The summer passed slowly for James. His mother visited twice, and oddly enough seemed to be on very friendly terms with Mrs. Evans. The two loved to talk about their children and compare their two very different lives. Of course, James loved seeing his mother, but was disappointed that his father could not come as well. He knew that the reason was his own safety, but James had always been close with his father, and after John's death he longed for his presence.
Still, rarely did James show any emotion regarding his family. On the occasions that he did, Sirius was quick to change the subject. Somehow, between playing variations of Quidditch in Lily's backyard and making a nuisance of himself, James was able to keep such painful subjects off of his mind.
By the end of the summer, James had practically abandoned his plot to drive Lily insane. He had found a new and better target: Petunia's boyfriend Vernon.
Petunia had been forced to finally tell Vernon about her freak sister Lily. Vernon had stayed away from the Evan's home for most of the summer, but by August he began to return occasionally, the memory of his past horrors had begun to fade somewhat in his mind.
James let him build up his confidence for a while, leaving him alone for the first few times Vernon visited, letting work up to a level of confidence which would prove disastrous when James decided to strike.
Naturally, James involved Sirius in this plot. Sirius had been beaten and confined to his room with no food for three days, so when he finally obtained permission to spend times with at Cornelia's, Sirius nearly exhausted James's food supply. Cornelia Potter only tolerated this because she noticed the bruises and marks on Sirius's face and though she was strict she did have a small bit of human compassion.
In return to Cornelia's newfound tolerance, Sirius used all of the charm which he had in him, which was a considerable amount. For one thing, Sirius was a very good looking boy, and when he chose he could be a very charismatic person. Still, James's grandmother was not the most friendly of people. Allowing Sirius to stay in her home was about as much as she could manage.
It was all that Sirius and James needed. It gave them plenty of time to plot and plan the things they would do to Vernon. It all came down to one big event. They both knew that they would only have one big chance to humiliate him, and set the date for the last day of summer. James figured that it was a good idea to wait until just before they left for Hogwarts, in case there were consequences.
It was decided that James would be the one to do the actual magic, as Sirius had already received an official warning for cursing Devin Goyle. Still, neither boy was terribly worried. Though the letter had threatened, Sirius was sure that he would never be expelled from Hogwarts for something so trivial.
"Everyone uses magic once and a while. Besides, if they actually expelled students just for using magic over the summer, we'd both be in Azkaban for all of the stuff we have done during school!" Sirius said with a laugh.
James was a bit more cautious, but he too doubted that either boy would actually be expelled for their more interesting summer activities.
Vernon did appear at the appointed date, and Sirius did a quick happy dance before he and James headed over to the Evans's house.
James did not knock, but rather walked in confidently. He had spent a lot of time at Lily's over the summer, and her parents still let him do whatever he wanted. Lily on the other hand was downright venomous towards him, and Petunia was terrified of all things magic.
It so happened that James and Sirius walked in at the exact moment that Petunia was yelling at her younger sister. James had never seen Lily so complacent and non aggressive. She looked almost intimidated.
"Leave me alone Petunia," she muttered quietly. "I don't want to have anything to do with Vernon. Do you honestly think I am going to try and get on his nerves?"
"Whatever, Freak! If you try anything you are dead. Get it?" Petunia gave Lily a good hard shove as to prove her point, forcing Lily to bang her head against the wall.
Lily grimaced and nodded, rubbing her head and wincing. Then both she and Petunia noticed the two boys.
Petunia's face went white and she slowly backed out of the room, her eyes darted from James to Sirius nervously.
Lily jumped up with alacrity, her response the opposite of her sister's. Lily glared at the two boys as if challenging them to comment on her momentary weakness. When neither did she started to speak and then changed her mind and stormed off to the privacy of her room where even James did not dare violate after seeing a few examples of Lily's temper.
Instead, he and Sirius made their way to the kitchen, where they would begin their preparations.
"The best part about this," James said for the thousandth time, "is that it will get Vernon and Petunia, but Lily will get it in the bargain. It is her house after all."
"Petunia will act worse towards her too," Sirius commented quietly ,"I never saw Lily answer to anyone the way she just did to Petunia."
James shrugged uncomfortably, trying his hardest not to feel pity for Lily Evans, who was his enemy. The plan had to go off as expected.
They waited until Petunia and Vernon had made themselves comfortable in the living room. Just when they were engaged in some heavy lip lock, James cast his spell and Vernon began slowly levitating off the ground. It was hard work, a lot harder than levitating the feathers and scrolls that they had practiced with in Charms class. First of all, Vernon weighed a whole lot more, second he was squirming around, and once he realized something was wrong he began to flail wildly.
Petunia shrieked as Vernon began to rise towards the ceiling. Lily came running into the room, her fingers pressed against her cheeks in shock. Mrs. and Mr. Evans were soon to follow. James maintained eye contact and levitated Vernon silently as Sirius convulsed with uncontrolled laughter.
Just when everyone had entered the room, James took the prank a step forward and smoothly muttered the spell to make Vernon's pants to drop, showing off his slightly dingy tighty- whites and pale flabby flesh.
Lily gasped and ran over to James, pulling the wand from James's hand with a quick motion. Unfortunately, this quickly broke the spell and Vernon plummeted to the ground, landing with a plop on the sofa, where he laid motionless, sprawled out in an awkward position.
"Oh Vernon darling!" Petunia cried and ran to him.
Mrs. Evans hurried in and examined the large boy. "It's all right, he's just fainted."
Mr. Evans looked faintly sick and Petunia was in tears on the floor, crying out senseless remarks about her 'sweety pumpkin Verny kins'.
"James! Why did you do that? You hurt him!" Lily hissed angrily.
"I wasn't going to drop him! If you hadn't pulled my wand away he would have landed safely," James responded.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't try to blame this on me!"
They both stopped arguing when Vernon shot up like a cannon, suddenly very much awake. He immeadiatly stood and stumbled towards Lily, his face flushed and red with exertion. "You did this! You freak!" he shouted raising a fist.
James leapt up with a start. "It was me!" He shouted boldly, dashing between Vernon and Lily.
Vernon's red face turned an alarming shade of purple. "You…" he grunted stupidly, switching directions and plummeting towards James.
However, Vernon had no chance of catching him. James was much smaller than his pursuer, but he was also much faster. James took off like a whip out the front door, and by the time Vernon reached the front hall he was already winded. Sirius did not even have to run for it, he simply waltzed right out the door, stopping to nod pleasantly to the gasping muggle. "Nice weather, isn't it?" Sirius asked with a laugh, before going to join James.
After a few more short minutes, Vernon left the house without so much as a word of goodbye to Petunia.
That night, Mrs. Evans had a chat with Cornelia Potter, and Cornelia had a little chat with James while Mr. Evans tried in vain to repair the cracked sofa. Lily and Petunia had a confrontation of a different sort.
Petunia yelled and screamed, Lily screamed back, though she assumed the defensive mode. Eventually it escalated and Petunia left in a huff, thinking of a way to get her revenge.
When Lily was asleep, Petunia went into her room and took her wrath out carefully on the sleeping form.
Lily awoke the next morning with a pair of scissors by her pillow, and sheets covered in long red strands of hair. She screamed so loud that it woke the neighbors, and then screamed again when she glanced in her mirror. To say that she was a mess would be an understatement. Lily had chunks of hair missing to the scalp, and other long pieces left intact. There were obvious bald spots on her upper head and three inch spikes sticking out at odd angles.
She ran downstairs to find Petunia smirking at her at the kitchen table. "I thought you might like to try out a new look for your freak school!" she cackled.
Mrs. Evans was horrified and exchanged angry words with Petunia, insisting that the previous night's incident was not Lily's fault. However, Mrs Evans ultimately declared that she would deal with Petunia later, opting instead to help Lily pin up her remaining locks as best she could in the limited time before they would leave for Hogwarts.
"I don't have time to cut it, or I would, just to even it all out. We have to leave for the station in less than an hour and you are still not completely packed!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed.
Lily burst into tears several times that morning, and when she arrived at the train station she was conspicuously wearing a brown scarf over her hair and her face was red and puffy.
At least this time around, Lily had no trouble getting through the barrier of 9 and ¾. Jackie met her promptly on the other side and Lily smiled, despite her woes, at the sunny familiar face.
"Lily darling!" Jackie exclaimed and air kissed Lily dramatically. "How was your summer?"
"Horrible," Lily admitted truthfully.
Jackie winced. "I'm so sorry. I hate to comment, but why are you wearing a scarf on your head? Is it some strange third world fashion which I have yet to hear about?"
Lily shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."
Looking a bit offended, Jackie mouthed the word 'okay' and beckoned for Lily to follow her to a compartment she had saved.
Brittany and Dora were already there when Lily arrived. Brittany leapt out of her seat and enveloped Lily in a violent embrace, almost knocking Lily off of her feet. Dora was much quieter in greeting her friend but Lily insisted on a hug.
The girls giggled and gossiped for so long that they didn't even realize that the train had already left the station.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a compartment two cars down, five people of a different sort congregated. James and Sirius occupied one bench, Remus and Peter the other. The four were relating tales of summer mishaps and adventures. James's and Sirius's were much the same, and involved Lily more than anyone else. Remus had a few tales of magical mischief, but kept mostly quiet and Peter went on for much too long about how many times his clumsiness had gotten him into trouble at home.
The fifth person had stories as well, loads of them, and all of the marauders were becoming partial to this person's stories, which were somewhat a mix of the others. The fifth person was Sirius's cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. Nymphadora was starting her first year at Hogwarts, and was so excited that she had taken to pacing the corridors. Finally, the marauders had coerced her into staying in their compartment to share summer hyjinks.
Nymphadora was in the middle of a particularly good story when the door to the compartment swung open and a certain dark haired new student walked in.
Sirius stood and glared menacingly. "Bellatrix," he greeted coldly.
Bellatrix paused, smiled and surveyed her surroundings. After a moment she adopted a fake looking smile and placed an arm in mock affection on her male cousin's arm. "Why, hello Sirius! It's wonderful to see a familiar face. And Nymphadora too! What a lovely coincidence."
Nymphadora stood defiantly. "Cut the bullshit Bellatrix. What do you want?"
Bellatrix's smile dropped instantly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Without another word, Bellatrix disappeared from the chamber. Nymphadora paced uneasily, her story abandoned.
A few minutes later Nymphadora took off in the direction which Bellatrix had taken, obviously curious where her cousin was going.
James and Sirius exchanged looks and hesitantly followed.
James found Nymphadora just as she was entering the compartment where Lily and her friends were sitting.
Bellatrix was sitting cozily between Lily and Brittany, gossiping happily towards Lily.
"I'm ever so nervous," James heard Bellatrix mutter in a strange and giddy tone. "I don't know anyone at Hogwarts at all!" Then, spotting Nymphadora and the others she paused, "except my cousins. Here they are, Nymphadora and Sirius!"
Nymphadora approached Bellatrix angrily, pulling the small girl up by her shirt collar. "Leave them alone Bellatrix, I know you are up to something!"
Lily jumped up defensively. "Hey! You leave her alone!"
Nymphadora turned towards Lily, dropping Bellatrix, who fell to the ground whimpering pathetically. "This doesn't involve you. If you knew my cousin…"
"Just because she is your cousin doesn't give you the right to bully her!" Lily screeched, losing her temper.
"Stay out of it!" Nymphadora shouted, turning back to Bellatrix, and pulling her violently to her feet.
Lily lifted her wand. "I'm warning you! I will curse you if you lay another hand on her! She did nothing to you!"
Before Lily could utter a spell, Nymphadora's fist collided with Lily's face. Lily reeled backward and fell to the ground dramatically, blood spurting from her nose.
Bellatrix broke into a smile for an instant before retaining her timid stance. Only Jackie caught this, and she studied the newcomer carefully, as Brittany and Dora rushed to comfort Lily.
Realizing that violence towards Bellatrix would not help the situation, Nymphadora simply made a threatening gesture towards her cousin before retreating quickly from the compartment.
Sirius did not move but only stood back watching Bellatrix suspiciously, but James leapt up and went to Lily's side. Brittany, in an effort to stop the blood, pulled off Lily's scarf.
"Lily! Your hair!" Brittany screamed.
Dora echoed this and James just dropped his jaw.
Trying to cover her hair with one hand, and holding her nose with the other Lily burst into tears. Brittany and Dora tried desperately to comfort her and James simply sat in puzzlement. He could find no possible explanation for Lily's drastic and sudden change of hair style. After assuring himself that Lily was fine, despite the damage inflicted by Nymphadora, James allowed himself to be ushered out by Brittany.
James went back to the Marauder's compartment, still wondering what exactly had just happened.
Still, rarely did James show any emotion regarding his family. On the occasions that he did, Sirius was quick to change the subject. Somehow, between playing variations of Quidditch in Lily's backyard and making a nuisance of himself, James was able to keep such painful subjects off of his mind.
By the end of the summer, James had practically abandoned his plot to drive Lily insane. He had found a new and better target: Petunia's boyfriend Vernon.
Petunia had been forced to finally tell Vernon about her freak sister Lily. Vernon had stayed away from the Evan's home for most of the summer, but by August he began to return occasionally, the memory of his past horrors had begun to fade somewhat in his mind.
James let him build up his confidence for a while, leaving him alone for the first few times Vernon visited, letting work up to a level of confidence which would prove disastrous when James decided to strike.
Naturally, James involved Sirius in this plot. Sirius had been beaten and confined to his room with no food for three days, so when he finally obtained permission to spend times with at Cornelia's, Sirius nearly exhausted James's food supply. Cornelia Potter only tolerated this because she noticed the bruises and marks on Sirius's face and though she was strict she did have a small bit of human compassion.
In return to Cornelia's newfound tolerance, Sirius used all of the charm which he had in him, which was a considerable amount. For one thing, Sirius was a very good looking boy, and when he chose he could be a very charismatic person. Still, James's grandmother was not the most friendly of people. Allowing Sirius to stay in her home was about as much as she could manage.
It was all that Sirius and James needed. It gave them plenty of time to plot and plan the things they would do to Vernon. It all came down to one big event. They both knew that they would only have one big chance to humiliate him, and set the date for the last day of summer. James figured that it was a good idea to wait until just before they left for Hogwarts, in case there were consequences.
It was decided that James would be the one to do the actual magic, as Sirius had already received an official warning for cursing Devin Goyle. Still, neither boy was terribly worried. Though the letter had threatened, Sirius was sure that he would never be expelled from Hogwarts for something so trivial.
"Everyone uses magic once and a while. Besides, if they actually expelled students just for using magic over the summer, we'd both be in Azkaban for all of the stuff we have done during school!" Sirius said with a laugh.
James was a bit more cautious, but he too doubted that either boy would actually be expelled for their more interesting summer activities.
Vernon did appear at the appointed date, and Sirius did a quick happy dance before he and James headed over to the Evans's house.
James did not knock, but rather walked in confidently. He had spent a lot of time at Lily's over the summer, and her parents still let him do whatever he wanted. Lily on the other hand was downright venomous towards him, and Petunia was terrified of all things magic.
It so happened that James and Sirius walked in at the exact moment that Petunia was yelling at her younger sister. James had never seen Lily so complacent and non aggressive. She looked almost intimidated.
"Leave me alone Petunia," she muttered quietly. "I don't want to have anything to do with Vernon. Do you honestly think I am going to try and get on his nerves?"
"Whatever, Freak! If you try anything you are dead. Get it?" Petunia gave Lily a good hard shove as to prove her point, forcing Lily to bang her head against the wall.
Lily grimaced and nodded, rubbing her head and wincing. Then both she and Petunia noticed the two boys.
Petunia's face went white and she slowly backed out of the room, her eyes darted from James to Sirius nervously.
Lily jumped up with alacrity, her response the opposite of her sister's. Lily glared at the two boys as if challenging them to comment on her momentary weakness. When neither did she started to speak and then changed her mind and stormed off to the privacy of her room where even James did not dare violate after seeing a few examples of Lily's temper.
Instead, he and Sirius made their way to the kitchen, where they would begin their preparations.
"The best part about this," James said for the thousandth time, "is that it will get Vernon and Petunia, but Lily will get it in the bargain. It is her house after all."
"Petunia will act worse towards her too," Sirius commented quietly ,"I never saw Lily answer to anyone the way she just did to Petunia."
James shrugged uncomfortably, trying his hardest not to feel pity for Lily Evans, who was his enemy. The plan had to go off as expected.
They waited until Petunia and Vernon had made themselves comfortable in the living room. Just when they were engaged in some heavy lip lock, James cast his spell and Vernon began slowly levitating off the ground. It was hard work, a lot harder than levitating the feathers and scrolls that they had practiced with in Charms class. First of all, Vernon weighed a whole lot more, second he was squirming around, and once he realized something was wrong he began to flail wildly.
Petunia shrieked as Vernon began to rise towards the ceiling. Lily came running into the room, her fingers pressed against her cheeks in shock. Mrs. and Mr. Evans were soon to follow. James maintained eye contact and levitated Vernon silently as Sirius convulsed with uncontrolled laughter.
Just when everyone had entered the room, James took the prank a step forward and smoothly muttered the spell to make Vernon's pants to drop, showing off his slightly dingy tighty- whites and pale flabby flesh.
Lily gasped and ran over to James, pulling the wand from James's hand with a quick motion. Unfortunately, this quickly broke the spell and Vernon plummeted to the ground, landing with a plop on the sofa, where he laid motionless, sprawled out in an awkward position.
"Oh Vernon darling!" Petunia cried and ran to him.
Mrs. Evans hurried in and examined the large boy. "It's all right, he's just fainted."
Mr. Evans looked faintly sick and Petunia was in tears on the floor, crying out senseless remarks about her 'sweety pumpkin Verny kins'.
"James! Why did you do that? You hurt him!" Lily hissed angrily.
"I wasn't going to drop him! If you hadn't pulled my wand away he would have landed safely," James responded.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't try to blame this on me!"
They both stopped arguing when Vernon shot up like a cannon, suddenly very much awake. He immeadiatly stood and stumbled towards Lily, his face flushed and red with exertion. "You did this! You freak!" he shouted raising a fist.
James leapt up with a start. "It was me!" He shouted boldly, dashing between Vernon and Lily.
Vernon's red face turned an alarming shade of purple. "You…" he grunted stupidly, switching directions and plummeting towards James.
However, Vernon had no chance of catching him. James was much smaller than his pursuer, but he was also much faster. James took off like a whip out the front door, and by the time Vernon reached the front hall he was already winded. Sirius did not even have to run for it, he simply waltzed right out the door, stopping to nod pleasantly to the gasping muggle. "Nice weather, isn't it?" Sirius asked with a laugh, before going to join James.
After a few more short minutes, Vernon left the house without so much as a word of goodbye to Petunia.
That night, Mrs. Evans had a chat with Cornelia Potter, and Cornelia had a little chat with James while Mr. Evans tried in vain to repair the cracked sofa. Lily and Petunia had a confrontation of a different sort.
Petunia yelled and screamed, Lily screamed back, though she assumed the defensive mode. Eventually it escalated and Petunia left in a huff, thinking of a way to get her revenge.
When Lily was asleep, Petunia went into her room and took her wrath out carefully on the sleeping form.
Lily awoke the next morning with a pair of scissors by her pillow, and sheets covered in long red strands of hair. She screamed so loud that it woke the neighbors, and then screamed again when she glanced in her mirror. To say that she was a mess would be an understatement. Lily had chunks of hair missing to the scalp, and other long pieces left intact. There were obvious bald spots on her upper head and three inch spikes sticking out at odd angles.
She ran downstairs to find Petunia smirking at her at the kitchen table. "I thought you might like to try out a new look for your freak school!" she cackled.
Mrs. Evans was horrified and exchanged angry words with Petunia, insisting that the previous night's incident was not Lily's fault. However, Mrs Evans ultimately declared that she would deal with Petunia later, opting instead to help Lily pin up her remaining locks as best she could in the limited time before they would leave for Hogwarts.
"I don't have time to cut it, or I would, just to even it all out. We have to leave for the station in less than an hour and you are still not completely packed!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed.
Lily burst into tears several times that morning, and when she arrived at the train station she was conspicuously wearing a brown scarf over her hair and her face was red and puffy.
At least this time around, Lily had no trouble getting through the barrier of 9 and ¾. Jackie met her promptly on the other side and Lily smiled, despite her woes, at the sunny familiar face.
"Lily darling!" Jackie exclaimed and air kissed Lily dramatically. "How was your summer?"
"Horrible," Lily admitted truthfully.
Jackie winced. "I'm so sorry. I hate to comment, but why are you wearing a scarf on your head? Is it some strange third world fashion which I have yet to hear about?"
Lily shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."
Looking a bit offended, Jackie mouthed the word 'okay' and beckoned for Lily to follow her to a compartment she had saved.
Brittany and Dora were already there when Lily arrived. Brittany leapt out of her seat and enveloped Lily in a violent embrace, almost knocking Lily off of her feet. Dora was much quieter in greeting her friend but Lily insisted on a hug.
The girls giggled and gossiped for so long that they didn't even realize that the train had already left the station.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a compartment two cars down, five people of a different sort congregated. James and Sirius occupied one bench, Remus and Peter the other. The four were relating tales of summer mishaps and adventures. James's and Sirius's were much the same, and involved Lily more than anyone else. Remus had a few tales of magical mischief, but kept mostly quiet and Peter went on for much too long about how many times his clumsiness had gotten him into trouble at home.
The fifth person had stories as well, loads of them, and all of the marauders were becoming partial to this person's stories, which were somewhat a mix of the others. The fifth person was Sirius's cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. Nymphadora was starting her first year at Hogwarts, and was so excited that she had taken to pacing the corridors. Finally, the marauders had coerced her into staying in their compartment to share summer hyjinks.
Nymphadora was in the middle of a particularly good story when the door to the compartment swung open and a certain dark haired new student walked in.
Sirius stood and glared menacingly. "Bellatrix," he greeted coldly.
Bellatrix paused, smiled and surveyed her surroundings. After a moment she adopted a fake looking smile and placed an arm in mock affection on her male cousin's arm. "Why, hello Sirius! It's wonderful to see a familiar face. And Nymphadora too! What a lovely coincidence."
Nymphadora stood defiantly. "Cut the bullshit Bellatrix. What do you want?"
Bellatrix's smile dropped instantly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Without another word, Bellatrix disappeared from the chamber. Nymphadora paced uneasily, her story abandoned.
A few minutes later Nymphadora took off in the direction which Bellatrix had taken, obviously curious where her cousin was going.
James and Sirius exchanged looks and hesitantly followed.
James found Nymphadora just as she was entering the compartment where Lily and her friends were sitting.
Bellatrix was sitting cozily between Lily and Brittany, gossiping happily towards Lily.
"I'm ever so nervous," James heard Bellatrix mutter in a strange and giddy tone. "I don't know anyone at Hogwarts at all!" Then, spotting Nymphadora and the others she paused, "except my cousins. Here they are, Nymphadora and Sirius!"
Nymphadora approached Bellatrix angrily, pulling the small girl up by her shirt collar. "Leave them alone Bellatrix, I know you are up to something!"
Lily jumped up defensively. "Hey! You leave her alone!"
Nymphadora turned towards Lily, dropping Bellatrix, who fell to the ground whimpering pathetically. "This doesn't involve you. If you knew my cousin…"
"Just because she is your cousin doesn't give you the right to bully her!" Lily screeched, losing her temper.
"Stay out of it!" Nymphadora shouted, turning back to Bellatrix, and pulling her violently to her feet.
Lily lifted her wand. "I'm warning you! I will curse you if you lay another hand on her! She did nothing to you!"
Before Lily could utter a spell, Nymphadora's fist collided with Lily's face. Lily reeled backward and fell to the ground dramatically, blood spurting from her nose.
Bellatrix broke into a smile for an instant before retaining her timid stance. Only Jackie caught this, and she studied the newcomer carefully, as Brittany and Dora rushed to comfort Lily.
Realizing that violence towards Bellatrix would not help the situation, Nymphadora simply made a threatening gesture towards her cousin before retreating quickly from the compartment.
Sirius did not move but only stood back watching Bellatrix suspiciously, but James leapt up and went to Lily's side. Brittany, in an effort to stop the blood, pulled off Lily's scarf.
"Lily! Your hair!" Brittany screamed.
Dora echoed this and James just dropped his jaw.
Trying to cover her hair with one hand, and holding her nose with the other Lily burst into tears. Brittany and Dora tried desperately to comfort her and James simply sat in puzzlement. He could find no possible explanation for Lily's drastic and sudden change of hair style. After assuring himself that Lily was fine, despite the damage inflicted by Nymphadora, James allowed himself to be ushered out by Brittany.
James went back to the Marauder's compartment, still wondering what exactly had just happened.
