Living In Legend

Book 2- The Price of Glory

Chapter 12- Doubts and Nerves


Lily had not really enjoyed her time spent with Oliver, but when she returned to school, she found herself so miffed with Jackie, that she pretended like she had been very impressed with him.

Brittany and Dora were happy that Lily finally had found a boy she liked, but they were also a little worried. Jackie's comments had not gone unnoticed by them. Still, Brittany and Dora were still favorably disposed towards Bellatrix.

Bellatrix was the only one who Lily told the truth about her date.

"It really was not very romantic," she admitted once when alone with the dark haired first year.

Bellatrix rolled her heavily lidded eyes. "You just don't understand him. He is too mature for you. Trust me, you are not going to do any better!"

With Bellatrix's assurance, Lily decided to give Oliver another chance. Bellatrix arranged for the two of them to eat breakfast together one morning.

Lily met him at the Ravenclaw table, as she did not want to sit with the Slytherins and he did not want to sit with the Gryffindors. Bellatrix joined them, seating herself next to Oliver.

The second she sat down, he held turned to her and began to recite, "Lily, you are beautiful and I think that I am in love with you. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Lily was too stunned with this proclamation to pay much attention to the mechanical way that he delivered this speech, as if it had been memorized before hand and practiced many times.

"Well, I don't know… I guess so," Lily stammered, taken aback.

His declaration of love had been incredibly unexpected. If Lily had possessed any intention of saying no, she did not stand a chance after that.

Oliver sighed. "Good. Now we will eat every dinner together and I will walk you to your classes."

Bellatrix beamed at Lily, looking pleased.

"Bellatrix said that I should…" Oliver continued, rambling on stupidly.

Suddenly Bellatrix's amiable smile disappeared and she elbowed Oliver hard in the ribs.

"Ooof," he grunted, recovering slowly. "What did you do that for?"

Batting her eyelashes Bellatrix looked the picture of innocence. "It was an accident," she crooned.

Lily decided that the whole ordeal was indeed very strange. But then again, what did she know about love? Maybe, she thought, it was just one of those things that she had to ignore.


To the dismay of the other Marauders, James had been willing to overlook Malfoy and Terrance's frequent insults. Not even Severus Snape, aka Snivellus had been enough for them to redirect the course of their next prank. James had his heart set on Oliver Crabbe.

"Don't you hate him Sirius?" James coaxed. "Remember what jerks his parents were at my family reunion?"

"Yes, I hate him, but I hate Bellatrix more. I say we go for Bellatrix!" Sirius retorted.

"We can get them both, perhaps," James pondered.

Remus shook his head. "Look at the two of you. You are getting distracted from our real goal. You can't tell me that the two of you hate those two more than Lucius and Terrance! Bellatrix and Oliver have done nothing to us, Lucius and Terrance are asking for it right now. They sabotaged Peter's potion yesterday!"

"Peter's potions are bad enough without sabotage," Sirius laughed.

"Hey!" Peter shouted indignantly.

"That is not the point!" James continued. "We want to target the most foul people we know. Oliver and Bellatrix are clearly those people. Just look what they are doing to Lily! They are using her, I am not sure what for but I do not like it one bit."

Peter sighed. "James is right. You are so smart, James, you always know what is best."

Sirius shot Peter a ridiculing glare but James only smiled cockily. His ego craved the attention that Peter so willingly bestowed upon him. He was practically a God to the chubby Marauder.

"Listen guys," James started, "this is what we do…"


As there was not a Hogsmeade weekend scheduled for several months, Lily had expected that she and Oliver would pursue a relationship only at mealtimes. That delusion was shattered when he approached her one day before her Potions class.

"Hello Lily," Oliver greeted her dully.

"So you will be going with me to the Halloween Ball then?" he asked, before she even had a chance to reply with a hello.

"Oh," Lily gasped, "well I thought that the ball was only for fourth years and above!"

"I am a fifth year." Oliver said defensively.

"Well, I know… but…"

"You had better get some dress robes," he added, walking away.

James, who had been listening from behind her felt his face flush with some sort of anger. He wasn't sure what it was about the hulking older Slytherin that made him so furious, but he couldn't help the rage that came over him when he saw her with Lily. James thought that perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Oliver was a friend of the hated Bellatrix.

Then again, Lily was friends with Bellatrix, and James did not exactly loathe her, although he loved to pull pranks on her.

For the moment, James was content to glare threateningly at Oliver as he walked away.

After Oliver had left his sight, and Sirius had practically dragged James pulled Sirius aside.

"Change of plans, mate. Did you hear that stupid bloke? He's taking Lily to the Halloween Ball. I say we pull something then!" James said with a grin.

Sirius looked offended. "But we already planned…"

"Hey, that one can be transferred. I say we do that to Snivellus instead," James said merrily.

Sirius let out a laugh. "I can't wait to see old Snivellus's face! It's a deal."

While James informed Remus and Peter about the change of plans, the boys set out to put their plan against Snape into action.


The prank went perfectly. They pulled it off during a very dull potions class.

Severus Snape had been thoroughly immersed in creating his potion when a fountain of milk had suddenly erupted from his nose.

Everyone, including Lucius and Terrance had laughed at the oily-haired boy's misfortune. At the same time, no one doubted who the culprits had been. The four Marauders were sentenced to yet another tedious detention labeling potions ingredients with Ludwick.

For once, the boys were actually excited about the punishment, it would give them the perfect opportunity to prepare for their big prank on Oliver Crabbe.

Still, detention was always a pain, with the frequent Quidditch practices. The first game of the season was approaching and Roderick insisted that the Gryffindor team was not ready.

"I expect a win!" Roderick has announced. "Anything less than a win is unacceptable."

James and Sirius both went out of their way to prove how non-nervous they were, but both boys were a bit apprehensive about their first match. They spent as much time on broomstick as was possible, returning to the common room only after they had exhausted themselves thoroughly. Detentions only added another obstacle on the path to sleep.

On the night before the game was to take place, James could not sleep. He thought about taking a walk to clear his head, but did not want the others in his room to realize that he was nervous, so he contented himself by counting the lines on the ceiling.

He immersed himself in this exercise so completely that when Sirius threw open the curtains to his bed at four AM he was shocked that the time had passed so quickly.

"Time to make your brother proud, mate," Sirius called cheerfully.

James smiled painfully, hoping earnestly that he would.

It was dark when they arrived on the pitch. All of the Gryffindors stood solemnly under the light of the stars, awaiting instructions from their captain.

Finally Roderick spoke. "The time is nearly here. We will use this morning to practice. Then you should go have breakfast. The game begins at noon, so we all need to be in the locker rooms by eleven. This is our last chance to fly before the game begins so use your time well."

The sense of utter exhaustion did not hit James until their third scrimmage. By the time they were released for breakfast, he felt ready to go to sleep, his previous night's insomnia vanished.

"I did not sleep at all last night," James admitted to Sirius sadly.

Sirius laughed, "Neither did I. Did you know that there are exactly 4578 lines on the ceiling above my bed? I could see through the opening of the canopy."

"There were 4579 on mine," James bragged sleepily.

"Still think you will make your brother proud?" Sirius asked.

"Unless I fall off my broom," James laughed.