Days in Avalon

Chapter Thirty-Seven: In Too Deep

"Professor it's their entire fault! They tried to kill me!" stated Severus in anguish.

"Oh lay off the dramatics, Snivellus. It wasn't all of us," retorted James as he sunk lower into his chair that was in front of the headmaster's desk. He, Snape, and Dumbledore had been up in the headmaster's office for what felt like hours retelling the story of what happened earlier this evening.

"Severus…calm down," said the headmaster as he raised a hand slightly to calm everyone done. "Now, would you please tell me what happened tonight? Calmly," said Dumbledore as he sat in his high chair looking at Severus.

Severus ginned wickedly at James before going into detail about what happened.

"Lily what are we doing here?" asked Andy as she sat on the cold hard floor just outside the secret entrance to the headmaster's office.

"I want to know what's going to happen to them," replied Lily as she paced back in forth in front of the window. She, like Andy, kept replaying the evening's events in her head trying to come to some conclusion as to why it had unfolded the way it did.

"So do I, but can't we at least wait in the common room? It's bloody freezing out here!" retorted Andy as she rubbed her arms. "One thing I hate about this island," she added in a low whisper.

"Oh quit your blabbering," sighed Lily as she quickly conjured up a warming charm for her friend. A small pause of silence fell between the two girls both worried for their friends and what this would now mean for Remus.

"I hate being still," said Andy no longer able to withstand the silence between them.

"Yes I know patience is not one of your virtues. Why don't you go back?" asked Lily as she took a seat across from her best friend.

"And leave you here?" chuckled Andy. "Not a chance. Besides I have a feeling the trouble maker is still up and I don't really want to see him yet."

"Good idea. Also by the time we got back, Black would probably be dead if we left you alone with him."

"That too." nodded Andy as she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

"Why would Black do such a thing?" asked Lily unable to keep the question in anymore

"Don't ask me. That boy never thinks before he leaps," growled Andy as her temper began to flare up a bit. "So what do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know. Dumbledore will probably swear Severus to secrecy. James may get detention or worse. As for Black…if I was Dumbledore, I'd probably expel him," answered Lily honestly.

"Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of," said Andy in a low voice.

"So…let me fully understand this. All four of the Marauder's planned this attack?" asked Dumbledore. He sat in his chair with his hands pointed at one another, just having the tips of his fingers just barely touching one another as he pondered what Severus had just told him. James had been watching him very closely, trying to see if there was any hint in his actions that would cause him to believe James's story and not Snape's.

"Yes," said Snape coldly.

"No we didn't! We didn't plan anything!" exclaimed James as he jumped up from his chair.

"James, please," said Dumbledore calmly, causing James to reclaim his seat. "Now Severus, all of them planned this and told you to go to the willow?"

"Well…no…not about the telling part. That was done by Black," said Snape a little confused.

"I see. Very well then," replied the headmaster. After a moment of silence, Dumbledore stood up from his chair and began to walk toward the fireplace where the school's Sorting hat took residency for the time being. "James…your actions tonight though reckless, dangerous, and brash may not be over looked by some. However, bravery, selflessness, and valor out weigh all faults."

"Excuse me! He tried to kill me!" exasperated Snape as he shot up from his chair.

"That is not what I was told prior to my arrival at the willow tree nor to this meeting. As it seems, only Mr. Black was involved in this little incident tonight. He realized the mistake that he had committed and enlisted the help of his friends to right this wrong."

"But…But…" stuttered Snape.

"You yourself said Severus that that the only one you communicated with was Sirius. So instead of punishing you James, you will be awarded for your services to the school."

"What?" said a highly confused and shocked James.

"What!?" screamed Severus.

"Is there a problem?" asked Dumbledore with confusion written on his old face.

"A big one! He's going to get off with an award for his behavior?" asked a highly pissed Severus.

"Need I remind you Severus, that if it weren't for James you would not be here now talking to me right now. I believe you owe a great deal of gratitude to James for saving your life," replied Dumbledore with a twinkle in his blue eyes hidden behind his half-moon spectacles.

Severus emitted a low growl while slowly turning toward James. He knew that the headmaster was right and that by wizard's law, he was now indebted to his enemy for all time or until he saved James's life in return.

Snape slowly took a few steps toward James and extended his right hand. James looked at it for a few moments, calculating his enemy's actions, but soon knew better than to think that Snape would try something right in front of the headmaster. He cautiously grabbed a hold of the hand that was offered to him in a quick shake, while Severus quietly mumbled a thank you.

Happy to see that there was a new found temporary truce, Dumbledore made his way towards the door calling for the boys.

"This doesn't make us friends or anything," growled Severus before following the headmaster.

James silently snorted at his comment. "As if I'd ever want to be friends with a pompous slimy prat like yourself."

"This is getting ridiculous," huffed Andy as she played with a piece of lint she found. "You'd think Dumbledore would give out his executions swiftly."

"Andy," said Lily a little surprised to see who was now standing beside her friend.

"What? It's the truth," replied Andy oblivious to what was going on.

"Normally I would agree with you Ms. Starmenter, but that's not the case here. Sorry to be a disappointment," said a jolly tired voice next to her.

Andy quickly jumped up from her seat on the floor when she realized that Professor Dumbledore was standing next to her.

"Professor! Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"That's all right my dears. I do have something to say to both of you, but considering the late hour; I think it best to wait until tomorrow. I will send word to both of you sometime during the day. In the mean time I think we should all get a goodnight's rest," he said as he bid everyone goodnight and went back up to his office.

With that, James and Severus shared one last loathing stare before Snape heading toward the dungeons while James joined Lily and Andy as they headed toward Gryffindor tower.

"James what happened?" asked Andy once they were a good few feet away from the headmaster's office.

"Nothing much. Just the little fact that now Severus owes me," said James a little tiredly.

"Owes you? For what?" inquired Lily.

"Saving his life," he said simply. Lily and Andy stopped for a moment and stared at each other for a moment shocked at what he had just said.

"Did he…" started Lily. James stopped in his tracks and took a visible sigh before turning to face the two girls.

"Yeah, he saw him," he replied knowing exactly what Lily was getting at. Both girls were shocked as their minds began to real with a number of questions. Suddenly Andy turned on her heals and began to march back down the hallway.

"Andy where are you going?" called Lily after her friend.

"To put the fear of God in him," barked Andy. James quickly ran after her and grabbed a hold of her arm to halt her actions.

"Too late. Dumbledore got to him first. Besides, I don't think he'll blab," he said too her as he glanced back down where the statue that hid the entrance to the headmaster's office was now. "Come on; let's get back to the tower."

The three of them continued their journey back to the common room in silence trying to take in all that happened. Once they had reached the common room, they were met with the sight of Peter sitting on the couch, while Sirius paced back in forth in front of the fire. Lily could see James's expression harden quickly once he saw his best friend.

"How is he?" said Sirius after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Which one? The one you tried to kill with a werewolf? Or the one you tried to kill with a lynch mob?" roared James.

Sirius visibly flinched at his friend's harsh tone but knew he had it coming.

"Prongs, you know I didn't mean to, but if you'd had been there…" he started to say.

"No! No more excuses, Sirius. You knew exactly what you were doing," yelled James.

"Prongs he threatened us! He threatened to expose…" replied Sirius trying to make them see why he did what he did.

"So what! It's Snivellus for crying out loud! Of course he's going to threaten us. That's what he always does! But we deal with it together as a team, and to a certain extreme."

"Well maybe now we won't have to anymore. Maybe he's finally scared enough that he'll leave us be," barked Sirius as he glared at James.

"You arrogant son of bitch!" roared James as he began to take a step toward his friend with his fist balled up. Both Andy and Lily quickly grabbed a hold of James to stop him in his actions.

"James, don't! Stop it!" begged Lily.

James took a few breaths to calm himself down before storming off up to his room. But before he left he quickly whispered something to Peter to which he merely nodded at.

"I'll go check on him," Lily volunteered when she saw that Andy was about to follow him.

"Uh…I think I'll go and…" stuttered Peter before bolting out of the common room and into the rest of the castle leaving just both Sirius and Andy alone in the common room. Both of them knew exactly where Peter was off too and what James had asked him to do. They knew that right now Peter was changing into his rat form and heading off into the Dark Forest to make sure that Remus was okay. Sirius was about to head off and join him when Andy stepped in his path.

"And where the hell do you think you're going?" she said with her arms folded in front of her.

"You know where I'm going," he replied as he tried to sidestep her, which he failed in doing.

"Like hell you are," she said pushing him back into the common room.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I don't care if I have to hex you, trip you, or chain you to a wall. There is no way you are going out there," ordered Andy.

"Sparky, I just want to check…" started Sirius.

"Peter is doing that. Remus is fine, and don't call me Sparky," snapped Andy.

"Andy…"

"Just answer this one question for me. Is there a functioning brain under that mop of yours or has all the gel and mouse products finally sunk in and damaged what little brain cells you have left?" she asked as she began to walk up to him.

"Andy."

"SHUT UP!" yelled Andy with venom. "I don't even want to hear another word coming from your lips. Do you have any idea what you have done? What you could have done?"

Sirius knew he was in for it now; he began to retreat back further into the common room as Andy followed him.

"Sirius you almost killed not one but two people tonight! Can you get that through your thick skull? I mean what were you thinking? Sure Severus is a right git, but he doesn't deserve to be attacked by a werewolf. And not just any wolf…Remus! My Gods, I mean…he's your friend! YOUR FRIEND, SIRIUS! How do you think Remus would have felt in the morning learning that he killed someone? Or when the ministry would come for him and throw him in Azkaban or worse. Why? Why?" pleaded Andy.

"To protect us," he said silently.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just forget it," he said before he bolted out of the common room and into the castle.

"Sirius! Sirius get back here!" yelled Andy as she ran after him, but lost him in the darkness of the castle hallways.

Lily walked silently toward the door marked six years. She saw that the door was slightly ajar but all was dark inside. She knocked lightly before opening the door more fully. "James are you all right?"

She found him pacing back and forth muttering to himself. Upon hearing her come in and her voice, James stopped abruptly to stare at her.

"Oh yeah, other than the fact that my best mate is an idiot, my other friend almost mauled someone, and my worst enemy now knows about one of our biggest secrets, yeah I'm bloody fantastic!" he roared before returning to his pacing.

Lily gave a small sigh, knowing that it was impossible to talk to him while he was in this state. She walked over towards the nearest bed and sat down. She looked upon the nightstand and learned that his was James's bed judging by the amount of Quidditch magazines and the photo of him and his parents, next a photo of him and the rest of the boys. Lily picked up the photo of the boys and held it in her hands while trying to figure out when this was taken. She figured it must have been either last year or at the beginning of this year judging by the height and hair styles. The four boys looked delightfully happy in the picture as they began to move about. Remus and Peter waved and grinned at Lily while Sirius had one arm wrapped around Remus's shoulders while the other was wrapped around James, but more in a headlock of sorts. The Sirius in the picture let up on the James in the picture while the James wrapped and arm around Sirius shoulders as the two beamed up at Lily.

James had been watching her for a few moments and noticed the picture she was holding. He remembered back when they had taken it right before they left at the end of last year. If he knew back then that the boy he was standing next to in that picture would end up betraying the lot of them, he would have thought the world had gone mad.

"Why would he do it Lily? Why?" he said as he took a hold of the picture.

"I don't really know," said Lily unsure of how to handle this situation.

"I can't believe he would do something like that," he said defiantly. "The Sirius I know would never…"

"Perhaps Severus just pushed him too far," suggested Lily. "You know Sirius is a very passionate young man. He probably just lost control like he always does."

"Probably, but that's no excuse for acting like a moron," said James in a harsh but tired voice.

"No, it isn't. Look James, I know you're angry. That's obvious. But…"

"Don't. Don't you go and defend him," roared James as a new found rage began to build up.

"I'm not. But you didn't see the look on his face when he saw the map," said Lily slightly pleading. "James, he knows he messed up. I think he really is sorry for what he did. I mean this is Sirius we are talking about. He wouldn't harm a fly let alone try to kill someone."

"I know," said a frustrated James. He walked over towards the window and looked out at the dark starry night.

"One time last summer, we were hanging around this old abandon house and I wasn't watching where I was going," said James as he began to take a walk down memory lane. "Anyways an old rotten beam suddenly fell from the ceiling. It would have taken my head off had Sirius not pushed me out of the way."

"Sounds like a true friend," said Lily as she walked over towards him.

"He always said that he would rather die than harm any of his friends," said James as he turned to face Lily. "I guess I should be more supportive, especially now that he's probably going to get kicked out of school."

Lily took a step back at his words. "You don't think Dumbledore would really expel him?"

"No," said James after a few moments. "But then again we've never done anything like this before. It doesn't look good for him."

Lily gave a small sigh. "That's what Andy and I were saying when we were waiting for you."

"Why did you wait for me?" said James suddenly. "Outside of Dumbledore's office I mean. Why didn't you come back and wait in the common room."

"I…wanted…to be there to explain myself," stuttered Lily.

"Explain yourself?" said a confused boy before her.

"To the headmaster for what I did. Well, what Andy and I did," she confessed knowing there was no use trying to lie now.

"What are you talking about? Wait…you were out there?" said James as he replayed the events of what happened out by the willow tree.

"Yes," she said shortly.

"Why?" he asked as he closed the distance between them. Lily could feel her pulse begin to race as she looked up into his face.

"We wanted to make sure nothing bad happened," she said in a soft voice. Lily wasn't sure why she was feeling this way at a time like this. She could almost feel his eyes bare into her and had visions of him taking hold of her and kissing her like he had months ago. That was until her mouth had suddenly grown a mind of its own.

"Well it was mostly Andy who wanted to know," she said quickly as she turned away from James.

"Right. Andy," he said with a hint of dejection in his voice. Lily turned back at James and saw that he was now looking down at the floor and had taken a few steps away from her.

"I should get going. It's getting late," she said feeling a bit awkward in his presence.

"Yeah," replied James trying to sound a bit merrier. He watched as Lily made her way toward the door and then stopped before exiting.

"James," she said as she turned back towards him. "Although I don't really condone the things you do. What you did tonight was very brave…and…I'm proud of you," she said with a smile.

James couldn't help but grin at Lily words. "Thank you."

"I'm glad you're okay. Goodnight," she said quickly as she left him alone.

For the rest of the night, James laid awake in his bed trying to figure out why someone he considered a brother did what he did. But he pondered more over the problem of whether or not their friendship would make it through this latest problem the group now faced.

A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? Yes okay I know…you haven't updated in six months. YOU LEFT US HANGING FOR SIX MONTHS!!!! For that my deepest and humblest of apologizes. Unfortunately life and computer problems got in the way followed by a very, very, very bad case of writers block. Also school has been a pain and had forced me to stop writing for a bit, but it did pay off as evident to the grades I got this semester. (Yea!!! I passed college physics with a B!)

Anyways…this chapter was originally longer, but I decided to stop it hear for now because I wanted to get this out as fast as possible. So…here it is…Chapter 37. I hope that you like it, and I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.

I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, and for those who have been patiently waiting to see what happens next.

Now you all know what to do…flames, praises, or whatever are welcomed, so just hit that button at the bottom and leave a review.

On that note, I'm out of here to rest me head since his headache I've had for the last hour or so has finally gotten to me.

Later!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters. They belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I only own this story and the characters I made up.