Chapter 20: In The Path of Lily's Wrath

"Let's go boys, out of the library," the small, fat woman said, grabbing our arms and yanking us to follow her. After she threw us out the door and told us not to come back for the rest of the day, we stumbled down the hallway, heading for the warming outdoors.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I asked James, a thought occurring in my head.

"Sure," he said, glancing over at me.

"Did you see Peter in the library?"

-20-

"So where do you think he's been going?" James asked me, furrowing his brow with worry. He picked up a book sitting near us and began leafing through the old, tan pages. He snapped the book shut, causing a cloud of dust to emanate from the ancient book, and set it down on our table.

"I don't know," I said as I stared out of the library window. I watched clads of friends sit together near the lake outside, laughing as they chatted with one another.

We had come to the library so often that Lily had begun to get annoyed. James would hide out behind bookshelves to make sure that other guys didn't come up to flirt with her. After he blasted Snape into a book cluttered table (much to my delight and Lily's fury), she lost it. As she helped Snape get to the Nurse's wing, she threatened to break up with James if he ever came to spy on her like that again. Just to make sure that he wouldn't try to follow her in secret, Lily, Lora and Remus had retired to a new location to study. We watched the Marauders Map for hours but we still couldn't find them.

"Well why do you think he was lying to us?" the dark haired boy sitting across from me asked. I saw confusion blooming behind his wire-rimmed glasses.

"I don't know," I repeated, running my hand through my shaggy dark hair.

"Well why not?" Prongs asked, demanding a real answer out of me this time.

"James, if I knew I'd tell you. But I don't know. I wish I did but I don't. Sorry." I snatched a book from a nearby bookshelf and began flipped through the pages. Horrific images of grotesque deaths littered each fragile page. Almost poetic murders filled each space, along with who committed them.

"He'd probably lie to us if we did ask him," James muttered under his breath.

I snapped the book I was holding shut and looked to the cover. The Horrific And Fascinating Art Of Murder. I flipped the book over a few times, searching for the author's name. But it was not to be found. Puzzled, I looked at the front page of the mysterious book. There was no authors title inside of the volume either.

"Why isn't a book like this in the restricted section of the library?" I asked myself quietly. It's filled with gruesome murders, so why is it out here where anyone can get it?

"What?" James asked curiously, breaking out of his muttering trance.

"This book, look at it," I replied, handing over the large brown book. I felt its coarse skin brush off of my hand and watched silently as it entered James' grasp. He glanced through the pages slowly, his eyebrows arching higher and his eyes growing larger with each turn of the page.

"That's disgusting, Sirius. Why are you looking at that rubbish?" he asked, wrinkling his nose as if a foul stench had been placed directly underneath of it. He lifted the book carefully, as if it were a vile and dangerous potion, and dropped it in my lap.

"I just grabbed a book off of the shelf," I answered, running my finger slowly down the rough spine of the book. A shiver ran through my spine and I stopped.

"Well it shouldn't just be out here where tiny first years could get it. Just picture the little dwarfs running around, conjuring up giant quills to shove through peoples faces," James declared as he glanced out of the large, Victorian window we were seated next to. I saw his brown eyes scour the grounds for a glimpse of a certain red-haired seventh year.

"Exactly, so why is it?" I asked, confuddled by the placement of this awful book.

"Who cares, Sirius? I want to know why one of our best mates has been lying to us! And where he's going! Not about the placement of some stupid, sick book!" James whispered fiercely, anger growing in his voice with every syllable. Silence followed his outburst and we heard a passing 6th year tell us to "shut the bloody 'ell up." After James cursed back at him, we fell back into our silent slump.

I turned my head, letting my eyes wander out of the tall window next to me and towards the Womping Willow. Leaves were beginning to form since the cold, harsh winter had ended. I was somewhat glad that winter had passed by so seemingly quick. Since that was when Lora and I had fought, I was just ready to forget winter and welcome a new season to strengthen our friendship again. Birds had eagerly been returning to their home nests, like students coming home to the summer vacation after a long year of classes. Instantly I saw what I had been hoping to see. Or rather who I had been hoping to see.

"Hey James, there's Lor, Lily and Remus," I muttered, sitting up so I could get a better look at them. His head snapped in the direction I was motioning to, straining his neck to get a good look at Evans. His eyes lit up as he muttered a quick spell under his breath for the window to open.

"Hey Lily! LILY-KINS! Up here!" James screamed (though it sounded somewhat like a small girl shrieking) at the top of his lungs. I saw Lora burst out laughing as she looked up in the direction of the noise James was creating. Remus shook his head while he laughed and whispered something to Lora, only making her laugh harder. The best sight was Lily though. Her expression went from completely shocked and blushing, to embarrassed and a tomato red hue spreading across her cheeks, to anger and then back to shock, though her face was still a bright red.

'What?' she mouthed to James while she tried to cover her blushing cheeks with her hands. Other students that littered the grounds looked up and laughed, surprised also at James' racket. She put a threatening look on her face to show James not to yell like he had just done but I suppose he didn't get the message.

"WHERE-ARE-YOU-GOING?!" Prongs yelled again, cupping his hands around his mouth to project his verbal message louder to Lily. This only made Lora laugher harder and ever Remus and I couldn't stop chuckling. Lily's eyes only grew larger as James continued his shrieking rant.

"Lily! CAN-YOU-HEAR-"

The librarian cut him off though. She grabbed our collars and yanked us back and away from the window, shouting a charm for it to shut on it's own. Stumbling and complaining, we were dragged to the entrance of the ancient library.

"Don't come back!" she yelled furiously as she pushed us out and shut the door tightly.

"Stupid, fat, old hag," James muttered to me as we began to shuffle down the hallway. I chuckled at what he said and we both smiled for a moment. Portraits whispered to each other and chastised us about how they could hear us all the way from the other side of the castle. I laughed when I saw James throw them an inappropriate gesture.

We emerged into the warm outdoors, searching for our three comrades. They soon came into view, walking towards us.

"James Potter! What is wrong with you?!" Lily erupted, her bright green eyes glowing with anger.

"I was just asking where you were-"

"Well you were asking loud enough for all of Europe to hear!" I saw Lora and Remus trying to muffle their laughter as they stood a few safe steps behind the angry Lily. I walked over to them so that I wasn't in Lily's path of wrath. I leaned my head on Lora's shoulder (with some difficulty seeing as she's shorter than me by about a foot.)

"The librarian yelled at me," I whispered while Lily yelled at James some more. She patted my head and giggled.

"I know, the whole campus heard," she replied, smiling. We laughed and continued to watch the show that Lily and James were putting on.

"I'm glad I found you," I whispered to her gently.

"I'm glad you found me too," she whispered back, resting her head gently on mine. I let my heart melt at her words and enjoyed the moment.