A/N: Hey everyone! First, I want to thank all the people who read and
reviewed, you are AWESOME and I love you to pieces for giving my humble fic
a chance. Second: I'm sorry I didn't update for a while. The reason is that
I had already written and completed chapters one and two; I'd written them
ages ago, I just had to type and edit them. I hadn't posted them anywhere
before, so I hadn't written a third chapter. But, when I saw that you guys
liked it and wanted it to keep going, I wrote ASAP! OK, I'll shut up now
and get on w/ the story. Enjoy!
***
It was very late at night by the time Lily returned to the common room, so she was not surprised to find it deserted.
She had just started up the girls' staircase when she heard a very odd sound indeed: it was the sound of someone hastily stifling a laugh but not succeeding very well, so that what came out was a sort of explosive snort. Lily whirled around and stared at the seemingly empty common room, puzzled. What was that?
But just as her feeling of foreboding grew, she came back to reality; and it was extinguished just as fast as it had appeared. She was being silly ... it was late, she was tired ... and besides, she had far too much to tell her girls (who were, no doubt, awake and waiting for her) to worry about something which was probably imaginary anyway. So, without further thought, she disappeared up the stairs to her dormitory.
Ten minutes later, James Potter climbed through the portrait hole and stared around the common room, as if he was looking for something. Exactly what he was looking for became clear almost as once as a large, grey rat soared across the room, squealing, and two people materialised, it seemed, out of thin air.
"You're back," said Sirius, grinning, as Remus folded up James's Invisibility Cloak.
James grinned back at them and was about to reply when he was interrupted by an impatient squeak behind him. He turned around to see the fat grey rat transforming back into Peter Pettigrew, who, once he had completely transformed, promptly toppled off the back of the chair he was perched on.
James raised his eyebrows.
"Couldn't fit him under the cloak, so we made him transform," Sirius said casually.
"But, Sirius," said Peter, getting to his feet, "why did you have to throw me across the room? That really hurt, you –"
"Because, Wormtail," Sirius sighed, "we didn't know that it was James, and you would've stuffed it up like you did with Lily –"
"What?" James said quickly.
Remus cut in before Sirius could say something scathing.
"When Lily came in, Peter got a little – er – overexcited," he said, the hints of a concealed smile in the corners of his mouth. "He – well –"
"He snorted," interrupted Sirius in an exasperated fashion. "This dirty great blast of a snort ... and we think Lily heard him."
James, although somewhat amused, was now quite puzzled.
"Erm – but I still don't understand why Sirius threw Peter across the room – I mean, if it really wasn't me, the person coming in would have seen him!"
Sirius grinned.
"Oh, but I did see that it was you," he said, smiling still more broadly. "I decided to have a bit of fun with old Wormtail here – you see, I knew he'd be thick enough to believe any old excuse for my chucking him over there. Anyway, Prongs," he said, turning to James and ignoring Peter's indignant spluttering, "we've been here for ages and you haven't even told us how the date went!"
Remus nodded and said, "I think we'd better go up to the dorm – you never know, Lily could have her spies too ..."
So the four Marauders went up to their seventh-year dorm, and did not notice Lily's friend Elle pop up from behind one of the armchairs.
***
It was very late at night by the time Lily returned to the common room, so she was not surprised to find it deserted.
She had just started up the girls' staircase when she heard a very odd sound indeed: it was the sound of someone hastily stifling a laugh but not succeeding very well, so that what came out was a sort of explosive snort. Lily whirled around and stared at the seemingly empty common room, puzzled. What was that?
But just as her feeling of foreboding grew, she came back to reality; and it was extinguished just as fast as it had appeared. She was being silly ... it was late, she was tired ... and besides, she had far too much to tell her girls (who were, no doubt, awake and waiting for her) to worry about something which was probably imaginary anyway. So, without further thought, she disappeared up the stairs to her dormitory.
Ten minutes later, James Potter climbed through the portrait hole and stared around the common room, as if he was looking for something. Exactly what he was looking for became clear almost as once as a large, grey rat soared across the room, squealing, and two people materialised, it seemed, out of thin air.
"You're back," said Sirius, grinning, as Remus folded up James's Invisibility Cloak.
James grinned back at them and was about to reply when he was interrupted by an impatient squeak behind him. He turned around to see the fat grey rat transforming back into Peter Pettigrew, who, once he had completely transformed, promptly toppled off the back of the chair he was perched on.
James raised his eyebrows.
"Couldn't fit him under the cloak, so we made him transform," Sirius said casually.
"But, Sirius," said Peter, getting to his feet, "why did you have to throw me across the room? That really hurt, you –"
"Because, Wormtail," Sirius sighed, "we didn't know that it was James, and you would've stuffed it up like you did with Lily –"
"What?" James said quickly.
Remus cut in before Sirius could say something scathing.
"When Lily came in, Peter got a little – er – overexcited," he said, the hints of a concealed smile in the corners of his mouth. "He – well –"
"He snorted," interrupted Sirius in an exasperated fashion. "This dirty great blast of a snort ... and we think Lily heard him."
James, although somewhat amused, was now quite puzzled.
"Erm – but I still don't understand why Sirius threw Peter across the room – I mean, if it really wasn't me, the person coming in would have seen him!"
Sirius grinned.
"Oh, but I did see that it was you," he said, smiling still more broadly. "I decided to have a bit of fun with old Wormtail here – you see, I knew he'd be thick enough to believe any old excuse for my chucking him over there. Anyway, Prongs," he said, turning to James and ignoring Peter's indignant spluttering, "we've been here for ages and you haven't even told us how the date went!"
Remus nodded and said, "I think we'd better go up to the dorm – you never know, Lily could have her spies too ..."
So the four Marauders went up to their seventh-year dorm, and did not notice Lily's friend Elle pop up from behind one of the armchairs.