And THIS is where James gets his first big break…
Note: It is confirmed that Hogwarts students do walk to Hogsmeade during those specified weekends. :) And The Practical Potioneer is a known Wizarding magazine. The Wizarding radio does exist, but I made up the title 'WizNet.' And Lily's parents' names are unknown; I made 'Shannon' up as well.
Another Note: My apologies for getting this chapter out so late; I had writer's block for quite some time, but I managed to tackle it. Hopefully this chapter isn't deteriorating for you all.
Chapter #7: Hogsmeade Events
After breakfast, all the students, third-year and older, began crowding around the entrance gates of Hogwarts, excited and ready to leave for the Hogsmeade trip. Sirius was with Remus, Peter, and James, the latter secretly fingering the Golden Snitch in his left hand. (Luckily, Remus had chased after it the day James had absentmindedly released it and managed to catch it.)
James had pretty much given up on asking Lily Evans out and was now content with the idea of being extra nice to her from now on. Perhaps, in time, she would decide to talk to him again—maybe even become his friend.
Secretly, Sirius was rejoicing inside. He hoped this was a sign that he was being given silent permission to make a move on Lily. He wondered if today would make any difference in the relationship between him and her…
Be quiet, Sirius, you aren't IN a relationship…
I could be if you would just shut up—
Just then he saw a glimpse of red hair a few feet away. Sure enough, it was Lily, looking as spunky as ever, talking to Gwen about the newest copy of The Practical Potioneer which she happened to be holding in her hands. Without thinking, Sirius began walking towards her. And it wasn't until he bumped into James on his right side that he realized his best friend was going for Lily Evans too.
James Potter was eager to talk to Lily this time; he hoped that he could get a good conversation going before she misinterpreted his approach. He noticed that Sirius was by his side and wondered why. But before he could say a word to him or Lily, one other person took a step forward and spoke first.
"Well, if it isn't the potion-brewer," Lucius Malfoy sneered nastily. Lily looked up at him. Like most of the Slytherins, Lucius was a bully towards anyone who wasn't in his own House—and was proud of it.
"Hello, Lucius," she said coldly. "Is there anything you want from me? If not, you might as well go away because I'm not going to take any crap from you today."
"Oh, I see that Ms. Tomato seems a little huffy."
"Actually, I'm in a good mood. And I'm determined for you not to break it for me today. Why don't you just go back to your little friends there?" She pointed to the unpleasant batch of Slytherins a few feet away.
"…don't call her that!" James cried, taking his chance too late. Lily had only just spotted James, and then Sirius; she seemed thoroughly surprised that they were there.
"Ah, James Potter. The Gryffindor Seeker." Lucius skimmed James over, looking at him as if he was scum. He spotted the Snitch. "Still carrying that thing around, are you? I'm surprised you haven't married it by now."
"Well haha," James said sarcastically, clapping his hands. "Wonderful joke,
Lucius, your best one yet."
"No, not quite." Lucius looked at James face-to-face, nothing but clean, meaningless hatred in his eyes. "You might want to comb your hair, Potter. It looks like dirt from this side."
Sirius took a step forward. "You watch your mouth, Malfoy, or I'd be happy to shut it for you!" His knuckles flexed.
The gates finally opened and everybody was now walking forward, heading for Hogsmeade at last, this being the first trip of the year.
Lily looked between James, Sirius, and Lucius and sensed the danger. Students nearby were all watching, wondering if a fight would begin.
"Okay, well if that's all, I think I'm gonna make my way now." She began taking a few steps forward, determined not to get into this Gryffindor-vs.-Slytherin mess.
"Good plan, Lil,'" Gwen whispered and made to follow her.
"Hold on, Mudblood—let me see that, will you?" Lucius said in his pleasantly evil voice. In less than a second he had whipped his hand in front of Lily and swiped her copy of The Practical Potioneer.
"Hey!" Lily cried angrily. "Give that back, Malfoy!"
"Or what, you'll get your Muggle folks to take a rabbit out of the hat to chase after me?" Lucius laughed coldly. "I don't think so. Just going to have a look at this, if you please."
"Give the magazine back, Malfoy," James said, his eyes narrowing. "Nobody has the right to take anything from anyone else. Not even you."
"Have it your way then, Potter." Lucius turned to Lily and added, "You can blame Potter for what's going to happen to your precious magazine."
And before anyone else could say anything, Lucius Malfoy shouted "Diffindo!" Pages from The Practical Potioneer began tearing and falling slowly to the ground.
"No!" Lily cried, horrified. Lucius stopped and laughed, then dropped the remains of the book. He ran off, his long blonde hair flying.
"You son of a bitch. Expelliarmus!" James yelled, his wand in hand, and Lucius Malfoy was blasted off his feet. Students were screaming. Sirius, Remus and Peter were shouting at James to stop. Gwen was pulling on Lily's robes, begging her to please leave now. Lily was desperately trying to fix her magazine, crying "Reparo!" to reseal the damaged pages back together.
"AARGHH!" Lucius roared. And then James heard Professor Flitwick's voice squealing shrilly.
"Stop that now—STOP THAT! For heaven's sake, is this a school or not?!"
In the end, both James and Lucius ended up with detention at Filch's quarters for the night. Witnesses from every side had rushed to tell Professor Flitwick all sorts of rumors about who started what and why.
"At least I still get to go to Hogsmeade today," James told Lily, still cheerful-looking even after the what-were-you-two-boys-thinking? lecture from the Charms teacher. They were walking with whoever else had stayed back to watch the fight to Hogsmeade and were nearly there. Remus, Peter and Sirius were a few meters away, watching the pair closely with silent chuckles upon their lips. Apparently Gwen had disappeared in the crowd, leaving Lily to hold the restored magazine in her hands and walk with James.
"Yep, you are one lucky wizard, Potter."
James looked at Lily in surprise; this was such a common statement, yet from Lily it was the nicest thing ever.
"Um, thank you…" he said, not sure what else to say. And then, it was as if Lily had just realized who she was talking to. She quickly looked away and began walking faster ahead, saying over her shoulder, "Well, I better find Gwen again. See you."
"Hang on—" James said, catching up with her. His heart was beating fast; he wasn't sure what he was doing. And, unexpectedly, Lily waited for him.
"Why don't…why don't we go down to Hogsmeade together?" He asked her quite nervously, something he rarely felt. You know…catch a butterbeer and look at the shops and stuff."
Somehow, Lily looked surprised at James' suggestion. She raised her eyebrow and, somewhere, James saw the hint of a smile.
"Why? You think just because you saved my magazine you get to go out with me?"
James smiled and shrugged. "Well, I did get detention for it."
"Detention means nothing to you. You get detention all the time."
"Well, you do owe me now, no matter what." James grinned even wider. "I mean, you don't want everyone—especially not Slughorn—to know you're in debt to James Potter."
For the first time, Lily laughed, a clear sound that seemed to vibrate through James' ears and echo five times more afterward.
"Fair enough; I guess I do need to thank you…although you didn't do much except curse Malfoy when he deserved it."
"And saved your book."
"Magazine."
"Whatever."
"I repaired it, anyhow."
"Good for you. Now where's my thank you?"
Lily sighed. "Thank you, James Potter," she said in a mocking voice, "for the return of my magazine and for getting revenge on Lucius Malfoy. I owe it all to you."
"Never thought the day would come when Lily Evans would say thank you to me." James thought out loud, shaking his head.
"Well it has. Are you happy now?"
"Not quite."
"You are hard to please, Potter."
"No I'm not, I just know what I want and I'm willing to get it."
And, just like this, Lily and James walked the rest of the way to Hogsmeade, arguing about silly nonsense of all sorts. James himself could hardly believe he was having a conversation with her. If this Malfoy incident results in me getting the girl, I'll sweep his slimy shoes for a month! He thought.
They arrived in the village of Hogsmeade minutes later, James in high spirits. The streets were crowded, sprinkled with Hogwarts students, and shops were decorated for Halloween, which was only a week away.
"Well, where shall we go?" James offered.
"Hey, this was your idea, not mine."
"Okay, fine, how about Three Broomsticks?" Lily nodded. James smiled triumphantly to himself and began to lead the way, but not before Lily pulled him back again.
"I'm not strolling with you the whole time, Potter," she warned him. "This is a one time thing, in case you haven't gotten it in your head."
James hesitated, and then replied lightly, "Oh—I know…"
They began their route to Three Broomsticks, where James hoped to buy her a butterbeer…and perhaps change her mind about the last statement she said.
It wasn't easy shaking the rest of the Marauders off his tail. Remus, Peter and Sirius seemed keen on watching James' progress, always pretending to be looking at other things when he looked back and saw them. It took several attempts and then with a final "Buddies! Why don't you three head on to the Hog's Head? I heard they've got a new flavor of gillywater…" they got the hint and skived off. It was really Remus who was decent enough to grab the necks of their robes, and it was Sirius who was the most reluctant to leave.
Presently, James and Lily were sipping butterbeer at a table in a corner within the Three Broomsticks. A highly popular pub, it was packed full of customers even more than usual today. All sorts of wizards, witches, and creatures were sitting at the bar and other tables: some arguing wizards' politics, some playing Gobstones or Wizard's Chess, others listening to the WizNet radio, and still others just plain drinking for pleasure.
"Hmm…tell me something interesting, Lily."
"Like what, Potter?"
"Anything. Surprise me." James smiled at her and took a long swig of his butterbeer. Lily hesitated and seemed to be thinking. Then…
"I actually really like Blood pops." They both laughed. Indeed, James was surprised by this answer and only slightly disgusted.
"Oh, really? Well, umm…guess what: I can't feel my pinky."
"What? Really? Why?"
"Dunno…some sort of numbing spell my dad accidentally struck on me when I was three months old."
"Nice. You know what else? When I was little I used to think my hair was on fire. Beat that macho-man."
James cracked up. "Wow. That's funny. Real smooth, Lily."
Lily raised an eyebrow. James could've sworn it disappeared under her fiery bangs. "What's with this usage of 'Lily'?"
James looked questioningly at her. "Well…it's your name."
"Well Evans is my last name too…"
"You'd rather I call you 'Evans'?"
"Why not? You used to before."
"Thanks, but I'm sticking to Lily. Why were you named after a flower, anyway?"
Lily took a bite of the Ginger Newt she had purchased earlier before answering. "You know, my sister's name is Petunia. My mom has a common name, Shannon; she told us one time how much she loved nature, especially flowers. She said we were like the blossoms that bloomed into her life when we were born."
James had just guzzled down some butterbeer when it nearly choked him through laughter. "Blo—blossoms? That's sweet, Lily, real sweet."
"Oh Potter, be quiet—she's a poet," said Lily, slapping his arm. "Well, at least I have a more original name, James."
"The flower Lily states the Marauder's first name," James said, gasping in mock surprise.
"Not funny," Lily told him. Then, more curiously, "why are you called the Marauders, anyway?" It wasn't necessary for her to elaborate on who she was talking about, for only one group of students at Hogwarts called themselves the Mauraders.
James hesitated. "Oh…er, it's just something us three chaps thought of one day. Just a stupid nickname."
"Uh huh…" Lily said, becoming disinterested. She nibbled down the rest of her Ginger Newt and patted her hands on a napkin.
There was a short, slightly awkward silence. James stretched with a yawn and looked out the window. Then, he thought of something strange.
"Hey—where's your little friend, the Snivellus?" he asked her. "Wouldn't he be infuriated if he knew you were with me?"
"Why would he be infuriated? And don't call him that."
"Well, he does like to 'take revenge' against me every time he sees me near you, in case you haven't noticed. And he's always following you around like a puppy; pretty creepy guy, if you know what I mean."
"Tuh, no creepier than you are."
"So where is he?"
"He decided not to come to Hogsmeade; this morning he said he didn't feel very well," Lily answered. "Not that it's any of your business, Potter."
"Well, just asking. Wasn't sure if you two got in a fight or something…" James shrugged. Lily had her old disgusted-with-you face back on.
"Ha! Like you care about anything," she said irritably. And then, from the corner of her eye, she spotted Gwen and another Hufflepuff, Delilah Macmillan, walking by The Post Office down the street. Beyond that, over the shops, was the sun just beginning to set. There was an hour left before students had to return to school.
"It's getting late," Lily said, quite suddenly, remembering how she had told James she wouldn't stay for the whole time. "Well, now we're even, Potter. You saved my magazine, I had butterbeer with you. Happy?"
"Aw, why are you leaving?" asked James, thoroughly disappointed—and looked it. "C'mon, we haven't even gone to some of the other shops. I was gonna take you to Honeydukes and Zonko's. They've got some new and really neat stuff at those places."
"Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe some other time," Lily replied, absentminded and ready to leave. She wondered what Severus was doing…he had told her he'd be in the library reading and doing homework. She wondered why he'd be there if he said he was sick.
"I'm holding you to that!" James said loudly as she stood up and walked her way out of Three Broomsticks. "Have a nice day, Lily Evans!"
He watched her leave the premises and sat back and sighed. Well, it's a start, he thought. Before it was just 'Get out of my way, Potter!' Now she'll tell me her sister's name and the origin of her own. It's a start, Prongs, it's a start!
A few miles away, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were drinking at the Hog's Head. Remus was fingering his mug of gillywater, a new dragon fruit flavor. Peter was drinking some firewhiskey in courtesy of Sirius, who had managed to use James' Invisibility cloak—although he used it just as much, so it was pretty much both of theirs—to go behind the bar without the barman Tom watching. Sirius himself was drinking nothing; he had no appetite. He was too busy thinking about how Lily had told Lucius she was 'actually in a good mood.' Was it because of this morning in the Owlery—because of him?
He was also half angry at himself: why hadn't it been him who had saved Lily's magazine? The chance was right there when Lucius was attacking…why didn't he act before James did? Then this day could've ended up being different.
Is it because that's what I always do? Sirius wondered. I let James have that limelight and then help out if he needs it?
And where the hell were James and Lily right now? And what were they doing? Perhaps they were petting the owls at the Post Office? Or maybe feeding each other Honeydukes chocolates? Even worse, were they cuddling at Madame Puddifoot's?
Get a grip. Lily hates James and wouldn't touch him with a Comet Two-Sixty.
Then why did she agree to his date proposal in the first place?
Dunno, mate. But I think your luck has run gone.
This was supposed to be MY chance to see her...
I thought you promised yourself you wouldn't think about her?
Well…I lied.
It was then that Sirius realized Remus was watching him intently.
"What ya thinking about, Padfoot?" he asked him curiously.
"Ah, nothing, Moony. Nothing at all."
Remus shrugged and said, "Okay, man," and proceeded on to bothering Peter with a sparkler. Sirius was glad. It gave him more time to think. But there really wasn't much to think.
All he knew was that he was wishing with all his might that he could be where James was right now.
