Disclaimer: I haven't gotten a bad review yet! Does a little dance Reading your reviews always makes my day! Thanks to dustedsnow, piggy396, greenday and hp, EboniteEvans, shortstuff, Beatles.and.HP.obsessor. and KC Potter-Black! I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7
Teigra sat bouncing on her bed. "So? What did he say? What did you say? What happened!"
Wren just shook her head at their overly energetic friend and then looked to Lily from her position on the window seat. It was obvious that even though she wasn't blurting out questions like Teigra, she wanted to know what happened.
Lily tried acting really depressed. She tilted her head down so that her hair covered enough of her face so that they couldn't see the smug smirk that played upon her lips. "Well," she sniffed to make it sound like she was near tears, "I f-forced Potter to give me t-the results to my audition. He g-gave them to, to me."
Wren had already picked up on what Lily was doing. She could always pick out when people were spinning stories, but she let Lily have her fun. Teigra on the other hand was not as quick to pick up on these facts, so she was completely enthralled by Lily's dictation. Softly, Teigra urged Lily to continue. "And then what happened Talon?"
"Oh Stripes! It was awful! Flitwick the day of auditions said that no one was going to be cut. But then, on the paper he s-said that I was so b-bad that he, that he h-had to make an exception in m-my case." Lily could barely stand not laughing at this point, so relying on dramatics she ran over to her former bed and stuffed her face into her pillow.
Lily was laughing hysterically into her pillow, but to Teigra it looked like she was sobbing. Wren watched in amusement as Teigra got up slowly to comfort her friend. "Oh come here sweetie," Teigra cooed while trying to pry Lily away from the pillow. "I've heard you sing and Flitwick has to be deaf in both ears if you didn't get in."
Teigra finally succeeded in tearing the pillow from Lily's hands only to see tears running down Lily's face. "Oh Stripes, thank you." Teigra's face went to a quick look of shock and then rage when instead of sobs she heard peels of laughter. "But I got the lead!"
"You...you...JERK! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" At this Lily ran out of the room containing a chuckling Wren and one very irate tiger. She was laughing the entire way down the stairs and out of the portrait hole. People who were in the Common Room looked up at the commotion only to see a red blur go past followed by a large black tiger with copper stripes.
One random person questioned, "What was...?
His friend cut him off. "Dude, it is better if you don't ask."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sirius sat bouncing on her bed. "So? What did she say? What did you say? What happened!"
Remus just shook his head at their overly energetic friend and then looked to James from his position leaning against the wall. It was obvious that even though he wasn't blurting out questions like Sirius, he wanted to know what happened.
James sighed. 'What am I going to tell them? Part of the truth and then a lot of lying.' Sirius was getting more and more impatient with every second that James didn't answer. "Hello-o? Hogwarts to Prongsie. Does anyone hear me?"
James lips twitched a little at the corner. Absentmindedly James said, "Yeah, I hear you. I'm just choosing to ignore your nagging voice."
Sirius look dejected. "Prongs that isn't very nice. I'll have you know my voice is very beautiful and not nagging at all."
James knew that he had his way out now. "Su-ure. Keep telling yourself that Padsie. You talk so much I doubt you even listen to what you say anymore.
"I still have a wonderful voice and there is nothing you can say to deny that."
Remus finally couldn't help himself. He had to add to the friendly banter going on. "Um, Pads? Have you ever tried to hear yourself sing when you are drunk? It is anything but pretty."
"Well, I am sorry that it is make fun of Sirius day! But this means WAR!" With saying that, Sirius tackled James to the ground and rolled into Remus's leg's to bring him down as well. They wrestled across the floor and all that James could think was that he was glad Sirius had a short attention span.
They finally broke it up when they were all panting for breath, well almost all of them. Remus was just sitting on the ground, cross-legged, like nothing had ever happened. Sirius was on his back sprawled across the ground panting like the dog he is on the full moon. James was sitting on the floor while leaning against the wall. He was also hard of breath, but nowhere near as bad as Sirius.
Remus tilted his head questioning while looking at James. "You know Prongs, you never did tell us what happened between you and Lily."
James looked like he was going to fall over. 'Darn. So close yet so far. Sirius may have a short attention span, but I forgot that Remus doesn't.' James sighed. 'Man it seems like I am doing a lot of sighing.'
"Do you really want to know what happened?" Just looking at their faces James knew he didn't have to ask that question. They were friends and they of course wanted to know. "Okay. She blackmailed me." To say that his friends were shocked was an understatement. It wasn't everyday that someone could pull something on a Marauder. "She said that she caught me sneaking out on one of the full moon nights and was going to tell a teacher unless I gave her her results to the audition."
Remus looked up and paled slightly. "What did you do?"
"What do you think I did? I gave her what part she got. If she told a teacher, Sirius and I might have been found out as illegal animagi. Plus Lily is not stupid. The teacher would probably give some indication that the time that I went out wasn't great. It would only be a matter of time until Lily figured out your furry little secret. It wasn't like telling her a part was of any consequence to us, so telling was the best option." James sighed yet again. "Ranting made me hungry. I'm going down to the kitchens."
Sirius sat stunned. "Someone actually bested a Marauder. I never thought that I would see the day."
Remus just thought to himself. 'He's lying. Not everything but some things. I could hear his heart speed up. That makes two mysteries that I have to solve, Wren and James.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James had to get out of the room. He absolutely hated lying to his friends, but it was a necessary evil. 'Wait. Is it a necessary evil? Would it be so bad if they found out that I am in a play? I mean there were circumstances to why I tried out'
James said that he was going to go to the kitchen, but after having to lie to the Marauders, he suddenly wasn't feeling too hungry. He made his way outside by sticking to the shadows and looking around the corner for Filch. He silently cursed himself for not grabbing his invisibility cloak when he went out of their room. He needed to clear his mind so he decided to go out for a gallop.
He just wanted to get away from all of his problems. He was running down the field in between the castle and Hagrid's hut. Seeing no one in the dusky landscape he changed into his stag form in a quick flash of dark blue light. He galloped to the edge of the woods and paused only momentarily before jumping in.
James loved the woods, even if it was the Forbidden Forest. Here things made sense to him. The animals lived to survive and survived to live. The creatures didn't seem to have such things as malice and revenge. The took only what they needed from nature and then eventually returned back to it.
The thing that made James the most envious was the woods version of love. They only viewed love as a necessary, but it didn't really effect their lives. James almost wished that it was the same way with people. Love seemed to affect so many people's lives that it was almost unfair. It was the reason why he was such a jerk in front of Lily even when he didn't want to be. It was also the reason why he went out pranking after Lily rejected him.
In truth it was probably the reason why he was galloping around now. Although he had played it cool, he couldn't help but get his hopes up a little. Then she sent him crashing down to Earth again when he called her bluff. Oh he was definitely envious of the woods where nothing got hurt unless there was a good reason and love could be forgotten for a while.
James finally stopped when he reached a small clearing inside the Forbidden Forest. He ran for nearly an hour and the crescent moon was already high in the sky. James walked over to the babbling brook and took a drink before beginning to head back. He wanted to run more, but it wouldn't be a good thing if he made the Marauders so worried that they asked questions.
At the edge of the forest he changed back in another quick flash of dark blue light. At least in this form he could enjoy the night a few more minutes and catch his breath from all of the running he just did. He decided to use the secret passage way that led directly into the kitchen to cover his tracks and avoid any unnecessary attention from Filch. Then he stopped by the boys dorm to drop off some of the food because he really wasn't that hungry and made his way to the Head Common Room where he promptly fell asleep.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author Note: Okay I am sorry that nothing really happened in this chapter. I already said that I didn't know what to write so sue me! This is also probably my shortest chapter. Hopefully the next ones will be longer and better and once again thanks to all of you who review!
