Chapter 2 - Call It Obsession
Disclaimer: As though I would have the money to pay you, even if you did sue. Why do I bother putting these up here, it's obvious I'm not JK Rowling.
The four boys walked off of the train, looking incredibly smug and impishly glanced over at the Slytherins walking by. They exchanged mischievous looks with each other and grinned.
"Remus, you've got all your supplies?" Sirius asked in a whisper.
"Yeah. Everyone know who they're going for?" he replied, equally secretive.
"Aren't these the same people we jinxed at the end of the year feast?" Peter asked in a perplexed voice.
"Pete, Pete, Pete. It's not 'jinxed,' Nothing we do is worthy of so trite a description. We are 'pranking.' Or, if you prefer, 'marauding.'" James chimed in sagely. He would've said more, but a flash of red suddenly caught his eye (which was saying something, since half the people around him were wearing Gryffindor colors).
Lily was half-heartedly directing traffic while describing the events on the train with her three friends.
"…And then, if you please," she was saying angrily, "he says 'Let's go, it's not worth it.' Can you believe his nerve!?"
"Well, Lily, perhaps he simply meant that he didn't want to get in trouble for cursing someone," Alice said in a level tone. At the look on Lily's face, however, she added, "Although it's just as possible that he meant you weren't worth the time of day, I'm sure."
"How does that make sense, when James has been pining after Lily all this time?" asked Marlene, her eyebrows raised.
"Oh come on! It's obvious to everyone he doesn't even mean what he says! Besides, who would care if he even did like Lily? He's no good." Adele glared at Marlene and Alice, as if daring them to try to rebut her words.
As Lily was nodding her agreement, he eyes suddenly found the student in question, who had been staring at her and now smiled in her direction. It was obvious to Lily that this smile was meant to make her go weak at the knees, but the only effect it had was to provoke a glare.
James sighed as he saw Lily scowling at him. His eyes passed onto the three girls next to her. Alice was saying something to Lily, but Marlene smiled and waved to him in a friendly manner. The other girl, Adele, snatched Marlene's hand down out of the air and shot the two of them a glare far surpassing Lily's own.
When James turned back to his friends, he found them all looking at him with amused faces.
"Maybe you should go for Marlene, James. She doesn't seem so… averse toward you," Peter commented, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
"Now, now. We all know that she's for Sirius," Remus said as they climbed into an empty carriage. Sirius sighed dramatically.
"How many times do I have to tell you gits? I have no interest in her that isn't purely platonic, and even that interest goes no farther than Quidditch. Now, Emmeline Vance… well, that's a different story."
"Planning on asking her out, Padfoot?" James inquired, relieved that the conversation had turned from him.
"I might," Sirius said evasively, with a small smile on his face. "You think she'll go for me?" he added, causing the others to laugh.
"Yeah, like she's really going to turn you down. You've got half of Hogwarts wishing they could get a drink of your sweat," Peter said, grinning.
"Sure you don't want a chance with her before I make my move, Prongs? Give you someone new to obsess about?" Sirius teased, getting a withering look from James.
"I do not obsess. And no thanks, she's not really my type," he replied loftily, though his proud demeanor disappeared as his friends burst out into laughter. "What? I don't obsess!"
"James, sorry to tell you this, mate, but if your approach to Lily Evans could ever be called anything, it would be obsessive," Remus choked out between laughs.
"Well… shows what you know." James' inadequate reply only made them laugh harder, causing him to get out of the carriage in a huff.
As he stood there waiting for his friends to follow, he glanced about. The castle loomed above him, and students were milling about, meeting up with friends and heading toward the Great Hall and food. Looking at all of the commotion around him, James felt a rush of optimism toward the forthcoming year.
"Guys," he called to the other three, who were finally out of the carriage and over laughing at James' expense. They started walking toward the doors. "This is gonna be our year, I'm telling you."
Sirius stopped suddenly and slowly, as though it was painful for him to do so, turned his head until he was looking over at James. "James. You tell us that every year." Remus and Peter snorted with laughter.
"And every year I'm right!" he said indignantly.
"Yeah, except for the one when we all got more detentions than the rest of the student body combined." Peter said.
"Actually, in James' defense, I would say that was our best year," Remus said, grinning.
"Mr. Potter!" called an intimidating voice. All four boys cringed. "Mr. Potter, I need to speak with you."
"But, Professor McGonagall, we haven't done anything yet!" Peter moaned.
McGonagall raised her eyebrows at him, then looked expectantly at James.
"Go on, I'll catch up with you later," James called, wondering what it was he was in trouble for now. He tried to think back to whether or not he had been punished for everything he'd done in the last week of school.
Lily saw Professor McGonagall take James aside and smiled inwardly. She hoped he was getting punished for the incessant stream of pranks he had pulled the last week of fifth year. It was high time that he had to face the repercussions of what he had done.
"Mr. Potter, as you know we lost our Quidditch captain, Arthur Weasley, over the summer. I'm appointing you the new Gryffindor captain," she announced warmly, holding out a gleaming badge out to him. It was gold, with a red lion and the letters Q.C. on it. "Tryouts are in two weeks, on Tuesday. Make sure we've got a good team this year. If I have to give up that Quidditch Cup I'll give you a month of detention."
James grinned, taking the badge from her. "Aww, Professor, you know I'd never let you down!"
James swore he saw amusement in her eyes. "Sadly enough, this is the one time I believe you. Now get to the Great Hall. Remember, tryouts: Tuesday in two weeks." She turned away to head down to greet the first years.
"Thanks, Professor!" he called as he joined the last of the stragglers into the Great Hall. Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked up expectantly when he joined them. Without a word he held up the Quidditch captain badge and grinned.
"Brilliant!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Here we were thinking she was going to yell at you about our last week last year!" Peter said, looking relieved.
"Nice one, James. Though it hasn't really come as a surprise, has it?" Remus commented with an amused glint in his eyes.
"No, I suppose not," James conceded, knowing his ego was getting bigger and bigger as he pinned on the badge to the front of his robes. "Although, I think McGonagall would've given me a lecture if she hadn't had to get to the first years." Sirius groaned.
"Why can't the Sorting be after food?" he whined as McGonagall opened the doors and led in the new group of first years.
All throughout the Sorting Sirius looked despairingly at his empty plate, and James swore that he heard Sirius' stomach rumbling in between the names of students and Houses.
Finally, after "Zinfandel, Claire" had been sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Now, to appease your starving bellies-" he looked knowingly at Sirius, "-dig in!" As the Headmaster spread his arms wide food appeared on the tables and Sirius let out a whoop.
The four marauders tucked into their dinners at breakneck speed, scarcely finishing chewing one things before staring on another. All this time they managed to keep an ongoing conversation up with Edgar Bones another Gryffindor Chaser, who stopped by to congratulate James on his captainship and stayed to talk about the prospect of acquiring the Quidditch Cup for the fifth year in a row.
After all four had finished eating and they'd spent a moment grinning roguishly at each other, the all nodded to each other, took out their wands, and looked over at the Slytherin table.
The table in question exploded with confetti emitting deep whirs as Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Regulus Black, Rodulphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Severus Snape, Evan Rosier, and Walden Macnair were covered in red and gold, including their hair. Bellatrix Black was screeching at the top of her lungs as the other Slytherins surrounding her were trying not to look amused.
The Great Hall erupted into laughter as the eight afflicted Slytherins and the teachers tried to discover who the culprits were and the marauders tried to look innocent.
Looking around, James noticed Lily laughing along with the rest of the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. He figured, however, that she was laughing more at the joke than at who it was aimed toward.
Then, in one split second, their laughing eyes met and James found he could no longer breathe.
Oh holy crap what a great ending! Sorry for the wait (well, sorry to my beta for the wait). If you didn't already realize, my Keladry fic has been updated (amazing, I know). This was going to be updated earlier today, but then I had this whole breakdown dealie with my father not coming to my choir concert. Anyway. Next chapter should be coming out soon, seeing as how I have the plot outline all ready and everything.
I am planning on going back and revising the previous chapters sometime soon. Nothing major, just fixing mistakes and adding details. A bit of Lily's POV will be added to chapter 1, so go back and read it when I've done it. Thanks again to my beta, Mel, and my proofreader, Jackie (you've been upgraded!). I 3 you!
Ermengarde: It is true.
Skye Rengarde: Thanks! That's what I was hoping people would say. And my friend has heard of this musical you speak of. It's my betas fault - I was all prepared to use Dorcas' name.
Laura Kate: Thank you for the review, you bombastic puny upchuck inspiring butt-licking puke stick. I think I got that backwards. Anyway, any review is fine with me (as long as it's nice), so feel free to keep reviewing. Also: shuttup.
Crystaltambaia: I did try to avoid those nasty grammatical and spelling errors. And don't worry, there will be plenty of drama to sustain you through an extra year. Mwahahaha. My beta is a genius, I tell you. Keep reading!