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—Year I; Part I: Weighty Thoughts—
A week into the Hogwarts term found Kagome at the top of the Astronomy Tower.
Her eyes fluttered shut; memories flitted through her mind, replaying like an internal movie. It was a surreal feeling, the deja vu of being back to a place she had never once been before. Suspense thrummed inside her veins for no apparent reason, her nerves and senses buzzing before it passed.
Straying away from one particular edge of the tower out of instinct - chills ran down her spine by merely glancing at it - she headed to the opposite side, fingers trailing against the railing as she slowly walked, before taking a seat at the edge, legs hanging over precariously.
It was just before noon on a Saturday, and she took the time to sneak away from her brother and Sirius to stare out into the open horizon that Hogwarts had to offer.
'I need to figure out what to do...' Kagome thought seriously. 'Seven years wasted by doing practically nothing. If I'm not careful, I can end up losing what I've come to care for so dearly...'
She clenched her eyes tightly, taking in a deep breath. In her hands she held the fate of so many... her decisions could mean life and death for many — the difference in ending a war and merely postponing it, letting history repeat itself into a future full of despair and destruction and loss and heartache.
Cold doused her insides, a chill running through her spine as a terrifying image flashed through her mind.
A body, lying pale and unnaturally still in an even more unnatural position, obstructing the way into a hall. Male; adult; head facing up; usually messy black hair tossed listlessly. Face left in a frozen expression of mixed fear and determination. Dull hazel eyes stared blankly into the ceiling behind a pair of crooked spectacles.
Kagome shuddered at the conjured image of her brother's dead body — an image that will become very real in the next ten years.
That is, if she didn't do anything about it — if she didn't change the future enough to stop it...
'That hat was right... a plan worthy of a Slytherin and it will take a Slytherin type of handle to do this...' she mused silently. 'If I change too much, then who knows what would happen. But I have to change something...'
Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on what she knew. She may be only eleven, she may not be powerful or skilled enough to actively do anything of significance just yet, but what she could do was prepare. She could plan.
She could prevent the injustices, both small and large, that befell those that played a major role in the development of the future, and which ultimately led them to make the choices and decisions they made.
'So far from what I can pick out from Harry's memories, Severus will eventually become a Death Eater, but will turn traitor and spy for that Order — the Order of the Phoenix...'
'Harry was born in 1980... James and Lily...' her heart broke just thinking about it... 'They died a little over a year after that.'
'I have Harry's wand — as well as some of his abilities — which only mean that I'll need them for whatever reason to defeat this Voldemort guy.'
Her eyebrows furrowed; she knew she was missing something - something incredibly important. But what?
Shaking her head, she moved on.
The image of Peter's young face came to existence, and Kagome's fists instinctively clenched.
'And you...' she thought darkly, before taking a deep calming breath. 'My first instinct is to keep you fifty feet away from my brother at all times, but...' she trailed off, forcing herself to relax her fists. 'I know I can't do that. That's Harry's memories — his feelings - that I'm picking up on. To do this right, I need to be objective... I can't just pick and choose who to save and who not to...'
She sighed, getting up. What she knew so far wasn't very much to go on, but it was something, and she knew where to start. Besides, James might be looking for her by now...
'And as much as a part of me loathes admitting it — Peter Pettigrew... you can be saved. Right now — all you are is a shy, scared little kid, and who am I to damn you?'
As she left, one thought trailed in her mind.
'Nothing is set into stone — not anymore.'
One thing was for sure — the day Peter Pettigrew secretly switched loyalties was the turning point — the catalyst cementing her brother's and future sister-in-law's deaths and the events leading to the Second Wizarding War.
What better way to prevent their deaths than to prevent the hand that gave them over on a silver platter?
—o—o—o—o—
At Hogwarts, green and maroon were not colors usually seen mingled together unless there were either screams or hexes involved — usually the latter.
Therefore, the sight of a Slytherin and a Gryffindor not only walking side by side without any hostility, but instead actually conversing and laughing, was not a very common one.
It drew stares — ranging from distasteful, suspicious, and downright skeptical.
But the two first-years didn't care — they weren't about to throw away such a long-term friendship for a couple of labels and unofficial rivalry and rules they knew next to nothing about.
At least, for now.
It made sense, as here they were in a new environment surrounded by strangers. At least here they knew each other, had each other — could depend on each other.
"Why do they all have to stare?" came the question in a hushed whisper. "Don't they have lives or something...?"
A dark haired boy looked over, responding to his redheaded companion with a dry snort. "Obviously not..." he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Just ignore them, Lily — they'll get it over it soon enough."
Lily huffed in irritation, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "It's gonna get annoying quick though, Sev," she muttered petulantly.
Severus' lips twitched but only shook his head in silent amusement.
Lily opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a stream of loud yelps and stomping footsteps behind them.
"Get back here you little gits!" demanded a half-annoyed, half-amused voice.
"You'll never take us alive!" another shouted response, laughing.
"Catch us if you ca-an!" sung another, also laughing.
Lily went to turn, but a force rushed between her and Severus, and an indignant sound of shock spilled from her mouth. It missed hitting her, but Severus wasn't so lucky.
The books Severus was holding slipped from his hands as he stumbled back, trying to keep his balance.
Lily whirled on the two blurs, only for her eyes to narrow harshly at two Gryffindor first-years. Her stare turned into a fierce glare as a certain bespectacled boy looked back, and saluted her cheekily while the other boy, with curly black hair, snickered at her best friend.
"Prats!" she shouted after them angrily. "You could apologize!"
Whether they heard her or not, she couldn't tell as they kept on running.
Lily's lip curled in disgust and she turned to help Severus.
"I agree," a voice said from behind her, exasperated from the sound of it. "My apologies for their rudeness — though, I was chasing them, so I guess it's mostly my fault. I'm sorry."
Lily looked over to see Kagome Potter behind her, smiling apologetically at them. She blinked blankly.
Kagome's smile turned sheepish, and then she glanced down to see Severus gathering up his books. "Ah, let me help you with that," she muttered in embarrassment. "Least I can do..."
Severus froze, looking at her. He blinked, before his eyes hardened. "I got it," he said curtly. "Shouldn't you be running after your brother and his friend?" he drawled sarcastically.
Lily sucked in a quick breath. "Sev," she hissed out in an admonishing whisper, "she's only trying to help. Excuse his rudeness, he doesn't get out much," she muttered to Kagome, her warm eyes taking the sting out of her statement.
Severus had the decency to look chided. "Bossy chit," he muttered dryly, his own dark eyes equally warm.
Lily stuck out her tongue in response.
Kagome grinned, and stood, tucking the books to her side as she held her hand out for Severus to take.
He stared at the offered hand hesitantly, before grudgingly taking it. "Thanks," he muttered as Kagome turned to help Lily next.
Kagome only smiled at him, unfazed. "Of course," she said warmly, handing over his books. "Kagome Potter," she introduced sweetly.
The way Severus' lips curled at her surname was a complete reflex, and a completely justified one if Severus was asked personally, but Lily elbowed him non-too-gently nonetheless. "Severus Snape," he wheezed out, glaring at Lily first, and then Kagome when the girl bit her lip to stop from snickering.
Kagome just shook her head in amusement. "Well, I best be off. I have a couple of gits to get back for charming my quills to move in my bag. Thought they were snakes or something — scared me so bad I-" she stopped suddenly, coughing in embarrassment as red crept up her face. "Well, I'd rather not repeat it," she muttered under her breath, twitching when Severus smirked.
"Well, then, by all means Potter," he drawled out, stepping to the side and gesturing down the hall. "Wouldn't want them to miss that."
Now Kagome smirked impishly and nodded. "See you around Snape, Lily," she said, breaking into sprint down the hall to catch up to the pair of hooligans known as James and Sirius.
They watched as she left, and Lily turned to Severus, smiling knowingly as she took in his smirk. "See, told ya she was nice," she chirped cheekily.
Severus held in a groan, shutting his eyes in exasperation. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered under his breath. "Let's just get to the bloody library, alright?" he grumbled, a hint of a plea evident as he started down the hall without her.
He groaned out loud at Lily's snickers sounded out behind him.
—o—o—o—o—
"No, put it over here," someone hissed.
"Where?" exclaimed an exasperated voice. "I can't bloody see!"
"Over here! Just follow my voice."
"Alright — alright! Easier said than done," the person huffed. "Patience is obviously not your virtue," came a dry mutter.
Snort. "Too true," another voice, female, put in wryly.
"Now where are you — ow! Merlin's balls!" the other swore under his breath.
"Ack, Sirius! That was my foot!" the female groaned.
"Sorry!" he said hurriedly, though one could tell he didn't really mean it, though not in an unkind way.
"Lumos!" another boy muttered in exasperation.
Two pairs of indignant eyes turned to stare at him. "If you could've done that all along why didn't you do it sooner?" Kagome hissed. "You know, before my foot was trampled on!" She shot Sirius a rankled stare here.
Sirius coughed sheepishly, and looked away.
James snorted. "Because we're trying to be sneaky!"
Sirius and Kagome shared blank looks. "Then why did you do it?" his sister shot back.
James stuck his tongue out at her. "Well, obviously, because it wasn't working," he pointed out bluntly.
Kagome glared at him, turning it on Sirius when the other boy shrugged. "Well, he is right..." he admitted sheepish.
Kagome glared at them a moment longer, before her shoulders sagged and she sighed. "Next time, we're planning it out," she muttered, pouting.
No one argued with her there.
—o—o—o—o—
The next day, History of Magic was canceled in the event that the room was suspiciously filled with the horrendous smell of dungbombs.
Granted, it took fifteen minutes and a poor Hufflepuff first year running out in tears, eyes burning from the horrible smell, for the ghostly professor who couldn't smell anything to let them out early.
No one could miss the lengthy, vocal retch from the poor girl as she tore out of there.
A certain trio was glad to have their history lesson cut short.
What they weren't particularly happy about was the hour long shower it took to remove the smell.
But hey, it was a double lesson of History, so, it worked out in the end... sorta...
After they managed to remove the smell and wasted an hour doing whatever, they were making their way to Charms. Just as they turned a corner, James looked up and spotted a certain red-head Gryffindor walking ahead of them.
Not knowing what came over him, he gave into the urge to approach her. "I'll be right back," he told his sister and Sirius, speeding up to catch up to the redhead in front of him. "Hi," he said brightly, tapping on her shoulder.
There was a smile on Lily's face as she turned, which promptly turned into a frown when she saw who it was. "What do you want?" she said warily, eyes narrowing.
Faltering a little at her mood, James ran a hand through his hair sheepishly — a habit of his when things became awkward. "Well, I just thought we got off on the wrong foot and..."
"Excuse me?" she interjected, disbelief coating her tone. "Insulting my friends was your idea of the right foot?" she wondered sarcastically.
James' eyes widened, and he swallowed a bit thickly. "Well, no, but-"
Kagome and Sirius shared wide-eyed looks.
"Mocking people? Playing pranks? Disrupting classes?" Lily listed off sharply, emerald eyes. "First potions the other week, now this morning — and don't you dare deny it!" she exclaimed sharply when he opened her mouth to do just that. "The whole thing reeked of you," Lily continued, crossing her arms and huffing.
Kagome couldn't help herself, and neither could Sirius it seemed, as they both snickered at the irony.
Lily sidled them with a sharp look, and they just knew she knew James wasn't alone in the prank.
Kagome had the decency to look properly abashed; Sirius however only smirked smugly, which only deepened Lily's scowl.
However, it seemed her sights were on James only. "Looks like you have a lush for attention," she went on, drawling.
James gaped at her, taken aback. "No — that's not-"
Lily rolled her eyes. "And it also seems to me you have the comings of a bully," she sniffed. "Poor Sarah. She was terribly embarrassed," Lily murmured, meaning the girl who had ran out in tears.
James sputtered at being called a bully. "Now wait a minute!" he exclaimed, becoming frustrated from getting cut off repeatedly. "If you would just let me explain!"
Lily didn't. "Don't bother making an excuse for it all — I wouldn't believe you anyways."
James stared at her incredulously, snorting in disbelief. "How can I when you won't even let me finish talking?" he exclaimed wildly, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
Probably not the best choice of words...
Lily merely scoffed. "You see?" she muttered, proving her point. "Just leave me alone. We may be Housemates but that doesn't make us friends," she said with scorn.
And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked away.
James was still gaping after her when Sirius and Kagome approached warily.
"That went lovely," Sirius muttered dryly, eyebrows raised.
Kagome snorted. That was an understatement.
"Well," Sirius said awkwardly when James didn't response. "Can't be friends with everyone now, can we?
Finally, James screwed up his face while he resumed walking to Charms. "I dunno..." he mused thoughtfully. "Either I'm beginning to hate her... or really like her..."
While Sirius stared at him incredulously, Kagome had to hide a smile.
Aah, the blossoms of young love...
Oh, she had a feeling she was going to enjoy watching this relationship.
She had a feeling it would prove as amusing as Sango and Miroku's.
—o—o—o—o—
If one desired to kick back and relax, it was known that the Gryffindor Common Room was one of the best places to do it in — it practically encouraged it.
It emanated an atmosphere that was made for such a thing; calm, laid-back, oozing with comfort with its worn but big and oh so comfy red sofas and chairs that just beckoned to be sat in. The soft cackling from the fireplace acted as relaxing white noise.
Scattered clusters of students and friends dotted the room. To one corner, two fifth years were playing a pretty intense game of chess, as they stared down the pieces of their opponents surrounded by other fellow Gryffindors watching with interest.
At one end of the Common Room, another pair of Lions, this time Seventh years by the look of them, were sitting by the windows playing a game of Exploding Snap. One boy was missing an eyebrow, the other was singed.
Down by the fireplace, Kagome was reclining sideways in a really comfortable chair that was three times too big for her. With her back against one arm rest, her legs dangled off the other side.
"Hey, what did you get for number seven?"
The redhead sprawled on the couch on her stomach looked up from her parchment, elbow propped and her hand tucked under her chin.
"I put Runespoor eggs, but I'm not too sure," Kagome went on thoughtfully, eyebrows furrowing at the text before her.
In the past few of weeks, while Kagome and Lily weren't best friends per say — that mainly due to the fact of who her brother was — they were friends nonetheless. And it wasn't uncommon to see the girls doing homework together.
They were both bright, and knew it, and so it was nice to have the other around to check their answers or get help whenever a particularly hard one came up.
Lily nodded, biting her lip absentmindedly. "Yeah, I put that down too," she murmured, scanning her parchment. "Ah, that and Doxy eggs too."
Kagome looked up, blinking. "Really?" she wondered, confused.
Lily nodded. "Doxy eggs are used in endurance potions, which affect the mind too."
"Oooh, yeah, that makes sense," Kagome murmured in understanding. "Thanks!"
Lily nodded, "You got wormwood too - for six?" she asked, head tilted.
"Mhmm," Kagome hummed out, eyes flickering to the answer in question.
"'Kay, good," Lily muttered with a nod.
A creaking sound echoed in the room, signifying the portrait hole swinging open to either let someone in or out.
It soon became apparent it was the former.
"Kagome!" James exclaimed, grinning lopsidedly at the sight of his sister. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"
Looking up, Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "Really?" she murmured dryly. "Funny that, when I told you I was doing my homework down here tonight," she reminded him cheekily.
Lily didn't bother to look up from her homework to snort at that.
James ducked his head, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Ah," he mumbled, chuckling. "Must have spaced out after you said homework..."
This time, Lily scoffed, and Kagome's lips quirked upon seeing the redhead roll her eyes.
James twitched at that, but ignored her. After their little... chat... they have yet to speak one relatively polite word to one another. Mostly, they ignored each other.
Or rather, Lily ignored him.
Instead, he approached Kagome, practically bouncing in excitement. "Take a break," he implored, tugging at her to get up. "C'mon, let's go up to my dorms — I wanna show you something. You can do that later — it's not due until next week anyways," he told her, rolling his eyes.
Shrugging, Kagome closed her book and put it on the stand beside her and went to follow him. She let him lead her to the staircase to the boy's dorms, climbing the stairs right behind him.
She only made it three steps before the stairs shifted into a slide and she was falling.
Kagome let out a yelp of surprise as she slid back, which turned into one of pain when James tumbled and dropped right onto her.
"What in the bloody hell was that?" James groaned just as she let out a plaintive, mumbled moan of "Gerroff me!"
"Don't you two read?" someone said dryly from above.
James and Kagome cracked an eye open to see Lily staring down at them, one side of her mouth quirked in a ghost of a smile.
James automatically snorted in disbelief. "What's the point? My sister's a walking library — I can always ask her."
Just then, Kagome's knee shifted right into the side of James' stomach. Kagome feigned an apologetic face at the sound of his pained grunt. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she said, not sounding sorry at all.
James only twitched and growled.
Above them, Lily snickered. "In A History of Hogwarts, it states that the stairs leading to the dorms will shift into a slide whenever someone of the opposite gender tries to go up there," she recounted confidently.
While James groaned in horror upon the realization that she was another book hugger like his sister, Kagome couldn't help but snort incredulously. "What — they think an eleven year old girl would really be sneaking up to the boy's dorm to do some not so dignified things?" she remarked sarcastically.
James choked loudly and Lily's cheeks heated up. "I — I think it's just a general thing," she muttered meekly. "To ensure privacy and all..." she said, voice tinged with horrified embarrassment.
"What are you guys doing on the floor?" came a boy's voice, and now the three of them looked up to see Sirius staring down at them, eyebrows raised. "I heard someone shouting — figured something interesting was happening. But I see it's only you two." The teasing lilt to his tone took out the bite of the remark.
James let out an affronted noise. They too were interesting!
With a completely straight face, Kagome answered. "We were talking about how the Gryffindor tower has security measures to prevent even eleven year-olds from having sex," she said bluntly.
Sirius blinked slowly, his cheeks turning a faint shade of red, and there was a beat of silence before he nodded and continued down the stairs like nothing happened. "That sounds lovely," he muttered dryly as he stepped over the pile of Potter. "Best get up before someone steps on you," he went on, amused.
"No, I got it. Thanks for the help mate, you're the best," James muttered sarcastically.
They all snickered, Sirius smirking down at them.
Kagome poked at James' stomach teasingly as he shuffled off her. "I think you're getting fat James — you're heavier than usu- oof!" she wheezed out as he suddenly dropped on her.
"Oops, sorry," James said mockingly, eyes dancing wickedly as he went to get up again. "Hand slipped."
"Ugh, git," Kagome muttered shoving him off of her. "Hand slipped my bloody arse," she muttered darkly, rolling her eyes as Sirius and James snickered at her. Even Lily couldn't help but grin slightly.
"I haven't forgotten about that lake incident," she muttered to her brother, who winced. "Or the quill one as well," she added, now scowling. "This just reminded me I should get on that — and soon," she mused wickedly. "That goes for you too, pretty boy," she told Sirius when he snickered at James misfortune.
The snickering stopped short at that.
"Bollocks," Sirius muttered, cringing.
'Now who has the last laugh?' Kagome thought smugly, sharing a smirk with Lily when she gave her a thumbs up.
—o—o—o—o—
"Mind if I sit here?"
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. The library was sparsely filled, those there had necks crooked, noses in books either reading or doing homework.
The boy who the soft spoken question was directed to looked up from his book, his quill pausing, hovering over his parchment. Soft honey brown eyes blinked up in surprise at the person before him, and he reached up to push back the sandy blonde hair from his eyes. "Er..." the young boy muttered, eyebrows furrowed.
An ebony eyebrow lifted, blue eyes flashing in patient amusement, waiting.
"No, go ahead," he finished lamely, shifting awkwardly.
A bright smile was flashed in his direction, easing the tension and awkwardness.
"Thanks," Kagome whispered, quietly placing her books on the table and pulling out the chair to sit. "Coming here is the only way I'd ever get any work done, with James and Sirius around, as I doubt they'd come here unless dragged," she explained, rolling her eyes in good-natured exasperation at the mention of her brother and their new friend, grinning when she spotted the way the boy's lips twitched slightly.
"I saw you sitting here, and figured I'd bother you with company," she said jokingly. "If you don't mind, that is?" she questioned, a little worried.
Remus shook his head, smiling lightly himself. "No, company would be nice," he admitted in a quiet whisper, rubbing his neck nervously. "Can't have you falling behind already because of a pair of troublemakers, can we?" he mused dryly.
Kagome snorted in amusement as she pulled out her Charms assignment and cracked open a book in front of her.
"So," Remus began, breaking the silence after a few moments. "Did you ever get them back? From the lake incident?"
Kagome groaned, running a frustrated hand through her hair. "No, not yet. James and Sirius think I'm waiting for the right moment, which is making them paranoid as ever. I would have done that anyways, (Remus snickered here) but I'm actually having a bit of trouble deciding what to do. Back at home, I usually set up pranks when James is sleeping, but the stairs won't let me up to the boys' dorms..."
Kagome blinked suddenly, and looked over at Remus. Her eyes narrowed, making the poor boy stiffen warily. It didn't help that a manic-edged grin began to form on her face. "Would you like to help me?" she wondered a little too sweetly.
Remus bit his lip; "I'm not sure..." he began uncertainly.
But Kagome could detect it was halfhearted. "Oh, you know you want to," Kagome sung in a soft, teasing tone. "They got you wet too..." she pointed out.
The uncertain face Remus had cracked, and Kagome grinned. Remus sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"
Kagome laughed. "Only if we get caught and find out you had a hand in it. But let's try to avoid that, yeah?"
Remus snorted.
Kagome nudged him. "Besides, you'll get to see their faces when they wake up."
Kagome felt a bubble of satisfaction at the grin it provoked.
"Alright, alright," he groaned, but still grinning. "What's your plan?"
Kagome's smile turned downright devious, and Remus was suddenly grateful she was plotting with him instead of against him...
—o—o—o—o—
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It was a lovely day outside, and not only that, it was the weekend -which meant everyone could sleep in if they so desired.
And the first year boys in Gryffindor did just that.
All was peaceful and quiet in the first year dorm, save for the various snores coming from a blond, slightly overweight boy — soft, dragging sound — and a messy, black haired boy — this one, sparse, but loud at random moments.
Well, it was peaceful and quiet until a certain curly haired boy woke up — with a scream.
"Oh shit!" Sirius blurted out as he lurched forward, tripping. He landed on the floor, one hand catching himself. He went to stand up, when he realized he couldn't pull his hand from off the ground — the same going for his feet and knees.
Sirius sputtered incomprehensibly. "What the — bloody hell!" he cursed suddenly. "James!" he shouted, head snapping up. "You bloody prat — wake up!" he roared, using his one free hand to snatch a pillow and chuck it at his friend.
James shot up just after it smacked him in the face, shouting and eyes wide, unseeing without his glasses. "W-where's the fire!" he shouted. He scrambled out of his bed, confused, and then somehow tripped over his sheets and vaulted of his bed with a sound thud.
If Sirius wasn't in his current predicament, he would up laughed — uproariously.
"What — what the hell?" James shouted, panicked. "Son of a- ow!" James exclaimed, pain entering his voice. "What — I'm stuck!" he exclaimed wildly. "Why in the bloody hell is my face stuck to the floor? And my hands and knees for that matter!"
He landed onto the floor face first, his right cheek planted right on the ground, facing the bed. His body was in the most awkward position, curled and on his hands and knees in a way that his butt was pointed in the air.
Sirius groaned, realization dawning. "Oh, Merlin..." he moaned. "I thought you were the one that did this..."
"Obviously not," came James irritated and muffled voice. "Oh else I wouldn't be stuck too..."
Sirius stared at the ground, when it came to him. "Kagome..." he growled under his breath.
"W-what's goin' on?" Peter mumbled sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. That's when he saw them. He stared for a minute, blankly, as if unable to process, before blinking, rubbing his eyes, and staring again.
And then he gawked.
"One word," Sirius snarled, threatening, "Just one little squeak, and you're dead — got it?"
Peter merely swallowed thickly and nodded quickly.
Remus, who had woken up to the scene and taken it in rather calmly in comparison, snorted. "Now really, what can you do when you're stuck like that?"
Sirius sent him a brutal glare. "Oh, is that a challenge?" he remarked, eyebrows raised. "I still have one free hand..."
Remus just stared at him calmly, unperturbed. "No, I'd rather not encourage you..." he muttered.
Sirius huffed, turning away to continue trying to tug his hand free. He pouted after a moment of failure to do so. "Just... how did she do this!" he exclaimed, voice tipping towards a whine. "There's no possible way she could have come up here to set it up!"
None of them saw the way Remus turned his head away, hiding a sly grin.
About five minutes later, an owl flew into the room with a scrap of folded paper clutched in its claws.
James recognized it as his owl. However, his eyebrows could only furrow when his owl flew to the sandy-haired boy instead of him. "Lupin, yeah?"
Remus looked up at him, hand halting mid-air to take the note. "Yeah?"
"Why's my owl delivering you mail?"
Remus blinked in confusion, and shrugged in honest confusion. "Let's find out," he said, before reaching for the note and taking it. Opening it, his eyes flickered along the written lines and he bit his lip from snickering.
He had to ask her how she managed to time the delivery so perfectly.
Carefully schooling his face, Remus looked at James. "It's from your sister, apparently," he murmured, and licked his lips nervously. "She, uh... she wants me to tell you, quote, 'Gotchya suckers!', unquote, and to enjoy spending the afternoon on the floor, because, it'll take a few hours before whatever this is," he went on, gesturing to their stuck appendages. "Wears off."
Sirius face-planted onto his bed while James could only groan.
"Oh," Remus said suddenly, turning the note over. There was writing on the back. "Also, she said this is only payback for the lake. She still owes you guys one for the... snake quills?" Peter and Remus raised eyebrows at that.
This time, Sirius and James let out a collective moan.
—o—o—o—o—
"So?" Kagome asked, waiting at the end of the boys' stairs eagerly as Remus came down. "How was it?" She was grinning hugely now.
Remus matched her grin with one of his own. "Perfect," he admitted, laughing as they went to head out.
It was lunch time, and even Kagome wasn't cruel enough to deprive the boys of their precious food, so they were going to sneak some up to the dorms. After they ate of course...
Kagome snickered. "I only wish I got to see it..."
Remus' grin widened, and he rummaged through his robes, offering her something.
A picture.
Kagome blinked at it blankly for a moment, before letting loose "What?" she said incredulously, simply tickled at the sight of the boys' position.
In the moving picture, she watched as James brought up his fist, shaking it, in what seemed to be, threateningly, no doubt muttering promises of payback, just as Sirius glared narrowly and brought a hand up in a rude gesture.
Kagome's stomach was starting to hurt from laughing so much.
"Your friend, Frank? He heard them shouting and came to check it out — said he couldn't resist. I took him aside to ask for a copy for you."
Kagome grinned and glomped Remus. "Oh, you are awesome!" she gushed, laughing loudly. "This is the perfect blackmail."
Remus blushed, but grinned back. "So what are you going to do about the Snake quills?" he wondered curiously.
Kagome's grin morphed into a wicked smirk. "Oh, nothing. I just said that to mess with their minds..."
Remus stared. "You," he stated frankly. "Are evil."
Kagome cackled softly. "Ah, well, if it's anyone's fault, it's James. His evilness rubbed off me. I used to be so innocent," she informed him.
The only response Remus dignified that with was an incredulous snort.
He wasn't stupid enough to believe that...
Words- 5,570
And so, there is the first part of their First Year. Hopefully I didn't muck it up or anything, lol.
I'm trying to go for a couple months each chapter — emphasis on 'trying'. So far, not really working out so much; the rate it's seems to be going, it'll be a couple to a few months per chapter, with a special event, such as a holiday, having its own chapter. Hopefully, it'll only be five to six chapters for first year.
Since this is the first year, it'll be longer with all the introductions. Maybe second and third year will be a little more compact. After that, things will start to getting interesting as we get deeper into the plot, and the chapter amount for each year will become larger.
Anyways, here's a few shout-outs for the people whose ideas I used in this chapter:
ShadowCrawlerCiel for an insight in Severus and Lily's friendship.
ShadowCrawlerCiel, darksilvercloud, LoneWolfSage, and Venas for the idea to show the beginning of the Marauders, as well as overall character interactions.
TsukiyoTenshi for Kagome plotting revenge against Sirius and James, and getting Remus to join in
LoneWolfSage and kitsune-miko-witch for more prank scenes.
Tenshi 'Gome for the idea to illustrate the start of James and Sirius teasing Severus.
And of course, ArmyWife22079 for her never ending inspiration on this story.
Hopefully, I got them all lol. If not, my apologies and my thanks to all that I failed to mention!
Till laters!
RainLily^^
A big huge honking thanks to all those who read, alerted, and fav'd this fic, and to these awesome reviewers!
SasoLOVE111, Valleygoat, cristine44, GintsukiKyu,JollyLoser, Magykrider, NightSky, Scrawny Scrivener, coolgirl0147852, Allie, maxeyn, ladyyuuki16, EvilNinjaOverlordofDarkness, Tenshi 'Gome. ObsidianFrost, Bishonen'sFoxyMiko, InfiniteWhiplash, kits-hold-their-tears, green-eyes beauty, Kagome Lady of Darkness, cheese-kun, CrazyMikoHanyouKagamineRin, Black Mirror, animefanlover1, Rainfire of Riverclan, WraithReaper, WhiteDemoness11, ShiTsukisama, foxelemental, LCluvanime, nichellemarie, lady Sesshomaru-sama, TsukiyoTenshi, Jill, Mirabar, To A cErTaIn KiTsUnE, Scrawny Scrivener, Kenjo, Kakashixangela, Shadow Hidden By The Moon, Venas, Natsumi Tsuchi-Ookami, Bunny.W.K, Aru Leonhart-Strife, Kagome midnight fox, LeaFairy124, Aqua Cahill