Author's Chapter Notes:
OK, to make up for submitting the last chapter so late, I've decided to post this one a wee bit early. I don't think I'll ever be entirely happy with this chapter, but I thought, again, I needed to ease the tension a bit. It's still there, though. :) James has just been cursed by an unknown spectator, directly after his Seeker caught the Snitch. What will happen next? Will he find out? And how will Lily cope with her and James' new friendship?
James Potter was in a warm, comfortable bed. He could hear soft voices around him and he was quite sure that he wasn't dreaming as he opened his eyes a fraction. After a moment, he tried again and this time he managed to open them properly. At once, the soft voices turned frantic and excited as they realised he was awake, and James shook his head, trying to get rid of the loud sounds.
"Hey, be quiet! If you guys want to make noise by all means go outside." James smiled at Sirius' voice, ever authoritative at the best of times.
"What…what happened, Sirius?" James managed to say, as he attempted to sit up in his bed. This proved to be more difficult that he first thought; James' chest seemed to be wrapped in bandages, which made his whole body stiff and unresponsive to movement of any kind. Remus, who James had just noticed was sitting next to him, helped him into a sitting position. Peter and Remus laughed as James seemed to cower at all the faces huddled around his bed.
"Give the man some air, will you?" Peter said to the crowd at large from his chair near the bed. Immediately, they moved back several paces, and James was able to breathe again and take in who was there: all of the Quidditch team, who were sopping wet and still clutching their brooms, and several Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws — Alice Wilkes, Maria Alessio, Scott Manslow, Matilda Fawcett and Jacob Goldstein who were all in seventh year and, sitting next to Alice with a concerned expression on her face, was the person James least expected to be there: Lily Evans.
James asked again, "What happened?"
"We won," Sirius replied, grinning. "At the exact moment when Vicky caught the Snitch—" (at this moment, the entire room erupted in cheers, only quelled by a stern look from Madam Pomfrey, already in a bad mood because of all the visitors; Victoria blushed scarlet even as she was rain-sodden) "—something was going on down the Slytherins' end, and someone hexed you."
"We don't know who cast the hex or what hex it was," Remus added. "There was blood, though — loads of it."
"I was so scared," said Lily. "We all were. We thought you were dead or something."
"Well, he's not," said Peter, stating the very obvious, which made James chuckle lightly. "Anyway, the score at the end was two hundred and sixty to forty. You guys smashed it, mate! And the record…that was brilliant!"
"Yeah, but it wouldn't have happened without…"
As James went off into a long-winded explanation about the goals he scored and the performance of the rest of the team, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who had come to visit James said their goodbyes and left, as soon as they saw that James was OK. Soon after, the Quidditch team also bade James goodnight, coupled with pats on the back to James and comforting murmurs that they'd find the perpetrator and do something nasty back to them.
Madam Pomfrey watched them go disapprovingly, immediately cleaning up their muddy footprints with her wand. The only people left were Sirius, Peter, Remus and Lily.
James noticed that Lily was still there and he gathered, from the expectant look on her face, that she wanted a word with him. He waited patiently for Peter to finish talking about whatever it was he was talking about before James held up his hand.
"Guys, can…can you give us two minutes, please?" he asked the three of them. Sirius opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then he thought better of it, nodded and, together with Remus and Peter, left the hospital wing.
"What's up, Evans?" asked James.
Lily looked slightly uncomfortable. "I…erm…I just wanted to say thanks," she finally mumbled. "For…for what happened yesterday. I was such an idiot…"
"Don't worry about it," James said gently. "You could never be an idiot, Evans."
"Oh, trust me, I was. I still am. And then, seeing you there, with all that blood on your chest, well, I wasn't joking, Potter," she said slightly shakily. "I honestly thought you were dead. And…and I don't know what I would've done. I mean, you've seen how badly I reacted to Will's death. Imagine what…" she trailed off, hoping that James would know what she meant.
Unfortunately for her, he didn't. Lily tried again. "Imagine what…how I would've reacted if you died, too…"
"Why would I be any different?" he asked diffidently.
"What do you mean?"
"How am I any different from William?"
"'Cause Will…he pissed me off sometimes. Not in a bad way, just — there were things that he did that I didn't like."
As Lily said it, the words rang a bell as she remembered herself saying something rather similar to someone else.
"And I don't do things you don't like?"
"Not so much this year, actually," Lily admitted. She thought about last night, how they'd seemed to click. She tried to imagine Will coming up there and trying to get her to come down — if he had attempted to save her she knew, somehow, for a fact, that he wouldn't have been able to manage it. "It's more than that. Will was a good person. For a while he was a mate. I don't know…I just see you differently from how I see Will, I suppose."
"You don't see me as a friend? Or do you?"
Silence.
"Lily, as stupid a question it is to ask, what are we?"
There was silence — a contemplative silence — as Lily thought for what seemed like eternity. "We're…we're friends," Lily finally said, slowly. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"We are?" James said, surprised. Up until now, he had hardly considered himself Lily's friend. But then he remembered what had happened the previous night, and her smiling face in the Quidditch stands, the most beautiful face amongst the other Gryffindor supporters…
"Yeah," said Lily, nodding. "We are. We're good friends." It was as if she was deciding that, on the spot, as if she was unsure of it before, but James could tell that the certainty was there in her emerald eyes. "You saved my life, James. I owe you a hell of a lot."
"You do?"
"Yeah," she repeated faintly. "That is — of course — if you want to be friends." The last was said with a hint of a rare smile.
James, however, was slightly disappointed; he didn't want to ruin his chances of going out with Lily by agreeing to being friends with her.
But then James thought of Peter's words, how James should just stick to being friends with her, nothing more…
"Of course I want to be friends! After all, I never seem to have enough of them. Look at the lovely thank-you present one of the Slytherins left me," James said, indicating his bandages with a rueful smile. "I bet it was Snape," he muttered under his breath.
Lily's eyes widened for a second, and then she eyed his chest with a determined look on her face. "We'll get them. Whoever's done it to you — we'll get them back."
"Lily, I made up this new spell!" Severus told Lily excitedly as they and their fellow fifth-years emerged from a Transfiguration lesson. Mary MacDonald was with Lily and the two of them left the classroom. Mary threw Severus a dirty look and told Lily she'd see her later in the Great Hall; there was no way she was going to be in the same room as Snape after what Mulciber did to her. "What kind of spell?" Lily asked interestedly, as she watched Mary go slightly regretfully. Some of his spells were just downright funny, like the one where you glued someone's tongue to the roof of their mouth. She'd considered trying it on Potter, just to get him to shut up. Others weren't so funny but Sev never used them in Lily's company; he only told her about them. So Lily, as always, gave him the benefit of the doubt. "Well, put it this way," Severus said quietly as they stopped in the Entrance Hall, "if anyone ever tries anything on you, Lily, this is the spell to use." "What's it called?" "Well, the incantation is "That doesn't sound very nice. How did you come up with that?" "Well, I practised on an animal, just to see the effects, because they're quite—" "Sev," she said in her sternest tone, "what've you done?" "Nothing!" he protested. "I swear to Salazar that I've never used it on anyone. That is, not anyone human, anyway." "Then why did you make it up?" "For fun," Severus replied simply. "Anyway, what it does is it sort of acts like a knife, but kind of loads of knives at once — handy if you're ever chopping something which will take ages. It's like one of those Muggle machines that butchers use, in a way. But the cuts that are made aren't very sharp—" "Severus, this is another one of your Death Eater ideas, isn't it? So there's blood involved too? That's assault!" "Only if you use it on a person," Severus argued. "And no one in their right mind would do that, unless they're really pissing you off—" "Is Snape pissing you off, Evans?" James interrupted their conversation by coming up from behind them. "And what are you using on a person?" "None of your business and no, Potter, Sev isn't pissing me off, but you are, so I'd like "I'll piss off if you go out with me, Evans," James said. That was his bloody catch-phrase, it was. It was the only thing he seemed to be able to say to Lily. "In your dreams," Lily told him loftily. "Like I'd ever want to go out with an arrogant toe-rag like you. Come on, Severus." And, with that, she grabbed Snape's wrist and pulled him off in the direction of the Great Hall. Just outside the doors, however, she stopped. "Listen, Severus, I don't care how ingenious that spell of yours is, or how much someone's pissing you off; just don't use it. Promise me that you won't. Please." "Why not?" "Why not? "No, actually, I've found out that the only way you can kill someone with a spell like that is if you have two or more wands using the same spell. It's not half as effective non-verbally, though. The louder you shout it, the better, really, I've found. So you could have loads of people casting "No, that's it, Sev, I don't want to hear another word, OK? Please, don't use the spell, whatever you do, and I swear to Godric, if you do use it I'll never speak to you again." Lily caught a glimpse of Mary before she was lost in the deep sea of students again, and she turned to enter the Great Hall. "See you, Severus," she said, before flouncing away. He watched her go wistfully, thinking — well, then again, there was never any point in wishful thinking, as it never got very far.
By noon on Monday, James was discharged — reluctantly, of course — from the hospital wing. He joined Remus, Sirius and Peter for lunch and then he, Remus and Sirius went to Charms. Peter had a free period, having only picked three NEWT subjects, unlike James and Sirius, who had picked the same five subjects, and Remus, who had picked seven NEWT subjects, five of which were the same as James' and Sirius'.
James' chest bore no signs of the slashes which were present on Saturday, and Madam Pomfrey thought that it would be best that James remained blissfully unaware of the severity of his attack. Professor Dumbledore agreed with her wholeheartedly, knowing that James and his friends felt resentful enough at the perpetrator as it was, without knowing the full nature of the incident.
The Marauders, minus Peter, arrived in the Charms classroom, greeting Mary, Lily and Marlene individually, as they were all sitting in desks far away from one other, surly looks on each of their faces. Clearly Mary and Lily had had an argument and Marlene wasn't talking to either of them anyway.
Professor Flitwick, however, did not pay any heed to the change in seating today; instead, as they had plenty of work to do, he immediately began the lesson. Just as the lesson ended, however, there was a ruckus outside the classroom, and the entire class heard the sounds of swearing and thumping as it sounded like two people had fell down the stairs. Without a second thought, Flitwick dismissed them and left the classroom, his wand drawn, intending to deal with whatever the situation was.
"Wonder what went on?" Sirius muttered as he packed up his things. James shook his head and glanced out of the window, where he noticed Snape and Montague emerging from Care of Magical Creatures. He couldn't hear what Snape was shouting about, but it was evident from his expression that he was angry.
James felt a wave of anger himself as remembered what Lily told him about Snape. What kind of bastard, even the most bastardised bastard, would ever even think of raising a hand to a girl? That was the lowest of lows in James' opinion. And Katie didn't help much either, by ticking Snape off that much, and then going back on her words and bloody defending him!
Seeing them gave him an idea — a reckless one, and one that smelt of Sirius, but one that would nevertheless give him the satisfaction he needed.
First, he waited for most of the class to disappear. Finally, the only people left in the classroom were himself, Remus and Sirius. Raising his wand and pointing it at his throat, James whispered, "Sonorus!"
Then, in a loud, magnified voice which carried throughout the grounds of Hogwarts, James said, "Katie Montague is a two-faced coward! And Severus Snape is a coward and a bastard!"
After his pronouncement, James immediately ducked his head, which was a smart thing to do, because at that moment Snape looked up, furious, wondering where the voice was coming from.
"Wow, Prongs," said Sirius admiringly as James stood up again. "I never thought you had it in you, mate."
"Neither did I," said Remus, frowning. "And that's not a compliment, by the way."
"It was for Lily," James replied staunchly.
Lily couldn't believe what she just heard. James had just humiliated both Katie Montague and Severus Snape, in plain earshot of anyone in the school. Now, Severus would be after James' blood — again. She was almost completely sure, now, that it was Severus who cursed James on the day of the Quidditch match. It couldn't have been anyone else, unless Severus told other people about his invention, and she doubted that would be true, because Severus had never been one to share his ideas to anyone — except her, of course.
Still, she couldn't help but feel a reluctant admiration for James' daring. His voice was distinctive; he was bound to be caught sooner or later. And when he was, Lily wasn't sure how badly reprimanded he would be; she hoped that nothing would hinder his role as Head Boy, because she rather enjoyed their shared duties and patrols. Not that she would admit that to him, of course.
However, Lily's suspicions proved to be untrue, because the next few days went by without incident and, slowly, things seemed to get back to normal. She hadn't received any more notes from the kidnappers, which was a relief. Lily was finally back on speaking terms with Mary and the only thing left on Lily's conscience, apart from the whereabouts of Jenna and Layla, was James' curser.
Because she knew perfectly well who it was. She was the only one who knew, in actual fact. Lily even remembered the name of the spell: Sectumsempra. The thought of anyone using it on her filled her with dread.
And although Dumbledore had seemed to turn a blind eye (or, according to the circumstances, a deaf ear) to James' proclamation which the entire school heard, the headmaster did warn the school of the repercussions of the uses of Dark Magic in any circumstances, but especially in the Wizarding world's current situation, while they were at war.
"I would like to ask whoever it was who cast that spell on our Head Boy and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, James Potter, to come forward. Or, if you know who was responsible I urge you to inform a member of staff, or, indeed, myself, immediately. I hope I have made myself clear," Dumbledore finished gravely, as the students sat at the dinner tables the afternoon after the match.
Lily didn't know what to do; torn between loyalty for James, who she had begun to speak with a lot more now that they had ascertained exactly what they were to each other, and fear of ramification from Severus if she did decide to inform Dumbledore of her worries, which, even now, she wasn't sure were completely right.
James and Lily had become much more at ease with each other; no longer did Lily feel the need to be defensive in his presence and no longer did James feel the need to ask Lily out at every opportunity, a habit which he had eschewed at the end of his sixth year.
Their recently established friendship was the only thing that Lily could hold on to. And she did not want to lose this by telling James who she thought hexed him, especially because that would mean explaining how she knew, which would lead to a further analysis of her association with Severus. That was the last thing she needed.
She noticed that Severus no longer looked at her with that strange look on his face, which she had never for the life of her been able to identify. Instead, his pallid face was filled with a superior indifference she had never seen before.
Lily registered Severus' sneer as she entered the Transfiguration classroom in the last week of November; she mentally kicked herself for her subject choices, which matched Severus' almost exactly, meaning they were in the same lessons for nearly everything. She grinned at James, who waved at her, and Snape watched their exchange with narrowed eyes and a strange expression on his face.
"Settle down, now," said Professor McGonagall, entering the classroom. The room quietened down at once; McGonagall was one of the few professors who had the uncanny ability to control a class without raising her voice.
However, at that moment, Sirius noticed Snape's facial expression, frowning. "What's up with Snivellus?" he muttered to James.
"To start with, let us recap on what you learnt last lesson…"
"What do you mean?" James hissed back.
"Look at his…"
"Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall said sharply, interrupting their conversation. "Perhaps you can answer my question, as you seem so eager to converse with Mr Black today."
"Sorry, Professor," James mumbled. "Er…what was the question, again?"
McGonagall sighed. "I asked the class what the most typical sensation is felt during human Transfiguration."
"A tingling sensation is felt in the part of the body which is being Transfigured," said James promptly, "and, in the case of Animagi, the entire body vibrates slightly too, but in a pleasant way. The tingling is felt more in the lower parts of the body and the most in the feet—"
"Yes, yes, Mr Potter, thank you very much for your extensive explanation," McGonagall interrupted, her expression one of surprise mingled with amusement. "So, today, we will be practising the more complex process of the removal of human Transfiguration. Do not put your books away — you may need them later on in the lesson. I will divide you into pairs and your partner will perform a Transfiguring spell on you. This can be anything which is not harmful, such as changing the colour and texture of your partner's hair or the material of their robes, or something else of your choice. You have the first half of lesson to remove or counteract the spell and its effect — you know the incantation and the theory from the last two lessons, and you may discuss it with your partner, so let's see what you can do…"
With that, Professor McGonagall began putting them into pairs. "Mr Black, you'll be with Miss Hopkirk." Sirius grinned at Mafalda Hopkirk, who stood up and walked next to him with a soppy smile on her face. "Mr Madley, you'll be with Miss Wilkes. Mr Snape, you…you will be with Mr Smith. Mr Lupin, with Miss MacDonald, please…" McGonagall continued to pair them up, until, finally, there were four people left: James, Peter, Lily and Mulciber.
"Mr Pettigrew, with Mr Mulciber, if you please. And that leaves Miss Evans with Mr Potter."
Peter looked positively petrified at the prospect of working with Mulciber, who was known for his ferocity and his disregard for anything moral. James attempted a smile at him, but it might've been more of a grimace, because James was relieved that he was working with Lily, rather than Mulciber, as selfish as that was.
"You may begin," McGonagall told them. At once, the class' volume leapt up as they started the work. It was difficult work, which was why they were in pairs.
"OK," said James, smiling at Lily. "So, I was thinking, I'll change the colour of your hair, but I don't know what colour to do it."
"Brown's fine," Lily replied. "Once I did dye my hair brown and it looked all right — and I know I'm going to struggle with taking it off so I don't want to look stupid."
"Why are you going to struggle? You're good at Transfiguration," James said, confused. "Haven't you been getting 'A's and 'E's in your essays and stuff?"
"That doesn't mean I know it," Lily told him dryly. "I don't know Transfiguration like you do, James. I wouldn't be able to give such a long explanation just on what happens when you Transfigure someone."
James chuckled. "What are you going to do to me, then?"
"Erm…I don't know. I'll have a go at giving you a beard, how about that?"
"As long as you give me a nice one," James said, sniggering. "All right…I'll go first, shall I? I'll make Lily Evans a curly-haired brunette."
He raised his wand and began to twirl it in such a complicated manner that it made Lily dizzy as she watched him. Then James muttered something, and Lily did indeed feel a light tingling sensation, exactly as James described it, on her scalp, and she felt her hair change and become shorter. The feeling ceased after a few seconds and Lily tentatively put her hand to her hair and felt unfamiliarly smooth, curly locks.
James conjured a small mirror for her to see her reflection; Lily laughed as she just about recognised her own face underneath her brown hair.
"Your turn, Lily," James reminded her, putting the mirror down.
Lily pointed her wand uncertainly at James' face. Biting her lip, she thought of the incantation in her head and waved her wand, and, surprisingly enough, James sprouted a messy-looking dark beard.
James grabbed the mirror to have a look and burst out laughing. "At least make it a bit neater — it looks like I haven't shaved properly!"
"It was the best I could do," Lily mumbled, but James was barely listening.
"Thankfully I think I do know how to get rid of this pretty quickly," he said. With some more intricate moves with his wand, James muttered spells under his breath until at last, the beard was gone completely.
Lily watched him, marvelling at how easily James worked in Transfiguration — she wished she could do that.
Then again, there was no point in wishful thinking, was there?
That evening, Lily decided to get started on the Transfiguration homework with Mary, who was hurriedly finishing off her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, which was due two weeks ago (Professor Frensham had given Mary the deadline of midnight in their DADA lesson earlier on in the day).
As Mary rushed off to Professor Frensham's office at five to twelve, Lily looked up to see James, Sirius and Peter emerging from the dormitory. She got up, intending to ask James for help with the Transfiguration homework.
"James? Can you help me? Are you busy?" she asked.
He looked rather sheepish as he nodded.
"What are you doing?" Lily enquired, frowning. What on earth was so urgent that James had to do at midnight on a Monday?
"Er…"
"Prongs, we've got to go," Peter interrupted. "We'll see you there, OK?"
James nodded. "Don't be long," Sirius added warningly.
Lily was bewildered; what the hell was going on?
"James…what're you doing with them?" she said apprehensively.
"I can't say, Lily," James replied seriously. "I've just got to go. I'll help you with your work tomorrow, all right?"
"But…"
"Lily," James cut her off, taking her hand and looking at her earnestly, "I'm sorry, but I've really got to go."
"What's the secret?"
"It's not my secret to tell, so I'm afraid I can't tell you." James' tone was apologetic. "I'm going…see you."
And with that, he left.
Lily was disappointed; that much was obvious. She was also annoyed with herself for being disappointed — surely James had better things to do than help Lily with her bloody homework — and besides, what was James to her anyway? He wasn't anything more to her than a friend. He meant no more to her than Mary, or what Marlene used to mean to her.
What if he was meeting with his girlfriend? Assuming he had one, of course. It did explain why he wouldn't want to tell her — maybe he wanted to keep her a secret or something. Lily mentally slapped herself as she caught up with her thoughts; why the hell did she care, anyway?
Because you secretly want to be that girlfriend, said a chiding voice in her head.
She kicked herself again at her thoughts. There was no reason for her to even think about fantasising about James like that. After all, wishful thinking never did her — or anyone else — any good, did it?
Chapter End Notes:
Please review. I'm telling you, they're like blueberry muffins. I adore them and will always respond to them. :D
