Disclaimer: Nothing that you recognize belongs to me, but rather to JK Rowling.
"James Potter!" someone shrieked, just soon enough to give the boy warning that he should dash behind the nearest statue.
The shriek had come from none other than the lovely Lily Evans, and it was quite clear that she was not happy.
Lily whipped around the side of the statue and stared down disapprovingly at James with her hands on her hips and a furious glare written in her eyes.
"Potter!" she shrieked again, and it was only now that she was closer to him that James realized how loud she really was.
"Yes?" he asked, pulling out an innocent expression.
Unfortunately, Lily had known James for just over five and a half years, and knew how rare an occasion it was that he was actually as innocent as he appeared.
"Don't, 'yes' me!" she said furiously. She almost stomped her foot at how he was always so calm on the outside, even when boiling with anger on the inside. Then, a thought hit her. She regained her composure and began again.
"Oh, Potter?" she asked, using his own tactic of utter serenity against him.
"Yes, Lilikins?" James asked, standing and grinning widely.
Lily's green eyes flared almost red for a moment, reminding James of the holidays, but she managed to continue without a retort at the nickname.
"What did you do to Severus?" Of course, she knew perfectly well that the poor Slytherin had been found in a closet, bound in ropes with a dirty sock stuffed in his mouth, and if she had her way, Potter would hear about it. She was sure that it had been him.
"Why, whatever to you mean?" James asked, clutching his heart and looking utterly shocked.
"Ooh!" Lily exclaimed, forgetting the whole be-nice-to-James tactic, "You know what happened, you toe-rag! You shoved him in a closet and put a …Oh." She finished quietly. James had just lifted his pant legs, revealing both of his feet well covered. The sock couldn't have come from him, because he was still in possession of both of his.
James smiled a little wider, then walked out from behind the statue and put an arm around Lily, "You see what happens when you falsely accuse people, Lilikins?" he asked all-knowingly.
Lily still had not recovered completely from the shock that Potter hadn't been responsible, but got over it quickly when Sirius strolled up behind both of them and said
"Whew, glad I remembered to bring the sock!" just as cheerful as ever.
Lily's eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped slightly, "Why, you!" she screamed at James, who had dropped his arm and begun walking down the long corridor with Sirius at his side.
Then her curiosity got the better of her and soon she was jogging after them. After all, they were all on their way to their Transfiguration lesson.
"What did he do to you?" she asked, trying very hard not to sound accusatory.
Sirius glanced back but neither of them stopped. "Why would we even bother telling you." he asked, not really caring if she knew or not. They had attacked Snivellus and there wasn't anything she could do about it.
James was thoroughly over-excited. The three of them were trudging as quickly as they could to their Transfiguration lesson, and while James was astonishing at this particular subject, as well as all others, he had absolutely no interest in anything school-related apart from the hundreds of defenseless prank victims and the building itself. Therefore, his excitement had nothing to do with the subject.
Sirius caught his gaze for a millisecond. Just enough to warn James not to appear too excited when they got there. All of James' effort was put into acting mature and brilliant, not that he wasn't already, but you know fifth years, always convinced they know what they're doing.
"It's really more that he exists at all. He's just a menace to society." James said with a distracted voice. They were coming onto the door of their classroom, and he really wanted to make sure that the substitute was still there.
"James!" Lily exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that they weren't on first name terms.
"Evans." He said, reminding her of their usual conditions, just then the door opened and out stepped the professor that was substituting for Professor McGonagall.
Immediately, Sirius stood up straighter, and James' hand flew to his hair in the hopes that he could make it just a little messier. Lily, who was completely unaffected by their curvy, blonde, half-veela professor, muttered something about the two of them being prats, and pushed past them to get a good seat.
For once, James wanted good seats too, so the front-and-center seat was fought over, Lily having taken it first, and James simply wanting it. In the end James won. All those hours playing Quidditch hadn't been for naught, and he had easily overpowered the girl. He insisted that if she really wanted to sit there, the two of them could share, and he would gladly let her sit in his lap.
Lily threw him a disgusted look and settled for the seat two rows behind him. Then she sat back and brooded. How arrogant, how rude, how… Well, you get the message.
The whole time that this had been going on, Sirius had been talking to the substitute. Lily was embarrassed for her. A boy five years younger than she was hitting on her. Really, it was indecent. A moment later, her embarrassment slid into shock as the substitute flirted back.
"Really, pigeon, you should make this your full time job. You do a far better job than old Minnie, and it's far more fun to have you." He said, leaning against the door way and looking up almost an inch to her in his famous Sirius Black wooing gaze.
The girl giggled then flashed him a look that was dangerously close to consideration, then someone pushed between the two of them to get into the class.
"Oh, good. You're finally here," Lily gushed as a rather short young witch walked quickly into the room, her dark brown hair swishing a bit as she did.
Olivia dropped her bag on the floor, and looked at Sirius oddly.
"Olivia! Don't you even tell me that-" That was as far as Lily's reprimands got, because Olivia started waving her hands in her best friend's face, shushing her as best as she could, "We'll talk about this later." Lily said. Then, as if it made any difference, Olivia nodded her head in compliance.
For his seat, James looked at Lily, with his eyes wide. It was as if he'd just seen her for the first time. She was gorgeous! Her auburn hair shimmered almost to her waist, and her brilliant green eyes, though sharp, were enticing and perfect. Her complexion, her mouth, even her nose was perfect. It was that moment that James decided to let her have him.
Sirius had finished speaking with the 'professor' and plopped down next to James, smiling widely. He propped his feet up on the table in front of him and leaned back dangerously in his chair, with his hands behind his head.
"Er, Prongs?" he asked when her saw the look on his mates face. "Prongs?" he asked again.
When this too got no reaction Sirius whipped his head around to follow James' gaze.
"What… Lily?" he asked stupidly, clearly having missed something, but James didn't understand either. How had he spent all of this time with Lily and not even realize how beautiful she was? Even when she was yelling she was beautiful.
Come to think of it, she wasn't overbearing, she was… feisty. And she wasn't impatient, she was… determined, and brilliant, and funny, and, and, and Sirius looked as if something had clicked, and he really wished that it hadn't.
"Prongs!" he exclaimed again. This time he waved his hand in front of the boy's eyes. This got his attention. James turned his head to his best friend, who was staring at him expectantly.
"Uh… what?" James asked, really hoping that Sirius didn't know what James knew he knew.
"Oh…. You wanna talk about it?" Sirius asked wisely, "About… Lily?" he whispered the last word and made the word sound positively as important and dramatic as he could.
James met his eyes and resented that he was being made fun of, but said, "I think I…" then he stopped. The girl he was talking about was very close, but Sirius got the point.
Sirius looked as if he couldn't believe his ears when he overheard these musings. James had never been even remotely serious about a girl, and had gladly flirted with and snogged as many as he could get his hands on, which closely rivaled Sirius' count.
Sirius used this count as a constant reminder that for as long as anyone could remember, James Potter had been the number two hottie of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was a close second to Sirius Black, whose fan club had gone entirely to his head.
The point was that for as long as anyone could remember, the two of them had been able to grab a date to… anything, at the drop of a hat. Sirius had taken it upon himself to snog the whole school.
It was widely acknowledged that any girl would give a limb to date him, or really any of the four Marauders… Well, perhaps not the rat-like boy, Peter. But the three other ones were perfection.
There was Sirius Black, with his shaggy black hair and brilliant blue eyes. Notorious flirt and rumored excellent snogger. Beater for his house Quidditch team
Then there was James Potter.
He was on the Quidditch team, of course. Chaser a few years running. He was amazing at the sport, and as everyone knows, girls just can't get enough of athletes, especially when they had such dreamy hazel eyes and black hair that begged to be combed, but also looked so right messy it was a shame to think of controlling the mop.
Those two had been inseparable since day one at Hogwarts, best friends until the very end.
Then there was Remus Lupin. He was rather perfect himself, though not in the ways the first two were. He had light hair that was just the perfect long length, as were his long blonde eyelashes. His blue eyes were quite a lot darker than Sirius'. He was smart and kind, and always knew what to say.
And who could forget Peter Pettigrew. He was nothing in comparison to the other three. Stupid, rather large, ugly and short with a rat-like nose. He was too stupid to know to what he conformed. His beady little eyes darted around nervously. His stringy hair and vulgar complexion completed his rat-like appearance.
There were a few important things about the Marauders. One was that they were the prank-kings of their day. Rivaled slightly by Fred and George Weasley, who were long after their time, they were under the impression that they were the greatest thing since sliced cheese. And they loved sliced cheese.
Another important thing was about Remus specifically. Remus Lupin was a werewolf. He had been driven out of three towns when the citizens found out, had been thrown out of three schools when similar events occurred, and had been rejected by plenty of others, until finally he found solace with Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts.
Dumbledore was a rather strange old man he was, though not nearly as old as he would become, who believed the best in everyone, and was willing to give Remus a chance at his school.
Remus was no fool. He knew that it was best to keep his secret a secret, and so he did, but he was completely unaware that his dorm-mates had figured it out. He told them that his mum was ill. That he had to rush home for this reason or that, but would really sneak down under the Whomping Willow, through a very long tunnel, and into the Shrieking Shack.
His dorm-mates didn't know what to do for the longest time when suddenly it hit one of them, (certainly not Peter) that werewolves only affected humans, and they were perfectly safe as animals.
This, obviously, wasn't a very well though out plan. Werewolves are still quite viscous, even if they can't turn animals into creatures like themselves. Regardless of the half thought out plan the three boys: James, Sirius and even Peter, had become animagi just recently this year.
James was a large but graceful stag. Sirius a shaggy, black dog (closely resembling the frightening grim) and Peter (what else) a rat.
The four of them had little nicknames for each other, and it was considered a great insult amongst themselves to be called anything but Prongs for James, in honor of his antlers, Moony for Remus, in honor of his lycanthrope trigger, Wormtail for Peter in honor of his nasty little tail, and Patfoot for Sirius in honor of, well, you figure that one out. The point of this whole introduction into the Marauders union was to prove how surprised James was the next morning.
"NO!" Lily shrieked. She seemed to do a lot of that lately, but this time she had a particularly good reason. She was refusing the third date-offer made by James that morning, and they hadn't even gotten to breakfast yet!
Most girls would be swooning by then, and James was certain that if he just worked at it a little harder, she would too. He was a very determined boy. Not at all willing to give up simply because his request was ridiculous and getting annoying.
"Aww, come on, Evans… Please?" he said, throwing on a puppy dog face. He just couldn't live down that someone had said 'no' to the infamous James Potter.
"Potter, that is the fourth time I've told you. NO!" Lily said loudly, though not as loudly as before. This repeat was every bit as menacing.
"Evans-" James started again, but she whipped around and nearly smashed into him, then pointed a finger in his face and said:
"You will sincerely regret asking me again." Then she turned back around and entered the Great Hall where James couldn't ask her in front of so many people.
Unfortunately, the students were in his thoughts as well. She couldn't turn him down in front of the whole school. So he followed her in, alone. His Marauders were waiting at the Gryffindor table already, awaiting his victorious return.
James sped up in front of her, dropped to his knees and begged.
"Come on, Evans. How bad would it be? Please?"
He kept the puppy dog eyes that had coaxed the clothing right off of other girls. Apparently Lily was not weak to his attacks. The expression had no affect on her. She simply ignored it, walked around him and sat down with her friends.
James stood there, staring at her in defeat. The three other Marauders strode up to him quickly, and escorted him back upstairs to Gryffindor tower. Sirius led them.
"What was that?" Sirius demanded. He was not sure if he was angry at Lily for rejecting his friend that early on a Saturday morning, angry at James for not being able to get a date, or if he was just amused at the whole thing.
"What?" James asked miserably.
He threw himself into a large couch by the fire, and hoped that they hadn't noticed what had just happened. Of course, his hopes and mental pleas were ridiculous as the whole school was ranging from whispering to yelling about the incident.
James Potter, had been turned down.
Surprisingly it was not Sirius who responded, it was Peter. "Lily ignored him." He exclaimed cheerfully.
Sirius looked at him like he was waiting for the epiphany. Remus muttered to Peter, "If she ignored him this time, what do you think happened before? Did he already ask her?"
James could hear the whole thing and was mortified to hear that even his friends thought he was pitiful.
"OH!" Peter gasped, then continued, "I meant, she must have said she didn't want to before!"
Sirius, though at times you would never know it, could get quite cynical at other times, like this one. "Well, spotted. Think of that one yourself?" he asked harshly.
Remus looked up, "Sirius!" he exclaimed, like a mother protecting her child's ears. Then, the same few words that had been spoken over a thousand times echoed through Sirius' mind. They went something like 'he needs all the encouragement he can get. Be nice.'
Now really, it wasn't that Sirius was mean. He just had trouble putting up with idiots.
"Now, James-" Remus started, but was cut off with a furious glance from both Sirius and the Marauder he had been addressing, sending him the message loud and clear. "All right, Prongs. I think you've just got to give her some time-"
"-But don't give up!" Sirius added enthusiastically, back into his usual rather bouncy mood. After all, Marauders don't fail. How many times had he said that? Marauders try as hard as they can. Marauders persevere…
"-Right, but don't go at her too strongly-"
So why was Remus telling him not to persevere? It could only lead to failure. Sirius took it upon himself to contradict the boy.
"-But don't let her forget about you!"
Remus sighed and said "And don't listen to Sirius." He received a hurt look from his friend, and hastily mended his words.
"Er, Padfoot. He's never been remotely, well… serious about any of the girls he's been involved with, and any advice he gives you is a load of rubbish. Find out what she's interested in. Take part in those interests. Go to the library. Help her study. Don't ask her again for at least two weeks."
He seemed quite pleased with himself, having laid out a plan that surely would have turned out rather nicely had James, er-, Prongs, not been staring at Lily, who was doing a bit of homework across the room, instead of paying attention to Remus, er- Moony.
"I'm going to go ask her again." James said suddenly.
"'atta boy!" exclaimed Padfoot.
Remus just sighed and leaned his head back on the couch cushion for a moment before continuing his quickly, though exquisitely written homework.
Fortunately for Lily, Olivia had seen James heading in their direction, and had given her friend fair warning. The two girls hurried up to their dorm, which James couldn't reach because of a rather annoying enchanted staircase. James returned to the Marauders corner of the common room, a frown developing on his face.
"So? How'd it go?" Sirius asked with cruelly sarcastic curiosity.
"Shove off," his best mate retorted, then looked sadly and helplessly at Moony.
"Well?" Remus asked, pausing for a moment to scratch his chin with his quill, What did you expect? You were listening to Padfoot!"
Contrary to the expected reaction from his friend, Sirius beamed at being addressed by his preferred nickname. Even the other houses had picked up on the trend. So, though they didn't understand what it meant, they consented in calling the four by their newer names.
Remus was the exception.
He was only referred to as Moony by his close friends… Remus considered the situation for a moment, then a look of epiphany crossed his face. "Padfoot!"
A/N- There you go! I've had this started for a very long time, but never edited any of it. Now that I am reaching chapter fourteen, I thought it best to get you updated just a little.
Tell me what you think!
Dani
