The whole school was buzzing with the news of James and Lily's escapades, the night before. Of course everyone had their own theories about what had really happened, but no one knew the truth. Neither, unfortunately for them, did the Marauders, as the James and Lily had little memory of that night. They had plenty of suspicions though, as to who would have the knowledge, the manpower and the sheer gall, to carry out such a complicated prank.
They were all sitting at breakfast, in the Great Hall, one day later. James and Lily had been in the hospital wing for the whole of the previous day to heal their cuts and bruises and generally recover. the two of them, mainly Lily, had had to cope with the suggestive comments and looks from other students and were getting mightily tired of it. James felt anger rising within him, for the humiliation of being 'got' for the first time by another prankster and also at seeing Lily's humiliation. Her squeaky clean reputation had been tarnished and that was hard to bear, as he felt partly to blame, after all she had gone down to meet him hadn't she?
They carried on disscussing the situation for the rest of the day and had been told to be quiet with the threat of detentions in lessons up until dinnertime. After which they all went to sit beneath the shade of their favourite tree, to discuss their situation fruther.
"I vote we get Wormy to do a little spying for us!" Sirius said, glowering at some 4th years who were giggling behind their hands at the group.
"Yes, Wormy we'll need you to go creeping around the Slytherin dorms again, you're the only one small enough to get away with it!" James said looking at a nervous Peter
"He's small, but he's not that small!" Lily exclaimed, "They'll do terrible things to him if he's caught!"
"Ahh! I think now's the time to let you into a little secret Lily!" James said smiling at her, then around at the others, who smiled knowingly back. Lily's mouth gaped as she heard the full story of the gang being unregistered 'Animagus's' and the reason behind it.
"Well that explains a lot!" Lily said finally, when the full story had been told
"We can trust you not to tell a soul, can't we? I mean not a soul Lily, it's imperitive no one finds out the truth about Remus" James asked her, staring directly into her eyes imploringly
"I'll never tell anyone, not as long as I live" Lily replied earnestly
"Well Peter you'd better get going, before lunch finish's, we'll meet tonight, out here, after school so you can tell us what you found out" James told him
Peter merely nodded and smiled and ran off in the direction of the school.
Remus looked on after him a thoughtful expression on his face, then said "He's been acting so strangely lately, I'm not sure I fully trust him anymore. He keeps disappearing and having the same excuses, when I ask him where he's been"
"Oh Moony, you're so paranoid!" Sirius replied, slapping Remus on the top of his arm playfully, "Wormy's one of us and always will be, he's always come through for us in the past. He just likes to go off and be nosey that's all, he's probably spying on the girls in their bathrooms or something!"
"Oh, you would think that! Just because that's what you would do if you could become a rat!" Remus sniggered at him, getting a naughty smirk in return
From what I've heard he already has a reputation as a rat!" Lily joked
"Hey, don't believe everything you hear! I have a lot of satisfied customers that will testify to my good nature you know!' Sirius said, pretending to be hurt by this remark
"You can't be 'sirious'!" James said knowing he would get a battering for that remark, which he did indeed. James and Sirius rolled around on the grass, laughing and grabbing each other, trying to be the one who ended up on top, Sirius won this time
"Do you concede?" Sirius smiled, holding onto James's wrists
"Oh yes darling I would never refuse you, you know that! Now kiss me you hunk!" James said in a falsetto voice, trying not to laugh uncontrollably. Everyone else in the group was now also in fits of laughter at this display and were still smirking when the bell went for the end of lunch. James put his arm protectively around Lily's shoulders, as they walked back into school, with grass still sticking out of his hair. Sirius went off on ahead as soon as he spotted Flora and went off to meet her. Normally he liked to keep things casual and didn't usually meet her for lunch, unless pre-arranged.
That evening they all met up under the oak tree, again, to hear what Peter had found out.
"There was a lot of laughing and Rodolphus was doing most of it, so I thought I would concentrate on him. When he went up to his room I followed him, I nearly got trodden on by that girlfriend of his and her stupid spikey heels!" Peter explained, pulling a face as he remembered.
"Anyway, I followed him and a few other people who're in his gang went up there too. I hid under one of the beds and heard everything!" Peter said smiling round at his rapt audience, he was revelling in the attention
"Well! Tell us what you heard then!" James said impatiently, causing Peter's smile to fade and he began speaking again
"Well you'd probably already guessed it was him! But it was how he did it that was the clever part! He used a memory potion, a banned one, well at least for students of this school, it's used by aurors on muggles, so they don't remember what they've seen if there's a magical accident or something!" he paused again
"So that's why I don't remember what happened!" James exclaimed, " the git, I'm going to get him for this! But how did he get me to take it, I 've never had any trouble fighting off him and his gang before?"
"Ahh, now that was the really clever part, he had to make you angry, so angry that you would lose control for a while! Just enough time for him and his gang to sneak up on you and administer the potion! He arranged it so Lily would think she was meeting someone secretly in the clearing back there" he indicated towards the forbidden forest, "then he made sure you went to the same place at just the right time" Peter continued, obviously on a roll, from all the rapt faces looking at him
"So! What the hell did he do that made me so angry then!" James glowered
Peter grinned, hardly being able to wait for the shocked reactions from his friends, he knew he would get from his next bit of news, "he got Severus Snape to kiss Lily, whether she wanted him to or not! He knew that would get you really mad, he knows how you feel about Snivellus!" He stood back then, basking in the glow of the gaping mouths around him
"WHAT!" James sounded furious. Lily just gaped, like the others, then covered her mouth with her hand
"Lily why would you be meeting him in the woods? I thought he hated you!" James had turned to Lily now, raising his eyebrows curiously
Lily hung her head clasping her hands together, "We've been friends for some time now, secretly of course, we meet in all sorts of places were no one will see us. He likes to keep it that way. But I don't believe he would do such a thing, he'd never force himself on me, he's not like that. He's really quite sweet and shy, I don't even think he's kissed a girl before, it doesn't sound like him atall!" Lily explained, then added, "Please don't go on the rampage after him, he's already suffered enough at your hands James!" Lily asked pleadingly
"Lily it will take every ounce of strength I have not to strike him down were he stands, but if you ask me to show him pity, then I will" James promised grudgingly
"Thankyou, I am sure he will have some sort of explanation for his part in this. They probably gave him no choice, you know what those Slytherins are like, most of them are purebloods and they have close family ties. I think, they all know everything about each other and they must have had something on him. Please let me talk to him first" Lily, looked at James with deep concern. He seemed to give in and smiled lovingly at her
"How can I refuse you when you look at me like that!' James said kissing her softly
"Hey, is this just a spectator sport, or can anyone join in?" Sirius asked jokingly
Both Lily and James laughed and pulled apart, feeling embarrassed at the audience.
The gang went to bed that night, all of them with their minds whirring, thinking of the biggest and best prank, they could do, one that would outsrip all the others and how they were going to get away with it.