Chapter 2 Life and nothing more
Author's notes: Usually I don't update that fast, but I'm (fortunately) having a holiday right now..^^ I'm really happy to have got reviews, though 4 isn't a lot, it's still better than none, and this is my first hp fanfic, so thank you to all those who reviewed my chapter 1!
"James, quit stepping on my foot!" an irritated whisper came from Sirius.
"I'm not stepping on your foot!" James whispered.
"Then who is?" Sirius said, almost a little too loudly.
"Erm…sorry, Padfoot," a timid answer came from Peter, as Sirius rolled his eyes. They were all under James' invisibility cloak, carrying out a prank they'd planned to 'start the year off'. They always had the problem of fitting all four of them under the cloak, it's amazing they hadn't tripped and toppled over one another by now.
"Be quiet guys, Filch is coming," Remus whispered, almost with a sigh. Getting into trouble wasn't his favourite hobby, but being a Marauder, he followed through with every prank for the past 6 years at Hogwarts. The four of them leaned back on the wall, struggling to keep the cloak on, and waited for Filch to walk away.
"I know someone's here, show yourself!" Filch snarled, as he walked around cautiously. His intimidated murmurs died down as he turned the corner and continued his search. Immediately, the Marauders continued towards the Slytherin dorms.
"Hope you like our gift to you," Sirius said with muffled laughter. A flick of the wand, and a bunch of mumbled spells were preformed.
"Oh, life is beautiful," James snickered as they hurried out and back to their own dorm.
"POTTER!" a loud roar was heard as soon as the figures walked into the Great Hall. Laughter spread across the hall, and some even had looks of horror plastered on their faces. The Marauders did not even bother to keep the laughter in, bursting into laughing fits, gasping for breath.
Snape, Malfoy, and a few other Slytherins that followed them around, had not only different colour and shades of hair, blue pimples were scattered on their faces, and even more memorable was a huge soap bar hanging on top of Snape's head, dripping a slimy substance on his hair.
Snape had his wand out and pointed it straight at James, as he stormed over towards the Gryffindor table, his face red from humiliation.
"WHAT is going on?" McGonagall's sharp voice held Snape from muttering a spell, with great difficulty that is.
"Potter and his imbecile friends here, did this to us," Snape spat, his eyes filled with pure loathing towards the boys in front of him. McGonagall turned and narrowed her eyes at the Marauders, her lips in a thin line.
"Is this true?" she asked harshly.
"Why, Minerva doll, we never did such a thing, you mustn't jump to conclusions," Sirius said, giving a relaxed smile. James gave her an innocent look, one that was almost too innocent.
"Yes, unless Sni- Snape, and his fellow Slytherins, caught us in the act, there is no prove we have done it, and I tell you, we have done nothing," James said, not the least bit worried or nervous.
McGonagall knew the Marauders too well to believe them, but she knew, and so did Snape, that they were right, there was no proof.
"Oh, by the way, there isn't a counter curse for this, it'll just wear off in about a week," James whispered smoothly as he passed by the flustered slytherins.
The Marauders gave a sarcastically sympathetic smile to them, as they walked out of the Great Hall. James, however, stopped abruptly as he accidentally collided into a certain redhead as she ran around the corner.
"Ow," the girl said as she fell to the floor and her books dropped. James bent down to pick up the book and helped her up.
"Sor- Evans!" James said, a little surprised as soon as Lily looked up. She glared at him, disgusted that she even touched him.
"Don't you ever look where you go?!" Lily yelled, snatching her book back. James looked taken aback.
"Me?! YOU were the one who crashed into ME!" James said indignantly. Lily shot him a glare and walked into the Great Hall to greet her friends.
James threw his hands up in defeat, as Sirius burst into laughter, and Peter still busy stuffing his face with muffins.
"I just don't get her, why does she even hate me so much?" James asked hotly.
"Maybe you ought to ask her," Peter mumbled, with food still in his mouth.
"Nah, the answer will surely leave poor Jamsie poo heart broken, as I'm sure it'll be somewhere along the lines of 'you're a big-headed, conceited, bullying toerag!'" Sirius teased, still laughing. He received a glare from James and a little more than playful punch on his shoulder.
"Remus, you tell me, you're the smart one," James said, ignoring the laughter.
"Well, I've got to admit that they've got a point, maybe if you stopped pulling pranks and stopped switching girlfriends every two days, she'll think better of you," Remus suggested. James had a look of pure horror on his face.
"Stop our pranks on Snivellus? Stop snogging girls?" he echoed as though it was the craziest idea he'd ever heard. Remus shook his head slightly and gave a sigh. It wasn't as though he actually expected James to take that to heart.
"Hurry up, we have classes in 5 minutes," Remus said and they proceeded down the hallway, with a very flustered James.
A pair of Hazel eyes gazed out into the night sky, the desire for sleep had crawled away, and for some reason, James felt as though something that he dreaded would happen, though he wasn't sure what exactly it was. Taking his invisibility cloak and draping it over him, he snuck out and escaped to the astronomy tower. He used this place to seek for peace and serenity ever since the second year. He sat down, wondering to himself what he'd be when he grew up. Honest to himself, he did not know, he didn't usually care, but he only had one more year to come up with a better answer than 'I don't know'.
Someone once asked him if he'd want to be an auror, in fact, almost every adult that he came across expected him to be one. Deep inside though, he hated it, not just the fact that they practically stereotyped him to be auror-material, they expected him to follow after the footsteps of his father…and that, was the reason he truly hated it. He saw the way his father would leave, returning late at night, or even gone for weeks without a word. He noticed the lack of laughter in his mother's face as time passed, and unknown to her, he also knew she'd sit on the couch every night until midnight awaiting her husband's return, or at least, she hoped he would, until she fell asleep.
He bit his lip in bitterness, no, he did not want to be a man that strangers would consider a hero but be considered a stranger to his very own family. However, his train of thoughts broke once he heard a small sound behind him, quickly pulling the invisibility cloak tight around him he turned around, to see Lily Evans.
She sat down beside him, unknown to her that he was there. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, as if taking in the serene feeling. James didn't know why he did what he did, but he let the cloak slip off him to let his own pair of hazel eyes face the emerald ones, in which, shock was evident. But the shock was soon gone, replaced by an intimidated glare.
Beauty that you cannot see,
Something you thought was tainted,
Blood red petals and thorns stinging me,
The picture of me that you've painted
Author's notes: Review! This story's going a slow pace, I think…I'll probably make the chapter a little less predictable, if that's possible.