Hope you like quick updates b/c I was excited about this one!
I am stoked about the next one it may be up tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.
Not mine, not at all, not happy about that either : (
Chapter 29
Lies, Love, Life
LILY POV
"James, seriously, it is December you have not done duty on any full moon at all. Something has always come up, and I don't mind. I really don't but the last time there was a ton of howling and noise on the grounds and I am pretty certain that there are werewolves in the forest and I don't have anyone to cover for you and I am scared to do this alone. Come on James, please." She said.
"Come on Lils, I know I have done at least one moon duty with you." He said confidently.
"Nope, Remus was sick, you were up all night and tired. Last month you were on a date with Morgan. In October you were in the middle of a prank war, remember?" she said huffily.
"Oh, how could I forget that prank war?" he mused thinking back to October.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoO
They had planned it perfectly, have the prank war over the full moon, that way it hid Remus' absence for two days, if any of them got hurt they could blame a prank, and Lily would let him off duty. It was a brilliant cover. That week had been epic at Hogwarts. And at the end James and Sirius stood tied for who pulled the most successful pranks, though Remus won on who successfully pranked the actual marauders the most.
James had pink hair for three days and when Sirius' normal shiny curls went limp and straight he had almost had a heart attack. Pete had squeaked for an entire day and no matter how many times they tried to do their homework in inevitably got ruined by water, fire, ink, owls…it was awful.
But not only had they been attacking each other, the school was in shambles. Students sprinting from room to room afraid of what was going to happen, professors nervous and jumping at the smallest sound. And it was only made worse that the boys couldn't be pinned in any of it.
That week, when the boys used the urinals and flushed they spit all the contents back at them, the girls toilets had been charmed with a barrier charm so that piss rolled off the barrier into the girls' pants, Lily had not been pleased with that. Every time a Slytherin touched a hand rail on the stairs every hand rail in Hogwarts tuned into a snake. Ravenclaw tower grew wings and flapped nonstop, causing that entire part of the castle to shake violently. There were many sleepless blue clad students walking around. The Hufflepuffs spoke in rhyme for 12 hours straight and for one whole day at random intervals various Gryffindors would burst into raucous roars and growls, including the marauders.
James' big prank had involved the quidditch match that week. He had enchanted the spectator stands, every single time someone cheered for Ravenclaw during the match red and gold streamers and confetti would fall all over the spectators, causing gleeful Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to cheer louder and Ravenclaws and Slytherins to stop all together.
Sirius had charmed the serving dishes down in the kitchen before they were sent up to the tables. Whenever someone had tried to get food out of a bowl or off of a platter it would spew its contents all over whomever was closest, this resulted in the largest Hogwarts food fight ever.
When you added in biting shoes and shrinking pants, itchy beds, and freezing showers with water that dyed your skin purple, the portraits all bursting into renditions of the Hogwarts school song every single time a professor or the Headmaster walked by, and the rain that fell from the great hall ceiling, it was a really long really crazy week. One that no one was likely to forget or top anytime soon.
OoOoOoOoo
"Oh right, next one Lily you can do whatever you want, I will even work with a Slytherin, please Lily Sirius is really bummed, you know that Soryn and he are arguing, and he can't figure out why. Hogsmede is tomorrow and he is in a sore mood. I promised I would hang with him, please. I swear I will work the next one." He groveled.
She couldn't tell him no, not when he looked at her like that. So she sighed and waved him off, where he ran out of the office and booked it towards the grounds. She shook her head, knowing that this meant she was going to be working alone on a night that scared her the most.
She knew that James thought she was stupid, she wasn't, she had noticed over the last three months that whenever James disappeared for the full moon, so did Remus. Not to mention last month when he supposedly had a date with Morgan she had come here looking for him about ten minutes before curfew, claiming not to have seen him that he cancelled on her because he was sick. Morgan…that was another sore spot. He wasn't dating her, she didn't even claim to be dating him, but they hung out a lot more, which made it a bit difficult for Lily as Morgan used to be one of her dorm mates and she still hang out with Marleen quite a lot, when Marleen wasn't with Remus that was.
She didn't want to like Morgan anymore, she wanted to be mad at her, but that wasn't the nicest thing to do. After all, she had told James she didn't want to be with him, that was her fault, not James' and certainly not Morgan's. Besides, she and James had become good friends, real friends, not what they claimed to be last year. They laughed together, they goofed around together, Lily had even managed to get him to study a few times. She also found herself absolutely head over heels in friendship with Sirius Black.
He was a mess, a big mess, a mess that she now adored. She was amazed how once James had pointed it out that he was very overgrown puppy like. He was whiney and clingy and needy and sweet and cuddly and you could play with his hair and he practically rolled over. Yes he was beyond arrogant and rude, he was hyper and high maintenance, until you knew him, really knew him.
Once you knew him he was sweet, he was nervous to hurt your feelings or to make you mad, yes that was a huge shock. She found out that at the beginning of 6th year he had done something outrageously stupid and caused a huge rift in the group, he was still wary of bringing it up. A few days ago after quidditch he had trooped up here with James dripping mud and water, both of them half froze to death and Sirius distraught. Without really thinking about it he had ripped off his uniform shirt and undershirt and stood in front of the fire bare chested, the scars and marks along his back made her breath catch. He obviously heard her and turned, his face flushed.
"Lily I am sorry, I wasn't thinking, Soryn has me upset. I'm sorry." He muttered heading towards James' staircase. James stood there silent and watched her face.
"Sirius, what happened to you?" she asked walking boldly up to him and running her finger along a scar that ran across his middle back.
She saw his worried face and the fear when he glanced at James. James nodded his head slightly and sat down on the bottom step up to his room, still dripping and obviously shivering.
"Well that is where my dad hit me with a cane when I was 9. I accidentally hexed Regulus and he was not happy with me."
She looked at him sternly.
"Sirius, a cane bruises, it does not scar."
"One that is imbedded with jewels and crystal does, at least after being hit with it 13 times, that's how long it took to break the skin, I lost count at 18, I blacked out." He shrugged.
She couldn't help it, wet and half naked or not she grabbed him and pulled him into a crushing hug, one that unfortunately was witnessed by his already jealous girlfriend.
She had learned a lot about Sirius that day, it changed something between them there was a trust that hadn't been there before, even in their budding friendship, he was truly her friend. They laughed together and played around and he was with her more often than not, which did not help the issue with Soryn. She had been being distant with Sirius for a few weeks and he was upset, he had never been serious (Merlin she had been with the foursome so much the joke made itself in her head) with a girl before. This was why she had been so lenient over duties tonight, she was worried for Sirius and knew that James really was the only one that could help.
She supposed that Remus was gone, that was another story all together. James never said anything, never alluded to it but she could remember Severus' allegations and the more she knew about Remus the more it was the only thing that made true sense. And what was strange was the more she knew Remus the less it even mattered to her. She knew that her friends would freak out it they found out, and that the school would go mad but she understood Remus on a level that no one else did. Well at least no one outside of the marauders. She only wished that he would trust her enough to tell her, she knew that the boys knew, she remembered that conversation over a year ago with James. Him telling her that his biggest secret wasn't his to tell. This was it. She only hoped that the other three hadn't been being crazy and putting their selves into danger every month. Though from what she could gather that was exactly what they had been doing.
Then there was the fact that Remus was the only one that knew how she felt for James. And he apparently he had said nothing at all to James or anyone else about her confession. When she asked him about while James and Sirius were practicing and Pete was getting a book from a shelf in the library he had told her simply
"I think that is something he deserves to hear. But he needs to hear it from you, not me, Sirius, or Pete. And Merlin knows, if the other two know, James will know."
She couldn't look past the fact that he had been a great confidant, he had kept her secret, of course she would keep his…If he ever told her that was. He was the only one that she could tell her secrets too, well besides Snuffles, she told him quite a lot, it was a good things that even wizarding dogs were not known for talking to their owners or James would be astounded with the information his dog knew.
And then, then there was James. He had become a very good friend, she trusted him, she had fun with him. They did all of the things they had done last year excluding the physical stuff that was. She was happy he seemed content with Morgan, although it was awkward when she would run into them after an obvious snogging session. She refused to think about it possibly being anything else. And she knew that he wasn't using the room of requirement, she frequented there herself, just a place to go think when she didn't have anything else to do. A place with memories that made her cringe they were so raw and painful, but it was always the same room that it was the last time the two of them were there alone. It never changed no matter how much she willed it to.
After all was said and done though, she knew she was very much in love with James. There was no question in her mind. And running around, oblivious, with Morgan he had inadvertently done the very thing she was afraid of. He had broken her heart. He had hurt her no matter how much he had promised not to.
She sat down behind his desk and picked up a book on advanced human transfiguration that was sitting on his desk, she flipped it over and over in her hands and it hit her. He was past it all, he was over their little fling last year, he had moved on. She should too, what good was she doing sitting around missing him? She would move on, she would find someone to date.
