Chapter Eleven
McGonagall was shaking. Quite literally shaking. James and I stood in her office, waiting for our punishment to be dealt out.
"Such impertinent—food fight—never seen anything like this—" she muttered, pacing back and forth, wiping her head with a tartan handkerchief. "Potter, I understand, but Evans? Incomprehensible!"
"Well, that's mean," James muttered.
"What was that, Potter?" Our Head of House frankly was scary, as she whipped her head around to glare at James.
"Nothing, Professor," James said hastily. Good thing he didn't call her Minnie. Then we'd really be doomed, more than we already are. Is that possible?
"Evans, what were you thinking?" She finally uttered an intelligible sentence, looking at me with no anger, no wrath. Just disappointment. "I expected better of you!"
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall," I mumbled, ashamed of myself. What had gotten into me?
"And Potter!" She snapped, ignoring my apology. "You and Black is a common occurrence, but I never thought I'd live to see the day when you and Lily Evans stand in my office together!"
"But Sirius was being a prat—" James protested. McGonagall cut across him.
"About time, too!"
"Wha—?"
"Which reminds me, Slughorn owes me five Galleons!" she said gleefully. "As for you two, detention tomorrow night with Hagrid, ten o'clock sharp. Run along, now."
And then she swept out, still giggling to herself about 'showing Horace' and left us there, staring after her, mouths hanging open. Finally, James voiced the thought that has been screaming at my brain.
"What the bloody hell was that about?"
-xxx-
"You know, this isn't too bad of a punishment," James remarked as he lifted a fluffy niffler out of its cage. I sighed, trying to get a strand of hair out of my niffler's mouth.
"No you dunderhead, this is absolutely torturous," I said sarcastically. "Hasn't it occurred to you that McGonagall gave us a light punishment to begin with?"
He paused, giving the niffler ample time to stick its muzzle into his ear, apparently looking for earwax. "Really? Never thought of it like that before," He frowned and dropped the poor creature. I sighed again. For someone as intelligent as James, he could be awfully stupid at times.
"Hello, yer two," Hagrid beamed as came out of his hut. "I hear from Professor McGonagall of a certain food fight, eh?"
"It was fun!" James said defensively. Hagrid's grin grew wider.
"I bet it was," He winked at me. I blushed and turned to my niffler.
"These animals are cute, Hagrid," Such a smooth transition, huh?
"Yeah, they are, aren' they? So yer two were in the food fight together?" Hagrid pressed, having none of the business of changing the subject.
"There was only the two of us, Hagrid," James said. I cursed his cluelessness as Hagrid's eyes took on a keen gleam.
"Hmm," He mused. I glared at him. "Well anyway. What we're doin' tonigh' is just to comb their fur, nothing too hard. See, Professor Kettle likes them soft for his students. Ar' yeh taking Care of Magical Creatures this year?" He asked. We both shook our head.
"So we just use these combs?" I pointed to a few normal-looking brushes by the pumpkin patch.
"Yeah, and yeh just it do it like this," He demonstrated tugging it gently through the furry coat of James' niffler. "All righ' then, I'll leave yeh to it."
And hour and a half later, all fifty nifflers were neatly combed and back in their crates. It was quite enjoyable, actually, and the animals were very cooperative, though occasionally nipping us not so gently when we disturbed a sensitive spot.
"Yeh done?" Hagrid stuck his head through the window. "Come in for a cuppa?"
"No thanks Hagrid," I called, my eyes nearly drooping with exhaust; it was nearing midnight and the temperature was frigid. "Some other time, maybe."
He looked disappointed but otherwise waved cheerily as we trooped back to the castle. A huge yawn escaped me and I tripped over my own two feet.
"You're tired, aren't you," James observed.
"No, I'm nearly bursting with energy," I tried to make my voice snappy but it came out weak and blurred. My head dropped onto his shoulder and unsuccessfully I tried to keep my eyes open.
"Whatever, Lily," I could practically hear the roll of his eyes. "Here, let me carry you."
"No," I protested weakly. "I can walk."
"No you can't Lily, you're dead on your feet." He swung me up, just like how he had the night when he showed me the igloos. Automatically my arms found his neck and I let him carry me back to the castle, just like how my father used to carry me and Tuney when we were younger. I settled down and closed my eyes, relaxing my body. Just when I was about to dive fully into the blessed realms of sleep, James gently set me down. I held back a choice word and rubbed my eyes. We were at the foot of the girls' staircase.
"Oh damn," I moaned. "I don't want to face them."
"I doubt they'd be up at this time,"
"But I'll have to face them tomorrow."
"Lily, you can't hide from them forever, you know."
"Well duh! Of course I can't. That doesn't stop me from wishing, though, does it?"
"Forget it. I can't even win an argument with you when you're half-asleep."
"Mmm."
"Do you still not want to go up there?"
"Not at all."
"You're sure?"
"Yes." My mind was becoming terribly muddled and I could barely get out complete sentences.
"Okay. Wait here,"
"Where're you going?" I didn't want to wait by the dark stairs, where every shadow looked terribly sinister. Oh Merlin, I thought. I'm afraid of the dark.
"To get your stuff," He quietly Transfigured a ladder again and levitated it to the top of the stairs. I closed my eyes again and tried to breathe evenly while attempting to banish the images of rather disturbing things from my mind. Thankfully, James was pretty fast. He climbed down, clutching my bag with everything I need for class in there and Transfigured the ladder back into an armchair again.
"Did you wake anyone?"
"Oh please. I'm James Potter," He bragged.
"So you tripped over flat ground and unwittingly hit Mary on the face then kicked Marlene then head-butted Alice and fell on top of Dorcas?" I asked. He stuck out his tongue. "Wait, why did you get my stuff? Are we going anywhere?"
"Yes, Lily, we're about to embark on a dangerous journey to one of the Marauders' golden nuggets of information."
"Which is?"
"You'll see. Now, do you want me to carry you again?"
"I'm good."
We silently traipsed out the common room and left the Fat Lady grumbling behind us. He led the way up to the seventh floor and stopped at an extremely ugly carpet depicting several trolls trying to do ballet. "James, I swear if you dragged me all the way up here to kill my eyes—" I warned.
"Geez Lily, calm down!" He started pacing in front a stretch of blank wall, muttering to himself. That's it, I thought. He's lost it.
"Aha!" He cried as a door materialized from the blank wall. I stared. He grinned. "There you go, Lily. This is what I dragged you all the way up here for."
Hesitantly, I turned the handle and opened the door. And stared some more. Inside were two large, comfortable-looking four-posters and two bathrooms. It looked every bit as cozy as my dormitory, maybe even better.
"Wow James. I'm not sure if I ever have the right to call you a stupid prat again," I said, stepping onto the soft carpet.
"I didn't do this, it's the Room of Requirement," He said, dropping my bag at the foot of one bed.
"The what?"
"Room of Requirement," Then, upon seeing my blank expression, added rather haughtily, "You really need to be educated the Marauders' way, you know."
"So what's this Room of Requirement do?"
"It basically turns into anything you want it to turn into, all you need to do is walk three times past the wall and think really hard of what you need for it to take the shape of," James explained. From how fast the door had appeared, I had a feeling that this wasn't the first time he had used this room.
"This is brilliant," I breathed. "How'd you come across this?"
"I don't think it's my place to tell," James smirked. "If you really want to know, ask Sirius."
"I don't think I want to, if it involves Sirius," I muttered. "That bloke's nothing but trouble."
"Too true." James agreed. "Too true."