Chapter Twelve:
Eyes of Emerald
They were almost there. Just as the Marauders reached the Entrance Hall the doors swung open. Lily Evans stomped in, her face red with fury. She slammed the door and sunk to the ground. James began to walk over to her (despite Remus and Hermione both saying that now was not a good time to ask Lily out) very quietly. Lily looked up just as James reached the bottom of the stairwell. "Potter…" she started off but then stopped herself, "James, what do you do when I reject you?"
James looked delighted at the fact that Lily had not called him Potter. She had called him James! Today had to be one of the best days in the world, besides that Harry could be dying a numerous number of painful deaths at the hands of the Slytherins. "I go cry in a corner and mope around the rest of the day. I then have no motivation to do anything at all. Everything seems so dark and gloomy…" he rushed, eager that Lily wanted to talk to him about something that was not chastising him.
"Oh," moaned Lily while placing her head in her hands. James walked over and sat down at the side of Lily.
"What's the matter, Lily?" asked James.
"The boy I liked called me by his ex-girlfriends name," sighed Lily. James looked exalted. Somebody else who walked through the door felt the same way as well. Severus Snape had walked through the door as Lily said this. 'She had liked him,' Snape thought. 'Had! Not any…'
BANG!!!!!!!!!! He walked straight into the wall and fell over unconscious. The Marauders, Ron, and Hermione looked over the banister and saw Snape hit the ground. James and Lily looked up very shocked. "Should we just leave him there?" questioned Ron. Sirius gaped at him and was about to answer, but Remus got there first.
"Of course we leave him there!" exclaimed Remus. Everybody looked at Remus as if he were crazy. "We're the Marauders! And it was his fault. He looked extremely distracted."
"Let's go find Harry," said Hermione quietly to the Marauders.
OoO
It was getting really cold outside. Harry felt as if he were going to freeze to death. He should have brought his Weasley sweater…
"Harry!" shouted Sirius, "Are you alright?" Harry looked up. He had never, ever, ever been so happy to see his friends. Right now, he was reminded of the Sirius he knew; the not as crazy solemn adult Sirius. He had always wanted to meet his godfather in his youth, and now he discovered he had always known him in a way.
"I'm fine," he said, "In fact, I'm loads better than before."
"Uh, earth to Harry," Ron pointed out. "You were just kidnapped by Slytherins and thrown off the Astronomy Tower."
"No, Ron," laughed Harry, "One of my legs grew back." Hermione appeared delighted.
"That's fantastic, Harry," squealed Hermione.
"Come on," said Remus helping Harry to his feet. "We need to get you a crutch or something. Besides, we should probably rescue Lily from James." This was a unanimous decision.
"By the way," asked Harry, "did anyone see Snape go in?"
"Yeah, he ran into a wall. Poor chap," answered Ron.
"Don't you ever say that about Snivellus again. He's a stupid bat chap. Never pity him again," Sirius stated. "Ever."
OoO
Surprisingly, James and Lily were only sharing a mild chat when the Marauders, Harry, Ron, and Hermione got back.
"I always go and talk to Madam Rosmerta when I'm feeling down about you. She gives me free Butterbeers, and she really understands," said James. Lily had a bit of a pained smile on her face.
"I've been really awful, right?" Lily said shaking her head. "Could you ever forgive me, James?" James looked ecstatic.
"Of course I can, Lily! It's awful when someone hates you," James stated matter-of-factly. "But it makes it all worth the while when you forgive each other in the end." Lily smiled. James thought her eyes looked gorgeous like sparkly jewels. (AN: We know. This is very cheesy and mushy. But we have to add a little bit. Yuck.)
"Do you realize that you have been calling me James this whole conversation?" he questioned Lily.
"Yeah," she responded. "I guess you are not so bad. Can we be friends?" If James was not talking to Lily he would have fainted.
"Of…of course!" he stuttered breaking back into reality. Lily helped him to his feet.
"Thanks for listening to me, James," she said. "I'll see you at dinner." James could not have been more excited. The Marauders felt now was a good time to interfere.
"Hey, Dreamer," Sirius called to James waving his hands in front of James's face. "Wake up! We found your so—Harry." Remus had kicked Sirius when he almost revealed Harry's secret. Now would not be a good time.
"Harry!" James shouted with glee. "You're back and you're not dead! Lily doesn't hate me any more! And your legs grew back! This is the best day ever!!!!"
Harry looked down and saw his other leg had really grown back. James was right. That was a nice surprise. Then something hit him hard. He, Ron, and Hermione needed to go back home. The wizarding world needed them more than they needed magic. He had a job to do. It was time to go home, but he would miss everyone here, especially the ones he would never see again. Harry turned to the authors very angrily and wondered why the freaking heck he had to go back home in a state of depression.
The authors told him that he had to go back home for three extremely good reasons. First of all, the readers would want him to go home. Second, JKR gave him a job to do, so he should mail all complaints to her. Third, if he didn't go back, everyone in the future would probably come get him in a very angry mob. He did not want to face an angry Molly Weasley or McGonagall.
"I think that we need to be getting back home," Harry stated after the two longest paragraphs in this story. Hermione nodded and Ron shook his head in agreement. James looked sad.
"Really? You guys only just got here practically. Why?" James spluttered. Remus's eyes were sad and Sirius looked as if he had been hit in the face with a pie.
"We're really sorry," Hermione said, "but we have a job to do." James, Sirius, and Remus looked really confused. "It's hard to explain."
"Do you want to go say goodbye to everyone?" asked Remus. Harry thought this would be a good idea.
"Well, I guess…goodbye, guys. It was nice seeing you…again." James gave Harry a pat on the back.
"See ya, mate," he said. He was staring at the green emerald eyes that he never noticed Harry had before. The ones that look exactly like Lily's. "Hey, you've got Lily's eyes!" His own eyes widened in realization. "Wait a second!" Harry nodded and looked up to James.
"Hey, Dad," Harry muttered awkwardly, trying to keep himself from smiling.
"Man, and I thought this whole time that you were my cousin!!" James exclaimed wildly. If possible, his eyes widened even more. "But that means…" Harry looked over to Lily, who was walking away from the scene.
"There goes Mum," said Harry. "She kinda doesn't like me right now…" James made a grossed-out face.
"Ick. But at least I definitely know there's hope for me and Lily!" Harry exchanged farewells with the others, revealing bits and pieces of their own futures. Sirius was his godfather. "Sweet!" (That was Sirius.) Lupin got a girlfriend. "Told you so!" (That was Sirius and James, while laughing.) Harry couldn't help but feel that he had forgotten to tell them something as Hermione once again twisted the Timeturner. They started to cross the dimensions as Harry suddenly remembered what it was he wanted to tell them. "Oh! Dad! Don't trust Peter!" And they were out of sight.
Peter casually walked into the room from the dungeon entrance, carrying a few sweets. "What's up, guys?" Everyone stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What'd I do?" Sirius gave him a death glare and muttered one word:
"Robin…"
