Hey!

I'm back! And still alive. Quite clearly. Haha. I actually wrote this chapter like . . . half a week ago. I think. I hope it's alright; I've been having my doubts . . .

Cheers!

~Ice.

37 – Because He Is A Pansy

Sirius

'ARGH!'

Sirius, who was dozing and on the point of being half awake, shot up immediately and rammed into Remus, who was half sprawled on top of him. Peter and James were already sitting up, and Peter looked as though he were attempting to rub something off James' forehead.

'Whazgoinon?' Sirius slurred, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Remus groaned and rolled over, his head on Sirius' legs.

'Someone's gone and hexed James,' Peter said, licking his thumb, and still apparently trying to get something off of James. James made a noise somewhat like 'Eugh!' and leaned away before Peter could touch him again.

'It's horrible, Sirius,' James said pitifully. He turned, and finally looked Sirius face-to-face.

Sirius burst into laughter as he took in the brightly flashing words splashed across James' face. James let out a wail of despair and face-planted into Remus' back, who had rolled over again, eyes still squeezed tightly shut. Remus yelped as James' skull hit his spine with a loud crack, and was instantly wide awake.

'That hurt,' he muttered, massaging the vertebrate and scowling at James. It took him a moment to realise what was different before he too was laughing.

'Someone got you good,' he said, grinning and sitting up to get a proper look at him. He looked at Sirius. 'It was you, wasn't it?'

Sirius immediately threw his hands up in defence. 'I did not! This is news to me!'

'Who would have done it then?' Peter asked.

'Marley,' James and Sirius said immediately.

'It's nice to know you have such little faith in me, jackasses,' came a lofty voice from the girls' staircase. Marley was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and smirking. 'And for your information, it actually wasn't me. In the terms of World's Biggest Git, I would have hexed Sirius instead.'

Sirius poked his tongue out at her, while James looked at his feet, apparently deep in thought. Then his head suddenly shot up, and he whispered the name, 'Evans.'

Sirius looked at him pointedly. 'Now is not the time for obsessing, Prongs.'

'No,' James said, with some violent hand gestures. 'Evans hexed me.' He looked over at Marley. 'Right?'

'No comment,' Marley said shortly. With that, she strode across the common room, aimed a kick at Sirius as she passed, and disappeared out the portrait hole.

'It was Evans,' Sirius said finally.

'That sneaky bird!' James cried, throwing his arms up. 'I'll bet only she knows how to get this off, too.' He pointed at his forehead.

'Probably,' Remus said, getting to his feet. He bent his arms above his head and leaned to the side, stretching. 'Well, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry.'

'Don't worry, Prongs,' Sirius said, looking at James. 'I know what'll cheer you up. We can go hex Snivellus, and then we can get Evans to un-hex you. Sound good?'

James' head shot up at this. 'I forgot about that,' he said. 'We never did hex Snape, did we?'

Remus sighed. 'Are we still doing that?'

'No reason why we shouldn't,' Peter said with an offhanded shrug.

'Funny, because I can think of plenty,' Remus grumbled.

'And forthwith, any objection Mr Remus Lupin provides will be ignored,' Sirius said, pulling James to his feet. 'Because he is a pansy.'

Remus scowled.

Marlene

'Lily and Snape are officially on the outs again,' Marley said, sliding into the grandstands beside Kayla. 'Big time.'

Kayla turned her head away from the empty Quidditch field and looked at her. 'Oh?'

Marley nodded. 'Lily's told me to bugger off, but I think he said something to her.'

Kayla felt a crease appear between her eyebrows. 'Ouch.'

'Yeah. But have Sirius and James turned up yet? Tryouts start in like, half an hour.'

'That's what I'm waiting for, no?' Kayla asked, waving her hands wildly in the direction of the pitch. 'But what did Snape say to her? Lily, I mean.'

Marley chewed on a lock of hair. 'From what I've gathered, a bucket load of insults.'

'What?' Kayla did up the buttons on her jumper to block out the cool wind blowing over them. 'That doesn't sound like him at all. He wouldn't say that to Lily.'

'Well, apparently he did,' she said grimly. 'Lil's in tears over it, but she won't let me do anything about it. So I just fed her up with a massive bowl of custard and left her at it.'

'You should have stayed anyway,' Kayla said, frowning. Marley shook her head.

'If Lily tells me to go, I'm not gonna go against her. Mental wreck or not, she can still hex.'

Kayla gave her a flat, disbelieving stare. Marley stared right back. Finally, with a sigh, the other girl gave up.

'At least tell me that Lily responded well?'

For the first time in half an hour, Marley cracked a grin. 'She hexed the bejesus out of him. She was already in a foul mood because James was begging her to take the writing off his head, and didn't go about it in the nicest of ways. Then when Snape marches on up to her and starts spewing out insults, she snaps. Okay,' she said, shrugging a little, 'maybe I'm over exaggerating. She didn't hex the bejesus out of him. She just . . . actually . . . I can't even remember.' Marley crossed her arms and frowned, thinking. 'Damn it. Memory span of a goldfish.'

A solitary eyebrow travelled up Kayla's forehead. 'Marley, Snape's not the sort to just go around and insult Lily, I'm sure. He follows the girl around like a lost puppy. Why would he randomly start insulting her?'

Marley shrugged. 'Beats me.'

Kayla seemed to be deep in thought, before she gasped and looked up. 'Did he call her a -?'

'No, Merlin, no!' Marley said hastily. 'He didn't go that far, thank god.'

'Right,' Kayla said. 'Because she would have hexed him if he called her that. I'm surprised he hasn't yet.'

'It beats me,' Marley muttered. 'But it's a matter of time. The time before he does is running out. I know it. Because nothing will change the fact that Severus Snape is bastard-ish devil-spawn.' A heavy scowl settled over her features, and she crossed her arms. Judging by Kayla's expression, she also felt the same.

Sirius

Sirius paced back and forth nervously, hands grasped behind his back as James tugged on his Quidditch robes.

'Can't you hurry up, Prongs?' he moaned. 'My life could very well depend on this.'

'I'm sure it's not dependant,' James muttered, but the rest of his sentence was muffled as his head disappeared into the depths of the material.

'But it will,' Sirius insisted. 'Yours did too, remember? And Marley's for that matter.'

'Sirius, if you don't shut up right now, I'll hex you with a Silencing Charm.'

That shut Sirius up, even though James looked like a complete tool with a brightly coloured insult written across his forehead. He liked to talk.

'Now, Christina's been made captain this year,' James started.

Sirius immediately jumped in with a question. 'Who's she?'

'Christina Johnson. One of the Chasers.' James gave him a pointed look. 'You know?' He shook his head as Sirius looked at him blankly and kept talking instead. 'Anyway, she isn't as tough on you as Marcus, so there's a big possibility she could pick a complete loser for the spot instead. So, you've gotta blow them all off the pitch. Okay?'

Sirius cocked his head to the side. 'With pep talks like those, you could be Captain yourself.'

James just shrugged as he pulled on his boots. 'That's a long way down the track, mate. Let's just focus on getting you on the team for now.' He stood up. 'Let's go.'

Kayla

Very little was said until the collection of potential beaters marched onto the field, when Marley sprung up out of her seat and stood on top of it, looking around for Sirius.

'There he is!' she suddenly called, even though Kayla could see him perfectly well. 'Sirius!'

The figure of Sirius Black turned and waved, before continuing on his way with what appeared to be James.

'If he doesn't get on, I'll slaughter Christina,' Marley said, plopping back down. Kayla just quirked an eyebrow, and looked back over the partially-filled grandstands. Her stomach dropped when she saw a horribly familiar figure making its way towards them. Kayla spun to face them as they approached.

'What do you want, Snape?' she hissed. 'You've done enough damage.'

Marley stiffened as she heard her speak, and turned slowly, with enough venom in her gaze to take out the whole Slytherin house.

'Please, I need your help,' Snape insisted.

Marley crossed her arms, not backing down. 'Choose your words carefully.'

'I – you see – I didn't mean to -' He stumbled through what seemed like a million alibis.

'Didn't mean to what?' Marley spat. 'Hurt one of my best friends? Insult her, when you were supposed to be one of those to her, too?'

'It was like I had no control over what I was saying. Tell her to listen to me,' Snape pleaded.

'Tell her?' Marley's voice went shrill. 'What, am I the messenger owl, now?'

Snape backtracked. 'No, I -'

'Find your own means of fixing your mistakes, Death Eater,' Marley growled. 'Come on, Kayla. I've had enough of him.'

Just as they were getting up and walking away, Snape burst out. 'I swear, it wasn't me! Someone must have hexed me!'

'Yeah,' Marley said in a patronising tone. 'Lily did, when you started talking to her like that!'

'No, not then,' Snape said, 'before that!' He seemed to be thinking, then a look of realisation crossed his face. 'I ran into bloody Potter and Black before – they must have done something! Those fu -'

Marley whirled, and the look on her face was absolutely terrifying. 'Don't you dare talk about my brothers like that, you bastard!' she yelled, lunging out at him. Kayla reacted instinctively and leapt forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Marley's waist and holding her back.

'Stop, Marley!' she cried. 'He's not worth it!'

A sneer crossed Snape's features. Kayla could tell that he was going to strike back. 'That's it, listen to the mudblood, McKinnon.'

Kayla felt her face go stony. She fixed Snape with a steely look, and said, 'You're not doing yourself any favours, Snape. You know how Lily feels about that word. And at the moment, I'm sure she trusts me than she does you.'

Realisation seemed to hit Snape as he came to the conclusion that this was true. Immediately, he tried to make amends. 'I -'

'Not interested,' Kayla said flatly.

'But -'

'Don't care.'

'It's -'

'SHUT UP!' This outburst came from Marley, who looked on the point of hyperventilating. She took a deep breath, and started. 'Snape. You have screwed things up. Royally. And you now have no chance of getting Lily's friendship back through us. You're going to have to get off your freaking arse, and work for this for once in your life. And hope on Merlin's name,' she added, her voice deadly quiet, 'that you get a second chance. Because you do not deserve it. Ever.'

'And even if she does take you back,' Kayla added, 'you better not mess up again. Lily deserves more than you.'

There was a sudden outburst of cheering from below them, and Marley's attention snapped back to the Quidditch pitch. 'Sirius!' she cried. Before Kayla could register what had happened, she had vaulted over the barrier between the stands and the pitch, and run over towards Sirius, who had been hoisted up onto the shoulders of the Gryffindor team. Kayla quickly put two and two together. He must have made it on to the team.

But Snape was still there, looking at Kayla pleadingly. It was amazing how suddenly this guy's attitude could change from one thing to another. She met his gaze with narrowed eyes, his insult still bouncing around in her head. She conveyed it all through her expression – she wasn't going to help him. She wheeled around and started walking away, but at the last moment, turned back.

'And for the record, I am a mudblood. A mudblood and proud.'

You tell him, Kayla.

Question: What do you prefer: Marauders or Next Generation?

Answer: Marauders. I just . . . I just do.

Leave your answers in the reviews!