Diamond in the Rough

By: TheFifthCharmedOne

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Summary: "So let me get this straight. You stole a magic jewel from an Egyptian pyramid, didn't read anything about it, and now we're stuck in 1977?" Hermione asked. "Sounds about right." Fred nodded. "And here I thought I'd have a normal life after the war." She sighed. "Just great."

-X-X-X-

Chapter 11: Losing All Control

"I've got it." Sirius sat up, his eyes going wide. "I figured out why Marlene pretends to hate me!"

"O-Oh?" Peter stammered.

"She fancies me, the devious little wench! She's just been hiding it after...well..." he stopped, shame casting his features. "I've got to talk to her!" He jumped to his feet. "Wormy, cover me. If Prongs or Moony ask, I'm in detention."

"Got it." Peter replied, turning back to his reading, even though he didn't understand a word of it.

Sirius dashed out of the room, nearly ramming straight into James.

"Where's Padfoot off too?" he asked.

"Detention." Peter replied without looking up.

A confused look crossed James's features, but he shook it off and sat down on his bed, cracking his Transfiguration textbook so he could work on the essay due the next morning.

Before he got out of the stairwell, Sirius pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." he whispered, tapping the parchment with his wand. Hogwarts appeared before him, and he quickly found the pair of footsteps he was looking for. Marlene was out by the lake, alone.

Sirius closed the map and took the stairs two at a time. They needed to talk.

When he got outside, it had begun to drizzle. The skies were a dark grey, and the wind picked up the closer he got to Marlene.

"Marlene!" he howled over the approaching storm. "Marlene!" he put his hand on her shoulder, and she didn't even turn her head. "I'm so sorry." he ducked his head down. "I was such a git to you, and you didn't deserve it."

"You're damn right I didn't!" Lightning cracked as she whirled her head around, and Sirius noticed that tears were streaming down her face. "You stole something precious from me! I may have wanted it but that doesn't mean you get to just brush it off like it was nothing!"

"I'm sorry!" Marlene scoffed.

"Sure you are." she said bitterly. "Now. But in a few months or so, when another bint crosses your path wearing a skirt that's just a little under the legal limit, you'll be back to your same tricks. You never change."

"Maybe I would...if you would give me the chance."

She whirled to face him, and he grabbed the back of her head, forcing their lips together in a hot and messy kiss.

Fred didn't know what was worse - seeing the girl he loved kissing another bloke, or the fact that the bloke was his friend. It didn't matter whether it was on the cheek or on the lips, there still had to be some emotion there.

It took everything in him to walk away.

"Hermione." Remus said quietly, and the bushy-haired girl ducked her head. "He loves you."

"He doesn't." she shook her head. "I mean, how could he? I'm nothing like the girls he's dated before, I'm not..." she sighed and yanked a hand through her mangy locks. "Pretty enough."

Fred stopped where he was walking on the stairs. Is that really what she thought? That she wasn't pretty enough for him? Did she think he was that shallow?

Hell no. He turned around and went back down the stairs. Anger flared inside him and he confronted the couple.

"Is that really what you think?" Remus and Hermione jumped and looked up to face Fred, who seemed more livid than Hermione had ever seen him. "Merlin's sweaty ballsack, Hermione! I told you I love you and you still think that of me?!" Remus took this moment to leave, and Hermione stared at Fred.

"You...you weren't supposed to hear that. I was talking to Remus - in-in confidence!"

"Lot of bloody confidence in the common room!" Fred raged. "How could you think that I'm that shallow, that easily pleased?"

"History speaks for itself." Hermione replied, referencing his girlfriends in the future, namely, Angelina Johnson, who was a friend of the family now but anyone could see she still fancied Fred.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fred knew he was going into dangerous territory - if he spoke much more, his foot would be so far into his mouth that he'd be making Ron jealous.

"It means that I can't love you until I feel like I trust you!" She was talking about the need to love each other for the stone to show itself, but Fred interpreted it in an entirely different way. To him, she was saying that she couldn't love him at all, because if she didn't trust him by now, she never would.

"You don't trust me?" His anger vanished, and he suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"I didn't say that." Hermione struggled to say the right thing. "I...It's complicated."

"What's complicated?" Fred approached her, and her breath caught. He brought his hand up to the side of her face, and Hermione was acutely aware of how alone they were in the common room. It was as though every Gryffindor had decided to be somewhere else. "Tell me. What's complicated?"

"Everything!" she pinwheeled her arms, throwing his hand away from her face. "In case it escaped your notice, we're stuck in a time period that is twenty years prior to our own, we have no way to how to get home, we're fighting feelings a-and emotions that weren't there in our time and-"

"Are you sure they weren't there?" he said quietly. "Or just never noticed?"

"I-" she paused. In their time, it had always been a guarantee that she would be with Ron. The girl of the group had to end up with her best friend, right? Since she had no romantic interest in Harry whatsoever, it had to be Ron. Ron made sense, and even though she had only loved him in theory, she would have learned to love him for real because she knew it was the way it was supposed to be.

"I'll give you some time to think, but I'm not giving up." he told her, and he walked away, disappearing up the stairs. Hermione ran a hand through her hair and sat down on the sofa, covering her face with her hands. How could this have happened? Had Fred been hiding feelings for her, all this time, and never said it to anyone? Was he trying to be a good brother, and help Ron get the girl?

Hermione sat back. She thought about everything - from the time she met Ron and Harry, and by extension the Weasley family, until now, when she was faced with one of the worst conundrums she had ever encountered.

Love.

"So, what are we going to do about the Mudblood?" James stiffened as he made his rounds through the dungeons. He slipped behind a corner and saw that a group of five seventh-year Slytherins were making their way around the bend by the light of one's wand.

"I just know that the Dark Lord wants her dead, and everyone who associates with her."

"So, Potter, too?" one asked eagerly.

"Yes. He's a blood traitor, he doesn't deserve to live."

James had heard enough. They were plotting to hurt Lily, himself, and possibly his friends. He couldn't let that happen.

"Excuse me gentlemen," James walked out of his hiding place. "I believe that plotting against other students is against school rules, and I'm going to have to remove fifty points from Slytherin for it."

"Potter!" they hissed, and James cautiously grabbed his wand.

"You have no proof we plotted against anyone." one said, and James recognized him as Macnair. "Other than what you think you heard."

"I know what I heard, you sniveling bastards." James growled. "Don't think I won't go to Dumbledore about it either."

"The stag is a rat, how cute." James noticed Severus Snape approaching the group, and a new wave of loathing left his body. This prat had made Lily cry - and he was defending the ones who dared call her that name!

"I'm Head Boy, I have the authority to do whatever I want." James said.

"Are we supposed to be scared of this big-headed Head Boy?" one snickered. "It's no wonder your pathetic attempts to woo the Mudblood haven't worked - you're too arrogant to see past your own misgivings."

"Shut up." James growled, his grip on his wand tightening.

"Make us." they spoke as a collective, and with Snape there, it was six against one.

"James!" Lily's voice said, and he whirled. A Slytherin fired a curse at his back, and he fell to her feet. "No!"

"His proper place is at your feet, isn't it, Mudblood? That's where he spends his time anyway."

"Shut up!" Lily cried, not even looking at Snape. She knelt beside James, who groaned. She saw his back was bleeding rather profusely, and rage filled her to the brim. "You bastards." she swore, taking out her wand. "Sixty points from Slytherin for cursing another student!"

"You think we care about point deductions or detentions?" they crowed. "It'll all be meaningless once we leave this pathetic school for greater things."

"You mean serving Voldemort?" Lily snarled. "Which is exactly what you'll be doing - he probably told you you'd be by his side, a trusted member of his cult - which is wrong. You'll be a lowly servant, no matter what your blood status is."

"You don't know anything."

"Oh yeah?" Lily fired a hex, which threw one of them to the ground. And another, which threw Macnair against the wall. She hexed and cursed all of them, until she came to Snape. With a withering glare, she cursed at him too, though he deflected the less-powerful spell. He disappeared, and Lily knelt beside James once again.

"Come on, James. We've got to get you to the hospital wing." She tried to help him get up but he was heavier than she could lift.

"Lily? James!" Sirius appeared, and immediately helped Lily get James to his feet. "Prongs, what happened to you?"

"Slytherins." he said. "Could have used your help a bit earlier, Padfoot." he coughed weakly, the bleeding in his back getting worse. "Lily took care of all six of them."

"You did?" Sirius addressed Lily, who was watching James with frightened eyes.

"I did what I had to do. If I get a detention, it'd be worth it."

"Who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?" If James weren't between them, Lily would have smacked him for that comment.

"Come on. We have to get him to Madam Pomfrey."

It is never advisable to wake someone at eleven o'clock at night, especially not the Head Nurse. However, when she saw James's condition, she was willing to make an exception.

"How did this happen?" she wanted to know, levitating James's weak body to a nearby bed.

"Fight with Slytherins, Madam Pomfrey." Lily replied. "We need to go to Dumbledore about this."

"No need. I'm already here." A soft, wizened voice spoke from the doorway. Professor McGonagall stood beside him, a stern look on her face. "Miss Evans, it is my understanding that you dueled six Slytherins in the halls, even though it is expressly forbidden?"

Lily's head fell in shame. Sirius leapt to her defense.

"No disrespect, Professor Dumbledore, but Lily was defending James - because as you can see, he was cursed - and it was either fight or join him and wait for someone to find them."

Dumbledore seemed to take this into consideration.

"What do you believe is the proper course of action, Minerva?" he said to the Gryffindor Head of House.

"Normally it would be point reduction and detention," she replied crisply, and Lily's head went down further. "However, considering the abnormality of the situation, I'm willing to be lenient. Twenty points from Gryffindor for the dueling, however you won't be punished too severely because you were defending another student."

"I removed points from the Slytherins as well, and I'm sure James did too."

"How many did you remove?"

"Sixty."

"Do you know about Mr. Potter?"

"No." Lily looked back at the boy on the bed. Madam Pomfrey had removed his shirt and was putting dittany root in the gash in the center of his spine. "They cursed him when I got there, so I didn't hear what happened before then."

"I'll have a conversation with Horace and see what can be done." McGonagall said, and Dumbledore nodded. "In the meantime, you two should return to your dormitory. You've done all that you can for now, leave him in Madam Pomfrey's capable hands."

"But..." Lily but her lip. She didn't want to leave him.

"I understand you care for him, Miss Evans, but there is nothing you can do now. Return to Gryffindor Tower at once."

"All right," she agreed, and she and Sirius left the hospital wing.

"So, did anything happen between you and Marlene?"

"I think so. I talked to her earlier, and-" Sirius stopped. "Why do you want to know?"

"She's my friend, Sirius." Lily replied with an eyeroll. "I'm not going to run to Emmeline about it." Sirius's tense shoulders relaxed.

"I know, it's just that the attack on Prongs-" Lily visibly deflated and sat down on the sixth floor landing. The staircase they had just been traversing moved to another landing before she spoke. "I guess I'm just on edge."

"It's actually real, isn't it?" she bit her lip. "The war."

"Yeah." Sirius sat down beside her. "What you did - to protect James - was bloody brilliant, by the way."

"Like I said, I did what I had too."

"It was still brilliant. You took on six Slytherins without even blinking. That takes some real Gryffindor courage."

"Well, I had to have some, didn't I?" she asked with a light chuckle. "Do you think he'll be all right?"

"Prongs?" Lily nodded. "Yeah - we've been in tougher scrapes before."

"Do I even want to know?" Sirius shook his head. "I thought not." she stood. "We should go to bed, before McGonagall catches us."

"For once, you and I agree, Evans." Sirius winked. They continued up the stairs to the Gryffindor dormitory, where Sirius told the Fat Lady the password, and Lily went to the Head Dorm.

When Lily arrived in the common area, she saw that James's Quidditch robe was draped over the back of the scarlet red sofa. She sighed - how many times had she asked him to keep his things in his room?

She was all set to take it and put it where it belonged when it occurred to her that this was James's. It belonged to him - it was probably one of his most prized possessions.

She cautiously raised it to her face - it even smelled like him. Spicy, earthy, and just that intoxicating scent of boy that made her knees weak.

Unsure of what possessed her to do so, she slid the smooth, airy fabric over her shoulders. Smiling to herself, she felt that it brought her closer to James while he was recovering.

"Why in the seven hells didn't you tell me?!" Marlene demanded of Lily the next morning.

"It happened right at midnight!" she defended. "I wasn't going to wake you up just to worry you!"

"It wouldn't have mattered! He's practically family, Lily!"

"Don't put too much blame on her, none of us knew." Hermione stepped in, acting as the mediator. Marlene sighed.

"Fine then." she looked at Sirius, and he grinned hesitantly at her. "You're coming with me."

"I was going to go anyway." he stood, but not before grabbing a piece of toast. "Lead the way."

Before noon, the entire school knew about what had happened to James. Admirers lined up the door to the hospital wing, and when Lily got there after class, she scoffed at the way the hopeful girls crowded around the door.

"I'm not waiting in line to see my fellow Head." Lily ignored the disgruntled cries of her female classmates and entered the hospital wing. James was awake and sitting up, and his face brightened when he saw her.

"You've got a line of admirers a mile long." she told him, and he shook his head.

"Is that jealousy I hear, Lily?" he teased.

"No. Disdain at the pathetic girls out there who have nothing better to do than worship the ground you walk on."

"Typical Lily," he smiled. Her stomach turned, and she felt vaguely faint. His smile disappeared, and Lily looked down awkwardly. "I know what you did." For a split second, she thought he knew about his Quidditch robe, but then dismissed it as ludicrous. "You saved me from those bastard Slytherins."

Oh. That.

"I don't know why everyone thinks it was so incredible." Lily shrugged. "I was defending my fellow Head, fellow Gryffindor, and someone I might consider a friend."

"Is that we are then? Friends?" he tested the word, as though it were new to him.

"That's what you told Zonko." Lily remembered.

"True." James agreed. "But, as you know, I've always wanted more." Here we go. She thought in irritation. "I'm leaving it up to you. You can decide whether you want me as your friend or...something more. I'm not going to chase you anymore - I'll save the chasing for Quidditch."

Moistening her lips, she nodded. "Good."

Feeling that she had nothing more to add to the conversation, Lily left, continuing to ignore the girls outside the hospital wing.

When Lily returned to her dormitory, James's robe was draped on her bed, right where she'd left it that morning. It was slightly wrinkled - she had slept in it, after all - but you could see the number seven and his name clearly.

Gnawing on her lips, she slid the robe on again, knowing it was wrong, but unable to stop herself. Wearing James's clothes made her feel safe, warm, and protected. She laid back on her bed and stared out of the window. The panes were still wet from the recent storm, but outside it was clear. Perfect Quidditch weather, if not a little chilly.

"I'm leaving it up to you." Those words hung in the air, in her mind, and especially in her heart. For the first time, he was really giving her a choice about where their relationship could or would go. Sure, they had become closer over the course of the year, but he'd never left their position so open-ended. It always had a start (usually with a pick-up line) and an end (always a rejection). Now, though, it was really her call.

If she were being completely honest with herself, she'd say that she rather liked the idea of being in a relationship with James. He had proven himself more than once to be a devoted, strong friend, a sweet, kind person with a little bit of an edge, and all around a great guy. Perhaps Marlene had been right all those times. Lily wished she had listened.

"Lily! Lily! You've got to come to the hospital wing!" Emmeline grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her toward the Grand Staircase.

"Why? Emmy, what's going on?"

"Just come!" Emmeline's eyes were wide and scared. They ran up the stairs.

When they got there, they found Fred, Hermione, Sirius, Marlene, and Remus all a somewhat safe distance from James's bed. James was holding a piece of parchment that looked official. His eyes were wide from shock.

Lily wanted to ask what was happening, but she feared breaking the tense silence.

"My parents..." James said hoarsely. "They're dead."

A/N: And there is your chapter, folks! Now, before you kill me, I have a lot more planned for the next few chapters! Based on my ideas, the story will probably have about 18-20 chapters. I'll have to see what drama I can add next.

Hope you enjoyed! Please review!

-Charmy