Chapter 10
Revenge, Dueling, Quidditch Fouls, and Other Distractions from Studying
Mundungus swore that Mariella Goring was behind this somehow. How else could Joy have possibly chosen this particular old movie to want to see? He was certain that the Healer girl had been very subtle in her methods: "You know he loved the first two Star Wars movies, but he's never seen the third. Don't you think that would be lovely? Have you seen them?"
So here he was, about to watch the original Star Wars trilogy with the woman he had fallen head over heels in love with, the only person that could possibly have convinced him to do this. As Mariella Goring knew all too well. Just how she had managed to "casually bump into" Joy he didn't know, but he was certain that she was behind it. Ever since they had called off their feud at Hogwarts she had thought she had the right to involve herself in his affairs. She was wrong. No one had that right. Except Joy now.
That is, if Joy wanted the job. It was only a fringe benefit that it would require Mariella Goring, the brilliant but bothersome potionmaster, to step down from the capacity of chief woman in his life. Even if she was his only friend in the world, wife trumped that. If Joy would agree.
Mariella Goring had to spoil even this date. He couldn't bear for the ring to stay in his pocket another week, but this torture session! To have to relive the good times, and to be forced to remember the bad ones. Those fleeting days were long past, and they had taken everything when they went. Marissa had taken everything with her when she left, everything but Joy. Joy Alvarez was the only thing that he had found since his sister's death that brought him happiness that was not bittersweet at best.
Lily and James taking him into their home until their death had been kind and wonderful, especially compared to the orphanage, but the deep, abiding grief the three of them shared for Marissa and reminded eachother of constantly was all too poignant when he was in that house. Mariella Goring was a true friend, but she wanted too much to heal him. She wouldn't have been much of a Healer if she didn't, but she couldn't ever just let him be. She had to change him, make him face the ghosts that haunted him, try to turn him from his path of revenge. He had decided long ago that he would make them all pay someday in the only way that could hurt them: through their pocket books. Mariella could not accept that.
But Joy Alvarez could almost make him forget it. She was exotic, from Brazil, and was so far removed from every demon that tormented him that he could forget them in her presence. Her accent only made her voice more beautiful to Mundungus Fletcher, and her darker complexion lovelier. She, alone among all in the British Isles, he could trust to not bear any fault.
Now he had to watch that movie with her. If he refused, he would have to explain, and he dreaded explaining. She would understand, she would pity him, but he would not be able to pretend with her anymore. And the ring would stay in his pocket indefinitely.
It was worse than he had ever imagined. She had definitely talked to Mariella Goring, who probably hadn't meant to be cruel he grudgingly admitted, for Joy had done her hair in the side-buns of Princess Leia. It took Mundungus back to Marissa, frustratedly trying to force her curly blonde hair into the difficult arrangement while laughingly trying to understand its importance. In truth, he had been far too old at the time to be "role playing," but his sister had been so carefree and almost childlike herself that it had seemed natural. She had certainly had the unbridled enthusiasm of a child.
Joy's were not the lopsided, messy affair that Marissa had finally managed. They were probably magically formed they were so perfect and identical to Carrie Fischer's hairdo. Joy looked exquisite, and she was smiling proudly as she displayed them to him. Mundungus smiled at her, able even to remember the good times with Marissa without the bad when he was in Joy's presence. As long as he didn't have to talk about them.
Mundungus came in the house clutching three rented movies from a Muggle store near his house. "A New Hope" he had seen when his life was full of joy and at a time in his life when there was always someone who could blow up the Death Star for him. That was Marissa's movie. Joy loved it, sitting on the edge of her seat the entire time.
Lily and James had insisted on taking him to "The Empire Strikes Back" when it came out a few years later. That was darker, and it had a sorrowful ending. People who were beloved lost each other. Lives changed for the worse. At least, that's what he had thought. Joy had seemed surprised when he said this, "It's not so much a sad ending but an incomplete one. It's more, 'this isn't over' than 'there's no more hope.'" Of course, she was right.
As he found out as he watched "Return of the Jedi" for the first time. The obstacles that had seemed so insurmountable in the previous movie were beaten and all was well, better even, than it had been before. It was a movie of not just hope but victory. Of remembering your losses but dwelling on what was saved by your efforts and what the deaths of loved ones had purchased for the world.
Mundungus looked over at Joy Alvarez who was still watching the ending credits with a smile on her face and took the ring out of his pocket.
"She didn't sleep with him, you know," Marissa said by way of greeting, plopping down beside James in the Common Room. "She broke up with him because of that condom you found."
"Good for her," James said in the same brusque voice with which he had addressed everyone since returning to the castle. He didn't look up from his Transfiguration book, glaring at the print as resentfully as he had at the rest of the castle.
"She's been trying to apologize to you," Marissa said, staring at the boy who refused to look at her.
"I don't want to hear it," James replied shortly.
"Why the hell not?" Marissa demanded angrily, slapping her hand on the table in frustration. "What's wrong with you? You've been waiting a year for Lily to be willing to have a conversation with you, and now she wants to and you just can't let it go."
James did not even look up at her uncharacteristic use of profanity. "Do you know what I saw every time I closed my eyes on break? What I still can't get out of my head?"
"Something that never happened," Marissa cried in frustration. "It's not even the past you can't let go of, it's a figment of your imagination!"
"That will haunt me the rest of my life!" James shouted back, drawing every eye in the room.
Marissa just stared at him for a very long moment. When she spoke, it was in a very soft voice that revealed more disgust than he had ever heard in it before, "If you can't get over this, James Potter, then you will ruin any chance for you and Lily to ever be so much as friends again. If you cling to this, then you are everything that she's ever said about you. You're a prick, you're selfish, you're big-headed, and such an egomaniac you punish people for crimes that were only commited in your imagination. If you can't let go of this, you don't deserve her apology."
With that she turned and walked away up the staircase. A minute later, she came flying back down it again, this time she was almost yelling, "And have you even noticed, James Potter, in your utter self-absorbtion, that your friends need you right now? The way you were? Has it even penetrated that fantastically large head of yours that you are not the most wounded of the Marauders? For Merlin's sake, open your bloody eyes James Potter. Your friends need you."
She whirled back around again, and this time she did not come back down.
Unsurprisingly to those who knew it was coming eventually, Severus Snape was the one who finally said in the Marauders' hearing the news that had been circulating the school. Somewhat surprisingly, it was Marissa that he chose to attack with the rumor that the rest of the school had been painstakingly careful to shield from the Gryffindor six. Even those who were good-natured, even those who liked them, even those who didn't believe the rumor knew that the Marauders had a tendency to shoot the messenger.
And no one wanted to be the herald of these tidings. Save one, who was rather enjoying it.
"So I hear the scarlet woman has finally dropped the act," Snape said in what was almost a hiss over the potions cauldron that he and Marissa were preparing. "Not that she was fooling anybody."
"Severus," Marissa said only a little tightly, "I have the feeling that I do not want to know what you are hinting at, and you probably don't want another reaction like the last time you upset me, so why don't we just concentrate on the Eutharos potion today?"
It was incredibly diplomatic and the closest that Marissa Fletcher had ever come to telling someone to stow it. Anyone else might have stopped, but Severus Snape could not be deterred. Especially when the Mudblood had the audacity to call him by his first name, as if she were his friend. Well he didn't have any friends, and he didn't want any, certainly not of her sort. "As much as I would loathe for Black to get another detention," he replied in reference to the last altercation, "I find that I cannot suppress this particular tidbit of information."
"Unless it's a less disgusting way to gut these spidercrabs, I'm not disposed to concentrate on it just now," Marissa tried yet again to shut him up. Of course it was unsuccessful. Only death or a coma could silence a Snape when he bore tidings that would hurt James Potter.
"I have a feeling what I have to say will distract you completely," Snape said with the air of a cat playing with his food. "And what kind of friend are you that you don't want to know the gossip about your supposed best friend?"
"The kind who's naive enough to think that gossip is never anything more than that," Marissa replied, sufficiently distracted though she pretended to still be working on the spidercrabs, "And thus perfectly uninteresting."
"Oh, but I think you'll find this particular piece of gossip downright fascinating," Snape said, seeing that he had her attention and relishing drawing out the moment painfully. "Truthfully, I'm rather shocked that Saints Gideon and Lizzie Prewett didn't feel the need to tell you that the truth leaked out about her."
"All right, I'll bite: what supposed truth?" Marissa asked. Severus Snape was all too happy to tell her.
It was a particularly finicky potion that they were working on, and the O.W.L. spirit had descended on even the least industrious of the class. As a result, everyone was concentrating very hard and working very diligently when all of a sudden they heard Marissa Fletcher of all people shout out, "Son of a bitch!"
Of course, all work stopped at once. Even Professor Delacour was too shocked at the outburst to respond immediately. "Bastard!" Marissa cried again, looking enraged in a way that was frightening on her cheerful face. No one could remember seeing Marissa Fletcher angry, and she was rarely even upset. She had never gotten into an argument with a Slytherin, which was more than anyone else in her house could say, and she had, in fact, never fought with anyone other than her father and Dumbledore. And that incident was hardly widely known.
Sirius and James were instantly at her side, waiting for their cue to start pummeling Snape for whatever he had done to provoke Marissa; and it had to have been bad to a get a reaction like that from Marissa for Merlin's sake. That was when Professor Delacour snapped into action, moving quickly to intercept her students. "Reeturn to 'our stations, Meester Black, Meester Potter," she said, staring the two taller boys down. When they had grudgingly started off, she turned to Marissa and Snape looking very angry indeed. "As for 'ou two, I weel see 'ou outside in a few meenutes. Wait fo' me there."
After satsifying herself that James and Sirius would stay put, Professor Delacour stepped out of the classroom. Five minutes later, the three of them walked back in, and all of them were silent. Marissa still looked furious, Snape still looked amused, but Professor Delacour no longer appeared frustrated and furious with Marissa for the interruption or Snape for the provocation. She looked almost sick, disgusted. Of course, everyone was curious.
Marissa, however, refused to repeat it when Lily almost pounced on her after class. All that she would reveal was that she had detention. However, behind Lily's back she shot meaningful glances at whichever of the Marauders whose eye she could catch. She barely managed to restrain them from attacking Snape.
In the end, all that she managed was that they waited until she and Lily ducked off to the loo on the way to Ancient Runes. Sirius and Peter were the only ones who weren't bothering with the subject, but they followed along the way, ready to bust Snape's head open at the earliest opportunity. As Slytherins (Snape among them) had this class with the Gryffindors on Thursday afternoons, several presented themselves.
It was James who confronted him, "Hey, Snivellus," he said in a ringing voice that filled the hall, his wand already out. Snape whirled, his wand also drawn. But he was not just ready, he was firing.
James had had too many similiar encounters with Snape to be surprised. He was ready, instantly springing into action. The crowd sprang apart then encircled the two duelers in some instinct that all humans possessed for spectating. As most of the combatants' energy was put into dodging and deflecting their opponent's curses, this was not an entirely wise decision on the part of the crowd as stray hexes abounded and it was a miracle that no one was hurt.
Half a miracle at least. James was gallant enough to carefully deflect away from the crowd and to dodge only if he knew that no one was behind him. Snape, who had no friends even among his own housemates, didn't care who suffered from Potter's stray hexes as long as it was not himself.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Marissa shrieked, breaking into a sprint as she realized that James and Snape were fighting. She broke right through the crowd, heedless of the flying curses. Remus made a grab to catch her arm, but she did an odd twisting movement and broke free of even his unnaturally strong grip. She slid to a stop in between the duelers, her arms spread out, her eyes flashing at both of them.
James, ever the gentleman, immediately stopped, and, to everyone's great surprise, Snape also pulled his wand up short. She looked angry again, "I will not be an excuse for the two of you to further this ridiculous feud!" she cried. Then she turned to James, "And it's not what you think in class, you don't owe him revenge, you owe him a debt. Now clear off! Both of you! Before I give you both detention!"
"Twenty points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor," Professor Garamonde said coldly, arriving on the scene. "And you were overly lenient, Miss Fletcher. Though you did do considerably more than Mr Lupin, Mr Karkaroff or Miss Penola. Five points to Gryffindor."
He gave the other prefects a more scathingly look than he had given James and Snape, "Five points apeice for not coming for a teacher or doing anything to maintain peace in the corridors. If you are not going to perform your duties as prefects, then why do you wear the badges? I will be discussing this matter with your respective heads of house. Now everyone, get inside."
Professor Garamonde was particularly harsh in his criticism if anyone missed a question on his hour long O.W.L. Review, but beyond that Ancient Runes elapsed in a highly uneventful fashion compared with Potions and the pre-class duel.
But things were most certainly not back to normal.
Knowing Marissa, Remus half expected her to want to go on with the dancing lesson they had that evening as if that afternoon had never happened. The other half was right. She was sitting in the classroom looking more fiercely determined than he had ever seen her. "Go get James, Sirius, and Peter, but don't let Lily know," was all that she said.
Remus set off immediately. Less than five minutes later, all four of the Marauders burst into the room, panting from running. Curiousity and loyalty were both very strong in the Gryffindor boys. They all looked up at her grave, set face expectantly. "You'll all want to sit down," she said calmly.
"Why?" Sirius demanded.
"So it will be more dramatic when you leap to your feet in outrage," Marissa said shortly, gesturing to the desks that she had not bothered to move to the side of the room as she usually did. They sat. And it was very dramatic when they lept to their feet in outrage. In addition, Sirius let off a stream of expletives that James echoed resoundingly. Peter began to hiss something so furiously under his breath that it sounded less like speech and more like a kettle boiling over. Remus let out a rather animal-like snarl.
"So I take it you boys are agreed?" she said, looking just as livid despite her calm demeanor.
"To what?" James said hotly, not meaning to round on her.
Marissa understood. "He's coming here in a few minutes." The boys set to howling again so that Marissa had to wait a few minutes for them to be relatively calm again, "Gideon owes me, obviously. Lizzie and all. Gave him a detention, giving me a perfect reason to meet up with him. I called you boys here for two reasons, I need your help with the enchantments necessary and it will be far more effective with more numbers, especially you boys. He knows how protective you are."
"So what do you say? Will you come to Lily's aid in her hour of need?" Marissa asked them all, but looked in James's direction. There appeared to be a war going on behind his eyes. No, not a war. Torture.
"What's your plan?" he said simply. Marissa almost smiled. Not a malicious smile, though she did smile that way a few moments later, but a relieved smile that James wasn't holding this pathetic grudge forever.
It took most of the time before they heard the knock on the door signalling Wemmick's arrival to explain her plan to the boys. "Okay, break!" she cried when she heard it. All the boys but Remus, who was far too used to such odd phrases popping up every once and awhile, gave her a strange look for her choice of words, then hurried to their station. Then Marissa opened the door and admitted Wemmick.
He started and let out an oath. "I should have known when Prewett went out of his way to give me a detention that you were behind it, Fletcher," he snarled. "Your prefect abuse is getting positively rampant."
"You knew this was coming?" Marissa replied in a slightly tight voice.
"You're obvious," Wemmick retorted.
"But it did not save you," Marissa replied immediately shoving a sponge into his hand and abruptly vanishing from view as he felt a tug at his navel and the world began to whirl around him. He vaguelly heard a whispered, "Portus," before it all began.
Then his feet hit the ground and sent him tumbling over. Wemmick glanced up and looked around him. Instead of the worn, ancient stones of Hogwarts, there was soft earth under his feet, just beginning to recover from winter's hardness. Though the cheery candles of the castle had largely offset the darkness of the night at Hogwarts, here the night was fully advanced and the blackness engulfed him completely. Then there was a flash of green light, and five vague figures stood before him. Before he could so much as blink, three of them had pinned his arms behind his back and rendered his legs useless and flailing under him.
They dragged him to a stone tablet that was lain down on the ground. A tombstone stood at the front of it. He was in a graveyard. The three figures, who were each stronger than him, tied him to the slab before it with enchanted ropes that only tightened when he struggled. He soon ceased struggling at all.
Until he realized just who these five were. The Marauders and their bitch. He let out a stream of expletives and vague threats for what he would do to them "when he got free."
"Oh I don't think we need worry over much about that," Marissa practically purred. "Oh no, don't gag him, Brother Percival," she said in a more normal voice when she saw Peter moving toward him. "There's no one to hear his screams out here."
Wemmick, who had indeed had his mouth half open in a cry for help, almost let out a scream of frustration but restrained himself lest he appear even weaker than his situation already caused. "Now, we have some issues to settle here. Are you prepared, Brother Harold?" Marissa said calmly but sinisterly. Before tonight, niether Wemmick nor the Marauders would have thought that Marissa could sound sinister, but there was no denying that she sounded frightening indeed.
"We don't need to go into the song and dance of a confession, Sister Jane. He's already given one to half the school," Sirius sounded nothing less than livid in contrast to the cold Marissa. At the moment, it was almost the crazy bitch that worried Wemmick more. He was beginning to lose all his grasp on rational thought in this situation, barely hanging onto thought at all.
"True, and it has been established beyond a doubt that the confession came unprompted from the guilty himself," Peter added helpfully.
"Let us then proceed to the penalty," James said in the most terrifying voice that Wemmick had heard all night for it was full of nothing but pure cold, hard anger. Then, in the flickering green fire light, a knife flashed in Potter's hand.
Wemmick gave a great jerk and let out a yell. "What - you - you - I'll - I'll have you! I'll - " he cried to threaten, but eventually degenerated into "HELP! HELP! Their mad! HELP!"
"I told you that was no use, Wemmick," Marissa whispered in his ear. In a slightly louder voice she added, "What I haven't told you is that the penalty for sleeping with then leaving one of our own is castration." Another series of wild shouting followed this statement. Remus shoved him so roughly back down on the stones lab that he hit his head and was forced to lay still. He didn't notice (nor did anyone else) that Marissa's eyebrows knitted together for a moment as she regarded this unexpected display of strength. "As you have previously confessed, repeatedly, to having sex with Sister Violet, one Lily Evans, and professed to terminating your relationship with her directly afterward, you shall receive the penalty forwith."
"You psycho bitch!" Wemmick cried in panic. "You can't do this to me! You can't take - you bastard, get away from me - I'll have you all expelled! All see you all in Azkaban!"
"Wemmick, Wemmick, Wemmick," Marissa said in a patronizing voice. "You really haven't noticed whose headstone this is, have you?"
Wemmick lifted his head up, and swooned back down when he read his own name upon it. "Proceed, Brother Morgan," Marissa nodded to James who approached him menacingly with the knife brandished.
"Wait no! No! You can't do this to me! I - I didn't even sleep with Lily!" Wemmick cried desperately.
"Don't try that one on us, Wemmick," Remus snarled. "The entire school knows that you did."
"I didn't! I swear! I lied! She broke up with me! I swear to Merlin I didn't sleep with her!"
"So you left her during the night, then?" Remus replied.
"Well discerned, Brother Joseph, that calls for a more ritualistic and longer castration," Marissa said calmly.
"No, NO! Please, please, I never had sex with Lily Evans!"
There was a slight pause and James's knife stopped just as it came close enough to cause serious worry. "You know, Sister Jane, Brothers in arms, I do believe that he is telling us the truth."
"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Wemmick almost sobbed with relief though James voice was just as hard with anger as before.
"It's too bad that that doesn't matter," James continued. "After all, the whole school believes that you did."
"I'll set it straight! I swear I'll set it straight!" Wemmick begged him desperately.
"And apologize to Lily? Then never come near her again?" Sirius demanded.
"Anything! Anything!"
"Swear an oath, a binding oath," James pressed him, moving the blade a little closer to his prey.
"I swear! I swear!"
"Put away the knife then, James," Marissa said in her normal voice. The boys also abruptly dropped out of character.
Wemmick was almost blind with the intensity of the warring emotions within him, relief and rage. "You - you set this whole thing up to - "
"Yes, and you may go, once we have performed one more spell," Marissa replied. She put her wand to his forehead and whispered very quickly in some very ancient sounding language. Then she pulled her wand away and said, "I suppose it's only fair to warn you that the spell just cast is one that prevents you from ever mentioning this meeting. However obliquely, however subtly it may be, even if you merely mention this detention you were assigned, your balls will fall off. If you go to Dumbledore or any other authority or parent or any form of media and press, they won't grow back. Now, if you would open the door for him, Brother Percival."
Peter opened the door and Wemmick saw immediately that he had never left the school or, indeed, the room. Once his bonds were cut, he wanted desperately to spring at all of them and revenge himself upon them, but then the Marauders and that crazy bitch of theirs had already proven themselves to be masters of revenge. And Wemmick must call himself a novice by comparison. So he staggered for the door and slammed it shut behind him, and didn't look back until he was back in Hufflepuff Dorm.
Marissa lit the extinguished lights with a wave of her wand. "Well, chaps, that went rather well."
"Marissa, is there really a charm that - " James began, offended that he hadn't found such a thing first, charms being his forte.
"Of course not, didn't you recognize today's Ancient Runes lesson?" Marissa said with what was almost a laugh. The four boys stared at her. "It doesn't matter if it really exists as long as he believes it exists, and he certainly won't want to put it to the test, now will he? So whether or not it's real, he will act as if he is under this curse. And that, my friends, is real magic."
Remus was the first to let out a bark of laughter. "I have an idea," he added, "Let's dance on the bastard's grave."
He immediately caught the hand of a laughing Marissa and twirled her around in a swinging dancestep, the other Marauders joining in more clumsily in a rhythmic, pounding tribal dance.
As the oath dictated (which was genuine magic), Wemmick stood up in front of the entire Great Hall the very next morning at breakfast and declared himself to be a liar. He further confessed that he had never had sex with Lily Evans, had been dumped by her for pressing and obsessing over the issue, and apologized publicly for spreading an untruth about her.
Lily glared at all five of them when this shocking display was over. Even over the roar of babble from the school as Wemmick seated himself, Lily's angry voice could be heard, "WHAT DID YOU DO?" She was glaring at James particularly.
"I don't know what you're talking about Lily, though I am dreadfully glad that your name was cleared," Marissa said in a picture of utter innocence.
"I wish you weren't involved in this at all, Riss," Lily said in such a calm tone that the Marauders started in surprise. "I wish you boys hadn't done whatever it is you did to him, how am I ever going to get a boyfriend now? But Riss, I'm sorry you even had to think of this. I wish it was one of the boys who found out. You've been violated worse than this was."
Marissa's smile flickered and died. Lily looked stricken for a moment, then Marissa managed to muster another smile. "It's not your fault any more than that was mine, Lils," she replied. "Dennis and Mal-foy are the guilty ones." Peter looked Marissa up and down and realized that, despite her master plan and the emotional damage it may have done to the overly arrogant prick, she was right. Lily's reputation had taken a far more serious hit, and Marissa's psyche had suffered far more damage even from just the constant reminder that this scandal had proved.
Unfortunately, Peter had no more time for such thoughts (and rationalizations of his actions) because Professor McGonagall had come to the same conclusion as Lily when she heard Wemmick's confession. "You four," she said in a crisp, angry voice, "Come with me." Her lips were very thin, but nothing like they had been known to be at times in the Marauders presence. Thinner than when McGonagall chastened Marissa for the Potter's boxers stunt, but thicker than when she had learned about Mundungus hiding in the castle.
Marissa started to get up to say something, but Remus used her shoulder to push himself up and pressed her down onto the bench. "You're already on thin ice, don't you dare get yourself in trouble over this," he hissed in her ear. The other Marauders caught her eyes to agree and signal her to keep quiet. They followed McGonagall wordlessly from the hall, stopping only to pick up Wemmick on their way past the Hufflepuff table.
McGonagall took Wemmick in first, instructing the boys gruffly to stand outside her office. Half an hour later, they both came out, her lips thinner than before. Wemmick walked off without looking at anyone, and McGonagall beckoned the Marauders into her office. It was too familiar by now to be intimidating. "It appears that you are in the clear," McGonagall began, sounding furious about it. "Whatever you did to frighten that boy into declaring the truth seems to have also been sufficient to silence him about the matter. However, I know it was the four of you."
The four boys very wisely said nothing. James and Sirius looked her boldly and shamelessly in the eye and Remus faced her calmly and proudly. Peter tried to imitate them, but kept glancing nervously at James and Sirius. Fortunately, this was not an uncommon thing for Peter to be doing under stressful circumstances.
"Mr Lupin, you will now alternate hosting all prefect assigned detentions for the remainder of the year," Professor McGonagall said crisply. "And I will tell all the prefects and teachers to keep an especially close eye on the four of you and Mr Wemmick. I am now issuing an unofficial restraining order on all of you not to approach, respond to, or go near Dennis Wemmick, is that clear?"
"Professor," James said shamelessly, "Is it fair to punish Remus if, as you say, you have no proof?"
"Of course it wouldn't be, Mr Potter," McGonagall replied though it was quite clear that she was annoyed by his gall in pointing that out when he had so narrowly escaped the noose. "But that is not my reason," she said though none of them were fooled, "It is simply that with O.W.L.s approaching, it seems like hosting detentions nearly every night will be quite a strain on Miss Fletcher and I wish that burden to be eased. Mr Lupin is quite willing to do that for a friend, I hope?"
"Of course, Professor," Remus said quickly before James could say anything else to annoy McGonagall with his smugness.
"Good, you may go."
"Not yet, Professor," James said, sounding as indignant as McGonagall. "What about Wemmick? What are you doing to him for what he did to Lily?"
"I have spoken with Mr Wemmick, as will his Head of House Professor Sprout. Don't you think that what you did to him was bad enough?" she said seriously. "Besides, he's already had a detention for this offense, Mr Prewett informs me."
Remus and Marissa decided to make up the dancing lesson that they had skipped on the first night that neither of them had to host a detention. What surprised Remus was that Marissa was furious about McGonagall's order which did, essentially, lighten her load, and it wasn't even because she thought that it was unfair to single out only Remus to be punished. "You have no idea how much studying I get done hosting a detention simply because I have absolutely nothing better to do," she had explained, sounding highly frustrated as she did. "Everywhere else there are so many distractions..."
Remus had laughed then, knowing just how easily Marissa could get wrapped up in the problems of others or entertaining people. He also knew just how to talk to her about things like this, "Don't be selfish, Riss, I can't seem to get any studying done either. I guess it's the price you pay for roommates who have no work ethic whatsoever."
After that, Marissa smiled and agreed laughingly that he could host all the detentions that he wanted. She did not, however, seem particularly eager to begin the lesson. She seemed content instead to sit on the window ledge and stare out at the rain. The look in her eyes was almost...melancholy. It was strange to think of her in such a way. Ever since he had known her, she had been so fiercely bubbly and happy. No, scratch that. Now that he thought about it, she had only been an aggressively happy person since Malfoy had...
Almost as if she had been reading his thoughts, she said abruptly, "Do you think of me differently since I thought of the Castration plot?" She did not look at him but continued to stare out the window hugging her knees. Remus didn't know quite what to say, "Because I think that it was...it was like my way of striking back at Malfoy." Lucius Malfoy was the one and only person that Marissa called by his last name. She didn't even adopt nicknames for most people, including the Marauders' chosen pseudonyms.
Remus still hadn't thought of anything to say what felt like a millenium later. Marissa spoke again into the silence, "I think of myself differently, so I thought you must. I didn't think I would...that I could strike at somebody for the sins of someone else. I, I punished Dennis for Malfoy's sin. Why am I like that? I mean, well, I'm mean."
"No," Remus cried almost involuntarily, hurrying over to sit next to her on the sill. He wasn't sure what to do when he got there so merely sat there feeling like he should do something to comfort her but not knowing what. "You're the nicest person that I know and Wemmick - "
"Don't tell me he deserved it!" Marissa turned and said rather fiercely. "Not when you talked Sirius out of doing almost the same thing to Belle when they broke up! You thought it was terrible but you certainly didn't think it was worthy of castration then! Or the threat."
"Riss, listen, no, listen to me," he said, trying to capture her unwilling attention and finally just grabbing her face and forcing it to look at him. "How you've dealt with Malfoy without help from any of us for all these years I'll never know, never be able to imagine, but I promise you this: it hasn't turned you bitter or spiteful or angry and certainly not mean. You are the brightest, happiest, cleverest, most forgiving and nonconfrontational girl that I've ever known. And not nonconfrontational because you don't stand up for yourself, you just don't pounce on other people's rights to protect your own. Unlike some people that I could name." That earned a slight smile. "Riss, don't beat yourself up about this. And don't hold on to the Malfoy...incident. You can talk to me about it you know." She had an odd expression on her face, so Remus immediately backpedaled, "Or Lily, of course. Or anybody, just so long as you talk to somebody."
"I never told Lily directly," Marissa said in a very soft voice. Remus gave a start of surprise and realized that he still had her face in his hands. He waited a moment, then released it. "She would have wanted to talk about it all the time and I just wanted to forget that it ever happened. I know you boys told her, but I didn't want to say it all over again." Marissa shuddered. Then suddenly her eyes lit up with sudden realization, "He called me a halfblood!" she cried. "All these times it's played itself over and over in my head, and I didn't realize! He knew about my mother!"
Neither Remus nor Marissa knew what to say after that, so they were silent for a long time.
Again it was Marissa who eventually broke the silence. "I almost feel like I can finally let it go," Marissa said, again in that soft voice. "Malfoy and the rape attempt." Remus blanched. Marissa didn't. "I can say the word at least," she said with a wry smile at his expression. "The Dennis ordeal was a catharsis, what I wish I could do to Lucius to pay him back for the way he violated me, took away my dignity, frightened me. I wanted to do that to him. I'm not proud of that, but I always knew that that's what I wanted, to take from him what he took from me. So I took it from Dennis because he hurt my friend and I saw my pain in hers. Even though I never talked to her about it or even brought myself to tell it to her. She would have been almost as exposed as me, felt it anyway, to realize the whole school thought her a slut." Marissa raised her eyes from her knees to Remus's face and said to him, "Thank you, Remus, for whatever it is that let you find me in time. Thank you. Because I don't think I've ever said it before."
Remus pulled her into his arms, his mind reeling with the thought that he had never thought to have: thank Merlin he was a werewolf. Thank Merlin that he had been able to save her because of it. She turned so that she was leaning against him with his arms around her. She laid her head against his shoulder and just rested there. Remus held her and tried to find words that would wipe away her condemnation of herself, that would erase her pain, that would stop her from calling her righteous anger evil. In the end, his silent presence was more than any words he could have mustered would have done.
The rain poured down on the window in a pleasant and soothing syncopated rhythm that almost eased them into sleep. They sat there unmoving for a long moment out of time, not caring if seconds or years had passed. They fell into breathing together without realizing it, their eyes half-closed.
"Thank you, Remus," Marissa said, turning her face a little to look at him, "For this." She smiled, a real genuine smile that he recognized as her own. "For listening. I guess it's not a good time for me to not understand what Gus is talking about."
"If it makes you feel any better, I never understand my parents," Remus replied, for once not broody when he spoke on this subject.
"My father actually took him to a movie," she said. "And I'm so selfish I'm not happy about it. You'd think I would have been thrilled that he took the time to go see Star Wars with Gus, but instead I feel left out because he loves it so much he has this whole new lingo I can't understand and that's all he ever wants to talk about."
"I always imagined that that was rather what your and Lily's families would feel when you first came home from Hogwarts," Remus said reflectively, "Except it's a whole world that they can never share with you."
"Gus'll be a wizard, I know it," Marissa replied, "But I take your point."
"You must really miss him."
"Yes, I miss having him here, but I don't think we ever really talked about too much," Marissa said, "We play together mostly, but the more I think about it the more I realize that however much I tried to share Hogwarts with him, it kept us from sharing our lives anymore. We built most of our relationship on Hogwarts talk. Now he's seen that and wants to talk about Star Wars instead, but I can't base our relationship on that because I don't understand it. You and Lily are the only ones that I really talk to about important things anymore."
"What about James? And Sirius? I notice Peter seems uneasy around you - " Remus cut himself off, horrified at what he had implied about Peter.
Marissa, of course, sensed this. "Don't worry, I noticed too," but Marissa didn't tell him any more. "And I talk to James and Sirius about their lives. They need to change some things in them, but I - "
"Don't have anything to learn from them? Are perfect?" Remus teased.
"Don't want to burden them until they've worked out their own issues," Marissa corrected. "After all, James has to see me as the consummate fan so he eventually gets embarassed by the attention," Remus snorted his disbelief in the success of that tactic, "And Sirius needs to see someone who can be happy all the time so that he believes that he can be truly happy someday too. That this little group you have going isn't the only happiness he'll ever have out of life."
"But above all, they want to be your friend, Riss, and you need to let them be a part of your life," Remus said seriously.
"Is this your way of telling me you're tired of hearing me whine about my family?" Marissa laughed.
"Believe me, I'm in no position to complain about that, the way I go on about the vultures," Remus laughed. "I know one mistake that I would never make if I could be a father."
"What, you won't have kids?" Marissa said in surprise.
Remus struggled not to stiffen and give himself away completely. The intimacy of their conversation had disarmed him so that he almost let his secret out. He backpedaled quickly, "I suppose I don't trust parenting not be a disaster anymore," he said. "But the main thing that I'd warn people about is never be rich."
Remus had expected Marissa to laugh or ask why. Instead she nodded in agreement, "To get rich you have to be around the office constantly. To be a good parent, you have to be there. That's the most important factor. And I think it's better to have a big family, so there's always someone around, taking care of each other."
"A big, poor, happy family," Remus said wistfully.
"That's the only way to do it," Marissa sighed.
Silence fell again, but this time neither felt inclined to break it.
It wasn't only the Slytherin prefects who thought that Lizzie and Gideon were far too cutsy now that they had finally gotten over themselves and delcared themselves a couple. And to think, a few weeks ago that had been what they thought they had wanted out of the pair. Instead of spending the meetings bickering or loudly ignoring each other (and managing to trip each other up with their pointed silences), they were giggly and flirty in each other's presence. Even Marissa eventually admitted that it wasn't so sweet anymore.
Not that they weren't still a very competent Head Boy and Girl, they just tended to get distracted when they tried to work together as a team. They had formerly been very good at this, so it was very tedious to endure their inefficiency now. Karkaroff summed up most people's thoughts in his comment, "You'd think they'd want to get this over with faster so that they could slink off and snog some more."
It had been decided among the prefects minus Marissa that the time had come to say something to the Heads about getting themselves back on track, and also decided by the prefects minus Marissa that Marissa should be the one to tell them. They had elected Remus to explain her mission to his partner. That was why every single prefect shot him meaningful glances throughout the unorganized affair that had become of the orderly and efficient prefects meetings. It was time to broach the subject with Marissa so that she could broach the subject with the Heads, who would hopefully stop acting like a honeymooning couple any day now.
"So, if no one has any other business...I suppose that's all we have to cover," Lizzie said somewhat nervously, as if she were quite positive that they had more to go over but equally certain that she had no idea what it was and was unlikely to remember it anytime soon.
"Actually, I have some other business," Remus said startling everyone out of their bored or annoyed stupors. "About the Hogsmeade weekend coming up."
Lizzie looked positively beside herself, "Oh we can't have forgotten anything there!" she cried. "We went over it for hours last night!" Gideon leaned over her from behind and arranged his notes on the weekend more calmly, pointedly ignoring the supposedly-knowing looks that some of the prefects were indulging in.
"No, no, I'm sure you haven't forgotten anything," Remus assured her quickly. "I meant I wanted to add another project."
Lizzie looked positively world weary when she regarded him, "Another project?"
If he hadn't wanted to bring this off well, Remus would have been sorely tempted to laugh at her attitude towards the idea. "Don't worry, I'll handle all the logisitics and ask Dumbledore for his permission." Lizzie was struggling not to look relieved, and Gideon nodded at him absently to continue, "I suggest we offer all the students a chance to go the Muggle cinema. I'm sure the Muggle-borns will have heard all about the new rage Star Wars from their families over break, and I think Dumbledore will agree as there's a Muggle settlement that's just a thirty-minute walk from Hogsmeade. Professor Perkins has already agreed to chaperone. And since it's most likely to be Half- or Muggle-borns or their friends who want to go, it won't look like any more than a large birthday party or fan club or something to the little town of Rhynie."
Remus didn't dare look at Marissa, focusing instead on Gideon as Lizzie looked like she was about to refuse. Gideon spoke before she could, however, "If Dumbledore approves, I think you may have something," he commented. "But see if you can't get another teacher or two to go along with it, and you'll need more prefects to help you supervise everyone."
"I'll do it," Marissa said in a level voice, "But I don't know how much use most of the prefects will be in a Muggle cinema, there's scarcely a halfblood here excluding myself and the Head Girl."
Gideon again spoke before Lizzie could, "Then Lizzie and I would be delighted to go. That is, if our seventh year prefects don't mind monitoring the Hogsmeade trip as a whole?" There was no instant uproar, so Gideon continued, "Wonderful. Take it to Dumbledore and tell us next time what he decides. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of the meeting."
Lizzie looked for a moment as if she were about to protest, then shrugged and waved her wand to clear her notes. Everyone else did likewise and rose anxiously to leave. Marissa stood but did not follow the chattering with a vengeance crowd out the door. Remus did likewise, looking at her levelly. Her lips were moving as if she were trying to keep herself from smiling or crying. "Now, Marissa - "
But he got no further, for she had launched herself at him and was hugging him. "Thank you, Remus," she whispered in his ear. Rather startled, was unsure what to do and patted her uncertainly on the back a little.
He didn't have long to be uncomfortable, however, because an authoritative voice from nowhere startled them both. "You should be ashamed of yourselves! PDA in the Prefects Room!" Marissa released him and stepped back, laughing and beaming at him.
"I remember that voice," she said with the laugh apparent in her voice. "It yelled at Gideon when he tried to get away from the detention set-up when he realized that I had arranged for Lizzie to be there."
"Ah, speaking of which," Remus jumped right in, "The other prefects and I have been meaning to talk to you about our esteemed Lizzie and Gideon. We think that you should talk to them."
"About getting down to work and not flirting with each other instead of conducting the meetings?" Marissa laughed. "Now, I see why you went through all that trouble to butter me up with the movie plan." She laughed and took his arm as they walked out. Her eyes, however, said that she was very grateful indeed that he had thought of a way for her to reconnect with her brother. That made the entire thing worthwhile for Remus.
At first Sirius had thought that it was his imagination. Then he thought that perhaps it was just venting because even the Slytherins were feeling the stress of O.W.L.s looming on the horizon. Then came an inevitable conclusion: the Slytherins were exacting their revenge for refusing their Dark Lord. Actually, probably not their lord yet, except in a few other extreme cases. More likely it was merely their parents' master that they were defending. It didn't change the fact that he was tired of being hit with stray, "accidental" hexes every time he turned around. The worst of it was that none of them stuck around long enough for him to retaliate or even identify them.
That was why when all of a sudden he felt someone bump into him from behind, he whirled around and screamed at the unfortunate party, "What is your problem, scumball? Get away from me!" The person spun and ran. It took Sirius a full fifteen seconds to compute that it was Peter that he had just yelled at.
He immediately ran after him, "Peter, wait! Peter! I thought you were someone else!" He ran, but he didn't catch Peter.
"Lover's quarrel, Black?"
"Eat dung, Karkaroff!"
"Sounds tasty, Sirius, I hope you have enough to go around," Lily said sarcastically, grabbing his arm as he passed by. "I saw Peter running past, what happened?"
"Oh BUGGER!" Sirius shouted in frustration. "I thought he was a Slytherin. I rounded on him. I'm just so tired of them being on my case constantly, ever since the Easter Episode. The whole 'I don't want to be a slave of evil incarnate' thing."
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Lily asked, looking up at him sympathetically. Sirius looked down at her, slightly surprised. There was no real reason for him to be surprised, really. After all, he and Lily used to be very close. Not as close as she was with Marissa by any means nor even as close as she and James used to be, but hell, they had dated hadn't they? Their friendship had been mostly stilted since then.
Sirius mentally shook himself. Why was he making such a big thing of Lily being nice? Slytherins and O.W.L.s must be getting to him even more than he thought. "Did you see where he went?"
"No, but I know where he is," she said with a smile.
"How? If you didn't see where he went?" Sirius demanded.
"I didn't see where he went, I just saw when he disappeared," Lily replied simply. Sirius raised an eyebrow at his friend. At least, he was pretty sure that Lily was still his friend. After the sundering of her and James's friendship Sirius really hadn't been sure. Particularly as he had had no small part in causing it. Not mention the whole Wemmick fight recently. Lily was the kind to forget that she broke up with him when thinking about the fight.
Lily laughed at his confusion, "You remember when we were dating? And you showed me what you termed a, what was it? 'Lovely little make-out nook' in this hall? Right about the place where Peter would have disappeared to," Lily said as she led him over to a wall. She appeared for a minute to be counting stones, then banged twice on one and a small hole opened up in the wall. Sure enough, Peter had hidden himself inside. "I figured all you Marauders must have known about it."
"I'm sorry, Peter, I thought you - "
"I heard you talking," Peter said shortly. "It's okay, I guess."
"Ah Peter, don't act like that, you know we love you," Lily said with a smile.
"You do? Because I thought that was James," Peter replied.
"You little!" Lily said, making to dive at Peter. Sirius caught her before she could launch herself at Peter, laughing for the first time in a long time. It felt like forever. Peter laughed too, and even Lily relaxed enough that Sirius felt comfortable releasing her. "All right, Peter, all right," she chuckled.
"Nice, Wormtail," Sirius added.
"All right," Lily cried. "We're about to be late for Charms."
"Which, incidentally, is James's favorite class," Sirius pointed out with smirk. Lily elbowed him in the ribs.
If it were ever possible for there to be one universal opinion held by every fifth year regardless of house, blood, and creed, it was that O.W.L.s were driving them absolutely batty and a distraction was infinitely welcome. Thus, even people like Lily were glad for the excuse of a Quidditch match to put down the bloody books that were beginning to haunt them even in their dreams, or rather nightmares. It was also generally agreed among the members of the James Potter Fan Club, and the semi-independent Gryffindor Booster Club, that now was the time to make a splash.
In an unprecendented display of discretion, not one soul in the castle outside of the generally held to be rather insane club knew what they were planning. Just that they were planning something big. In fact, Marissa's hint to Remus not to dare miss the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match was the most anyone knew of their plans.
Very, very soon, despite the fact that the entire school knew it was coming, they would be dumbfounded by what the Club, mostly Marissa Fletcher, had up their sleeve.
If they had known, the Marauders would have found it harder to get to sleep the night. They did not have a problem with waking up in the morning at all, though it did pose a problem for several minutes trying to figure out where Marissa's voice was coming from.
"JAMES POTTER! GET OUT OF BED THIS INSTANT! WHY ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING? YOU HAVE TO BE ON THE PITCH IN AN HOUR AND YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HAD BREAKFAST YET! AND THE REST OF YOU! LETTING HIM! THE QUIDDITCH CUP IS ON THE LINE! HOW COULD YOU LET HIM SLEEP IN! GET OUT OF BED, GET DRESSED, AND GET DOWN TO BREAKFAST IN FIFTEEN MINUTES OR I WARN YOU, THIS IS THE MEDIUM VOLUME OF THIS MESSAGE!"
After five very confusing minutes, the boys managed to throw the megaphone contraption that was shouting at them out the window. Remus immediately ran to his wardrobe and began throwing his clothes on, urging them all to do the same.
Sirius and Peter groaned though James hurried into the bathroom as if worried that his friends would block him. "Remus, what are you doing?" Peter said in exasperation as if speaking to a dullard. "We don't have to get up, just James, he's the one playing. We don't have to be up for a full hour, we'll bring breakfast down to the pitch. That's what we always do."
"That may - " Remus said, his voice slightly muffled as he pulled his shirt over his head, "Be our routine." He was now hopping to regain his balance as he attempted to put his shoes on standing, something that seldom actually takes less time than sitting down to do it. "But, think about it. Marissa Fletcher just took the trouble to wake us all up in time for breakfast, and you do remember what that chick pulled at the last breakfast she took the trouble to make certain that we attended?"
Sirius sprang out of bed. A minute later, with an accompanying groan, Peter did too.
Lily, though not nearly so attached to early morning shut-eye, was harder to get out of bed. Marissa eventually resorted to dragging her best friend bodily from the bed and throwing her robes at her. "Honestly, Lils, I've been up for two hours already," Marissa mock-admonished, throwing down a button atop the pile of clothes next to Lily.
Lily's early morning mind felt too groggy to contemplate the kind of mischief that Marissa Fletcher could accomplish with a two hour jumpstart on the rest of the castle. "And what have you been doing in that time?" Lily asked, blinking away the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Making preparations," Marissa replied in that bouncy, laughing voice that always meant that she had been up to a great deal of mischief and wasn't likely to be remorseful in the least. She turned and positively pranced back out of the room again and presumably back to wherever it is that she had been making trouble.
Lily sighed. She'd be back if Lily wasn't there soon. Grudgingly, she moved over to her wardrobe and tried to find something that was suitably covered with scarlet and gold so that Marissa wouldn't send her straight back up to the dorm the minute she came down.
The Marauders sat down gingerly at the Gryffindor table as if waiting for it to explode. After a very tense moment during which they all looked at eachother and every other quite normal thing with grave suspicion, James shrugged his shoulders and tucked into the food with a vengeance. After a moment, the others joined him, feeling either an acute sense of foreboding or, in those of less faith, a severe let down.
Marissa bounced out the front doors a few moments later, and waved her wand up at the sky. Far above her head, a wind started stirring and because of the very complex charm, began to move a cloud to hover over the castle. Slightly exhausted a moment later, Marissa skipped merrily back into the Great Hall.
A little later, Remus was unfortunate enough to steal a glance up at the enchanted ceiling with a half-chewed mouthful. It was unfortunate, because he immediately choked. His distress was noted with surprise by his tablemates. Sirius and Peter followed his gaze up to the ceiling. They were slightly more fortunate; their jaws merely dropped and spilled their food into their laps.
Marissa, skipping gaily by, pounded Remus resoundingly on the back until the offending piece of food shot out of his mouth onto James, who finally looked up from his porridge. "Merlin, Riss!" Remus rasped the moment he had his breath back. Marissa laughed, enjoying the incredulous faces all around her.
James raised an eyebrow at him, and Remus shot a shell-shocked glance up at the ceiling. James took this surprise far better than the rest of his friends, though it must have been extremely disconcerting to see one's own face in the clouds. Literally.
Rain clouds formed the messy hair that stuck out at odd angles; his face was the golden clouds that came only at sunsets, his lips were the darker red just before the sun dips below the horizon with bright white clouds as teeth set in a rogue smile, and his eyes were the pure white clouds with two rings where the blue sky shown through. It was surprisingly accurate and looked exactly like James Potter, if his face were a hundred feet in diameter and half a mile above the ground.
James looked down at the table again after a long moment staring up at the ceiling. Marissa was watching him expectantly. "My eyes aren't blue," he said cheekily, grinning up at her. The grin, however, lacked his usual bravado.
"Sorry, but brown clouds are terribly hard to find," Marissa smirked, turning to skip back off down the table, "Not that I admit to anything of course!" she called back over her shoulder.
Lily was fully awake by the time she reached the Great Hall, but she almost immediately wondered if she was in a dream. What conceivable reason could there be for everyone to be staring up at the ceiling in a dumbfounded way? What weather could be that interesting? And why did the Slytherins all look sick to their stomach? She immediately glanced up at the ceiling.
She let out a shrill scream and her hand flew to her mouth. She was backing away, staring at the ceiling in bewilderment. Marissa came skipping up looking far too pleased with herself. "You're crazy, you're positively insane, and that is disturbing!" Lily cried in a highly distressed voice. "How did you...what possessed you to do that!"
"Beats studying," Marissa said laughingly. Lily was not amused.
The school made its way out onto the Quidditch Pitch, casting nervous glances at the cloud formation that had already migrated until it was hovering above them. Just about everyone found it possitively hilarious. How James felt about the monstrosity was something only his Quidditch team knew, as he had walked directly to the changing rooms after breakfast. How the teachers felt about it was far less of a mystery.
Professor McGonagall, to everyone's very great surprise, appeared to be fighting very hard not to laught. Professor Delacour was suffering from no such inhibitions and was chuckling to herself. Several of her colleagues were shooting the petite brunette unappreciative looks that didn't appear to upset her in the least. Professor Vindictus Viridian, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was far less amused. "It's tantamount to cheating!"
"I wouldn't be so harsh," the good-natured Professor Flitwick said, not looking particularly pleased but at least not antagonistic. He appeared to be trying to will the cloud formation away, or at least come up with a charm that would scatter the different parts of it.
"It's your team that's set to be distracted by that monstrosity," Professor Viridian pointed out vehemently. As a first year professor he hadn't quite learned yet that professors who weren't Head of House were expected to remain impartial, and thus his Slytherin sympathies were generally frowned upon.
"I have a feeling it won't affect the game, Vindictus," Professor McGonagall said with a smile.
"Oh really?" he drawled. "And what do you base that on? The fact that it's the Gryffindor Seeker's face up on the clouds there?"
"No, because we know the probable source, Vindictus, and from your observations of the President of the James Potter Fan Club in your classes, do you truly believe that she would compromise a match on which the fate of the Quidditch Cup hangs?" Professor Flitwick said, sounding as if he had just realized what he was proclaiming so logical and self-evident.
"You think the sky formation will go away? Does the same opinion hold for the pitch painting?" Professor Viridian said scathingly, gesturing angrily at the ground with also was bedecked with the likeness of James Potter.
The Ravenclaw Quidditch captain was saying much the same thing to Madam Hooch, "I don't know how on earth you can expect us to continue this game! It's unfair! It's a distraction, it's a low tactic used by the Gryffindor team to - "
"I object to that," James interjected, approaching Madam Hooch and Peggy Kong being carefulnotto wear the same rogue smile as his image on the pitch and sky. "We had no prior knowledge of this. Gryffindor honor would not permit such a thing."
"It was obviously done by a Gryffindor!" Peggy almost shrieked in protest.
"Perhaps, Miss Kong, but that cannot be proven," Madam Hooch said calmly. She was almost alone in her serene demeanor in the stadium. "And Quidditch matches have not been cancelled during snowstorms, tornadoes, and tsunamis, I will not reschedule one for a cloud formation. I take it your team does not wish to forfeit in protest?"
Peggy sullenly shook her head. "No, Madam Referee."
"Then have your teams line up in the changing rooms and I will alert the announcer that we are ready to begin." Peggy stomped off, and James too retreated back to the changing rooms.
"Welcome ladies and gentleman, to the Ravenclaw Gryffindor Quidditch match! I'm Gideon Prewett, and I'll be your commentator today and I must say, what bizarre weather we're having. It appears that Madam Hooch has ruled that the, shall we say mural? on the pitch is not a significant reason to stop the match. I still say that you've gone way over the top this time, Marissa," Gideon's voice rang out over the stadium.
Immediately from the Gryffindor stands, the cry went up from the James Potter Fan Club, "We didn't do it!"
"You're not fooling anyone for a second, girls!" Gideon cried. "Do take a bow, you've outdone even our infamous Marauders!" Marissa gave a great flourishing bow and blew a kiss at the crowd. Gideon's laughter rang through the stadium. "All right, since this tactic of the Gryffindors has not slowed down the game, may I present to you the Ravenclaw Quidditch team!"
"Penelope Henderson, Jeffery Davies, Gary Bryce, Barry Patil, Larry Patil, and Cindy Liu all under the direction of captain Peggy Kong," Gideon announced with a good deal of House pride. What was almost but not quite a boo issued from the Gryffindor stands which was drowned out by the wild cheers from the Ravenclaw stands, the ones which weren't pouring over the rulebooks frantically to find a way to force the removal of what was growing to be termed The Distraction.
"And the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Gideon said with a less enthusiasm, "Jacob Bell, Douglas Crom, Sam Adams, Henrietta Fawcett, Victoria Lovegood, Sarah Ackerley, and, as if there weren't enough of him out here already, captain James Potter." The roar from the Club was positively deafening.
"And any of you gaggle that's in Ravenclaw, I must insist that you desert to your House's stands immediately," Gideon said, shaking his head at the girls going positively berserk. "And if you're down there in it somewhere, Lizzie, we are officially broken up."
"Mr. Prewett, if you don't mind, we'd like to keep a little professionalism in this game," Professor McGonagall said with a sigh.
"Sorry, Professor, but I think that ship has sailed," Gideon said, still sounding immensely amused.
"Nevertheless, the teams are lining up," Professor McGonagall said pointedly.
"All right, Professor, Madam Hooch is carrying the balls out onto the pitch," Gideon commented. "She's released them and there's the whistle and - by Merlin it seems our Marissa has a sense of fair play afterall! The murals have vanished and the clouds have scattered, and yes, the Chasers are recovering from their shock, it's Jacob Bell with the Quaffle."
Marissa, standing at the front of the crowd of the gathered Club which took up about one-fourth of the stands, looked very much the comic figure. At least three Gryffindor scarfs were wrapped around her, and everyone of them was covered with large buttons. The buttons were all same: a picture of James Potter's face and his rogue smile, winking cheekily at the onlookers. She was waving her arms about like a conductor and the gaggle of witches was roaring cheers at her urgings. She looked like nothing so much as the leader of a mental ward's rebellion.
"Careful, Ken Kesi, they'll lobotomize you!" Lily, who obviously had the same opinion, yelled over the ruckus.
"He had a good run before he fell!" Marissa shouted back, laughing. "If I remember One Flew Over the Cookus Nest properly!"
Lily sighed heavily in disgust and made her way to the far corner of the crowd. Truth be told, Lily had started in the last few years to truly enjoy Quidditch Matches. She didn't want to tell any of them that, not least because she had never officially admitted her former dislike, but somewhere along the way, she had gotten caught up in the excitement of it all. The Chasers working as such a seamless team, having to learn to think together almost in perfect unison, the Beaters balancing protection with destruction, having to be aware and ruthless at every moment, the Keeper so constantly on his guard as the Quaffle could change hands at any moment, the Seeker having the hardest job of all, to keep his focus and concentration on searching for an almost invisible ball with everything whirling about him in wild motion, could there be a more intense game than this? If there was, it certainly wasn't played fifty feet in the air!
That was why she preferred not to watch the game with her friends, so she wouldn't have to keep up the I-Hate-James face. It wasn't that she didn't, it was merely that they reacted so to any letting down of her guard that she was forced to keep it constantly up. She and James might have been able to coexist if their friends had nudged each other knowingly everytime that she did something other than glare at him. Then again, they sent each other knowing looks then too. They were truly incorrigible.
And Marissa was the worst. For crying out loud, putting Potter's face in the clouds! "And I do believe that the Potter Fan Club is now singing an ode to their hero, take a bow James, you've driven them all over the edge!"
"Gideon, the game?"
"Oh yeah, Gryffindor scored again. Woopee."
"Gideon, if you cannot comment in an unbiased - "
"All right, all right, let's give it up for Sam Adams, everybody, truly a very talented girl!"
"Thank you, Mr Prewett."
"Can I go back to calling those ninnies down there insane now?"
"My, it seems that a Beater has just made a rather spectacular play," Professor McGonagall said pointedly.
"Ah, yes, Sarah Ackerley of Gryffindor prevents Ravenclaw scoring with a tremendous bludger to the Keeper and captain, Peggy Kong," Gideon said, sounding rather deflated. "Oh ho! Maybe should have saved that bludger, Fawcett! Cindy Liu just went into a dive! Can she have seen the snitch this early?"
Even the fan club quieted as they watched Cindy go into a rather spectacular dive, everyone waiting in puzzlement for James to spring after her. Only when Cindy pulled up just short of the ground (in a rather impressive display of flying ability) did everyone realize that Potter had recognized her Wronski Feint.
"And a rather spectacular job by Miss Liu, pity really that it didn't work," Gideon said, sounding rather disappointed indeed.
He was almost drowned out, however, by a voice that positively shrieked into the quieter stadium, "JAMES! THE SNITCH!" James immediately whirled to see the entire fan club imitating Marissa's desperate pointing in the direction.
"Where?" Gideon cried in surprise, squinting for the small golden ball.
"There!" cried Lily, though not nearly loud enough to be heard over the roar from the crowd as both Seekers raced toward it.
"Potter seems to have spotted it, he's miles ahead because of Liu's feint. And yes, I think he's got it. Match and Cup to Gryffindor," Gideon said, trying and failing spectacularly to mask his disappointment. "This is the third year running for Gryffindor to capture the Cup but its first under James Potter as captain. The final score stands at Gryffindor 200 to Ravenclaws 30. All in all, a great day for Quidditch, and congratulations to the Gryffindor team: Chasers Jacob Bell, Samantha Adams, and Douglas Crom, Keeper Henrietta Fawcett, Beathers Victoria Lovegood and Sarah Ackerley, and Seeker James Potter."
Though Gideon's response to the game's end was deflated, absolute pandemonium ranged in the stands. Lily, half the length of the Quidditch field away from any of the friends who would never let her live it down, was jumping up and down excitedly, hugging strangers and cheering wildly. Marissa, who had been yelling herself hoarse cheering James on in those final seconds, had latched on to Sirius next to her and was hugging him while screaming in his ear in her excitement.
The rest of the club behind her was postively swooning. Most immediately rushed onto the field as the Gryffindor team descended after a lap of honor around the field. Peggy Kong made a point to shake James's hand while they were both still in the air rather than waiting to find him in the chaos down on the pitch.
In the slightly depleted stands, Marissa released Sirius but was still jumping up and down in excitement. "Gad! Tell James to keep his bloody fan club in line! They're turning on us!" Sirius gasped, making a great show of testing if he still had hearing in the victim ear.
"I thought you'd be rather used to women throwing themselves at you, Sirius," Marissa replied with a laugh.
"I have been known to make women scream, care to try the more conventional method?" Sirius returned suggestively.
"All right you two, now that you've both taken a shot at each other, let's go congratulate James," Remus replied, stepping in between them.
"Maybe then you can stop making such a spectacle of yourself," Lily said disapprovingly, coming up behind them.
"Oh, Lily! Did you want a button?" Marissa asked, the picture of innocent inquiry.
Lily snorted and stomped off, not wanting to dignify that with a response. Sirius turned to watch her go, did a double take, and looked back at Marissa's loudly jangling button-filled scarves.
"How, Marissa Fletcher, did you plant those buttons on her? They weren't there a minute ago! And you couldn't have posibbly gone for your wand!" Sirius cried in surprise and respect.
Marissa laughed, "Haven't you learned yet, Sirius? A magician always has something up her sleeve, and it isn't always necessarily her wand."
Needless to say, there was a great party in the Gryffindor Common Room that night. That day really, because the match hadn't ended that late. Of course, the Marauders were at the helm. However, there was the general call for what the purebloods almost universally found fascinating: Marissa's magicless magic tricks. Lizzie and Frank had even invented what they so affectionately dubbed the "Squib Square" that kept her from doing magic as long as she stood on it.
This party, the trick was juggling. Marissa had begun juggling three of the apples "nicked" from the kitchens, then Peter began tossing extra apples into the mix one at a time. By the time he was up to six, they had drawn a crowd. And that, of course, drew James Potter.
"Hallo, Riss," James said, coming up behind her, almost as if he was hoping to startle her into dropping them.
Marissa, however, was not so easily distracted. "Hello James," she said calmly, though it was clear from her voice that she had not broken concentration as Peter tossed the seventh apple into the jumble.
"You know, for all your supposed House spirit today, I can't help but wander if your real object wasn't something entirely different," he said, eying her closely.
"Like what, pray tell?" Marissa asked perfunctionally.
James grabbed a pineapple and, placing a staying hand on Peter, tossed it into the jumble instead. For a second, it looked as if Marissa would faulter, but she adjusted and kept juggling. The crowd cheered spontaneously. Marissa flashed them a distracted smile. "Oh, I don't know, you weren't trying to work against me, now were you?" The girls in the Club gasped in astonishment. James shot them one of his rogue grins to reassure them.
"James, need I remind you that I am the one who spotted the Snitch? And alerted you?" Marissa said as Peter through yet another apple into the fray. It proved the one too many. They all went tumbling down. There was a groan of disappointment from the crowd, then a cheer for the job well done. Marissa bowed.
"Then were you trying to tell me something?" James pressed.
"James," Marissa said, bending to pick up some of the fruit, "When was the last time you listened to me when I tried to talk to you?" She pushed the pineapple at him and walked away.
"That was kind of my point!" James called after her. After a moment, he shrugged and began to juggle (off the Squib Square) using magic.
Marissa made her way over to where Remus was sitting on a semi-deserted couch, as sparsely populated as any part of the Common Room could be tonight. She plopped down next to him. "After that show, anybody in this room would want to talk to you, why me?" Remus asked.
Marissa raised her eyebrows as if the answer should have been obvious. "They do impress easy, don't they?" Marissa said, looking back over at the crowd in the center of which James (off of the Squib Square) was juggling about ten items with the aid of what was probably several charms used together. "All smoke and mirrors, and they love it. Muggles too. Muggles more, really," she said sounding almost wistful. James stepped onto the Squib Square still juggling, and all of the fruit immediately went flying. A roar went up from the crowd, but after a moment it began to disperse. "What a magician really needs to find is someone who'll be there when all the illusions wear off."
Remus just looked at her for a long moment, "If this is about the Star Wars thing..."
Marissa laughed as if he should have known better. "It's one of the sweetest things that anyone's ever done for me, Remus, and it means the world to me but - "
"Because," Remus interrupted her suddenly, "The real reason...the real reason that I did it was...well, I know it's a couple of years too late, but I feel terrible about they way we treated you after Malfoy..." Marissa looked away, not in dismissal of him, but as if she could dismiss the incident by turning away from it. "Sure, we defended you, but then none of us wanted to talk about. We all went off to think our private thoughts and didn't want to discuss it with anyone, even and especially you. After the charges were dismissed, we just kind of tried to forget it had ever happened. I'm just...I'm sorry that we left you to deal with this on your own."
Marissa looked back at him, curiosity overpowering the shadow of the old pain in her eyes, "You really don't remember, do you?" she said more than asked.
"What?" Remus said in surprise.
"When you took me up to the Hospital Wing," Marissa said as if expecting his memory to jar at any moment. "You may have sat there thinking your own thoughts, but you sat there with me the whole time. You didn't leave my side for a minute. You just were there with me. That's all I ever wanted from you. You let me know that it wouldn't change our friendship, that Malfoy hadn't robbed me of everything. I was still the girl you knew. And almost...almost that everything would be okay. Don't ever think you didn't do enough."
"Riss..." Remus tried to find something to say, but couldn't find any words and fell silent.
Marissa smiled, "Let's not talk about that. Why don't you just tell me I'm positively batty like everyone else around here?" she said in her usual bubbly tone of voice.
Remus took a moment longer to adjust to the change of mood, "Well, I really thought that went without saying even before today," he said playfully. "You really care more for Lily and James's eventual happiness that for your own, don't you?"
"What do you mean, Remus?"
"I mean, all this, you really go through a lot to make James acceptable to Lily and, well, I just mean that you must really love them to want them to be happy this much," Remus said in a slightly muted voice.
"I suppose you could say that," Marissa replied. Remus couldn't help but feel inwardly deflated. He had almost hoped that...hoped what he didn't even know. Hoped that maybe Marissa...but no, with her it was always James, even if she was giving him to Lily. Like Sirius giving Lily to James.
"But this is still a far too serious conversation for the occassion," Marissa chirped, "Truly, you have no sense of time and place, Remus."
"I suppose I'll have to work on that."
"While you're at it, work on being more batty sometime."
"I think you're crazy enough for both of us, Riss. Probably crazy enough for our entire House if push comes to shove."
©KatyMulvaney9-9-2004