Chapter 3: Old Hands
The sun rose with a blinding brilliance the next morning, which shone through the cracks of the curtain in James room, waking him sharply.
Fumbling for his glasses, he slid them on, transforming the blur of his room into something sharp and recognizable. He had a lapse in memory before remembering where he was- The Leaky Caldron.
He got dressed and moved down the stairs to the main dining area where he quickly spotted his parents.
"Morning dear!" His mother, Euphemia said as he sat down at the table they were occupying.
Fleamont Potter's face was hidden behind the large expanses of the Daily Prophet, James looked around, weird he thought. Most people seemed to have their head stuck in the paper.
James shrugged it off and continued eating the Pixie Puffs his mother had placed in front of him.
The elder Potter's were, well, elderly. Their hair had long been grey and their wrinkles pronounced.
"What is it dear?" Mrs. Potter asked her husband, helping herself to a serving of bacon.
Mr. Potter folded the paper down; his hair was as slicked back as you would expect the creator of Sleekeazys hair potion to be.
"There's been a rather nasty attack on a Muggle family in Bristol." He said, furrowing his brow. "Death Eaters it looks like."
Euphemia gave a disapproving tut "the ministry really must get a handle on all of this" She said, "it's ridiculous."
Euphemia Potter was a plumper lady with caring eyes. But she wasn't one for politics, and, no matter what the paper said, she could not (or would not) accept the truth of the war that was raging around them.
James grabbed the paper from where his father had put it down and ruffled the pages open with his free hand. Shoving another (rather large mouthful) of cereal into his mouth he proceeded to read:
Alleged Death Eaters attacked the Smith family at around 7pm last night on their way home from dinner at a local restaurant.
The second attack of its kind this week, it has sparked outrage and anger from the wizarding community. Minister for Magic Millicent Bagnold had this to say…
James stopped reading, it was always the same.
Mrs. Potter looked over towards the window where owls carrying the mail entered. "I heard a whisper that your letters were coming today." She said excitedly. "Ooh, I do hope this is it!"
A large, important looking Eagle owl swooped gracefully down onto the table next to James. There was a rather bulky letter tied onto the owl's leg. He wasn't worried though, his exams had been a breeze and he'd always been at the top of his year.
The owl gave a small hoot and James reached out a hand to retrieve his letter.
Once untied, the owl gave a small ruffle of his feathers and flew back out the window, leaving James clutching the envelope.
"Well go on then son," Mr. Potter said, giving his son an encouraging pat on the back.
James opened the envelope and pulled out the contents.
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS
Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)
Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)
Acceptable (A) Troll (T)
JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:
Astronomy: O
Care of Magical Creatures: O
Charms: O
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O
Muggle Studies: E
Herbology: E
History of Magic: O
Potions: E
Transfiguration: O
James read them over again, examining each drop of black ink on the parchment. His face broke out into a broad smile, excellent he thought, six O's, what a snap. He went to put the envelope on the table but something small and heavy fell out. A badge. A red, shiny badge.
He turned it over in his hands.
Quidditch Captain. James heart stopped. Quidditch Captain. He felt his jaw go slack.
Mrs. Potter poked her head over his shoulder to look at the results. She shrieked so loudly that several patrons gave the Potter's curious looks.
"NINE OWLS!" She yelled "SIX O'S! Jamie you've done so well!"
James didn't have long to cringe at his mother's pet name because he was enveloped into he largest hug he'd ever received.
"Good on you my boy!" His father gave him a pat on the back.
But James was oblivious to his surrounds; he was still looking at the little red badge that was sitting in his hand that meant more to him than any grade.
"What's that?" His father asked. But James couldn't answer; he just thrust the pin into his fathers' hand.
"Quidditch Captain!" He exclaimed. "James! This is- this is-" But he was lost for words.
James ears were ringing and he didn't hear his father stumble over his congratulations. Nothing else mattered, nothing except the little shiny pin in his hand.
The rest of the morning was monotonous compared to the exciting events of breakfast; he met back up with Sirius, Remus and Peter at Fortescue's ice cream with much talk of O.W.L's and N.E.W.T's. Peter had managed to escape his mother's eagle eye for a few hours and had slipped away via a neighbor's fireplace.
"Blimey James, Quidditch Captain! That's brilliant." Remus had said when he proudly showed them the proof.
"Flyn Alcorns' going to be seeing red!" Sirius said gleefully.
Peter was very excited about the whole thing. "What about your O.W.L's? He asked animatedly.
"Six O'S." Sirius winked, "my parents were furious they couldn't complain."
James gave Sirius a high- five, "Great minds think alike Padfoot, six here too."
The boys grinned, "It's been a good day for you then Prongs." Remus smiled.
"What about you Moony?"
"I'm pretty happy," Remus said as he licked his ice cream nonchalantly. "Four O's, no fails, I can't complain."
"Four! Six!" Peter exclaimed, head in hands. "How?"
Sirius winked, "natural genius."
"Come on, Wormtail, you didn't do too badly." Remus gave a weak attempt at comforting him.
"I only got four O.W.L's!" He exclaimed.
"Well, you got two E's! They're good marks!" Remus reasoned.
Peter just groaned and put his head in his hands again with renewed zest.
"Come on then, lets get this blasted shopping over and done with. I want to go to the sweet shop." Sirius jumped up, initiating the rest of the group to do the same.
"Hey- hey Prongs," Sirius said, nudging James, "isn't that Lily Evans?"
Earlier that morning
"Lily! Lily wake up dammit." Marlene shouted at her lazy friend.
Lily groaned and rolled over in the plush, leaky cauldron bed.
"Go 'way Marly." She murmured, her face squashed firmly into the pillow. "Is' middle of the night."
"No it's not, you've just slept half the day." Marlene said, jumping on the bed.
"Why do things by half? I say let's make it a full 24 hours." Lily added sarcastically.
"Ha ha," Marlene drawled, "but you're going to want to get up for this." She
added teasingly.
"I highly doubt it."
"Well, I guess you don't want to see your O.W.L results then…?'
At the word O.W.L, Lily's ears shot up and she was out of bed faster than a snitch.
"You mean they came?"
"Yes, while you were in your coma." It was then that Lily noticed the two envelopes Marlene was holding.
Lily lunged, Marlene screamed.
Ripping off the wax seal she tore the envelope open and read.
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS
Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)
Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)
Acceptable (A) Troll (T)
LILY EVANS HAS ACHIEVED:
Astronomy: E
Charms: O
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O
Study Of Ancient Runes: O
Herbology: E
History of Magic: O
Potions: O
Transfiguration: E
She could feel her heart trying to escape her chest.
"How are they?" Marlene asked eagerly.
"Th-they're alright." She answered shakily.
Marlene snatched the list out of her hands and read it for herself.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me. How they hell did you get 5 O's? I- it just- it doesn't even matter. You're clearly abnormal because that's ridiculous!"
Lily grinned, "How did you do?"
"Pretty well, here, have a look" She gave Lily her results
"Only one fail! And I think we all knew I was going to blow Astronomy so no love lost there." She said shrugging. "Mum's downstairs, I just about had to hold her back to stop her opening your letter. She's dead curious so you better tell her what you've got." Marlene jumped off Lily's bed and left the room.
The McKinnon family was already at a table by the time Lily got downstairs. There were very few other patrons in the tavern as it was so late so they had a large corner to themselves, she felt a little bad about sleeping for so long but her and Marlene had been up till two AM talking and she was exhausted.
"Lily dear! We've saved you a seat." Mrs. McKinnon called over to her. It was rare to see Marlene's family these days; their high government positions took up most of their time.
"So Lily, how did you do?" Mr. McKinnon asked.
"Pretty well," She replied modestly.
"Pretty well? Come on Lily you do a bit better than pretty well." Marlene scolded through a mouthful of food.
"How many O.W.L's did you get?" Mr. McKinnon asked.
Lily swallowed her half- chewed toast hard, "Nine."
His eyebrows raised, "Wow, that's pretty impressive."
Marlene smiled, "Ask her how many O's she got, mum."
Mrs. McKinnon looked at Lily in anticipation.
"Five."
"Oh my word!" Mrs. McKinnon said, "That's brilliant."
They talked for a while till the McKinnon's had to leave for work.
"There's been a nasty attack on some muggles." Mr. McKinnon said as he excused himself. "Got to get in to the office, the Irish are going mad. There's talk of the war spilling over the border."
"Another one?" Marlene asked.
"Afraid so." He frowned and kissed her on the top of her head. "Stay out of trouble girls." He said with a wave. Mrs. McKinnon and Martha left not long after that, leaving Lily and Marlene on their own.
Marlene thus deemed it was time to go shopping. The two girls made their way through the pub and out back.
Pulling out her wand, Marlene tapped the bricks, allowing them to enter the colourful street.
Marlene grabbed her hand and looped their arms together.
"Honestly, I'm impressed mum and dad even came up at all, they've barley been home all holidays."
"I suppose they can't help it though can they? What is it your mum does? Senior Undersecretary to the minister or something?"
"Yeah that's it," Marlene grumbled, "whatever, I don't even care." She moved briskly on with a sliver of bitterness Lily didn't miss; "Alright, so I need all new quills and parchment and I need to stock up on sweets for the term. You know how my parents refuse to send me any…" Marlene started. "And you need new dress robes Lily, you've grown heaps, - Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed, looking up.
"What?" Lily asked, but she needn't have bothered, she heard them before she saw them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Sirius Black smirked, clasping his hand on James Potters' smug shoulder.
Marlene mirrored his expression, "Haven't seen you in a while Black; hexed any one lately?"
"No one who didn't deserve it." He replied the grin still plastered on his face.
Lily smiled at Remus; they had become somewhat friends over the last year of being Gryffindor prefects.
"Hey Lily," He grinned. "How has your holidays been?"
"Oh, alright, you know, the usual…"
She felt someone's eyes on her; she looked up to find bright hazel eyes staring at her.
"Can I help you?" She asked with snark.
James, to her surprise, looked conflicted, "Err… umm."
Lily furrowed her brow, "what?" She wasn't the biggest fan of James or Sirius at the moment and wasn't in the mood for his babbling.
"Did you get your results?" He spat out, in a not so subtle attempt to bring up his captainship.
"Yeah," Marlene replied. "You?"
James pointed at the shiny new badge already pinned to his clothes.
"Quidditch captain. Nice." Marlene said, trying not to act impressed. She knew how Lily was feeling and friends weren't chummy with the object of their friend's annoyance.
"C'mon lads, let's not waste any more of these lovely lady's time. See you McKinnon, see you Evans." Sirius winked as he pushed James away from the embarrassment he could see coming.
He always managed to act a fool in front of Lily.
"Ugh, Black may be the fittest bloke at school, but he sure can be annoying sometimes." Marlene said flipping her hair as they walked away.
"You're telling me."
Lily's mind wandered for the next ten minutes as Marlene listed off a string of things she insisted she needed to buy.
Lily herself was still flustered from her brief interaction with James, she hadn't really spoken to him since the incident last term and it was rather jarring to see him again.
"Come on, let's get going or all the good quills will be gone." Marlene had come up for air in her tirade, interrupting Lily's own spiraling thoughts.
Marlene stopped in her tracks, as though she had forgotten something of high importance, "But sweetshop first!"
The two girls were walking quite contentedly along the street, their shopping bags swinging and their arms full with brown paper packages.
Marlene glanced at her watch as Lily paused to admire a quill in a window.
"I'm exhausted." Marlene said with a yawn. "Do we need anything else?"
Lily riffled through her bags and counted out loud. "Potions ingredients… books… robes… quills… No I think we've got everything."
The sun was beginning to set over London and there were very few people left on the streets.
It was easy to forget the world around them while eating 'Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans' and talking about the new school year but the posters warning of the threat of Death Eaters were becoming harder and harder to ignore. It was especially dangerous for Lily, surviving as a Muggle born was a feat in itself these days.
They veered their course back to the Leaky Cauldron. The stairs creaked under their weight as their heavy limbs trudged up the old, winding stairs to their room. They hadn't seen their fellow Gryffindor's since their meeting earlier that afternoon, a fact Lily was quite pleased with.
Marlene stifled a yawn, "I need to sleep!" She tried to say, however, it came out a garbled mess of indecipherable syllables.
Lily understood what she was trying to say, "Just think, a few more days and we'll be back in our four- poster beds, think of the welcoming feast!"
There was a rare, shinning moment where the wasn't a slither of sarcasm in Marlene's voice, "Can't come soon enough for my liking."
The door was kicked open by- either Marlene or Lily, they couldn't tell which and had forgotten moments later- their eyes trained firmly on the squishy beds that looked more welcoming then ever.
They slipped into unconsciousness without a word. The knowledge of the comforting surrounds of Hogwarts that they would be returning to so soon, lulling them into a slumber.
"Do you really think she hates me?" James pondered as the four boys lounged about in his room.
Sirius shrugged, "no clue, why don't you ask her?"
James threw a shoe at his head but Sirius ducked in time, "I can't do that!" he exclaimed, "I'd look like an idiot."
Remus interjected, "ahh yes because all your encounters with Lily Evans have gone so well so far."
James flung himself on his bed, sprawled out like a starfish on top of the covers. "I just – I just don't get her." He tried very hard to make it sound throwaway.
He failed.
"Why don't you just, you know, move on? What's so special about Lily?" Peter asked, shrugging.
James didn't know exactly what it was about her, all he knew was that since she'd given him that verbal smack down last term he'd become even more infatuated.
"It's just, I have no idea. There's just something about her."
"You don't think it has anything to do with the fact that she doesn't – you know – fall for it?" Remus enquired.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Like, Quidditch for example, she couldn't be less impressed. And she's not blown away by your class rankings because she's right up there with you."
James frowned. He did always find hercouldn't care less approach to anything James Potter related to be strangely alluring.
"And she actively dislikes your, well, your whole hexing people for fun thing."
"But that's the whole point of it – it's funny." Sirius said.
"Maybe for you…" Remus said but didn't push the subject further.
James rolled onto his stomach, "She'll come around." He said with a touch of arrogance. "You know, now she's ditched Snivellus… maybe she'll give me a shot. I'm telling you, she wanted to smile before, he said that word. I saw her."
"Whatever you say Prongs."
James was again on his back, staring at the canopy above. She was going to come around eventually. She'd see that he wasn't all Quidditch and hair and fat headedness. He was sure of it.
The boys eventually dispersed. Peter with a shriek after glancing at his watch because, 'my mum is going to go mental!' Remus with a backwards wave and 'see you later and finally Sirius with a reluctant goodbye.
Eventually James was left with nothing but his thoughts .
Thoughts that formed the exact shape as a particular red headed witch.