Disclaimer: We do not own the Marauders, nor the brilliance from whence they came, for if we did our fingers would not be numb from continuous typing, but instead would be refreshed in the salty waters of the Carribean, where we would live with the human figures of James, Sirius, and Remus.
Make your words nice and sweet; some day you may have to eat them
"Oh No He Didn't…"
Remus gazed sullenly at his mashed potatoes, as his mind ventured through the many trials the past year had brought. Although he was surrounded by cheery students and happy faces, it only marked yet another year of companionship and escapades at Hogwarts lost for him. Only a short summer divided now and his final year as an almost-normal teenager. Hogwarts had been his safe haven and he would hate to leave it.
"Oy Moony! What gives?" Sirius asked, pausing in the acting of cramming the 37th chocolate frog of the hour into his mouth. James had gotten bored of seeing how many Sirius could eat; but his exquisite Lily could never bore him. Although James was clueless to the conversation going on between Sirius and Remus, he still managed to save Remus the trouble of explaining himself with a confrontation of his own.
"Ya know Caleb, she's not your girlfriend," James said, or rather tried to say in a casual voice. Most guys would have seen the challenge in confronting a very tall punkish-looking teenager, but James was only scared to let his anger reveal the true depth of his feelings for Lily.
Remus looked up at last to see the situation suspended before him. Lily had paused, her fork halfway to her mouth and her shoulders tensed uncomfortably. Caleb was glaring at James, his arm still around Lily's shoulder. Last of all there was the sad look of jealousy that only Remus could see under James's hardened mask of casualness. Caleb slowly removed his arm from Lily. Sirius let out a sigh of relief (either from the resolution of the situation or his successful completion of chocolate frog number 42….) but Remus knew better. Lily had been defending her strictly-friend based relationship with Caleb ever since she came to Hogwarts, and James had made a risky move crossing one of Lily's many lines.
"You're not my boyfriend either, James," she said back stiffly.
"I could be…" James replied with a grin, as the old haughtiness of the past six years stifled the more recent "James" he had been trying to create to please Lily.
"James, we are friends, remember?" she said pointedly. "Just friends. Period." She hit him on the head. It was anyone's debate whether Lily was just being playful or wanting to hurt him.
"Ooh feisty are we? C'mon Lily you know you can't resist this." James stood up as he opened his cloak and bit his lip seductively. He failed to notice that every girl that saw this nearly fainted, except Lily of course.
"Funny, could've sworn I've been doing just that for the past six years," said Lily smartly.
"That's right, and you finally caved a month ago. Being just friends is so overrated," he said with an insensitive glance at Caleb. "I want you, and I know you want me."
Lily stood up. If looks could kill he would be deader than the ends of Snivelly's greasy hair at the moment.
"James, I would rather date the giant squid!" she spat.
"Hmm... Where have we heard this before?" he asked in mock seriousness, then muttered, "some things never change…."
"Like what, you?" Lily countered.
"More like you, and the fact that I lost my hope for a second chance before I even met you. You don't seem to care that I changed just for you."
"Potter, Potter, Potter, you actually believe that I didn't see through your little act? You were changing to be my boyfriend, not to be my friend."
"Friend, boyfriend, does it even make a difference with you, Lily? You're a cold hard bitch either way!"
The crestfallen look on Lily's face would have made anyone say…
"…Oh no he didn't!" Summer muttered under her breath.
"Oh yes he did gurl," slurred Sirius as they both shared a brief laugh that they abruptly tried to change into a cough when James and Lily glared at them.
Lily and James went back to hating each other, so absorbed in their fight that they didn't realize that they were attracting the attention of most of the Gryffindor table. Okay, so James noticed just a little.
"What is our friendship James, just another game for you to win at? Well sorry, because I'm not playing!" Lily's face was contorted in rage and her voice many notches above a whisper.
"Are you sure, because I think you've been playing me…"
"You're ridiculous. Why, because instead of being seduced by the Potter charm I am sickened by everything you are?" James was stuck, so he resorted to fantasies. Always a good source for a comeback, he thought.
"Oh I believe you were seduced enough last night to miss your Prefect meeting," James said lightly.
So that's where she was last night, thought Remus with a smirk.
"Lily told me she had problems with trouble makers…."said Summer uncertainly.
Sirius addressed the group with a proud look on his face. "That's my Jamesie, always a troublemaker. Although most girls…" Sirius never finished, but dodged Summer's punch instead. That girl was a force to be reckoned with.
Professor McGonagall standing before them with her hands on her hips was even more intimidating than Summer's glare.
"Lily Evans!" she said with surprise at the preposterous idea of Potter and Evans doing anything together, shaking her head.
"Professor…no…I…"
Lily abandoned her failed attempt at explaining herself and spun on her heel to face James, a look of pure loathing on her face.
"You're not my boyfriend, you're not my friend, and as far as I'm concerned I don't even know your first name. Potter." With that she slapped him with some reasonable force and swept out of the Great Hall with as much dignity as she could muster in her current emotional state.
Lily sat with her arms crossed over her chest on the Hogwarts Express, the events of the Leaving Feast still fresh in her mind.
"Who the bloody hell does James Potter think he is? Gosh he is so…so…"she punched her own hand in an effort to say exactly what he was "…arrogant, conceited…he's just a bloody git," she finished. Actually for Lily things were never quite finished. Lily went on and on with her speech but it was unappreciated by Summer and her headphones. No one could stand listening to Lily all day when she got like this.
"Speak of the devil," Summer muttered with newfound excitement as she noticed James pacing the corridor; at least with James around something interesting might happen. But for once James wasn't searching for Lily; Snape was the perfect person to drain his aggression on, and right now James was pissed. James, closely followed by Sirius, Remus and Peter found their target walking right past Lily and Summer's compartment.
The Marauders had their wands aimed at various vulnerable points on Snape's body, who was left utterly defenseless and could only sneer. (Unfortunately they couldn't avoid him looking ugly). Summer watched through her compartment with curiosity. James and Sirius could definitely come up with interesting ways to pass the time. Lily stopped babbling about what a prat James was to notice Summer wasn't listening to her, but singing along quietly to something and gazing out the compartment window with interest. Curious to see what could be more enthralling then her hate for Potter, Lily crossed the compartment and followed Summer's gaze out the window. Sirius, Remus, Peter and…Potter had cornered Snape into the wall and were no doubt threatening to use all the jinxes they had learned the previous year. Normally Lily would have put an end to such hostility, but at the moment she wouldn't touch Potter with a ten-foot broomstick.
Sirius turned his attention from Snape to where he caught Summer eyeing him as she banged her head vigorously to headphones. He instantly met those sparkling lavender eyes and smiled his famous heart-wrenching smile as his heart leapt. He looked away quickly. Something about her made his stomach jolt every time he had her attention. I don't think she's into me that way, he thought. Why the hell not?
As he pondered this question, Summer was rolling her eyes but feeling her heart leap as well. She lay down on the compartment seat and became absorbed in her music.
Sirius nudged James, and while James and Remus looked into the compartment curiously Snape slipped away (like Peter would catch him…he's just well, Peter…). James saw Lily framed in the window and felt a pang of guilt and sadness in his heart that was already so full of emotion. The things that girl could do to him. He wanted to go to her, hold her in his arms and apologize over and over again but he knew that would only make things worse. He wondered if things would ever be right again between them, but he knew for that to happen he would have to change. He could change, for her…