By Zetta Zofia
Disclaimer: Characters are Not Mine! Belong to the wonderful, fabulous, absolutely amazing genius J.K. Rowling.
Feedback Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com
Find out all about me: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=154516
Special thanks to ThE kIdD and Citrus Wine for
reviewing the last chapter. Especially
to Citrus Wine, because the comment about how there should be more reviewers
has brightened my day... er... night.
Though to be honest, the one from ThE kIdD made me so happy my aunt was
looking at me funny during dinner, so special thanks to ThE kIdD as well. :o)
To Liz the Laugh, thank you for your comments.
I truly didn't mean to imply that there was any kind of adult-serious relationships
going on, so I've gone back and tried to make it sound like serious
relationships at that time meant more along the lines of hand holding, and a
little kiss or something. Sorry 'bout
that, and I hope I've fixed it up enough to your satisfaction! As to not having enough Lily, I'm trying to
focus more on James's side of things. She'll
start to show up more and more very quickly, so I hope that'll make you like it
more!
Fourth year began with a BANG! produced by Sirius and James. They set off hundreds of Mr. Filibusters Wet-Start-No-Heat-Fireworks in the middle of the Sorting Ceremony. They received two detentions each, fifty points from Gryffindor, and a standing ovation, followed by a bowl of black pudding dumped on them by Peter.
The Slytherins, who'd been the ones to get wet from exploding pumpkin juice containers, remained seated, and tried to ignore the food fight raging around them.
A week after that incident, Sirius 'accidentally' dropped another firework into a random cauldron during Potions class.
It turned out to be Severus Snape's cauldron, and the look he sent Sirius afterwards made the Marauders laugh until they had trouble breathing.
Sirius got two weeks worth of detention- apparently, the potion caused painful boils to pop up on human skin, and half the class had been hit.
Another week later, a firework was tossed in Sirius's cauldron. Fortunately, Remus saw it and warned everyone in time for it to be avoided. The potion had used a large amount of poisonous materials, and if it had hit anyone too much, they would have been in the hospital for months.
A war started between Sirius and Severus then, and before long, the two hotheaded boys were having dueling wars once a week in the hallways. James, Remus, and Peter made the decision to support their friend, so now Snape was up against the Marauders.
He had one advantage though, and her name was Lily Evans.
Lily and Severus had been going out for two weeks when the first fight happened. Rumors flew around the castle about their relationship, and several people had even seen them kiss once or twice. Sirius, who was rather angry about the whole thing, wondered out loud when the wedding would be.
When another week had passed and Lily still hadn't broken up with him, Sirius gave up trying to be nice about it and decided that they needed to speak with her.
James had agreed at first, but then he'd taken the time to think about it, and remember the reasons he'd had for not talking to her the year before when she'd been going out with a Slytherin. Not only was it far from their place to do so, it was also guaranteed to make her furious, and James, who was still somewhat madly in love with her, did not want that at all.
But Sirius could not be talked out of it.
It was only coincidence that James was even in the room when Lily walked in the night Sirius chose, and it certainly wasn't something he'd wanted.
Sirius had been staring at the fire, but when she came in, he straightened and sent her a cold look. "Out a little late, are we?"
She looked at him, and James, who was in the chair to Sirius's right, noticed that her eyes were shimmering. She'd been crying he realized, and immediately had a feeling that putting pressure on her would not be the wisest of ideas. Lily, while she was a wonderful girl most of the time, tended to have a rather explosive temper when things were not going very well. This, he assumed, was one of those times. "Sirius," he murmured, but his friend either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him.
"Who are you dating now, Lily?" Sirius asked, as if he weren't certain. "Snape, the Slytherin prat?"
Lily crossed her arms. "Is it any business of yours?"
James fought the urge to moan and smother Sirius with a pillow. This was not going to be pretty. Lily could apparently sense the words Sirius was going to share with her, and had no desire to hear them. Sirius didn't seem to noticed James's agitation. "It is when you're supposed to be a friend of ours," he responded hotly.
"Ours?" James wondered, suddenly feeling uneasy. He looked at Lily and saw her eyes blazing. Oh boy. "Sirius, leave me out of this."
"Oh, no, please don't," Lily said, glaring at him now. "Please, do lecture me on how horrible I am for going out with him. I'd just love to hear it from the two of you, especially considering the way you've been acting around me lately."
"The way we've been acting?" Sirius demanded. "You're the one who's running off with Slytherins all the time, and doing Merlin knows what!"
Lily's temper was boiling over, James could see. "Sirius, enough," he said quietly.
Lily glared at him, having only heard the whisper, not the words. "Oh, do speak up, James. I really want to hear this from you too. Please, tell me every little thing I've done wrong to you two, and tell me all about how horrible I am for going out with someone I'm interested in."
Sirius stood up then. "Lily, I can't believe that you would betray your friendship with us and go out with that slimy little jerk! How can you be interested in that prat?"
Lily glared at him. "He's not a prat! And what makes you think you can tell me whom I can and can't date?"
"I'm one of your friends!"
Lily let out a hiss of breath. "My friends would never try and boss me around like I'm a little girl, Sirius Black. And I'm not even sure if you prats fall into that category any more, considering as much as you ignore me!"
"Well maybe they should start ignoring you if you're too stupid to see that he's a git and he's just going to hurt you. And we haven't been ignoring you."
"Oh really? When was the last time we went out and did something?"
"Maybe we'd go more often if your brains weren't so addled that you'd go out with Severus Snape!"
Lily went for her wand, and James hurried and stood up, stepping in between them and holding his arms out so that if they started to attack, he'd be able to deflect their wands. In theory anyhow, as both of them had violent tempers, and he doubted that he could interfere if things got much further out of hand.
Lily's eyes seemed to be rippling with fury and he was halfway certain she was going to snap and hit Sirius if he said anything else. Or she might just hit him if he didn't say his part and get out quick. He looked at her first, patiently. "Lily, he's only trying to protect you. You know how we feel about Severus, and we're both worried that something will happen to you because you're with him, whether we're right to think it or not." He looked over at his best friend. "Sirius, she's a big girl and can make up her own mind about whom she dates, regardless of our opinions. Now, both of you calm down before someone gets hurt." And judging by the expressions on their faces, he might just be the target. He wasted no time, but sent them both exasperated looks and went to the stairs. He didn't go upstairs all the way though, but ducked around the corner so he could hear them.
Lily frowned after him, then scowled at Sirius. "Not that it's any of your business," she said icily. "But I broke up with Severus tonight." James grinned widely, and Sirius immediately relaxed and started to react, but she was quicker. "And don't you dare start to smile, Sirius Black." She pushed him, hard, and he stumbled back. "I decided that I didn't want to be the cause of the end of our friendship, or what's left of it. And if I hear one word from you about any of this," she hissed, her face inches away from his. "I swear I'll get every girl in this school to stay away from you for the rest of your time here."
And she too stormed up the stairs; only she went up to the girl's portion.
Sirius sat down on the couch again, relaxing now that he knew things were all right with Lily.
James said a quiet thank you and made his way upstairs. He felt a lot better now.
* * *
The rest of the year was a continuation of the war between Sirius and Severus, only it branched out to include their houses even more.
The Gryffindors would completely ignore the Slytherins at every opportunity, as would the Slytherins do to the Gryffindors. The other two houses simply tried to stay out of the way, though on occasion, they would be included in the fights as well. There were two particularly bad days in which fights started, once with the seventh years, and once with the fourth years, both times in the Gryffindor/Slytherin mixed classes. Pranks flew at both sides, with the Gryffindors managing to come out on top for the simple reason that they kept themselves from going too far- two Slytherins were suspended for two days when they accidentally sent a Gryffindor girl to the hospital wing for a month.
At the same time, life outside of Hogwarts was rough as well. The Daily Prophet carried regular articles about attacks made on Muggle-borns, their families, and anyone who supported Muggles in any way. Not much was known about the attacks, but the results were devastating.
Lily and most of the rest of Hogwarts saw their first Mourner owl come in on the last day of April. It was a black owl and carried an envelope sealed with black wax. It was delivered to Murphy Warner, a sixth year Gryffindor, and announced the murders of his parents and sister by an unknown person or persons.
The following week brought another Mourner and an even more shocking delivery, this one a large gray government owl to James, who was seated with his friends at the end of the Gryffindor table closest to the teachers. Professor Dumbledore got a letter from the same owl and the Mourner, and the entire school was buzzing with excitement and worry as Dumbledore calmly opened the letters.
Lily was sitting with the Marauders that morning, so she was among those to hear the news first, through the letter sent to James.
James skimmed through the letter, and then his mouth dropped open and he re-read it, this time aloud. "It's from my dad," he explained, his voice somewhat unsteady, and the people around him quieted. "'Dear James,'" he read. "'The Minister of Magic, Zerner Burbank, passed away last night.'"
"Oh my goodness," someone murmured.
"The Minister? That means we've elections coming," a seventh year said.
James continued. "'The Aurors who investigated believe he was murdered. Elections to temporarily replace him will be held within a week. Seeing as I haven't time to ask you and get a response back quickly enough, I won't ask about the elections that are beginning this week. However, the official end of term will come in July. I would like you to think about how you'd feel if I ran for the office.'" James paused for a moment, his mouth not working. Then he managed to continue, though he sounded somewhat strained. "'You can let me know how you'd feel at the end of the school year, but I'd like for you to sincerely think about it and let me know. With love, Dad.'" James set down the letter and looked at his friends, his expression showing his shock and confusion.
They all looked back, their faces echoing his emotions.
Sirius summed it up the best. "Oh boy."
Feedback Me: zettazofia@yahoo.com
Find out all about me: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=154516