Disclaimer: blah blah blah, none of it is mine...you know the drill. lol
A/N: Thanks to the following reviewers! You all rock my socks off: AnIrishLily, And So The Wolf Howls, Phantom of a Rose, Blossom1098, and warm summer days. Thanks for taking the timeto read my story!
Now, I'll answer some questions/comments from certain reviews from chapter 5.
First of all, there is going to be more Lily and James coming up in the next following chapters. However, I try not to focus on only just them, because I feel like Lily and James would both want to spend time with their son to get to know him and what not.
Second of all, when I was writing the scene with Snape and Dumbledore I did realize that the spot they decided to have the discussion was a particularly dumb idea, because the two could be easily overheard. The only thing I have to back up my idea was that Dumbledore was so worried that he didn't really think about the fact that students could happen to be walking by the Forbidden Forest and overhear theirdiscussion.
This next chapter is the chapter that gave me the most trouble. I re-edited it a ton of times, and I still don't completely love it. However, I hope you all enjoy it and please feel free to give me feedback. Also, this will be the last update for about 2 weeks. I'm going on a vacation with my family and won't be able to update until I get back. Once I return home though, I'll update as soon as possible!
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 6:
Two days had passed since James, Harry, and Ron had overheard the conversation in the forest between their headmaster and Defense teacher. Each night Harry and Ron would attempt to decipher what the heated discussion had meant. Even though James knew the basic foundation already, he pretended to join in their discussions as if he had no clue what Snape could have meant. James was happy to spend time with his son; their little adventure after Quidditch practice had created a bond between the three boys, connecting them by the common goal to figure out the mystery that lay before them.
"Mister Gates, why are you late to my class?"
James grinned in his most charming way as he looked upon Professor McGonagall, who was very much aware of her tardy student. James rubbed his hands together happily, quickly concocting up a story. He had done this many a time with Sirius, so he was well practiced in this particular area. "Well, Professor, as I was walking down here, I stumbled upon a poor first year that seemed to be lost. Naturally, I just had to help the small unfortunate bloke and I—"
"Take a seat, Mister Gates," she said sternly cutting off his speech, although James could have sworn he saw the old deputy headmistress crack a smile as she returned to her lesson. He looked around the classroom for an empty seat and saw Ron and Harry, out of the corner of his eye, waving him over towards them. When he plopped down in an empty seat in front of the two boys, Hermione instantly stiffened, staring at James with an untrusting gaze.
"As I was saying," continued McGonagall, glancing pointedly at James, "Metamorphagus is the art of being able to transform one self's appearance painlessly. They are very rare and the gift is hereditary, meaning you must be born as a Metamorphmagus. Now, who can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a Metamorphmagus?"
For a fleeting second, James began worrying about Remus; the full moon was tomorrow night and he wasn't going to be there to assist with the transformation. His thoughts immediately settled, however, after he realized that time back in 1980 hadn't continued without him. With that final thought, James dully put his head in his hands as Hermione's hand shot up into the air from beside him, almost knocking his glasses off, eager to answer McGonagall's question.
"Yes, Miss Carlyle?"
James had to stifle his laughter as Hermione dejectedly put her hand down and glared at Lily who was now perfectly answering the professor's question. It seemed as if Hermione had met her academic match.
"What the…" James muttered quietly to himself. A piece of balled up paper had suddenly connected with the side of his head, knocking James out of his daydream. He turned to look in the direction of who had thrown it, but was unable to find the culprit. Unsurprisingly, his eyes landed upon a certain red-headed beauty who was staring straight back at him. Unfortunately for James, her eyes didn't show a sign of liking, but a sign of a distinct loathing. James silently cursed himself for ever finding that Auror book. If he hadn't of started reading it, they would never have found out Lily would become James' wife, and James would still be on considerably good terms with Lily…blasted book…
"Mister Potter."
James head shot up at the sound of his last name being called out by the teacher. "Yes, Professor?" he asked, convinced that she had caught him not paying attention. A confused expression crossed James' face as he rubbed a finger in his ear. He could have sworn two voices had answered McGonagall just then. He could feel Lily's eyes digging into the back of his head and he winced. Oh man, he had blown it.
"Excuse me, Mister Gates?" Professor McGonagall turned from facing Harry, who was staring at James confusedly, to stare at James. She shot a look of warning at him, silently reprimanding him for his idiotic mistake.
He desperately hoped his voice would come out cool and collective. "My mistake, Professor. Potter, Gates, both names sound so much alike." He smiled winningly up at her, hoping the rest of the class would buy his little charade. A couple students snickered.
The deputy headmistress's eyes flashed dangerously. She shook her head slightly in an agitated manner. "Fifteen points from Gryffindor, Mister Gates. As for you, Mister Potter, I'm sure Mister Weasley would be able to improve his essay scores if you stopped passing notes in my class."
Harry nodded, grinning towards Ron who was chuckling quietly. Hermione simply rolled her eyes, picking up her quill once again and resuming her notes. James sighed in relief, before going back to his position of staring blankly out the window.
OOO
"Oy! Lisa," James called out, as soon as the bell rang an hour later, relieving him of his boredom.
Lily kept on walking, her long hair bouncing behind her as she chatted with Parvati Patil. Is she ignoring me because she doesn't want to talk to me, or is she still not used to people calling her Lisa? James shrugged and quickened his pace until he was right behind the two girls. Lily jumped when James grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the crowd, leaving a confused Parvati to wonder where her friend had gone. He pulled her into a small alcove in the wall, just big enough for the two to stand in.
"What do you want?" Lily hissed, slapping his wrist off of her hand.
"I need to talk to you," James answered, dropping his voice.
"Well, I don't." She made to walk back out into the traffic of people in the hallway, but James grabbed her by the arm, dragging her back.
"Listen, we're in danger. I really don't want to be overheard, so I'll explain everything if you just follow me to a more secluded location."
"I gave you one chance, Potter," she said, slamming her finger into his chest. "One chance for us to be civil towards each other, and you blew it. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get back to Parvati."
James growled angrily, tightening his grip on her arm. "What did I do, Evans? I'll tell you what I did. Nothing. I didn't know that book would say what it did. It's not my fault you flipped out, but if you want to stay safe I suggest you put aside your feelings toward me and let me explain what needs to be explained."
He watched as her eyes widened at the harsh tone he had adopted with her. The surprise in her eyes quickly vanished, and emerald slits now glared at him. She lifted her foot and stomped on his shoe, hard. The force of the impact caused James to release his grip on her. Angrily, she stabbed her index finger under his nose. "I don't need you to keep me safe." And with that she stormed off, and he lost her in the midst of the crowd.
OOO
What if he was telling the truth?
What if he wasn't?
He could have had something important to tell you.
Anything that's important to him isn't worth my time.
What about Harry?
Lily closed her eyes tiredly, leaning her head against her bed post. She banged her head against the dark stained wood, trying to stop the voices in her head. What if she was in danger? What if James had found something out and really was trying to warn her? What if Harry was in danger?
Despite the fact that marrying James Potter and having a kid with him frightened her beyond anything else, she still realized Harry was her son too. Maybe what frightened her most about that fact was that James had been her rival for years, driven her insane, caused her to lose her temper more than she could count, and yet she had had a child with him. Or maybe, what frightened her most, is that a small part of her was pleased at the prospect of marrying James.
She had to admit, the boy was annoying, immature, and occasionally a bit arrogant, but his good qualities stuck out amongst those and she felt herself admiring some of them. The way he was forever loyal to his friends, the way he seemed to always match her in school subjects without trying half as hard as she did, the way he could have fun and not care about what others thought of him. Deep down, she knew part of the reason she always fought with James was because, maybe, she really didn't hate him as much as she claimed to.
Another round of banging her head on the bedpost followed these new and scary thoughts. Why hadn't she just let him explain to her what he wanted? Now, it was driving her crazy and she needed to know what was up. Also, she needed to get away from Lavender and Parvati. The two girls were nice enough, but they were way too giddy and girly for her, and to put it frankly, they were driving her up the wall.
Lily rubbed her forehead, feeling the small lump that was beginning to form thanks to her method of trying to straighten out her thoughts by hitting herself. She knew she would have to talk to James sooner or later, and part of her wanted his companionship again.
OOO
Hermione and Ron quickly dodged a pair of viciously thrown socks as Harry continued to throw random items out of his trunk in an attempt to locate the Marauder's Map.
"Harry," started Hermione, "I think you should spend a little less time on obsessing over Malfoy and a little more time on figuring out what Dumbledore and Snape were arguing about last week."
Harry straightened up with the map held successfully in his hand. "Malfoy has something to do with all of this, I just know it. And I do not 'obsess over Malfoy'."
Ron raised his eyebrows slightly. "I think this would be considered stalking, mate," he stated as Harry cursed under his breath at not finding the little dot labeled 'Draco Malfoy' in the Slytherin common room or any of the boys' bathrooms.
Harry turned to glare at the two of them before turning his attention back to his map. "Look, are you just going to sit there, or are you going to help me find him?"
Ron and Hermione shot each other a look that clearly said 'Maybe we could leave quietly and he wouldn't notice', before getting up and leaning over Harry's bed in order to get a good view of the piece of parchment.
"He's not in any of the classrooms," Ron said in a bored tone after five minutes of scanning the hundreds and hundreds of labeled dots. "He's just not here."
"He has to be here! Where else could he go? I mean, Filch has all the entrances and exits to this school wired, Malfoy couldn't possibly get out of the castle," Harry said, punching his fist into his comforter.
"Unless he's using one of the secret passages. I mean, it wouldn't be the first. Sirius got into the castle in our third year by using one," pointed out Hermione in a knowledgeable tone only worthy of Hermione Granger.
"Yeah, but Sirius wasn't an evil Death Eater, was he?" Harry shot back.
"Well, no one knew that at the time. We all thought he was out to kill you," Hermione argued, trying to make her point and convinced that she was one hundred percent correct.
Ron, predictably, came to Harry's defense. "But Harry's all alive and well now, isn't he? That passage practically provided Harry with his Firebolt, it isn't providing an escape route to people like Malfoy. And besides, he wouldn't even know that the passages exist."
Hermione rolled her eyes, completely fed up with both of her best friends, especially her red headed friend. The fight that had occurred between them earlier that week didn't help her temper with him either. "You two are unbelievable. My point is—"
But what exactly her point was, Harry and Ron never found out, because before either of them could do or say anything Hermione had gasped audibly, grabbed the Marauder's map out of Harry's hands, and ran out of the boys' dormitory.
"What the dear mother of Godric Gryffindor was that all about?" Ron asked startled, staring blankly at the closed door.
OOO
James was sitting alone at the back of the library, studying quietly for his Charms test Professor Flitwick had warned the class about earlier that day. Yes, it had shocked him too when he had found himself heading for the studious corner of the library, but frankly, he had nothing else to do. Quidditch practice wasn't until Wednesday, Christmas holidays were still two weeks away, his faithful Marauders weren't here to plan pranks, and Lily still hadn't talked to him, a pity too since he had some new developments to share with her concerning himself and what he had overheard with Snape and Dumbledore.
It was very quiet at the table he was sitting at, almost too quiet. One of those moments where you think someone is just about to jump out of nowhere and scare the guts out of you. So, it wasn't completely unexpected when James jumped a foot in the air and fell out of his chair when a small cough broke through the lack of noise.
"Bloody mess, Evans, what was that for?" gasped James, as he scrambled to his feet trying to stop the blush that was spreading over his cheeks.
"I'm sorry," Lily said, sitting down in the chair beside his, trying to suppress the giggles that were trying so hard to escape from her mouth.
"What do you want?" he asked, looking at her.
She looked somewhat amusedly at James' open notes and Charms book that were spread out in front of him. "Finally decided to open a textbook then?" she asked, trying to lighten the situation.
"Look, if you just came here to mock me about my study habits then you can just bugger off."
Lily opened and closed her mouth as she shifted uncomfortably, trying to fish for the right words. "I just wanted to apologize for the way I've been treating you," she stated, pretending to be interested with a coffee stain on the table surface.
James stared at her, unable to stop the slight smirk from appearing across his face. "Lavender and Parvati are driving you nuts, aren't they?" he asked.
"Merlin, yes!" Lily exclaimed, sighing loudly and throwing her hands up in the air. "They are going to send me to the psychotic ward of St. Mungo's Hospital if I continue to hang out with them."
James chuckled slightly and Lily soon started laughing quietly too. "So, what you're trying to say is you're sorry for hating me and that you'd much rather hang out with me than those two girls?" James summed up, grinning.
Lily shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. And, I'm...well…I'm quite interested in learning more about…our son."
Lily began to blush profusely as James stared at her in amazement. Did she just say 'our son'? James thought. This would have been a perfect opportunity to come up with a witty sarcastic comment that would most likely end up with Lily slapping James and then storming off, but instead James' mature side stepped into play, much to his surprise as well as Lily's.
"Well then, I have some things to share with you," James started, leaning forward as if he were about to share and incredibly secret piece of information.
Lily and James both jumped and whipped their heads around when a voice spoke from behind them. "Yes, I believe you do have something to share with me."
James gulped as Lily looked in between the two confusedly; had she missed something important?
"Hermione, what are you talking about?" James asked, his eyes shifting from Lily to Hermione.
Hermione held up, what appeared to be, a piece of parchment. She walked closer to the table where Lily and James were sitting and slapped the paper in front of James, who looked down at it curiously. James gasped at the all too familiar heading that was spreading across the page.
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
James ran a hand nervously through his already messy hair as he looked up at Hermione's satisfied face. "How did you get this?"
"I think the real question is how you two got here?" she retorted. James was slightly startled to see the formation of glistening tears forming behind Hermione's dark brown eyes.
Lily, still not sure of what was going on, or who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, or Prongs were, decided to speak up. "Well, obviously we took a train here from France…" but she broke off as James shook his head discretely, as if telling her to stop.
"I don't understand…" Lily tried again to get some answers but was cut short as a head of bushy brown hair obscured her vision and a hug so strong knocked out her ability to speak.
"The map never lies…Lily," Hermione said quietly, a small tear rolling down her cheek.
OOO
An hour or so later, after Hermione had finally calmed down and everyone's confusion had been cleared up, James, Lily, and Hermione still sat at the table in the back of the library, filling each other in on all that had happened.
"Amazing," Hermione said, as she looked in between James and Lily. "Changing appearances is supposed to be an incredibly advanced piece of spell work…Dumbledore is good. No one could ever have guessed who you were."
"Until the Marauder's Map came along…yep, the good ole' map, never fails," James said affectionately, patting the map as if he were rewarding a dog with a pat on the back.
"So, what exactly is this map?" Lily asked, eyeing it with curiosity.
"Well, it's actually quite simple. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I made it, mostly so we could navigate the castles easily without being spotted," James answered.
"It's helped us out of a couple tight spots too," Hermione added, remembering the many times she, Ron, and Harry had used it.
"How did Harry get it?"
"Hm, well it's quite a long story. Basically, Filch must have confiscated it off of you guys back while you were still in school, because Fred and George Weasley nicked it from Filch and then gave it to Harry in his third year," Hermione recapped.
James' eyes went wide, his grip on the map tightening. He gasped, "One of the Marauders let the sacred map fall into the hands of the Squib caretaker? That's disgusting!" James exclaimed dramatically, clutching the map to his chest.
Hermione and Lily rolled their eyes, trying not to laugh. "Honestly, James, why don't you just marry the thing?" Lily replied sarcastically.
"I would…but that would be considered as cheating on you," he replied smoothly winking at her.
For some strange reason, Lily felt herself blush and she quickly looked away, turning her attention back to Hermione who was smirking at them both. "Okay, well now that you know the truth, could you please not share it with anyone else? That includes Harry," Lily said, taking control of the situation.
Hermione looked from James to Lily. "I…well, you're going to have to tell him sometime," she finally answered.
James nodded in agreement. "I agree."
Lily's stomach dropped. She had been expecting this, but for some reason she was hoping James would have agreed with her. How do you just let your son know that you're his dead parents in their teenage form…wait, screw that, they didn't even look like themselves. This was seriously screwed up. "But—" Lily began, before James cut her off in a surprisingly soft, caring voice.
"Listen, Lily. Put yourself into Harry's shoes. His parents died when he was only one and he's never known them. Now, he might finally have a chance at meeting them, and I think he would like that," James said quietly, looking straight at Lily.
They maintained eye contact for a while, both forgetting for a moment that Hermione was there. Lily awkwardly broke the eye contact and looked toward Hermione. She sighed deeply. "Hermione, you know him better than we do. If you feel like he should know then…" she looked at James who was grinning encouragingly. "Then I guess we'll tell him…but only when I feel it's right," she added quickly as James let out a whoop of triumph.
OOO
Hermione and Lily left James at the foot of the boys' dormitory before climbing up to the girls' dorm. It was pretty quiet considering it was nearing eleven; their two other roommates must have already hit the sack.
Hermione and Lily didn't say a word to each other as they pulled out their pajamas, got dressed, and then crawled into bed. It wasn't until ten minutes later when Lily called out quietly, "Hermione, can I ask you something?"
Lily could hear Hermione's bed springs creak as Hermione shifted positions, most likely to try to get a better view of Lily, which was a total waste of time seeing as it was pitch dark in the room. "Sure, but depending on the question it may not be right for me to answer," Hermione replied.
Lily didn't know how to phrase her question without sounding paranoid and weird, but on the other hand she had to know. "Hermione, do you know if…well…if James, you know? Slipped me a love potion or forced me to marry him or something?"
There was a shocked second of silence before Hermione started laughing quietly, causing Lily to blush slightly. "Would he honestly do something like that?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I wouldn't put it past him," Lily answered truthfully.
"You really don't like him, do you?" Hermione asked.
Lily pondered that question for a moment. Did she really not like him? "I…I dunno," she finally said, letting her words fall away. She greatly appreciated the fact that Hermione didn't try to push the answer further.
A couple of minutes passed in silence as both girls seemed to be thinking deeply. In Lily's case, all her previous thoughts about James Potter clashed with her new thoughts of him in a full blown out war inside of her head. It was like every time Lily tried to reassure herself that James was nothing more than an arrogant show off, then a picture of him studying seriously in the library would pop in and push the arrogant side of him out of her mind…yeah, she was definitely going insane.
Lily jumped slightly when Hermione began to speak again. "But to answer your first question, no, he didn't. From what I know, you two really loved each other and both got married willingly."
Lily's heart seemed to flip inside of her chest and she couldn't help but smile. She buried her face into her pillow and finally drifted off to sleep, having weird dreams of a messy black haired man, cake, and for some reason a flying motorbike.
Reviews are always nice to recieve!
See you all in two weeks!
--HeyLookTheSnitch