Summary: L/J love/hate. James discovers some secrets in his seventh year that turn his life upside-down and haunt him years afterward. Will these secrets affect his friendship with his fellow Marauders or his never-thought-possible relationship with Lily Evans?
Author's Notes: HURRAY! It's finally out! Isn't it just wonderful?! *sniffles* I'm sorry it took me so gosh-dang long! I never meant for it to get me stuck like that! T.T! I really hope you guys are still eager to read this, even though it's been...a month? *sweatdrops* It would have been two months this Saturday! T.T! Oi, oi! I'm so SORRY! I really, really am! T.T Well, I hope you guys enjoy your read. It's a bit rocky in the beginning, but I think you all will appreciate and love this chapter! ^.^" It's really good! Scouts honor! *is somewhat happy she is not a Scout* ^.^" Heh heh...anyways! On words!
Dedicated to: PRISTINE! ^.^" For saying I could take my time! WHOO HOO! You see people? Genius should never be rushed *nods, nods* ^.^" Congrats!
Disclaimer: I own none! Nuff said! JK ROWLING GETS THE FIFTH BOOK OUT THIS SATURDAY! WHOO! ^.^"
Of Hidden Truths
(Best Friends)
"You've got to be kidding me." Though the phrase was repeated for the second time, it certainly didn't lose its astonished, bewildered, and just fankly confused tone.
Remus shook his head at this while James meekly remained silent, allowing his friends to discuss this...well, they couldn't really call it a secret anymore, could they?
"I kid you not," said Remus a bit amused, a bit thoughful. "Everything fits together." Here the werewolf began to pace a little. "James has been acting odd lately, obviously hiding something that he says would hurt us if we knew. Also, he keeps bringing up Voldemort--" The fairer-haired boy froze as if he had just came to a revelation. "...who must be the Heir of another wizard--a most obvious wizard--the Heir of Slytherin!"
Sirius looked just plain confused. "Okay...how'd you get that?" he asked, not understanding his friend's train-of-thought.
"Elementary deduction, my dear Padfoot," muttered the other boy absent-mindedly. "Voldemort is a Dark wizard who is uniquely powerful in the darkest of Dark Magic, and he speaks Parseltongue--a trait always associated with Slytherin."
"Wonderful," groused Sirius.
Remus waved off the comment. "Anyway, everything fits together," he said, now looking toward James. "We even know now what happened last year, Sirius."
"We do?"
"Yes." Remus' tone picked up a bit of an exasperated edge, though he still patiently answered: "That night his mother was killed. We now know who did it and why."
Now Sirius looked as if he had been the one to stumble across a sudden revelation. "Voldemort. In a creepy castle. With a wand?" The way in which he had asked the question would have been humorous if it had been said with a different topic.
"Close," responded Remus, turning back to the taller boy. "Voldemort, yes. I don't know where. And with a wand, indeed."
James offered nothing to their discussion as Sirius turned toward him, a look of hurt and amazement on his face.
"All this and you never told us, James?" he asked as James looked away, not able to take his friend's seemingly-accusing gaze. "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," answered James honestly, gaining Remus' attention now as well. "I was too scared--I still am." He looked up and at then faced each of the boys with a firm gaze. "All right. I'll admit that what Remus said is true." His eyes narrowed slightly. "All of it."
Remus looked slightly drained. "Why didn't you say anything to us?" he asked, looking as though he didn't understand his friend at all. "We wouldn't have--"
"I don't know, all right?" replied James with a slight snap, causing both of his friends to give him startled looks. James then reached up with a sigh, pulled off his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I wasn't thinking right...or maybe I was because now that you know--"
"Now that we know," huffed Sirius indignantly, catchingthe bespectacled teen's attention, "we can help." Sirius waved his arms widely for a moment. "Who cares if Lord Chuckles puts us on that 'To-Be-Killed-List!' At least we'll be on it together!"
James considered this for a long while before replacing his glasses on his face and studying the others for a moment before meekly asking, "What about the whole Heir thing?"
Sirius, of course, was the one who answered with a laugh and shake of his head while Remus merely looked over to the laughing boy with a slight smile. "I'm shocked, honestly," said Sirius when he was finished laughing. "I've been best friend with the Heir of the House I'm in for well over six years, and I never knew!" The long-haired boy put his fist on his hips with a half-smirk, half-grin on his face. "What does that tell you?"
James gave a weak laugh. "Well, I didn't know until last year."
There was a moment of silence that stretched over the three friends before the tallest one gave an annoyed sigh. "I hate Lady Fate sometimes," he mused wryly. "She has an odd sense of humor."
The bespectacled one snorted. "And it's quite dry as well," he agreed.
The lightest-haired one cocked his head toward his friend. "You feel better about getting all of this off of your chest?"
James took a deep breath, as though he was breathing fresh air for the first time in a long time. "Much," he replied before giving a sheepish smile. "Sorry I've been a bother."
Sirius waved off the apology. "No apologies necessary," he stated lightly before gaining a devious, mischievous expression and adding, "my lord."
"Damn," James swore while Remus stifled a bit of a laugh. "You're not going to drop that, are you?"
Sirius walked over to his friend's side and slung an arm around his shoulders, giving him a grin that would scare away anyone who knew him. "But of course I am!" he said sincerely, shaking James' shoulder a bit before adding as if as an afterthought, "...once I find a better name for you."
James rolled his eyes. "And here is why I didn't want to tell you."
"No need to get nasty," said Sirius, dropping his arm with a haughty sniff.
Remus shook his head at the whole thing, knowing that the two friends only joked this way to deal with such serious issues. He, however, must have felt the need to discuss the topic further because he then asked, "Is there anything else we should know, James?"
Both of the darker-haired boys went quiet for a moment before the shorter one of the duo answered slowly, "...yeah, there is. Guys...I've been dreaming about last year--about when..." He trailed off. "...anyway, I haven't been sleeping because of it, but I think I keep having it and remembering it because there's a hidden message somewhere...something I'm not seeing."
Remus frowned at this for barely a second before smiling a bit. "We'll figure it out--"
Feeling the need to lighten the atmosphere, Sirius chose that moment to comment, "Yeah! Because we're...the Marauders!" before striking a ridiculous pose that cause the other two boys to stare at him oddly for a long period of time before they chose to forget it ever happened. Sirius, after all, was the one who joked the most about the nick-name they had heard the professors use when speaking of their group of four.
"...thanks," said James to Remus, ignoring Sirius who had gotten out of the pose and stood hovering behind him for the moment, before turning to look back at him . "You know, I thought you two would toss ne awat ir something because of this--"
"Question!" shouted Sirius, interrupting ,and gaining the others' attentions. "Did we abandon Moony?"
James looked over to Remus for a moment before answering, "Well...no--"
"Question!" Again the shout was an interruption. "If we didn't abandon a werewolf, why would we abandon the Heir of Gryffindor?"
James looked unsure. "...this is a slightly different--"
"Question! Which is scarier? Facing a grown werewolf or Lord Chuckles?"
For a moment, the bespectacled teenager wondered idly where his friend had gotten the ridiculous name for the Dark Lord. "...well, both are scary--"
"Question!" shouted Sirius yet again before pausing and leaning in toward James' face, poking him a bit with his index finger as he asked, "Don't you ever think?"
"Oh, shut up," scowled James as he shoved the finger away, gaining a stern look from his friend.
"Don't you pull title on me, Mister!"
"Why?" asked James passively.
Sirius squared his shoulders and seemed to tower over the only-slightly-smaller boy. "Because I'm older, stronger, and heavier than you are."
With the way the long-haired boy was standing, James couldn't help but to agree mentally to these points. Aloud, he replied smugly, crossing his arms, "I'm better at charms than you."
Sirius gaped for but a moment before turning and searching the room with eyes. "Where's my Beater club?" he questioned while James ducked behind Remus, who shook his head at their antics.
"You two can never be serious, can you?" he asked with some mock-exasperation as James chuckled a bit.
"But I'm always Sirius," objected Sirius with some puzzlement, pronoucing his name the same as the word 'serious.'
"You're name's SIR-ius, Sirius," said Remus pointedly, pronouncing the boy's name the way the dictionary has it pronounced.
Sirius frowned at this. "Well, I like SEAR-ius better," he said haughtily, crossing his arms. "That's how I want my name said from now on!"
James grinned over at him. "Siriusly, Sirius?"
"Siriusly, Prongs."
Remus just shook his head. "Honestly, you two."
"Where's Wormtail?" asked Sirius suddenly with immense curiosity.
"Downstairs."
Sirius paused before slowly nodding. "Right. Breakfast." His stomach rumbled for a moment as he remembered that he had not eaten, and with a frown at his abdomen, turned to James, "Weren't you going to take a shower?"
James blinked for a moment before sayiung, "Oh, yeah...well, I'll see you guys downstairs."
***
"You know, Prongs..." commented Sirius when James sat next to him, the longer-haired boy's eyes following a certain girl as she walked over to her blonde-haired friend, who ate her lunch with amazing speed, "she is pretty good looking."
James, having watched Sirius' actions, chose to also follow the movements of the blonde girl's red-headed friend before looking down at his plate when emerald eyes chose that moment to scan the table. "I suppose so..." he muttered, placing some food on his plate, poking at it for a moment, and stabbing it, getting it ready to eat.
Sirius nudged him a bit, making him mis-aim and land the fork filled with pasta on his cheek. "Ah, come on," said Sirius, oblivious to what he had done as James sighed and grabbed for a napkin. "You two aren't still rivals, are you?"
James paused for a second before whiping off the sauce off of his cheek. "Not really," he admitted, placing the soiled napkin back onto the table and resuming his task of eating.
Sirius watched him eat the spagetti noddles before asking slowly, "So...?"
James turned to him and swallowed. "What?" he asked before narrowing his eyes. "Are you trying to get me and Evans together?"
"You wound me, Prongs," said Sirius with a bit of a pout before he turned to his own plate, poking his fork at what looked to be either a lambchop or a porkchop--James couldn't tell which--while continuing, "Like I would ever think such a thing!" The older boy looked to his friend and, noting his expression, finally admitted, "...it was Remus' idea."
James rolled his eyes. "Typical." He twirled the spagetti onto his fork. "If it's not one, it's the other...or both."
"We wouldn't be us otherwise," said Sirius cheekily.
"God forbid you never getting into my personal life," agreed James with a snort of laughter.
"Mm-hmm!" Sirius nodded once, and the two boys resumed their task of eating their lunch, comfortably silent until-- "Hey, Prongs? I was thinking..."
"About?"
Sirius frowned. "About this morning," he replied, lowering his fork before giving his friend a leveled gaze. "And, well, I have to say that I'm disappointed."
"Disappointed?" James looked over at him curiously. "Was it too anti-climatic?"
Sirius frowned heavily at the joke. "I'm serious, James."
"Of course you are!" his friend agreed, not wanting to get involved with a serious conversation at that moment. Sirius seemed to get this hint and crossed his arms, his expression sour.
"You know, that joke only works if I say it," he said pointedly, making James drop his fork and look over to him as he decided to continue the serious conversation.
"You're serious?" he asked.
"I'm always Sirius," said Sirius dryly. "Anyway...I was disappointed about...well..." He looked at his plate as he trailed off before asking with a slightly hurt tone, "How could you have kept that from me--?"
James sighed and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "I didn't tell anyone but Dumbledore--"
Sirius looked to him. "But you didn't tell me? Your best friend of eleven years, Prongs?" He looked away again. "I thought we could trust each other."
James felt torn. He really didn't want Sirius to feel this way and he had wanted to tell him everything in the beginning, but Dumbledore had said... "We do," he said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I trust you, Sirius--"
"Then why?"
A silence fell on the pair, even as the other tables rang with laughter and arguments and gossip. In the silence, James felt the slight strain between the two of them and lowered his hand before looking down himself. "...I was scared, all right?" he answered, trying to keep the defensive edge at bay. "I was afraid Voldemort would attack you if you knew anything--"
Sirius snorted and James froze, not sure what that meant. "Oh, brilliant idea, James," his friend said with sarcasm dripping off of his words, catching his attention, "don't tell me, Remus, and Peter and when Voldemort catches us and find out that you never told us, he then makes us believe you betrayed us--blah, blah, blah."
James stared at him in shock for a moment before sheepishly saying, "I hadn't thought of that..."
"Thinking was never your strong point," said Sirius with a tone that implied it was meant as insult and not as teasing.
"Hey--" he started to object before stopping himself and sighing, his shoulders slumping. "Well, I guess that's true..."
He was then surprised by Sirius wrapping and arm around his shoulders, smiling brightly as if there hadn't been a problem at all. "We forgive you, Prongsie," he said lightly.
James smiled appreciatively before sighing. "Everything's gotten so complicated..."
"Ah," said Sirius intelligently as he shook his friend's shoulder before turning back to his food, determined to eat as that mess had been dealt with, "that's growing up for you."
Neither one of them brought up the conversation they had had, and instead, Sirius teased James about the red-headed Lily Evans, who James noticed was watching them with curiosity before her attention was turned away by her blonde-haired friend Arabella Figg.
***
The day passed with little incidents here and there in the classrooms, and before he knew it, James Potter was once again sitting at the dining table--this time for supper and a look of disgust on his face as he had just gotten out of a slight exchange-of-words with a certain group of Slytherins. He was the last of the group of three to sit down, nearly growling out, "Ugh...I'll never understand Slytherins," as he glared at said group of students.
Sirius gave him a curious look ."Funny," he commented lightly. "They seem to like you."
James gave his plate one look before shoving it away. "I think I've lost my appetite."
"Ignore Sirius," advised Remus, who had already begun on his meal.
"No one can ignore me," said Sirius with an air of superiority.
"McGonagall does a wonderful job of it--" pointed out Remus lightly as he picked up a roll, just as Sirius' head turned slightly, his attention no longer on the debate at hand.
"Sure, sure," said the longer-haired boy distractedly before he stood and shoved away from the table. "Later, guys. Duty calls."
At that statement, the two that were left behind turned their heads toward him as he retreated before the two of them shook their heads. "If I didn't know any better," said Remus, who had been one of the ones to shake their head, "I'd join the group that calls him a 'Gryffinwhore,' considering his track record."
"Who came up with that?" asked James with mild curiosity, not at all disturbed that his closest friend had such a reputation.
"No clue," was the reply. "Hey, Peter."
James turned to see Peter approaching their area, a small frown on his face as he then asked, "Did you see who Sirius was going to?"
"No," answered James, looking at him curiously. "Why?"
"No reason," said Peter with a bit of a squeak at the end, signalling that he wasn't being truthful.
It was then that Sirius chose to return with a horrified look on his face. He sat down next to James, still not seeming to snap out of his horror as he stared blankly ahead for a long moment. Then, he spoke,
"The horror of it all..."
"What happened?" asked Remus, his curiosity getting the best of him, as well as James.
Sirius' mouth opened and closed once--twice--three times before he could manage to say, "A girl rejected me..." He snapped out of his stupor at the sound of hysterical laughter. "Hey!" he cried indignantly. "It's not funny!"
"Oh, my God!" shouted Remus as he shook with laughter.
"Merlin!" cried James as he leaned against the table, near tears. "My side!"
Sirius scowled at the two of them before muttering, "Well, I knew she had a crush, but come on!"
"Wh-who was it?" asked Remus between laughs before calming a bit when the other boy groaned. The werewolf gave a chuckle. "Don't be ashamed, Padfoot!"
The embarrassed boy muttered the name with obvious displeasure, "Lily Evans."
James burst into laughter again, almost falling out of his seat. "L-Lily rejected you! Excuse me, I have to shake her hand!"
"Har har har," said Sirius with a scowl in the laughing-boy's direction, though he ignored Remus' stifled chuckles and Peter's quiet giggles. "Let's all laugh at my expense."
Now seemed to be the right time to turn attention off of Sirius' failure, and Remus did a grand job of placing the attention of the still laughing boy by asking, "Since when were you and Lily on first-name basis, James?"
James choked on his laughter, realizing how everyone had turned to him. He suddenly felt very small for some reason. "Ah...I don't know," he said before giving a nervous laugh, "but there's really no reason to call her 'Evans,' is there?"
Remus barely hid a grin. "I suppose not."
"I should have known she'd want no one but Prongs after their late-night rendezvous," said Sirius mock-sorrowfully, making James' face go red.
"Sirius, that was back in November," he said pointedly.
"Oh, wait," said Remus, ignoring whatever point James' statement had made, "your rendezvous was with Lily? I thought as much." He chuckled a little as James' quickly grabbed his goblet and drank as though he had been supremely dehydrated. "Also...your birthday's soon, isn't it, Prongs? Padfoot?"
"January seventeenth, thank you," answered Sirius brightly.
"January twenty-seventh, Remus," responded James, seeming to have recovered from his 'mysterious' dehydration.
Remus shook his head. "I still don't get how you two were separated by only ten days."
James shrugged, answering for the both of them with a "Neither do we,"as they stood and began to head for the tower. Sirius turned to look back when he noticed that one of them was missing. "Hey, Pete!" he called as James and Remus halted. "You coming?"
Peter looked over at them for a moment before shaking his head. "Er...no...I'm going to try and get this Transfiguration done." He pointed to parchment he had been writing on since he had sat down at the table.
Sirius shrugged. "All right."
"See you, Wormtail," said James as he Remus, and Sirius headed out of the Great Hall.
***
The Christmas Holidays passed by with little to no incidents at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Snow was late this year and hadn't begun to fall until the day before Christmas Eve. Most of the students remained indoors, believing that though the halls were cold themselves, they were certainly warmer than being out in the frozen grounds as the snow continued to blanket them. Two students, however, seemed to somehow think the same idea and had decided to go out to watch the snow fall.
"Hm..." the red-headed girl said, her eyes closed as she savored the feel of the snowflakes falling onto her face. "Where're Black and Lupin?"
The raven-haired boy with glasses watched her for a moment before shaking his head. "Sirius and Remus are serving detention."
"Doesn't surprise me really." She opened her eyes and looked over to him, emerald flashing with the kind of special emotion one only experiences when near the time of the holy holiday. "What about Pettigrew?"
He knew she only used their last names in his presence to get him annoyed. It was like a game she loved to play over and over, trying different things to see how he'd react. Trying to find out how he 'ticked,' one could say. He didn't understand it himself, but he never commented on it since it was, in fact, somewhat fascinating to see how she acted when they weren't biting each other's heads off.
"Peter is doing his homework," he said as she crouched down and began to trace the snow in a pattern only she could see.
"What about you?" she asked. That was one thing James had noticed in the few times he had spoken with her on civil term. Lily Evans liked to ask questions. Probably for the same reason why she liked the last-name game.
"I like the snow," he answered, watching her as she scooped up a bit of snow only to pat it into an oval in the middle of some marking she had made. "That and curiosity got the better of me, and I was wondering why you were out in the snow."
She poked a hole in the top of the oval mound and dragged her finger down its center. "Just thinking, really." She then drew a few more marks before looking up across the snow-covered grounds. "I'm going to miss Hogwarts." James started at the sudden confession, shifting his feet and making her look over to him for a moment before turning back to her markings. "It's been a better home."
He looked down at his shoes, covered in snow, before looking back at the castle, it's lights making the old building seem warm and welcoming. "It has been like a home," he agreed quietly.
He started again when she stood suddenly, brushing her hands against herself and turning toward him with a smile. "So," she said as several snowflakes fell and landed on her red hair. "Sir Knight. Where do you plan to go when you leave?"
He considered the question for a long moment, not realizing that he was still watching her, noticing how a few small flakes had fallen onto and sat perched on her eyelashes, only to continue their fall as she blinked them away with a frown. Finally, he shrugged and answered, "Become an Auror, I suppose. Most likely."
"Interesting," she said, speaking as though she was studying an animal that had done something unusual, which made James wonder what she was thinking. "Any reason?"
"Of course," he responded shortly.
"Hm..." she hummed to herself, closing her eyes again before abruptly seating herself in the snow, though it seemed more like she fell down butt-first. "Well, I'm going to be a reporter, I think."
"A reporter?" he asked dubiously, not thinking that occupation would have been her choice. He was surprised yet again as she lied down in the snow, looking up at the sky with pursed lips.
"I don't know..." she said as though she was speaking to herself. "Maybe I won't have to work if I find the right person."
He smirked a bit. "Planning to be a Gold Digger?"
Lily didn't respond for a moment, but then sat up with snow clumped the back of her black school cloak. "Do you think that low of me?" she asked quietly, surprising him yet again.
He quickly shook his head, not wanting to make her feel bad. "No," he insisted, trying to get the message across that he had merely been joking, but it must have gotten lost between his quick answer and his forceful shake of his head. When he had stopped attempting to relay the message, he watched her for a moment before asking, "Why?"
She didn't reply.
So, James did something he hadn't considered to do. He sat down in the snow next to her. "This seems familiar," he commented, looking out at the frozen lake before looking to her and frowning. She hadn't been so quiet in the last conversation he had with her, but there was that time before then... "Come one. Spill it, Lils--"
"Lils?" she asked with wide-eye surprise.
James ignored her surprise as well as his own. "--I want to know why you're acting the way you do." He looked over to her, but she was intently looking over the little marking she had made. "You know more about me than I do you."
"I thought you preferred it that way," she replied stiffly, beginning to trace the snow again.
"Well," he said before pursing his lips and continuing slowly, as this was new to him, "I know we never really were friends, but...can't we be something like that now?"
A strange smile seemed to creep into her face as she curved her finger toward his feet only to twist back the other direction, making a unique ribbon-trench in the snow. "You told them, did you?"
James watched her for a moment before shrugging and looking back out to the lake. "Remus figured it out. He's the brain of the group."
"I should hope so," she responded lightly.
He looked over to her and flicked a bit of snow in her direction. "Don't be nasty."
She looked over to him and childishly stuck out her tongue at him. "I'll be what I please."
"Come on," he said with a bit of frustration as he realized what she was doing. "You're avoiding the answer."
"To what?" she asked with an innocent look.
"To--" He stopped for a moment, thinking about what they had been talking about. Somehow, he had lost track of what the original question was. "Ah, bloody hell," he swore, rubbing his nose. "I forgot."
"Oh, well," she said, a little to cheekily for it to have been genuine, but he let it go as she went back to her tracing and he went back to staring at the frozen lake. Then, she spoke up again, "What do you think will happen?"
"To what?" he asked without looking over.
"To the Wizarding World. What with Voldemort--"
He closed his eyes. "Let's...not talk about Voldemort," he suggested.
He could feel her frown without having to look over. "Well, you can't avoid that monster forever, you know," she told him, sounding as though she knew all about Voldemort being after him in the first place.
"I'm hoping to never see him...again."
There was a pause before he heard Lily sigh and then say, "You're a pretty strong wizard, James, and he has his eyes set on those who are strong."
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it then," he said firmly, letting it be known that the topic was to be dropped. Lily seemed to think the same thing because when James looked over to her again, he found that she was standing, whiping off the snow.
"All right," she said lightly before running her hand through her red hair. "I think I should get going. Good day, Sir Knight."
With that she left, as she seemed to always do, somehow making his gaze linger on her until she was long out-of-sight.
***
"Happy birthday to me!" shouted Sirius a few weeks later in January. Classes had been cancelled that day because of something about 'holes appearing whenever someone said the word 'and' and making the students appear out in the snow.' It wasn't as if James would know about these sort of things, now was it?
For the record, it was all Sirius' idea in the first place.
"Calm down or no presents," said James sternly as his friend, who was now eighteen-years-old, bounced around the room like a kid that had had way too much sugar. The threat, however, was enough to calm the hyper-active teenager long enough for him to pout.
"No fair!" he shouted.
"Very fair," replied James, his eyes narrowed dangerously, showing that he would follow through with the threat. Sirius decided it was best to sit on the couch and hum 'Jingle Bells.' James shook his head.
"I think I miss Christmas and New Years already," said another voice, which happened to belong to Remus.
"What?" exclaimed James before he gestured to the couch. "He was hyper then, too!"
Remus shook his head. "But now he's eighteen. Of age in the Wizarding and Muggle--" His eyes suddenly widened as he seemed to come to a horrifying conclusion. "Dear God."
"What?" chorused Sirius and James.
"Dear Merlin! The horror!" cried Remus suddenly. "Sirius Black of age in the Worlds!"
"That not fair," said Sirius with a pout. "You and Peter are eighteen."
Remus seemed to have regained his composure and replied, "Need I remind you that Peter and I are the only ones that have any sense?"
"What about James?" demanded the now-unhappy birthday boy.
Again, Remus' eyes grew unnaturally wide. "Dear Lord...two of them!"
"Have no fear, Moony, dear friend." James slung an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders and mimicked Sirius' usual movements of shaking his shoulder. "No ill from us shall befallen you."
"That's what he says," was what Sirius said with a snicker, making Remus look ready to have a nervous break-down.
"Anyway," said James quickly as he lead Remus away from the now snickering Sirius, "let's get the gifts out!"
That day, to the surprise of James, both Sirius' and his birthday were celebrated and a party was thrown in their honor, lasting late into the night until McGonagall came in the tower with her hair-net twisted a little and shouted for them to go to bed or suffer under the pushiment of the finals being pushed up to a sooner date like, say, April. This was enough to make everyone head to bed, though they had wanted to stay up to see the performance Sirius had been watching to put on.
Author's Notes: Sorry, no replies this time. I already responded to everyone's reviews for Chapter Eight and there was only two or three people who reviewed the notes I put up. Right here, I'm just going to say thanks for reading and that I PROMISE I will have the next chapter out in less than a week! Who knows?! MAYBE TOMORROW! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! ^.^" Thank you all! Ja! ^.~!
Oh, wait! I am now holding a contest! It's a fanart contest! The only rules are that the scene in the fanart has to be a scene from this fic! Be sure to let me know in your review whether or not you're going to participate! Winner gets a walk-on role in this fic(winner will be emailed details later)! ^.~! Come on you know you wanna! ^.~!
Author's Notes: HURRAY! It's finally out! Isn't it just wonderful?! *sniffles* I'm sorry it took me so gosh-dang long! I never meant for it to get me stuck like that! T.T! I really hope you guys are still eager to read this, even though it's been...a month? *sweatdrops* It would have been two months this Saturday! T.T! Oi, oi! I'm so SORRY! I really, really am! T.T Well, I hope you guys enjoy your read. It's a bit rocky in the beginning, but I think you all will appreciate and love this chapter! ^.^" It's really good! Scouts honor! *is somewhat happy she is not a Scout* ^.^" Heh heh...anyways! On words!
Dedicated to: PRISTINE! ^.^" For saying I could take my time! WHOO HOO! You see people? Genius should never be rushed *nods, nods* ^.^" Congrats!
Disclaimer: I own none! Nuff said! JK ROWLING GETS THE FIFTH BOOK OUT THIS SATURDAY! WHOO! ^.^"
(Best Friends)
"You've got to be kidding me." Though the phrase was repeated for the second time, it certainly didn't lose its astonished, bewildered, and just fankly confused tone.
Remus shook his head at this while James meekly remained silent, allowing his friends to discuss this...well, they couldn't really call it a secret anymore, could they?
"I kid you not," said Remus a bit amused, a bit thoughful. "Everything fits together." Here the werewolf began to pace a little. "James has been acting odd lately, obviously hiding something that he says would hurt us if we knew. Also, he keeps bringing up Voldemort--" The fairer-haired boy froze as if he had just came to a revelation. "...who must be the Heir of another wizard--a most obvious wizard--the Heir of Slytherin!"
Sirius looked just plain confused. "Okay...how'd you get that?" he asked, not understanding his friend's train-of-thought.
"Elementary deduction, my dear Padfoot," muttered the other boy absent-mindedly. "Voldemort is a Dark wizard who is uniquely powerful in the darkest of Dark Magic, and he speaks Parseltongue--a trait always associated with Slytherin."
"Wonderful," groused Sirius.
Remus waved off the comment. "Anyway, everything fits together," he said, now looking toward James. "We even know now what happened last year, Sirius."
"We do?"
"Yes." Remus' tone picked up a bit of an exasperated edge, though he still patiently answered: "That night his mother was killed. We now know who did it and why."
Now Sirius looked as if he had been the one to stumble across a sudden revelation. "Voldemort. In a creepy castle. With a wand?" The way in which he had asked the question would have been humorous if it had been said with a different topic.
"Close," responded Remus, turning back to the taller boy. "Voldemort, yes. I don't know where. And with a wand, indeed."
James offered nothing to their discussion as Sirius turned toward him, a look of hurt and amazement on his face.
"All this and you never told us, James?" he asked as James looked away, not able to take his friend's seemingly-accusing gaze. "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," answered James honestly, gaining Remus' attention now as well. "I was too scared--I still am." He looked up and at then faced each of the boys with a firm gaze. "All right. I'll admit that what Remus said is true." His eyes narrowed slightly. "All of it."
Remus looked slightly drained. "Why didn't you say anything to us?" he asked, looking as though he didn't understand his friend at all. "We wouldn't have--"
"I don't know, all right?" replied James with a slight snap, causing both of his friends to give him startled looks. James then reached up with a sigh, pulled off his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I wasn't thinking right...or maybe I was because now that you know--"
"Now that we know," huffed Sirius indignantly, catchingthe bespectacled teen's attention, "we can help." Sirius waved his arms widely for a moment. "Who cares if Lord Chuckles puts us on that 'To-Be-Killed-List!' At least we'll be on it together!"
James considered this for a long while before replacing his glasses on his face and studying the others for a moment before meekly asking, "What about the whole Heir thing?"
Sirius, of course, was the one who answered with a laugh and shake of his head while Remus merely looked over to the laughing boy with a slight smile. "I'm shocked, honestly," said Sirius when he was finished laughing. "I've been best friend with the Heir of the House I'm in for well over six years, and I never knew!" The long-haired boy put his fist on his hips with a half-smirk, half-grin on his face. "What does that tell you?"
James gave a weak laugh. "Well, I didn't know until last year."
There was a moment of silence that stretched over the three friends before the tallest one gave an annoyed sigh. "I hate Lady Fate sometimes," he mused wryly. "She has an odd sense of humor."
The bespectacled one snorted. "And it's quite dry as well," he agreed.
The lightest-haired one cocked his head toward his friend. "You feel better about getting all of this off of your chest?"
James took a deep breath, as though he was breathing fresh air for the first time in a long time. "Much," he replied before giving a sheepish smile. "Sorry I've been a bother."
Sirius waved off the apology. "No apologies necessary," he stated lightly before gaining a devious, mischievous expression and adding, "my lord."
"Damn," James swore while Remus stifled a bit of a laugh. "You're not going to drop that, are you?"
Sirius walked over to his friend's side and slung an arm around his shoulders, giving him a grin that would scare away anyone who knew him. "But of course I am!" he said sincerely, shaking James' shoulder a bit before adding as if as an afterthought, "...once I find a better name for you."
James rolled his eyes. "And here is why I didn't want to tell you."
"No need to get nasty," said Sirius, dropping his arm with a haughty sniff.
Remus shook his head at the whole thing, knowing that the two friends only joked this way to deal with such serious issues. He, however, must have felt the need to discuss the topic further because he then asked, "Is there anything else we should know, James?"
Both of the darker-haired boys went quiet for a moment before the shorter one of the duo answered slowly, "...yeah, there is. Guys...I've been dreaming about last year--about when..." He trailed off. "...anyway, I haven't been sleeping because of it, but I think I keep having it and remembering it because there's a hidden message somewhere...something I'm not seeing."
Remus frowned at this for barely a second before smiling a bit. "We'll figure it out--"
Feeling the need to lighten the atmosphere, Sirius chose that moment to comment, "Yeah! Because we're...the Marauders!" before striking a ridiculous pose that cause the other two boys to stare at him oddly for a long period of time before they chose to forget it ever happened. Sirius, after all, was the one who joked the most about the nick-name they had heard the professors use when speaking of their group of four.
"...thanks," said James to Remus, ignoring Sirius who had gotten out of the pose and stood hovering behind him for the moment, before turning to look back at him . "You know, I thought you two would toss ne awat ir something because of this--"
"Question!" shouted Sirius, interrupting ,and gaining the others' attentions. "Did we abandon Moony?"
James looked over to Remus for a moment before answering, "Well...no--"
"Question!" Again the shout was an interruption. "If we didn't abandon a werewolf, why would we abandon the Heir of Gryffindor?"
James looked unsure. "...this is a slightly different--"
"Question! Which is scarier? Facing a grown werewolf or Lord Chuckles?"
For a moment, the bespectacled teenager wondered idly where his friend had gotten the ridiculous name for the Dark Lord. "...well, both are scary--"
"Question!" shouted Sirius yet again before pausing and leaning in toward James' face, poking him a bit with his index finger as he asked, "Don't you ever think?"
"Oh, shut up," scowled James as he shoved the finger away, gaining a stern look from his friend.
"Don't you pull title on me, Mister!"
"Why?" asked James passively.
Sirius squared his shoulders and seemed to tower over the only-slightly-smaller boy. "Because I'm older, stronger, and heavier than you are."
With the way the long-haired boy was standing, James couldn't help but to agree mentally to these points. Aloud, he replied smugly, crossing his arms, "I'm better at charms than you."
Sirius gaped for but a moment before turning and searching the room with eyes. "Where's my Beater club?" he questioned while James ducked behind Remus, who shook his head at their antics.
"You two can never be serious, can you?" he asked with some mock-exasperation as James chuckled a bit.
"But I'm always Sirius," objected Sirius with some puzzlement, pronoucing his name the same as the word 'serious.'
"You're name's SIR-ius, Sirius," said Remus pointedly, pronouncing the boy's name the way the dictionary has it pronounced.
Sirius frowned at this. "Well, I like SEAR-ius better," he said haughtily, crossing his arms. "That's how I want my name said from now on!"
James grinned over at him. "Siriusly, Sirius?"
"Siriusly, Prongs."
Remus just shook his head. "Honestly, you two."
"Where's Wormtail?" asked Sirius suddenly with immense curiosity.
"Downstairs."
Sirius paused before slowly nodding. "Right. Breakfast." His stomach rumbled for a moment as he remembered that he had not eaten, and with a frown at his abdomen, turned to James, "Weren't you going to take a shower?"
James blinked for a moment before sayiung, "Oh, yeah...well, I'll see you guys downstairs."
"You know, Prongs..." commented Sirius when James sat next to him, the longer-haired boy's eyes following a certain girl as she walked over to her blonde-haired friend, who ate her lunch with amazing speed, "she is pretty good looking."
James, having watched Sirius' actions, chose to also follow the movements of the blonde girl's red-headed friend before looking down at his plate when emerald eyes chose that moment to scan the table. "I suppose so..." he muttered, placing some food on his plate, poking at it for a moment, and stabbing it, getting it ready to eat.
Sirius nudged him a bit, making him mis-aim and land the fork filled with pasta on his cheek. "Ah, come on," said Sirius, oblivious to what he had done as James sighed and grabbed for a napkin. "You two aren't still rivals, are you?"
James paused for a second before whiping off the sauce off of his cheek. "Not really," he admitted, placing the soiled napkin back onto the table and resuming his task of eating.
Sirius watched him eat the spagetti noddles before asking slowly, "So...?"
James turned to him and swallowed. "What?" he asked before narrowing his eyes. "Are you trying to get me and Evans together?"
"You wound me, Prongs," said Sirius with a bit of a pout before he turned to his own plate, poking his fork at what looked to be either a lambchop or a porkchop--James couldn't tell which--while continuing, "Like I would ever think such a thing!" The older boy looked to his friend and, noting his expression, finally admitted, "...it was Remus' idea."
James rolled his eyes. "Typical." He twirled the spagetti onto his fork. "If it's not one, it's the other...or both."
"We wouldn't be us otherwise," said Sirius cheekily.
"God forbid you never getting into my personal life," agreed James with a snort of laughter.
"Mm-hmm!" Sirius nodded once, and the two boys resumed their task of eating their lunch, comfortably silent until-- "Hey, Prongs? I was thinking..."
"About?"
Sirius frowned. "About this morning," he replied, lowering his fork before giving his friend a leveled gaze. "And, well, I have to say that I'm disappointed."
"Disappointed?" James looked over at him curiously. "Was it too anti-climatic?"
Sirius frowned heavily at the joke. "I'm serious, James."
"Of course you are!" his friend agreed, not wanting to get involved with a serious conversation at that moment. Sirius seemed to get this hint and crossed his arms, his expression sour.
"You know, that joke only works if I say it," he said pointedly, making James drop his fork and look over to him as he decided to continue the serious conversation.
"You're serious?" he asked.
"I'm always Sirius," said Sirius dryly. "Anyway...I was disappointed about...well..." He looked at his plate as he trailed off before asking with a slightly hurt tone, "How could you have kept that from me--?"
James sighed and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "I didn't tell anyone but Dumbledore--"
Sirius looked to him. "But you didn't tell me? Your best friend of eleven years, Prongs?" He looked away again. "I thought we could trust each other."
James felt torn. He really didn't want Sirius to feel this way and he had wanted to tell him everything in the beginning, but Dumbledore had said... "We do," he said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I trust you, Sirius--"
"Then why?"
A silence fell on the pair, even as the other tables rang with laughter and arguments and gossip. In the silence, James felt the slight strain between the two of them and lowered his hand before looking down himself. "...I was scared, all right?" he answered, trying to keep the defensive edge at bay. "I was afraid Voldemort would attack you if you knew anything--"
Sirius snorted and James froze, not sure what that meant. "Oh, brilliant idea, James," his friend said with sarcasm dripping off of his words, catching his attention, "don't tell me, Remus, and Peter and when Voldemort catches us and find out that you never told us, he then makes us believe you betrayed us--blah, blah, blah."
James stared at him in shock for a moment before sheepishly saying, "I hadn't thought of that..."
"Thinking was never your strong point," said Sirius with a tone that implied it was meant as insult and not as teasing.
"Hey--" he started to object before stopping himself and sighing, his shoulders slumping. "Well, I guess that's true..."
He was then surprised by Sirius wrapping and arm around his shoulders, smiling brightly as if there hadn't been a problem at all. "We forgive you, Prongsie," he said lightly.
James smiled appreciatively before sighing. "Everything's gotten so complicated..."
"Ah," said Sirius intelligently as he shook his friend's shoulder before turning back to his food, determined to eat as that mess had been dealt with, "that's growing up for you."
Neither one of them brought up the conversation they had had, and instead, Sirius teased James about the red-headed Lily Evans, who James noticed was watching them with curiosity before her attention was turned away by her blonde-haired friend Arabella Figg.
The day passed with little incidents here and there in the classrooms, and before he knew it, James Potter was once again sitting at the dining table--this time for supper and a look of disgust on his face as he had just gotten out of a slight exchange-of-words with a certain group of Slytherins. He was the last of the group of three to sit down, nearly growling out, "Ugh...I'll never understand Slytherins," as he glared at said group of students.
Sirius gave him a curious look ."Funny," he commented lightly. "They seem to like you."
James gave his plate one look before shoving it away. "I think I've lost my appetite."
"Ignore Sirius," advised Remus, who had already begun on his meal.
"No one can ignore me," said Sirius with an air of superiority.
"McGonagall does a wonderful job of it--" pointed out Remus lightly as he picked up a roll, just as Sirius' head turned slightly, his attention no longer on the debate at hand.
"Sure, sure," said the longer-haired boy distractedly before he stood and shoved away from the table. "Later, guys. Duty calls."
At that statement, the two that were left behind turned their heads toward him as he retreated before the two of them shook their heads. "If I didn't know any better," said Remus, who had been one of the ones to shake their head, "I'd join the group that calls him a 'Gryffinwhore,' considering his track record."
"Who came up with that?" asked James with mild curiosity, not at all disturbed that his closest friend had such a reputation.
"No clue," was the reply. "Hey, Peter."
James turned to see Peter approaching their area, a small frown on his face as he then asked, "Did you see who Sirius was going to?"
"No," answered James, looking at him curiously. "Why?"
"No reason," said Peter with a bit of a squeak at the end, signalling that he wasn't being truthful.
It was then that Sirius chose to return with a horrified look on his face. He sat down next to James, still not seeming to snap out of his horror as he stared blankly ahead for a long moment. Then, he spoke,
"The horror of it all..."
"What happened?" asked Remus, his curiosity getting the best of him, as well as James.
Sirius' mouth opened and closed once--twice--three times before he could manage to say, "A girl rejected me..." He snapped out of his stupor at the sound of hysterical laughter. "Hey!" he cried indignantly. "It's not funny!"
"Oh, my God!" shouted Remus as he shook with laughter.
"Merlin!" cried James as he leaned against the table, near tears. "My side!"
Sirius scowled at the two of them before muttering, "Well, I knew she had a crush, but come on!"
"Wh-who was it?" asked Remus between laughs before calming a bit when the other boy groaned. The werewolf gave a chuckle. "Don't be ashamed, Padfoot!"
The embarrassed boy muttered the name with obvious displeasure, "Lily Evans."
James burst into laughter again, almost falling out of his seat. "L-Lily rejected you! Excuse me, I have to shake her hand!"
"Har har har," said Sirius with a scowl in the laughing-boy's direction, though he ignored Remus' stifled chuckles and Peter's quiet giggles. "Let's all laugh at my expense."
Now seemed to be the right time to turn attention off of Sirius' failure, and Remus did a grand job of placing the attention of the still laughing boy by asking, "Since when were you and Lily on first-name basis, James?"
James choked on his laughter, realizing how everyone had turned to him. He suddenly felt very small for some reason. "Ah...I don't know," he said before giving a nervous laugh, "but there's really no reason to call her 'Evans,' is there?"
Remus barely hid a grin. "I suppose not."
"I should have known she'd want no one but Prongs after their late-night rendezvous," said Sirius mock-sorrowfully, making James' face go red.
"Sirius, that was back in November," he said pointedly.
"Oh, wait," said Remus, ignoring whatever point James' statement had made, "your rendezvous was with Lily? I thought as much." He chuckled a little as James' quickly grabbed his goblet and drank as though he had been supremely dehydrated. "Also...your birthday's soon, isn't it, Prongs? Padfoot?"
"January seventeenth, thank you," answered Sirius brightly.
"January twenty-seventh, Remus," responded James, seeming to have recovered from his 'mysterious' dehydration.
Remus shook his head. "I still don't get how you two were separated by only ten days."
James shrugged, answering for the both of them with a "Neither do we,"as they stood and began to head for the tower. Sirius turned to look back when he noticed that one of them was missing. "Hey, Pete!" he called as James and Remus halted. "You coming?"
Peter looked over at them for a moment before shaking his head. "Er...no...I'm going to try and get this Transfiguration done." He pointed to parchment he had been writing on since he had sat down at the table.
Sirius shrugged. "All right."
"See you, Wormtail," said James as he Remus, and Sirius headed out of the Great Hall.
The Christmas Holidays passed by with little to no incidents at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Snow was late this year and hadn't begun to fall until the day before Christmas Eve. Most of the students remained indoors, believing that though the halls were cold themselves, they were certainly warmer than being out in the frozen grounds as the snow continued to blanket them. Two students, however, seemed to somehow think the same idea and had decided to go out to watch the snow fall.
"Hm..." the red-headed girl said, her eyes closed as she savored the feel of the snowflakes falling onto her face. "Where're Black and Lupin?"
The raven-haired boy with glasses watched her for a moment before shaking his head. "Sirius and Remus are serving detention."
"Doesn't surprise me really." She opened her eyes and looked over to him, emerald flashing with the kind of special emotion one only experiences when near the time of the holy holiday. "What about Pettigrew?"
He knew she only used their last names in his presence to get him annoyed. It was like a game she loved to play over and over, trying different things to see how he'd react. Trying to find out how he 'ticked,' one could say. He didn't understand it himself, but he never commented on it since it was, in fact, somewhat fascinating to see how she acted when they weren't biting each other's heads off.
"Peter is doing his homework," he said as she crouched down and began to trace the snow in a pattern only she could see.
"What about you?" she asked. That was one thing James had noticed in the few times he had spoken with her on civil term. Lily Evans liked to ask questions. Probably for the same reason why she liked the last-name game.
"I like the snow," he answered, watching her as she scooped up a bit of snow only to pat it into an oval in the middle of some marking she had made. "That and curiosity got the better of me, and I was wondering why you were out in the snow."
She poked a hole in the top of the oval mound and dragged her finger down its center. "Just thinking, really." She then drew a few more marks before looking up across the snow-covered grounds. "I'm going to miss Hogwarts." James started at the sudden confession, shifting his feet and making her look over to him for a moment before turning back to her markings. "It's been a better home."
He looked down at his shoes, covered in snow, before looking back at the castle, it's lights making the old building seem warm and welcoming. "It has been like a home," he agreed quietly.
He started again when she stood suddenly, brushing her hands against herself and turning toward him with a smile. "So," she said as several snowflakes fell and landed on her red hair. "Sir Knight. Where do you plan to go when you leave?"
He considered the question for a long moment, not realizing that he was still watching her, noticing how a few small flakes had fallen onto and sat perched on her eyelashes, only to continue their fall as she blinked them away with a frown. Finally, he shrugged and answered, "Become an Auror, I suppose. Most likely."
"Interesting," she said, speaking as though she was studying an animal that had done something unusual, which made James wonder what she was thinking. "Any reason?"
"Of course," he responded shortly.
"Hm..." she hummed to herself, closing her eyes again before abruptly seating herself in the snow, though it seemed more like she fell down butt-first. "Well, I'm going to be a reporter, I think."
"A reporter?" he asked dubiously, not thinking that occupation would have been her choice. He was surprised yet again as she lied down in the snow, looking up at the sky with pursed lips.
"I don't know..." she said as though she was speaking to herself. "Maybe I won't have to work if I find the right person."
He smirked a bit. "Planning to be a Gold Digger?"
Lily didn't respond for a moment, but then sat up with snow clumped the back of her black school cloak. "Do you think that low of me?" she asked quietly, surprising him yet again.
He quickly shook his head, not wanting to make her feel bad. "No," he insisted, trying to get the message across that he had merely been joking, but it must have gotten lost between his quick answer and his forceful shake of his head. When he had stopped attempting to relay the message, he watched her for a moment before asking, "Why?"
She didn't reply.
So, James did something he hadn't considered to do. He sat down in the snow next to her. "This seems familiar," he commented, looking out at the frozen lake before looking to her and frowning. She hadn't been so quiet in the last conversation he had with her, but there was that time before then... "Come one. Spill it, Lils--"
"Lils?" she asked with wide-eye surprise.
James ignored her surprise as well as his own. "--I want to know why you're acting the way you do." He looked over to her, but she was intently looking over the little marking she had made. "You know more about me than I do you."
"I thought you preferred it that way," she replied stiffly, beginning to trace the snow again.
"Well," he said before pursing his lips and continuing slowly, as this was new to him, "I know we never really were friends, but...can't we be something like that now?"
A strange smile seemed to creep into her face as she curved her finger toward his feet only to twist back the other direction, making a unique ribbon-trench in the snow. "You told them, did you?"
James watched her for a moment before shrugging and looking back out to the lake. "Remus figured it out. He's the brain of the group."
"I should hope so," she responded lightly.
He looked over to her and flicked a bit of snow in her direction. "Don't be nasty."
She looked over to him and childishly stuck out her tongue at him. "I'll be what I please."
"Come on," he said with a bit of frustration as he realized what she was doing. "You're avoiding the answer."
"To what?" she asked with an innocent look.
"To--" He stopped for a moment, thinking about what they had been talking about. Somehow, he had lost track of what the original question was. "Ah, bloody hell," he swore, rubbing his nose. "I forgot."
"Oh, well," she said, a little to cheekily for it to have been genuine, but he let it go as she went back to her tracing and he went back to staring at the frozen lake. Then, she spoke up again, "What do you think will happen?"
"To what?" he asked without looking over.
"To the Wizarding World. What with Voldemort--"
He closed his eyes. "Let's...not talk about Voldemort," he suggested.
He could feel her frown without having to look over. "Well, you can't avoid that monster forever, you know," she told him, sounding as though she knew all about Voldemort being after him in the first place.
"I'm hoping to never see him...again."
There was a pause before he heard Lily sigh and then say, "You're a pretty strong wizard, James, and he has his eyes set on those who are strong."
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it then," he said firmly, letting it be known that the topic was to be dropped. Lily seemed to think the same thing because when James looked over to her again, he found that she was standing, whiping off the snow.
"All right," she said lightly before running her hand through her red hair. "I think I should get going. Good day, Sir Knight."
With that she left, as she seemed to always do, somehow making his gaze linger on her until she was long out-of-sight.
"Happy birthday to me!" shouted Sirius a few weeks later in January. Classes had been cancelled that day because of something about 'holes appearing whenever someone said the word 'and' and making the students appear out in the snow.' It wasn't as if James would know about these sort of things, now was it?
For the record, it was all Sirius' idea in the first place.
"Calm down or no presents," said James sternly as his friend, who was now eighteen-years-old, bounced around the room like a kid that had had way too much sugar. The threat, however, was enough to calm the hyper-active teenager long enough for him to pout.
"No fair!" he shouted.
"Very fair," replied James, his eyes narrowed dangerously, showing that he would follow through with the threat. Sirius decided it was best to sit on the couch and hum 'Jingle Bells.' James shook his head.
"I think I miss Christmas and New Years already," said another voice, which happened to belong to Remus.
"What?" exclaimed James before he gestured to the couch. "He was hyper then, too!"
Remus shook his head. "But now he's eighteen. Of age in the Wizarding and Muggle--" His eyes suddenly widened as he seemed to come to a horrifying conclusion. "Dear God."
"What?" chorused Sirius and James.
"Dear Merlin! The horror!" cried Remus suddenly. "Sirius Black of age in the Worlds!"
"That not fair," said Sirius with a pout. "You and Peter are eighteen."
Remus seemed to have regained his composure and replied, "Need I remind you that Peter and I are the only ones that have any sense?"
"What about James?" demanded the now-unhappy birthday boy.
Again, Remus' eyes grew unnaturally wide. "Dear Lord...two of them!"
"Have no fear, Moony, dear friend." James slung an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders and mimicked Sirius' usual movements of shaking his shoulder. "No ill from us shall befallen you."
"That's what he says," was what Sirius said with a snicker, making Remus look ready to have a nervous break-down.
"Anyway," said James quickly as he lead Remus away from the now snickering Sirius, "let's get the gifts out!"
That day, to the surprise of James, both Sirius' and his birthday were celebrated and a party was thrown in their honor, lasting late into the night until McGonagall came in the tower with her hair-net twisted a little and shouted for them to go to bed or suffer under the pushiment of the finals being pushed up to a sooner date like, say, April. This was enough to make everyone head to bed, though they had wanted to stay up to see the performance Sirius had been watching to put on.
Author's Notes: Sorry, no replies this time. I already responded to everyone's reviews for Chapter Eight and there was only two or three people who reviewed the notes I put up. Right here, I'm just going to say thanks for reading and that I PROMISE I will have the next chapter out in less than a week! Who knows?! MAYBE TOMORROW! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! ^.^" Thank you all! Ja! ^.~!
Oh, wait! I am now holding a contest! It's a fanart contest! The only rules are that the scene in the fanart has to be a scene from this fic! Be sure to let me know in your review whether or not you're going to participate! Winner gets a walk-on role in this fic(winner will be emailed details later)! ^.~! Come on you know you wanna! ^.~!