Chapter 10: Spring Training (Part 1)

The start of April: James' sixth year

"How are you?" James jumped up from where he'd been leaning against the portrait hole.

Lily smiled at him and reached out for a hug that he happily gave. Running his fingers along the length of her spine as she crushed her cheek against his chest. James noticed her cheeks were flaming red, which meant she was embarrassed. James put his chin on the top of her head and squeezed her reassuringly.

"Who told you?" she mumbled into his chest.

"Mary." James replied, "she said McGonagall made you go back to the Hospital for a check up."

"I'm fine." She sighed, "Quidditch hasn't killed me yet."

Lily drew back from James immediately at the mention of quidditch, her green eyes were wide, "Don't you have practice?" she gushed in worry, "You didn't stop practice to make sure I was okay, did you?"

"I'm about to be on my way," James chuckled, hesitating before he reached out to tuck two fingers under her chin so he could see her face properly, "I did mention to Remus that you wanted to talk to him tonight."

Lily looked away from James awkwardly, "What do I even say to him?" she wrinkled her nose, "How did you tell him that you knew he was a-well-he wasn't normal?"

James shrugged, "Remus is pretty perceptive. When I said you wanted to talk to him I think he knew…"

Lily sighed and nodded, taking in a deep breath before pulling away from his touch and grinning deeply, "Have a good practice. Is this the last before Easter Break?"

James shook his head, "There's one tomorrow too."

"Sirius said you were going home." She stood on her tiptoes, staring up at him with wide green eyes.

"I normally celebrate my birthday over Easter Break with my family," James exsplained.

Lily nodded, "Well, I'll miss you both."

Lily looked unsure, doubt pressed hard into her face. James swung an arm around her and said the password to have the portrait hole open with a wide swing that the pair jumped away from.

"Are you worried they'll attack you again? The purists?"

Lily shook her head, "I talked to Dorcas Meadows, the Head Girl?"

James and Lily fell into the couch in front of the fire, James' arm still slung around her shoulders. Lily continued her story, leaning her head into James' shoulder.

"She said they're getting more dangerous with their antics." Lily pressed a hand to her forehead, "taking a leaf out of Mulciber's book I suppose."

"Mulciber?" James asked, confused because he thought they'd been talking about Coeur.

Lily nodded, "He's the one who started all this. Came back from vacation in our third year spewing about some bloke he met in a pub who is going to change the world." Lily turned her eyes onto James, "People talk, and they say Mulciber knows the new dark wizard…the one everyone is talking about."

"You think Mulciber did this then?" James interrogated.

Lily shook her head, "No, I don't think he did this personally, but I think he's been encouraging the others…like Coeur…to pull stunts that put muggleborns in hazy situations."

James pulled his arm from around her and let his hand fall into his lap. Everything Lily said worried him gravely. Mulciber was a nasty piece of work and the fact that he was encouraging his friends to follow in his footsteps was risky. Severus Snape was one of Mulciber's mates and James knew who was on top of Severus Snape's hit list.

James also recalled that Mulciber had been one of the Slytherin's on the pitch when Lily had taken the fifty-foot plunge from her malfunctioning broom. James could still hear their laughter as Lily's body hit the ground.

...XxX...

"I can't believe they were laughing."

James had gathered a group of Lily's closest friends together in the empty transfiguration classroom soon after he'd finished quidditch practice. Sirius sat next to James on McGonagall's desk while Remus, Peter, Anna, Mary, and Abby from Huffelpuff sat on the desks facing them. Abby was the one who had spoken up in horror after James recounted what happened, in detail, on the quidditch field. The rest of the people in the room were too angry to even comment.

"But Dumbledore was there, wasn't he?" Peter said, "He didn't do anything?"

"They got spoken too." James countered angrily, "That's it. The Head Girl told me that none of them had wands, so there's no proof that Lily didn't just fall."

"Lily can fly a fucking broomstick." Sirius snarled beside James irritably, "Those gits did something."

"I wouldn't put it past any of those purists." Mary snapped from her spot.

James cleared his throat. "And I wouldn't put it past them to do it again. I called you all here because I want everyone to watch out for her." James told the group.

Anna kicked her feet out from under the desk as she spoke up, "Lily wouldn't like that."

Sirius knew exactly what Anna meant and cut her off quickly, "She's brilliant and can take care of herself, but a little help from her friends won't matter in the long run."

"Lily will be targeted even more if any of those jerks even get a hint of you boys trying to protect her." Mary, who had run into James when she was heading back to the castle after watching quidditch practice, was staring at Sirius and James with a furious look on her face.

Sirius pointed at the door with anger perfectly matching James', "Those purists are—"

"The same ones that assaulted me in the bathroom." Mary interjected, eyes flashing with warning.

Everyone was silent for a second and James felt Sirius shrink a bit at his side. James had heard that Mary had been humiliated and dehumanized by Mulciber once in the girl's loo during their fourth or fifth year. By the look on Mary's face, she was still struggling from the experience. James nudged Sirius in the side, motioning for him to apologize.

Sirius looked awkward, "Ah, sorry Mary."

Mary blinked coolly and didn't accept his apology, "Listen to me," she said, looking around at all of them, "I think it's great that you care so much about Lily but if you really don't want her to be bothered by those loons again, don't make it seem like you will protect her every move." She crossed her arms defiantly, "That'll only make it a game to them."

"I think Mary's right." Anna spoke up from her seat, "besides, like I said before, Lily's a smart girl. She can take care of herself."

Mary smiled at Anna appreciatively before standing up and glancing sideways at James, "I'll see you later, I've got to get to the library before betting for the cup closes."

"How's Gryffindor doing?" James shouted after her as he began weaving through desks to the door.

Mary glanced back with a grin, "Ahead in the bettings by seven sickles."

James grinned and punched the air a bit, earning a snort from Anna as she also stood up from her desk.

"I've got to get going too," she sighed, "divination has a dream diary I have yet to fill in for the past seven weeks."

"When is it due?" James asked with concern, he had also forgotten about the homework in that class.

"Tomorrow." Anna reminded as she gathered her books that she'd dropped when she'd entered the classroom.

"Mind if I come with?" Abby, the quiet Hufflepuff asked quickly, "I've only got my first two weeks."

"Of course." Anna waited for the Hufflepuff to gather her things before the pair exited the transfiguration classroom chatting about dreams they could make up that their Professor would believe.

James decided he'd ask Lily to do it with him as soon as he saw her next. Lily had mentioned she was going to dinner after she went to her Professors tog et he work she'd missed. James mused that he could meet her for dinner and they could study together. James' eyes fell on Peter who still looked perplexed. The stout boy was staring at James like James had grown two heads, and was singing in mermish.

"What, wormtail?" James asked with amusement, recognizing Peter's defiant look.

Peter's frown increased, "Your acting strange."

"How so?" James demanded.

"We aren't even going to get them back for it?"

James stared at Peter, knowing exactly what Peter was hinting at; a revenge scheme on the blokes who had laughed at Lily on the quidditch pitch. James' grin spread across his face just as soon as Sirius' did. Remus groaned and put his head into his hands.

"Peter," Remus croaked, falling farther into his seat, "Why?"

"Why not?" Sirius got up off the desk, starting to pace as he thought up ideas, "Those bastards messed with our friend."

James reminded Remus, "I mean, they had it coming to them really."

James remembered the cruel laughs coming from the stands. James remembered grabbing Lily's limp hand and glancing back at the laughter to see Coeur and his mates, sneering from the stands. James remembered how he'd never wanted to hurt someone so much as he did then, but Lily took importance over beating Coeur into pulp.

Remus sighed, "Fine, but they can't know it was us." He shook a finger at James and Sirius, "You're up for Head Boy and Sirius can't get in trouble anymore after the willow incident."

James straightened his glasses and thought. What could they do to humiliate Coeur and his mates? What could they do to make it clear humiliation? James had half a mind of just pushing the lot of them off the Astronomy Tower.

James and Sirius eyed each other respectively. Normally, when pranks were being planned, they shot ideas off one another.

"Is throwing Coeur off the astronomy tower out of the question?" James moodily muttered.

"Unless you want to have Azkaban in question." Sirius grinned back, "Coeur belongs in Azkaban."

James sassed, "Bloody chicken wouldn't last five seconds without all his precious fancy robes and dementors swarming around."

"Does he even have a soul for a dementor to suck out?" Peter chimed in with a half a laugh and he was given a high five from Sirius who snorted wittily.

Coeur was cruel, heartless, and clearly prized his status as a wealthy pureblood, as did most. Coeur thought he was popular, handsome, and feared. James wanted to take away his conceited beliefs. James wanted to rip Coeur's exterior apart and show the real pathetic coward he was on the inside.

"I think I have an idea," James said, earning gazes from all three boys, "and we're going to have to sneak into the kitchen after the elves have prepped breakfast."

"I don't think poison is the proper way to seek revenge." Remus commented dryly from his chair.

James laughed mockingly and stood up so he could smack Remus on the back of his head, "This is better than poison. This is Operation Chicken."

Sirius skeptically stared at James, "You come up with the worst code names."

James ignored Sirius and threw an arm around Peter, "Petey, my mate, by best mate…how hard do you think it would be to get live chickens?"

Peter looked up at James with a grin, "Give me two hours."

James kissed the side of Pete's head dramatically and pointed at Remus, "Go with Pete, I want as many chickens as you can possibly get."

"Where are we putting these chickens?" Remus moaned, standing up slowly and arching his back like a wolf stretching, "I'm not getting a detention for stealing chickens."

"Stash them someplace no one will notice and meet Sirius and I in the room when you've finished." James decided determinedly, "Now, split up gang."

Remus and Peter walked away, heads together and talking under breath.

James chuckled when he heard Remus mouth to Peter as they left, "I hate him sometimes."

Peter answered back with a sly grin back at James, "I love him."

"Love you too, Wormy!" James called after his mates ironically, making Sirius guffaw loudly beside him.

"So how are we going to get live chickens into the great hall?" Sirius asked, throwing an arm around James' shoulders, eyeing him with interest.

James grinned and slapped Sirius on the back; "I love how you know exactly where I'm going with this."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I've been living with you since I was eleven. I know everything about the way your dumb brain works." Then he shook his head and shoved James a bit, "And for the record setting chickens loose on the Slytherins is possibly your best idea this entire year."

James pointed at Sirius, "Come on let's go to the library and maybe we can find a way to hide these chickens until the big reveal."

"I just want to see the look on my brothers face when a fat chicken runs across his plate to be honest." Sirius looked like Christmas had come early.

James haughtily smirked, "I have the greatest pranks, don't I?"

"Wrong." Sirius denied as they walked out of the classroom side by side, "I did come up with that fabulous owl droppings delivery service in third year."

James bubbled up with happiness in response of the prank, "Merlin," James wiped his eye with his finger, "Snape's face was priceless."

They'd owled Snape fourteen envelopes full of owl droppings in third year after Snape porously spilled extra flower extract in their potion causing the potion to overflow and burn half the class. Sirius and James had gotten detention for three whole weeks from Professor Slughorn.

Revenge only seemed classiest in the form of owl dung.

On the way to the library, both boys spent their time reimagining the look on Snape's face every time an owl dropped a dung-loaded envelope on his breakfast plate. So far, Sirius' impression was best and by the time they reached the library both of them were crying from laughing so hard.

They went right to the back if the crowded library where they sat at a vacant table to brainstorm. James had out parchment that he immediately started sketching a chicken on. Sirius was watching with his cool grey eyes trained on the motioned of the quill. This was an old habit of theirs, something they hadn't done since the days of the Marauders Map coming into being.

"We could just make the chickens appear on the table." Sirius said as James used his wand to colour the chicken's outrageous pastel colours, "A concealment and containment charm should work long enough for the house elves to okay the table shift from the Kitchens to the Great Hall."

James nodded as he erased the chicken head and started over, "That's easy enough, are we going to conceal the chickens themselves? Or contain them in something first?"

Sirius shrugged, "I'm not really sure."

Silence again. James finished sketching the chicken and moved onto sketching a face, slightly oval, digging his quill into the lines of the almond shaped eyes. James could see her face clearly in his mind, smiling as she always did when their eyes met.

"How will we sneak the chickens into the kitchen?" Sirius muttered, watching James sketch Lily's face with carful consideration, "The last time we tried to sneak worms into Wormtail's food they threw eggs at us and told us off to Professor McGonagall."

"I'd love to throw eggs at Couer." James craved his quill around the edges of the sketch of Lily, "It took me three weeks to get the egg residue out of my hair. I 'spect it'd take that idiot longer since he never showers."

"Oh Merlin…I've got it."

James looked up from his drawing to see Sirius had a twinkle in his eyes.

"What does that look mean?"

"I know what we can put the chickens in to conceal them." Sirius beamed devilishly.

"It can't be anything too obvious—" James countered, "we still have to get whatever it is past the elves."

Sirius put his chin in his hand and winked at James, "You know that next week is Easter and I'd hate to deprive the student body of a good celebration."

James tilted his head in awe at the clear plan in Sirius' head.

"You're a genius Padfoot!" James exclaimed, high fiving Sirius who looked proud.

"Egg-sactly."

Sirius and James burst into laughter, earning glares and shushes from the next table over. While James glared back at the studious Ravenclaws Sirius reached across the table and took he paper that James had been doodling on. James watched carefully as a knowing frown formed across Sirius' handsome face. James already knew what he was staring so judgmental at and James rolled his eyes.

"Just say it Sirius," James sang, leaning back in his chair and waiting for Sirius to say exsactly what was on his mind.

"Nope." Sirius put the paper with the drawing of Lily down, glaring at James, "Don't tempt me."

"Do it."

"No."

"Do it—"

"You're a pansy James Potter." Sirius blurted out and James kicked him under the table, "Just snog her already. I promise she won't mind."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked with impulsive attentiveness.

Sirius rolled his eyes and stood up, grabbing the paper before James could. Sirius crumpled it up and threw it at James who blocked it by grabbing it with one hand. James stood up while stuffing the paper in his bag with the quill.

"So do you think Remus and Pete will come through with some chickens?" Sirius asked as he and James started walking out of the library.

"If I know Peter he's already got at least half the chickens within a block of Hogwarts."

And James wasn't wrong. By the time they met back up with Peter and Remus the sun had gone down and most of the students had gone to bed. James was lounging in bed while Sirius built a tower of cards in the corner when Peter and Remus entered the room. The boys had one other roommate named David, who was resting on his bed.

"We've got them." Peter announced from the doorway.

"All 36 of them." Remus sounded less than enthused.

"36?" James sat up quickly grinning, "Where did you get 36 chickens?"

"Why do you need 36 chickens?" David snorted from his bed.

"Shut up, Dave." Sirius warned, eyes flashing at their roommate who had long ago learned to follow Sirius' orders.

"Never mind where we got them," Remus snapped from the doorway, appearing antsy, "We've got to do something with them."

"Where are they?" Sirius knocked down the cards and stood up, wiping down his robes.

Pete and Remus exchanged a look that told Sirius and James they had better get going, and quickly. Peter led the way out of the common room while Sirius and James were explaining the final plan.

"We're going to hide the chickens inside of Easter eggs."

"Easter eggs?" Peter cackled excitedly.

"How festive." Remus agreed with a snort, "Are we transfiguring these things into eggs?"

James glanced at Remus with a grin, "Hadn't thought that far but as always, Moony, you are ahead of the game."

"It's the only reason I win at gobblestones against you." Remus mused thoughtfully.

"Speaking of gobblestones, how'd the conversation with Lily go this afternoon?" James fell into step with Remus as the werewolf flinched a bit at Lily's name.

"Well," Remus muttered through gritted teeth, "awkward as Hell."

"She hugged you a lot didn't she?" James laughed, imagining the scene in his head.

That made Remus laugh, "Yeah, she did." The scars on Remus' face looked worse in the torchlight as he laughed, "She also offered to take any and all responsibility for my full moon prefect shifts." Remus smiled warmly at James, "She reminds me of you, sometimes."

"Why?" James asked, bumping shoulders with Remus.

Remus placed a hand on James' shoulder, "Because when you found out you offered to do my homework every full moon for the rest of our time at Hogwarts."

They grinned at each other, knowing that James had very well kept his promise and still did all of Remus' homework before the full moon; despite how often Remus would protest.

"Oi! You lot! It's almost past curfew!"

The boys turned at the voice of someone commanding and that someone turned out to be Robert Frost. James didn't care for Robert Frost but no one much cared for Robert Frost. He was a prefect who spent more time trying to tell people about unimportant astrology facts he didn't have the faintest idea that no one actually listened to him. James still recalled the time Lily had 'patrolled' the girls lavatory to get away from Frost. Sirius quickly created a diversion.

"Frost." Sirius slide forward smoothly, encircling an arm around Frost, "I've been meaning to ask you about the star, Sirius. What exsactly does that have to do with my name?"

Frost stared open mouthed at Sirius but before he could process anything else three of the four boys had disappeared.

James sprinted far ahead of Peter and Remus, only stopping when they had made it down three flights of stairs. Panting against the frame of a doorway James laughed gaily as Peter and Remus followed close behind.

"That was close." Peter shouted gleefully, "Sirius is going to regret that."

"Let's just get this over with before we cross any other prefects." Remus said hastily, sweating slightly from their run.

James agreed and he followed Peter and Remus to the location of the chickens. James could hear them before he saw them, all clucking about like chicken do. James stared at the plain wooden door that the noises were coming from and was rather impressed with where the boys had stashed the chickens.

"Filches office!" James bellowed happily as Peter opened the door to the empty office and James saw an upwards of thirty to forty chickens of all different sizes and colors bouncing around happily, "Agrippa, this is fantastic!"

"Most of them at Hagrids," Peter illuminated, "We bribed them to follow us with rice cakes. Remus found the others near the greenhouses."

"Brilliant." James was gleeful as he saw one or two chicks pecking around too, "How do we get them to the kitchens? Before Filch comes back and slaughters them all?"

Remus shook his head and closed the door before any of their hostages could escape, "No, we need to transport them all in the eggs. The house elves will get suspicious if we bring thirty chickens in."

"The house elves won't be suspicious of thirty Easter eggs either?" Peter snorted in disbelief.

"No," James grinned, "Because Remus is going to tell them the prefects set up a Easter egg hunt and we want to stash the eggs in the kitchen for now."

Remus moaned, "Why me?"

"Because you are the only one with authority." James reminded, "If I get Head Boy, I'll take the fall next time."

"You'd better." Remus muttered angrily before rolling up his sleeves and taking out his wand, "Alright, what are we transfiguring into Easter eggs?"

"We're not!" Sirius came skidding down the corridor, panting like he'd run the entire castle twice.

"How'd you find us?" James asked.

"Locator spell." Sirius was panting heavily, "I just had a brilliant idea and wanted to get to you before you did anything."

"Did you evade Frost?" Remus glanced behind Sirius to see if Frost had followed.

Sirius grunted, "Sent the bastard the wrong way, didn't I?"

"So your brilliant idea?" James grinned, gesturing for Sirius to continue.

They were running out of time.

"What came first?" Sirius was holding back his great idea, like he always did, "The chicken or the egg?"

Remus rolled his eyes, "Enough riddles, Padfoot, Filch will be back soon."

Sirius snapped at Remus, "If your were wondering Remus, the riddle is the answer. We can just transfigure the chickens into eggs, then transform them back with a simple charm."

"What charm?" Peter demanded, ever the charms expert, "I mean ducklifors only turns objects into ducks. We don't need ducks."

"Avifors." James realized where Sirius was going with the plan, "Brilliant Sirius."

"Thanks." Sirius winked, "I am quite brilliant. We'll just use emmorphis as our jinx."

"Well let's hurry and transfigure the chickens then, before Filch gets back from rounds." Remus was starting to glance around the corridors with worry.

"Or Miss Norris find us." Peter pulled a face at the mention of Filches horrible cat.

Remus swung open the door and the smell of chicken overpowered them. Filch wouldn't be able to get rid of the smell for years, probably. James mused that the rude caretaker deserved it. James pulled his wand out and aimed it at the room full of chickens.

"Emmorphis!"

Soon, there were many cream coloured eggs resting around the office that was stained with bird feces. Sirius tried transfiguring one back, to make sure they're plan worked, and they were rewarded with a chicken again in a matter of moments.

"I love it." James grinned wickedly.

"They're quite bland." Sirius sighed over the normal color of the eggs.

"A simple color changing charm should do the trick." Peter suggested, pointing his wand at one and waving it so that the egg turned bright orange.

"Gryffindor colors it is." James grinned, before making his eggs alternate between gold and maroon.

Peter grabbed one of the sacks that held reports of detentions for Filch and shook it out, papers and leaflets falling everywhere. The boys put the eggs inside of it carefully, not wanting to find out what happened if any of them broke.

"We can't all fit under the invisibility cloak," James spoke as they closed the door to the now destroyed office, "Remus and I will go to the kitchens."

Sirius nodded in understanding, "Peter and I will meet you back in the common room."

Remus got the cloak from James' pocket and threw it over them; James had ahold of the bag of eggs, carefully balancing them like he might a baby. As they shuffled their way down to the kitchen in the fire-lit hallways Remus broke the silence first.

"I thin this is the first prank we've done since we stopped fighting."

James heard the affection in Remus' tone and couldn't help feeling a rush of sense of accomplishment, "The marauders, back together again."

"That's right." The smile in Remus' voice was evident.

James hugged the bag of eggs tighter; "I forgot how much I loved making these pranks up."

Remus laughed into the nape of James' neck, "I think this is our stupidest idea yet."

"I dunno," James snickered, "I can't wait to see the look on Couer's face when he's covered in chicken shite."

"Do you think they'll know who did it?"

"Nah."

The boys got into the kitchen quickly, not wanting to waste any more time. They stuffed the invisibility cloak back in James' robes and they entered the warm kitchen that smelled like sausages. A house elf appeared wearing a tea cozy, it's bat-like ears turned up in surprise.

"We need to store these here, it's for an event over the holidays." Remus pointed to the sack of eggs that James was holding with a bright smile.

"You can leave it down here Master Remus." The house elf announced in its squeaky voice, glancing once at James, "It would be our honor to help make Easter special for the students."

"Yeah," Remus glanced back at James with a look to get ready, "Can we also have some of the pudding from dinner to go? I'm starving!"

The house elf was more than happy to oblige. James took the departure of the elf to go to the table already packed with food for the next morning. Remus watched with a concerned frown as James started hiding the eggs inside pudding, inside the real hardboiled eggs, underneath the downturned goblets, inside pumpkin juice, and anywhere he could hide the multi-coloured eggs. James was hiding one of the last eggs in some napkin holders when the house elf returned to Remus' side and offered him plates topped high with food.

James stuffed the bag in his pocket beside the invisibility cloak quickly and waltzed back over with a wide grin on his face. Remus took the plates of food bashfully and glanced back at James who confirmed he'd completed the mission with a little shake of his head. Remus grinned and looked down at the elf, which hadn't expected a thing.

"Great." Remus announced happily, "We'll be back for those eggs this weekend then, thanks mate!"
"Anything for you, Master Remus!"

Remus and James waved and Remus said through gritted teeth, "I hate lying to them."

"They make this too easy sometimes." James answered once the entranceway was way behind them.

Remus nodded his acknowledgment before offering James one of the chocolate éclairs the house elf had plated for them.

The next morning, James was wide awake and ready for breakfast. The boys dressed and made their way down to the Great Hall with grins practically exploding off their faces. They entered the great hall and James was happy to see that the Slytherin table was slowly filling up. Sirius caught James' grin and winked as they sat down, facing the Slytherin table. They had planned to wait for Lily to come in. Soon, Lily appeared followed by her friend Mary.

"Lily!" Sirius waved her over.

Lily waved back, her face lighting up when she spotted who was calling her. Mary and Lily came over to their side of the table, all smiles and arm in arm. They were dressed for their care of magical creatures class, James recognized the muck boots the students wore when they had to go into the forest to collect centaur dung for the potions class.

"Morning." Lily chanted, hugging Sirius and grinning at James over Sirius' head.

"You have Magical Creatures this morning?" James asked her.

"As always." She confirmed, eyeing him sincerely, "We're going to the streams for gillyweed and unicorn fibers."

"Sounds wonderful." James mumbled the lie and she smiled, reaching over Sirius to ruffle his hair.

James made a face at her and tried to flatten his hair but it was to no avail. James could tell in the reflection on his spoon that his hair was still sticking up everywhere anyways. Lily giggled into her hand and continued leaving her arms wrapped around Sirius' neck as she turned her gaze on Remus.

"Remus?" her tone had changed to a more serious reflection and James wondered how long she'd treat Remus like he was a fragile doll.

Remus glanced up from the morning paper, "Yeah?"

Lily shrugged against her hold on Sirius, "Good morning."

There was a twinkle in Remus' eyes as she lifted his cup towards her, "Morning."

"Fall in the mud, Black? You seem to be covered in it." Coeur laughed as he pushed past Mary, causing the lighthearted girl to fall into Lily's leaning frame, pushing Sirius almost into his own food.

Coeur laughed cruelly again and James saw Lily's lip tremble angrily as she glared defensively at Coeur.

Everyone surrounding the group had gone silent. James put a hand on Mary's shoulder and sat her down when he saw her eyes fill with liquid. Sirius protectively pulled Lily into the seat between him and James, raising a rude gesture in Coeur's retreating form.

"Eat chicken shite, Coeur." Peter snapped at Coeur, who turned his beady eyes on Peter.

Peter slunk back a bit at the glare but his back remained straight and proud. James laughed loudly at Peter's joke and high fived the boy with exuberance.

"Nice one, Pete." James continued laughing; throwing am arm around Lily's shoulders and whispering into her ear, "wait until you see what we did."

Lily turned to face him in her chair, looking mortified, "What did you do, James."

"Watch." James grinned, pointing over to the Slytherin table.

James glanced up at the Slytherin table and noted that Coeur had sat perfectly in front of the boys, making their job a lot easier. With a half a nod, the boys took out their wands and one by one started waving them in the direction of the Slytherin table. Peter, who was best in charms, managed to get half the table with one swish of his wand.

That's when all Hell entered the Great Hall. Lily and Mary shot their heads up in confusion when they heard screams. In fact all of the Great Hall had stopped moving except for the Slytherin table.

Multi-coloured chickens were exploding from their egg encasings. James reveled in joy as he watched the glass in Coeur's hand explode and a great big pink chicken appeared in his hand. James hit Sirius and pointed quickly so Sirius didn't miss the magnificent look on Coeur's face. Coeur's befuddled face was twisted as the chicken took one look at the boy hold it in horror, and excreted a mixture of grey shite all over Coeur.

James and Sirius burst into laughter, high fiving over Lily's head.

Coeur had dropped the bird and when James looked back, James realized Sirius and he had been a bit loud in their celebration. Coeur looked like he was going to jump over the tale and massacre James. Instead of pretending to not notice, James made a giant grin cross his features and signaled Coeur's furious expression with a two-finger salute.

Chickens were now running rampant around the Slytherin table. First years were screaming as the chickens ate a bowl of bread and there was no clean spot left on the table. Severus Snape was struggling to salvage his homework at one end of the table while Demitra Jigs was trying to hit the birds with her wand in self-defense.

Sirius was laughing so hard now that tears were streaming from his eyes and Sirius wasn't the only one laughing. A lot of students were trying to catch the chickens and the Great Hall had turned into a chicken catching tournament. Students and chickens were sliding across the floor together like the floor had turned to ice.

It had to be the single greatest prank James and his mates had ever thrown.

"Peter told him—Peter told Coeur-" Lily whispered from James' left, her voice was soft, "Oh my god."

Sirius and James grinned sideways at her as she let her gaze wander from boy to boy. James loved the way her lips were forming a slight 'o' and the way her green eyes were sparking with puzzlement over the chickens.

"You." she determined, she let her eyes fall on grinning James in accusation, "You did this."

"Don't bother wasting your time lecturing me." James warned her, "I didn't have Peter steal 30 chickens to get a lecture form the girl we did it for."

She dropped her hands from her face and stared at him, "You did this for me?"

"The mates wouldn't let me throw Coeur off the Astronomy Tower." James explained sourly, "This seemed like the next best thing."

"Making chickens take over the Slytherin table?" Lily mused, but James saw a twinkle in her eye despite her doubtful look.

James winked and sent her his best smile, "Just wanted to remind everyone which house chickens like Coeur belonged in."

With one, final look of indignation, Lily let a smile break through her features and she laughed louder than he'd heard her laugh in weeks.

She rewarded him even more by throwing her arms around James, snuggling her face into his chest. James could feel her laughter vibrating through him and he suddenly felt incredibly warm and he wanted to keep her in that position for as long as possible, so he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Sirius shot him a knowing look and James glared at Sirius in warning over her head.

Eventually, Hagrid was called and the chickens were removed in a timely fashion. Gryffindor was docked thirty points by Professor McGonagall that night but the lost points were awarded to every house but Slytherin. It was worth it to James, since Lily Evans hadn't stopped hugging him since they'd left the Great Hall covered in green and blue chicken feathers after they'd helped to catch a few of them.

Coeur couldn't walk down the hallways without James and his mates purposely making chicken noises. In fact, all of Hogwarts had taken to bawking at Slytherin's as they passed. The popularity of the prank had reached the point to where it was well known which four boys were the culprits.

James and Lily were in the library finishing up their letters to the board of directors (James had to admit his letter wouldn't be half as good without Lily's help) when a timid third year Hufflepuff appeared and told James he was needed immediately in McGonagall's office. Lily, who had been warning James that he was going to get in trouble, raised an obnoxious eyebrow in his direction, her smirk pointed.

"Shove off, Evans." James snapped at her and she giggled.

"I told you McGonagall got wind it was you," She responded equally as playful, "I saw her eyeing you in Transfiguration."

"That's just because she was admiring my good looks."

Lily snorted and didn't answer because she turned and thanked the third year for coming out of her way to get James. James put his things into his bag and eyed Lily secretly as he stood up. She was wearing his favorite outfit of a flowery shirt that had a neck so deep it ought to have been against school rules because it made his palms sweat. Her red hair was down again, falling about her shoulders and letting the light hit it so that it glowed like a dying fire. Her green eyes were large against her pale face, as she tried her hardest to keep from beaming at him.

"Are you going to be a breakfast tomorrow?" he asked her, leaning over the table so they were eye to eye.

"Planning another chicken party?" she mused happily, staring up at him with a playful smile on her lips.

"Nah," he slung his bag over his shoulder, "I'm going home for break, remember?"

It seemed she had forgotten and her face fell from its playful expressions as she nodded somberly.

James hated when she didn't smile so he touched her under her chin and smiled, making her smile, "I wanted to make sure I said goodbye to you now if you weren't going to breakfast."

"I want to see you." She said quickly, eyes blinking.

Sirius had mentioned twice now, that James should just go for it, and ask her out. Lily was only encouraging the thought in James' mind too because she always said things that made him wonder if she was struggling with feelings stronger than friendship too.

"But I have rounds." She sighed sadly, like rounds were destroying her life, gazing up at him, "You're leaving first thing?"

James licked his lips, feeling his stomach roll when he saw how upset she was. It was enough to make him want to turn back time and tell his mum he couldn't come home for Easter. She had placed her quill down and her palms were resting in her lap as she stared up at him, clouding his judgments.

"Yeah," he muttered sadly, "Mum has a floo time reserved at half past seven sharp."

Silence, then she stood up and initiated the hug, squeezing her arms around his neck tightly and burying her face into his neck. Because she was so much shorter, James wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up lightly, squeezing her back.

"I'll miss you," she mumbled thickly into his neck.

James had to struggle to keep his voice level as he set her back on her tiptoes and whispered back, "You just keep Remus on his toes."

Lily laughed and kissed his cheek before pulling away entirely and eyeing him fiercely, "As long as you do the same to Sirius."

They stood there smiling like loons at each other until James forced himself to wave goodbye. She had her arms crossed, like she was hugging herself, as he walked away. James didn't know why this goodbye was so hard, considering he'd said goodbye to Peter without even blinking. Lily should've been the same, but she wasn't the same as Peter…she was turning into more than just his best mate.

She was turning into someone he wanted to be with all day and all night.

She was making his head spin.

Deciding that finally, he had to just try, he turned back. Lily was still standing there, and she became confused when he turned back. She backed up into the table they'd been sitting at, placing at hand on it to steady herself as he took a leap of faith and closed the distance between them.

Her lips were open slightly in surprise but she leaned into the kiss, despite her hands frozen at her sides. James pulled away quickly and he felt his stomach rolling like he'd done a thousand barrel rolls on the quidditch pitch. Her eyes popped open and James saw she was turning red again, he knew it wasn't just him.

"James." She whispered, looking chagrined, "I don't—"

"Just something for you to consider." He offered, trying hard to not pull her even closer, as his hand still rested on the small of her back.

"We shouldn't consider it at all." She warned, but her hand, which had previously rested on the desk, was holding the hand James had cupped against her cheek.

"I'll be back after Easter Sunday," James ignored the panic stricken look in her eyes and leaned down to kiss her again.

This time, her shoulders relaxed and she moved her lips slowly against his, like she was testing herself. James' head was reeling with the satisfaction that Lily, his friend Lily, was kissing him back and clearly liked him just as much as he liked her. In fact, her fingers had found their way to the nape of his neck, burying into his hair and making his lips form more permanently against hers.

All too soon, she stepped back, blushing and twirling her hair around her finger like she always did when she was nervous.

"You don't want to be late meeting Professor McGonagall."

He grinned fiendishly at her, placing a kiss fervently on her temple and winking, "I'll miss you too."

"We'll talk when you get back from Easter." She confirmed, but she offered him a smile that made him hopeful.

James practically flew down to McGonagall's office and was so ecstatic that he hardly noticed when Professor McGonagall admonished them. He hardly noticed when she gave them a weeks worth of detention. He didn't even see Sirius sending him confused looks from beside Remus.

After they were dismissed from McGongall's to do their first night of detention with Filch (they had to clean his office without magic) Sirius cornered James.

"Why do you look like you've won the house cup?" Sirius demanded as Filch assigned each boy a corner of the filthy office.

James grinned, "I kissed Lily."

Sirius dropped the broom he was holding.

"You what?" his grey eyes were flashing, "is she okay?"

"I like to think I'm a decent snog." James said sarcastically.

Sirius punched his arm as Filch separated them into opposite corners. James started scrubbing, his head still filled with the taste and feel of Lily Evans. Sirius had other plans besides scrubbing endlessly.

"Why did you snog her?" Sirius demanded.

"Scrub, Black." Filch threatened from the doorway where he was standing guard.

"I am scrubbing!" Sirius snapped at Filch, taking his brush to the floor before snapping at James, "When did you decide kissing Lily was the next greatest idea in protecting her from purists?"

"Now hold on a minute." James stopped scrubbing and turned so he could glare at Sirius, "You're the one who kept telling me to go for it."

"I didn't mean it!" Sirius barked a laugh.

"Would the pair of you shut up," Remus muttered from where he was scrubbing, "we can worry about this after our detention."

"No," Sirius argued, "We can worry about it now."

"Sirius is right." Peter piped up from his corner, "Coeur will take one look at you both and—"

James scoffed, but could see where Sirius and Peter were coming from.

"It's not even official." James placated, "I told her to think about it."

Sirius snorted sardonically, "James mate, if there's one thing I know about you and Lily—it's that the pair of you are already being noticed by those purists and together you'll be too noticeable."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James countered, scrubbing at a particularly hard chicken stain.

"What Sirius is trying to say," Remus huffed from where he was scrubbing rather energetically, "is that you and Lily are amazing and we'll support you no matter what happens."

"That's not what I'm trying to say." Sirius snarled, "Shove off Remus and let me lecture James."

"Lecture me on what?"

"On the fact that Lily is the best thing that ever happened to us because she's changed all of us for the better," Sirius reminded James, "but I think you're forgetting the one person left in our life who hasn't been affected by her presence and who will be deeply affected if Lily and you take your relationship any farther than a few snogs in the moonlight."

"Who?" James asked, stopping his scrubbing and fixing his glasses so he could stare at Sirius.

"Your mother."

James had forgotten about his mother.

The next morning, James found himself wrapped up tightly in his mum's frail arms only seconds after stumbling out of the fireplace. James had only a second to see that every frame in their house was covered in a thick layer of smoke from the over tended fire and he mused she must have tried to do the fire herself again. And just a quickly as she grabbed on to him, she let go, and hit him with a rolling pin that she'd been holding.

"Mum!" James protested, holding his forehead in protest as Sirius stumbled out of the fireplace and James' mum wrapped her arms around Sirius similarly.

Sirius reached to hug James' mum back but before James could warn Sirius, the boy had taken as similar whack across the head. Sirius complained louder than James did and stared at their mum in disbelief.

"What was that for?" he whined, shaking his head so his hair flew in all directions.

"Chickens!" Mrs. Potter exploded with anger shaking from her every bony pore, "Chickens? In the Great Hall!"

Sirius and James exchanged a blameworthy look. Professor McGonagall had mentioned writing Mrs. Potter and clearly Professor McGonagall didn't waste any time.

"Come on mum," Sirius lamented melodramatically, "We were just messing ar—"

"No words from you are allowed Sirius," Mrs. Potter shook her rolling pin at Sirius who flinched back like a dog, "Especially not after they warned you that you could get expelled if you set even another toe out of line."

James jumped in to rescue Sirius when he saw Sirius' face fall with shame at Mrs. Potter's harsh words, "Mum, it was harmless. We just wanted to prove a point."

"What point could you possibly want to prove by chickens?" Mrs. Potter waddled away, waving the rolling pin in the air dramatically.

James and Sirius exchanged another look before following the old woman over to the counter and sinks where she and a house elf were busy making food. Dishes were piled up in the sink and Sirius and James—knowing the drill—quickly started cleaning them by hand. James' mum sat back down at the table she had likely been waiting for them at, a cup of tea steaming in an old teacup littered with an outdated flowery print.

"It was a joke," James answered, scrubbing old food off one plate that bore the same flowery print as the teacup.

"Hilarious too," Sirius commented from where he was scraping food into the bin, "Mum you should've seen the look on my brother's face when the chicken appeared in his gravy."

Mrs. Potter sighed deeply and James aware that she sounded tired, "You forget that parents are informed of any misdoings and I feel like I get a letter every week about one or the both of you. I do not want a single letter more. Do you both understand?"

"I thought we'd been rather good, honestly." Sirius said as he scrubbed beside James, "I haven't even tortured Snape for a week or two."

"We've just been in the wrong places at the wrong times, mum." James tried to console his mother, "And the purists have been—"

"James Potter." James' mum put down her cup of tea in horror, "I told you to watch out for them! And now you tell me that they're the reason you keep getting into fights and people keep falling off broomsticks?"

James and Sirius exchanged a look, not having known Mrs. Potter had heard about Lily's mishap on the quidditch pitch. James had decided not to tell his mum about Lily; at least not until he had time to talk with Lily who he hadn't seen since their kissing in the library.

"Mum," James complained, "these idiots have just been listening to stupid propaganda and are trying to label me as a blood traitor."

"Nonsense. We can't be blood traitors if we stay out of the war." Mrs. Potter's face was stone cold, "Besides, our history dates back to ancient India. Everyone knows that Potter is one of the oldest and most respected wizard family in the world."

Sirius chuckled and said softly, loud enough so James could hear, "not for long."

James nudged Sirius so hard; the dishes fell back into the sink and splashed dishwater everywhere, soaking the boys so they jumped back. Mrs. Potter sighed again and waved her wand, instantly drying their robes. James and Sirius sent thank you smiles to the old woman who sulked like a five year old left out of playing quidditch.

"What aren't you boys telling me?" she narrowed her hazel eyes, "You know, I heard—"

"Mum," James moaned, falling into the chair across from his mother, "You need to stop listening to pointless gossip."

Sirius continued washing beside the house elf, uncharacteristically quiet for once. Mrs. Potter fixed her hair ornament properly before grilling her two boys for information again.

"Is this about Remus Lupin, again?" Mrs. Potter snapped, "I know you aren't still sulking that I wouldn't give you the motor bike for Easter, Sirius." Her eyes swiveled to James, "unless this has something to with your sudden interest in being Head Boy."

Both boys stared dutifully in opposite directions and Mrs. Potter looked even more suspicious.

"You boys are getting stranger and stranger." She finally gave up, clapping her hands and standing up.

She smoothing down Sirius' rumpled robes and ruffled James' hair lovingly.

"I've prepared a cake for your birthday, James."

The house elf rushed to follow Mrs. Potter, on order. Sirius waited until heard the door to the bedroom down the hall had shut and then he turned on James.

"Why won't you just tell her?" Sirius probed, "it's so easy."

"Easy for you." James derided.

"What could go wrong?" Sirius wiped down a dish with the edge of his robes then mimicked James' voice, "Merlin mum, funny thing is I met this girl and she's probably going to become my girlfriend."

"Also—" James added with diction, "She's muggleborn, so there goes any hope of any safety left for our family."

Sirius put the plate down in the sink and glared at James, "this is no joke. Lily fancies you. You fancy Lily. The pair of you getting together is bound to happen and wouldn't you rather your poor mum get a hint first? You know she gossips with all the other Hogwarts mothers. She's bound to hear about her son the blood traitor eventually."

"Did you come for Easter to lecture me the entire time?"

"Yes." Sirius said truthfully before pausing and adding, "Also, I've missed your mums cooking."

James sighed and glanced out the window to see the small quidditch pitch in the back. It was a makeshift pitch James had set up after his mum had moved back into her family house when his dad died. At the cottage by the shore, James had once had miles of beach to practice.

"I'm going to go play some quidditch." James announced, standing up and shaking his shoulders, "Spring training, you know?"

"Yeah, I'd hate for anything more important to be going on than quidditch." Sirius swore softly, "Spring training my arse. You just don't want to argue with me anymore."

James could feel Sirius' eyes bore into the back of his head as he walked out without answering.

Later that night, after spending two hours just floating in the middle of the pitch and dinner with the family, James was sitting in his bed staring at the pictures on the wall. There were pictures of his mum's side of the family, over six hundred years of history pouring off the wall. James didn't know half the faces on the wall but he recognized the portrait of his parents and they were smiling and waving at him besides a painting of James' great-great uncle.

James knew his mum was worried about him; every move he made was on a giant chess set. James was supposed to graduate with an offer to fly in major league quidditch, settle down, and find a nice girl to carry on the Potter name. It was the plan he had settled for himself since he was a kid—and now those plans were changing.

James bit his lip and fell back into his pillows, coughing a bit.

There was a knock on his closed door.

"Come in." he announced, expecting Sirius.

Instead a body settled at his side and James' mum's hands caressed his face softly. James opened an eye and saw his mum's concerned face leaning over his. Her tan face was ceased with worry lines.

"What's going on at Hogwarts?" His mum whispered, running her fingers through James' hair, like she used to do when he was a kid and ill or scared.

James stared up at his mum with pursed lips and she sighed, lifting her hand from his hair and settling it into her lap. James knew he had to tell her and that Sirius was right.

"Don't freak out." He whispered.

She turned her hazel eyes onto his quickly, the panic evident in her face. James couldn't help but smile at her concern because she was such a mother. James sat up and grabbed his mum's hand, smoothing his face out. He didn't know how to start and he didn't know where he should end.

"You and dad told me you wouldn't arrange me a marriage." He started, feeling his mum go rigid, "And I'm so grateful for the both of you raising me under the ideals that a man should have free will—"

James' mum tore her fingers from his grasp and covered her half open lips in shock as James came clean.

"You met a girl." His mum whispered, half excitedly and half in horror.

"On the contrary, " James joked spiritlessly, "I've known this girl almost my entire life."

His mother scoffed, "If it's the absolute bore of a girl Lori, whose mum works in the Ministry, dear, I'm afraid we're—"

"Her name is Lily." James cut his mother off.

James' mother paused, her lips forming Lily's name, inaudibly. His mum worked around the name, like she'd heard it before.

"Lily." She was confused, "is she the bubbly blonde in quidditch? I've heard her name before—at a quidditch match." James' mum wrapped her hands into her robes, "Is she on your team—who is she?"

James fixed his glasses quickly and jumped on the silence to fill his mum in.

"She is at the quidditch matches."

"The blonde one you've brought home a few times?"

"No that's Anna Faith, my seeker." James grinned because he mum was so set on Anna, "Lily Evans is the quidditch commentator."

"Evans?" his mum paused at the last name, "Doesn't ring a bell."

"It wouldn't," James swallowed and bucked up his courage, "She's muggleborn."

"I see."

He couldn't read her face.

"Are you two serious?" she asked calmly.

"They're gonna get married." Sirius entered the room from where he'd been hiding in the doorway.

"Gee Sirius, come right on in." James snapped sarcastically as the aforementioned man fell into the bed beside his mum and brother.

Mrs. Potter blew out the air she'd been holding, "How serious is it, really?" she held a steady face, like she was making a plan.

James shrugged, unable to look at anything that wasn't the wall, "it's not official or anything…"

"Well that's worse." His mum smacked the back of his head, forcing James to look at her in surprise, "That allows rumors to start and fester, like a snake wound. Your association with her is enough for this new dark wizard to get a hint that the Potter's aren't going to join his political game."

Sirius licked his lips, "D you think his association with me is worse than his association with her?" he lifted his cool grey eyes to his family, "I don't want to—"

"Hush," Mrs. Potter put a hand on both her sons heads with care, "The Potter's have survived more than one political uproar. We will survive again."

"I'm not exactly a Potter." Sirius muttered uncomfortably.

"You are as much as I am." James said fiercely, glaring at Sirius.

Mrs. Potter confirmed James' loyalty with a firm head nod, "James is right Sirius, you have nothing to worry about. I still get a lovely card from your mum every Christmas."

"Yeah," Sirius snorted, "Don't you mean howler."

James' mum puckered her lips and hummed noncommittally, "Well, she never was a kind woman." When neither of the boys laughed she drew them bone up in a short-lived hug, "when do I get to meet her?"

James eyed his mum suspiciously, "Lily?"

"I don't get to meet an important person in my sons life?"

"She's not that important." James mumbled tactlessly.

Sirius saw right through James' embarrassment, "She'll be at the last quidditch match, mum."

Mrs. Potter smirked and resembled her son so much more in those few seconds, "Well then," she said, straightening the glasses on James' face as he looked down at his bed sheets in embarrassment, "I had better find my best robes."

"It's a quidditch match." James said lamely.

Mrs. Potter winked at Sirius; "I want to look my best when I meet my future daughter in law."

Sirius burst into laughter and fell back into James' pillows, his body hysterically shaking. James remained impassive and ignored them both.

Next time:

Spring Training (Part 2)

He dropped his pompous act and dropped his fork, only so that he could run his fingers through her hair and smile widely at her. The effect was ruined by his mouthful of food. She frowned.

"You're disgusting."

"I'm starving." James contradicted, "I haven't eaten anything since I got back from Easter."

"It's been a week." Lily said doubtfully.

"If you haven't noticed," James stuffed a whole boiled egg into his mouth, "I've been at the quidditch pitch from dawn until dusk." And then he smirked and nudged her, "But I know you have noticed my absence by the way you've been staring longingly at me in classes."

She threw a bit of bacon crisp at his face, hitting him squarely on his jaw.


You might have noticed that I had to split Spring Training into two chapters because the original chapter was fairly long and when I edited for story flow it got longer…SoooooOOoo technically you all are getting an extra chapter! Yay! Followed by the last chapter of course, Post Quidditch Depression.

****Disclaimer: no chickens were harmed in the making of this chapter.

***Although, I did have an omelet for breakfast