James spent the majority of his Christmas holidays lounging around his London estate with Sirius, occasionally accompanied by Remus and Peter when they came for visits. The visits hadn't been entirely light-hearted; true to his word, he had talked to his mother about their suspicions about Abraxas Malfoy being a Death Eater. He'd found her in her study on his first night back.
"Mum?" James said as he knocked on the door. "Can I talk to you?"
She looked up from the book she was reading, seated in her armchair in the corner. "James," his mother greeted him warmly. "Of course you can. Please come in."
James made his way over to the corner and sat down on an adjacent chair, tapping his foot on the floor, uncharacteristically nervous about talking to one of his parents. He had asked Sirius to help him explain their theory about Malfoy, but Sirius had demurred, and James knew why: despite Sirius's assertions that James should be the one to explain since he was the one who had witnessed the revealing remark, James knew that Sirius just didn't want to try to broach the subject of Remus's lycanthropy with Mrs. Potter.
His mother was looking at him expectantly, but James was having a bit of trouble meeting her eye. Deciding eventually that if he was forthcoming with the important information right away, she might be too surprised to ask questions, James blurted out, "I think Abraxas Malfoy is a Death Eater."
Mrs. Potter did, in fact, look shocked. But her response shocked James just as much as his statement shocked her: "I know for certain Abraxas Malfoy is a Death Eater."
His mouth fell open. "What?" James asked.
"Abraxas Malfoy is a Death Eater," his mother repeated calmly. "I have known for quite some time, as has your father."
James tapped his foot faster. "How long have you known?" he demanded.
She eyed him carefully, considering. He knew he was being impertinent, but he didn't care. "Since our New Years party a few years ago. He made a remark that could not be misinterpreted. That is why your father thre- escorted him out of the house, and that is why he has not been back."
Still not satisfied, James went on. "If you've known he was a Death Eater for nearly three years, then why isn't he in Azkaban?" he challenged, though he already knew what he was going to get: deflection, blind reassurances, chides to mind his own business.
"Politics," his mother said.
That wasn't what James had expected. He gave her a quizzical look, and she continued.
"The Malfoy family is one of the oldest magical families in England, and that gives them power. Not only are they very wealthy, they are very influential within the Ministry. And, though it shouldn't, their blood status gives them additional clout. The Ministry cannot or will not act against the Malfoys without undeniable evidence that they are supporting Voldemort."
James started slightly at the use of Voldemort's name. Most people, especially at Hogwarts, referred to him as "You-Know-Who," a habit James and his friends had slipped into.
His mother did not acknowledge James's discomfort. "The Ministry would lose a valuable supporter and powerful player in our community and alienate many of the Malfoy's contacts in doing so. The Malfoys know this and they are using it to their advantage. Most of Voldemort's agents have to operate in secrecy to avoid exposure. The Malfoys have been testing the water for years, and they have had ample opportunity to see that most wizards will not openly confront them. So they are more open about their loyalties to the Dark side of our world. They can recruit more forcefully and threaten more ruthlessly. It was only a matter of time before they started on the Hogwarts student body." She sounded very grim here, but the look she gave James was alert and piercing. "But how did you discover this, James?"
Tap, tap, tap. James's foot sped up. "He was at Professor Slughorn's Christmas party."
His mother's eyebrows contracted at this. "And you spoke to him?"
"Yes."
"What was discussed?" Here, she adopted a professional manner, her "official persona" as James called it. She sounded as though he had been called in front of her department for an interview.
"Not much."
Tap, tap, tap.
"Did he talk to you about your prospects after leaving Hogwarts?"
"No."
Did he talk to you about your status or bring up your familial connections?"
Tap, tap, tap.
"No."
"What did he talk to you about?"
"Not much. He just said he knows you and dad."
"Yes, he certainly does," she agreed darkly.
James nodded but didn't say anything else.
Tap, tap…
"James, stop tapping your foot."
He jumped and looked up at his mother again. There was a knowing look in her eye. "What aren't you telling me?"
"What?" James asked.
"You're tapping your foot," she observed. "You've done that since you were a little boy, but only when you're trying to hide something. What is it? What did Abraxas Malfoy say to you that you don't want me to know?"
James kept very still, resisting the urge to start tapping his foot again and cursing himself internally for the nervous habit. He was being obvious. He should have expected his mother to misconstrue and assume that it was himself he was worried about, that something bad had happened to him. "Malfoy didn't say anything important to me," he hedged.
But Mrs. Potter picked up right away. "Who else were you there with? Was it Sirius? Did Abraxas say something to him?"
She had half-stood and she looked angry. "No, mum," James said quickly. "Sirius didn't go to the party. Malfoy didn't talk to him at all."
His mother sat back down but did not take her eyes off James. He looked away again, but she reached out and put a hand on top of his. "James, whatever it is, you need to tell me. Especially if it's related to the Death Eaters."
James sighed. "Remus was with me. Malfoy made a remark about…about…" He struggled to find the right words, to explain about Malfoy's hint without revealing Remus's secret.
"About Remus being a werewolf?" she said softly.
He looked up, stunned. "You know?" he asked.
She nodded. "Your father and I have known for more than a year," she said. "Rather, we have suspected."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because we didn't want to put you in the position of having to tell us," she replied. "You know that it doesn't matter to us: Remus is a great friend to you and Sirius and will not change the way we think about him. But we also assumed that, if it was true, you and Sirius knew about it and were keeping it a secret as a favor to Remus." Here, her eyes grew rather misty. "And I must say we rather admired that in you boys."
She smiled at James, and he returned it. "Oh mum," he grumbled good-naturedly, and she chuckled.
But all too soon, she grew serious again. "James, can you tell me what Abraxas Malfoy said to Remus?"
James considered for a moment and nodded. "He made a comment about knowing…well, he referred to him as Remus's 'real parent,'" here, James made a disgusted face, "but he meant that he knows Greyback, the werewolf who infected Remus."
His mother's hand clenched around her handkerchief and she scowled. "That horrible man," she muttered, and James didn't know if she was referring to Malfoy or Greyback.
James nodded. "And Remus reckons Greyback is already working with You-Know-Who," he said.
Mrs. Potter nodded. "Remus is right," she said. "The Ministry already knows that Greyback is working with Voldemort. But we did not know that his involvement was widely known among the ranks of Death Eaters. I will have to speak with…with some people about this," she said, and she stood up.
James stood up too. "You're not going to tell anyone about Remus, are you?" he asked.
His mother shook her head. "No, James, I won't. One of the benefits of my station is the allowance for confidential informants."
There was a curious look on her face. James frowned. As a rule, the Ministry didn't allow confidential informants, but he didn't press. He was so relieved to have had the burden of knowledge lifted off his chest, to not have had to share Remus's secret, and, most importantly, to have been taken seriously. He wrapped is arms around his mother and hugged her. She hugged him back.
"Thank you for telling me this, James," she said.
James smiled. "Thanks for listening, mum."
The Potters has a quiet Christmas that year, or as quiet a Christmas as they could have had, considering James and Sirius were under one roof and, for the first time, Sirius was of age and could do magic.
"Sirius, do not charm the turkey!" Mrs. Potter cried at Christmas dinner as Sirius whipped is wand out and pointed it at the roast bird.
At that precise moment, the main course leapt onto the nubs of its roasted feet and began jerking along the table in what was probably meant to be a sort of two-step.
Mrs. Potter jumped to her feet and seized a gravy boat just as the turkey took a gangly step back and nearly knocked it to the floor. James and his father roared with laughter.
"Sustenis Animatus," Mr. Potter said and flicked his own wand at a serving bowl of mashed potatoes. The potatoes surged upright, forming a roughly humanoid shape that went running toward the turkey. When the two dishes met, the mashed potato figure pulled its starchy arm back and then swung forward, punching the turkey and sending it toppling back onto the carving board.
"For heaven's sake," James's mum grumbled, but she too laughed as Mr. Potter waved his wand again and the potato-person raised its arms into the air in victory.
Still chuckling and very red in the face, James's dad directed the potatoes back into their bowl.
"It looked…" James gasped out, leaning heavily on his elbows to keep himself from collapsing into his plate as he laughed. "It looked like a potato-yeti!"
Sirius was wiping tears out of his eyes. "Sorry about that, Mrs. Potter," he said. "Didn't mean for it to go that far. I just wanted to make it tap-dance."
She shook her head in faux frustration. "I'll be writing to Dumbledore tomorrow to see if an exception can be made about allowing you to do magic outside of school." She tried to look stern, but her eyes were twinkling.
James grinned between his parents and his best mate. "Just wait until I turn seventeen, Mum," he said, and both his parents pretended to shudder in horror.
"And Remus and Peter," Sirius added. "We'll bring them over once all four of us are of age and we'll blow the whole house up."
"Speaking of which," James said. "Can we invite them to stay over for New Years? And maybe a few days after?"
His parents exchanged confirming looks and nodded. "Yes, of course you can," his father said.
"Only make sure the timing will be okay for Remus," his mother added. "My, it's nice to be able to address that openly for once."
Sirius and James smiled. James had told Sirius about his conversation with his mother the week before, and Sirius had declared that they should have expected James's parents to have cottoned on already.
"Don't worry, the next full moon isn't until the fifth," Sirius told Mrs. Potter.
Mr. Potter chuckled. "Remus is lucky to have friends who are involved enough to keep track of the full moon with him. I have to use the moon cycle every day with my potions, but I still couldn't tell you what the moon is doing without using charts."
"You have no idea, dad," James said, exchanging a sly look with Sirius. "Trust me."
James's parents exchanged a look themselves, but apparently decided they didn't want to know. "Do you boys still have presents to open, or have you ripped through them all already?" James's mother asked a moment later.
The boys nodded. "We only opened the Father Christmas ones," he said. "We left the ones from you two for later."
"Though why you still do Father Christmas gifts for your sixteen-year-old son and his officially-adult best mate is anyone's guess," Sirius added, raising his eyes to the ceiling. "My parents never bothered with Father Christmas gifts; they wanted to make damn sure I knew who should get the credit for everything they ever gave me."
Mrs. Potter said "hmm," and pursed her lips. She didn't like to criticize Sirius's parents in his presence, though James knew Sirius wouldn't care.
"Well, we tried stopping them once James here went to Hogwarts," Mr. Potter said, jerking a thumb towards James. James made a frantic move to shush, but his mother picked up.
"But he pouted for the entire last week of the holiday about it, so we started doing it again the next year."
Sirius's face lit up in a grin. "Is that so, James?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
James frowned down at his last few bites of turkey and peas. "It's not that I still believed in Father Christmas," he defended himself. "It's because of the…the tradition, isn't it?"
His father smirked at Sirius and his mother whispered, "So you didn't sit up all night when you were eleven waiting to catch Father Christmas when he came to presents?"
"Mum!" James protested while Sirius and Mr. Potter roared with laughter.
James wrote to Remus and Peter on Boxing Day, inviting them to spend the remainder of the Christmas holidays at his holiday and the catch the train at King's Cross together on January 2, 1977. Peter wrote back an affirmative right away, and Remus's reply came the day later, and they flooed in two days before New Years.
Remus arrived first, stepping out of the fireplace in the library and dusting himself off. His new Christmas jumper hung a but big on him and he had the beginnings of shadows under his eyes, a sure sign that the full moon was creeping near again.
Mrs. Potter met him and pulled him into a hug. "How are you, Remus?" she asked.
"I'm fine," Remus said, struggling a little against the embraced, embarrassed as he always was with close-contact. He looked up at Mrs. Potter as she pulled away. "I'm guessing James told you?"
"He didn't need to, dear," she said, ruffling his hair affectionately.
"Turns out my parents are just as smart as the rest of us were when we were twelve," James said, walking up to them and grinning. "Who knew?"
His mother swatted him on the head. "Peter should be arriving in about five minutes. I will be in the kitchen arranging lunch if you want to join me once he gets here," she said, and she turned and left the room.
They waited in the library for Peter. Remus pulled a book off the nearest shelf right away and began rifling through the pages. James and Sirius paced, reading the spines of books as they walked by, but not bothering to open them. Finally, nearly another five minutes after he was scheduled to arrive, the fire once again flared and Peter appeared, spinning very fast.
He came a stop and stumbled out onto the rug. "Finally," Sirius said, bounding forward and helping Peter upright.
James hurried over and took Peter's bag for him. He picked up Remus's from where he had set it by the door to the library. "Follow me," he called over his shoulder. "I'll show you where you're sleeping."
"We know where we're sleeping, Prongs," Peter's voice followed him. "It's not exactly our first time here."
"You have new rooms," James called back. "I moved into the East Wing over the summer after Sirius showed up so our rooms could be closer."
He heard the sound of Remus replacing his book on the shelf and three sets of footsteps following the him down the corridor and up the first of many staircases.
"We're all on the fourth floor now," James said apologetically as they continued to climb. Peter was wheezing by the time they reached the correct landing. "But it's the only floor with two sets of adjoining rooms across the hall from each other. Bit of an oversight in the planning, I think, but it'll do."
He pushed open two doors halfway down the corridor and ushered Peter and Remus inside. He set Peter's bag down on the bed and crossed to the wall to unlock the door that connected the two rooms. Remus followed him into the second and James put his bag down too.
Peter and Sirius followed them in, looking around interestedly. "Don't get too excited," James told them. "The rooms are identical and mostly the same as the guest rooms you had last time. Sirius and I are across the hall."
"Thanks, James," Remus said.
James inclined his head, then gestured out the door and toward the room across the corridor. The other followed him into James's room, which was adorned in Gyffindor scarlet and gold. He immediately went to the bed and flopped onto it. "So," he said once his friends had settled.
"So?" Sirius asked. "We have business to attend to before lunch?"
"Just one item," James said. "My mother. I told her about what old Malfoy said to Moony here the night we got back, and I think she let something slip.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You didn't tell me this," he accused.
"I wanted to wait until we were all here," James countered. "Especially since it's thanks to Remus's proclivity for attracting rude comments that I found out about it."
"Spit it out then, James," Peter said while Remus rolled his eyes.
"Well," James said. "My mum already knew about Malfoy being a Death Eater. She says she and my dad have suspected his whole family of it for years."
"Then why hadn't anything been done about it?" Remus asked, frowning.
"I'm getting to that part," James said. "Apparently it's 'politics' or some rubbish like that, so the Ministry isn't going to do anything about it unless the Malfoys do something really bad. But my mum said something else that makes me think that there might be someone, or something, outside of the Ministry that is involved in stopping the Death Eaters."
The other three exchanged looks. "What did you mum say to suggest that?" Sirius asked.
James sat up and leaned toward his friends conspiratorially. "First she said she had to 'speak to some people' about it, only she sounded like she'd started to say something besides 'some people,' and caught herself. Then she said something about her station allowing her to use confidential informants. And I don't think she was talking about her job, because you know the Ministry; everything had to be open, by the books, public disclosure, and all that toss. Ever since old Minchum became Minister, I can't see Crouch and the likes letting someone use information from a source without revealing their identity. If anyone tried, Crouch would probably insist on dragging the witness in for questioning to make sure they're trustworthy."
"And Alastor Moody in the auror office would want to interrogate them too," Sirius agreed.
Remus looked a bit nervous at the idea, so James hurried to reassure him. "You're not going to get called down to the Ministry, Moony. My mum wouldn't do that to you. That's another reason I think she was talking about something besides her job."
"What could it be, then?" Peter asked, leaning forward.
James, by contrast, leaned back against his pillows again. "I dunno," he said. "Some secret society, maybe? A group that's trying to fight You-Know-Who?"
"It'll be something off the record, then," Sirius said knowingly. "Otherwise they'd be working with the Ministry, and it sounds like this is supposed to be outside the Ministry.
"And your parents are working with…whoever it is?" Peter said, sounding impressed.
He shrugged, "I guess so."
Sirius grinned. "I love your parents, Prongs. And I really hope that if my parents or any of the other Blacks get arrested, your mum is the one that claps them in irons."
"Here, here!" the rest of them cheered.
The next three days passed uneventfully enough, especially by Marauder standards. They spent most of their time either playing Quidditch in the Potter's expansive back garden or else lounging around the house. Remus favored the library, and Peter the kitchen where the house-elf, Dooley, prepared iced pumpkin juice and cakes whenever they popped in for a snack. It was on such an occasion that Remus broached the topic that James had been trying not to think about all holiday.
"So James, have you heard from Lily at all?"
James looked quickly down at his half-eaten slice of treacle tart. "No," he said in what he hoped was a casual voice. "I haven't heard from anyone from school."
Sirius and Peter had looked up at the mention of Lily. Sirius frowned. "You know, now that you mention it, Moony, Prongs hasn't brought up Lily at all since the night of Slughorn's party."
"What gives, James?" Peter asked, shocked at this piece of news.
James looked quickly around the kitchen for a sign of his parents, but they were absent. He instead noticed Dooley. "Hey, Dooley, why don't you go take a break?" he said to the house-elf. "We'll clean up after ourselves when we're done."
Dooley peeked at James over the edge of the marble countertop, which the top of her head was barely level with. "Are you sure, Master James?"
"Quite," James said, eager to be rid of the elf lest she repeat any of their conversation to his parents.
"As you wish, Master James," Dooley said in her squeaky voice. "I will go and dust the ballroom." And she left the kitchen and closed the door behind her.
James shook his head. "Doesn't know the meaning of the word 'break,' that one," he said, then he took another bite of his tart in what he hoped was a casual manner.
But when he looked up, his friends were still watching him. Sirius crossed his arms. "Don't try to change the subject, mate. You've been unusually mute on the topic of…what is she currently? 'The most beautiful girl to ever make unfounded accusations against my character?'"
Peter and Remus laughed but James scowled. "I never said that," he grumbled.
"No," Sirius agreed. "But your meaning was pretty clear. You came back to the Common Room the night of the Quidditch match grumbling about birds always jumping to the worst possible conclusions and then ignored Lily for the rest of the week. And you almost bit Moony's sodding head off when he mentioned he was going to Slughorn's party with her. I'll admit, I followed you blindly in ignoring her for a few days, but if she did something really awful, you would have told us. And I don't exactly like ignoring Evans because, let's face it, she's the cleverest girl in our year...after Mary, of course."
"And she was nice enough to invite me to the party," Remus added. "No matter how it turned out. Oh!" he muttered to himself a moment later. "I need to apologize for walking out on her."
"What happened between you two, anyway?" Peter asked.
James sighed and put his fork down. He pushed the rest of the tart away from him. "We got into a fight after the Quidditch match. She was mad at me for something that, for once in my bleeding life actually wasn't my fault, and I was mad at her for being mad. But I got over it and she apologized the night before we left and…that's it."
Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked at him skeptically. "It really wasn't your fault?" Remus asked.
"What? No! I said it wasn't my fault and it wasn't my fault," James insisted hotly.
Peter raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Remus put down his fork too. "So where does that leave you two now?"
James thought about that and shrugged. "Right back in square one, I'd say."
Sirius snorted. "Square one my arse! You've never been in square one with Lily. She's hated you since our first bloody train ride because we made those cracks about Snivellus, remember? After that she hated you and you were indifferent to her. Then she hated you and you fancied her. Then she really hated you and you were obsessed with her. Then—"
"Alright!" James cut him of while Remus and Peter sniggered. "We're probably not at square one. Lily is…Lily. I don't know; she's probably gone back to indifference. Better than the beginning of the year, but not as good as…" he stopped, almost having told them about their exchange in the Hospital Wing and the first part of their conversation in the Room of Requirement. But he didn't think Lily would want that repeated. "Anyway. Lily is indifferent and I'm…"
Here, he really didn't know what he was going to say. He was in love with her. Still. He'd never stopped loving her, even after she'd yelled at him in the Room of Requirement. But he was starting to think he should just give all of that up. He looked down, fiddling with a crumb on the counter.
"You're still mad about Lily, James," Remus said easily. "Anyone can see that. And if it helps, I'm starting to think Lily is going a bit mad about you, too."
James looked up so quickly he cricked his neck. "What?"
The corner of Remus's mouth twitched up in a smile. "I said I think Lily is starting to go mad for you," he said.
"I heard what you said! What makes you think that?" James asked, standing up from his barstool and fighting the urge to leap over the counter and grab the front of Remus's robes.
Remus smirked. "Just something she said on the way down to Slughorn's party," he said. "She kept asking if you were angry with her and if you'd said anything to us about her. I told her 'no,' by the way, since I don't consider you angrily grumbling about how unreasonable birds are to be a direct comment on Lily. Then she said she didn't want you to be angry with her because you were only trying to help and that you were, and I quote, 'really a decent sort of bloke.' I think she was talking more to herself at that point, because I still don't know what went on between you two, but I'll say this: I can't think of any other time that Lily has cared one lick what you thought about her."
James sat back down, stunned. Lily Evans thought he was a decent sort of bloke. Not a bullying toerag. Not an arrogant berk. A decent sort of bloke.
A grin spready across his face and he gazed without seeing at the white tiled kitchen around him.
"Oh, Merlin, you've really done it this time, Remus," Sirius complained. "He's going to be insufferable now!"
But James barely heard him. He was thinking about what he was going to do the next time he saw Lily Evans.
James spent the rest of that night and the next morning on the train brainstorming with his friends and trying to come up with the prefect greeting for Lily after their time apart. No doubt she had spent the two weeks thinking about him just as much as he had been thinking about her, and she would be expecting only the best, he was sure. The problem was, James had no experience in the area of greeting a Lily Evans who was not only willing but possibly eager to talk to him. He'd spent most of the past year trying to convince Lily to even listen patiently while he talked.
By this point, James thought himself quite adept at chasing Lily Evans. But what should one say to a bird that wants to be caught?
Specifically, what does one say to a girl like Lily Evans? James had chased and caught plenty of girls in his time at Hogwarts. Not a huge number, but he'd certainly never lacked for a date to Hogsmeade when he'd wanted one. But now he was on the cusp of the catch of his life. And he had no bloody idea what to do.
"I have no bloody idea what do!" James agonized, running his hands through his hair as he paced their compartment on the Hogwarts Express.
"So we've heard," Sirius grumbled. He was leaning back in his seat with a Muggle magazine covering the top half of his face, trying to sleep. On the other side of the compartment, Remus was having better luck sleeping. The shadows under his eyes were darker than ever; it was just a few days before the full moon. And Peter was gone, chasing the food trolley for some more sweets.
"Padfoot, you have to help me," James begged, reaching forward to lift the magazine from his friend's face.
Sirius's hand whipped out and slapped James's hand before he even touched the copy of Street Chopper. "Prongs, I've been trying to help you for nearly twenty-four hours," he snapped. "But you don't want to take my suggestions and I think all of your ideas are stupid, so here we are."
James groaned and ran a hand through his hair again. "What did you say when you asked Mary out?" he asked for what was probably the dozenth time.
"The answer hasn't changed, James," Sirius said. "First I asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me. Notice that I asked her one-on-one; I didn't shout it at her in front of our entire year while hexing her best mate." He looked sternly at James as he said this, and James sighed.
"That time I asked her out after our O.W.L.'s wasn't the first time I asked her out, Sirius. The first time it was just the two of us and she still said no."
Sirius nodded and sat up straighter in his seat, tossing the magazine to the side. "Yeah, that happens sometimes, mate. Just because it's never happened to us before doesn't make it all that odd."
James made a desperate noise and Sirius held a hand up. "Second," he said louder to head-off James's interruption. "I waited until she had agreed to go on a date with me, which, fortunately, happened right away. And on that date, I was pleasant and I asked her questions about herself and listened to the answers. And at the end of the date, I asked if she wanted to see me again sometime. And she did. Then…" Sirius trailed off. This was the first time James had allowed him to get that far without interrupting. "Well, I won't reveal all of my secrets. Suffice it to say I spent a bit more time with Mary, took her on a few more dates, then I asked if she wanted to be my girlfriend. And she said yes."
James dropped into his seat. "How do I get Evans to say yes when I ask her on a date?"
Sirius frowned, considering. "Well, with your track record with Lily, and with what I know about her…I'd say it's all going to be in the delivery. Because, no offense mate, but every other time I've heard you ask a girl out, it sounds more like you're informing her that you've chosen her as your next date and just sort of assume she'll be flattered. It usually works, but I'm not all that surprised it didn't work with Evans."
James frowned too, remembering that past March when he'd first asked Lily on a date. With a touch of embarrassment, he realized that he had sort of treated it like he was giving her a prize. He'd certainly been expecting her to agree, at any rate, and he'd been surprised when she turned him down.
"So ask her on a date and be prepared for her to say no," James coached himself.
"Hang on, you're not planning on asking her out straight away, are you?" Sirius asked.
"Y…yes? No? I don't know!" James said, flopping his head against the back of the seat and letting his shoulders go limp. "Help me, Sirius, I've forgotten how to talk to girls," he whined.
Remus shifted in his seat. "You two are stupid," he muttered,
James ignored this.
"Don't ask her out first thing. In fact, you probably shouldn't even ask her out at all until you know when the next Hogsmeade weekend is. Just focus on having a normal, polite conversation today."
"How do I do that?"
"I don't know, James! Just…pretend she's one of us," Sirius suggested.
He frowned. "No, that won't do. I don't want to snog any of you lot."
Sirius threw his hands above his head. "This is hopeless! At this rate, you probably shouldn't even try looking at her today."
The train shuddered and then started to slow down.
"Good Godric, we're almost there!" James yelpd, launching himself across the compartment and pressing his glasses to the window. He could see the familiar trees that surrounded Hogsmeade station. He turned back to Sirius. "What do I do?"
"Don't try to talk to her yet, James; you're not ready. Abort the mission!"
Remus sat up, wiping sleep from the corner of his eye. Peter poked his head back in the compartment. "We're here," he reported, unnecessarily.
James looked around in an absolute panic. The train ground to a stop, they heard the sounds of the doors opening, and students began to emerge from their compartments and made for the platform.
Not sure exactly what else to do, James grabbed his belongings and followed the line of students off the train, Sirius at his shoulder saying all the while, "Call it off, mate. This isn't a good idea."
Ahead of him, James saw Alice, Dorcas, and Mary emerge from a train car some distance away. Lily would be with them.
James turned back to Sirius. "I'm going to wing it, mate!" he said. He darted toward the Gryffindor girls as Sirius shouted at him to come back.
Now that James was closer, he could see the back of Lily's head. That red hair would be recognizable anywhere. He focused almost entirely on her, scarcely noticing the grim expressions on Alice and Dorcas's faces or the way Mary was speaking reassuringly to her.
"Lily!" he called and she turned around. As excited as he was to see her, and as hard as his heart was pounding, he didn't notice how pale she was or the blank look in her eyes until he was right in front of her. "Lily, I—what's wrong?" he changed tracks as quick as he could. His heart gave a great lurch and began to thump faster.
She just looked at him vacantly, like she wasn't really seeing him. "My mum died," she said.
Author's Note: My daughter has taken two unexpectedly long naps today, and I took advantage of the time to get this chapter ready to post. I hope you all enjoy! Also, in celebration of my fifteenth chapter, I'm going to do something that I promised myself I wouldn't do: ask for reviews. I'm trying to stay motivated on the few kind words I've received so far, but it would be nice to know who is reading, what you think, and, most importantly, what you think I can improve on.
