Hello again! I've been inspired by the reviews I've gotten this week, so you can thank Supergoddad and Mey'sPen for the work I've done so far. I also have another chapter open on my computer that will, by Saturday at the latest, be uploaded here.
You can all thank Supergoddad for this chapter! I've mentioned that you are more than welcome to suggest a one-shot in the reviews and they were so wonderful as to submit the following prompt: "Well, what about something like fifth year, Lily catches James trying to prank Snape?" I hope I've done a decent job interpreting this prompt... this is the first thing that came to mind when I read your review so I hope you're happy with it!
Disclaimer - nope, not JKR. Obviously this isn't mine.
The library is always quietest on Friday night. Severus and I were sitting in a corner of the library working on a Potions essay due on Monday and sharing stories about our week. It was a weekly ritual of ours. Being in different houses, especially in Gryffindor and Slytherin, we didn't get to see each other often during the week. Our Friday night library sessions helped us break away from the drama of our houses and actually talk.
Severus has been my best friend since I was a young kid and it sometimes struck me that we were losing the closeness we'd once had. It was hard for us to spend any substantive time together lately - the tension between our houses had reached an all time high and Severus's Slytherin friends were constantly pressuring him to stay away from me... the Mudblood. Everything going on outside Hogwarts didn't help either. But Friday nights were our sanctuary.
"Well, on my Tuesday rounds I found Michael Lewis and Gemma Bell in a broom closet on the third floor." Severus said, laughing. I chuckled, "I didn't even know they knew each other!" "I know!" He said, flipping through his Potions book, "they were practically naked when we found them in there. They were so embarrassed." I laughed, "I've found way too many people in broom closets on rounds. Can't they be more creative and find more secluded places to snog?"
We sat in silence for a few moments and started writing a few sentences for our essays. "Have you encountered Potter and his gang of idiots recently?" Severus asked, trying to look nonchalantly through his textbook. "Well, we're in the same house, so of course." I replied, continuing to scratch out sentences onto my parchment. "I mean, have you talked to Potter lately? He's been asking you out a lot..."
I laughed loudly, "He asks me out every bloody day! But he's an arrogant bullying toerag and I don't have time for someone like him." Severus just looked tense. "Why are you always so worried about him, Sev?" "Because one day you're going to say yes, Lily. One day you're going to give in to his advances and start acting like every other ridiculous girl in this school." I put down my quill and glared at him. "Seriously, Sev? Please don't ruin our Friday night with your weird Potter obsession." "But, Lily," I held up my hand. "But nothing, Sev. I'm not dating Potter, I will never date Potter. So drop it."
We worked in silence for about a half an hour after that, before Severus closed his Potions book and shoved it in his bag. "I promised Mulciber I'd meet him at 10. And you have to go on rounds with Lupin soon anyway, don't you?" "Oh crap!" I slammed my books closed, rolled up my parchment and shoved everything into my bag. "Next Friday at 7?" I said, hoisting my bag over my shoulder. Sev nodded, "See you then." And I ran out of the library.
I met Remus outside the Gryffindor common room. "I was hoping you were finally going to be late, Lils!" Remus said with a chuckle. I just flashed him a grin, "You know me better than that, Remus."
We decided to start from the seventh floor and work our way down, so we climbed up a set of nearby stairs in silence. "Your Marauders have been pretty quiet recently," I said with a smile as we rounded the first corner on the seventh floor. "James will be thrilled that you willingly brought him up in conversation," Remus said with a laugh. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "I didn't bring him up," I said, "I just mentioned that he and his gang of troublemakers have been less active lately." Remus cracked a smile, "I happen to be one of those troublemakers." I laughed, "I obviously don't mean you, Remus."
"Well, I'm sure you all are planning something soon anyway," I said with a sly glance towards Remus. "As much as I dislike your other friends, I have to admit that your pranks are pretty genius." Remus laughed, "I'll tell James you think so. He's usually the mastermind behind them." I groaned, "Ugh, I didn't mean to compliment that toerag. Don't tell him I said anything." Remus just laughed.
We chatted amicably throughout rounds as we made our way down to the dungeons to finish our rotation. Remus and I had always gotten along, despite the fact that I seriously disliked Potter. We were laughing about Peter's mistake in Transfiguration on Wednesday (he'd given himself peacock feathers that he couldn't get rid of) when we rounded the corner and headed towards the Slytherin common room, the final stretch of the ground floor. And that's when we heard it.
Students were screaming and flooding out of the Slytherin common room. Some of them were pink and had small tails; all of them were covered in what seemed to be mud. I broke into a run and heard Remus groan behind me. I'd assumed he was just expressing general displeasure at the scene before him but his reason for groaning soon became all too clear.
I rounded the corner and came face to face with Potter, holding a pink, pig-nosed Severus at wand point and laughing. "Come on Snivellus, you just need a tail to match that nose!" "Potter!" I shouted, my hand digging into my robes and unearthing my wand. "What in the bloody hell are you doing?!" James spun around, his wand still pointed towards Severus and his crooked smile gracing his lips. "Evans! Fancy meeting you here, love."
"James, this is not the time - " Remus started but I held up my hand and Remus fell silent. "What in the hell are you doing, Potter! Why are you down here past curfew?! Why are you turning students pink?!" Potter just chuckled and leaned closer to me, his wand still pointed at Sev. "Well, since you asked so nicely... We thought that because some Slytherins like to talk about mud and 'dirty people' so much we should bring some to them... And where there's mud there are pigs!"
"We?" I asked, glancing over at Remus who at least had the decency to look a bit guilty. And there's my answer...
Remus gathered up all the pink students and I took a quick inventory. Mulciber, Avery, Sev, the Blacks, Lestrange... All pure blood fanatics, except Sev of course. "Remus, can you escort the pink students to the hospital wing? I'll meet you up there in 15 minutes." Remus nodded and started walking down the hall with the 'pigs.' As much as I hated to admit it, it was pretty bloody amusing seeing those bastards pranked. I also definitely appreciated that Potter was doing this in the name of Mudbloods everywhere… though he would never say that himself.
"Potter!" He grinned cockily at me. "Yes love?" I smiled, "Two weeks detention, 30 points from Gryffindor, and go back to the common room. Now." He walked towards me and put his hand on my waist, "You sure you want me to go to the common room?" I shoved his hand off and pointed forcefully up the hall. "Now, Potter, damn it!" He sighed dramatically and pocketed his wand, winking at me before walking back up the corridor and out of the dungeons.
The Slytherin common room was still open, so I walked in and surveyed the damage. The entire common room had been turned into a giant mud pit. There were troughs in the corner near the fireplace and bales of hay where, I'm assuming, seating had once been. This was seriously advanced magic… and here I thought Potter was just another arrogant pretty boy.
Transfiguration wasn't my strong suit, but I gave my wand a few waves and managed to turn the hay back into couches and the troughs back into tables. The mud, though, was stubborn and refused to budge. I walked over to Professor Slughorn's office and knocked on the door. He came bumbling to the door a few moments after I'd knocked… somehow, he'd managed to sleep through all the noise his students had been making just a half an hour before. "What is it, Ms. Evans?" Slughorn asked, wiping sleep out of his eyes. "Professor, it seems some students thought it would be appropriate to play a prank on your house tonight… I've managed to reverse some of the effects but I'm afraid there is some magic that I just can't seem to reverse."
Professor Slughorn gaped at me, "Nonsense, Ms. Evans, you're one of my brightest students! Surely you could work it out!" I smiled sweetly, "Thank you for the compliment, sir, but it's a particularly advanced bit of Transfiguration and, unfortunately, Transfiguration is my weakest subject. I'd considered waking Professor McGonagall, but I thought I might alert you first as this is your house?" Professor Slughorn nodded, "Of course, dear, of course, not to worry! I'll set it right in a jiffy. Don't worry about waking Professor McGonagall. I'll take care of it. You can finish your rounds, don't worry about us!" I smiled, "Thank you Professor." I turned to walk out of the corridor, before I remembered – "Professor? Just so you know, Remus escorted a number of your students to the hospital wing this evening with some transfigured body parts. The Blacks, Lestrange, Mulciber, Avery, and Snape were all escorted, though there might have been some others that we missed." "Thank you, Ms. Evans." Professor Slughorn said, smiling and nodding as he plodded off into the Slytherin common room.
I moved quickly down the corridor and up the stairs, making my way to the hospital wing to meet Remus. I found him waiting outside with, of course, Potter. The two were talking heatedly under their breath and didn't see (or hear) me approaching. "Bloody hell, Moony, how was I supposed to know you two were going to be down there?!" Potter was whispering, he sounded absolutely furious and I wanted to burst out laughing. What right did he have to be angry? We weren't the ones breaking the rules! "Merlin, Prongs, you know Friday nights are my rounds with Lily! You knew it was going to be us that found you if you got caught! It's almost like you wanted her to catch you! And now I have no idea if she'll ever trust me again! How can she trust me as her partner, or as a prefect, now that she knows we were planning this prank together?!" Remus sounded angrier than I'd ever heard him.
"Of course I didn't want to get caught! It's really unfortunate that you're worried about your working relationship and I really hope that this didn't jeopardize that. But I'm not sorry, Moony, those prats deserved every bit of mud and every inch of pink skin. The way they talk about Muggleborns is absolutely disgusting and I won't stand for it." Potter's eyes were blazing but Remus wasn't having any of it. "Bollocks, Prongs, bollocks. We can't just prank them because we disagree with their politics. If you want to do something about it, do something serious instead of just turning their common room into a pigpen!" "Well, next time I will. And I'll be sure to leave you out of it if you're going to be so bloody high and mighty about it afterwards!" Potter said, turning furiously on his heel and, finally, facing me. "Uh, hi," I said, waving my hand in greeting.
"Evans…" Potter's relaxed smile was back and he straightened his posture as he sauntered over to me. "Come to check and make sure I was making it up to the common room alright?" I rolled my eyes, "No, actually, I told Remus I would meet him here in 15 minutes to check up on those students that you Transfigured." Potter chuckled, "Madame Pomfrey will set them right, not to worry." James winked and turned to walk down the hallway.
I held my finger up to Remus, asking him to wait a moment, before I ran down the hallway to catch up to Potter. I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking away. He turned and smiled warmly down at me, "Yes, love?" I sighed angrily, but I also couldn't help but notice the look in his eyes. They weren't burning with anger anymore, but something else entirely.
"Even though I'm still really pissed about this prank you pulled, I do want to say thank you for standing up for people like me…" I said, shuffling my feet nervously and avoiding his gaze. "It means a lot that anyone in the wizarding world would stand up for a lowly Mudblood like myself." "Hey!" Potter said, reaching out and grabbing my chin so I would look at him, "Never, EVER, call yourself that. It's a horrible, disgusting word and I can't bear to hear it come out of your mouth." I smiled a small smile and nodded, "But anyway, thanks, James. Er… Potter. Thanks, Potter." "Did you just call me James, Lily?" he asked, smiling devilishly down at me. I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away. "One more thing," I said, spinning around quickly a few feet away, "Next time, just listen to Remus. Do something a little more serious to show which side you're on, eh?" Potter smiled, "Anything you say, love."
The next morning, I walked down to breakfast to find the Marauders, all four of them, chatting a little too innocently with one another. I sat down across from Mary and, just as I was about to ask her about our Charms exam on Tuesday, an explosion sounded from the front of the Great Hall. I spun to look and watched as a banner, bright red with gold lettering, fluttered down from the ceiling over top of the teachers' table. "We, the Marauders," the banner read, "fully support all Muggleborns!"
There was applause from around the Great Hall – even the teachers took part in the celebration of the Marauders declaration. I just looked around for James. I found him staring at me and I smiled the moment I caught his eye. He just winked and went back to eating his breakfast, laughing with the three boys beside him.
For those of you that celebrate, Happy Christmas! Happy holidays to all! Looking forward to reading more reviews and writing more Jily fic for you! ;)