Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. Period.
A/N: All the events in this chapter take place over the same time period as chapter 5, just from James's perspective
Chapter 6: Marauder's Night Out
"As you know, Transfiguration can be a very useful magic, and I am pleased to see so many of you have decided to take your transfiguration NEWTs. However, you cannot expect to pass your examination without putting in a lot of hard work. NEWT year is not a time goof off..." Professor McGonagall informed the class sternly, throwing a warning glance in the direction of James and Sirius who were sitting next to each other at the back of the classroom. James was having trouble paying attention. It could have been the fact that they had been given the same lecture from every professor they'd had so far, or it could have been the fact that Lily, who was sitting two rows in front of him, was sucking on the end of her quill rather seductively, and all he could think about was his dream where he'd almost kissed her, except in his head as he was thinking about it, the dream didn't end with Peter crashing out of bed...
"You know," whispered Sirius, "we've been at school a whole week, and we haven't pulled a single prank so far, people are going to think we've lost our touch!" James barely registered that Sirius had said anything, he was too preoccupied with *other* thoughts, so he just nodded blankly.
"And we wouldn't want to lose our reputation in our last year, would we?" Sirius continued, nudging James. James again made some sort of non- committal grunt.
"Oh, and, by the way I've finally realized that I'm in love with Snape." Sirius continued.
"Uh huh..." James mumbled, absently.
"Yep. We've decided to elope, over the Christmas holidays." Sirius continued evenly.
"Is that right?" James suddenly received a hard whack to his head. "Ouch!" James exclaimed. Professor McGonagall turned around to stare at him.
"Is everything alright, Mr. Potter?" She asked in her no-nonsense tone.
"Yeah," James said rubbing his head "everything's fine." As soon as Professor McGonagall's head was turned, James shot Sirius a nasty look and hissed, "What was that for?"
"If you weren't too busy staring a pretty redheads, you'd know." Sirius replied mockingly.
"Sorry." James mumbled, flushing slightly. Professor McGonagall was just passing out rabbits to the class. As James and Sirius took turns idly transfiguring their rabbit into various inanimate objects, Sirius tried to convince James that it was time the Marauders made an appearance. James was a little uncertain.
"It might not be the best time to pull a prank, what with Voldemort's attack and all..." James argued.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sirius. "It's the perfect time! It will help keep people's spirits up!" Sirius said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I don't know..." James said, still a little unsure.
"Oh come off it!" Sirius said, in fake exasperation. "You just don't want to get into trouble with Ms McGonaLily!" Sirius turned away from his friend in mock disgust. James laughed as Sirius transfigured the rabbit into a red wig, which he put on and started batting his eyes at James, obviously trying to do a poor impersonation of Lily.
"Alright, alright! Let's think of something good!" James finally agreed, still laughing, as he transformed the wig that was still on Sirius's head back into rabbit form.
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Later that day Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were discussing what they wanted to do for their first prank of their final year. As they approached a group of Slytherin's walking towards them, they could easily distinguish Snape, his greasy hair and hooked nose were easily visible above the heads of the group he was leading. He looked like he was surrounded by a bunch of fourth year Slytherin's. As Snape and his group passed the Marauders, Snape exclaimed loud enough that everyone in the hall could hear.
"And we have to put up with a stupid Mudblood Head Girl again this year! I tell you, this place is going to the dogs." James, whirled around and prepared to fight Snape, but Sirius grabbed him and held him back. James was surprised; Sirius never gave up the opportunity to duel with Slytherins.
"What are you doing?" James asked through clenched teeth.
"Saving you ass!" Sirius hissed, indicating the open doorway behind then, which framed Professor Drabb, their Potion's teacher. "He'd just love the opportunity to take off extra points, and you know how much I hate seeing that smug look on Snape's face! Besides, we're going to get him back – I think we've found our victim!"
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"How many openings are there on the team this year?" Remus asked James. The four friends were sitting in the Gryffindor common room discussing Quidditch tryouts.
"Well, let's see, Luke and Sarah graduated last year, that leaves us one chaser and a keeper short..." James said, considering.
"But then we also lost Megan, I think she transferred to Beauxbatons over the summer..." Sirius piped up. "What a pity, I really enjoyed watching her on the pitch..." Sirius joked, looking wistful. "So that opens up another chaser position."
"So I guess that leaves room for two chasers and a keeper." James finished. Just then he heard the portrait open and a 4 third years walked in, looking very glum. When James asked them what was wrong they replied that one of their friends had to leave Hogwarts because his parents were worried about Voldemort attacking the school. Not knowing what else to do, James suggested the four of them help make Quidditch posters to get their minds off their friend.
Soon they had several dozen posters ready. Everyone in the common room came over to see what was going on. Someone called out the suggestion that the posters should talk, and pretty soon everyone was coming up with lines to charm the posters to say. James looked around. Everyone looked like they were having fun. For the first time since they'd heard about Voldemort's attack, everyone looked like they were relaxed, and happy, not constantly worrying about the future. James smiled, he was glad he could do something to help. When the posters were finished, James helped to show the younger Gryffindors what spells to use to post them on the walls. Pretty soon, the whole room was covered in posters, and there were smiles on everyone's faces.
As people filed out of the room to go to the Great Hall for dinner, James ran up to his room to grab something. As he came back downstairs he saw Lily, who looked very upset about something, yelling at Sirius.
"I want you to take them down right now!" Lily was clearly upset by the posters in the common room. "How am I supposed to do any studying with all these James's yelling in my ear! And speaking of James, where is he anyways?"
James walked forward. "Right here," he called out. Lily whirled around. James had to catch his breath. Lily was flushed from her outburst at Sirius, her eyes and cheeks were on fire. How can I find her so attractive even when she's yelling at me? thought James to himself, it hardly seems fair!
"Well, I suppose you heard. I want you to take these posters down RIGHT NOW! And to think, I was even starting to think you had grown up a bit, and then you go and pull a stunt like this!" As Lily's words hit him, James felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. But after he'd gotten over the initial sting her words caused, he felt an anger begin to rise in him. He couldn't understand why a couple of posters were making her so mad. He hadn't done anything wrong! "And I'm going to have a shower, and when I get back this all better be cleaned up!" As Lily whirled around and began to march up to her room, part of James just wanted to let her walk away, but something made him run after her. He couldn't stand her being mad at him, especially for no good reason.
"Wait! Lily!" James called after her as he ran to catch up. Lily kept walking. James searched for what he wanted to say, "look, Lily, before you run off would you please listen to me? I wasn't going to leave them up, I just thought it would be good for effect, let everybody know about Quidditch and give them a little fun in the process. If you haven't noticed, people around here have been a little tense lately. I just thought I'd try and boost moral, that's all." James gave her a pleading look, hoping his words had some sort of calming effect.
"Are you finished?" Lily asked. James could hear the chill in her voice. Fine then! He thought, if she wants to be that way, then that's alright with me!
"Yeah, I guess I am." James said, trying to match the cold tone of Lily's voice. James was struggling to keep from shouting at her, so her turned and walked away slowly. He'd only gone a few steps when he slowed and turned around, ready to apologize, but Lily was nowhere in sight.
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James and Sirius were watching intently from across the room, barely containing their excitement, as they watched Snape take a drink from his cup. Peter began to snigger as Snape finished the drink. Even Remus, who had a lot to say against the idea when they first brought it up, now stared with expectant excitement across the room to the Slytherin table. The first signs of pink started at the roots of his greasy hair, but it soon spread so that his whole head was covered in thick, bright, florescent pink hair. The Marauders could barely contain their laughter at the sight, but tried their best to avoid suspicion by trying to seem very interested in their food. Those sitting around Snape had begun to laugh and point at him. Finally realizing what had happened to him, Snape shrieked and ran out of the hall. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus quickly gathered their stuff and left the room as quickly as possible, trying not to arose suspicion. As soon as they were out of earshot of any professors they exploded with laughter.
"That was.... *gasp* so..... *gasp*... funny!!!" Peter exclaimed between giggles.
"I have to admit, that was pretty good, you guys! Where did you learn how to brew that potion?" Remus asked them, once he'd managed to control his laughter.
"Ah, yes, Moony, old boy, we ARE the best! And the best never reveal their secrets!" Sirius said, with a mock air of superiority. "And to think – it will be at least a week before it wears of too!" Sirius smiled gleefully.
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James paced the common room, checking his watch. She was late, us usual, he thought, although it didn't really bother him. He wasn't really looking forward to his date with Erin he had too much on his mind at the moment. It had been almost a week, and Lily still hadn't spoken to him. But he didn't want to be the first one to apologize, he still firmly believed he had done nothing wrong. If she was going be stubborn, then fine! He could do it too! Only it seemed like she didn't really seem to care one way or the other. In fact, hadn't she just been only too happy to avoid him for the past week? Maybe he should just forget about her completely. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn't speaking to him, it might give him the chance to get over her once and for all. Besides, as he kept telling himself, Lily's not that special, right? I mean who really wants a fiery, redheaded, goody-two-shoes, skinny little witch anyways? *You do* said a small voice at the back of his mind.
"Oh shut up!" James yelled at himself angrily.
"What's that?" James heard a voice behind him and turned around to see Erin standing there.
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" James covered quickly. "Are you ready to go?" He asked as he smiled. She nodded and they headed out to the grounds. Erin was talking non-stop but James was still too preoccupied with thoughts of Lily to really pay attention, so he just nodded now and then and occasionally made a small noise of agreement. Erin didn't seem to notice, however, she was too busy explaining something about some Ravenclaw guy named Greg and what he had done in her Charms class on Monday.
The two walked across the school grounds and sat down by the lake. It was beautiful. The leaves on the trees were just beginning to turn colour and the air was still warm and a pleasant breeze was coming off the lake. James sighed. He wished he could come here with Lily. They would sit and talk by the side of the lake. He would sit leaning against this tree, she could lean against him, put her head in his lap. He would smile at her, and stoke her beautiful red hair, and stare into her pretty green eyes. They would laugh together, and he would know that she was all his. James felt a urgent longing deep in his heart. I will never have that, he thought to himself sadly, she can never be mine. He suddenly realised that Erin was asking him a question.
"James? JAMES? Are you all right? Your mind is like a million miles away!" James looked at Erin. She really was a nice girl. Pretty. Kind. James felt bad for ignoring her, so he vowed to put Lily out of his mind at least until later.
"I'm sorry, it's just been a stressful week, that's all, what were you saying?" James turned his full attention to Erin. They sat talking for a while and James thought he was doing a good job of keeping his mind off Lily until Erin asked him a question about the giant squid in the lake.
"Well, you know Lily says that..." James began.
"Do you realize you've been talking about Lily for the past hour?" Erin interrupted, quietly.
"I have not!" James denied venomously. Although, thinking back, maybe he had mentioned her an inordinate number of times in the last little while. He couldn't help it. So many things reminded him of her! Erin stared at him, looking like she was trying to decide whether or not to say something. She bit her lip and looked down for a moment, hesitating. She began slowly,
"Is there something I should know about you two?" She looked up at James. "I mean, do you fancy her?" James was taken aback by her question. He wasn't prepared for something like this.
"No! Absolutely not!" He said on impulse. "And even if I did, she hates my guts!" Erin didn't look convinced, but let it go.
"Alright, I was just checking." She sighed and looked at the sky. "It's getting late, maybe we should head back." James agreed. Erin was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk back to the Gryffindor common room, and when they got there, she said a quiet good-bye to James and headed towards her room. James watched her go. He knew he should chase her, try to comfort her, she was obviously upset, but somehow he couldn't make his feet move.
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Later that night James, Peter, and Sirius snuck quietly out of bed, taking care not to wake Frank. They threw the cloak over themselves and crept quietly downstairs and out the portrait door. They were halfway along the hall when Peter suddenly took a step back, stepping on Sirius's foot.
"Wormtail, you git, watch where you're stepping that was my foot" Sirius exclaimed loudly.
"Shhhh! Do you want Filtch to catch us?" James whispered back loudly, then he caught sight of what had made Peter nervous. Alice had left the common room and was looking right in their direction. James motioned for the four of them to press up against the wall. They watched as Alice walked past them and down the hall. They waited until she had gone back inside the common room and shut the door. The three gave a sigh of relief, and continued out to the grounds.
As soon as they were out of the school, they stashed the cloak beside a tree so they could find it later and transformed into their animal forms. As soon as James transformed into Prongs, he galloped in a wide circle around the grounds. It felt good to feel so free, so wild. Things were so much less complicated when he was in this form. Peter, as a rat, had managed to scurry around the whomping willow to press the knot that would stop the branches from trying to kill anyone who approached. As soon as Remus had joined them, the four friends began to joyously romp through the forbidden forest. Peter trying hard to keep up with the three larger animals. Suddenly, they heard a noise through the branches and a centaur appeared in a clearing just ahead of them. For some strange reason, Remus began to move towards the creature, preparing to pounce. James and Sirius quickly moved to intercept him before he could harm the centaur. But the centaur had seen him and hurled a large rock at Remus's head. The centaur had remarkable aim and Remus the warewolf crumpled into a heap on the ground. James and Sirius immediately transformed back into themselves and ran to check on Remus. Peter caught up to them a moment later.
"Is he OK?" Peter asked, his eyes wide with fear. He kept darting a glace over to the centaur, who was still lingering just over James and Sirius's shoulders. James gave a sigh of relief.
"He's fine." James said, giddy with relief.
"Yup, but he'll have a fair-sized bump on his head tomorrow!" Sirius exclaimed, also sounding relieved. James stood up and turned to the centaur.
"Look, we're really sorry about this, but we wouldn't have let him attack you." To James's surprise the centaur lowered his front legs and bowed to him and Sirius.
"No need to apologize James Potter." James was at a loss for words, he had heard centaurs hated wizards.
"My name is Firenze and it is my honour to meet the four of you." James and Sirius looked at each other questioningly. Peter looked scared.
"Well, I know we've worked up quite a reputation at Hogwarts, but I never imagined it would have spread out here!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning. Firenze shook his head and smiled at them indulgently, the way one would to a child.
"It is not for what you have done, but for what you will do that I am speaking of. You will all be of great importance to the future of this world. Take care of yourselves, young wizards. I am deeply sorry for the burdens you all must bear." Firenze bowed again and took off at a canter into the woods.
"Whoa! What was that all about!" Sirius exclaimed as soon Firenze was gone. James shook his head.
"I don't know. Strange creatures. But we best get Remus here back. He's going to have a bit of explaining to do to Madam Pompfry in the morning." James quickly transformed into Prongs and Peter and Sirius managed to secure Remus to James's back.
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The next morning, James dragged himself out of bed. He virtually stumbled down the stairs to the common room to be confronted by Lily. James's brain was little fuzzy due to his lack of sleep, so his first thought was that of relief. Finally, he thought, she's going to start talking to me again! But it soon hit him that she looked a little upset about something. He braced himself for another fight, but was surprised when Lily simply asked,
"So, did you have fun with Remus last night?"
End of Chapter 6
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed!!! I love you guys!!!!
A/N: All the events in this chapter take place over the same time period as chapter 5, just from James's perspective
Chapter 6: Marauder's Night Out
"As you know, Transfiguration can be a very useful magic, and I am pleased to see so many of you have decided to take your transfiguration NEWTs. However, you cannot expect to pass your examination without putting in a lot of hard work. NEWT year is not a time goof off..." Professor McGonagall informed the class sternly, throwing a warning glance in the direction of James and Sirius who were sitting next to each other at the back of the classroom. James was having trouble paying attention. It could have been the fact that they had been given the same lecture from every professor they'd had so far, or it could have been the fact that Lily, who was sitting two rows in front of him, was sucking on the end of her quill rather seductively, and all he could think about was his dream where he'd almost kissed her, except in his head as he was thinking about it, the dream didn't end with Peter crashing out of bed...
"You know," whispered Sirius, "we've been at school a whole week, and we haven't pulled a single prank so far, people are going to think we've lost our touch!" James barely registered that Sirius had said anything, he was too preoccupied with *other* thoughts, so he just nodded blankly.
"And we wouldn't want to lose our reputation in our last year, would we?" Sirius continued, nudging James. James again made some sort of non- committal grunt.
"Oh, and, by the way I've finally realized that I'm in love with Snape." Sirius continued.
"Uh huh..." James mumbled, absently.
"Yep. We've decided to elope, over the Christmas holidays." Sirius continued evenly.
"Is that right?" James suddenly received a hard whack to his head. "Ouch!" James exclaimed. Professor McGonagall turned around to stare at him.
"Is everything alright, Mr. Potter?" She asked in her no-nonsense tone.
"Yeah," James said rubbing his head "everything's fine." As soon as Professor McGonagall's head was turned, James shot Sirius a nasty look and hissed, "What was that for?"
"If you weren't too busy staring a pretty redheads, you'd know." Sirius replied mockingly.
"Sorry." James mumbled, flushing slightly. Professor McGonagall was just passing out rabbits to the class. As James and Sirius took turns idly transfiguring their rabbit into various inanimate objects, Sirius tried to convince James that it was time the Marauders made an appearance. James was a little uncertain.
"It might not be the best time to pull a prank, what with Voldemort's attack and all..." James argued.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sirius. "It's the perfect time! It will help keep people's spirits up!" Sirius said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I don't know..." James said, still a little unsure.
"Oh come off it!" Sirius said, in fake exasperation. "You just don't want to get into trouble with Ms McGonaLily!" Sirius turned away from his friend in mock disgust. James laughed as Sirius transfigured the rabbit into a red wig, which he put on and started batting his eyes at James, obviously trying to do a poor impersonation of Lily.
"Alright, alright! Let's think of something good!" James finally agreed, still laughing, as he transformed the wig that was still on Sirius's head back into rabbit form.
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Later that day Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were discussing what they wanted to do for their first prank of their final year. As they approached a group of Slytherin's walking towards them, they could easily distinguish Snape, his greasy hair and hooked nose were easily visible above the heads of the group he was leading. He looked like he was surrounded by a bunch of fourth year Slytherin's. As Snape and his group passed the Marauders, Snape exclaimed loud enough that everyone in the hall could hear.
"And we have to put up with a stupid Mudblood Head Girl again this year! I tell you, this place is going to the dogs." James, whirled around and prepared to fight Snape, but Sirius grabbed him and held him back. James was surprised; Sirius never gave up the opportunity to duel with Slytherins.
"What are you doing?" James asked through clenched teeth.
"Saving you ass!" Sirius hissed, indicating the open doorway behind then, which framed Professor Drabb, their Potion's teacher. "He'd just love the opportunity to take off extra points, and you know how much I hate seeing that smug look on Snape's face! Besides, we're going to get him back – I think we've found our victim!"
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"How many openings are there on the team this year?" Remus asked James. The four friends were sitting in the Gryffindor common room discussing Quidditch tryouts.
"Well, let's see, Luke and Sarah graduated last year, that leaves us one chaser and a keeper short..." James said, considering.
"But then we also lost Megan, I think she transferred to Beauxbatons over the summer..." Sirius piped up. "What a pity, I really enjoyed watching her on the pitch..." Sirius joked, looking wistful. "So that opens up another chaser position."
"So I guess that leaves room for two chasers and a keeper." James finished. Just then he heard the portrait open and a 4 third years walked in, looking very glum. When James asked them what was wrong they replied that one of their friends had to leave Hogwarts because his parents were worried about Voldemort attacking the school. Not knowing what else to do, James suggested the four of them help make Quidditch posters to get their minds off their friend.
Soon they had several dozen posters ready. Everyone in the common room came over to see what was going on. Someone called out the suggestion that the posters should talk, and pretty soon everyone was coming up with lines to charm the posters to say. James looked around. Everyone looked like they were having fun. For the first time since they'd heard about Voldemort's attack, everyone looked like they were relaxed, and happy, not constantly worrying about the future. James smiled, he was glad he could do something to help. When the posters were finished, James helped to show the younger Gryffindors what spells to use to post them on the walls. Pretty soon, the whole room was covered in posters, and there were smiles on everyone's faces.
As people filed out of the room to go to the Great Hall for dinner, James ran up to his room to grab something. As he came back downstairs he saw Lily, who looked very upset about something, yelling at Sirius.
"I want you to take them down right now!" Lily was clearly upset by the posters in the common room. "How am I supposed to do any studying with all these James's yelling in my ear! And speaking of James, where is he anyways?"
James walked forward. "Right here," he called out. Lily whirled around. James had to catch his breath. Lily was flushed from her outburst at Sirius, her eyes and cheeks were on fire. How can I find her so attractive even when she's yelling at me? thought James to himself, it hardly seems fair!
"Well, I suppose you heard. I want you to take these posters down RIGHT NOW! And to think, I was even starting to think you had grown up a bit, and then you go and pull a stunt like this!" As Lily's words hit him, James felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. But after he'd gotten over the initial sting her words caused, he felt an anger begin to rise in him. He couldn't understand why a couple of posters were making her so mad. He hadn't done anything wrong! "And I'm going to have a shower, and when I get back this all better be cleaned up!" As Lily whirled around and began to march up to her room, part of James just wanted to let her walk away, but something made him run after her. He couldn't stand her being mad at him, especially for no good reason.
"Wait! Lily!" James called after her as he ran to catch up. Lily kept walking. James searched for what he wanted to say, "look, Lily, before you run off would you please listen to me? I wasn't going to leave them up, I just thought it would be good for effect, let everybody know about Quidditch and give them a little fun in the process. If you haven't noticed, people around here have been a little tense lately. I just thought I'd try and boost moral, that's all." James gave her a pleading look, hoping his words had some sort of calming effect.
"Are you finished?" Lily asked. James could hear the chill in her voice. Fine then! He thought, if she wants to be that way, then that's alright with me!
"Yeah, I guess I am." James said, trying to match the cold tone of Lily's voice. James was struggling to keep from shouting at her, so her turned and walked away slowly. He'd only gone a few steps when he slowed and turned around, ready to apologize, but Lily was nowhere in sight.
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James and Sirius were watching intently from across the room, barely containing their excitement, as they watched Snape take a drink from his cup. Peter began to snigger as Snape finished the drink. Even Remus, who had a lot to say against the idea when they first brought it up, now stared with expectant excitement across the room to the Slytherin table. The first signs of pink started at the roots of his greasy hair, but it soon spread so that his whole head was covered in thick, bright, florescent pink hair. The Marauders could barely contain their laughter at the sight, but tried their best to avoid suspicion by trying to seem very interested in their food. Those sitting around Snape had begun to laugh and point at him. Finally realizing what had happened to him, Snape shrieked and ran out of the hall. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus quickly gathered their stuff and left the room as quickly as possible, trying not to arose suspicion. As soon as they were out of earshot of any professors they exploded with laughter.
"That was.... *gasp* so..... *gasp*... funny!!!" Peter exclaimed between giggles.
"I have to admit, that was pretty good, you guys! Where did you learn how to brew that potion?" Remus asked them, once he'd managed to control his laughter.
"Ah, yes, Moony, old boy, we ARE the best! And the best never reveal their secrets!" Sirius said, with a mock air of superiority. "And to think – it will be at least a week before it wears of too!" Sirius smiled gleefully.
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James paced the common room, checking his watch. She was late, us usual, he thought, although it didn't really bother him. He wasn't really looking forward to his date with Erin he had too much on his mind at the moment. It had been almost a week, and Lily still hadn't spoken to him. But he didn't want to be the first one to apologize, he still firmly believed he had done nothing wrong. If she was going be stubborn, then fine! He could do it too! Only it seemed like she didn't really seem to care one way or the other. In fact, hadn't she just been only too happy to avoid him for the past week? Maybe he should just forget about her completely. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn't speaking to him, it might give him the chance to get over her once and for all. Besides, as he kept telling himself, Lily's not that special, right? I mean who really wants a fiery, redheaded, goody-two-shoes, skinny little witch anyways? *You do* said a small voice at the back of his mind.
"Oh shut up!" James yelled at himself angrily.
"What's that?" James heard a voice behind him and turned around to see Erin standing there.
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" James covered quickly. "Are you ready to go?" He asked as he smiled. She nodded and they headed out to the grounds. Erin was talking non-stop but James was still too preoccupied with thoughts of Lily to really pay attention, so he just nodded now and then and occasionally made a small noise of agreement. Erin didn't seem to notice, however, she was too busy explaining something about some Ravenclaw guy named Greg and what he had done in her Charms class on Monday.
The two walked across the school grounds and sat down by the lake. It was beautiful. The leaves on the trees were just beginning to turn colour and the air was still warm and a pleasant breeze was coming off the lake. James sighed. He wished he could come here with Lily. They would sit and talk by the side of the lake. He would sit leaning against this tree, she could lean against him, put her head in his lap. He would smile at her, and stoke her beautiful red hair, and stare into her pretty green eyes. They would laugh together, and he would know that she was all his. James felt a urgent longing deep in his heart. I will never have that, he thought to himself sadly, she can never be mine. He suddenly realised that Erin was asking him a question.
"James? JAMES? Are you all right? Your mind is like a million miles away!" James looked at Erin. She really was a nice girl. Pretty. Kind. James felt bad for ignoring her, so he vowed to put Lily out of his mind at least until later.
"I'm sorry, it's just been a stressful week, that's all, what were you saying?" James turned his full attention to Erin. They sat talking for a while and James thought he was doing a good job of keeping his mind off Lily until Erin asked him a question about the giant squid in the lake.
"Well, you know Lily says that..." James began.
"Do you realize you've been talking about Lily for the past hour?" Erin interrupted, quietly.
"I have not!" James denied venomously. Although, thinking back, maybe he had mentioned her an inordinate number of times in the last little while. He couldn't help it. So many things reminded him of her! Erin stared at him, looking like she was trying to decide whether or not to say something. She bit her lip and looked down for a moment, hesitating. She began slowly,
"Is there something I should know about you two?" She looked up at James. "I mean, do you fancy her?" James was taken aback by her question. He wasn't prepared for something like this.
"No! Absolutely not!" He said on impulse. "And even if I did, she hates my guts!" Erin didn't look convinced, but let it go.
"Alright, I was just checking." She sighed and looked at the sky. "It's getting late, maybe we should head back." James agreed. Erin was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk back to the Gryffindor common room, and when they got there, she said a quiet good-bye to James and headed towards her room. James watched her go. He knew he should chase her, try to comfort her, she was obviously upset, but somehow he couldn't make his feet move.
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Later that night James, Peter, and Sirius snuck quietly out of bed, taking care not to wake Frank. They threw the cloak over themselves and crept quietly downstairs and out the portrait door. They were halfway along the hall when Peter suddenly took a step back, stepping on Sirius's foot.
"Wormtail, you git, watch where you're stepping that was my foot" Sirius exclaimed loudly.
"Shhhh! Do you want Filtch to catch us?" James whispered back loudly, then he caught sight of what had made Peter nervous. Alice had left the common room and was looking right in their direction. James motioned for the four of them to press up against the wall. They watched as Alice walked past them and down the hall. They waited until she had gone back inside the common room and shut the door. The three gave a sigh of relief, and continued out to the grounds.
As soon as they were out of the school, they stashed the cloak beside a tree so they could find it later and transformed into their animal forms. As soon as James transformed into Prongs, he galloped in a wide circle around the grounds. It felt good to feel so free, so wild. Things were so much less complicated when he was in this form. Peter, as a rat, had managed to scurry around the whomping willow to press the knot that would stop the branches from trying to kill anyone who approached. As soon as Remus had joined them, the four friends began to joyously romp through the forbidden forest. Peter trying hard to keep up with the three larger animals. Suddenly, they heard a noise through the branches and a centaur appeared in a clearing just ahead of them. For some strange reason, Remus began to move towards the creature, preparing to pounce. James and Sirius quickly moved to intercept him before he could harm the centaur. But the centaur had seen him and hurled a large rock at Remus's head. The centaur had remarkable aim and Remus the warewolf crumpled into a heap on the ground. James and Sirius immediately transformed back into themselves and ran to check on Remus. Peter caught up to them a moment later.
"Is he OK?" Peter asked, his eyes wide with fear. He kept darting a glace over to the centaur, who was still lingering just over James and Sirius's shoulders. James gave a sigh of relief.
"He's fine." James said, giddy with relief.
"Yup, but he'll have a fair-sized bump on his head tomorrow!" Sirius exclaimed, also sounding relieved. James stood up and turned to the centaur.
"Look, we're really sorry about this, but we wouldn't have let him attack you." To James's surprise the centaur lowered his front legs and bowed to him and Sirius.
"No need to apologize James Potter." James was at a loss for words, he had heard centaurs hated wizards.
"My name is Firenze and it is my honour to meet the four of you." James and Sirius looked at each other questioningly. Peter looked scared.
"Well, I know we've worked up quite a reputation at Hogwarts, but I never imagined it would have spread out here!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning. Firenze shook his head and smiled at them indulgently, the way one would to a child.
"It is not for what you have done, but for what you will do that I am speaking of. You will all be of great importance to the future of this world. Take care of yourselves, young wizards. I am deeply sorry for the burdens you all must bear." Firenze bowed again and took off at a canter into the woods.
"Whoa! What was that all about!" Sirius exclaimed as soon Firenze was gone. James shook his head.
"I don't know. Strange creatures. But we best get Remus here back. He's going to have a bit of explaining to do to Madam Pompfry in the morning." James quickly transformed into Prongs and Peter and Sirius managed to secure Remus to James's back.
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The next morning, James dragged himself out of bed. He virtually stumbled down the stairs to the common room to be confronted by Lily. James's brain was little fuzzy due to his lack of sleep, so his first thought was that of relief. Finally, he thought, she's going to start talking to me again! But it soon hit him that she looked a little upset about something. He braced himself for another fight, but was surprised when Lily simply asked,
"So, did you have fun with Remus last night?"
End of Chapter 6
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