That morning, as soon as James pulled the curtains from his bed, he was imitated by three disheveled faces bearing smiles just as wide as his own. Their excitement was barely containable, despite the pillow marks still drawing lines on each of their cheeks.
They all got ready so rapidly Remus had to hold them up in the dorm room a little longer, arguing that arriving so early at breakfast was not their habit, and therefore would be suspicious to anyone knowing them.
Although it was hard to stop Sirius from jumping around the room, they passed the time by playing Exploding Snap. Peter glanced nervously at his watch every five seconds, while Remus and James exchanged worried looks throughout the entire game. Sirius seemed to be the only one with no fear of complications, and he was so filled with pure, genuine excitement, the others kept their concerns to themselves.
After James' third consecutive loss, Remus finally declared it was time for them to go down. They arrived in the Great Hall barely five minutes before the owl post distribution's usual time, and despite having loaded each of their plates with as much food as they could, none of them ate anything. Not even Peter, too busy nervously twisting his hands under the table.
James felt incredibly anxious too, incapable to tear his gaze away from the large open windows the owls were supposed to fly through any minute now.
"Don't stare this way," whispered Remus as he nudged him with his elbow. "The last thing we want to do is drawn attention to ourselves right now."
"Right," laughed Sirius wholeheartedly. "Prongs trying to not bring attention to himself is precisely the thing that's going to make heads turn."
James kicked his friend under the table but didn't manage to stop him from laughing at his own joke.
"Aren't they a little late?" asked Peter in a low voice. "They're supposed to be here already."
"Owls don't have watches, Wormy," said Remus. Despite his reassuring tone, the shadow of a frown was forming on his forehead. "I'm sure they will be there really soon."
Right on cue, a single owl flew through one of the windows at the far end of the Hall and landed directly on the Ravenclaw table. Intrigued there was no other owls accompanying it, a few people looked up, searching for the others.
"Any time now," whispered Sirius.
And suddenly, the hall was filled with birds. Hundreds of owls, carrying packages sometimes bigger than themselves, having to be helped by others. The loud chatter of conversations was quickly hushed by the sounds of wings flapping in the air as the owls made their descent to the Slytherin table.
A lot of first and second years started to duck down under the table to avoid this mass arrival of owls, knocking down goblets and landing into plates full of food. Some of the more exhausted owls sometimes dropped their packages before even reaching the table, creating a state of panic in all of the students who tried their best to protect their heads with books, school bags and everything they could get their hands on.
At the far end of the Slytherin table, Snape was holding his own plate over his head, trying to chase the five birds pecking away at his pumpkin juice. James' eyes met Sirius' and they exchanged a look of pure glee. Chaos had never been more comforting.
By that time, the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables had realized that none of the birds even got close to them and were just enjoying the absolute havoc taking place at the Slytherin table.
One by one, the owls spread their wings again and flew out the windows, not without causing a few of the younger students to scream again. After the last bird had disappeared through the giant window, the Great Hall quieted down to a state of absolute silence.
All eyes were turned to the Slytherin table. The Slytherins themselves were looking down at the hundreds of different packages that covered the table.
After a few seconds, a curious looking fourth year student made a brave move and reached toward a package in front of her James knew had her name on it. Her determination inspired his friends around her and soon enough the entire table was ripping the packages off their presents fallen from the sky.
Taken by surprise, a second year dropped the box he had just received and Sirius's smile went from joyful to devilish. What followed in the next few seconds James could have predicted.
Upon impact with the ground, Dr Filibuster's Fabulous Flaming Facetious Fireworks set off. A ball of fire shot out to the ceiling of the Great Hall and exploded into hundred more as terrified students dived to seek shelter under their respective tables.
James imitated his classmates and crawled under the bench, incapable to hide his own smile. Lily was only a couple of feet from him, on all fours under the less crowded Ravenclaw table. James' eyes were lingering on the strand of her hair that fell in front of her face when their eyes met.
Time was as if suspended when she looked back at him, seemingly understanding the cause of all this chaos. James' smile disappeared, suddenly replaced by the fear she would go to an adult and tell them what she knew. He lifted his palm from the ground to place a finger in front of his lips, motioning to her to not say a thing.
For a small, devastating second, his heart sank when he realized she wouldn't listen, but then she turned away from him, rolling her eyes with the shadow of a smile on her lips. Perhaps there was hope after all.
The silent exchange being ended, the overwhelming sounds of panic came rushing back to James' ears. Whether it was the noise or the agitation that triggered the hypersensitive fireworks, he never knew, but as he propped himself up to glance over the tables, all he saw on the other side of the room was smoke, and all he heard, a second later, was the sound of about twenty more fireworks setting off at once.
The ceiling illuminated in dancing balls of fire of every colour, every shape and size. Knowing how dangerous they could be didn't stop James from being in awe in front of their beauty, and of the way their flames twisted and curled around each other in a beautiful flying parade.
Admiring the spectacle still safely hidden under the Ravenclaw table, Lily was covering her smile with her hand but her eyes said it all. A particularly bright explosion above their heads reflected its light on her face. And wow. The fireworks were far from being the most beautiful thing in the room.
It took a few long minutes for the professors to control and completely eliminate the chaos unraveling in the air. McGonagall was running around the room, throwing counter curses left and right, while minuscule Flitwick was standing on top of the Hufflepuff table to get better aim for his protective charms.
Students slowly started to crawl out of under the tables and benches as the detonations became rarer. After the last blast, giggles died out. McGonagall's face was red with fury and if looks could kill, none of the students would have been able to breathe. The silence was almost deafening in the Great Hall now, although the last blast still resonated in their ears.
Taking the cue from the deputy headmistress' body language, stern and austere, the students took their place back on the benches.
In front of James, Sirius was glowing, smiling from ear to ear. Next to his gloating boyfriend, Remus was more discreet, and demonstrated an acute interest in McGonagall's speech James didn't bother listening to. Peter looked smaller that ever, crumpled up in his seat, but there was a distinct light of pride shining in his eyes his friends couldn't miss.
Behind a furious looking McGonagall, Dumbledore was politely nodding at every word she spoke, although seemingly incapable of containing his hilarity.
Everywhere James looked, plates full of food were covered in a thin veil of ashes and pumpkin juice goblets had spilled over the tablecloths, creating a mess that even magic would take a while to clean.
Classes were canceled for the rest of the day and students confined in their respective common rooms while the teachers and prefects stayed in the Great Hall, cleaning up and working on catching whoever was behind the whole prank.
"I heard every single Slytherin was facing a month detention," whispered Mary McDonald to Marlene, crossed legged on the rug by the fire.
Alerted by his dog like senses, Sirius leaning forward in the sofa he was sharing with Peter.
"Wait, really?"
Mary giggled and tucked a piece of a hair behind her ear, obviously delighted to have gotten his attention. Marlene rolled her eyes and not so discreetly kicked her friend in the chin.
"It's just a rumour, Black. Don't get all worked up about it."
Suddenly concerned, James imitated Sirius and leaned forward in his own armchair.
"What do you mean a rumour, who have you heard this from?" he asked to Mary, trying to hide the tension in his voice.
For the past hour he had been going through in his head everything that happened, certain that Lily would turn him in, as she had appeared to definitely know he had a part of responsibility in all of the chaos. If he was honest with himself, he didn't expect her not to, and maybe a part of him wanted her to.
He was responsible after all, and those fireworks were indeed dangerous, even though none of the Marauders had planned for them to all fire off at once during breakfast. He did deserve to be punished for not having been careful enough. Someone could have gotten hurt.
"I heard McGonagall talk about it with Finch when she brought all of us back here. Slughorn is with the Slytherins now, trying to get a confession, but if none of them comes forward they'll all be punished apparently."
Sirius sat back on the sofa, exuding confidence and incapable to downplay his happiness.
"This is the best day of my life," he smiled widely. "I wish Moony was here to hear this."
"He's down in the Great Hall, helping out and you should be down there too."
The voice had come from behind them and the little group turned to see who had spoken.
Lily had approached them quietly and was standing behind the sofa, arms crossed in front of her chest.
"James?" she said authoritatively. "A word?"
Mary and Marlene burst into giggles as James got up from his seat as fast as if he had been sitting on a hot fire. He followed Lily to a quieter side of the common room, trying to tune out the fact that his friends were now gossiping with Lily's friends about them two.
"How'd you get out of there? I thought all prefects were down in the Hall to clean up."
"Sneaked out. I'm not at Hogwarts to pick up your mess."
"Wait, isn't this the part where I tell you I had nothing to do with it?" risked James, although he knew perfectly well Lily wouldn't want to put up with his sad attempts at disguising the truth.
She flicked her hair to the side and ignored his question, preferring to cross her arms across her chest to show her discontentment.
"Every single Slytherin is in trouble."
James's smile dropped as he tried to come up with an appropriate response, the one Lily was excepting and waiting for him to give. Her eyes were penetrating his soul and it became increasingly harder to concentrate and gather his thoughts, so he went with his first instinct.
"You're about to turn me in," he said reluctantly.
"No!" protested Lily immediately, a very offended look on her face. "Who the hell do you take me for?"
"Hum, I don't know, some kind of prefect maybe?"
"Not all prefects are saints, James. You of all people should know that," she said, very visibly trying to hold off a smile.
She was obviously talking about Remus, which left James to wonder for a second about how much exactly she knew about their prank. Or pranks in general. Lily was extremely smart and observant, and unlike almost everyone believing Remus to be innocent of most of the pranks orchestrated by the Marauders, she wasn't fooled by his apparent collected attitude.
"I won't turn you in," she continued, quieter this time. "I won't turn Remus in either. But there's about a hundred students who will be punished for something that you did, and I won't stand for that either. I've got to believe that you will do the right thing and turn yourself in."
"Lily I can't do that!" James whispered back vehemently. "McGonagall would rip me apart!"
"And that would be well deserved!" answered Lily in the same tone. "Your actions have consequences and it's about time you face them!"
They were fully arguing now, in hushed whispers to avoid drawing even more attention to them that there already was. And James had to admit Lily was right. He just had a hard time bringing himself to formulating it out loud. Words were so much scarier when shared.
"Fine!" he finally blurred out after Lily gave him another one of her signature disappointed looks. "Fine, fine, I'll go McGonagall."
"Good."
"But after she inevitably kills me you have to promise me to write a letter to my parents and explain to them that you forced me to confess."
"I promise you I'll even come to the funeral."
"That would be very kind of you."
Lily smiled reassuringly and James ruffled up his hair. He wasn't sure whether he should get back to his friends by the fireplace or go to McGonagall straight away, but he knew Lily expected him to go as soon as possible, and that was now.
"Do you want me to walk with you?" she asked quietly.
"Yes!" he replied, way too fast and with way too much enthusiasm but he didn't care. "Please."
Sirius and Peter whistled at them while they slid down the portrait hole together, and both Marlene and Mary were giggling exaggeratively loud.
They walked to the deputy headmistress' office in silence, James racking his brain to remember every defensive spell he knew, if it ever came to that. He stood in front of the closed door a few seconds and took a deep breath before knocking. The door magically opened in front of him and the last thing James saw before entering the small room was Lily's smile of encouragement.
If McGonagall was surprised to see him come in, she didn't show it. She motioned him to sit down at the large desk in front of her, and remained silent for the time it took her to finish cleaning up the papers scattered on her desk.
"What is it you want to tell me, Potter?" she finally asked as she waved her wand and started a new stack of documents.
As hypnotized, James watched the papers fly and perfectly align with the corner of her desk, and it took him a moment to realize he was just sitting here with his mouth wide open. McGonagall had leaned forward on her desk and was watching him attentively.
"Perhaps you are here to confess something?" she continued. "A firework related prank maybe?"
"Maybe?" risked James with a wince. Confessing suddenly seemed like a terrible idea now that he was seconds away from doing it. He would have given anything to be anywhere but here, and couldn't comprehend how Lily how managed to talk him into doing it.
"Maybe or surely?" McGonagall insisted.
"More surely than maybe," said James before sighing and deciding to get it over with quickly. "It was me. I did it, I ordered the fireworks in the name of all the Slytherins."
McGonagall took a deep inhale and straightened up in her uncomfortable looking wooden chair. James' back became very stiff and he tried to stay as immobile as possible, in the delusional hope to blend in with his surrounding like one of those non-magical chameleons Remus had told him about once.
"I see," she said after a long minute of uninterrupted silence. "Well, this certainly comforts me in my decision to name someone else as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. It's clear you lack judgment and other fundamental qualities."
James lowered his head. She was right.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor. Or was someone else involved? Was it a conjoint effort with your friends? I dare to hope Mr. Lupin was not involved. Having a student in my house, under my responsibility, showcasing so much disregard for the school rules and disrespect for the administration and fellow classmates is enough. If a Gryffindor prefect is involved I think I would lose all dignity in front of my colleagues."
Her tone was sharp and piercing but she wasn't yelling and had not started hexing him, so it was somewhat better than what James had anticipated. But still, hearing how disappointed in him she was, was far from being pleasant. James stayed quiet and stared at his feet. He felt like a little boy again, scolded by his parents after breaking the cookie jar.
"It was just me," he answered. "No one else. I wanted to surprise my friends with all the fireworks, none of them knew anything about it."
McGonagall stared at all with such intensity James felt like she was reading right through his blatant lie. He held his breath until her response.
"However serious this incident was, know that I appreciate you coming forward and not letting an entire innocent house take the fall for your mistake. It certainly takes a special kind of courage to confess."
The tension James had accumulated in his shoulders seemed to fade away a little upon hearing those words. He had been right to trust Lily after all, despite his fear.
"Still, coming forward does not make up for the damages that have been done, and as I am sure you expected, you will be sanctioned severely."
"Completely fair, I understand," James nodded.
"Now. You will serve detention every Saturday night for the rest of the year. I think this will be enough time for you to think about the consequences of your actions the next time you plan to do something of that nature."
James bit his lip. Detention for the rest of the year? Sure, he had this coming, but this sanction felt pretty harsh.
"Hm, Professor? While I gladly accept my punishment, I have Quidditch practice every Saturday night. Also every Monday and Wednesday."
"Oh," said McGonagall, pinching her lips. "Well, I am delighted to know Ms. McKinnon takes her role as a captain very seriously and keeps such a tight schedule. I do want Gryffindor to win the trophy this year, and your participation in the team effort is essential. We'll have to find another day for your detention Potter."
"How about Thursday? I usually have a bit of time before dinner."
"Thursday won't work for me," answered McGonagall, shaking her head. "I host the mandatory staff meeting every week. Tuesday will not work either, as I teach a remedial class in Transfiguration in the evenings."
They both fell silent, trying to think about an appropriate time for James's detention.
"I doubt we'll be able to find a day to suit us both, Mr. Potter, it seems both of our schedules are extremely busy."
James raised both eyebrows and crossed his fingers behind his back. Could he really hope to walk from this office without a punishment, for a simple issue of overlapping calendars?
"Although I guess I could always delegate the task of monitoring your detention to someone else," McGonagall said finally, and James uncrossed his fingers. Of course he wouldn't get away with it that easily. "A prefect for example could watch you."
"Oh, yes!" said James, for the second time this morning a little too fast and a little too enthusiastically. "That would be perfect actually, Remus is also free on most Tuesday nights."
McGonagall pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled at him gently.
"Not with Mr. Lupin I'm afraid. Spending this time with your good friend wouldn't be enough of a punishment I feel. No, I think the more logical choice would be for Ms. Evans to monitor you. I heard you two do not necessarily get along, and that's why I trust Ms. Evans to be firm with you when she needs to be."
James nodded his approval distractedly, thinking about how easy it was for Lily to get him to do something he would rather not do. It was the logical choice. But somehow it also felt like destiny.
As James stepped out of the deputy headmistress's office, it was a very distinctive feeling he felt growing inside his chest.
Fireworks.