Notices and Guilt

In the weeks following their big row, Lily had been adamantly avoiding Snape, much to James' delight and Snape's despair.

On more than one occasion, the greasy haired Slytherin had tried to speak to her outside of the Gryffindor common room, but Lily usually responded by slamming the portrait of the Fat Lady in his face.

James' good spirits were raised even higher one evening when he read the notice attached to the board in the common room. On closer inspection, he realized that it was the Quidditch trial sign up sheet.

'It's finally here isn't it?' Frank said nervously, joining James at the board.

James grinned. 'The day I've been waiting for,' he said dramatically. 'C'mon Longbottom let's sign up.'

They both signed their names on the list under the 'chaser' column. James saw that Alice Dearborn and one other girl had signed up under 'seeker.'

Frank stared at the list looking worried. 'I wonder if we did enough to help Alice?' he wondered out loud.

James laughed good-naturedly, 'If it bothers you, we can always set up another practice session with her,' he offered.

Frank lightened up at the idea. 'Yeah, I think that would help me a lot as well!' he said, looking more cheerful than he had all of the previous year.

'That's settled then,' James said right as Sirius came running towards them with a piece of parchment in his hand.

He skidded to a halt in front of James and shoved the parchment under his nose excitedly.

'Look, Remus finally got the spell down!' he exclaimed.

The piece of parchment Sirius was holding was the Marauder's top-secret project, a detailed map of the school. The previous year, they had gradually added more rooms and passageways as they explored the castle more and more thoroughly each week.

As James took the map in his hands and examined it closely, he was shocked to see that there were now a bunch of tiny dots on the page, when before it had only been lines.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that each dot had a name attached to it.

He searched for the Gryffindor common room and immediately found the dots labeled, 'James Potter,' 'Sirius Black,' and 'Frank Longbottom.'

'Sirius, this is awesome!' James breathed in awe. 'We can finally make good use of it this year!'

Sirius grinned at him. 'Moony says he'll need more time to perfect the spell, but as of now I think it's safe to say that it works,' he said with pride.

Frank was leaning in curiously so James quickly shoved the parchment into his pocket. He would need to find a way to prevent others from seeing the map, he thought.

On Saturday morning as promised, James sought out Alice Dearborn at breakfast. She was sitting with Lily and some other girls at the end of the table farthest from the Slytherin table.

Alice saw him coming and stood up. 'Hey Potter!' she called out as she waved him over.

'I haven't spoken to you since last term, how was your summer?' She asked amicably as he sat down, ignoring Lily's glares.

'It was fine thanks, and yours?' James responded politely.

Alice rolled her eyes, 'You don't have to be so formal, but my summer was great,' she said happily. 'Now would you care to share the real reason you've sought me out this fine morning?' she added with a hint of expectation in her voice.

James chuckled, 'Ah yeah, Frank and I-' Alice sat up straighter- 'were just wondering if you would want to practice one more time before trials tomorrow?' he asked.

Alice was staring at her food, looking slightly sick. Worried that he had said something wrong, James waved a hand in front of her face.

'Oiii, Dearborn you all right?' he asked. Perhaps he had put too much pressure on her by reminding her of the impending trials?

Alice looked at him desperately, 'Please make me better by tomorrow,' she pleaded. 'I'm really nervous because I didn't have time to practice over the summer…'

James offered her a confident smile. 'That's what we're here for,' he laughed. 'So meet us at the pitch after eating?'

Alice nodded quickly, her curls bouncing up and down.

As James returned to his seat, he caught Frank's eye and gave him a thumbs up. Frank looked relieved and turned back to his cereal.

From across from James, Remus suddenly dropped his copy of the Daily Prophet with a heavy sigh. On the front page, James could clearly make out a picture of a burning house.

'Moony what's that about?' he asked, although he already knew the answer to his question.

Remus took a swig of pumpkin juice before responding. 'There was another attack, this one near Cokeworth,' he said grimly.

James sighed as he reached for the jam. 'So many attacks,' he muttered darkly.

Remus wasn't finished however.

'You should know James,' he said seriously. 'That Cokeworth is where Lily and Severus live.'

James dropped the jam with a loud clatter and stared at Remus in shock.

'Merlin, was it near where Lily lives?' he asked urgently, casting a glance in her direction.

Remus shook his head. 'It wasn't too close to where Lily and Severus live,' he said calmly. 'But I can tell that Lily was worried this morning.'

The rest of breakfast passed by painfully slowly, and it was with great relief that James ran off to the Quidditch pitch when it was over.

Sirius had insisted on joining them, but James secretively handed him the map. 'Why don't you go work on some extracurricular activities Sirius?' he said with a wink.

Sirius' face brightened and he hurried off to the common room with Remus and Peter in tow.

James met with Frank and Alice at the entrance hall and together, they made their way out to the pitch.

It was a beautiful autumn day outside, and the weather for the weekend was supposed to be nice as well, which was a good sign for trials.

James had decided against flying with his nimbus today, as he was planning on preserving its quality for the tryouts- and the season.

About ten minutes later, the three of them were finally in the air, whooping and hollering with delight.

Neither Frank nor Alice had ridden a broom all summer, and both were now appreciating the feeling to the fullest as they zoomed around the pitch. James on the other hand, had ridden his broomstick nearly every day of the summer, but still found excitement bubbling in the pit of his stomach every time he took off into the sky.

'Let's see how rusty you are Dearborn,' he called out to her. Alice and Frank flew towards him.

'I'm ready for anything, any drill,' Alice said with determination. Frank laughed and clapped her on the back.

'That's the spirit,' he said encouragingly.

James smiled as well, but shook his head. 'I don't think doing drills the day before trials is a good idea,' he said.

Alice frowned, 'What are we going to do then?' she asked. Frank looked puzzled as well.

James held up a crate of balls. 'Let's play Quidditch,' he said with a smirk, and with a tug at the sides, he released the quaffles, bludgers and snitch into the pitch.

For an hour or so, they played a game of 1 on 1 on 1, where each person fended for himself or herself and tried to score on the same hoop.

At first, the others had failed to see the point of James' idea, but then Frank had noted with a look of understanding crossing his features that this forced them to be more wary of their surroundings, as they now had two people to look out for, and no beaters to protect them from the bludgers.

An hour later, they were all physically drained and exhausted, but mentally, James felt they were all ready for tomorrow's trials.

'Let's call it a day,' he suggested. 'We don't want to overwork ourselves before tomorrow.'

Frank and Alice nodded in agreement and they descended onto the ground, where they stowed the Quidditch balls and their old broomsticks in the shed, and began the walk up to the castle.

Seeing the Quidditch shed had reminded James of an incident the previous year when they had caught a group of Slytherins tampering with the Gryffindor Quidditch gear.

When he pointed this out to Frank and Alice, they both laughed at the memory.

'One thing I'll never forget,' chuckled Frank as they entered the castle, 'is the look on Avery's face when Alice hexed him.'

Alice turned red but smiled bashfully. 'He deserved it,' she said firmly, before dissolving into giggles once more.

They were nearing the common room when James saw Remus exiting the portrait hole. He was noticeably paler than usual and had dark circles underneath his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.

With a pang, James realized that tonight was most likely a full moon. He excused himself from Alice and Frank and jogged over to meet Remus.

'Back already?' Remus managed a small smile.

James nodded, 'You going out tonight to uh… check on your mother?' he added quickly as Frank and Alice shot them curious looks as they entered the portrait hole.

Remus' face darkened for a moment before he nodded in assent.

James felt a wave of guilt and self-loathing. In his excitement over Quidditch, he had completely forgotten about Remus' monthly problem.

This had evidently revealed itself on his face because Remus clapped a hand to his shoulder bracingly.

'There's nothing you can do for me James,' he said softly. 'The fact that you, Sirius and Peter didn't abandon me as your friend is more than I could ever ask for.'

James swallowed the lump in his throat but nodded. Remus smiled sorrowfully.

'I'm heading to the library now, but Sirius and Peter are still inside. They've made a lot of progress on the project,' he added.

For a while after Remus walked away, James stood in the same spot staring at where his friend had just been. If only there was a way he could help ease Remus' suffering once a month, even if it only helped a little…

Sighing with frustration, James finally mumbled the password to the Fat Lady, who swung open, allowing him to enter the common room.