It's a Marauder's Thing
Yaay! Another reviewer! :o)
Ninde Annare: Aw! Thanks for those encouraging words. In reference to the reviewers ... I don't mind all that much. I'll keep on writing even if I don't get more reviews. I'm happy to have 13 reviews! It's nice to see you review every chapter. Gives me more motivation to write. So thanks for always reviewing!
Browneyedgirl2004: I hated that chapter because it was predictable. I feel like I'm just writing something that everyone has already read before (which in some cases, I am). But, I'm hoping to add more to it. To have it be known as more than just a regular 'ole L/J fic. Oh and I liked your new update! :o)
Marauder4eva: Yay! A new reviewer! :o) lol ... More pranks? Aww man! You're asking a lot from me! Do you realize how long it took for me to think that Berti Bott's thing up? A while. Lol. But, I'll try. Your pranks are good!
Now! On with the story!!
Chapter seven: What are Friends For?
A week later, Marissa walked out of the hospital wing, dreading the pile of homework she had acquired over the past several weeks while unconscious. It was a Saturday morning, so she knew she could find her friends either under the tree by the lake, or in the common room, trying to get away from the bookworms of the group: Remus and Lily. She walked to the courtyard but couldn't see them anywhere, she sighed, regretting having to walk all that way. She stopped in front of the Fat Lady, remembering that she didn't know the password.
"Damn," she muttered.
"Nope! Sorry! That is NOT the password!" the Fat Lady said merrily.
"Oh bugger off!" she snapped, pacing in front of the portrait, waiting for someone to help her.
"Marissa!" Lily yelled, running up to her, giving her a big hug.
"Good heavens! THAT is not the password either, young lady!" the Fat lady said.
Lily sighed. "She's had too many drinks with her friend, Violet," she told Marissa. At this, the Fat Lady looked scandalized.
"Why you little..." she started, narrowing her eyes at Lily.
"Periwinkle!" Lily said quickly.
"Periwinkle?" Marissa asked Lily as they crawled through the portrait hole.
"Yep," Lily said, leading her over to the fireplace.
Everyone welcomed Marissa back as she sat down.
"So, how much homework do I have to make up?" she asked anxiously.
"Tons," Sirius said immediately.
"Loads!" James added.
"Oh shut up you two!" Devon said, rolling her eyes. "You've been excused."
"Really? That's great!" Marissa cried.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sirius said, waving it off, "so when are we going to have this party?"
Homework had been piling up for the sixth years. Essays upon essays were assigned for them, in 'preparation for N.E.W.T.'s'. It was two weeks until the Christmas Ball and the teachers were not giving in. The Ball was to take place the night before the start of Christmas vacation. This time, everyone took Lily and Remus' lead and at least started their essays the night they were assigned.
Lily and Devon were walking across the lawn one afternoon, talking about the Ball when they noticed a small crowd forming in the courtyard. People were talking excitedly as if something really entertaining was happening. Lily and Devon exchanged significant glances, knowing what they would find. As they got closer, they saw James and Snape in the middle of the circle, each looking like they would like nothing else than the other person to drop dead right then and there.
"So, Snivellus, think you can take me?" James taunted.
"You're so confident that nothing will ever happen to you, Potter," Snape said coolly. "It's like you think you're invincible. You're not. I know more than you think I do, Potter."
Devon and Lily looked at James. He was shaking with anger.
Devon looked scared, "I've never seen him this mad, Lily."
"How dare you!" James said coldly, advancing on Snape. With a flash of light, Snape was on the ground.
"Expelliarmus!" James shouted. Snape's wand flew ten feet in the air, landing right in front of Lily's feet.
Snape was attempting to get up. "Impedimenta!" James yelled, causing Snape to fall on his back, unable to move.
Numerous curses were coming out of Snape's mouth.
James raised his wand to cast another hex on Snape.
"Stop it right now, Potter!"
James wheeled around and saw Lily standing there. Her face was contorted with a mixture of emotions. Disappointment and anger were coursing through her blood as she stood there. James knew immediately he went too far.
"I thought you had changed from last year, Potter," Lily said viciously, causing James to take a few steps back from her. "This summer you were different. You had changed. Or at least I thought you did."
"Lil," James started, but was silenced by a look from his sister, Devon.
"Let her talk, you deserve it," Devon said, her eyebrows raised at him.
"You've been horrible for the past five years," she began again, "not only to him, but to other students. If a first year got in your way, 'rictusempra'. If someone mouthed off to you, 'wash your mouth, scourgify!' Well you want to know something, Potter? I'm sick and tired of seeing you torment every bloody kid in this school!" she yelled. "You're not better than them like you think you are - you're actually worse. Every person you hex is ten times the person you are!"
James was staggered by her words. Sure he had received many of those lectures from Devon or Professor McGonagall, but no one could make the words sting so much as Lily Evans.
Lily picked up Snape's wand and threw it at Snape. He caught it, with a smirk on his face as he got up. She turned on her heel and swept away from the commotion. Devon took one last look of disgust at her brother, before running after Lily.
"Aw, poor Potter," Snape said maliciously, smirking at him, before walking away.
James stood there feeling humiliated and terrible. He knew that he shouldn't have lost his temper. Especially since he and Lily were actually starting to become friends. 'Not anymore', James sighed. The crowd dispersed from around him, muttering under their breaths. James heaved a huge sigh again as he walked slowly back to the common room, knowing he had changed everything.
That night in the common room, the group was separated, like it had been for the first 5 years at Hogwarts. The girls on one side of the room and the Marauder's on the other. This was the first year that they had really been hanging out together. Their distance those five years had been mostly because of Lily's animosity towards James. But when that was mended over the summer, things changed, and they all became friends. Now, thanks to James' stupidity, they were apart again.
Addy was torn between the two groups. On one hand, she had her best friends, on the other she had Remus, who she had been secretly going out with since the Halloween Ball. When she had said yes to him, Remus had every intention of telling his friends, but when everything happened with Devon and Amos that night, those thoughts went right out of the window. Of course, they had plenty of time after that night to tell everyone, but they wanted to tell EVERYONE. But Marissa had been in the hospital wing. Now that this had happened and James had screwed up again, in Remus' mind, their news would have to wait a while.
A few days later, Lily, Devon, Ashley, and Marissa were eating breakfast, chatting away merrily. Addy was up in Gryffindor Tower still getting ready. James cast a few small glances Lily's way, before returning to his bowl of porridge. A screech was heard from above, as the morning post arrived. Hundreds of owls poured into the Hall, dropping letters and gifts to their owners.
Lily looked up for her owl. She caught the letter in her hand. It was the Daily Prophet, with a letter attached to it.
She opened the Daily Prophet first. She always enjoyed reading the headlines on the front page, but as she was taking a drink, her eyes skimming the paper, she dropped her goblet on the table with a loud clunk! Pumpkin juice was pouring over the edge of the table into Lily's lap, but she didn't seem to notice.
Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she read over the article.
"Lil?" Devon asked from next to her. She looked over her shoulder and gasped.
The headline read:
"HUNDREDS OF MUGGLES KILLED! DEATH EATERS BELIEVED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DEATHS!"
Devon looked up from the paper over to the Slytherin table. Lucius, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Severus had their heads together and were casting frequent glances around the Hall.
As Devon went to read more, she saw Lily quickly unraveling the letter that was attached to the Prophet.
She watched Lily skim the letter, her eyes becoming red, and enormous tears were threatening to drop from her eyes.
"Lil? Lily?" Devon prodded softly. Marissa and Ashley looked up to see what was wrong as Lily finally broke down. When Devon started to ask what was wrong, Lily ran from the Hall. She snatched the letter from the table and read:
Dear Lily Evans:
Yesterday there was a mass killing of muggles in Surrey. Three hundred muggles were killed. I am deeply sorry to inform you that your mother, Kim Evans, was among those killed. Please accept the Ministry's deepest regrets.
Maureen Lingers
Head of Department of Muggle Relations
Devon gasped as she handed the note over to her friends. They read the note and looked fearfully up at Devon.
"Come on, we have to find her," Devon said desperately, getting up.
"Whoa, Dev, where are you going?" James said, grabbing her arm.
"Read the Daily Prophet!" she said, as she yanked her arm away from her brother. Devon cast a look towards the Slytherins again, who were watching her closely. When she met Bella's eyes, Bella smiled evilly while Lucius was shaking with mirth. Devon shook her head, her stomach feeling nauseous as she mouthed a particularly nasty phrase to them.
Lily ran and ran, until she couldn't run anymore. She hunched over, gasping for air from exhaustion. She didn't know where she was, all she knew was that she was away from them, away from everyone. She sat down in a corner, wrapping her arms around her legs as she quietly cried. Numerous memories swept through her mind as she sat there sobbing. Her eighth birthday when her mom got her her first training bra. She was so embarrassed when her friend, Michael, found it in her drawer. As soon as that memory had started, another took its place. She was sitting down at breakfast with her mum, dad, and 'Pet'. It was back when her and Petunia were inseparable. They were laughing about nonsense things when a letter flew in the window and settled itself in front of Lily: her Hogwarts letter. Lily's tears intensified as she remembered how proud her mum had been when she read the letter. But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone coming down the hall, but she didn't care – she wanted to sit there immersed in the memories she had, which were lingering in her mind, longing to be remembered.
"Lil?"
"Go away," she sniffed.
"Lil, I can't," Devon said as she sat next to Lily wrapping her arms around her best friend in a hug. "We can't leave you alone. What kind of friends would we be?"
"I can't believe she's gone!" Lily wailed into Dev's shoulder. "She was my best friend and I lost her! Now I only have my dad." She stopped. "Daddy. Oh my gosh, Devon, he must be devastated!" Lily started to cry again, this time much louder. Devon sat there, feeling completely helpless. She looked at Marissa and Ashley, pleading with them to help her. Her parents didn't die, so she couldn't relate to Lily's situation. As she looked into Marissa and Ashley's eyes, she saw the same myriad of emotions that she felt in her stomach. She was sad. Sad because her best friend's mother was ripped away from her so suddenly. Angry. She felt bitter anger coursing through her blood as she thought of Bella and Lucius' glee in Lily's predicament. And no matter how bad she felt about it, she felt glad. Devon couldn't imagine losing her parent's so suddenly. It was unthinkable. She was glad that it wasn't her parents. But that didn't stop her from crying with Lily. Devon opened her mouth to utter comforting words to her friend when Addy's soft voice interrupted her.
"Lils?"
Lily looked up to see Addy standing there, holding the same type of letter she got, with tears streaking down her face.
"No," Lily breathed, disbelievingly, shaking her head.
Addy glanced down at her feet, not saying anything. Silent tears dropped from her cheeks, soaking the stone floor.
Lily quickly got up and embraced Addy. Marissa, Devon, and Ashley stood there, watching two of their best friends, crying into each other's shoulders. They looked at each other before rushing forward and closing their arms around Addy and Lily. All five girls were crying, embracing each other, willing themselves to not let each other go. Addy felt safe within her friend's embrace. She believed that if they let go now, that she would fall into the dark abyss that was ever so close to taking over.
As they separated, Devon looked between Lily and Addy. "We're going to be here for you two - no matter what. We're all sisters and nothing will ever change that. We love you to death and we will never ever abandon you!" she said tearfully. Marissa and Ashley nodded their agreement solemnly.
Lily and Addy started crying harder as they walked over to her, hugging her and grabbing Marissa and Ashley into the hug.
"Let's go," Ashley said, putting her arm around Lily's shoulder, letting Lily lean her head on her shoulder as they walked up to the common room.
"I can't believe it," James said, sitting with Sirius and Peter in front of the fire. The whole common room was completely subdued due to the fact that out of all four houses, the Gryffindor's were hit the hardest by yesterday's attacks.
"Yeah," Sirius agreed solemnly, "poor Lily and Addy."
"Where's Moony?" Peter asked, staring into the fire.
"Where else?" James said numbly. "Comforting Addy, of course." Remus had told Sirius, Peter, and James about him and Addy when he heard the news.
Sirius scanned the room, taking in the sight. A few first years were talking quietly in the corner, while some fifth years abandoned their O.W.L. practice tests. The girls were nowhere to be found. 'Probably up in their dorm with Moony,' Sirius thought. Sirius looked at James. He knew what was going on in his head. James wanted desperately to comfort Lily. He felt so bad about their fight, knowing that if he hadn't been so stupid about Snape, he could very well be upstairs whispering to Lily that 'everything would be ok'.
But would it? Three hundred muggles were killed. Sure there had been a few killings here and there, but nothing to this magnitude. James knew that things were starting to go steeply downhill with the new attack. No one was safe. Not if you were of muggle-decent or you were a pureblood who associated with muggles. In other words, almost every Slytherin was safe from the wrath of this new threat: Voldemort. Lord Voldemort had just risen to a new height of power and fear. His hands were stained with the blood of so many lives that almost every single person in the wizarding world feared to speak his name. James heard many substitutes for 'Voldemort'; like 'you- know-who' or 'he-who-must-not-be-named'. A bit ridiculous if you asked him. He remembered his parents talking one night in the summer of his fifth year. He and Devon had been told to go upstairs, but they had a different idea. They hid behind a wall, listening intently to their parents' hushed conversation.
Flashback
"Malfoy approached me again, today," Mr. Potter had said softly.
Mrs. Potter gasped. "What'd he say?" she asked fearfully.
"He wanted to know if he should add us to the list," he said, looking away from his wife.
"The list?" she asked nervously.
"Darling, he wants us to join with him," Mr. Potter said finally.
"With ... him?" she repeated. "No! Never!" she shouted.
"Honey! Shh! The kids!" he said earnestly, walking over to his wife and pulling her into a soft and comforting hug.
At that point in the conversation, James beckoned to Devon to follow him back to his room. They agreed to never mention what they heard to their parents, ever.
End flashback
"Prongs?"
"What?" James started, coming out of his daze.
"I'm going to bed," Sirius said, stretching.
"Alright."
"You going to be okay?" Sirius asked.
"Me? Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just not so sure about Lily and Addy," James said, not taking his eyes off the dancing flames of the fire.
Sirius nodded, looking away from James, sighing. "They'll be okay sooner or later. They're strong girls. I just wish I knew exactly who did it."
"Why?" Peter asked, turning his gaze to Sirius.
"Because when I find out who did it," Sirius said resentfully, "they'll be extremely sorry they ever touched those people."
Peter nodded numbly, returning his gaze to the fireplace. 'I guess that party is off,' he thought, miserably.
Okay, finally done. I'm half-way done with chapter eight, I'll try to have it up within the next week! Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always nice! Even flames! I can handle 'em!
Wotchertonks