Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. Just simply having a little fun with them.
"Well, well, well. It seems as if the Head Boy has decided that he can grace us with his oh-so-important presence!" called Sirius Black sarcastically.
He and two of his friends, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, were hanging out in their carriage on the Hogwarts Express. Sirius and Remus had been playing a game of exploding snap, but threw it down when the carriage door slid open. James Potter stood there, a glower on his usually handsome face. Peter had been watching the game in awe from the corner of the cabin, but soon turned to fawning over James. There was no one in the world Peter wanted to be like more, not even Sirius. Sirius was a little too mean to him to earn Peter's undying love.
There was a shiny badge pinned on James's shirt. From Peter's perspective, the gold letters "HB" seemed to glow. Of course, this was a shock to everyone - James included. Out of all the marauders (the name the boys had given themselves) Remus was definitely the most likely to be Head Boy. Remus was the responsible one, only causing trouble when he was dragged into it by his mischievous friends or when his furry little problem was acting up. In all the six years James had attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, he had never gone more than a month without detention. Yeah, after the incident with Snape and the Whomping Willow last year he had grown up some, but there was no way he was more mature than Remus.
When he first realized what the badge was for, he considered sending it back. Surely there had been some mistake. Had the letter accidentally been addressed to James instead of Remus? But after thinking it over for a moment, he realized the pure mayhem he and Sirius could cause with this thing. Not only could they sneak around the castle under James's invisibility cloak, they now had an excuse for basically anything.
Well, that was James's plan until he entered the Head Carriage. Lily Evans, the witch of his dreams, the girl who had constantly rejected him since they were eleven, was standing there with an almost identical badge shining proudly on her shirt. "Potter," she said, surprised. "Lost?" It wasn't until a moment later she saw his badge and her whole demeanor changed. She smiled at him warmly, "Finally grown up, eh? Started being responsible? Good for you."
Never once in six years had he seen Lily smile at him. And suddenly a new plan was forming in his mind.
Now don't misunderstand. James still had every intention of abusing his new power for his own nefarious plots. But now, instead of completely disregarding his duties, James was determined to be responsible for once.
And that was the reason for James's current bad mood. He had no idea annoying kids could be. Who would've thought that keeping them in some semblance of order was so tiring? Add that to the fact that James hadn't eaten since breakfast, and he was not a happy wizard.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I betrayed you and the Marauder's Code by embracing my role as 'Head Git'." Flinging himself down on the seat across from Peter, James closed his eyes. Maybe he could rest a minute before he had to put on his school robes and usher the students to their proper places. "Skip the dramatics, yeah? I just want to get to the feast already and then sleep for about a week."
"No need to get snippy, Prongs." Sirius grinned and snatched a spare chocolate frog, throwing it with deadly precision. He barked out a laugh when it pegged James in the nose.
Grunting in a mix of surprise and pain, James glared at his friend. Why did he have to be friends with such a prick? Sirius didn't seem fazed at all, gazing back with an innocent expression. "Come on mate, just eat it. We all now how unpleasant you are when you're hungry." Remus snorted in agreement.
Muttering insults under his breath, James unwrapped the frog and shoved it in his mouth. Chewing violently, he flipped the car over and made a weird half-coughing, half-choking sound.
Remus started pounding on James's back, but he was waved off. James swallowed hard, took a deep break, coughed a couple times, and finally said, "I'm alright." Then, remembering what had caused it in the first place, James snapped his eyes to the card. The little figure in it smiled arrogantly and waved, as if proud of almost making James choke. "More than alright, really!"
"What? What is it?" Sirius shoved Peter out of his way and went to snatch the card from James's hand. But just before his fingers were about to touch it, James snapped it back.
"Nuh uh. Nope. You aren't getting your paws on this one."
"Who is it?" Sirius demanded.
"Agrippa!"
"Stop being a prick and tell me who it is. It' probably Morgause, you know I need her. The Agrippa card doesn't really exist, no one's ever gotten him."
"I'm telling the truth! Look!" James flipped the card around so the miniature wizard was looking out of them. He was careful to keep the card just out of Sirius's reach.
Remus and Sirius gasped; Peter almost started crying. Of course it would be James to find the Agrippa card. He was just that brilliant.
Getting over his shock, Sirius made a lunge for the card. "Give it -" Midway through his attack the train stopped violently, throwing Sirius into the wall. Remus sat down hard on the seat just behind him, Peter landed awkwardly on his wrist, and James - with the best reflexes of all the marauders - was barely able to stay in his seat.
Quickly shaking off their surprise, Remus, James, and Sirius stood up. Peter was curled up on the ground with wet eyes, cradling his wrist to his chest.
The three unhurt marauders shared a look. The train never stopped like that. It was magical, which means no conductor, which means no mistakes or abrupt stops. A wizard must have done this. A powerful one at that, if they were able to interfere with Hogwarts magic. There was only one wizard powerful enough who would want to do anything of the sort.
"Voldemort," James stated. The others nodded, ignoring when Peter flinched on the ground.
Hastily throwing open the cabin door, James hurried out into the corridor with Remus and Sirius right behind him. Kids were poking their heads out into the corridor, looking confused. "Stay in your carriages!" James yelled. "Don't come out until I tell you to!"
A couple of the kids listened, but James's order wasn't loud enough to be heard over the nervous babbling. "Oi!" Sirius bellowed. Surprised by the sheer volume, the voices quickly died away. "Sit your arses down and don't even think about leaving your carriage until Prongs here says it's okay!" Most of the kids stared at him, mouths hanging open. Glaring at them, Sirius yelled, "Now!"
Hastily, all the students ducked back into their carriages. Before she could disappear as well, James grabbed a fifth year girl and told her, "Do down the whole train and tell everyone what me an Padfoot just said, yeah? Good." He watched her scamper away before turning to Sirius and Remus.
"I looked out the window and we're at Hogsmede Station, but there's absolutely no one out there." Remus told them. "I hope none of the townspeople were hurt."
"You don't expect the Death Eaters politely asked them to clear out for an hour or two, do you?" Sirius replied sarcastically.
Remus opened his mouth to respond, but James cut in before he could get anything out. "Shut up, you two. I'm trying to think."
Immediately Sirius and Remus got serious. If James was stopping an argument between Sirius and Remus, which was guaranteed to be especially hilarious, they knew something was seriously wrong.
"Voldemort's been growing much stronger lately. But does he really think he's powerful enough to take on Dumbledore? Especially at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has the advantage." James as mostly been think aloud to himself, but the other two had heard him.
"Maybe he's going to use us as hostages," Remus suggested. "Everyone knows that Dumbledore would do anything to keep his students safe."
"No," Sirius said darkly. "I know how the Dark Side thinks, it's in my blood. They're going to kill us all and then try to take on the professors. Voldemort will have gotten rid of the problematic new generation and also wiped out his more powerful opponents in basically one go. Of course, those loyal to him will have known this was going to happen and are either going to be spared or they're in a safe place."
"Then I guess we don't have a choice, do we? I don't know about you guys, but I'm going down fighting." James stared hard at his friends, trying to tell what they were thinking.
Sirius smiled, his eyes holding a dark promise. "I'm with you, James." At once, James knew he was serious. Padfoot only ever used his real name when he was one hundred percent focused.
Both boys turned their eyes on Remus. He also gave a smile, but his was a weary one. "After all we've been through together, you really think I would let you two dunderheads go in by yourselves? You'd probably end up cursing yourselves."
With the promises made, the three boys - no, men - nodded at each other. From inside the carriage, Peter whimpered. "What about me?"
Sirius opened his mouth, probably to respond with some scathing remark about how rubbish Peter was in a fight, but Remus beat him to it. "Wormtail, you're hurt. If you went out there with us, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself properly. It's best if you just stay here."
With a look of relief, Peter relaxed on the floor. "Yeah, yeah. You're probably right. Wouldn't want to get in the way, either."
Sensing the anger coming from Sirius, Remus grabbed him by the shoulder and steered him toward the train door - in other words, away from Peter. "Coward," Sirius muttered. "He wasn't going to fight, even if he wasn't hurt."
"Not everyone is brave enough to fight," Remus told him.
"Well, he's a Gryffindor! Aren't we supposed to be known for our bravery?"
Remus didn't seem to have an answer to that.
Shoving Sirius and Remus forward, James said, "Come on. I don't think we have long."
They were almost to the train door when the voice started shouting at them. "Oi! Potter! What do you think you're doing?" Lily Evans was storming down the corridor, aiming her ferocious glare at one James Potter. The other marauders winced in sympathy, it was not pleasant to be on the receiving end of Lily's temper. "All I know is, some fifth year told me to stay in my cabin and not come out until James Potter tells me I can! I'll have you know that I'm Head Girl! If something is happening, I need to know about it!"
James winced. He had completely forgotten about Lily, which was quite unusual. "Look, Evans, I'm sorry that I didn't come get you. But I really don't have time to explain right now." Unnoticed by James and Lily, the other marauders had slipped out of the train to give them some privacy and discuss the upcoming battle. "Please go back to your cabin. And please, please don't come out until I say it's safe. Yeah? Will you do that for me? Because I really need you to."
"Safe?" Lily demanded. "Safe from what? Are we under attack?"
Her fiery red hair was tucked behind her ears. There was a flush in her pale cheeks from the anger. Her bright green eyes demanded answers, but he knew he couldn't give them to her. Merlin, she was beautiful. Suddenly James realized that he might never see her again. He might never hear her threaten to hex him into the next century because of some prank he had pulled. He might never get to watch from a distance while she laughed with her friends. He might never take her on the date he was always asking her about.
Without really thinking he took a couple steps closer, put his arms around her, and crashed his lips to hers.
He tried to convey everything he was feeling with that kiss. His fear, determination, and most importantly, his love for her. At first, she didn't respond. Then after a couple moments, her lips started moving with his. He savored every second of it, pulling her closer when her fingers reached up to twine in his hair.
It seemed like the kiss had lasted for both hours and milliseconds when he forced himself to pull away. He knew that if he didn't stop himself, he would easily have stayed there with her all day. And seeing the look of pure astonishment on Lily's face when he stepped back, he almost did.
"What -" she started.
"I'm sorry," he cut in. "I'm really, really sorry. I just . . . I had to do that at least once, yeah?"
Before she could say anything, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and hurried out the train door. Closing the door behind him, he silently cast a shield charm in front of it. Now Lily couldn't get out, and she would stay out of harms way. And that was all James wanted.
"Potter!" he heard a muffled yell. Glancing up at the window, he saw Lily staring down at him with pure confusion on her face.
He smiled at her sadly. "Sorry," he mouthed.
Without waiting to see her response, James turned around to face Sirius and Remus. They gave him a look that said they knew exactly what he had done, and they understood.
"Okay," he said trying to push Lily out of his mind for all he was worth. He needed to concentrate now. "Did you find proper places to station ourselves?"
"Yeah," said Remus. "We figured I could crouch behind those trolleys right there," he pointed. "Of course, we would need to charm them to be impenetrable, but they're in a good position. Then you and Padfoot would be standing behind those two pillars."
James critically studied the platform layout. "That seems like the best plan. The pillars will provide more protection for me and Paddy, but you would have the better angle."
The three went over to fortify the trolleys Remus would be stationed behind, while discussing tactics.
"Try to stay in your beginning positions as long as you can. You want to avoid being out in the open as much as possible," James advised.
Remus was up next. "And whatever you do, don't get a direct hit. Death Eaters use nasty dark magic, but just getting clipped by a curse isn't nearly as bad as a hit to the chest."
"Don't over-think it. A spell doesn't have to be extremely complicated to be able to stop an attack, even an attack from a Death Eater." Sirius had the most experience with black magic, his family being what it was, so James and Remus decided not to question this.
Having finished reinforcing the trolleys, the marauders just took a second to look at each other.
"They'll probably be here soon," Remus said quietly.
James and Sirius nodded. For what seemed like the first time, they weren't joking around. This wasn't exactly the time to make fun of James's infatuation with Lily or scold Sirius for not wiping his paws before he entered the dormitory.
Taking their positions, the marauders were completely silent. It was a good thing too, for as soon as they were hidden from view there were the familiar pops of apparating. James guessed that there were roughly sixty.
Sixty to three. That meant twenty Death Eaters for each of them. James wasn't exactly happy with those odds.