, but I soon recovered and I leaned into his kiss. We stayed like that for what could have been hours, but must have only been minutes, until we both grew faint from lack of oxygen and pulled away. I watched a soft smile cross his face as he dug into his pocket, pulling out a piece of parchment.
"Here. This is for you," he told me, handing me the folded piece of parchment. I unfolded it, expecting to see something written on the paper, but it was blank. I gave him a quizzical look, causing him to smile again. His smile was… addicting, I guess you could say. It lit up his hazel eyes and gave them a greenish glow. "When you wish to contact me, just write on this paper. Its twin will show your words to me, as mine will show through yours. Consider it… a telephone of sorts." I looked up at him, surprise and confusion running rampant through my mind at the moment. He looked back over his shoulder briefly before looking back at me. "I'm sorry, but I must go now. I'll be in touch." And with that, he gave me a fleeting kiss before he disappeared. My shaking hand touched my lips, which were still warm from his kiss, as I looked from the woods to the paper clutched in my hand and back again.
What in the world…?
****
It had been almost a month and a half since that fateful night. Granted, I had never been one to believe in fairy tales or knights in shining armor, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to ignore it when I saw his now-all-too-familiar handwriting on the piece of parchment. I had only told Erin about it, and she had at first been as doubtful as I had been, but when she watched the paper work for itself, she was just as amazed as I was. In all this time, I had never gotten him to answer the question that had been haunting me the most: Who is he? I watched every guy I saw to see if he had hazel eyes, but unfortunately for me, that was around half of the male population of Hogwarts, no matter their age.
It was now nearing Christmas, and the students would be leaving on break soon. In fact, today had been the last day of classes until the New Year, so most of the students had been goofing off and relaxing while they could. It was during one of these times when I had a most strange encounter.
I had been walking around the grounds looking for a prime reading spot when I felt eyes on my back. I had looked behind me, but there had been no one there. This continued the entire time I was trying to read, so all in all, I only read maybe a page of my Muggle romance novel. It was then that I felt the tell-tale warmth radiating from my pocket that signaled that he had written me something.
Meet me in the Room of Requirement at nine o'clock tonight. I have something very important to talk to you about.
Go to the seventh floor and locate the tapestry of Barnaby and the dancing trolls. Walk past it three times while thinking of me and you will soon see a door. This is the door to the Room of Requirement.
I nodded and wrote back saying that I would indeed be there by nine o'clock tonight. I wondered what it was that he had to talk to me about, and suddenly, I was unexplainably nervous.
As soon as I returned to the common room, I told Erin about his message and the fact that I was nervous about going.
"You should go," she advised sagely. "If you don't, you'll probably never know what he wants to talk to you about." She had a point, and I milled about during the day and the evening, trying to find some way to keep me occupied.
Finally, eight thirty rolled around and I decided that I could finally leave the common room behind and find out what exactly he wanted to talk to me about. I managed to sneak my way from the Hufflepuff common room – with Erin's advice on how to avoid Filch and all that coming in handy – and I made my way up to the seventh floor. I located the tapestry and walked past it three times while thinking of what he wanted to talk to me about. Sure enough, a door appeared and I placed my shaking hand on the handle before taking a deep breath and pushing it open.
My eyes widened as I surveyed the room in front of me. A crackling fire roared in the hearth, dispelling the cold I had gathered from sneaking about in the castle, and I saw a dark haired figure standing with his back to me.
"Um…" I wasn't sure if this was the right person. Whoever it was wore a pair of faded black jeans and a long sleeved green sweater. I closed the door behind me and approached the person slowly, hoping that it was indeed him and not someone else who wanted to harm me.
"You came." His voice echoed around the room slightly. I hadn't heard his voice since Halloween, and for some reason, I felt relieved when I heard it. "I didn't know if you'd come."
"I told you I would," I answered softly, waiting for him to turn around. When he did, however, I was shocked. More than shocked, really. I was shocked, angry, hurt, confused… you name it, I probably felt it.
"James Potter!" I hissed in disgust. "I'm supposed to be meeting someone here, and you have the audacity to come in here and play a cruel joke on me?!" I turned to leave, but a gentle hand on my arm stopped me from moving.
"Jonni, please, hear me out," he said softly, and his voice sounded pained, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I had been tricked. I had been tricked by someone who had once been my best friend. And it hurt. A lot.
"No!" I wrenched my arm away from him and spun to face him, my fury radiating from me as heat would from a fire. "You come in here, pretending that you're him and you expect me to give you the time of day?! No! I've had it with you, James! What happened to us being best friends forever, huh?! I knew you long before Sirius did, yet once he came into the picture, you started to ignore me more and more! By the time the end of our first year rolled around, we had gone from being best friends to complete strangers! And you didn't even bother to do anything about it! We haven't spoken for over five years, James, and you expect me to want to listen to you all of a sudden?! I'm sorry, but I'm done wasting my time with you!" Before I could even think about it, my hand lashed out and a sharp sound echoed throughout the room. For a moment, the only sounds that could be heard were the crackling of the fire and my own angry panting.
James put a hand to his cheek gingerly as he turned to look at the floor in front of my feet. "I guess I deserved that," he said, and his voice sounded broken. He looked at me, and though I was beyond furious with him, the look in his eyes shocked the breath out of me.
Those eyes… Those hazel eyes that glowed green with an inner light…
"Wh… what?" I sank to the ground, my anger forgotten as I kept my eyes on his. Those eyes… Though they were now framed by black rimmed glasses, I remember them being rimmed by a mask not too long ago. "It… It couldn't be…" I felt tears rising and try as I might, I couldn't hold them back. "Why James? Why did you lead me on like that? Was it not enough that you hurt me enough when you stopped talking to me during first year? Now you have to mock my love life too?" I looked at the floor, my shoulder length hair obscuring my face, and clenched my fists over my knees. I refused to let him see me cry.
"Jonni… Look at me, please." His voice was pleading now, and, against my better judgment, I allowed my eyes to glance up to him. To my surprise, his eyes were glistening with moisture and he was kneeling in front of me. "Please, I have to apologize for how I've treated you these past few years. I didn't realize why I had stopped talking to you until it was third year and Sirius himself pointed it out to me. He said I was painfully obvious and he couldn't stand me moping like a puppy anymore. When I realized what he meant, I denied it with all the power I had and instead convinced myself that I was in love with Lily. She was smart, beautiful, fiery… Everything that you were. I guess I was just trying to find a replacement for you."
My breath shook in my chest, but this didn't deter him from continuing.
"I've been struggling with this for the past three years, and when I heard that there was going to be a masquerade, I realized that I could finally be with you without you knowing it was actually me. It took me a while to actually figure out what I was going to do – and a little help from a mutual friend of ours – but I eventually gathered my courage and asked you to dance. You know what happened from there."
When he said 'a little help from a mutual friend of ours' my mind interpreted it differently. "Erin," I hissed lowly, and James laughed.
"Indeed, Erin was the one who actually brought me to my senses. She hexed the sense I'd needed into me, quite literally I might add." I shook my head. I knew that Erin had some ulterior motive for making me go to that damn dance.
"Remind me to murder her when I get back to the common room," I muttered, causing James to laugh again. I looked up, and there was the smile that I had grown to love long before I knew who it really belonged to.
"Jonni," he started again, softer this time, "can you ever forgive me?"
I looked up at him and I could see it in his hazel eyes that he was sincere in what he was saying. I picked myself up off the floor, wiped my eyes, and grinned.
"Of course. Friends?" I asked, blocking out what I really wanted to ask.
"Actually…" he started, before glancing up and catching me by surprise. His warm lips descended upon mine, and for a minute, I thought that I was in one of those romance novels that I always have my nose in. I practically melted against him, causing him to chuckle lightly into the kiss before breaking away. "I had something a little different in mind," he continued, looking up. My eyes followed his and I stood amazed. There, floating above our heads, was a solitary piece of mistletoe. I laughed and hugged James to me.
"Merry Christmas, Jonni," he whispered into my ear as his lips brushed against my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
"Merry Christmas, James."