Chapter 26:
Disclaimer: It still isn't mine, guys. Harry Potter, that is. This story is all I get.
"What did you do?"
James glanced at Remus, sipping butterbeer from the glass in his hand, smiling as he listened to the very amusing rendition of "The Boys Are Back In Town" by Sirius, Lily, Jack and Peter, which sounded surprisingly good.
"What on earth do you mean?" James teased.
"Oh, come off it. Jack."
Now James was actually confused. "I... didn't do anything to Jack. I only spiked-" here he bit his lip, restraining a laugh "-I mean, what do you think I did?"
Remus gave Jack, who was red-faced with laughter and had moved on to a rather heartfelt duet with Sirius, an arm around the grey-eyed boy's shoulders as they belted out ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to a dramatically cheering Peter and Lily, a dubious look.
"You go from completely avoiding-and, dare I say it, disliking-him to being his best friend. What'd you do? Confund him? Imperius, maybe?"
James laughed. "What the hell are you talking about? I just talked to him."
Remus stared at him, eyes narrowed and searching. "What exactly about?"
James shifted slightly. "Just... things."
Remus nodded as if his point had been proven. "And does 'things' include this?" He asked, pulling out the Dark Mark charm.
"Where did you get that?" James hissed, grabbing at the pocket it had been tucked in when he left the tower.
Remus glared at him. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice? I've taken things from your pockets before. So I ask again: what, exactly, is this?"
Snatching back the charm, James whispered, "Shut up, Merlin, do you want him to hear? I don't think he wanted you guys to know yet. I'll tell you later; let's just enjoy this, shall we?"
With that, he stepped away from the wall and joined in with the others, who were now screaming the Beatles at the top of their lungs.
As he walked off, Remus could see Jack give him a questioning look, to which James replied with a noncommital shrug and sing louder. Jack looked as if he wanted to pursue it, then laughed, shook his head, also shrugged slightly, and began singing again.
Remus shook his head slightly. There was more to this kid, even more than James knew. He could tell; wandering eyes, twitching hands, tense jaw; yes, Jack was hiding something-but what the hell was he doing with Voldemort's Mark?
...
As Lily was about to fall asleep that night, an image of James and Jack laughing together popped into her head and she frowned. For some indescribable reason, she didn't like the idea of them being friends, despite her anger at James's rudeness towards the other boy earlier that year. Something about it rubbed her the wrong way; she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Suddenly she realized; Jack had never said how he knew James's name. Or hers, for that matter. Or any of theirs. He just did. He'd met them, addressed them, and that was it; no introduction was needed. He seemed like he already knew everything about them.
Did he?
She wouldn't fall asleep for a long time.
...
Far away, a muscled man in dark robes was giving a report to a pale, skeletal figure that sat on a black stone throne-there was no word more accurate describing the hunk of onyx-colored rock, roughly hewn from the cave in which they dwelled-whose face was half in shadow, black hair tousled, yet sleek and clean. But the burning scarlet eyes left no doubt as to who exactly it was.
"The American boy suspects," the Death Eater said. "He is a threat to us, greater than he knows."
"Let him suspect," sneered the cold voice. "He won't be a problem much longer."
A/N: So I still didn't get the second chapter I promised to you up yet, and this one is pretty short, but next week FOR SURE this time: when have I ever let you down? Hehe.. hehe... yeah. Hope you liked it. Review if you can. Oh, and special thanks to Crasseskittenfurd for the idea of Lily not liking James and Jack being friends. See you next week!