Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. All unfamiliar characters, concepts, or designs are mine. This story is also mine.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: I just discovered that was replacing all my "O. W. Ls" with "O." so all chapters are being edited and fixed. Sorry for this! Henceforth, O.W.L will be abbreviated OWL. Thanks!
Fifth Year
4
James
Leave it to Remus to bring me the one thing I don't want: homework. Yet, this afternoon he makes sure to put the huge pile of assignments and exercises I've missed next to my bed. Lily's words pound in my ears: "You're wasting that brilliance." For some strange reason, I want to please her. Maybe it's because she's the only one who has ever said that I'm brilliant, or maybe it's because she's the only girl that hasn't lost her self-respect around me. I don't know, but I do know that I want to make her proud. Maybe it's a side-effect of the medicine.
"You know, you don't have to pick on Snape so much," Remus says, sitting down at my bedside. I throw him a gaping stare. "I mean, what's he done to you?"
"Stalked us, mostly. And then, he's just so... cowardly."
Remus narrows his brown eyes. "How?"
"He lets Evans fight his battles for him and he hides behind his Slytherin friends whenever he's caught. The bloke has no guts."
Remus sighs heavily. "Just stop with the battles already, this is getting out of hand. Prongs, if you keep this up, you won't get a job when you finish school. No one wants to hire a delinquent."
My heart plummets because he's right. I can't get a job if I keep mocking Snivellus and pulling pranks. "Then, after this year you want to break up the Marauders?" I ask.
Color drains from Remus' face. "I... well, maybe. I mean, we've had a good run, but this is getting out of control."
I run my hand over my chest, feeling the stitches through the robe. Pomfrey said wizardry couldn't heal my gaping wound alone, and that stitching is a better method for things like this. I don't think there is a better method for things like this, and there is no better method for the Marauders anymore. My battles with Snivelly have gotten out of control, the sooner I end them, the better. "Fine, no more Marauders after this year."
"Potter?" My head snaps to the doorway quicker than I want it to and I can see the surprise in Lily's face. "Am I interrupting something?" Her arms are also full of papers and books, great. What is with these people? Don't they get that I don't want to do homework after nearly bleeding to death?
Remus is watching me intently, a smirk ebbing at his lips as Lily glides into the room. Lily sets my additional homework on top of Remus's gifts. "It isn't that I like you or anything, I just don't want to see your grades sink because of... this." She glares at me, and I find myself unable to utter a response. I just stare emptily into those green eyes and nod.
"Alright."
Lily narrows her eyes. "No 'thank you'?" she huffs. "Figures. Don't expect me to do this again!" She flounces off, leaving me staring after her.
Remus chuckles. "I see what's going on here, Prongs."
"What?" I ask.
"You like Evans."
"I do not!" I protest. "I just..."
"Just stare at her."
My eyes slide to the cotton sheets. "Yeah."
"Face it, mate, you're hooked on Evans."
"Who's hooked on Evans?" Sirius struts into the room, a huge hickey branding his neck that I only see thanks to his open shirt collar.
"Prongs," Remus answers.
"No way, you like the snitch? What is wrong with you, mate? We have to sneak you out for some pranking or else your brain is going to rot!" Sirius gasps. He waves at one of the girls picking up an allergy medication, she's blonde, blue-eyed, and has a figure that would make Isabelle Pire green with envy. I snap my fingers, drawing Sirius back to our conversation. "So, uh, how did it happen?"
"Remember when she saved me from being expelled?" I ask.
"Which time?" Sirius and Remus chime.
I roll my eyes. "Last time. Well, she said something that... just got to me."
"What?" Sirius prompts.
"She called me brilliant."
My friends share a quick glance with each other and then burst into howls of laughter. "Are you sure?" Sirius asks in between gasps.
"Yes, I'm sure," I snap, "is it so hard to believe?"
"Yes," Remus confirms.
"So, you like her because she called you brilliant?" Sirius pipes up.
"No, she also said that she'll keep saving me because she doesn't want me wasting my brilliance." I cast a glare at my smirking comrades. "I'm not making this up!"
"Look, if you like Evans, whatever the reason, and no matter how disgusted I am by this, I will help you," Sirius promises, patting my shoulder. I furrow my brow.
"Yeah, me too," Remus agrees. "We have to stick together, after all." He gives me a shining smile, the one he uses to dazzle sympathy out of girls to copy their homework.
"Alright, quit getting all sappy on me." I straighten and stretch my arms.
Sirius snatches a chair from one of the other beds and turns it around before flopping into it. "So, what are you boys thinking about for our next devious disaster against Slytherin?"
I share a look at Remus, who is watching the sun filter through the windows. "Moony and I were thinking we do something big, something at the end of the year that no one will ever forget."
"Why?" Sirius asks, wariness fresh in his eye. He won't like it; he considers the pranking and mischief the ultimate part of our lives at Hogwarts.
"We're in our fifth year now, and we have to start thinking about the future," I say. "Even though it makes me want to puke blood to say it, we have to end the Marauders."
Sirius pales, then his brow creases and rage colors his features. "You lot would rather plug through school knowing those pureblood supremists are out slaughtering Muggle-borns?" he roars. "You want to give in?"
"Padfoot, think about it. We can't get jobs if we keep pranking people."
Remus nods. "The toilet prank almost got Prongs expelled."
Sirius releases a deep sigh. "And this thing with Snivelly almost got Prongs killed. Alright, mate, but someone else will have to tell Wormtail. He is going to be crushed."
Remus is the closest to Peter, though he bonds more with Sirius and I. "I'll tell him," Remus agrees. "Tonight, over dinner."
Conversation slides into silence until Sirius gets up, muttering something about an essay he forgot about, then Remus follows with a potion due tomorrow. I wave them off, waiting until they leave to rise to my trembling legs. I pluck one of Lily's assignments from the pile and read over it, wondering who the heck Morgana was and how I'm going to write a five page paper on her by tomorrow.
"What are you doing?" Madame Pomfrey shrieks, skirting toward me.
I shrug. "Standing up."
"The potion has to repair your damaged blood vessels! It won't do that if it's going to your liver!" she barks.
I raise an eyebrow. "I've been up and about before and nothing's happened. Don't breathe fire or anything, Pom."
Madame Pomfrey's plump face reddens. "In bed, now."
"I'm fine," I insist, waving an arm. "See?"
"Let me check your stitches then," Madame Pomfrey snaps. I whisk off the top of my hospital ensemble, showing her my healing wound. Her expression lightens. "Very well, you are doing much better than I thought. You should be out by tonight." Thank goodness, no more crazy ladies asking me to take off my shirt... wait, no more old crazy ladies asking me to take off my shirt. "Carry on." Madame Pomfrey shuffles out of sight, leaving me to wonder how I'm supposed to sneak down to the library. Surely Lily didn't leave me the textbook I need. I comb through the papers she brought me and, to my surprise, there is the Defense against the Dark Arts text complete with Morgana's biography.
"Doesn't like me, huh?" I chuckle to myself. Maybe this won't be so bad; after all, no girl can resist James Potter! Not even Lily Evans.
Author's Note: Says you, James. Not much to say here, just that Peter considers the Marauders his family and the one group of people that accept him for who he is. They will never betray him or look down on him, and I think that break-up may have driven Peter to the "dark side." After all, he found most of his happiness in them and he found acceptance through them. Perhaps he felt betrayed by their break-up, since they kind of don't ever ask him if he's okay with it.
Oh, and this is perhaps my fave chapter from this section. XD
