CHAPTER TWO

INVESTIGATION INTO HIT WIZARD DEATH STILL ONGOING

2 September 1976

London - Investigation into the sudden death of Hit Wizard Arjun Singh continues, says leader of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad Davinia Herndon, though no new leads have emerged.

'We continue to work with the regional Squad in Leeds and Auror Headquarters in this matter,' said Squad Leader Herndon from her Ministry office on Wednesday.

Continued involvement of the Auror Office indicates that the Ministry now officially considers the Mr Singh's death to have been a murder perpetrated by those known as Death Eaters.

'What disturbs my office most is that Mr Singh was killed in such a way that the magic used did not so much as wake his wife - though we suspect it is much more likely that the Death Eaters responsible likely spelled Mrs Singh as well, potentially adding to criminal magics used,' said Head Auror Nwoye Ejike.

If anyone in the Leeds area has information related to Mr Singh's death or potential Death Eater activity in the area, please owl Auror Headquarters at the Ministry.

'Mate, don't look now, but Evans has been looking down at you all dinner,' Peter leaned across a huge mound of potatoes on his plate to grin conspiratorially at James.

'Mate, don't look now, but you've just covered your jumper in potatoes,' Sirius replied without missing a beat.

Peter jerked back from the table and looked down at his jumper which was, in fact, covered in potatoes, 'Ah, bollocks. What do I do now? I can't just walk around with potato down my front!'

At this, all three other Marauders looked up at Peter, shock in their eyes.

Sirius closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, 'I absolutely cannot believe you just asked that, Wormtail. Well, actually, I can, which makes this all that much more upsetting. Prongs, the emotional distress is unbearable. I think it broke my appetite -'

'Unlikely, given the rate at which you've been shovelling food into your mouth.'

'Moony, if I wanted a mediwizard's opinion, I'd owl St. Mungo's,' Sirius turned to James, 'Honestly, if you don't do something, I may perish. And how tragic would that be, to perish before I can finish my pie.'

James rolled his eyes but slowly set down his fork and knife before looking Peter in the eyes. Peter flushed a bit and glanced down at his potatoey jumper again.

'Wormtail. Peter. Friend. You. Are. A. Wizard. This. Is. A. Wizard. School,' James said slowly, enunciating each work carefully, 'Use. Your. Fucking. Wand. And. Vanish. The. Potatoes.'

Peter did turn bright red then before mumbling, 'Right, then.'

Remus sighed and pulled out his own wand, 'Evanesco . Honestly, James, if he tried to do that right now, he'd probably end up Vanishing the whole jumper.'

'I would not have!'

'Pete, you get flustered when you're embarrassed and always over-do the spell,' Remus replied in the long-suffering manner of someone who has had the same conversation several dozen times before.

'That is true,' Sirius interjected brightly, 'Remember that one time in third year when Flitwick startled you in Charms and your Cheering Charm was so over-done that you made Gerald Edgecombe wee himself he was laughing so hard?'

Peter muttered something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like 'it wasn't my fault' as James and Remus both laughed at the memory. Peter resolutely didn't look at either of them, but glanced back down the table. Something caught his eye and he immediately perked up, unfortunate weeing memory forgotten.

'See! There! Evans just looked down here again!' Peter exclaimed, 'And Prongs hasn't even said one thing to her to make her look! He hasn't lobbed any veg at her either! Or fruit!'

'Mate, she' been look'n' down 'ere -'

'For fuck's sake, Padfoot, swallow .'

Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus before raising his chin and dramatically swallowing, 'Mate, she's been looking down here. Who do you think I was smiling at earlier?'

'Literally anyone with two tits and a -'

'Anyway ,' Sirius interrupted Peter, 'Yes, Evans has been looking down here for the whole feast. Occasionally McKinnon, MacDonald, and Meadowes do as well. Your point?'

Peter blinked, 'My point?! My point is that unless provoked - usually with flying bits of food - Evans never looks at Prongs - and if she does Prongs always reacts! But he - he - he hasn't reacted !'

Remus finished serving himself a piece of treacle tart, 'Actually, that's an excellent point.'

James shrugged. He knew that Lily Evans had been looking down the table and them - him - whomever. In fact, he knew that Lily Evans had looked down the table exactly seven times since the feast began, her eyebrows slightly pinched together, as if she was mildly confused. Eight, if he counted the time she looked past him to where the first years had entered before the Sorting. But he didn't. Count that one, that is.

One didn't go from being completely aware of the presence or attention of the object of one's affection for a solid four years to completely unaware in one summer holiday. Or at least that seemed a logical explanation to James.

'Evans made it perfectly clear that she did not want shit to do with me last year. Just respecting her wishes,' James said airily before resuming his foray into a mound of peas. Next to him, Sirius nodded. They had several conversations about Evans over the summer holiday. Well, several might be an understatement. They had quite a few conversations - so many that Sirius threatened to permanently transfigure James into a mulberry bush if he did not shut the fuck up about Evans for one bleeding moment.

There was a conspicuous silence across the table. James looked up from his peas. Remus and Peter were staring at him, varying degrees of shock on both faces.

James frowned, 'What ?'

Remus and Peter looked at each other, then back to James. Peter's eyebrows pulled together and his mouth opened and closed repeatedly. He seemed completely beyond words.

'Not to be a prick, but, mate,' Remus said slowly, 'When the fuck have you ever cared that Evans asked you to leave her alone?"

Peter nodded emphatically.

James shrugged again, 'Just seemed like I should.'

Remus's eyes narrowed slightly, 'This isn't some hare-brained idea to ignore her and hope she comes rushing into your arms having realised what a dish you are? Because that will never work , Prongs.'

Sirius snorted, 'I honestly cannot picture Evans ever rushing into anyone's arms and gushing about what a dish they are.'

James shook his head. He was absolutely not about to get into it at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, with the whole school within decent earshot, but Lily's comments, screamed at him during their row last year, had stung quite a bit more than he was prepared to admit. At least publicly. And, after being threatened with permanent existence as a shrubbery, he conceded that Sirius may have a point. As much as James fancied himself half in love with Lily, if she was so disgusted by his mere presence, perhaps it would do to move on.

Or, as Sirius had phrased it, 'stop being such a fucking masochist and actually date girls who don't threaten to hex off your balls on a weekly basis.'

'Not a scheme. But speaking of schemes -' before James could finish his sentence, Dumbledore stood, effectively ending the feast with his annual beginning-of-the-year announcements.

James and Sirius stopped paying attention after the opening bit welcoming them back to Hogwarts - roughly thirty seconds into Dumbledore's remarks - and began quietly levitating Prudence Holderby's rather gigantic hairbow.

'Wingardium leviosa,' Sirius muttered as he watched the bow hover about two centimetres off Holderby's head before landing.

James sniggered, 'Wingardium leviosa .'

The hairbow hovered about five centimetres off Holderby's head. The little first-year - an especially tiny thing - sitting across from Holderby watched the bow open-mouthed, eyes wide. Holderby seemed to think that the girl was looking at her in awe and smiled condescendingly at her.

'What a twat Holderby is,' Sirius muttered, 'Wingardium leviosa .'

The bow hovered ten centimetres off Holderby's head before gently settling down again.

'How high do you think we can make it go before she notices that the first-year isn't just staring at her out of awe for her Head Girl badge?' James replied quietly.

'A galleon says a full metre.'

'Oh, absolutely,' James laughed softly, 'Wingardium leviosa .'

The bow now levitated twenty centimetres above Holderby's head. Several more Ravenclaws at Holderby's end of the table began to notice and laugh.

'Absolutely amazing Holderby hasn't noticed,' Sirius sniggered, ' Wingardium leviosa .'

'Flitwick has,' James murmured, watching the bow levitate almost half a metre in the air, 'McGoogles, too.'

Sirius's eyes flicked up to the head table as the bow hovered above Holderby's head. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick indeed had both noticed. McGonagall was pursing her lips so tightly that it looked as if she didn't have any while Flitwick just watched the bow move up and down with the same fascination that a Keeper watched Chasers pass the quaffle.

'Watch this,' James muttered, 'Keep the bow in the air. Motus flutare.'

Sirius snorted as the bow waggled in the air, seeming to wave at Professor Flitwick. The poor professor gave a startled jump that nearly dislodged him from his chair.

' - like to remind all students that Fanged Frisbees have been prohibited for years,' Dumbledore's voice rang out, slightly louder than the rest of his comments thus far. James felt the headmaster's gaze land on Sirius and him.

'Fuck, ' Sirius muttered, gently setting the bow back on Holderby's head, 'Ah, well. Neither of us are out a galleon.'

James sniggered, glancing up at Professor Dumbledore, who was indeed peering at Sirius and James over his half-moon spectacles.

'Will you pack it in?' Remus hissed, 'Bad enough she's the Head Girl, but levitating her bow while Dumbledore is speaking? How old are you? Seven?'

'Don't be ridiculous, Moony,' Sirius replied softly, 'Seven-year-olds don't have wands.'

James snorted with barely concealed laughter and Peter began coughing to disguise his own giggles. Several Gryffindors turned to stare at the four.

But not Lily Evans. Not that James noticed. Much.

Merlin, it was much easier to tell himself to stop noticing Lily when she was not around, wasn't it? He'd told Sirius over and over again during the holiday that he wouldn't even look at her, that he'd treat her like every other girl. It would be easy, he'd said (several times) - especially considering how little she thought of him. He'd move on, like Sirius suggested. This had all sounded like a foolproof plan. Simple, elegant. And then, as if the universe was conspiring against him, Lily Evans came back to school somehow looking even better than she had the year before, and now she was looking at him - granted, like he'd grown a third eye or horn - but, still. Looking at him .

It would, apparently, take quite a bit more practise than he was expecting. Plenty of reminding himself that she, Lily Evans, thought he, James Potter, was little better than a Death Eater. No saint, no 'bloody hero,' but little better than a Death Eater.

There it was - the low-boil of hurt and anger that made it easier to stop thinking about Lily Evans. Or at least stop thinking about her in nice ways. If only he could hold onto that anger and hurt until he actually moved on.

Though Evans's hair looked quite nice. Shiny and all in its plait. With the wee little red ribbon at the end. Had she purposely chosen a Gryffindor colour? Of course she had. This was Lily Evans and -

Bollocks, this was going to take an absurd amount of effort. How very irritating.

He should have known. 'Simple and elegant' were Sirius words, not James words. He may need a new plan. Possibly. Maybe not.

There was a flurry of motion around the Great Hall that indicated that Dumbledore's speech had concluded and students were dismissed for bed.

'Don't you have to guide ickle firsties around the castle?' Sirius asked as they rose from their seats, 'Being a prefect and all that?'

'If you'd even pay the slightest bit of attention, you'd notice that fifth year prefects guide the first years to the dormitories,' Remus replied tersely, 'Not older prefects - or Heads for that matter.'

'Oh, don't be put out, Moony,' James laughed, 'You think that Holderby's an utter twat as well.'

'Yes, but I'd at least be more subtle about demonstrating her twatishness,' Remus shot back.

A positively evil grin spread across Sirius's face, 'Sounds like you have ideas.'

Remus gave a small grin, 'I might.'

All four Marauders laughed as they exited the Great Hall and made their way slowly up to Gryffindor Tower.

'Oy, Potter!'

James turned around and grinned when he saw the absolutely gigantic seventh year barrelling toward them, shoving younger students out of the way as he did so, 'Quincy. How are you even larger than last year?'

The Gryffindor beater puffed his chest out, 'Been working out, yeah?'

James clapped him on the shoulder, 'Still getting recruited by the Magpies then?'

'Absolutely,' Quincy smiled smugly, 'So let's field a decent team this year to make me look utterly fucking brilliant, alright, Captain?'

'Nah,' James said lightly, 'Think I'll get a load of second years who can barely handle a broom. Can't make things too easy for you.'

Quincy laughed and punched him in the shoulder. James hid a wince - Felix Quincy's biceps were the size of Christmas hams, a punch in the shoulder from him was like getting walloped by the Whomping Willow (and James would know).

'Do that and I'll cheerily kill you, mate. Absolutely no way we're losing the Cup this year!' Quincy said before falling back to walk with his fellow seventh years.

'Felix Quincy is the reason for my inferiority complex,' Sirius said, 'That man is the size of a small lorry.'

'There is absolutely no way you have an inferiority complex, Padfoot,' Remus replied, 'And Quincy is the size of a regular lorry, not a small one. I'm honestly consistently shocked his broom makes it off the ground.'

The crowd of students gradually thinned as they drew closer to Gryffindor Tower. Remus gave the password to the Fat Lady and James couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as they climbed through the portrait hole and into the common room. His actual home was of course, home, and he loved his parents dearly, but this cosy tower was probably his favourite place in the world. The fireplace roared as students already sprawled across overstuffed chairs and mis-matched pillows, regalling each other with tales of their holidays. Several second years chattered loudly at the bottom of the stairs to the girls' dormitories, the looks on their faces smug as they looked pityingly at the first years as if they, as second years, were so much older and wiser. Said first years gazed about in wonder, some looking particularly tiny next to a crowd of seventh years lolling about on one of the couches.

'Am I going mad, or does it feel like there aren't quite as many people in here?' Peter asked, looking around the room.

Remus nodded, 'Well, you heard Dumbledore -'

'I absolutely did not.'

'Not talking to you,' Remus didn't even look at Sirius but continued replying to Peter's question, 'We've to take a list of students who didn't return. Apparently there are quite a few.'

James and Sirius exchanged a glance but didn't say anything. Both boys had known there would be quite a few students not returning, and not all of them because they withdrew from Hogwarts to seek what the Ministry was terming 'alternate educational options.'

Sirius's face became uncharacteristically blank as Remus explained to Peter exactly why some students hadn't returned to Hogwarts for term. James shot him a questioning glance, but Sirius just shook his head as they climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Sirius knew better than most exactly why some students wouldn't be returning - he told James that his own parents had debated pulling Regulus and him to pursue 'education more in line with the family values.' That had been the evening that Sirius showed up in the Potter's living room fireplace, skipping over greetings and loudly declaring that he couldn't stay with his parents anymore. James's mother hadn't said a word, just enveloped Sirius in an embrace and walked him to his new room.

'Is he alright?' Remus asked James softly as they all got ready for bed.

'Yeah,' James replied, 'He'll be fine.'

'Will he be?' Remus glanced over at Sirius, who was moodily putting on his pyjamas, 'I know the Prophet hasn't printed any names yet, but if the Death Eaters keep getting bolder...well, you know they'll have to start naming them.'

'We'll figure that out when they start doing that,' James replied with a hard note in his voice, 'No use in worrying about it yet.'

'James…'

'I know, Remus,' James sighed as he pulled back the duvet on his bed, 'Trust me, I know.'

Remus frowned but dropped the conversation and glanced a final time at the bed where Sirius lay, having already pulled the hangings. Peter, bless him, hadn't noticed any change in Sirius's behaviour, but James knew that he and Remus would need to have a longer conversation about Sirius in the near future. If they didn't and just let Sirius wallow in the gloom his family tended to bring on...well, James didn't like to think about what could happen.

If there was some way that he could block Prophet headlines from reaching Sirius, he would, James thought as he climbed into his own bed and pulled the hangings. Because Remus was right - although no Death Eaters had been explicitly named yet, James knew that it was only a matter of time. Everything was only a matter of time. Arjun Singh's very public, very Dark death declared that in ways that nothing else could.

And James had no fucking clue what he would tell his best mate to make it better when the names of Sirius's family became part of the headlines. Because deep down, James knew there was nothing that could ever make that better. Sirius might hate his family, but they were still his family. James knew that it bothered Sirius, that the people he'd grown up with had become this - it bothered him even more to consider that they'd always been this , all of them. James knew there was even more to it, but until Sirius was ready to tell him, well, he wouldn't push it, would he?

After all, how would he feel if it was Sirius's name splashed across headlines like that? Or Remus? Or Peter?

With the same worries that had been crowding his head for months now still swirling, James fell into a fitful sleep.

oOo

He awoke the next morning to a pillow to the face.

'For fuck's sake !' he grumbled as he sat up and lobbed the pillow back at Sirius, 'Can you not ?'

Sirius was sitting up in his own bed, long hair sticking out on one side of his head (or at least James assumed that was what the black blur on the side of his head was - James had yet to put his glasses on), 'If I'm awake, you're awake.'

'That makes no sense,' James threw himself back into his own pillows, 'I'm going back to sleep.'

'Are not. Moony's got us all awake so we actually make breakfast,' Sirius said through a yawn.

'I refuse to be late to class again because you two need your beauty sleep,' Remus shouted from the toilets.

Sirius groaned loudly but got out of bed. James reached over to the bedside table for his glasses, all the while thinking very unkind thoughts about swotty prefect friends.

Not thirty minutes later, the four boys were some of the first students in the Great Hall for breakfast. James looked about, blinking slowly. He took off his glasses, rubbed them on his jumper. Replaced them on his nose. Blinked again.

'Moony,' he said in a dangerously soft voice, 'Please tell me I'm mistaken. Please tell me that you did not drag us all out of bed so that we can be the - one, two, three... sixth people down here.'

'...technically, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth.'

James just stared at him.

Remus did not seem remotely bothered as he walked to Gryffindor table, sat down, and immediately began piling bacon rashers on his plate.

'I did not even know a person could eat breakfast this early,' Sirius muttered, slowly following Remus to the table, looking around the Great Hall in mild wonder.

The Marauders ate in silence for almost ten full minutes. Remus contentedly, Peter because he was still half asleep, Sirius because his mouth was full, and James because he still could not believe that Remus had actually made them wake up so early on the first day of classes.

It was honestly criminal.

James glared at Remus as he spread jam on toast.

'Spread that jam as aggressively as you like, Prongs,' Remus said from behind the Daily Prophet , 'I remain unbothered.'

'They have more information on Singh?' Marlene McKinnon slid into the seat next to Remus and began reading over his shoulder.

Remus lowered his paper, 'Not really. D'you know him?'

Marlene met James's eyes across the table, 'Not personally. Just been following the story. Tragic, really.'

James continued to hold Marlene's gaze.

She knew something. Or rather, her brothers knew something and so she knew something. Something that he didn't know yet. The fact that she didn't break his gaze told him that she quite needed to share what she knew. Which meant that whatever it was was decidedly not good .

Fuck.

Sirius suddenly elbowed James, effectively ending his reverie, 'Morning, Evans! You're looking absolutely incandescent today.'

James finally broke Marlene's gaze and looked at the witch who sat down next to her with a polite smile, 'Evans.'

Lily's eyes widened slightly at the benign greeting, 'Potter.'

'I'm hurt, Evans. I said good morning first,' Sirius placed a hand to his heart in mock pain.

She rolled her eyes, 'Black.'

'So terse,' Sirius replied, shaking his head, 'Not at all a warm greeting.'

James took a deep breath to calm his heart rate. Besides the completely unintended collision on the platform yesterday, this was the first time he'd interacted with Lily Evans since last year. He absolutely refused to let himself do something stupid.

Like flirt with her. Or tell her she looked beautiful. Or - wait, no.

If she didn't want anything to do with him and thought he was little better than Severus-fucking- Snape and his little aspiring Death Eater friends, fine. Like James told Remus and Peter last night, he could leave her alone. Practise, practise, practise. Maybe if he kept repeating these things to himself while Lily was in his presence, he'd get better at actually thinking them. That was, after all The Plan. In the meantime, he needed a distraction.

'Good end of your holiday, McKinnon?' James asked, turning his attention back to Marlene.

'Quite,' Marlene reached for the bacon, slapping Sirius's hand away as he attempted to snatch the last piece before she could, 'My brothers came and stayed for a few days. Mum was thrilled to see them.'

Knowing exactly what Marlene's brothers did on a regular basis, James could only imagine how excited Mrs McKinnon was to see her sons unharmed and in the same place at the same time.

'End of holiday?' Lily asked with a frown.

James turned to her, determined to not be odd, 'I saw McKinnon in July at Frank Longbottom's wedding.'

Lily turned accusingly to her friend, 'You didn't tell me you'd...gone to a wedding.' She shot another look James's direction, as if expecting him to chime in with a comment about weddings.

He didn't.

Marlene didn't meet Lily's eye, 'It was bloody well boring. Mum made me go.'

James nodded in agreement, 'My parents only made me go because they're old friends of Frank's mum's and said Augusta Longbottom would find a way to be offended if the whole family didn't show.'

Eurgh, how irritatingly rambly of him.

'Hmm,' Lily replied, not looking at James, but glaring at her best friend.

'So!' said Marlene, resolutely changing the topic, 'New schedules this year! Anyone dropping any subjects after O.W.L.s?'

'Me,' chimed in Peter, 'Dropping Potions and Divination.'

'I honestly cannot believe you carried on with Divination as long as you did,' Sirius said, grabbing a fifth piece of toast.

'Better than Arithmancy,' Peter retorted. Sirius snorted in reply.

'You're continuing with Transfiguration?' Lily exclaimed, sounding a bit shocked. She then seemed to realise how surprised she sounded and turned bright red, 'Sorry, that was quite rude.'

Peter shrugged, pink about the ears himself, 'No, I was shite at Transfiguration for a while. But I got some excellent...practise before O.W.L.s and made decent marks on the exam.'

James kicked Peter under the table. Quite hard.

'Ow,' Peter glared at him, ' What ?'

'Nothing,' James replied, but fixed Peter with a warning glare that clearly said ' stop fucking talking. '

Lily's eyes narrowed at James. He smiled blandly in return but didn't say anything.

Her frown deepened.

'Mr Potter, your schedule,' came Professor McGonangall's voice from behind him, interrupting the conversation as she handed James a piece of parchment.

'Thanks, Professor,' James shot her a huge grin and a wink. McGonagall pursed her lips.

'Mr Black...the same schedule,' this time, McGonagall sounded decidedly long-suffering.

'Aren't you excited to continue to be a beacon of light in our magical education, Professor?' said Sirius, reaching out to take the parchment from McGonagall.

'Thrilled, Mr Black,' McGonagall replied drily as she continued to hand out schedules to Remus, Peter, Lily, and Marlene, 'It appears I shall be seeing all of you in class shortly.'

As McGonagall moved on to the next group of students needing new schedules, James immediately turned to Sirius to check the veracity of McGonagall's statement. Sure enough, both boys still had the exact same schedule - something that had caused untold amounts of concern third year, when Sirius briefly considered Ancient Runes instead of Arithmancy (James had been appalled, though this was mostly because his dad had a bizarre obsession with Ancient Runes, especially those related to British Wizarding folklore, and James immediately chafed at the idea of becoming fixated on - among other ridiculous texts - The Tales of Beedle the Bard. So odd, his father). Sirius had been easy to convince otherwise, given that his own mother loved Runes as well. For both boys, Arithmancy quickly became the obvious choice. At the time, it had the added bonus of including one Lily Evans as his classmate. Now, however, that might make the whole moving-on-from-Lily-Evans-by-almost-ignoring-her Plan a bit harder. Possibly.

'Damn, did I miss the bacon?' Dorcas Meadowes sat down next to James, Mary MacDonald on her other side.

'Apparently, if you wake up at the arse-crack of dawn, you can get all the bacon you like,' James grumbled.

'Familiar with many arse-cracks then, Potter?' Dorcas asked, reaching for the marmalade.

'Only if you'd like me to be, Meadowes,' James smiled suggestively at her.

Dorcas laughed, 'Shocking you don't get more women, what with lines like those.'

Sirius leaned around James, 'D'you get your schedule, Meadowes?'

Dorcas nodded, and Mary leaned around her, 'You?' the diminutive blonde asked.

Sirius nodded and swallowed what had to be his hundredth slice of toast, 'Transfiguration with Minnie first?'

'"Minnie?"' Mary asked, blue eyes wide.

'Sirius likes to think that he and Professor McGonagall are long-lost soulmates and therefore calls her "Minnie" behind her back,' James explained drily.

'Understandable,' Dorcas said, nodding wisely, 'I, too, fantasise about Minerva McGonagall.'

Sirius choked on his toast. Remus spit out his pumpkin juice. Peter fell off the bench. James blinked twice and started laughing.

'Mate. Mate. Mate, you fantasise about McGoogles!' James laughed, smudging his glasses as he wiped tears from his eyes.

'Fuck off,' Sirius said darkly before turning to Dorcas, 'And fuck you, Meadowes. That had been funny until you made it horrid.'

'Ah, you love me, Black,' Dorcas said lightly, taking a large bite of toast.

James was momentarily distracted by a squeak from the opposite side of the table. He permitted himself to briefly look at Lily - who was bright red, laughing, and had porridge glopped on her jumper.

'Fuck's sake, Evans,' Sirius said, looking at her in horror, 'Pull yourself together.'

Lily just kept laughing, 'You - fantasise - about - McGonagall -'

'Keep it up, Evans, and I'll let you go to Transfiguration with porridge down your front,' Sirius said lowly.

James looked down at his plate. It was entirely empty, but if he didn't stop looking at Lily, he'd do something stupid.

Like profess his undying love for her, despite having promised himself - numerous times since yesterday even - that he would absolutely, under no circumstances, do any such thing.

'Evanesco ,' Sirius said, rolling his eyes and vanishing the porridge from Lily's jumper, and for a brief moment, Remus's comment about vanishing the whole jumper flashed through James's head - decidedly unhelpful , 'You're lucky I like you, Evans, otherwise you'd look like an absolute nutter on the first day of class.'

James watched as Lily reached across the table and patted Sirius's hand, 'I appreciate it, Black. Know that I will always be here to support your love of the good Professor.'

'As will I,' professed Dorcas seriously, 'Mary, too, if she ever gets ahold of herself.'

James leaned around Dorcas to see little Mary MacDonald choking on a bite of egg, 'Alright, MacDonald?'

'Perfectly fine, Potter, thanks,' Mary said, coughing.

Remus cleared his throat and made a production of folding his copy of the Prophet before rising from the bench.

'D'you mind?' Marlene asked, gesturing to the paper, 'Mum won't purchase multiple subscriptions.'

'Take it,' Remus answered, brushing crumbs from his jumper, 'I've finished with it.'

'Since when do you actually read the Prophet , Marlo?' Lily asked, rising from her seat, 'Don't you rely on your mum to tell you what it says? Or me, when term is in?'

Marlene exchanged a glance with James, 'I'd have you know, Lily, that I've gone and perhaps matured over the holidays.'

Lily's gaze flicked between Marlene and James. She'd clearly noticed the exchanged glances. James resolutely pretended not to notice Lily's noticing. Marlene better be more careful or explain herself to her friends. Because she was, apparently, a shite liar.

'Shit,' said Marlene dramatically, stopping just before the lot of them reached the Great Hall's entrance, 'I left my schedule.'

'You remembered Remus's Prophet but forgot your schedule?' Mary said, looking at Marlene as if she was some sort of idiot, 'Are you quite alright, Marlo?'

'Yeah,' Marlene mumbled, 'Just a bit preoccupied, apparently.'

Truest thing she'd uttered today, James thought to himself as the others all looked at Marlene sceptically.

'I'll wait for you to check,' James said, in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. One look at Remus indicated that he was in no way nonchalant.

Ah, well. One must accept one's own weaknesses. Or so his mum said.

James waited by the Great Hall entrance for Marlene to pretend to check where they had been sitting at the Gryffindor table while their friends exited the Great Hall. He rolled his eyes when Marlene made a great show of looking under the table, 'They're gone, Marlo.'

Marlene glared as she rose and walked back to the entrance, 'Fuck off, Potter. At least pretend that I'm good at this.'

'At what? Pretending that you lost your schedule and then being the absolute worst actor while looking under a fucking table, which I can tell - from ten metres away - has absolutely nothing under it?' James said, fixing her with a Look. Large 'L' Look.

Marlene looked over her shoulder and flushed slightly, 'Ah. Yes. Well, now that you've said that, I can tell that there's nothing under the table from here.'

James sighed, 'Glad you've learned.'

'Fuck off, Potter,' Marlene repeated, shouldering her rucky.

James laughed, 'Aw, McKinnon, you're alright.'

Marlene grinned up at him, but her smile dropped quite quickly as they slowly walked from the Great Hall to the corridors beyond. James didn't pretend to misunderstand.

'Arjun Singh?' he prompted softly, glancing around to make sure they were largely alone.

Marlene quickly glanced around the corridor as well - to make sure they couldn't be overhead, he was sure, 'Derek and David say his wife was definitely enchanted as well.'

James nodded, feeling a chill run down his spine. He had assumed as much, but it was something else entirely to hear of it spoken aloud, 'How do they know?'

'She doesn't remember hearing anything,' Marlene said softly, 'Or seeing anything. Which - David says - is absurd, considering that even the most powerful witch or wizard cannot perform an Unforgivable without sound or light, and Singh was definitely killed with the Killing Curse.'

'David was there, right?' James whispered, knowing full well that Marlene's oldest brother was in the Auror Office, and worked directly under Nwoye Ejike.

Marlene nodded quickly, glancing around - even at the portraits - before adding, 'David said that the St. Mungo's experts say there's about fifteen minutes of memory missing.'

'Fifteen minutes?!' James exclaimed, louder than expected, 'But - but that's - that means -'

'There was time to torture him?' Marlene said darkly, 'Yeah. That's what David said. But he also said that there's no clear evidence that torture occurred. Derek said that means there shouldn't be any speculation that torture did occur - but David thinks otherwise.'

James stopped walking and looked down at Marlene in horror, 'David thinks otherwise?'

'Yeah,' Marlene muttered, sighing softly, 'He's not sure what it would look like, but he says that even Ejike thinks that there may be Dark magic the Office doesn't know of. Apparently Singh's forearm had massive red welts on it. As if they had tried to - well, you know.'

James felt the colour drain from his face, 'Give him that mark they all apparently have?'

Marlene nodded, looking around, 'Or something like that but worse. David said the welts definitely weren't done by hand, or by anything like a Stinging Hex. Apparently there was something...off...about them that Ejike really didn't like, so he thinks it was some sort of Dark magic, but none that any of the Aurors investigating have seen before.'

Dark magic the Auror Office didn't know of. James thought about all the things that Sirius had told him about the Black family and the books and information held and owned by the old Wizarding families who may well hold...problematic..beliefs. It would make sense that there could be some kind of Dark magic there. And it was rumoured that You-Know-Who was especially skilled in the Dark Arts. Even more so than normal Dark wizards.

James nodded slowly, reluctantly, 'That wouldn't surprise me.'

Marlene's head jerked and her steps suddenly stopped, 'It wouldn't?'

'No.'

'James,' Marlene said softly, resuming her trek towards the Transfiguration classroom, 'If there's Dark magic that even the Auror Office doesn't know about…'

'I know,' James replied shortly, 'I know,' he repeated, on a sigh.

'This is all fucked, isn't it?' Marlene said softly, as they paused outside the Transfiguration classroom.

'Yeah," James replied, 'Yeah, it is.'

'Phoebe didn't come back,' Marlene said, looking down at the floor, 'Her parents withdrew her and Calliope.'

'But the Badgelys are pureblood,' James frowned, 'What would they have to worry about?'

'That is what worries me,' Marlene said, meeting James's eye, 'If Phoebe Badgely withdrew...what do the Badgelys know? And what does that mean for...more vulnerable...witches and wizards even at Hogwarts?'

Marlene fixed James with a fierce glare. More vulnerable, James thought, Lily…and the other Muggleborns at Hogwarts.

Obviously.

James looked at Marlene, eyes wide behind his glasses. Marlene swallowed and gave a quick nod, indicating that she knew he understood. She pushed past him and into the Transfiguration classroom right as class began.

'Mr Potter, Miss McKinnon, how good of you to join us,' said Professor McGonagall drily, 'Do take a seat.'

James and Marlene exchanged a look before looking around the classroom. James had hoped to take a seat next to Sirius, but given his tardiness, he saw that was quite impossible. Lily Evans occupied the seat next to Sirius - and looked none too happy about it.

'As it seemed rather uncertain that the two of you grace us with your presence today, your seating choices are rather limited,' McGongall said, striding over to James and Marlene as she gestured to the only remaining pair of desks, 'If the two of you would kindly take the only remaining seats?'

James and Marlene exchanged another look but made their ways to the remaining pair of desks. McGonagall gave a perfunctory nod and then returned to the front of the room.

James sat down next to Marlene and pulled out a roll of parchment for notes. He enjoyed Transfiguration, truly. Ever since he was small, he always found the whole idea of turning one thing into another to be the absolute maddest - yet most brilliant - thing about magic.

Though he would absolutely never admit this to a living soul.

Or an unliving one at that.

But there was something so utterly intimidating about learning transfiguration from Minerva McGonagall.

He absolutely blamed his mother. Truly, he did. If she hadn't gone on and on about what a brilliant talent Minerva McGonagall was at transfiguration - since he was all of eight - maybe he'd be less intimidated by the class. Less likely to try to show off.

'Less' - not 'entirely' - which seemed like an important distinction.

'Welcome to N.E.W.T.S.-level Transfiguration,' McGonagall said, returning to her place at the front of the classroom. She proceeded to launch into a rather rehearsed-sounding lecture on the intricacies of N.E.W.T.S.-level transfiguration, associated dangers, and relatively few rewards. James felt his eyes glazing over and opened up his roll of parchment, fully intending on doodling whilst pretending to take detailed notes.

Alas, he opened his parchment to see a note from Sirius, scrawled in his typical borderline-unintelligible penmanship: A galleon says we begin with human transfiguration.

No bet, James wrote back, absolutely sure that his best mate was exactly on the mark.

Damn, Sirius wrote back, But you're right - McGoogly does like to intimidate. Two galleons says Edwin Kettering transfigures himself incorrectly first.

James sniggered, That bet I'll take. Cilla Penkwith will be first.

McGonagall droned on, reiterating the importance of N.E.W.T.S. on their collective wizarding futures, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Or something like that. James didn't know. He was busy playing a rather graphic game of hangman with Sirius on his parchment.

'...thus, I am sure you are all now keenly aware of the bearing this course may have on your entire wizarding futures,' McGonagall said with an air of finality.

James looked up, hiding a smirk at the distressed hangman on his parchment - Sirius had entirely missed 'firewhiskey' - and thus the poor ink-and-parchment bugger was on his way to death. Unthinkingly, he glanced towards Sirius, whom he forgot was seated next to Lily Evans. Lily's eyes were entirely glazed over, her head resting in her hand.

No. No. Absolutely not. He would not think of her as beautiful even whilst completely expressionless. That would absolutely not do considering his pledge to make an actual effort to keep to The Plan and not obsess over Lily Evans for the fifth year in a row when she so obviously wanted nothing to do with him. Yes, yes that was much better. Nothing to do with him. Nothing. At all. Whatsoever.

Much better.

Fucking hell, he absolutely needed a new Plan. The original simple and elegant one was clearly not working. Seeing Evans in person again was making his resolution to move on rather more difficult. He'd just drive himself mad if he kept on needing to repeat these things in his head. Probably drive others mad, too, considering he tended to say whatever he thought out loud. And by 'others' he meant mostly Sirius.

'Therefore,' thundered McGonagall, rousing not a few students from their inattentive stupor, 'We shall begin this term by considering human transfiguration.'

I absolutely told you so, appeared across underneath the dancing hangman on his parchment in shining black ink as James noted Peter, Sirius, and Remus sitting up slightly straighter in their seats.

Perhaps this term would go well after all.