1Remus and Peter never found out why Sirius had looked so mad when he entered the Great Hall for lunch, because the look was gone by the time he had reached the table, replaced by his normal, snickering facial expression. James had gone unnoticed by the two boys because of their study of Sirius, but when they heard Lily's soft giggle, they glanced and James.
James was wet from head to toe, and covered in mud, trying not to look too happy about his predicament. If he seemed too happy, Remus might go into a spill about how James enjoyed being childish, which was true, but he didn't want to hear about it. A few years ago, Lily would have probably lectured him, but that was only because she had disapproved of him then. She was now more easygoing.
"What happened, mate?" Peter asked, chuckling.
At the question, Sirius burst into uncontrollable laughter. James gave him a playfully hurt look, while the rest of the people in the hall began to shoot curious stares at the boys.
"He..." Sirius began, but interrupted himself with a fresh burst of laughter.
"Shut up!" James commanded, whacking Sirius on the back and getting mud on his friend's clean clothes. "I fell asleep and rolled into the lake," James explained, eyes downcast in a fake pout, "and my useless friend, Sirius," he continued, voice getting louder as he shot an accusing glare at Sirius, "couldn't prevent it! He couldn't even pull me up on a grassy area. He had to choose the muddiest path, and clothe me in earth, while remaining incredibly clean himself."
James paused in his explanation, eyes narrowing in inspiration. James wiped an invisible, fake tear from his eye and declared, "But I still love you!" With this, James made an exaggerated lunge at Sirius, who had no choice but to grab James to keep them both from falling over. When James regained his own balance and stepped back, Sirius was covered in mud. James smiled.
"You deserved that," he informed Sirius.
Sirius just laughed.
"Well," Lily interrupted, "Why don't y'all get someone to take you up to Gryffindor Tower, so you can shower and clean up."
"But you'd better hurry," Peter chimed in, "because I'm hungry and I want to get this 'important conversation' out of the way."
"Well," Lily suggested, "if y'all just want to hear me out for a minute, we can do that first."
James looked around and grinned. They were receiving many stares and people were whispering.
"What do you want, Hun?" James asked, not wanting to take a shower at Hogwarts.
"I just want us all to be careful," she said. "There's enough tension going on without adding to it."
The guys clearly didn't understand what she was trying to say.
"Okay," she said lowering her voice and looking directly at James and Sirius, "that display you guys put on this morning was unacceptable. Dumbledore had chosen to trust Snape, and I think he deserves a chance to change. Obviously, you guys aren't helping that, so maybe y'all should avoid Hogwarts for a while, or at least avoid Snape. That'd help. I'm afraid that he'll have a hard enough time working with me without constantly being reminded that I'm married to you, James."
The decision to trust had been hard for Lily, and she still wasn't sure it was wise, but she didn't have a choice.
"Why don't y'all head on home," Lily suggested. She gave Remus and Peter hugs, merely waving at the muddier two, and headed back to her classroom. She had no idea that the magnificent ears of Severus Snape had heard every word that she said.
