"Five more minutes!"
The voice made James jump. He had been so focused on his essay and on tidying up his handwriting as much as he could, he had forgotten all about the circumstances and the people around him. The minuscule Professor Flitwick walked past him, glaring at James' copy as if trying to read what he had written.
James smiled at him before straightening up and putting down his quill. He was finally done with his Defence Against the Dark Arts exam and it had been much much easier than he had anticipated. He smiled as he read through his paper, for once certain he had done a great job.
The past couple of weeks had been tough, the only thing keeping his mind from Lily being the stress of the OWLs and the hours spent in the library, bent over mountains of books trying to compensate for a year worth of slacking in the studying department.
The entire castle was submerged in this tense energy. Even those who had no exams to pass had their heads wrapped up in the war, which was slowly gaining in strength in the outside world. Fights in classroom hallways were multiplying and prefects and teachers had a hard time repressing them.
Alternatively, several younger students who had had the audacity to be loud in corridors or common rooms had found themselves victims of Silencing Charms performed by stressed out fifth and seventh years. James was guilty of it too and he wasn't proud.
On this day though, the day marking the beginning of summer and the end of exams, the Daily Prophet had only brought good news. The air was warming up and the sun was shining bright outside.
James yawned and rumpled up his hair before turning to Sirius who gave him the thumbs-up, a few seats behind him. Remus was sitting just a little further ahead, incredibly focused on his paper, scratching his chin with the end of his quill and frowning slightly, which made James smile. Next to him, Peter appeared to be more nervous than ever, staring down at his paper, his eyes wide open with stress.
James turned back to his copy and started doodling to pass the time. He sketched the golden snitch he felt fluttering in his pocket, then decided drawing was definitely not for him and he should stick to what he knew how to do. He absent-mindedly began to trace the letters L.E before remembering the promise he had made to himself to get over Lily once and for all. Which did not stop him from embellishing the initials the way he always did.
"Quills down, please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!"
Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people laughed, James included. A few students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and lifted him back on to his feet.
"Thank you... thank you," panted Flitwick. "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"
James hastily crossed out Lily's initials and jumped to his feet, stuffing his quill and the exam paper into his bag, which he slung over his back. Sirius and his eternally confident grin were quick to join him and together they headed to the exit where they caught up with Remus and Peter.
"Did you like question ten, Moony?" asked Sirius as they emerged into the Entrance Hall.
"Loved it," answered Remus with a smile. "Give five signs that identify the werewolf. Excellent question."
"D'you think you managed to get all the signs?" said James in tones of mocked concern. He had just seen Lily in the group of girls walking behind them and did his best to fix his posture as much as he could, so she could see how unbothered he was by the fact that she was so close to him.
"Think I did," said Remus seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors, eager to enjoy the sunlit grounds and the beginning of summer. "One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin."
Sirius and James howled with laughter while Peter frowned, looking just as worried as he did during the exam.
"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail," he said nervously, "but I couldn't think what else..."
"How thick are you, Wormtail?" said James impatiently. "You run round with a werewolf once a month..."
"Keep your voice down," implored Remus.
Sirius shot him a meaningful look and the atmosphere suddenly shifted. Everyone knew they were all thinking about the same thing, the same afternoon when Snape had decided to out Remus so publicly. Fortunately for the Marauders, those who heard him did not take him seriously at all, probably thinking he had randomly thrown out whatever slurs his prejudiced brain could come up with.
Nevertheless it had been scary and if it wasn't for Lily, the consequences could have been much worse. She had done an enormous job of damage control, and the vivacity with which she rushed to Remus' defence had raised one question heavily discussed amongst the four of them: did she know?
"I'm sorry Moony, I wasn't thinking," whispered James, quickly relieved by Remus' reassuring smile.
"Well, I thought that paper was a piece of cake," continued Sirius to defuse the tension. "I'll be surprised if I don't get 'Outstanding' on it at least."
"Me too," said James, pulling the fluttering snitch out of his pocket and starting to play with it.
"Where'd you get that?" asked Peter with fake surprise.
"Nicked it," answered James with fake seriousness. They all knew about James' habit to steal every golden snitch his team trained with. It always made Alice extremely mad.
They stopped in the shade of a tree on the edge of the lake and threw themselves down on the grass. The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which Lily, Marlene and their friends were sitting. They had taken their shoes and socks off and were cooling their feet in the water.
Remus had pulled out a book and was reading, while Sirius stared at the students around them, pretending to be bored, though James knew he was making sure no one paid attention to how close the two boyfriends were sitting. Peter himself didn't seem to have noticed, fully focused on James and on the snitch that zoomed further and further away each time James let it go.
Rumpling up his hair, James shot another one of what he thought was a discreet glance over at the girls by the water. Lily's hair was glowing in the sun and she was laughing at one of Marlene's jokes. James felt a pinch in his heart and, distracted, caught his snitch at the last possible second.
"Put that away, will you?" said Sirius with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Before Wormtail wets himself in excitement."
Peter blushed and James winked at him, grinning.
"If it bothers you," he said, stuffing the snitch back in his pocket. Sirius was uncharacteristically nervous, even if he tried his hardest not to show it, and James would do anything to make him feel better right this minute. But the truth was that he had no idea what to do. How do you protect someone against rumours?
You can't.
"I'm bored," said Sirius. "Wish it was full moon."
"You might," answered Remus darkly from behind his book. "We've still got Transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me. Here.."
He held out his book to his boyfriend, who snorted.
"I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all."
A movement further away from them drew James' attention and it only took a second for his blood to boil.
"This'll liven you up Padfoot," he said quietly. "Look who it is..."
Sirius's head turned. He became very still, like a dog that has scented a rabbit.
"Excellent," he said softly. "Snivellus."
The Marauders hadn't seen Snape since the incident that opposed them a few weeks back in front of their Charms classroom. He never appeared to be down in the Great Hall for the meals at the same time as them, and he hadn't been to the last two Potion classes. He was clearly avoiding them, which meant James and Sirius hadn't been able to digest what had happened and get used to his presence.
They were both furious and ready for revenge.
As Snape left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, James stood up instinctively, followed by Sirius. Remus and Peter remained sitting: Remus still looking intensely focused on his book, but a conscientious observer would have noticed his shortness of breath and the faint frown line that had appeared between his blond eyebrows. Peter was looking from Sirius to James to Snape with a look of avid anticipation.
"All right, Snivellus?" said James loudly, before he even took time to think. His friends were hurt. Scared. He needed to protect them and he would.
Snape reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack: dropping his bag, he plunged his hand inside his robes and his wand was halfway into the air when James shouted 'Expelliarmus'.
Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud in the grass behind him. Sirius let out a nervous bark of laughter.
'Impedimenta!' he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive towards his own fallen wand. James knew it, they couldn't let him get his wand back. Snape mastered way too many curses and hexes, some at the limit of dark magic. James hadn't forgotten about that time they had found Remus, white and inanimate in a closet after an unexpected encounter with an angered Snape.
James' rage built up and he crushed in an instant the tears brought by the memory he felt coming up. Accompanied by Sirius, he advanced toward Snape, wands raised. In a moment of clarity, he glanced above his shoulder, making sure Lily was still turned to the lake, facing away from them.
Groups of students closer to the scene had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging near. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.
"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James.
"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Sirius with a cruel smile. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."
Several people watching laughed and James felt encouraged, although he knew he was doing exactly what he shouldn't be doing. Revenge sounded so sweet but Lily was so close.
On the ground, Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes. Watching him, James was suddenly brought back to that time under the willow, where he himself was laying in the dirt, slowly draining of his blood. When he thought each breath would be the last. When Snape had left him there, abandoned.
"You.. wait," Severus panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, "you... wait!"
"Wait for what?" said Sirius coolly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"
Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened. James reacted fast, desperate to avoid the words "queer" or "werewolf" to come out of this mouth again. Sirius wouldn't stand it.
"Wash out your mouth," he said coldly. "Scourgify!"
Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, chocking him..
"Leave him ALONE!"
James turned around at once and his free hand immediately jumped to his hair. Lily was standing a few feet away from him, her dark, thick hair falling on her shoulders, her startlingly green eyes filled with fury.
"All right Evans?" said James, trying his hardest to look innocent, like he wasn't doing what he was doing. He had no idea how to act. He was over her, truly. At least he tried to convince himself of that.
"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking straight at him, with every sign of great dislike. "What's he done to you?"
James took a sharp breath in, thought about the scars stretching on his chest, about Remus' face when they found him, about Sirius's anxiety, growing stronger every day ever since the homophobic slur was thrown at his face. James exhaled slowly. He couldn't talk about any of that. He improvised.
"Well, it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean..."
Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Peter included. Remus and Lily did not.
"You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."
Potter. Not James. Potter. She was back to calling him by his family name and it hurt James more than he thought it would. But he was over her, he was. Truly.
"I will if you go out with me Evans," he said quickly, beating himself over it as soon as the words came out of his mouth. "Go on, go out with me and I'll never lay a hand on old Snivelly again."
He couldn't believe himself. The usual trance he was under when Lily was close had sneaked up on him this time. He wished he could take back everything he had said, but it was too late.
"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily.
"Bad luck Prongs," said Sirius raising a shocked eyebrow at James before turning back to Snape. "OI!"
It was too late. Snape had directed his wand straight at James. There was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood. The sharp pain hit James like a wave of bricks and he whirled about instinctively, his wand out.
A second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants.
Many people in the small crowd cheered, Sirius and Peter roared with laughter and James joined them, pressing a hand on the blood gushing from his cheek and trying to ignore the pain.
Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to to smile, crossed her arms over her chest to try to maintain a serious face.
"Let him down!" she said firmly.
"Certainly," said James and he jerked his wand upwards, maybe a bit more violently than he really meant to.
Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes, he got quickly to his feet, wand up, before Sirius hit him with a body-bind curse and Snape keeled over again, rigid as a board.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now and James eyed it warily. She was a talented witch, crossing her was dangerous.
"Ah Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly. The 'Potter' still rang in his ears. She had called him James once. They had been friends once.
"Take the curse off him, then!"
James sighed deeply, trying to pass off his relief as disappointment, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse.
"There you go," he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus."
"I don't need help form filthy little Mudbloods like her!"
Lily blinked. James felt the colour drain from his face. The hand he was pressing against his wound fell to his side in shock.
"Fine," Lily said coolly. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."
"Apologise to Evans!" James roared at Snape, pointing his wand threateningly at him. Furious, he didn't pick up on the fact that Lily used the Marauder's nickname for Snape.
"I don't want you to make him apologise," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is."
"What?" yelped James. "I'd never call you a.. you-know-what!"
"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can.. I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."
She turned on her heel and hurried away.
"Evans!" James shouted after her, his cheek open, his heart broken. "Hey, EVANS!"
She didn't look back.
"What is it with her?" said James, trying and failing to look at though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.
"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited mate," said Sirius.
"Right," said James, feeling empty. "Right."
There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside-down in the air.
"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"